Players:
Summary: Things go badly in Mutant Town when the Block Party gets attacked by shooters.
Log Title: END GAME - Part 3
Rating: R (LV)
NYC- Thompson Square Park
Thompson Square Park is a small park in the middle of Mutant Town. The benches might need a fresh coat of paint, the fence might be rusted in places and the pavement is raised and has cracks but it's all part of the mutant haven and fairly relaxing. Trees and grassy areas are in between the many paths, there are a few structures and benches along the path as well as a special area of the park that is marked 'the dog walk'.
Scene
After months of preparation the "Mutant Rights Festival" is finally underway, though many of the denizens of Mutant Town have simply been referring to it as "The Block Party". The festival is taking up almost all of Mutant Town. There is a large stage set up in the park where Mason Steele is supposed to give a performance later in the evening, there are several vendors set up around the residential areas, and a smaller stage is set up in the middle of the street over toward the condos where famous mutants have been giving speeches, book signings, and announcing events.
A parade that ran down the section of Broadway that passes through Mutant Town has just ended, and the already crowded streets are becoming even more crowded. The people who set up this event have somehow convinced the city to close down sections of the street, which is probably why it took so long to organize. Police in riot gear are lining the perimeter of Mutant Town, guarding road blocks and keeping back angry protestors.
This section of the city is a little less crowded than the residential sector. With the open area of the park there is much more room to move around. Many people are sitting on blankets or lawn chairs watching a cover band open for Mr. Steele, while others are trying to find room on a set of bleachers that appear to have been constructed on the spot. Large wooden crates have also been scattered around the area for additional seating and several lights and portable heaters have been set up to keep people comfortable.
Bruce exhales a cloud of steam and huddles up against the cold, checking his watch and glancing around occasionally. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting up and inhaling deeply. Things have gone smoothly so far. It seems that maybe too many people are present and the shooters don't want to risk anything. He hasn't even heard of any suspicious activity tonight. Bruce sighs, he was certain that the parade was going to pull in a bit of violence, but maybe he over-estimated the shooters. At least if nothing goes wrong then the Town will get a nice evening out of it.
In the history of music there has /never/ been a stage set up quite like this. But then not one musician in the history of the world has been crazy or desperate enough to let Kisha play with his effects. The budget for which has been exceed by an order of magnitude. Not that this bothers the petite technoempath who is now sitting cross legged in a remarkably sturdy little booth under the stage, computer on her lap and dozens of screens and dials everywhere. She now controls the horizontal /and/ the vertical, plus a box hooked up to all kinds of fun things (including radio links to what she suspects are some very shady characters and by which I don't mean A&R people). How bad a sign is this? Lets just say that Kisha being in this good a mood rarely ends well for anyone!
Mason really didn't know what he was getting into. His manager isn't happy, his agent's really not happy. He better deliver. To that end, Mason has no less than three new songs that he's performing for the first time, not expected to appear on his next album. It'll be the only place people see them for some time. Curtain is almost ready, and Mason watches Kisha rush around. "Kisha, the record company isn't going to pay for all of this. They are only so-so about doing this at all. We gotta take some of this back," he tries to tell her. The stage manager comes and gives a warning. "Three minutes til showtime," he announces.
The people in the field seem to be getting more excited by the minute. Word that Steele will be performing never before heard songs here has the crowd abuzz. It also has the media personnel in a rather foul mood as they are given wavers that they will not broadcast any footage of the new songs until after they have been released.
A woman with ice blue hair walks up to Bruce and nods, glancing back out over the crowd. "No trying to kill the musician this time, Brucey. Remember that we invited him this time, ok?" She offers the disgruntled man a pat on the shoulder and walks off to the outskirts of the field, watching for any signs of trouble.
Bruce rolls his eyes as Lil wanders past him. He walks through the crowd in his usual bomber jacket and Australian hat. He thought about going incognito to the concert, but he figured that he's worth so many points to these bastards that he'll be too good a target to pass up. At least when they start attacking they should aim for him first. The man passes through the crowd, stopping near the center of the wooden crates. He glances up to the stage and frowns, preparing for a second dose of terrible music.
Kisha simply smiles and pulls down the hatch on her little hidey-hole, slipping on a set of headphones complete with microphone. "Now is probably a great time to tell you I voided the warrantee on most of the really good stuff then," she says cheerfully. "But don't worry I'm wiring all the footage to my main machine. It'll be more than worth the set up costs." Especially if certain mutants start ruining all the electronics in the area. "By the way some of your stage crew are useless. I strongly suggest you fire the people I've highlighted in the email I'm sending you. If they don't get shot, in which case I've listed the best florists in the area…"
Mason is caught between Kisha's and the stage manager's comment. "Crap," he mutters, a response that's adequate for both situations. He isn't even fully dressed yet. He peels off his coat and shirt, tossing them at the side of the stage as he rushes toward the costumer who very quickly hands him his stage outfit. A black t-shirt with a silver jacket over his blue jeans. He hooks the microphone over his ear, and goes back to Kisha. "Talk to Bill, he's the guy who put it together. Just remember, we don't know anything about this going bad." The star has personally seen to it that there is about five times the usual security at the performance, and told them all to expect trouble, given his last concert. It makes a convenient cover. Not to mention some of them are armed.
"Thirty seconds!" Mason looks like he has more to tell Kisha, but the time is gone. He rushes back to his mark, and gets ready for the entrance. The lights go up, and the music starts.
Zoya is here for completely selfish reasons. It isn't the concert itself that she comes here for, it's the hope of violence against humans whom are actively revolting against the others of her species that she's hunting. There's plenty of people out in the streets of Mutant Town tonight, tension is in the air and she's drawn to it. She's opting to stay up on the roofs for now, safely tucked away from view. If things do get nasty, and by gods is she hoping they do, she'll be ready. If not, she's not exactly street-friendly tonight. While it would be all fun and good to start a fight with New York's finest tonight there may well be other fish to fry. People want high-point targets? She'll give 'em something to think about.
The crowd in the park below begin cheering loudly as the show begins, one or two of them jumping up and shooting bursts of light from their hands like sparklers. Some of the people milling around in the street beyond the park pull in a bit closer, moving up as close to the stage as they can get.
Up above on the rooftops near the park several stairwell doors open as men in black uniforms pour out onto the roof. They check out the areas and move toward the edges nearest the park. While none of them are obviously armed, they are wearing long coats that could conceal a bit of firepower. Down on the field itself no one looks too out of place. There are several people in long or bulky jackets, but it is chilly out so this is not too out of place. Anyone listening in on the radio feed will hear, "That German lady's almost done speaking. Magneto'll be on soon."
Bruce tenses up for a moment, glancing around as he sees the mutant shooting sparks. He ashes his cigarette on the ground and turns away, muttering something about how that's a good way to get shot. He turns away from the stage and watches backwards in the crowd, scanning the audience for anyone who looks out of place.
Flicking onto the audio channels she has listed as being 'shifty' (including one for the rooftop hideout Zoya is using) Kisha opens comms. "Ladies and gentlemen we have some interesting guests on the following rooftop zone," she says, voice digitally altered to sound like an extremely expensive inflight safety voiceover. "Rooftop Delta. Please refrain from using image enhancement devices unless you value your retinas. Have a nice day and our apologies for the music, rest assured a change in the scheduled program will occur shortly." The friendly designated rooftops even have little laminated maps for easy reference.
The opening number starts, and Mason dances around the scene with the rest of the dance team. He takes opportunity to run his hands along the sea of front row fangirls as he sings, getting the crowd worked up. Meanwhile, the security teams stand along the edges of the crowd, looking for trouble.
Once the music is finished for the first number, Mason addresses the crowd. "Hello Mutant town! All of you here have come to celebrate this great country, where we are free to live and pursue our dreams no matter what color you skin is, or your religion is, or your genes are. I want to thank you all for inviting me to be a part of your day, because this truly is your day, not mine. We can tell all those out there who would fear you that we are not afraid. If they want to hate, then they will be the minority. They will be the ones who are cast to the side. But that's not the day we live in. It's true that right now they aren't alone. But the day is coming that this will be a reality. I hope it is sooner than later, but I for one will stand for your rights until it's a reality!"
Zoya could have lived without the music. It made it hard to hear the world around her. And it's -pop.- Eugh. There's a lot to take in, a lot of people to keep tabs of, but if fighting starts it should thin things out quickly enough. There's potential trouble even closer to home though, receiving a distorted, artificial voice message tipping her off. If there wasn't a concert going she should have been able to hear it on her own just fine, but with the excessive noise… It's all she can do to quickly look around her space and think that perhaps some manner of eye shielding would be in order. Fortunately, she has goggles to help with that. With a light sweep of blacked out fingers she covers her eyes, slipping not a pair of guns but a pair of throwing knives from her person. "Worth takink care of now?" she whispers into the mic. Please say yes.
Having remained off the grid for a moment. David had to adjust himself mentally and physically. Being here surrounded by all the mutants with various skill sets, talents, and knowledge are incredibly overwhelming. Thankfully he had come here earlier and used some mental tricks learned while he was a student at Xavier's to adjust to the plethora of abilities before him. His cybershades are working overtime, cataloguing and preparing a useful list of skills to use for the upcoming event and the points where his allies are located. As Mason takes the stage and Kisha communicates her information, David rises up from his corner towards the far opposite of the stage and looks around towards where Rooftop Delta aware that Zoya is on the roof. He remains on the ground to defend people on the ground He breathes in and then exhales out. Readying himself for anything and everything, he is grateful he will be able to know of any attacks coming his way and makes his way to the nearest area where he believes a trap is set.
There is a series of chatter coming over the encrypted intercom now, for anyone able to hear such things. "He's here! It's Magneto! Get ready!" It would appear that Magneto has made his public appearance elsewhere in the festival. The people on the rooftop seem to tense up and begin scanning the crowd below. Two other rooftops on the opposite side of the park also seem to be populated by mysterious men in black now, and a few of the more heavily coated individuals in the crowd seem a bit preoccupied with something.
Lil's voice comes over the intercom that Bruce and the others are using. "Hey, just a heads up, Magneto just made a grand entrance over by the news stand. If they're gonna hit it'll be soon. And…I think something's up with…Should there be a car driving? I thought they closed down all the roads!"
Actually there is not one car coming toward the park, but about four of them. They seem as though they are just normal civilian cars driving down the street, but the streets were supposed to have been shut down prior to the festival.
Bruce frowns as he hears the updates and sees the headlights in the distance, tapping his own com. "Looks like things'll be hitting pretty soon. Everybody get ready." He turns back and glances at the stage before turning toward the roof Kisha had indicated earlier. He moves slightly closer to that roof but remains in the center of the crates on the field.
The roof in question. Oh what a lucky roof! It seems that in a totally unplanned coincidence happens to be scheduled for a ton of spotlights from the stage show to light it up in grand style. "Cars? Bah," she mutters into the channel, flicking the onstage warning light on. "I told them we needed tank traps, but the budget wouldn't allow it." Getting ready to see where the cars pull up she begins picking out likely devices. "Lets start with some smoke, shall we?" And then there is smoke. Lots and lots of it. Not in the crowd though, all around the edges. Someone must have broken all those poor smoke machines. Oh no!
Mason tries not to let on, though it's clear to him that things have escalated. It's showbiz. Pretend like nothing is wrong, and people won't know it's wrong. He goes to his keyboard, and starts the next song. "This is a new one I wrote just a couple of weeks ago," he announces. "It's a little different, I hope you like it."
The song "So Far Away" one he wrote after meeting Rashmi, plays. He sings it with heart, but keeps his attention on the edges of the crowd, hoping that the enemies can be neutralized before the crowd can notice.
Zoya may not be the first one to shoot, but that doesn't mean she can't be the first to get the ball rolling. There's people up on that roof, unaccounted for people. People not obviously working for their cause. As soon as the rooftop in question gets flooded with light she takes off in a dead sprint, leaping through the shadows from one roof down onto the other containing the well-lit potential baddies with nothing more than a brief glint of light against polished steel from either hand. She doesn't wait to see what happens, using the distraction for all that she can. Seemingly with no regard to her personal safety she goes in to engage not one or two of the guys but -all- of them. Anything she can't hack and dice into she can flick one of those blades after with a speed that would almost rival a pistol bullet.
Hearing about Magneto's appearance at the end and the sudden arrival of cars, David makes his way through the crowd moving a bit faster, not super speed, but faster than he usually does moving towards where the cars are coming from. "Excuse me." "Sorry." "Coming through" David apologizes as to the concertgoers but with each apology the people seem to let him go by with relative ease. As the smoke goes off, "Lovely. Kisha is that you?" He grins and runs parallel from the edges smokes going off on towards the coming cars, mentally preparing for the proper skills to use should he sense an attack.
The rooftop that Zoya is standing on erupts with gunfire as the woman attacks, each of them men attempting to hit the woman who seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Several of them are cut down before they have time to react and one or two others are accidentally taken out by friendly fire. The roof is left with five gunmen all aiming at Zoya with long range guns.
There appears to be another light show coming from the back of the crowd beyond the smoke screen. Lil is standing near the street shooting off flairs of blinding white light toward the vehicles in an attempt to blind them. A few moments later her voice can be heard over the intercom again. "No drivers! There are NO DRIVERS! Those cars are headed straight for the crowd, Bruce!"
A few moments after the shooters start attacking Zoya the men on the buildings across the park begin shooting as well. They seem to be aiming into the center of the crowd, though a few of them appear to be targeting the stage. A low rumble can be heard beyond the gunfire and music that grows into a steady thumping. A helicopter breaks through the clouds and comes down toward the crowd, stopping suddenly and making a terrifying noise as it hits some sort of invisible shield. The machine is dragged out of sight through the sky before it can do any damage to the crowd.
Bruce turns his head suddenly as the bark of guns cuts through the night. The crates around him suddenly explode outward, shooting huge quantities of sand in all directions around him. The people sitting on the crates are knocked to the ground and begin yelling, their cries lost in the crowd as several people realize what is going on. Bruce swirls the sand around the crowd as best he can, deciding to shield the side of the crowd opposite from Zoya. He sees a few people go down before he is able to manifest a sand wall. It won't be large enough to protect everyone, but the wall will shield a large portion of the crowd. "I got this side. Lil, find a way to stop those cars!" When he sees the helicopter he smirks. "Looks like Mags set up some defenses here, too."
"Charming Prodigy. You should know better than to use names on a potentially open communications channel," Kisha says, rolling her eyes and then giving her editing software a dirty look. Version 2.0 will be required it seems. Okay so Rooftop Delta is… wow that's messy. Probably best to turn those lights off before any small children see. Instead she swaps to a small rooftop based strobe light complete with a locally broadcast bit of pounding techno, because it'll look cool on the video footage… Suddenly the music cuts out and the calm, pleasant tone of her edited voice says over the stage speaker system "It appears we are having an unfortunate incident. Please can people remain calm and exit through the spaces at the front of the stage, medical attention will be provided to those in need." Radio orders are sent through to Masons people, letting them know to begin leading the crowd out as fast as they can.
Mason's attention is caught by the helicopter more than anything else. "There are people who want to put you down, but that's not going to happen. Stand firm. Those who hate us will not prevail. But be on your guard." He goes to the stage, maintaining a surprisingly cool exterior. "We'll continue the concert once everything is safe. For right now, follow the instructions of the security officers at the edges of the stage." And please, please don't panic. He crosses his fingers behind his back as the guards start to escort people. The pop star will have to explain the concept of crowd control later. Probably with a very raised and frustrated voice.
Zoya isn't panicking. She has, however, come to really enjoy her work. She's fast, she's dressed almost completely in black, and she's relatively tiny. Doesn't make for a good target even for an experienced shooter that isn't blind. Of course, not having probability control she does get hit, yet the bullets simply mushroom out and fall to the ground around her like jacketed lead rain.
With both of the knives now buried into fleshy holsters she goes instead for one of their guns, diving across the rooftop and swiping it free of its former owner before rolling across the back of her shoulders. In the same motion she jumps back up and twists around, throwing the end of the rifle towards the head of a goon yet standing. Hit or miss, she's already taking shots back at them. Very fast shots, anywhere she can hit. If she can get two rifles she'll be doing it twice as fast. Never still, never slow, the Ruskie is an absolute whirlwind of violence.
Looking at the four car speeding his way and worse speeding towards some helpless mutants, David stands his ground hearing Lil state that there are no drivers. This will make it much easier and hopefully these skills come in handy. Using a familiar skill set, that he used about a week ago. David leaps into the landing on the hood of the smashing in the windshield and slides into the driving seat and attempts to take control of the first car. Using skills of a certain Russian female, he attempts to stop the other three cars by turning into them and hoping to smash them.
The shooters on the roof with Zoya seem a bit unhappy with the fact that their bullets seem not to be doing anything to her. Once the woman gets a hold of the guns and starts shooting people they decide it is time to GTFO. The two remaining gunmen run for the stairwell, attempting to escape from the frightening Russian woman.
On the opposite side of the park the shooters are attempting to penetrate the sand wall Bruce has set up, but it would appear that it is too strong for their bullets to pass through. The majority of the crowd manages to pass behind the wall and get to the back stage area, where they are ushered into safety.
David will find the car rather difficult to steer. It would appear that they are being remotely operated from somewhere else and as soon as he manages to turn his car it goes right back to its original course.
Bruce's head seems to snap toward the cars as he sees them spread out across the field. "No drivers…" Then into the headset he yells "Get out of that car! It's a bomb!" A section of the sand wall protecting the least amount of patrons comes down suddenly, moving toward Bruce like a tidal wave. He makes a fist toward the rest of the wall and it solidifies into a stand-alone structure.
Bruce's sand swirls around him and forms into a shape. "Going sand, my com's going down." And then he's gone, having been replaced by a massive sand dingo that charges across the field toward the nearest car. He slams into the side of the vehicle and knocks it off course, sending the vehicle careening into its neighbor. A massive explosion rips through the park, sending fire and car parts spraying across the field. A few unlucky fans are caught up in the mayhem and end up buried under burning debris.
"This is getting /annoying/ and I do not appreciate people annoying me," Kisha proclaims in an icy tone, turning her attention to the other rooftop. She flicks a few switches and the gunmen hear a chime, followed by the finale of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Complete with very loud and potentially dangerous explosions (although not lethally so). It looks like those pyrotechnics have jammed and are just exploding on the rooftop. Ouch. The stage lights pointing that way also blaze into life, making it difficult to even look at the crowd.
As Mason watches the scene unfold, he can't help but feel rather helpless. He watches the horror as the cars explode, raining the burning shrapnel across his fans. Why did he agree to this? He takes a dive down onto the ground, and rushes toward the burning debris, pulling his jacket off as he runs. He wraps it around his hands, and strikes it with all of his strength to try to push it to the side and off of the people who've been trapped by it.
Zoya just stops, and grins a broad, wicked grin, as the remaining two try to escape the rooftop carnage. "Don't run!" she calls out, flinging the stolen rifle behind her before darting after them with her usual reckless abandon. Trying to run down an external fire escape isn't easy to begin with, but with her hot on their heels… It isn't going to end well for them.
Mere seconds behind them the shadowy form of the murderous woman sails over the edge to the wall of the neighboring building, pistols filling her hands mid-fall before she can shove herself against the far wall back across the alley. Altitude is shed in a flicker of motion, landing on the metal walkway beneath them with a sidearm spinning around into each of her palms. Both arms sweep upward over her head and two fully automatic pistols start tearing into the thin grates of the fire escape, chewing through the stairs and anything else above them.
When the car reasserts itself and David realizes he no longer can control it, he hears the yell from Bruce. He moves slightly quicker than usual and using acquired parkouring skills, David leaps from the car to the side and runs back towards the audience telling anyone not protected by Bruce to run.
The men Zoya was chasing cry out as they are shot from below, their bodies falling over the edge of the escape to land in the alley below. A few of the woman's bullets go through the windows of the building, causing a few residents to scream out in terror. In the alley below there is the sound of many people moving around. It would appear that Zoya happened upon a stash of soldiers, all of them heavily armored and wielding a variety of weapons. One of them cries out "There's one! Kill the mutants!" There is a metallic clang and a canister of tear gas goes off. It would a appear that the soldiers are protected against the smoke.
The people on the roof where the pyrotechnics go off begin crying out and shooting in random directions. One of them manages to fire a rocket launcher into Bruce's wall, causing the structure to explode inward and bury part of the crowd. The other roof is merely blinded by the lights. They begin to fire at the lights in an attempt to take them out.
Mason will find that the debris will be a bit difficult to move out of the way, but the fans trapped underneath have definitely been fatally wounded. Those still alive are unlikely to be after a few minutes. An explosion and screaming comes from the residential area where the speakers were scheduled to speak. It looks like things aren't going to well over there either. More explosions are coming from over near the Genoshian Embassy.
The sand Dingo appears to hesitate for a moment, moving toward the cars and then doubling back to collect up the sand that fell on to the crowd. The rest of the sand swirls up to join the Dingo, becoming a massive three story tall construct. The monstrosity leaps suddenly toward the last two cars, landing with a paw on each vehicle and causing them to explode beneath him. Immediately after the cars explode a series of rockets are fired from one of the rooftops toward the construct, striking the Dingo with another series of massive explosions. The Dingo bends toward the directions the missiles came from and mimics a pained stance before collapsing into a massive heap of sand.
"Holy shit!" Can be heard over the intercom in Lil's voice. "He's not getting up any time soon after that and we've got some soldiers coming from Magneto's sector over there!"
From what passes for the safety of her understage bunker Kisha begins swearing frantically. "All security staff. Extract Mr. Steele immediately," she orders through the official radio channel, then swapping to the unofficial one she adds "Prodigy we're vastly outgunned. Shooters on the rooftops, can you obtain a firearm and shoot back?" Then comes the toys, which are getting thin on the ground now. First up is the foam machine set for another acts performance later that day, maybe it'll help with the fire in the crowd area. A little understage hammering tilts one of the pyrotechnic displays to fire back at the men shooting her lights out. "Mason for the love of… use your damn power and throw some rocks at them before they turn you into a pit with icky bits in it!"
Mason stumbles back at the stench of the burning bodies. The pop star sees the security coming, and he runs. "Get the crowd!" he yells, rushing underneath the stage. Where's he going? Once concealed, he rips his shirt off, and shoes, and his pants. Hey, it's no time for vanity. "I was wondering if this would work," he groans, and sinks straight into the ground. When the security guards reach the stage, they look around bepuzzled, but have little time to worry about Mason as much of what is happening is well out of their pay scale. Several of them begin to run.
After a few moments, a new figure arrives, climbing out of the dirt. An armor of clod dirt is compacted around him, and Mason darts to the other side of the stage to exit. His face, and…well, his whole body is covered in his new wardrobe. All that is visible are his hands and his feet, along with his eyes. Time to get real.
What is -this- now?! Soldiers with teargas? Zoya might be a tough nut to crack but when it comes to inhalants she's as vulnerable as anyone out there. Her options are limited, but she does have the height advantage. Diving back into the building removes her from their line of fire but ..traps her within a building. Quickly holstering the pistols, not very useful against a bloody -army- at this range, she bolts back up the fire escape. If she can reach the roof, and retrieve some of those dropped rifles on the way, she can stand up against worse odds. Heck, maybe she'd even have some time to take shots at the guys on the other roof. Maybe. They all deserve to die for attacking mutants but she has to look out for number one first and foremost. These guys want to play rough? Fair enough. Time to kick it up a few notches.
David watches as the Dingo goes down but still sensing his skill set, David realizes no one will harm a pile of sand and goes to assist Zoya. In a surprisingly amazing display of grace and elegance as cadres of soldiers come from the ground, David leaps and bounds off the side of the building like a professional parkour kicking a soldier to the side to grab his firearm. With fighting skills gleaned from Zoya, Dingo, and the soldiers themselves, David fights like something out of a movie hopefully taking down some soldiers. *kick* *punch* *jab* Sensing where the soldiers will strike and shoot, he attempts to dodge, grab some firearms and get out to shoot back, aiming for non-lethal areas of their bodies.
The soldiers in the alley split in two as they are attacked by David. Half follow Zoya up the fire escape, but it appears that they cannot move quite as fast as her in their armor. They will reach the roof but it will be several seconds after the woman has made it to the top. The ones below fighting with David are too heavily armored to be taken out with hand to hand combat, but they are also too slow to keep up. Once he has gained a few firearms David will find it easier to take the men out, knocking two of them down as he fires into them.
The men on the roof with the pyrotechnics seem to be jumping across the alley to join the others on the neighboring building now, turning to assist in firing the lights out. After a few minutes the flood lights are all out and they will return their fire to the crowd. The stage pyrotechnic display is bright, but it isn't powerful enough to reach them it seems.
The crowd is panicked. They run in circles screaming as they try to avoid the fire, bullets, and collapsing pieces of massive Dingo construct. Once the soldiers begin to approach from the South they run North, fleeing out of Mutant Town and pushing past the police barriers. The soldiers seem to be having difficulty moving forward through the park, Lil's constant light flairs keeping them blinded for now.
It would appear that Dingo really isn't getting up from that series of explosions. The massive dog construct lies half formed in a pile of sand, parts of it gradually collapsing and falling apart. It will be a few days before Bruce is able to pull himself back together after that attack.
In the distance another rhythmic thumping can be heard. After a few moments three helicopters can be seen approaching over the buildings. The first one comes in close and sprays bullets onto the field, aiming for the man covered in dirt.
Lucky for Mason that Kisha's increasingly desperate attempts to fight soldiers with stage tricks has at least created a lot of cover. smoke fills the air around him like someone was trying to stage the worlds least tasteful club night. "Russian female, either grenade or damage the fire escape. Drop 'em into the alleyway," Kisha suggests as she watches Zoya flee the men. "Prodigy lure them onto the stage itself. I'm running out of tricks." Nervously the teen reaches for her tool kit and digs out her nail gun and a micro arc welder. Her understage bunker is fairly secure and the tunnels for the wiring is pretty mazelike, but it never hurts to be prepared.
Mason glances around, and with one foot and then the other, he starts stomping on the ground. A large chunk of concrete pounds up under one attacker, and then the other. He rushes forward to the group that Lil has been distracting, and the 'sleeves' of his suit slide down into giant gloves on his hands, each weighing in the vicinity of forty pounds. The terrakinetic charges with a bestial roar, swinging wildly at the blinded group to hopefully take them down for the count.
Zoya lets those foolish men try to run up the fire escape after her. A few seconds is all the time she needs. That bit of time is lost simply allowing them to get closer to the roof before she springs the trap. "Way ahead of you." Crouching down and laying hands on the top of the escape she finally puts her offensive power to use and slams a kinetic wave into the metal structure, aiming to peel it away from the side of the building like the skin of an orange and send everyone currently on it into a very unhealthy fall. It should buy her some time. Time to see about retrieving some rifles and getting back to work, gunning for the guys with rocket launchers. The helicopters…yeah. Those are a bit beyond her.
Cursing silently in his head as he feels this is falling part, David has a bit more playing room as he gets out of the alley and continues shooting at some of the soldiers, attempting to take some down he hopes the shooting skills includes good aim and military knowledge includes knowledge of armor as he hopes to take all six soldiers by him down shooting at any spot not protected by armor. After shooting David does not wait to see if they get down as he rushes past people and jumps on the stage and attempts to shoot any soldiers nearby.
The men on the fire escape do not have time to react as the structure collapses beneath them. They are knocked several stories down to the ground below. Surprisingly they seem to have survived the fall, but they won't be attacking anyone any time soon.
As the helicopters pass over David he gains even more firearms skill and advanced martial arts training. It would appear that someone in one of those choppers has some deadly fighting skill. This goes to good use as he takes down four of his assailants. The other two will chase him to the stage, managing to make it up on the platform with him. They will continue to shoot at him as they give chase.
Lil is suddenly not shooting beams of light any more. She is huddled under one of Dingo's massive paws holding onto her shoulder. It would appear that one of the soldiers had managed to hit her. "Damn it Dingo! You said it wouldn't be this bad! Wake up damn it!" And then the choppers start firing. She screams and ducks down.
A few of the men charging at Mason get taken down pretty fast. The blows from his earth gloves seem to knock a few others back, but they get up after a few moments. It seems the armor they're wearing is fairly impact resistant.
The central helicopter suddenly veers to the left, moving in dangerously close to the one beside it. There is a horrible wrenching noise and the left chopper's rotary suddenly stops moving. If anyone looks close they'll notice that the blade seems to have been turned into some sort of glinting stone. The chopper stalls out and crashes into the ground near where Dingo has fallen. The central chopper then moves toward the right, and the same thing happens to that neighbor. The second chopper hits the ground near the first. The central chopper then continues on its path, moving toward the roof where the shooters are all stationed. They seem a bit confused as the vehicle lands, but after a moment or two they begin shooting at whoever just leapt out of the cockpit.
There is a cracking noise from the rooftop as a sheet of diamond suddenly shoots up from the roof to protect whoever just arrived. Shortly afterward a series of diamond spines erupt from the roof underneath the shooters. It would appear that Envy has somehow gotten a hold of one of the enemy choppers.
"Get the hell off /my/ stage," Kisha suddenly yells using the full main speaker system, complete with horrific levels of distortion. The fire spraying pyrotechnics, normally found on the sort of stages hardcore metal acts prefer, also roar into life. Acting as improvised flamethrowers upon the two men chasing David while they're getting up onto the stage. "Geokinetic is engaging hostiles by side of stage. Anyone able to assist please do as he's pretty useless at it." Oh and if the two men following David aren't put off by fire there is one more surprise in store. Even without working lights the rigging can still be used, if you drop it on someone. "Prodigy get clear!" Thankfully he has some of Kisha's knowledge, like the best places to stand to avoid her boobytraps.
"What?" Mason turns around as he hears Kisha. "I'm not — " That's all the attention that needed to be broken for him to take a good blow to the dirt armored jaw. "Ow!" He grunts. Of course, the person who punched him might hurt more. He stomps the ground again, letting out a small tremor, and then rushes back toward the crowd. He has an idea, but he isn't sure if it'll work. Large spikes start jutting out of the ground, as he continues to stomp. Part stone, part concrete, part dirt, and whatever else happens to be under the pop star turned superhero's feet. He hopes to create a barrier between the attackers and the crowd. But wait…he's on the wrong side of that barrier.
Zoya might have some baddies in her sights but it appears that it won't be necessary to engage that lot. A moment later the whole city goes to hell as two of the choppers suddenly drop from the sky. So long as she's on the roof she has a great vantage point though, and some lovely rifles at her disposal. The stage makes for an obvious target, raised and clear, with one that's clearly a mutant being chased after by some soldier boys. Not on her watch. There's only two of them, if she can't drop 'em she can at least discourage 'em for a bit.
With all of the action at ground level, and one chopper still in the air, Zo's thinking that it's time to move. Longarm in either hand she takes a running start and leaps right off the edge of the building, arms spread out for balance as she sails back down to ground level. The impact of Ruskie with cement is entirely anti-climatic. No cracks, no depressions, barely even sound. She absorbs the impact, shivers slightly, then returns her attention to the soldiers.
Getting the warning from Kisha, David moves to a spot where he will not be affected by her traps and letting Kisha traps get the remaining skills. David leaps off the stage and starts directing some of the remaining passers-by out of harm's way and shoots at any soldiers that hinder this.
The men on the stage cry out as they're caught on fire and shot at. They fall back and try to run to the south. They seem not to notice the earth being rampaging in front of them and end up running straight into his earth wall, knocking themselves unconscious upon impact. The soldiers trapped on the side of the barrier with Mason begin firing at him, one or two throwing grenades.
On top of the roof, another series of crystal eruptions sends a few of the shooters over the edge. Eris smiles at the attackers as the spikes rip three of the attackers to pieces. "Interesting game. I like it. Maybe I'll play it with humans, though." The woman laughs and collapses the wall she was using for protection, forming some of her famous massive star blades and chucking them at the men. The last of them go down with relative ease as the assassin spins amongst them, slashing at them with her crystal weapons.
With all her toys dead Kisha sighs, tucks the arc welder back in the case (using touch and her powers to make up for the sudden lack of light) and prepares to escape. No use sticking around now she's blind and relying upon a nail gun and a hammer for protection! Turning a little sign over so it says 'The mechanical genius has left the building' she crawls through the narrow understage tunnels until she finds the one she wants. A last ditch bolt hole leading into a storm drain through which she can get far enough from mutant town to hopefully evade capture.
As he clears more people out of the way of danger, David spots the eight remaining soldiers and in a rather angry displays with the last remaining rounds he takes aim and fires at them once again aiming for unarmored parts.
Mason doesn't notice at all while the enemies trip over the back side of his defensive wall. He's more concerned with the incoming bullets. His armor isn't thick enough for that, and he's at point blank range. He takes one of the rounds in the center of mass. Fortunately, it wasn't an assault round, it was just a submachine gun. It pierces his armor, and bounces off of his stone hard sternum, knocking him flat on his back. While he'll live, it hurts a LOT, and he stops moving, going into a state of shock from the impact.
A few of the men toward the back of the crowd get knocked down from David's bullets. The others stop charging and take aim at Mason, stopping for a moment to check if they killed him. One or two in the back attempt to fire at David on the stage above.
There is a series of cracking noises from the building Eris was on top of. The woman has created a massive crystal slide on the side of the building, which she uses to get down to ground level in a matter of seconds. Eris runs forward, charging across the field in an attempt to get to the shooters before they can do any harm to mason. Halfway to her targets she begins flinging crystal spines at the assailants, striking one of them in the face and promptly ending his life. Before she can get too close a blast of machinegun fire cuts across her path, sending the woman sprawling into a pile of sand.
Mason coughs, he's not dead, but he's rather immobile. He looks down his chest to see the approaching enemies, and grabs the ground. His fingers dig in, and he pulls. The layer of topsoil shifts beneath his foes' feet to pull the ground out from under them like shifting a carpet.
Sensing the shots coming his way David dodges and returns fire, "I'm really trying not to kill you. Just lay down and give up already!" Up on his feet, he charges towards them to make it a more physical fight if he needs to.
The remaining shooters fall to the ground when Mason pulls the ground from under them. This causes David's shots to miss. Envy manages to make it to her feet again, limping forward on an apparently wounded leg. Once she gets close enough another series of crystal spines erupt from the ground, this time around the shooters. The crystals form a shell around the men, holding them fast against the ground. They're alive, but they won't be moving any time soon. "Just in case Magneto wants to question them. You ok, dirt man?" She glances up at the sand pile and frowns. "They kill Dingo? Magneto won't be happy about that."
Making his way towards Mason and Envy, David exhales a bit and looks around at the mess, "Geo, take this." He passes the boy his trench coat, "To cover up with." Not familiar with Envy he offers, "I'm Prodigy. You saved us you know. And Dingo's not dead. Ok, I'm going to check on Lil and help out" David looks over once more to Mason, "Geo. Head to the Genoshan Embassy. Meet up with the other students and I will meet you all there and take you back to the Institute." With that, David disappears in this mess helping those who he can and searching to assist Lil.
Lil climbs out from under Dingo's paw and looks around tentatively. She's still clutching her shoulder and looking a little pale. "I'm over here. Yeah, the Embassy will have a hospital wing set up, though it'll probably be a little crowded with all this shit." She waves a hand idly and nods to Envy. "Envy, we've heard of you of course. They won't harm you at the Embassy, and the police will be kept outside tonight."
Envy hobbles slightly and frowns at her leg, still losing some blood. She nods to Prodigy and Lil. "Yeah, I'm Envy." The mutant terrorist. Seems like there are a lot of those around here. "And I suppose I can't get too far without my leg. And I think Magneto fried the electronics." She shakes her head and looks around the city. "Alright, shall we?" Two crystal crutches shoot up from the ground for the woman. She takes them and begins heading toward the Embassy.
Mason slowly reaches up to feel his bullet wound. "I don't think I am," he grunts toward Envy. It's muffled behind his dirt mask, and hard to understand. "I need…" he takes the trench coat and drags it over himself. "It's cold. Why did this have to be in December?" He starts to try to get back to his feet, but hey, he just got shot.
After seeing Lil is ok, "Alright. I should help Geo." With that he returns to help Mason, "Come on. I have you."
Lil and Envy move toward the Embassy, Lil looking back once at the massive sand Dingo and shaking her head before moving on. "Hurry up. If the media gets here they'll want to interview all of us. And Envy here isn't too popular with the news right now."
~ Fin ~
