15439/Shi'ar: The Package

Shi'ar: The Package
Date of Scene:	29 July 2023
Location:	34th Street Heliport & FDR Drive
Synopsis:	The Shi'ar ask the X-Men to transport unknown cargo under conditions of extreme secrecy with SHIELD help, only to find themselves ambushed by what seem to be rogue SHIELD-like agents. Is it HYDRA? Or something else entirely. And... what's in the box?
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Summers, Natasha Romanoff, Tabitha Smith, James Barnes, Rogue, Kitty Pryde
Tinyplot:	Pax Imperium: the Shi'ar

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Gabriel Summers has posed:
The city is in the midst of making human history, with an alien ambassador set to speak at the UN, ushering in formal diplomacy between Earth and an extraterrestrial power. Security is tight, both on behalf of the diplomats and reflecting a fair degree of skepticism toward them: the Shi'ar are only allowed to land their shuttle at the Atlantic Spaceport, many miles out to sea, and are subsequently brought to New York on several Wakandan craft. They land at a commercial heliport beside the East River. As things go in the city, it's about as good as you can get for isolating public access, separated by the FDR drive's onramps and overpass. The pad is only large enough to accomodate one of the Wakandan airships at a time, with two remaining in the air as overwatch as Chancellor Araki and his delegation are escorted out and into awaiting armored limos.

From there, there's a parade down First Avenue, flanked by NYPD and Amazons, and met by crowds of elated human alien enthusiasts and xenophobic protestors alike, lining the street. Despite the clamor, nothing blows up. Radio coverage - and psi links with Jean, who's at the UN for the event - confirm that they arrive safely. But that's not the mission the rest of the X-Men are here for.

It's only once the VIPs are away that the second airship sets down. Several Wakandan guards step out first, quickly followed by Shi'ar troopers in their full armor. Between them is a gravsled, hovering just a bit off the ground, carrying a large metallic pod with rounded edges. One addresses whoever steps forward first for the team: "I shall repeat the Majestrix's directives, as agreed upon by your leaders: the contents of the package are invaluable, exceeding our lives many times over. It is for this reason that matter-transport has not been utilized. You will abide the same, avoiding any dimensional displacement or alteration to its matter state, and physically transport it to a secure place chosen without our knowledge." It's the kind of OpSec you do when you're worried about spies.

"Only then may the outer seals be de-activated." Stoic, the Guardsman seems to leave no room for debate. "Confirm your understanding of the paramaters."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And the first to step forwards is Natasha Romanova, in charge of the SHIELD contingent. "We will be taking custody of the item. Prepare to confirm reception and exchanging authorization protocols." She's ready to present biometrics to confirm, even as she goes to sweep about the area. She's read what files SHIELD has on the Imperial Guard from their attack on Earth and faimliarized herself with how they fight. And on the Shi'Ar military and their combat operations from Agent Erickson. His abscence on this will be felt - even if it's likely for the best directly to avoid direct antagonization of the Shi'Ar when they're cooperating.

She's fully ready for combat no matter what, ready to go along in a motorcycle as an escort unit. She's expecting an ambush along the way or a strike - no matter the precautions, someone always finds out. And even if not, of course there will be some interruption along the way because that'st he way it goes. She speaks along the comm <<Spread out as soon as the target is secured and ready for immediate transport. Full alert.>> SHe has on some heavy weaponry on her back along with a stealth suit. The joy of having a motorcycle is that she can take a heavier loadout than usual. <<Have alternate routes and transportation ready and all personnel confirm mission abort routines and fallback locations>> This is going to be difficult - anything after alien technology could very well be out here to intercept.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It kinda felt weird taking the van into the city separate from the Blackbird. That meant negotiating traffic from Westchester and into and onto FDR and then to the pick up point. Then heading to where the Blackbird is parked.

Behind the wheel was a very caffinated Tabitha. While clearly and known to a few as one of the X-men. One of the most recenmt full x-men at that. She'd eschewed anything super heroic in place of something low key like bluejeans and a cropped red tank top with the COKE variant logo on it. Yellow spiky belt collar and wrist cuffs adding to the Barbiepunk aesthetic along with red chucks and red tinted ray bans.

At a glance the van looks old and beat up but she's bribed the autoshop kids to keep the vehicle in decent nick. One of the backseats folded down for cargo space but still plenty of seating for others.

<<Comms up and running? Coolio.>> Jean likely still has the mind link so all Tabby has to do there is keep her mind open for that and link in anyone else. "So like I bet no one is gonna tell us what's in the box? My money on live transport. Like that old show Firefly where the dude froze a kid or something." she guesses and hmms. "I'll forgo the usual gas, grass, or ass for the ride since like importants and stuff."

James Barnes has posed:
    A shadow behind Agent Romanova moves forward when she does. The Winter Soldier is in SHIELD gear, all black, equipped with enough weaponry to give anyone who tries to intercept the package some real trouble if they try. Pistols in holsters at his hip and in his jacket, a submachine gun, and a grenade launcher are the most readily visible items, though he's likely to have some more firepower stored on his person and on the motorcycle he's also comandeered for escort duty.

    The directives are taken in, understood, and stored away for later reference in his head, the same way any and all mission objectives are. His hair is tied back, out of his face, and he cuts a look across at the others assembled to run this op. Now that he's allowed to be curious, he is, but he tunes that out in favor of responding to Natasha with a quick "<<Copy,>>" to assure her he's heard her commands.

Rogue has posed:
It's around the time that Tabitha's van arrives on-scene that Rogue drops down out of the sky.

No longer Mighty Woman, she's had Forge design her a new suit much like the one she wore amongst the Icons team that Mighty Woman had been legally claimed from her for. A green and white outfit, a white scarf around her necdk that flutters in the wind as she comes down for a landing beside the van. A white X with a solid white ring around it adorning her chest, with tall thigh high boots that also are of a dark green and pure white shade. The Belle's chestnut hair is tied back on the crown of her head, with her snow-white bangs left loose around her face, the loose tendrils of white locks fluttering in the summer wind much like the aviator scarf looped around her neck.

Rogue's green gloved hands go to her waistline as she steps forward to meet those who are transfering this delivery mission on to them.

She draws in a breath and internally sours at the space people doing space people stuff, but ultimately she just glances to those on her team with her here tonight, and then nods once to the space people.

Her mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde is dressed casual. One nice thing about her power is she doesn't set her clothing on fire, freeze it, or grow so large that it shreds it. So really anything will do, even if she likes being stylish in a costume. Though a low key occasion like this, blue jeans, some quality boots and a dark green hoodie are what she's wearing.

<<So for those of us who might be knew to sharing your thoughts,>> she says to the SHIELDies on the mental link, <<you want to avoid thinking about things like what you look like in the mirror when you get out of the shower. Or worse, what someone else present looks like when they get out of the shower.>>

More seriously though she nods her head to the Shi'ar. "We'll take good care of the package," she tells them, waiting for it to be loaded before going to claim shotgun in the passenger seat of the van.

<<I know it's not, but I really hope it's one of those Shi'ar outfit machines. You think of what you want the clothing to look like, and then it just materializes it on you. It's amazing! I spent hours using it on their ship that one time.>>

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Once they have agreed, the Guardsmen step away to leave the sled in t he X-Men's possession, where it can be quickly loaded aboard the... X-Van. Well, Tabitha's van. It works in a pinch. But why this less than glamorous mode of transport?

Unfortunately, the same complicated security situation around the UN has also proved an obstacle to this secret mission: with the airspace over the river under the highest of security alerts, even their friends at SHIELD couldn't get them clearance for the Blackbird. Right now, there isn't an object in the East River's airspace that isn't government-owned, be it NYPD, US military or Wakandan. Maybe the Invisible Jet is up there too! The Shi'ar, conversely, won't agree to putting the package in US government hands, so a Quinjet is out.

Instead, the closest they could get was setting the 'bird down in one of the sports fields at Randall's island, about a hundred blocks north, where the river splits. Which sounds far.

The good news is that the same highway they're now sitting under has been closed for the diplomatic shit-show (New Yorkers REALLY hate UN events, as they always make traffic a nightmare!), with the checkpoint at the on-ramp they're right next to manned by SHIELD. Maybe they can't manage airspace clearance, but this is doable. And it keeps things quiet, very need-to-know. And driving on the empty highway, that hundred-block trip clocks in under 10 minutes, easily.

The city really isn't that big, when you factor out bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Soon enough, they'll be on their way, cruising up the East side. The blocks fly past by the tens, twenties. Entry points onto t he highway tend to come in roughly eight to ten-block increments, at least past midtown. 53rd, 61st-63rd, 71st...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And Natasha is going in front of the group by about a block. She's cycling herself from side to side, zigging and zagging as she does so at speeds about ninety kilometers an hour, just enough to maintain her position ahead of the van. The idea with her on point is that immediate attention will be on her, and she can act to intercept or head it off. If she gets too far ahead, then the usefulness is limited and she risks getting separated.

So, it means weaving to make herself a tricky target if there's an ambush, and to give herself a clear field of view as well along the streets. She's expecting trouble, and she's ready for it (at least as well as anyone properly paranoid can be). There's no real idea as to what they're carrying, or whom might be after it. But there always is someone. She's expecting that someone is keeping tabs over at the UN and their departure and course has been noted. So they'll have anyone in the general area alerted to them and their route. That's just being tactical.

It's how hse would go about things if she were looking to pick off targets. There will likely be something heavier up ahead to act as a distraction while they get hit from another direction. So for the convoy.. Mobility will be key. She's on alert, even as she goes to use Avengers overrides to keep a lookout in the traffic cameras ahead of them and to the tacnets and sensors along the route to see if there's anything waiting to intercept them. She trusts the X-Men to handle things immediately targeting the van and Bucky to handle anything else.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"So, like you guys gonna like send out a bunch of fancy SUV's and stuff to like decoy this while we take the normal streets? Or am I following you guys? Kinda stand out more than if I was in a convent." Tabby wonders about the plan. Using her ride since at a glance turning up at some fancy and secure probably just looks like she's delivering Ubereats or Doordash, one of those rideshare delivery things.

Feds gotta eat after all.

On the upside for the van's pros. It's got a beefy rollcage and things can be strapped in so the package won't get thrown about.

The downside is it only has a tapedeck for a stereo so some esoteric work is made to play anything modern. Mostly by way of a tape adapter with a headphone jack, to another adapter to plug that in via a phone's USB-C port. She tried bluetooth but that might have needed a live sacrifice.

Once on the road with Kitty in shot gun. Tabby is actually pretty responsible on the road, to some people's bewilderment. And no one is shooting yet.  Something one hundred-ish blocks away should be pretty simple. But she isn't saying anything lest she jinxes it. "You know everyone was picturing Black Widow naked back there!" she joked. The newbie telepath very much amused by stray thoughts for a change.

James Barnes has posed:
    The mystery of what they're ferrying is another point of curiosity for Bucky, but again, he is able to put it out of his mind for the time being. The mission comes first, and as Natasha is out in front, the Winter Soldier remains at the back of the convoy, close enough to the package that he can intercept in seconds should it become necessary.

    Now, though, he cruises along at speed, squinting as he scans the sidewalks and crossing streets that they pass by on their way. He's silent over comms, at least until while idly scanning frequencies he hears a crackle. It's not on one of the ones SHIELD uses but it's close enough to get caught in his sweep, so he pipes up with a "<<Getting some interference. Might be a signal of some kind, might be nothing.>>"

    Either way he's on high alert now, gunning the engine of his bike to get in closer to the van just in case.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had leaned over to Kitty on her right, and whispered. "Glad you're here. You're definitely more of a diplomat than me." She'd said, flashing a grin to her friend before the escort mission was on.

Back in to the sky, Rogue went. Shooting up high, but not so high that she'd be an unreasonable amount of time from swooping back down should something go awry. Flying through the city was not Rogue's most favorite thing, even if she'd done quite a bit of it as Mighty Woman... she'd mainly tried to be a night-time flyer. It happens when you get random weirdos on the ground shooting guns at you, or people flagging you down because they see you up there, and all they want is a selfie or an autograph. When you fly at night? You run in to much less weird stuff!

Nevertheless! Rogue is in the sky on this trip, she's got an earpiece in one ear too, listening to a live feed on the UN situation just incase Jean were to lose her telepath link.

Rogue's eyes flash down to the highway below, and back up to where they're headed, her loose bangs, and aviator scarf fluttering in the wind rushing across her body.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty settles into the passenger seat, putting on her seat belt. "I got Ring-a-Dings," she says, setting the chocolate snack cakes between her and Tabby and opening up the box. "Because you know, road trip really calls for snacks."

Though she then pulls out her tablet and begins pulling up some monitoring programs she'd set up in advance. Cycling through radio frequencies, looking for anything out of the ordinary, or that seems to be moving with them.

She also glances around as if to make sure no one is looking, and then pulls up a console which seems to be a control for the New York City Metro department's control of stop lights. Just in case they need to get off the express route, they can still rely on green lights and traffic moving where they want it to.

Forge had walked up behind Kitty two days ago while she was hacking this particular system, cackling quietly to herself to where she hadn't heard his approach. "Hey Kitty, hacking the traffic grid for that Shi'ar mission?" Forge had asked.

"Oh. Yes," Kitty had replied. "For the mission. Yep," she'd said, and then went back to work hacking. And cackling.

But that was two days ago. She looks at the radio monitoring and gives a small frown. <<Yes, I'm seeing it too, Agent Barnes. Rogue, might want to keep an eye out on our... right side,>> she says after doing a little bit of monitoring how the signal changes.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
They pass 79th street. The stretch ahead is a longer one without an exit, with the next at 96th. And maybe that's why it happens here.

Nat is on point, and blows past the exit well ahead of the X-Van. It passes next, unhindered. But whoever is on the rear (as well as Rogue above) will see several vehicles come up the ramp, a pair of black vans, and several more motorcycles. As far as anyone, including the SHIELD agents know, the whole highway is supposed to be closed. But there's no radio call indicating that the checkpoint on the exit has been breached or otherwise compromised. And no video feed that Nat can pull up from it, even though that would normally be available. In fact, other than the brief radio squawk several of them register, nothing nearby from SHIELD is answering the two agents.

It suggests some disturbing possibilities as the vehicles behind them spread out to cover the whole highway. All the vehicles accelerate to close, although the bikes do so much faster than the heavier vehicles.

Immediately, aside from any defensive measures, this leaves them the question Kitty ponders as she plans them an escape route with the stoplights: continue on the highway or plan for a quick turnoff at the next exit, if they can make it that far. It would put them into normal city traffic, with all the upsides of civillian cover... or collateral damage. More places to lose a pursuit, but normal traffic making any quick trip to the Blackbird unlikely. They could always drive the rest of the way to Salem- an hour trip.

Food for thought.

But maybe thinking takes a backseat as the bike-guys start shooting. They carry handheld submachineguns, again not unlike Bucky. Initially, their gunfire has two obvious targets: the external defenders, be it Rogue up top or the two agents on their bikes, and, when they get closer, the tires of the van. Notably, they're not shooting -at- it directly.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And just as soon as she was confirming that they were having interference, Natasha quickly responds. <<Interceptors. They're mobile. Engage at will. Priority is delivering the package.>> Even if sensors and communications are disrupted, they still have line of sight comms which are enough to give them a relay even if nothing else gets through. And then Natasha is accelerating. Engaging in the city is the risk of collateral damage and drawing more supervillains into the melee and everything else going on. It's something that she'd rather not risk unless there's no other choice.

And then she's gunning the engine of her motorcycle even as shots go to impact it. The reinforced frame of the motorcycle takes it fairly handily as bullets would ricochet off. Rather than shooting bcak at them wiht her own small arms, Natasha goes to weave into the mix! She goes to flick a button.

And a compartment over on the back of the bike goes to pop open as she weaves in and out of the first wave of attackers! The bike goes to release several dozen.. Small,b arbed spikes that litter several dozen square meters as she would weave in and out of the ambushers.

As they go along to chase her or mvoe to engage the van, the first bike hits one of them. What they are is explosive lined caltrops.

One bike goes up, spikes blasting up into the rider! This sends body and bike parts flying over into others, even as more detonations rock up over from the caltrops and they create a killing zone of fragmentation mines, body parts, and blown up bikes! She's at least giving them a few seconds over of cover to try and come up with an escape plan.. And hopefully making her a prime target for anyone around in the lead.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Food totally dcomes under the 'gas' part of the usual road trip transactions, so for a part of the way, Tabitha has her mouth holding onto a snack cake, somehow managing to eat hands free while she drives. The benefits of also being a telepath, while she talks with her mouthful, mubling and sounding generally incoherent. The translation of those mumbles is made mentally <<God we should get drive through on the way? is there one near the LZ>> translated from the bad table manners.

Eventually someone had to get wind of things. Or just a yellow van with an escort really did stick out. They're shooting. At Tabby's van and she's not having any of that. "Tyres are like expensive dammit! This is some bad news bears right here! Grab the Oh Shit handles and hang on Kitty!" she swallows the last bite while she jams the breaks to let the bikers shooting sail right by and put them right where Tabby can see.

And line up bombs if she needs to. For now, she speeds up and starts bearing down on one of the interceptors.

"I really hope I don't like run over the SHIELD folks!"

James Barnes has posed:
    Well, it was going to happen. None of these types of missions ever go smoothly. As Black Widow reports the interceptors, the Winter Soldier is already moving in to crash his bike into one of theirs, sending it careening into the wall. His own bike is none the worse for wear, hardened as it is just like Natasha's.

    "<<We've got some heavy vehicles gunning for the package,>>" he reports, and he shoulders his grenade launcher with the intent to take care of said heavy vehicles, but then he's under fire.

    The metal arm deflects much of it, and then his tactical vest -- the latest and greatest in SHIELD body armor -- maybe takes one or two as well, but he only grunts lightly and pulls a pistol from inside his jacket. He fires off several rounds at the enemy agents on bikes attacking him, aiming for center-mass shots and, predictably, not missing. Soon enough the heat's off him, but he's got to rev the engines to catch back up to where the van is coming under fire. Or its tires are, rather.

Rogue has posed:
The sight of the vehicles coming up on the road is enough to trigger Rogue's alarm bells that this isn't right. She groans at it too, even if the groan is not really audible as she flies high and fast above her escort objective. Adjusting her body's position in the sky, Rogue turns and falls down toward the highway below, mimmicking the flight maneuvers of a Navy jet fighter.

It's when the new enemies open fire in the general direction of the Van that Rogue darts down ffast, like a bullet. She ducks right behind one of the highway overpass signs that is hanging securely bolted to the scaffolding it was designed for. Rogue peers over the sign, a few stray bullets spattering the green and white sign that the green and white clad woman is now crouched behind. She puts her shoulder in to it, good and hard! Once! Twice! Three times a lady!

The sign falls from the scaffolding, aimed and timed to narrowly miss falling ontop of Tabitha's van!

It clatters to the ground, creating a dangerous obstacle for the enemy vehicles now!

Rogue jumps off the opposite side of the scaffolding following this, her swooping flight pattern taking her down toward the back of Tabitha's van. Rogue looks back over her shoulder as she flies directly behind the Van now, her gloved hands touching the back of it, feeling the vibrations of the speeding vehicle through the thin material of her gloves. "Gonna take ya airborne." Rogue says to the team over comms, specifically for Tabitha and Kitty though...

.. when she's shot in the back with a stun weapon!

The Belle's body slams in to the ground, right in to the highway pavement behind the van. She starts rolling end over end, right in to the front tires of one of the pursuing vehicles causing it to thud, thud, right over her! Rogue is turned in to a living speed bump in the center of the thoroughfare.

As the enemy vehicles speed on ahead after the van, Rogue's silk scarf flutters to the grassy ground between the two stretches of road, while the Mississippi Magnolia just lays there sprawled out on her stomach on the painted lines.

"Ow...." She quietly moans in to the hhot pavement.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"If you need to hand off the driving to me so you can go boom boom, let me know," Kitty tells Tabitha. "Easy enough for me to slide over and take control before you've left the seat.

She winces at the sounds of the gunfire, and as much at the sounds of those fighting back in ways that might take a life. Kitty doesn't comment though, just presses her lips together.

She unwraps a few Ring-a-Dings, mushing the faux Ho-hos a bit and then stands up on her seat. To the cars and bikes behind the van it must look like she's sticking up out of a sun roof or something, facing them. She begins throwing the snack cakes at the motorcycle riders. Miss. Miss. Finally one splatters the guy's helmet, but it surprises him more than anything else.

<<Looks like Rogue got hit with something and is down,>> she sends over the link.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
The bikers make up the first wave, making contact with the defenders in pretty spectacular fashion: the very first just gets spectacularly blown up by Nat's micro mines, and the combination of spin-out and explosive debris takes out a second behind her. Barnes proves a more traditional combatant, but a deadly accurate one, while Tabitha manages to pull a fun maneuver to surprise the first to get close. A time-bomb goes off, leaving a crater in the pavement, the bike weaves in to avoid it, but then the van itself swerves in and sideswipes it.

Splash five, total.

As the vans get closer (and Rogue gets closer to them!), the side panels on each slide open to allow gunner seats to pop out on either side. They boast large mounted rotarys, that open up with a high volume of fire. Initially, most of this is aimed at Rogue herself, as the flying brick of a heroine poses the most significant and immediate threat to their larger vehicles. She's fast, but the guns fire rapidly, filling the air with projectiles. The sign works for a bit as a shield, and as it's thrown down in front of one of the vans, it's forced to veer aside. They colide, albeit not head-on, but the maneuver has it ram up against the siderail of the highway, shearing off the gunner seat on that side.

The others keep shooting, however, and that pure spray of fire eventually brackets her in. The result of the impacts on the very durable super-lady may be noteworthy to the SHIELD types: it's a bit ICER-like. That said, they don't seem to care about Rogue as she hits the pavement, however, leaving her on the road as they drive after the X-Van. One of the gunners looks like they're changing ammo.

At the same point, they finally near the 96th street exit, but they can see more vehicles there too, a blockade before the onramp, more of the same vans. This is all starting to look very suspicious.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Well, there goes the heavy weaponry. Those weapons can take them out near instantly as they've seen from the crossfire. If those get a bead over on the van, then they're very well neutralized. Natasha doesn't think, she acts.

A quick flick of a button over along the front dash of the motorcycle, even as she goes to arm several small micro-missiles. A set of small panels flip open along the front end of the motorcycle, revealing a set of small micro-rockets. She weaves in and out of the line of fire, trying to get the gunners to aim over at her for a few moments. Those bullets will make mincemeat of her and her bike even with the reinforcement. It's not that intact. But, it hopefully gives Rogue a few seconds to catch her breath and for the Xavier's crowd to come up with a defense plan.

And most importantly, it lets the missiles lock on and arm. Underneath her helmet, the HUD flicks on showing each van, each gunner, and each of the cannons deployed along them. Then the HUD flickers up to red as it shows that the targets have been acquired and confirmed. Then the micro-missiles launch!

They're small explosives, designed to take out small targets. They're going to be completely useless against hte heavy frames of the vans.. But what they can do is take out each turret.

Taking out the gunners only solves the issue fro a short time - the interceptors will have other crew members. Bue neutrlaizing the guns? That takes out their primary weapon. So each micro-missile launches, spreads out to attack each of the weapon mounts.. Flies..

And then detonates a few meters away after a popup maneuver that's designed to maximize the blast radius.

Each of the guns in turn is blown off and disabled, likely the ammunition feeds inside cooking off as well to tear anyone around to bits!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The possibility of an airlift to escape gets a grin. Tabitha always did want a hover fan to fly about. She really should bug Forge. He'd probably be easier to bribe than the kids in autoshop classes. But when the Belle is zapped and down she winces. <<Want me to circle back for a pick up>> she asks, hopefully she's conscious. The snack cake can be a devastating projectile when thrown in the right circumstances. Splattycake!

It's when vans start chasing her with some hefty gats that she winces. "Okay, we are not switching seats. And I prefer not to be turned into a fine mist by those cannons. We are staying in here. Kitty, Imma start making bombs and we're tossing them like snack cakes. You'll be fine handling them. Maybe just don't phase threw one. I mean it is electrical." she suggests to the Jewish girl while she winds down her own window. No power so she has the old school hand crank. Inside the van it gets a little brighter. As needed, more bombs about the size of baseballs, solid enough that they can be held. Or even batted if need be.

Behind her glasses the blonde woman is frowning and concentrating. Serious face!

The blockade gets a frown. <<Oh yeah we being herded! Least I'm not a cow this time!>> that goes over comms while she tries to position the vehicle where she can Kitty can get pursuers off their backs. Mostly by stepping on the gas.

And trying not to roll the van pulling a big U-turn. The four wheel drive not quite agile enough to power slide with any kind of grace. Ot slide at all really.

That roll cage and bull bar should be good for something.

Bombs go off all around them flicking debris and asphalt everywhere But with more vans and gats coming after them, even after SHIELD takes some out. Boom-Boom growls and turns the van back to their original heading.

Bearing down hard on the blockade to barge through. "Head down, hang on. This is gonna be rough!"

Through comms, Rogue and the SHIELD agents hear Tabby's voice loud if not quite so clear.

<<RAMMING SPEED!>>

James Barnes has posed:
    Oops. Time for some defensive driving. Whether it's the downed highway sign or Rogue herself, Bucky swerves wide around the obstacles in the way as he speeds up, rejoining the X-van as it careens down the roadway. Is he going at certifiably dangerous speeds? Yes. This is nothing new for the Winter Soldier, who has not particularly obeyed traffic laws in the preceeding 80 or so years.

    He swaps the pistol out for the grenade launcher that's been hanging from his back this whole time, pressing it into his shoulder as he performs another dangerous traffic maneuver, this time whipping himself around so that he's facing oncoming traffic. He lines up the shot, takes in a breath, and then pulls the trigger.

    The grenade flies across the pavement, barely skirting the ground, only to magnetize itself to the bottom of one of the vans with a heavy THUNK.

    Tick... tick... BOOM! The pressure from the explosion beneath it flips the van upwards, right over Bucky's head, coming to land with a thunderous crash of broken windshield and windows and crumpling metal.

    Bucky revs the bike and takes back off, performing a quick maneuver to get himself facing the right way again, and speeds off to rejoin the fray.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pushes herself up to her hands and knees on the pavement that is scorching hot from the summer sun beneath her gloves and leggings. She gets a ffoot under her, then pushes offf on that leg to rise up to both of her booted feet. She turns toward the rapidly vanishing vehicles, and lets out a heavy exhale. Explosions. Gunfire...

Rogue simply begins to walk after them, taking about ten steps before her right hand comes up to sweep her white bangs out of her eyes. She mutters then under her breath. "Shoulda just flown the damn thing from the start!"

The Belle is off again, flying once more, now rapidly gaining ground again upon the heated exchange on this lonesome stretch of what was supposed to be 'safe' road.

She weaves past the vehicle that the SHIELD agent just blew up with a grenade... knowing that the men in that vehicle are literally toast now. 'We don't kill, Rogue.' Charles' voice speaks out in her mind. 'We serve a higher purpose. The purpose of showing that peace is paramount to all else.'

Rogue grits her perly white teeth behind her lips. Killing makes all of this so much easier...

She flies at a tremendous clip now, rocketing past the escort objective, and up ahead toward the vehicles blocking the road. Clearly her intention is to cut a path through the blockade!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
High overhead, someone is on an additional overwatch for the mission. When Rogue goes down and the observer sees the roadblock ahead, he knows that is time to make his presence known.

Turning over and pulling his wings in, Lockheed plummets in a dive towards the ground. When he pulls out the airspeed is converted to a horizontal glide across the vehicles making the blockade. A plume of fire and smoke spray down. The paint jobs of the vehicles are seared, but the dragon's aim was impeccable enough to avoid hitting anyone directly. Instead the smoke and fire hit just between the waiting people and the approaching van, limiting their ability to aim at it with anything.

Kitty, meanwhile, is tossing Tabitha's bombs out, bouncing them at the vehicles chasing. "More worried about the ones in front!" she calls. Kitty sees a flying figure, not-Lockheed, blur past and she lets out a whoop. "Go Rogue!"

Gabriel Summers has posed:
From the anti-mutant ICER option, as they approach the van, the big rotary guns swap over to a more conventional round. Armor piercng? High explosive? Who knows! (Probably Bucky and Nat, the military nerds they are.) Point is it's not good. The rate of fire is a little slower, a steady CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK as one of the cannons starts to fire, tearing up asphalt as traces across the road behind the swerving van, still aiming low, although the big gun can probalby more than shred tires - it could cut through the suspension, shatater the axel, who knows. Bad stuff!

And while two of the guns are pretty focused on the van, the other tries to nail the two bikes as they weave back and forth. Bucky gets out of range as he pushes ahead to deal with the blockade, while Nat swings back to deal with them, and the fire converges on her-

-just before those missiles go off. They're too fast for counter-maneuvers, really, in the short distances, and targetting the guns (or the operators) indeed makes for much softer targets. There's a brief fireworks show and the gunfire stops.

The HUD on Nat's bike flashes 'Check Engine.' She can feel it too, the sudden sputter, loss of power, the drift. One of those bullets went clean through. And while it fortunately missed her, the bike is... very much out of service.

Even with the gunner seats gone, the vans still continue their pursuit. Physically, they're still an obstacle, and they may be able to pin them in at the blockade. Plus, well, who knows who might be aboard. But as Tabitha makes that sudden set of U turns, and without their guns, they have nothing to really to offer in self defense when she starts chucking her own explosives. One gets hit and rolls to a stop, engine smoking. The other hits a bomb-crater pothole and wrecks its undercarriage.

Which deals with those behind them. As for the barricade? Bucky's charge is dangerous, with more gunmen emerging in various cover positions around the vehicles, ready to open fire before he gets into the shorter range for the grenade launcher. But they're suddenly met with a gout of flame and smoke that obscures the road between them. It's enough to lose their targets until Bucky's bike comes bursting through the smoke, but by then, it's too late.

The van flip is pretty spectacular, opening a hole in the barricade. It's a bit of a needle to thread, however, between the now-smoking van laying in its new position, and the remaining blockade, especially with Tabitha's beloved van flashing a few lights on the console as well in protest to her reckless driving.

Fortunately, they have a Rogue. With her speed, it's no difficulty catching back up, and with her strength, she doesn't even need to lift the whole van: just her impact lifts it off its tires and sees it skidding backward on its side. And with two vans down? It's no trouble for Tabitha to maneuver between.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Once they blow through the barricade, it seems as if they're home free. They make it the next 20-odd blocks to the turnoff. Randall's Island being... an island, this means crossing the Robert F Kennedy Bridge, still known to most New Yorkers as the Triboro for its T-shape connection between Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, sitting on the island inbetween them. They make it out onto the bridge without difficulty (the toll gates aren't operating! score! saved 7 bucks, and that's if Tabitha has EZ-pass!), and all seems smooth sailing.

Except obviously, it can't be that easy.

Rogue may see it first, though she's not fully clear what she's seeing. Kitty might be able to get some kind of electronic reading first. It comes at them like haze, an indistinct something in the sky, before those ripples begin to shift and resolve into a more obvious form.

A cloaked Quinjet.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And there's Natasha, going to leap off her bike even as it's disabled! Her jump isn't that clean, as she hits the ground hard. She gives a firm wave over to Bucky in passing - keep up with escort duty. They have their priorities. She'll get out of here on her own. She has precious few seconds to act even as a bone has been broken by her landing.

She's in no position to quickly grab a gun to shoot as she's surrounded over by the vans. Fortunately.. She doesn't want to do that right about now.

Hand presses down on a small trigger, and one of ehr small electro-shockers is flung through the air! It lands over on the hood of the van, tethering on and goes to give out a massive jolt of electricity on it! The shock goes through the van, giving enough electricity thorugh the operators to give them rather heavy seizures and send them collapsing! That's just enough time for Natasha to charge into the van, smash each in the skull to render them unconscious, shove them out of the doors to hit the ground..

And then to get in the driver's seat, check the ingnition.. After a quick sputter of the engine, a restart of it to get it going again.. Then a toggle of another switch.. Right as her disabled bike goes to explode and detonate all around the area, the remaining ammunition and explosives in it making a mess of anything wihtin a couple dozen meters! Then the van goes into gear, and she's racing along after the group! <<Seized enemy vehicle. Status update?>>

The hand hurls out the fuzzy dice on the windshield a moment later.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Definitely not a problem. The van has enough dings, dents, scrapes, and cracks in the windows. One more shouldn't be much of a problem. Well it's threading a needle alright. The van punches through a gap, driving through flames and some gunfire fired wildly. There's an ear shredding screech of metal on metal though. The doors might have been crunched enough, even the sliding door, they might need Kitty to phase them out. The tailgate still intact though. So the package can be unloaded when safe.

Not having to cover tolls is a small consolation but Tabby still has that serious frowny face as she keeps focusing on having bombs ready while also all her fancy driving skills. <<I don't think my baby is gonna hold up to another chase like tha...." she doesn't finish as she sees a Quinjet decloaking. <<Umm, guys, is this one friendly?>> she looks to her co-pilot and beams an awkward smile. "Did you like hack us some extra air support? If you did I could kiss you right now Kitty!" she's hoping it's friendly. But she's also not stopping, she might have to swerve a lot soon though.

James Barnes has posed:
    All Bucky has to do now is get out of the way, which he does, bike running along the sides of the highway so that the X-Van has plenty of room to get tself through and clear of the vans. "<<Barricade neutralized,>>" is the response Natasha gets over comms as the Winter Soldier tails after Tabitha and Kitty in the van, keeping a decent clip so that he stays close.

    Which means he's close enough that he gets a real good look at the cloaked Quinjet. "<<We have an unknown Quinjet hanging over us here. Not broadcasting any IFF I recognize. This could be bad.>>" He pulls the bike out in front of the X-Van and shoulders the grenade launcher again, setting up another shot, though he doesn't yet pull the trigger.

    Before, he wouldn't hesitate. Now he has enough thought to have a conscience, and isn't going to risk blowing up SHIELD agents that have the misfortune of being late to the party.

Rogue has posed:
At the would-be-blockade, Rogue slams in to the vehicle she elected to be the most likely to cause troubles for their van to get through. She just slammed herself right on in to it, laying her shoulder in to its side much like she did the road sign earlier.

With the vehicle pushed out of the way, Rogue drops down to her booted feet, her hair bun having come undone, her dark brown locks are floating wildly around her head now, a mess of a two-toned mane, the Steel Magnolia sees some of the enemies lining up shots toward her people, and she starts moving toward them, trying to draw their fire!

A pause is taken though when she sees the uncloaking Quinjet, the vehicle itself looking familiar, but she's certainly never seen one of them bend light like that before.

A glance is given to Tabi's van, to make sure it is able to get through the Blockade, and when it gets close enough, Rogue simply leaps on top of it, grabbing one of the roll bars up on the roof to steady herself, as she crouches on one knee atop Tabi's van now.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde's mouth drops open as the jet uncloaks in front of them. "I don't think they are friendlies, airspace supposed to be clear," Kitty says. "Also I think I just found out how those whalers felt in Star Trev IV."

Kitty waves off the bombs that Tabitha is producing. "Air support. Right," she mutters as she pulls out her tablet and begins rapidly working it, a combination of typing on the touchpad and gestures. "Tell me what it's doing," Kitty says to Tabitha, obviously engrossed in whatever she's concocting on her tablet.

"Oh, also?" Kitty ventures without looking up from what she's doing. "Try to keep it from killing us. I need a few seconds here to be ready," she says. She bites down on her lower lip as she focuses.

Meanwhile Lockheed takes a gliding dive approach, catching back up to the van and flying alongside Rogue where she clings to the roof. Whatever happens, they are all in it together!

Gabriel Summers has posed:
As the ship's cloak ripples back toward total visibility, the observant SHIELD-types will quickly note that while the overall frame and silhouette is familiar, this isn't the model they fly in, have EVER flown in. There are slight variations to the geometry suggesting variations in the armor configuration, extra bulk in several positions suggesting additional mountings, almost assuredly for weapons. Even the matte-black paintjob is different.

It goes without saying that it bears no agency logo of any kind.

For a moment, this strange shadow hangs over them, and no one would fault anyone who hesitates. Is it a friend or a foe? Or even if it IS clearly their enemy... are these their fellow agents onboard? Who is doing this? And why?

It reflects growth for Bucky, to consider these kind of quandries. Sadly, he is from a world that rarely rewards kindness. Just as he's getting ahead of the van, there's a sequence of quick flashes along the undersurfaces of the dark airship. The missiles, as they prove to be, are fast, streaking across the space out over the water, and exploding in a line along the bridge. The first explosion is right beneath Bucky's bike as he speeds ahead of them. They see the vehicle launch, flip almost as the van did, although there's a lot less of it left when its burning frame hits the bridge ahead of them.

There's no sign of Bucky, at all.

The other missiles hit all around them, although again, there's a sense they're not targetting the van directly. Because, well, if they hit the bike, they surely could have hit it. These are small payload warheads, and they hit ahead of it on the road, blowing out chunks of pavement. The van hits them, and like the enemy van earlier, it lurches, crunches, lands again, and continues rolling a short ways, making the sort of sound you definitely don't want to have to ask your mechanic about. Every light on the console on at once!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
She knows that Bucky will survive. He's come through much worse. Natasha goes to focus over on the objective. The attacker is unknown - it could be Hydra, it could be commandeered SHIELD craft from one of the times that the organization was undermined.. But, the van is still operational and shielded against whatever disabling effect there is. She goes to speak to her comm to the others

<<Can possibly take you in here. If not, canb e a distraction>>

She goes to manage to flip the turreted guns upwards, and goes to use an override on the console to fire them upwards. The damage is minimal if anything - the accuracy to get hits if at most will be purely on the number of bullets put up into the air over on the jet. But a jet isn't designed to take small arms fire at a range from a couple hundred meters. Gatling guns firing even small caliber bullets itno it will hopefully disrupt many of the rather sensitive internal components and electronics. IF a passenger liner has to make an emergency landing if a pigeon goes through the air vent.. See what a few hundred ubllets will do!

She goes ot snap a hand down to be ready to release the cargo doors to let the group switch and jump into it if they have to.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The Quinjet might not be a Bird of Prey. "Well double dumbass to these guys. We're like the opposite of whalers. Well except that time we were in Atlantic for your birthday. No spearing then either, gross."

The thuds of Rogue and Lockheed landing on the roof, pushing on the roof racks. "Touchdown!" she grins at successful landings but as missiles start flying and there's much swerving, as much for keeping on track when some explosions throw debris and shrapnel through.

"CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!" she starts swearing as she struggles with the vehicle being roughly had. The telepath behind the wheel doing her best to probe and command the pilot to stop. <<Will you stop! Just shoot your friends instead. leave us alone!>> she makes an attempt at command while she backs a fist on the roof. "Gonna need a push or something out there. I dunno how long Imma last in this thing!" she yells, as much into earpiece comms as through the van's roof. If it's rough in the van it can't be fun outside with no seatbelts or even flimsy cover.

"Our lady of blessed acceleration don't fail me now. I'm sure it'll buff right out!" she makes another awkward grin at Kitty a moment as a pothole the size of over of the bikes puts the suspension under torture.

The side and front doors of the van aren't exactly in a spot to open so it's left to the rear door to get into. Not exactly a good idea to try while moving at any kind of speed while Boom-Boom tries to not get the vehicle exploded with her friends in and on it.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gives a glance down to the purple dragon when he joins her on the van's roof. "Just in time." She dryly tells him before her eyes go up to the 'enemy' Quinjet again. "Who the Hell even are these people?" She asks. "Where are the good guys? The SHIELD headquarters is like twenty minutes from here!" The Belle annoyedly postulates as she looks at the aftermath of the explosions.

Turning to look ahead of them once more, Rogue exhales. "I have a bad feelin' about this." She states before her legs both go down to her knees, and her hands go out to the reinforced roll cage that Tabitha has put on this thing.

"What even is this on here for...?" Rogue wonders as she wraps her gloved hands tightly, and begins to lift the Tabi-Van off the pavement below.

"Lockheed, I dunno if it'll help, but start pumpin' out as much smoke screen as you can!" Rogue requests of Kitty's little purple nurple.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty doesn't look up from the tablet as the missiles detonate, the concussive blasts rocking the van, bits of pavement bouncing down and cracking the windshield in front of her. She doesn't look up, but she does let out a little shriek, and her seatbelt falling through her body is indication she instinctively phased, all but her fingertips as they keep working the tablet.

She finally glances up, briefly, to spot where the black Quinjet is now. <<Alright everybody, you might want to cover your ears,>> she sends over the telepathic link. She looks back down to the tablet and then taps it in one spot, while using her finger in another, making fine movements with it on the touch screen.

There is practically no further warning as the X-men's Blackbird comes streaking forward from out of nowhere towards the Quinjet, afterburners set to full burn. It hasn't had enough room to go supersonic, but the scream of the engines is still deafening. And more importantly, the Quinjet is pummeled by the stealth plane's wake and jetwash as it hurtles past at hundreds of miles an hour a scant dozen feet above the Quinjet. Once the X-men's jet has sent the powerful turbulence at the Quinjet, Kitty remote pilots the stealth plane into a steep climb to avoid any further risk to buildings, throttling it down and bringing it back around. Whether for another pass, or to bring it in for a faster evacuation.

"You gave me the idea. Calling in air support!" she tells Tabitha.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
The explosions leave them all reeling for a time, scrambling for their next move.

Nat gets the guns in the commandeered van working, but as she suspects, they prove too small in caliber to penetrate the more warlike Quinjet's armor. There is a chorus of dull impacts as they scatter over its surface, and the weaponfire, while non-lethal, does seem to distract the craft. Another pod opens and a large autocannon descends, as if to answer: 'Mine's bigger.'

And, point of fact? It is.

As the gun trains on them, Tabitha searches for a pilot to commandeer, but gets nothing. The whole frame of the thing feels dull, no signs of human thought leeking through. Drone? Or just well-shielded. Either way, there's a mechanical whine a second later as the Quinjet's gun spins up. Was Nat going to take them in her van? Give them a push? Whatever the plan was, it doesn't matter. Because the 'don't kill them' rule clearly does't apply to any of the other vehicles. Just like with Barnes, their own stolen van is shown no mercy, the autocannon cutting through it's frame like butter. They hit the gun firing at them first, then sweep back toward the cabin (vicious!) before changing direction again, aiming low. Nat gets a few dramatic seconds to not die, either from being shot to swiss cheese or blown up when some HE finds the gas tank!

Once the van is left smoking, the Quinjet starts coming in closer. There's a sense, here, of completing the mission, that they've pinned their target and now will proceed to the final plan. Who knows what kind of people are on board that thing, ready to complete what is now very obviously a 'smash and grab' operation of their own. Maybe it's just soldiers, and the X-Men would tear them apart.

...but are they sure?

Rogue begins getting their own remaining van airborn, and maybe this is a good short-term plan to cover the last leg of the journey. She'll be a sitting duck, although it's unclear if they'd be willing to shoot her and thus drop the 'target.' But as it turns out, getting to their desintation? Well, that's easier when it comes to them.

There's a sudden, powerful roar, and the Blackbird comes in overhead like their own guardian angel. The maneuver is dangerously close, but... dangerous is the trick. The jetwash first sets the Quinjet tumbling out of its course, physically battering it away. But it does more than that. As it bobbles in the air trying to stabilize, they can see the scorched and melted parts of its upper frame, see one of the two engines flickering and struggling, and then starting to smoke.

For a moment, it hangs there, then starts accelerating toward the bridge...

...only to overfly it, and keep going. Whoever's in charge, their mission seems to be scrapped. For now, at least.