13479/Bushwick Bound: Red Light, Green Light
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Bushwick Bound: Red Light, Green Light | |
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Date of Scene: | 04 December 2022 |
Location: | Bushwick <Mutant Town> |
Synopsis: | A young mutant is pursued through Bushwick by a group of mysterious figures intent on capturing her, but the quick intervention by a whole host of brave Mutant Town residents (and visitors) manage to track her down and save her at the very last possible moment! |
Cast of Characters: | Tommy Shepherd, Emma Frost, Remy LeBeau, Micola Maximoff, Bunny Macleod, Raven Darkholme, Tabitha Smith, Pietro Maximoff
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- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Five days ago, a young mutant lost control of her burgeoning powers and injured several people outside a coffee shop in Gotham before disappearing
Five days ago, Sophia Nguyen, 14, went missing in Gotham, and rumors of have spread regarding why. Most theories revolve around some kind of foul play being involved, as her father owns several very successful car dealerships up and down the east coast.
Five days ago, a young girl named Sophie ran away from her abusive mother and has been camping in one of the parks in Bushwick, surviving primarily thanks to the kindness of others.
These three things are, as one might imagine, very interconnected.
Daylight savings time being what it is (a hateful, hateful thing) it's barely dinner time in New York and the sun has already set fully. One of the local cart vendors had shoved three hotdogs into Sophie's hands, free of charge, and urged here to go to the Genoshan Embassy, or Hope House. But he could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't done running yet, and before he'd even had a chance to reach out to her, the young girl had begun to glow like a miniature sun and then with a *POP!* disappeared from view.
These things, of course, happen in Mutant Town. The cart vendor, who goes by Truck and can generate ice crystals all over his body, sighs as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and sends a few texts out before he returns to manning the hotdog cart.
Truck is just a nickname from his childhood, if anyone was wondering.
Sophie rematerializes in an alleyway a block over, and it's right there that she huddles down against a damp wall and unwraps her meal for the day, scarfing it down like any hungry child might. She doesn't see the dark figure down at the mouth of the alley watching her.
No more than five minutes later, Sophie's high-pitched scream echoes out into the chilled night air.
- Emma Frost has posed:
Emma doesn't often go into Bushwick. The area manages itself. However, some of Roberto's proposals for X-Corporation at least have some passing interest garnered from her, so Emma's in town looking over some of the proposals. The missing children are not on her agenda, nor is she aware of them. Unfortunately, it's a very big world with a great many things going on. Most of which Emma Frost is unaware of. Despite her grand wishes contrary, she os not all knowing despite her best efforts.
So, when someone appears out of midair in a dark alleyway nearby to her location, she isn't aware o fit. When there's that scream.. That has her quickly breaking out into a jog in that direction. Emma's mind goes alert, trying to scan the area even as she puts out a feel for other members of Xavier's to see if she can give them an alert and have aid brought in.
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy had work to do and was working hard on doing that work here in Mutant Town.
He steps out of a business doorway, holding a brand new donut, and a brand new cup of coffee. Wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, a leather jacket over that, and blue jeans with leather boots, he just looks like any random person here in Bushwick.
A sip of the coffe is taken, the donut bit in to, as Remy steps out on to the sidewalk, and starts working on that hard work. Walking, and enjoying his donut and coffee.
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Micola's got her usual volunteering that she does in Bushwick down to a science. Sunday's tend to run long and she'd texted Pietro to tell him that she was running a little late tonight so that he wouldn't worry. She has her bag over her shoulder and heading out of Mootant Town Milkshakes with a white chocolate and peppermint shake that she's been wanting since she got into the area. There's a bit of a sigh as she takes one sip of the cold treat.
Then there's a scream.
She closes her eyes and then opens them again, she sits the shake down on the window sill and then starts to hurry in the directions where she heard the scream, because that was definitely not a good thing to here in this area.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
The area manages itself because the people are used to being on their own.
Bunny MacLeod (of Clan MacLeod Messenger Services) was hanging out in front of a building to get some fresh air and get away from the crowded state of her apartment house after making sure the younger siblings were fed and the older siblings had food for after work. She breathes out, rubbing a hand through her bright pink hair before she hears the scream.
The teenager pulls the pink hood of her hoodie up, showing the little screenprinted wings on it as she kicks off the sidewalk and begins to skate in the direction of the scream.
"Hang on hang on hang on --" she whispers, a pre-typed message going out:
"Gonna be late D: Bad News"
- Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique spent a great deal of time in Bushwick, in fact many members of the Brotherhood did. The patrols through the streets were still a thing, happening day and night to help maintain some sense of order to a place of pure chaos where only one unit in the police department would go.
Tonight was one of those nights that Mystique was the patrol, joined by a small drone that hovered over her shoulder. The drone sent images and sounds to H & R on the Asteroid, the two mutants who rain the mainframe and kept track known mutant movements around the world, as well as any new blossoming mutants they could find. They obviously were no Cerebro, but did the best they could.
The scream grabbed Mystique's attention and had her darting toward the sound across the rooftops. The drone could have gotten there more quickly, but there was no way that H & R were going to be the ones to explain to Magneto and other members of the Brotherhood that they "lost" Mystique in Bushwick.
- Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby herself had been in Mutant town. Some of the shopping for clothes is nice when you can find a good pair of pre-loved jeans that fit snug, and have unstable molecules already set in. Good for when your powers tend towards the side of pyromania.
Though shopping did have to take a break cause she needed sugar. Moo-tant Town Milkshakes got her covered as much as the yellow jeans and brown woll lined bolero cut bomber jackert does. Hair in her long wild ponytail and glasses on her nose. Spiky belt, collar, and wrist cuffs in red set off the browns and yellows while red chucks on her feet keep toes warm.
The scream doesn't just hit her ears. The sense of fear hits the novice telepath and that just gets a yikes as the blonde gets that compulsive hero urge and just has to chase after the sound.
- Pietro Maximoff has posed:
Vroom, or more appropriately, fwoosh! Pietro was out and about, done with his evening patrols as he veered into Bushwick. Micola was running behind, and he figured he'd meet her on the way home. It wasn't /too/ hard for him to find her, zipping up and down the streets as he often did. It was a bit brisk out, so he wanted to make certain she'd get home all right!
He heard the scream as he'd spotted Micola, rushing up behind her and scooping up her milkshake. No need to let it go to waste, after all!
"'Tis the season." He remarked to her, falling into stride beside her. "Need a lift?" He nods towards the direction of the unsettling sound.
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
To those with telepathic senses, Bushwick is as much a densely packed cluster of people as any neighborhood of the Big Apple is expected to be, but there is one stand-out: a young mind, terribly fearful, her thoughts discordant. Unfortunately she also seems to blip in and out of existence in a way that makes her very difficult to track.
Like a pinball, bouncing back and forth and rebounding off the boundary walls of the neighborhood.
And then of course the pinball board (machine?) is flooded with other... balls... this analogy has broken down. Sophie's scream has created a ripple effect, as parents fearfully clutch their children close to them on the sidewalks, young couples cling to each other, and those out on their lonesome begin to rush towards home. It's a fairly localized effect, but that still means dozens of people who are now scared.
Of course there are many within Bushwick who hear the scream and run towards it, concerned but also willing to help. A young woman whose skin shifts like a chameleon on speed takes up a similarly paced jog not far behind Emma. One of the previously mentioned young couples huddle close to each other, but then share a determined look, and they break out into a run only a handful of steps ahead of Micola, headed in the same direction. And Bunny gets a whole gaggle of teenagers-slash-fellow-skaters (though of the -board variety) at her heels. Tabitha... gets a cat. A calico that actually seems actively running towards the scream with intention, which is not particularly cat-like. It's only a few seconds before the cat leaps into the air and her body twists and morphs, landing on the balls of her feet in a much more human form (if still a bit furry in spots) to continue the chase on two legs.
Given that Mystique is on the rooftops, she is running alone, birds taking flight in a flurry of feathers to clear the way for her. Though Micola gets an additional member of her unintentional entourage when Pietro arrives.
It's strange, though, that everyone seems to be running in different directions.
Then the scream sounds again, and things become clear; it starts in one spot and then suddenly it seems like it's coming from somewhere two blocks in the opposite direction, and then, no, it's actually coming from an entirely different alleyway somewhere else. Whoever she is, she's scared but she's also not in the same spot from one second to another. To those in the crowd with superfast perception, it's not as if she's moving back and forth, it's an instantaneous change in location.
And meanwhile, Remy's donut... is delicious. Yum.
- Emma Frost has posed:
Her warning sent on out, Emma Frost spreads it through as many familar minds as she can before heading along. Lovely, the girl seems to be a teleporter. The way she shifts and moves so quickly, even if Emma's not sure is idnicative of that. Or she can move so fast but in bursts it might as well be the same thing.
The way the scream is spreading, a localized fear effect catches Emma by surprise. It's moving.. Normally mutant powers have a relation to one another. A speeder has enhanced reflexes and can think faster. Someone with wings would be stronger and more flexible. So having the seeming combination of a teleporter and psionics seems to her to indicate that it's two different things.
Emma can't keep up with the quick motions or telepathically track the mover fast enough to intercept and try to calm them down or ask what's going on. And the effects of the fear seem to be too random for her to try and block it out or track it. Sos he can just keep on running in that direction.
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
You see, Remy doesn't hear screams because he's wearing earbuds under his hood. Jamming out to some music while scarfing his delicious sprinkles-covered donut, the Cajun man takes another sip of that mocha white chocolate latte, the kind that Rogue used to order for him.
He has no god damn idea what is going on. He's just bobbing his head and walking along the side street, ironically not far from some of those who are running and trying to help.
Remy does notice some side street vendors reacting to something, and he looks up at them, but when they look at him, he looks away again... A lot of mutants here wouldn't be hapy to see 'Remy LeBeau' after what was released about him and the Massacre'.
'Keep your head down. Keep out of trouble, Remy' He tells himself.
'God damn this is a good donut.
' He also tells himself.
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Micola actually jumps when she hears Pietro's voice beside her, she's just jumpy in generaly these last few days. "I think we could use some help." she admits. Then there is another scream...but it's moved. She looks to Pietro, worry in those hazel eyes of hers. "Hold that for another second for me." she whispers to her future husband. She reaches out with her hand and that eerie green magical energy that she uses is summoned. With it come two ghosts from the local area, "I apologize, but we could use help finding who is screaming. They seem to be moving." she tells the ghosts. They set about their search with little issue.
She looks back to Pietro, "Got some more help." she tells him. Then she's walking with him again, "They are having trouble locating...yellowish light is with it." she states as she seems to be seeing through another set of eyes at the moment.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
Bunny skids to a stop, holding up a hand for her incidental entourage as she realizes the scream jumps. Inexperienced though she is, she hitches her breath.
She looks over the skaters, and gives a smile.
"Looking good tonight, guys." she states, and flicks some of her pink hair to the side.
"I guess anyone who wants to play hero, let's Marco Polo. Find the girl?" She rolls her shoulders, and then gives a bright grin back. "Yell Polo." she then pushes off a mailbox, dragging a lead pipe out of her sleeve.
"No one gets left behind this time." she states grimly as she darts down an alley that might be an echo, might be another scream!
- Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique doesn't need particularly fancy mutant powers when she has the twins, H & R, operating a drone from the Asteroid. She can hear their report through her ear piece, the screams moving instantaneously from one location to another, indicating a teleporter.
Skidding to a complete stop on the roof of the clinic, she reaches up to tap the ear piece. <"Have Ritz drop in three more drones, two for each of you, and start triangulating the locations of the screams for a repeating pattern." she speaks to the twins directly. "While she's teleporting them in, tell the next two patrol units to get their asses in gear and get down here... now.">
Moving to the edge of the roof, she pulls a pair of binoculars from her small pack and starts looking the area over, trying to get eyes on anything and anyone out of the ordinary, or the person screaming if she can. There was no way to catch a teleporter, even with another teleporter, as their movements were sporadic and wild, all she could do was hope for a pattern.
- Tabitha Smith has posed:
The cat adorable as it is turning into a human shape and maybe thankfully not completely bare skin with that fur that the mutant isn't freezing. Tabby might seem releived. She's definitely not weirded out. One of her best friends is a wolf shifter after all and it's not like she has had a stable morphology of late.
It was a cow last time. Pesky weird mystical mutagenic malarkey.
A few familiar minds start showing their presence and the blonde while giving chase. "What the crap? I coulda swore this was where I heard her!" she looks around and with a lot of struggling tries to scan for the same mind that matched the scream she just heard, but with everyone in the area being messed with it just starts getting her as much a headache as she might have if she gulped down that near frozen shake in her hands.
The real talent is not spilling and popping the lid loose. A good chocolate milkshake is something to protect!
Of course having been a former street kid herself, she looks around, if there's a hiding spot, and there is always one, she's looking for it. Whether it's occupied or not is a different thing. She might not quite have noticed any teleportation.
- Pietro Maximoff has posed:
Magic, that was more of a Wanda thing. And a Micola thing, clearly. Pietro simply nods to the woman as she starts working her eldritch mojo. He even sneaks in a sip from her shake, watching as the energy coalesces into two apparitions. Yep - nothing he's particularly suited for, in terms of handling. His eyes dart from one ghost to the other, watching as they move off.
Walking resumed, he nods. "Yellowish light? Traffic light perhaps? An old sodium street light?" He hrms, trying to recall if he blurred by anything specific lighting-wise, that was a yellow hue. "Let me know when and where, and I'll get you there quick as I can, yes?"
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
The invisible fog of fear that has begun to creep into minds isn't spreading. Not outside of these few narrow streets, at least; not outside of Bushwick. Its touch has prompted a few already into a fight-or-flight response (heavy emphasis on that second one) and it has not yet dimmed in its intensity. Wherever it's originating from, it stems from real, true fear for one's life.
It is however fairly easy to tell that it comes from an outside source. The other couple searching with Micola and Pietro had fought it off, as had the kids who now look to Bunny for guidance. Collectively they all nod and pair up, skating away down every available avenue. One calls out, "Hey, I think I saw something!" from down the street. "Like a weird flash of light!" She's pointing, but then she shakes her head and yells an additional "Nevermind, no one here!"
Several other sightings occur. One of the spectral beings Micola communicates with has already encountered that light. A bright yellow burst of illumination. One of the drones will catch it via its optical sensor, and the intensity of the scream syncs up briefly in that direction. Before, again, disappearing. Seemingly no rhyme or reason to the disturbances yet; totally random.
Tabitha and her previously-feline companion pass by a closed-off subway tunnel in their search for hidey-holes, and down those steps they catch a brief glimpse of a girl. She's huddled to the ground, hands over her head, and she's screaming. And she's glowing like a sun. But then she blinks right out of reality, gone just as fast as she appeared.
Then the subway gate rattles, and two figures in non-descript tactical gear break through it, one aiming a rifle-mounted flashlight at the spot the girl was just standing. The other consults a device in their hands that is letting out quiet blips.
In unison, they lift their heads to look up the stairs, which is when the one on the left finds themselves with a face-full of angry cat mutant, all claws and teeth. A burst of gunfire that embeds itself uselessly into the tunnel wall momentarily breaks into the seemingly-endless scream that echoes off of Bushwick's walls.
Which is when street vendors near Remy all duck down behind their stalls and carts, searching for cover. That gunfire was close by.
- Emma Frost has posed:
The rapid-fire sightings are disorienting. Emma Frost can only discard most of them; the individual is moving too rapidly for them to be useful. So all she can do is pay attention to the most recent of them and try to look for some sort of pattern. She goes to focus, even as she moves to send a telepathic message over to Tabitha and Remy <<Some sort of short range projective empath. Teleporter>> Those two things seem like they shouldn't go together. But they can figure out the particulars later. Then she hears the gunfire and she goes to let out a string of mental profanity even as she's going to try and tug along mental imagery from those along the street ducking for cover to try and get a better idea of what was going on from that end!
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy sees something out of the corner of his eyes. He stops in his tracks and looks to his right.
'Oh my god...' He tells himself as he turns to the right fully now, and steps over to the window on a storefront.
Inside the window is a glass box filled with puppies. Remy presses his nose up against the glass and just smiles from ear to ear. With his music beats going inside his earbuds, his eyes locked on the Golden-doodle puppies that are crawling over one another to try and get Remy's attention, the Cajun just bends down and taps on the glass. "Puppies. Ey'o Puppies!" The Cajun man says, while people behind him all dive behind vendors and take cover when Gunfire goes off.
Remy's head, being hard to telepath due to the natural interference of his mutation keeps any psychic waves from effecting him without being directly sent to attack him.
"Who da big ball'a fuzz behind da cold glass window? All'a you are, dats who!" Remy says while raising his coffee cup up for a sip.
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Micola gives a look to Pietro and there's a smile, "Not sure about the light. Could be anything." she tells him. The sound of gun fire makes her reach out for the man next to her in a bit of a defensive way. Oh this was going to be an eventful night. And she'd been shot back in July as well, so not wanting to relive that so soon.
"The ghosts are getting a better handle on where she might be seen. When I get a location I'll tell you to go." she tells him.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
"Watch the guns! Marco!" Bunny calls out, skating behind a pole and utility box to guard herself, her eyes opening wide up, her fingers curling as she grips that pipe that much harder. Her heart was beating faster, and she could taste bile in her throat.
"... this isso much harder without Gabs and Tommy." she mutters, ducking her head as she pulls her helmet out and clips it on. Just in case. It might stop a bullet.
Maybe.
"I'd even be okay with Ant-Man." she breathes out, skating by a man admiring the puppies.
"SORRYCOMINGTHROUGH."
- Raven Darkholme has posed:
The sound of gunfire sends Mystique darting across the rooftop toward the location, then the binoculars are once again lifted to her eyes to look the streets over. If there is any indication of reaction to the emotional backlash, it is well hidden behind the mask of neutrality that the cobalt mutant has worn for over a hundred years.
She can feel the emotions at the edge of her mind, tickling against her telepathic resistances, fear, terror, probably from the teleporting girl... she was afraid. Empathic and telepathic weren't the same of course, but it was hard to effect something that was constantly changing on the inside. That was one of the many wonderful tricks up the old mutant's sleeve, and the very core of why telepathy didn't work on her. If she wanted it, the very atoms that form her body were constantly in a state of flux and thus impossible to read or track, she could even change herself down to the DNA.
- Tabitha Smith has posed:
That girl is spotted and she and the feline shifting mutant start to slow when the spot and try to approach. Alas the rush of psychic energy hits her and it's a struggle. Tabby's afraid, and angry, trying to fight. The bright light is not her but the glowing plasma in her hands, the need to defend herself, probably when she should run starts lighting up the tunnel when the last source disappears.
This is probably not a good time to be the people in tactical gear. While the feline mutants own instinct is to lash out. The flying bullets just miss Tabitha.
She's afraid, but with her brain having all that fun PTSD, tends to react the wrong way time.
BOOM!
Plasma streams from fingers in directed blasts, like a flamethrower and shotgun's hybrid child. Psionically directed to make sure it hits the shooters and not the feline. "Duck and cover Kitteh!" she calls out in a snarl as she moves to blast away.
She might not know what's happening but scared girl and armed gunmen, it's usually rarely the girl that's the bad guy.
- Pietro Maximoff has posed:
Rabbiting is not too difficult for Pietro - he can be gone in nearly the blink of an eye. Thankfully, though he felt the crashing wave of fear, he was able to stave off the urge to bolt. He looks to Micola, all but vibrating in the need to do 'something'. The gunfire draws his eye to the location where the shots rang out.
"There's something bad out there - or something that can play with emotions." He whispers to her. "Are the ghosts... trying to terrify us? Or is it something else?"
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Fangs and claws are enough to take down the figure cat-girl has pounced upon. Down but not out, maybe, but she hasn't yet stopped slashing her hands at the person beneath her, trying to get at her target's throat through the tactical gear. It helps to be properly feral when you need to be.
Though not so feral that she can't react to a call to duck. She flings herself out of the way of Tabitha's blasts, and her features recede from something much more feline-like back to mostly-human as she observes the smoking wreckage of burned tactical gear and twitching limbs left behind.
"Damn, girl," the cat-girl says, clearly impressed.
Two blocks over in a secluded park courtyard, the bright light flashes again. Sophie Nguyen's scream catches in her throat, which has gone so raw with the effort that she thinks she might taste copper. Her whole body is shaking like a hurricane, and the light fades from her skin. One more intake of breath is all she can manage before she crumples to the ground, unconscious.
Two more figures in tactical gear begin to climb over the back wall of the park, following a signal on a handheld device one carries. The other has a power-blocking collar, primed and ready.
Both telepathic senses and audio sensors will have picked up Sophie's final location, her consciousness (and her screaming) lasting just long enough for a lock-on. And then a spectral lawn keeper, a man who once maintained that very park, appears to Micola to relay the girl's location as well.
One of the vendors, a man behind a hot-dog cart, calls out to Bunny as she skates past. "Girl, what are you doing! You should hide!"
But it's not just Bunny; her entourage is right behind her, the sound of their wheels scraping against the pavement loud in the sudden silence without Sophie's voice permeating the air. Which is a good thing, as they all collectively turn down an alleyway, the group of teens come face-to-face with another pair of people in tactical gear (one with that same tracking device, the other holding their weapon).
- Emma Frost has posed:
It takes her a few moments to sort things out, even as she mvoes to sort out Sophie's location. Emma goes to give a quick warning and coordination for eveyrone that's going to try and pursue to save the girl. At least as many of them as she can tell.
She mvoes to also call out a firm warning over as she can pick up the men and what she can tell from the crowd is a power blocking collar. She's not got the time or oppotunity for a direct mental attack..
But she can try and give away their exact location for someone that's in a better position than herself to go ahead and deal with them or hopefully distract them.
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
The puppies continue to crawl all over one another. Their paws reach up to the glass to bap at it, their little noses leave little streaks as they plant them solidly against the glass.
Tap tap tap tap! Remy's finger on the glass continues, as he lets out a little laugh. When he straightens back up, he turns around right as people rush past him in the opposite direction. He glances down at his donut half remaining, and wads it up in to a ball before shoving the rest of it in his mouth. His coffee chases it as he takes another big swig, then steps over to a trash can beside one of the crouching vendors, hiding from the chaos. The man shouts something at Remy, but with his earbuds in, Gambit doesn't hear it. He just dumps his coffee cup in to the trash, then flings the wadded up paper towel from the donut in after it.
"Gimme da beat now, an' take my soooul. I wanna get lost in your rock'n'rooooll, an' drift away..." The Cajun sings as he steps off the curb, stuffs his hands in his pockets and turns down an alleyway.
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Micola gives a look to Pietro, terrified for a moment while she's trying to figure out where the little girl is. "No, it's not the ghosts. I'm not sure exactly what it is." she admits. She is trying to focus and not run though. She then focuses for a moment on the information that the ghosts are feeding back to her and there is a moment she looks like she might vomit.
"I've got here location, quick!" she tells Pietro. She reaches out to take hold of Pietro's arm in preparation for fast travel as she tells him where to go.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
Bunny brings her arms up. She feels fear and bile in her throat. She brings her fingers out, spreading them wide.
She has forty five seconds.
More if she pushes it. MOre people with guns. More people with tech.
More people to hurt mutants like her. She manifests her shield, the gasoline glisten of the prismatic effect filling the width of the alleyway, showing that the shield was there. And in spite of her fear, in spite of all that nervousness that was making her insides turn to water, she calls out:
"EVERYONE IN! Push them down! You assholes ain't welcome in Bushwick! Ain't welcome in Brooklyn!" she calls out, and with a rebel yell she cries out and tries to rally her incidental posse into bulldozing those assholes into the ground.
"Twenty bucks to anyone who gets me their techy shit!"
- Raven Darkholme has posed:
The drones continue to circle and take readings, triangulating the area for a pattern that they then report back first to Mystique, then start hacking into the other communication devices in the area. Telephones, walkie-talkies, even the X-Men's comm units.
- Tabitha Smith has posed:
It's hard to think and focus but putting down what might be teh source of your second hand fears does feel pretty good. The cat-person gets herself a grin. "C'Mon. I think someone managed to get a location out. That girl needs help!" she states and makes a run, kicking one of the tactically equiped assailants while they're down and smouldering.
People that know Tabby topside, probably alread recognise the sound of her explosive plasma streams soon after that volley of gunfire.
Of course this time she's probably going to be well behind most of the people chasing her. "I swear next time this happens..." she mutters. "Just call home and have someone wear the bucket to find the girl." she hadn't been game to play around with Cerebro herself yet.
Maybea slight worry she might be able to explode people remotely.
Still the chase goes on, she even pauses a bit by Remy with his headset on. He might be doing his own thing these days and many people have the shits on with him. This does not prevent Tabby from a sudden hug. And a tap of a window cause puppies before rushing off <<Ain't like anyone done worse. Shit'll blow over!>> she reassures in a quick fire telepathic message as she's off.
Muttering about her comms going off in her pocket and the sounds it makes when she puts it in her ear. "Stupid ass, are the kids playing around in the IT lab again?" she growls.
- Pietro Maximoff has posed:
Well, there's a target and a plan of action now. Setting the milkshake down in a blur, Pietro nods. "I'll get you another." Then Micola is scooped up into his arms. "Whisper it to me and close your eyes." He forewarns, as always. She's been a passenger before on his running, but he was always vested in her safety.
Once she's given him the location and direction, he bursts into speed. Obstacles are vaulted over, or run around by going up the walls. Speed is of the essence.
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Despite the dark and the lack of Sophie's illumination, there's no real way to miss the two figures who are now advancing on the young mutant's unconscious body. The rapid BEEP BEEP BEEP of the scanner may as well announce their presence like a herald at a fancy ball. Maybe if it weren't so quiet otherwise, but this particular courtyard in this particular park is very empty at this time of night.
Small mercies.
Micola and Pietro make it to the entrance of the courtyard just as one of them snaps the collar around Sophie's neck.
It's hard to tell if there are other encroachers in Bushwick. Now that Emma knows where Sophie is, it's no particular hardship to locate the two approaching the girl. But even then there's... startlingly little to read on them. They want to capture Sophie, that much is clear, but their focus is the mission. The mission. The mission. Only the mission.
Inside the pet shop when Tabitha checks in, a fearful young clerk begins to haul the puppies out of their comfortable beds, somehow managing to pack her arms full with the entire litter so that she can withdraw to the back of the store with them safely out of harm's way. Another clerk is doing the same in the other window, if less successfully as he has to put several kittens into the pockets of his apron.
Which is admittedly pretty cute, even if it's happening because they're panicking. The clerks, not the puppies and kittens. The animals seem immune. And of course the cat-girl stops to check up on the kittens in the window. You know, because.
Down a nearby alley, one of Bunny's posse screeches out "Yo, let's wreck these guys!" just as a burst of semi-automatic fire pings off of Bunny's shield. This, predictably, gives the skater kids some pause.
Until one of them roars and goes flying past Bunny, briefly melting right into the concrete at their feets only to re-emerge covered pieces of dirt and brick and gravel coalescing around him like armor made from the very earth itself. He smashes a rock-fist against the helmet of the first figure with the weapon, though the second immediately drops its scanner (which hangs from their belt, attached still) to lift their own weapon, aiming towards the dirt-kid.
Which immediately gets... gooed? And then another sticky glop of goop hits them right on the front of the helmet, obscuring their vision. One of the kids behind Bunny is totally hocking loogies back there. Dirt-kid disappears... back into the dirt, and the rest of the skaters all swarm around Bunny, putting their shoulders and hands against her shield as they bum-rush the two figures, knocking them both down!
- Emma Frost has posed:
And what Emma Frost can do here is try and coordinate. She moves to keep track of the members of Xavier's and the Genoshan Embassy present, keeping them updated over on where the attackers are and of Sophie. She leaves the others to the puppies for reasons that her mind can't fathom as to how those are the priority for those going to save them.
But still, she's able to pinpoint where the attackers with automatic fire are doing. Emma goes to let out a sigh over while moving to rub at her temples of thsoe going to charge in against someone with a machine gun.
She goes to try and look for alternate routes. If she can trying to get a better perspective of the fight from thsoe fighting and looking through the eyes of the crowd and those working tos ave one another.
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy gets hugged right after stepping in to the mouth of the alleyway! He stiffens up as if he was expecting to have a knife jabbed in to his back after being hugged, but then the random girl is running off again. He turns to look over his shoulder, but she's darting around the corner and he's lost her.
Some interference comes over his earbuds, a voice, or some such... but he just reaches up to tap the left one until it clears up. "Damn, da drunks are out in force t'night." He says under his breath before setting off again.
Hop, grab, jump, leap, sweep!
The Cajun hoists himself over a chain-link fence to land on the other side of it, ending up crossing in front of the other alley that Bunny's fight is happening in. Off on his left, the gunfire, the intense fighting... he misses it all as he reaches the other side of that alley's entrance.
Then. He pauses. His right hand dips in to his jacket, and he withdraws his folded up bo-staff.
It snaps open, and with a little twirl, he smacks the side of the fence surrounding the park he's beside now. "Free my soul!" Remy shouts, walking alongside the fence, hitting it with his staff over and over as he goes. "I wanna get lost in dat rock'n'roll!" He continues to sing.
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Pietro's super speed comes in handy in pinches. Even unexpected ones! The blue haired woman trusted the man and her eyes were closed. She snaps them open once they are stopped and Micola sees them snap a collar around a little girls neck. She aims a ball of ghostly green energy at the person that had done the task, smacking them into a wall as she rushes over to help the girl, "Why don't you fuckers pick on someone your own size." she growls at them.
She might be mama bearing it a bit more today given circumstances. She puts herself between Sophie and the others in tactical gear and flicks her eyes to the ghosts, "Get them." she nods in the direction. And the ghosts are all too delighted to howl in a blood curdling way and rush the group of men. She then turns to the girl, "Let's get this off of you. I promise we aren't going to hurt you." she tells her quietly and calmly.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
With a yell, the crowd of skaters overwhelms the two military-type guys, leaving Bunny ti deal with the sudden pain of pushing herself to try and keep her shield up longer as the two are battere,d bruised, dirted, and gooped.
Gross, but effective.
And as the two are rendered harmless, that tracker and collar they had are 'yoinked' for the Greater Good.
"Imma take this thank you very much, asshole." she states, and delivers a kick to the side of one of the men, and then fist-daps Gross.
"Nice aim man."
- Tabitha Smith has posed:
Fawning over small baby animals can help calm a mind. Of course Tabby had her turn, it wasn't just critters than needed a little fawning over. Cajuns that weren't in good mental places needed it too. But no time to do a better job.
But as she hears a racket cause she only has one earpiece in, she looks around for the girl again. Hopefully she hasn't teleported away.
And while she's at it she's hopefully attempting to telepathically calm her. But she seems to be out cold this time and is that an inhibitor collar?
"Eww, nope. She ain't getting snagged!" she snarls out while so far the armed attackers attemping an alliterative abduction are downed.
Tabby does however keep an eye out in case any more show up and there's possibly an attempt to reinforce or force an extraction. She might let the attackers go, but not with the kid. The blonde bubbling up her energy ready to send any more plasma literally on the fly.
- Pietro Maximoff has posed:
Before he was a Prince, Pietro was an Avenger, among other things. Fighting was certainly not unknown to him. As things seem to converge on these... intruders, there's a bit of anger on his face - a flash of returned emotions regarding those who would harm mutants. Barely breaking stride to set Micola down, Pietro moves to the other mercenary.
Without slowing his speed, the Genoshan rains blows down on the geared man who would lay hands on a young woman. A staggering punch to the liver, a chop to break the bridge of the man's nose, a kick to the knee - all within a single breath. As the man topples, he turns to look for any other would-be abductors. "Are we clear?" He asks, his voice loud and ringing through the street.
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Admittedly, the clerks have been inside when the screaming happened, so they don't quite know why they're so afraid. Just that they are, and of course the babies in the windows are their first priority. This isn't a national chain, but a local mom-and-pop place.
Both Emma and Tabitha will be able to sense that there is no backup coming for these interlopers. Or rather, it's that they can't sense anything. Like those after Sophie, the two facing down a bunch of teen punks only have thoughts for their mission, which is the capture of one Sophia Nguyen. But then one gets beaned in the head by the fist-equivalent of a small boulder, they other gets slimed, and then they're both getting swarmed.
Despite being kids, it seems like they don't need any help, though of course someone could assist from the opposite end of the alley. Assist in this case would just be to make sure the figures remain subdued.
Which, uh. Maybe is a concern. Did anyone happen to check on those two Tabitha and her new feline friend had taken out? Because they're gone. Someone will eventually discover that. If one of the current resident telepaths scan in that area, they will sense them rousing, and their previous mission being replaced with a new one: retreat. And they're quick about it, too.
Either way, though, they go down easily enough. For both Pietro and Micola, and Bunny and her crew are successful, though as the latter pulls the scanner device away from one figure, the wire connecting it to its owner's belt snaps, and immediately the piece of tech begins to fizzle in her hands. If Bunny's not quick about ditching it, it'll give her a nasty shock!
It'll be the same if Pietro and Micola try to do similarly.
Of course it'll be hard to try, as given the one holding the scanner is being savagely struck by a swarm of spooky specters! They try to fight back, but wouldn't you know it, most weaponry really just isn't all that effective against ghosts. Armor, too. Nor is the armor resistent to superspeed punches. It's only a moment before both are crumpled on the ground, leaving Sophie temporarily safe. If still collared.
She rouses at the sound of Micola's voice, the young girl's brow furrowing in confusion as her eyelids flicker. And then she's grimacing, clearly in pain, and coughing up a storm as her throat protests even the passage of air through it because of its previous strenuous use.
- Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy's half-unfolded bo-staff is twirled in a whirly circle around at his left side now as he walks alongside that wrought iron fence beside the park with the ghosts off in the distance. He doesn't look in that way though, because there's bushes between them and him, and who likes to look at bushes anyway.
The Cajun reaches a tipped over garbage can in the middle of the sidewalk, and he nimbly jump over it, before doing a full turn on his booted feet, raising his hands up in the air. "I wanna drift away!" He shouts out to nobody, because he's lost in his own world.
A horn honks beside him then, and a 3-foot-something tall guy inside it leans out the window. "Hey, Cajun! Drift any further away and I'm gunna run your ass over!"
Remy stops, sees the little guy in the car, and pops his earbuds out. "Ey', Stiltsy. Good t'see ya." He states, approaching the man's car.
Stilts waves a hand out the window. "Come on, I've been looking for you. I got a game for you to win. Get in."
Remy looks hesitant, looks side to side, and then smirks. "A game, ya say?" He questions as he steps around the vehicle, pops the door and slips inside.
The vehicle pulls away from the curb then, and drives oooooff!
- Micola Maximoff has posed:
Micola gives a breath out, the adrenaline always took a bit to clear out. Pietro's handled most of the heavy lifting. She's just smacked one dude. She turns her attention to the girl with the collar on and she doesn't really realize she's about to get shocked. But oh boy! That thing lights her up! She shakes her hands a little, "Well, my dear, lets get you out of the cold and to people that can remove that collar." she tells her.
"I'm Micola and that is Pietro." she points to the white streak that's bouncing around. "You'll probably need some water after all that screaming." she frowns at the fact she had to do it. "What's your name?" she asks her as she offers her the coat she was wearing, wrapping it about her shoulders and tries to guide her in the direction of the Embassy. It's probably the best place for her at the moment.
- Bunny Macleod has posed:
"Assholes." the girl mutters to the no-longer tough guys, and she takes the tracker.
There's the unclip.
And then the sudden shocking experience.
"GY-AH-AH-AH-AH SON-OV-A-Bi-I-i_I-ch!" Bunny cries out.
It's Electrifying!
- Tommy Shepherd has posed:
All Sophie manages is a stutter before another bout of coughing hits, and then she's just furiously shaking her head no. No, she can't talk, can't respond, but she does look up at Pietro for a lingering moment, clearly puzzled. She is awfully cold, though, so she shrugs herself into Micola's coat and after that it takes little encouragement to get her moving towards the Embassy, her feet shuffling against the ground.
All of the other kids around Bunny erupt in cheers as they realize they've won, loud enough to almost completely drown out her screech as she's shocked by the device. One or two of them look at her quizzically, and then they're all distracted by dirt-kid's reappearance, climbing up from the concrete. "Hey guys, did we get our $20?"
Oops. Sorry Bunny. You might still be on the hook for that promise you made in the heat of battle.
Within minutes, both sets of remaining figures have struggled back to their feet despite their injuries, and like the first pair encountered, they retreat. Like they were never there in the first place.