Issue 1 Downtime

the General stood ominously over the crowd, easily observed by all, filling his troops with boundless courage at the awesome sight.

"ATTACK!!"

"You motherfuckers! Where the hell is Daniel?! What did you do to him!?" Melody screamed, lobbing explosives at everything in sight, but especially the General.

And, being easily observed by all, that was about when Captain Britain had enough and unceremoniously flung one of the General's troops at him with terrific speed.

Paladin charged towards the soldiers his whole body covered in burning light.

Nick flew up, and with him a veritable swarm of heavy debris gathered from the area. He began lobbing it at the army below.

Will, wary of getting too close, was using pieces of debris like a slingshot, trying to hit the General.

The soldiers scattered and took cover, as a good soldier would in this circumstance. They avoided Nicks barrage for the most part, while a couple tried to lead Paladin into a crossfire, using their superior numbers.

the General caught his soldier thrown at him with care, charging him up with a blue glow, and then setting him on the ground to wreak havoc. gainst the Captain, he unleashed a massive fireball.

Will's debris either bounced harmlessly off, or passed through, the General.

"Oh no you don't, that's MY shtick!"

Veronica's form expanded so quickly to it's maximum size that one could swear they could hear her bones creak from the strain. Ignoring the smaller opposition she charged at the General with her hands clenched into fists.

Paladin didn't really seem to care about being drawn into a crossfire as he grabbed both his belts of grenades and threw them to either side into the masses of soldiers. Meanwhile he actually accelerated towards the group of soldiers retreating to draw him in.

"Fuck," Will said, feeling useless. "Wasn't that Mira earlier? We could use some cosmic juju."

"Maybe I can do something." Isabel said.

Nick threw ALL the debris at the enemy, save one large chunk to use as mobile cover as he strafe-blasted them as well.

Melody continued to fling bombs at the General's feet, screaming incoherently.

the Generals attention was occupied by Ronnie, as they engaged in a test of strength, energy crackling.

There was no noise, of course. That's not how these things work. No noise at all.

But there WAS pressure. There was shaking...and a concussive wave of FORCE, like none anyone had ever felt before.

And...up in the sky...not a bird, not a plane....but a thin red line drawing across the moon....and down the moon...and through the moon...

...And....it split....in.....twain....

John ran out into the fray, smacking a large mutant into a squad of soldiers.

Paladin stopped fighting for a moment as the moon broke.

No....Gods no.

bobby exited, the first thing being noticed was the giant blue armored skeleton, followed by the moon curt in half like a bagel.

"Woah... No.."

Ronnie was totally oblivious to what was going on above. The blue energy of the General's grip crackled up her arms. She winced in pain, eyes watering but not giving up, putting more and more of her weight into push. If she could keep him occupied she could at least buy some time for her teammates to mop up his forces.

That? That distracted Melody. She stopped dead in her tracks and gawked at the cleaved satellite.

"Holy shit." she said her voice barely a whisper.

"Shit." Isabel swore "We are totally fucked."

"That....OK..." Will said, awestruck.

EVen the General was distracted by the immense show of power, his energy flickering for a moment as he looked up at the cleaved halves of Luna.

Captain Britain rose from the flames, focused on the General in the confusion. As she barreled towards him she reached out with her mutant power into the mechanisms of his containment suit...

The General's armor sputtered a little bit, before righting itself..

"Look at what you've done, what you made them do," Paladin said before charging at the General creating a lance of pscychic energy as he did so fully intent on well lancing the General.

Captain Britain aimed a well-timed punch at the general's armor as it sputtered, pressing her advantage.

Melody shook off the effects of seeing an moon cut in half...at least as much as one can do that.

"So help me, God, if Daniel was up there in that mess because of you, I won't stop fighting until I'm gone or I'm force feeding bombs down your fucking gullet, you horrendous piece of shit!" Melody screamed, chucking bomb after bomb at the General, slowing down only occasionally to throw a particularly large one.

The General staggered back a moment, caught off guard by the powerful attacks. but he was able to counterattack, releasing a series of energy balls at the various flying and grounded heroes.

the Captain's punch further damaged the armor, revealing glowing blue energy underneath.

Nick put up a strong shield and rocketed straight through an energy sphere, all to get close enough to tear at the hole.

John looked up at the ball of energy headed his way.

"Oh hell..."

Thinking fast, he uprooted a streetlight and flung it at the ball. He hoped it would cause the energy to detonate.

Gideon dived into cover to save himself from the energy attack. Meanwhile Paladin blocked the energy sphere with a shield of psychic energy.

"What.. Have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The General was unfocused, his defenses lowered from the splintered concentration of the ruptured moon, and the angry Xavierites beginning to coordinate their attacks.

Will tried some more random debris-firing, to try to keep the General's attention.

"What have you done to god knows how many innocents?!" Melody spat as she flung a particularly large bomb at the General's face.

Nick flew in after the bomb, aiming to deliver a great big teek punch to the face.

Ronnie finally looked to see what all of the commotion was about. It took just a second for her to see why everyone was so upset.

"... what the fAUGH!" She cried out, her loss of concentration being the chance the General needed to throw her backward. She reacted quickly enough however, dwindling to a tiny size before impact to prevent herself from crushing any of her comrades.

The General was staggered, first by the bomb tossed by Melody, then by the blow Nick pummeled him with, the breach in his armor growing worse, venting energy.

"Do you have any idea just who has been keeping these animals in line?" He sputtered. "Who was keeping her in line?!"

"Nobody asked you. Nobody needed you," Rob says, "Heather, target the General."

Above, the satellite gears up, taking aim one last time.

"You're just a run-of-the-mill dictator with a big ego and a tiny dick who for some reason wants to bring his fucked up world's problems to ours. And the funny part? You never stood a fucking chance of winning."

Nick hit him again and hauled ass to safety.