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Summary: Ice cream night is rudely interrupted by mutant hunters and a masked man.
Date: 05-17-2010
Log Title Who was that masked mutant?!
Rating: R (V)
Westchester - Salem Center
The parking lot that serves Salem Center is expansive. The mall building being the largest in the area, most of the traffic is aimed for there. However, there are a number of independent buildings along the edges of the parking lot and across the street. Benches dot the sidewalks that line the buildings, along with trash cans, bushes, trees and lamps. There is a large archway that leads to the mall entrance.
It's been a wonderful ice cream day! Really has. The weather has been perfect for this, and spring settled on a comfortable temperature for once. Ice cream was yummy, and company great. Things don't go wrong until everyone is outside, some perhaps lingering over their chosen flavors. The sun has set, the sky is growing dark, and it's time to start back to the school before curfew.
That's of course when the strange sounds are heard. Like movie space ships. Whirring and sliding through the air.. that is growing louder. Time enough to hear the sound and then perhaps duck as what might be described as a skycycle appears over a rooftop. It careens across the street and crashes into the building across the way.
The pilot of this skycycle is shrieking just before impact, and he's wearing some strange military like attire in reds and blues. He seems unable to do anything as he fights the controls to try and turn.
A second form, which had been riding on very unsafe ways on the back of the skycycle leaps off at the last moment. Unlike the others this one is wearing black motorcycle leathers, complete with face obscuring helmet. There's a distinctive white, right sleeve on his attire though, like the dark had been leeched away and gradually returned to black at the shoulder. The landing is a little rough as he pulls distortions of air around himself and slides across roof tiles down towards the street. A controlled fall, it's none the less going to hurt on landing.
Two more skycycles come screaming over that first rooftop even as the first crashes, and the black clad one slides. Each of these carries two soliders. One of which is armed. Bullets soon fly, and people are soon screaming and running. Well, those that hadn't already run to hide…
"The curse strikes again," Mike mutters, as EVERY time he comes to Salem Center, something horrible seems to happen. Being of the non-ice-cream-eating persuasion, Mike was actually along for the fun, and explained "Making weight," to the person at the counter when he just got water. Yeah, silly highschool jocks and their 'all water before the weigh-in' diets. He's just taken his empty cup to the trash when the local version of combat hell breaks loose, and he has several seconds to observe what happens to the others before he reaches them.
If fate decided that it'd be a good idea to give Mike no tastebuds with his mutation and the ability to not eat, well Robyn thinks that it's good cause for Fate to get a kick in the rear. He's just finished his ice cream, Coffee Lovers Only Special Creation, and is just stepping outside to hear a crash and then chaos as guns start firing. "Oh shit!" Robyn exclaims and looks around, trying to focus on what's going on, and see if anyone is in any danger.
Cheesecake with apples in a waffle cone… surely there is no greater proof of the existence of God in man, than cheesecake ice cream. Unfortunately, this moment of divine inspiration *has* to be shattered by gunfire and explosions and screaming, and Rashmi's head whips around to the source of the chaos. For a moment, she simply stares, her free hand slowly clenching into a fist, and finally she lets out a resigned, heavy sigh. "All right," she grumbles, pausing to contemplate the treasure in her hand, soon to be discarded. "The sooner they go away, the sooner we can try this again. *I'll* pay this time, too."
The dregs of what for another person would be a caffiene nightmare… in this case one of the new Mountain Dew slushies in the largest container they offer… is just exiting Connor's straw in time to be swallowed when the crash happens. Turning his head to look up and over, his eyes not going wide, but instead going somewhat calm as he brain processes the person coming off the bike, then the two more bikes flying by and the weapons opening up. Tossing the cup behind him and into the bin, he looks over at the others, "They're not locals… some kind of port. Felt a weird tug on me… thought it was the caffiene rush. You're in charge, Rashmi." Just deciding it then and there as his eyes begin to emit their aquamarine glow.
One skycycle continues up and over the crashed into building, which smokes by the way, but the other pulls up and turns on a dime. This gives the gunman a chance to shoot at the guy in black. The automatic rifle spews out a stream of bullets that impact the pavement and go in all directions.
The black clad one lifts a hand, fingers spread, and the distortion makes the bullets disappear before they hit. He's a gun though, and he shoots right back, even though he's a pistol instead of an automatic rifle. He's aiming for the pilot too.
Said pilot protests with a swear and pulls the cycle to the side. A little too late. "You said he didn't have a gun!" Hunched over now as he grips his side. The one with the rifle leans forward in a desperate attempt to keep the skycycle from crashing, "We took his guns! I swear!"
Guns. Mike's motor goes a bit faster. They have guns and they're shooting without caring where they're shooting. That's a bad thing, right? OK, so now what? Throw something? What? Oh, there's a table here. Mike 'speaks' a command to the image inducer, and the human kid is replaced by a black motorcycle-droid wearing a full-face-coverage black motorcycle helmet. Red speed lines do NOT glow brightly to create a nice target. He grabs a round-topped table, and snaps the legs off, then waits for the right moment to fling the tabletop like a frizbee at the guy standing on the skycycle. If he gets hurt, well, he's shooting bullets at people, that's the price of not knowing your downrange.
Looking to his friends Robyn takes a deep breath and say quietly, but loud enough for his friends to hopefully hear. "I'm going in, watch my body." Since ripping legs off of a table takes time, before Mike can throw it, Robyn's eyes flash purple and he goes to posses the gunman, hoping to slip inside his mind so that he can have control of him. Hopefully he doesn't have any mental protection.
With a scowl, Rashmi throws her treat into a nearby trash can, kneeling to place herself between the melee and Robyn's body. "Connor," she says, voice short as her eyes flick left and right between the soldiers and their target, "think you can get their guns?"
Two balls of iridescent blue-green light appears in his hands as he steps out, and spins, throwing first with his left, and then his right, aiming the first shot to the shooter and his wounded companion… the other towards the unmolested pair. Connor's targets are the assault rifles, his intent to grab and yank both to him as he yells out, "Sensors up, Meck! Get a read! Badge or ID!" For a moment though he looks towards the man throwing up a startlingly similar disc of force…
The gunman on the cycle is very easily taken over. He's shocked at it, never having expected this to occur. In moments Robyn has total control. The helmet he's wearing has a heads up display, complete with glowing dots for where people are.
The pilot attempts to help, and the cycle pulls back up into the air instead of hitting another building. He doesn't even notice when his gun is taken.
That second Skycycle finally comes into view again. It had ducked behind a building and now races down an alley, shooting at the black clad one. Warned by the sounds, the man simply disappears. No special effects - he's just gone. The bullets continue right towards Rashmi!
The Cycle clears the alley in time for Mike to throw that table top. The pilot cries out in surprise and attempts to wrench his vehicle to the side. This fails miserably. The gunman goes flying as the cycle, with pilot, hits the pavement. Skidding, sparks flying, it goes screaming to a crashing halt against the ice cream parlor.
"Negative ID, Chaser," Mike yells, as he last-minute switches his aim to the incoming, then flings that tabletop. The results are satisfactory, but hopefully Rashmi isn't hit, because his earlier "sensor scan" was mostly turning up the gain on his hearing just a bit, and he hears a third engine. He turns and calls, "Bogey in back!" and sprints down the alley towards the back of the shop, hoping to get there in time to jump into the cycle. And by "sprint" … he's doing 30MPH by the fourth step.
Now that he's inside the gunman, Robyn takes the gun that's in his hands and points it right in the back of the pilot. He has about ten minutes to do what he wants to do as quick as possible. "Okay, land the plane or you're going to get a few more bullets in you." Robyn says to the pilot as the gunman. He doesn't really plan on shooting him, but hopefully his target doesn't know that. Once/If the skycycle lands, Robyn wants to see what kind of readouts on the screen there are.
Rashmi curls down over Robyn, glowing orbs fading into view and whirling madly in a randomized hemisphere above her… just in time, too, as bullets spang off the solid orbs of force, ricocheted away from her in all directions. Unhurt, but very upset, now, she lifts her head to look over her shoulder, glaring in the direction of the gunman. "Meck!" she calls, glance flicking meaningfully toward the crash site. "Feel like taking a flight?"
Taking a moment in the din of warfare to examine the weapon that he managed to grab to him, he reaches up and ejects the magazine, drops the round in the chamber as was talked about in firearms safety, just before Connor crushes the gun and leaves it in a twisted heap on the ground. Moving towards where Rashmi is currently, two more energy fastballs go rocketing off, this time to hit the pilot and gunner of the downed vehicle, attempting to pin them to the wall, "Go… I've got him covered." His voice steady and calm… moreso that he would be under most other circumstance, his hands open and towards his targets, splayed wide to spread the field and 'catch' them both.
The black clad one appears, a gun in each hand, in the middle of the street. Not far from Rashmi. Only she might notice that he's favoring a leg, and there's slick dark on black leather of his left side. Mike is running and the black clad one is shooting. He proves the perfect distraction. A return burst of fire from the third cycle as the pilot seeks to turn it out of the line of fire, but then Mike is there. Rashmi gets a front row seat of the man in black making the air distort again and make bullets disappear before they hit him.
"What?" The pilot Robyn is threatening looks back over a shoulder in shock. There's very little pause though as the pilot throws himself backwards, trying to headbutt Robyn off the cycle. Even at risk to himself thanks to that gun.
Now, that downed cycle isn't out for the count. Both it's gunman and pilot are getting to their feet. ..in time to take energy to the face. There's a good deal of flailing, but neither one is able to do much.
And just before he disappears again, the black clad one starts in surprise as Connor uses his power.
Computer brain running at high speed. Minor changes only. MeckInBlack reaches the back, and jumps up, motor running. The pilot and gunner doubtless want to shoot at him but he vanishes the second he's within 4 feet of the skycycle. And then it does something that it should never do. It talks.
"MINE NOW. What? No seatbelts? Are you nuts?"
A pair of parachute-restraint-harnesses attached to the seat (where did those come from?) whip out and encircle the pilot and the gunman, and a second set of restraints wraps around the pilot's wrists. Then the skycycle says, "Hold on." And goes UP. Vertically.
Not expecting the headbutt, Robyn loses his balance and gets knocked off the back of the skycopter in the gunman's body, he also loses his grip on the gun. Robyn chooses to leave the body as he falls and go back into his own. There's a shudder of breath as his eyes flash open and he sits up. "Thanks Summoner." He says as he looks around. "There's all sorts of readouts inside their helmets, I didn't get to see it."
Releasing his grabs on the pair now that Meck has them fair in hand, Connor slips his hand into his pocket and presses his phone to Robyn's hands, "I'm going for backup… this is getting too out of control. Get a picture of the one in black… and warn the others. He's using my powers. I'll see if I can get X-Force down here to help contain things and get these guys before they get away. Don't let the guy catch you taking the picture, if you can." All whispered to his friend and roomie before he then says, "Don't worry… you can do this." And with that he stands up, looking around once more… and then he's just gone… the same distortion-ripple in the air and sound of air collapsing into vacuum marking his passing.
Squeezing his pair he has his hands on until they go limp from unconsciousness, Connor slips his hand into his pocket and presses his phone to Robyn's hands, "I'm going for backup… this is getting too out of control. Get a picture of the one in black… and warn the others. He's using my powers. I'll see if I can get X-Force down here to help contain things and get these guys before they get away. Don't let the guy catch you taking the picture, if you can." All whispered to his friend and roomie before he then says, "Don't worry… you can do this." And with that he stands up, looking around once more… and then he's just gone… the same distortion-ripple in the air and sound of air collapsing into vacuum marking his passing.
Rashmi nods shortly, patting Robyn's shoulder as she stands. "That's all right. The important thing is that we get them to stop shooting. *Then* we can find out what the hell they're after." About to say more, she looks up as Connor states his intent, and nods. "Hit the panic button too, Robyn, then start knocking them down, okay?" Drawing in a deep breath, she starts to make her way toward (*toward!*) the shooting in something like a combat crouch, spheres whirling close around her.
"Hey!" "What?!" This as the two red and blue clad men on Mike exclaim as their skycycle not only talks, but they are suddenly tied up. There is a comical moment as both look terrified and wide-eyed just before Mike goes up, and then they are shrieking like schoolgirls.
The gunman Robyn leaves wakes up a little too late, and he hits the ground with a heavy sound. It knocks the air out of his lungs, so he lays there, stunned. The pilot meanwhile tries to gain lift. If only to get away. This place is scary! He doesn't actually get anywhere though. The black clad one appears as the cycle starts lifting and motions at it with an arm. Pieces of the cycle simply drop off, cleanly sheered. It knocks the cycle out of the sky, and it repeats the other.. skidding wildly along the side walk, bouncing a couple times before impacting a car. The pilot throws himself off, and after rolling to a stop, curls on his side to moan in pain.
Limping heavily, the black clad one takes a couple steps before stopping to watch the cycle go bouncing down. His guns are in their holsters, one at each hip. He turns back towards where Rashmi and Robyn are, and as Connor disappears. Reacting to it. Even in heavy leathers it's obvious he's breathing heavily. The helmet lifts to watch Mike go upwards. The shooting appears to be over, and most the 'bad guys' down. Excepting for those Mike has.
Speaking of which… MikeTheSkyBike is looking over his passengers. This is NOT a familiar bike. Dumb luck that he got the "up" lever. He steels himself, and starts syncing with the driver. Not caring for the moment whether it makes the man an addict for a week, because really, Shooting. At. People. The gunman, on the other… no hands, OK, fine. On the other rotor. Mike tries to slip the safety on the gun into the "ON" position so the guy can't fire it. He's not sure how this works, but he doesn't worry about it because most of his attention is focussed on the movement, and the rest is figuring out what the bike has on it. Weapons, fuel, capacity, etc.
Knock 'em down, that's what Rashmi said, so Robyn pushes himself up and goes to jump on the guy that he was possessing earlier. As he goes to jump on him, Robyn forms a psionic dagger in his hand and goes to stab the gunman, he figures it'll give him a good mental attack and go right through any armour. Robyn's eyes glow purple as he forms it. "How many are there?" He shouts to try to get a count on what's going on.
"Just a couple left!" Rashmi calls, "and they look pretty spooked already… wait what about that other one Meck was talking about?" Shaking her head, she turns her gaze toward the black-clad combatant, dark eyes hard. "…And what the *hell* is important enough to bring a gunfight to the *middle of town?!*"
The skybike Mike controls has no weapons. It's run by some kind of battery, can go 80 miles an hour at stop speed, and hover. The pilot is stunned as he's linked to, and finds himself totally disgusted. Stinking muties! He fights the link, for all that he honestly has no idea how to.
The gunman Robyn possessed can put up little fight. He moans in protest as he's jumped on, and is quite quickly knocked out. There is a pilot, the shot one, laying not too far away. The pilot isn't moving. The crew of Connor took out lay unconscious. The only ones left are the two Mike is toying with, and the black clad one Rashmi is chiding.
Speaking of him, he tilts his head slightly, and makes no reply. Looks away from Rashmi and up to the roof where that first cycle is now catching fire in the roof. His attention is quickly brought elsewhere though. He starts and looks off as Connor teleports adults from the school. The gate effect appears and the man in black disappears. Unlike Connor there are no sound effects, no light effects. He's simply gone.
Jonothon is wrapped in psy-fire as he appears, but really, what's to do? He smirks as he looks around. «And you called for help, why?» Does eye the roof though and strides off to put out the fire. «Meck, would you stop playing with them?» Kenta came too, but his actions are his own.
Mike's voice comes over the comm, on the student band. Trying, Chamber, but I haven't found the … ah, there it is.
He moves forward and down, to come in to a landing in front of the creamery, with a VERY happy pilot and a probably less happy, somewhat shaken up gunman whose guns are all jammed. (Nausea may also be involved. There was some shaking and jinking while Mike was figuring out how things work.)
Even though the guy puts up a struggle and Robyn gets a few hits, when he stabs the guy and he's knocked out, the first thing he tries to do is get the helmet off of him. "Hey Chamber. They're not as tough as they want to seem." Robyn says in regards to needing help. He looks for the guy in black that everyone was firing on. "You okay?"
Rashmi looses an irritated harrumph as the mystery man gates away, stamping her foot and turning to face Jono and Kenta. "Because with flying bikes, guns, people teleporting, and lots of bullets, we don't want to take chances. Besides… *I* just wanted to have some ice cream, damn it all, not get into a fight with whoever these jerks are."
Yes, the poor gunman suffering through Mikecycle is looking distinctly green. The pilot meanwhile doesn't seem to care that he's linked to a mutant anymore. Neither one is putting up much fight by the time Mike lands.
A bit of psy-fire tendril shakes into the building and the smoke gently stops as Jonothon puts out the fire. He also pulls out both pilot and ruined cycle to set them on the pavement. Pauses to check the pilot, for the man looks bad. «Sorry, gel.» That to Rashmi as she protests her ruined evening. «Anyone called 911 yet?» Hell yes the npcs have, but the police aren't quite here yet. Soon though. Soon enough that Jono looks off at the sirens even as he asks. «Alright. Time for us to go. Sorry about your ruined evening, Summoner. Mech, leave it.» The bike he means.
The helmet can be gotten, and it still works just fine for being worn. Tinny voices come through it as someone demands that strike teams report in.
"LEAVE IT?" The skybikeMike says, outraged. "Uh, someone better put these guys out then. If I leave it they won't be strapped down."
His "pet" pilot giggles a bit, apparently high as a kite, but who knows how long that will last.
"Maybe I can get one of the wrecked ones from the impound lot later," Mike mutters.
"Give me two minutes, I'm not bringing this back with me." Robyn really wants to check out that helmet later to figure out what this all about so he puts it on quick, just to get a read out. He's afraid that if he brings it back, it will be able to be tracked so get the info here and then go.
Rashmi shrugs. "It's okay… It's not anyone *else's* fault, anyway…" Turning her head toward the sirens, the redhead scowls, glancing from the remaining riders to the Coldstone, and the promise of cheesecake ice cream in the future. Sighing, she approaches the MeckCycle, frowning deeply, spheres buzzing and spinning aound her. "*Fine.* The moment you're free," she says to the two riders, "jackets and helmets off. And *don't* try anything stupid." Two of the spheres dart down, smacking audibly against the asphalt to emphasize her point. "I'm already *really* annoyed."
«Meck.» Jonothon is in no mood to be argued with. Leaving the wounded pilot where he can be reached, the Brit walks to Robyne and peers at the helmet. Assured it's not going with he just watches. The voices inside have stopped by the time Robyn puts it on, for after demanding teams check in, the voices called for full withdraw. That can be heard. The scene though shows where everyone is, some people brighter dots than others. Even people hiding in buildings can be found, and their dots very small in comparison to the mutants around.
The pilot Rashmi threatens even smiles as he peels out of his helmet and jacket. The Gunman not so much. It has Jono looking to Robyn, «Knock them out? We really have to go.» Lights from police cars are visible. The next bit he speaks into his comm, «Connor, do us a favor..» And if everyone will, the group is soon teleported back to Xaviers.
MechInBlack steps away from the skycycle, the engine dying as he does so. The spark plugs are in his left hand; he drops them. And as he steps out the straps and tie-downs vanish, so they're free to try to escape, though probably only the gunman would care to do so, if he thinks the angry little red-haired girl in the sari wouldn't make him very sorry for doing so. But then, the mutants may well disappear before he has time to worry about it.
"Chamber, it's not easy for me to knock them out with out rushing them." Robyn says as he tosses aside the helmet and he's convinced they are mutant hunters of some sort. He walks over to Jono looking none to happy about the whole situation. "I guess we're getting out of here?" He says looking over to make sure Rashmi's okay.
Rashmi immediately uses the discarded jacket to, if inexpertly, bind the gunman's arms behind his back, glaring up at him the entire time. "Thanks a *lot,* by the way… I almost had a nice and normal day until *you* came along… Jerk." With a snort, she turns and hurries back toward the others, to be teleported back to the school. Fuming is very probably on the agenda for the next handful of hours.
