15927/Acquired Power

Acquired Power
Date of Scene:	24 September 2023
Location:	Sweet Water Lake: Salem Center
Synopsis:	The X-Men meet to recruit Joshua Foley and Kimmi Jones-Smith, but encounter a strange combination of powers that sends mutant abilities haywire.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Summers, Kitty Pryde, Joshua Foley, Negasonic, Warren Worthington, Rogue, Henry McCoy

---

Scott Summers has posed:
The park is.... a disaster area.

It wasn't a disaster area five seconds ago. But a lot can change in a few seconds.

"Thanks for meeting with us. We're glad to answer any and all questions you might have," Scott was saying, calmly, shaking the hand of Pauline. Kimmi hung back, sitting on one of the park benches near where the picnic is set up, looking rather punk and dubious about these Adults and a School for 'Special' people. She just wanted to be normal. "Hi, Kimmi."

"Are you going to ask about my powers," Kimmi asked, petulant, but accepted Scott's handshake. "Because they----"

----

And that is where things went badly. A pulse of Kimmi's energy went out, twenty yards from her, and impacted those close by. It flung their mutant powers into a sudden, drastic overload. Kitty was close, and will find herself traveling backwards in a twist through (and inside?) several picnic tables, and into the little restroom building, as phasing powers overload!

But worse, setting off Cyclops is devastating. The screaming energy levels that top half of that same building, and churns a huge rip across the park, into the water, the overload adding a sheering heat of steam!

Pauline screaming, Kimmi yelling, other mutants nearby react, as the park so quickly becomes chaos.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde is wearing a pair of jeans, with boots and a navy t-shirt, and then a leather jacket overtop. She has on a pair of sunglasses, hair pulled back in a pony tail as she's walking along with Josh while Scott is introducing himself to the woman and her daughter.

"Well it's good to see you again. And this is probably overdue," Kitty tells Josh. "I think when you've had a chance to hear, and see, everything, you'll hopefully agr-"

That's all that Kitty gets out before the sudden rush of power sends the world careening from Kitty's perspective. She never phases to her full limits, afraid of what might happen. Maybe depositing her in some other dimension or just phasing her out of existence entirely.

While the power surge doesn't, thankfully, even hit her limit, it does cause her power to go haywire. She finds herself flying backwards, barely able to see what goes past, until she comes to a stop, horizontally at least, in the bathroom. And then she's falling, falling into the Earth. Thankfully it gets her out of the surge's range, or maybe it just takes that long to wear off. Again in control, she begins the process of rising up through the ground to get back to the surface. Glad she managed to suck in a breath and hold it before falling into the ground where she could suffocate.

Joshua Foley has posed:
After leaving the Institute over a year ago for... some reason... and ending up on the streets of Bushwick, Joshua Foley had not had a good time but was determined to find himself and figure out what the next step in his life is going to be. After Nettie Crowe and the JL: Dark team had found him, a few adventures with them had settle Joshua's heart. He had talked to the counselors about returning to the school and following the path of a doctor. After all, it's what it seems he was fated to be.

The gold skin that covers his body is enhanced more by the black polo style shirt that he wears, khaki pants and a pair of dress shoes. He wanted to at least look more presentable than the last time when he was introuduced to the school; freshly stripped of his Reaver armor.

As he was walking with Kitty, his hands tucked into his pockets and thumbs out, he had been rather quiet during the walk out to the park, only to find that the moment he arrives, he's blown off of his feet from the force of the explosion, and while Kitty takes the brunt of it, Joshua is hit too. With the complete overload of his powers, Joshua feels a suddenly rush of heat as his skin grows hotter and hotter. "...gotta let it go..." a few rough pants of breath rise from him and when he rises up off the ground, there's a second burst that follows the inital blast of Kimi's handshake, as a golden aura bursts forth from the mutant nicknamed Elixir by the old witch.

The glow washes over the area roughly twenty feet around him. Everyone that is in that range feels a sudden warmth, soothing, comforting. Josh's eyes are pupil-less and bright as he unleashes the healing wave that knits bones, closes wounds, cures aches.

Collapsing to his knees from the strength of the overload, his own wounds never were and Joshua is looking around frantically, trying to catch his breath, "K-Kitty?!"

Negasonic has posed:
So Ellie was being professional at the moment. She was wearing her X-Gear, meaning the yellow and black leather outfit with gloves, and threw a leather jacket on top of that.

But she knew her role.

She was here to be proof that they had people closer to Kimmi's age at the manor too. And so she was expecting to hang back, check on her social media, and chew gum.

So she was hanging back, although she did look up and look supportive every so often.

Except things went bad in a hurry. Ellie curses, bringing her hand down to tuck her phone away, concern starting to flood her eyes as Scott's power goes off. And Kitty... where the heck did she go? Too fast.

"... dammit," says the teen.

She steps forward at that, her hands spread wide to the sides. "It's alright - it's okay. No one's hurt...!" She eyes Scott. "Just... breathe, Kimmi, alright?" she says.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington had been far enough away to be out of range of the pulse, flying overhead as he went to check the perimeter. He's wearing his Angel costume even, a rarity for him, red trimmed white with a halo on his chest. He's gotten rid of the headgear, though, with his long blonde hair flowing a bit, shoulder length and catching the wind.

The sudden eruption of destruction and violence, however, obviously changes the lighthearted air of this particular recruitment. Either the kid went haywire or the whole thing was a trap. Either way, whys and wherefores could be figured out later. They had to get things under control first.

And so he enters a dive, aerial maneuvers carrying him not away but inwards, dashing in. He worries about Kitty, seeing her in distress, but, much as he wants to help her, Scott's the real threat right now, his powers out of control. Warren angles slightly askew, trying to avoid any incoming attack as he wants to grasp Scott by the scruff and scoop him up into the air, up and away to see if he can get control of his abilities again. At the very least, to minimize the harm the powerful leader can do.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue wasn't close in with the others. She was out strolling the pathways to provide perimeter security when things went bad. The southern belle just had her hands in the pockets of her leather bomber jacket, her white and brown hair smoothly flowing in the early autumn wind behind her shoulders. Then things went bad. She was far enough away from it all to be unaffected, but it sure did catch her attention.

Stopping her casual stroll, Rogue turned toward the erupting chaos, and began to run across the lawn toward the others in the group.

The Belle runs at a full sprint, coming down a grassy slope toward where the chaos was now suddenly seeming to begin.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry was always more than happy to help - especially when dealing with youngsters who might need guidance or support in understanding what was happening to them. The big blue man was sometimes comforting to folks in times of stress. Plus, supporting his people was something important to him.

Having arrived in his fancy X-Men uniform, he was close enough to have things go a bit askew for him. As the wave of power rolls out from Kimmi, Henry is caught up in the affect. His hands go to his head, clutching at them in pain as his rational thought is all but stripped away - leaving the Feral nature that is the Beast. His fur lengthens - thicker and more ragged and savage. Crouching, the monster scents the air - trying to understand what he's experiencing.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott is able to shut his eyes-- and he does, though that massive blast was too sudden and too unexpected -- at least he didn't take off Kimii's head. He had that small moment of feeling the ramp-up to look upwards. Because that's his usual reaction, if he loses the visor-- look up, so people don't die. Even so, the edges of that blast took off the top of the building, and the edges of it the zone by the lake.... and sorry, a lot of that picnic.

This might not be going as well as it could have gone.

When Angel picks Scott up, it's within the window of Scott closing his eyes down on it. The visor was flung off with the overload, so we're on manual pilot right now. "Thanks for the assist. I need to dump this overload--- safe to aim upwards, Warren?" Scott asks, all business and hiding his own fear. And currently unable to see. "How bad was it? Direct the team - I can't see."

Kimmi is screaming and was totally abandoned by Pauline, who took cover near the drink coolers, screaming something that's not for children's ears. "Don't touch me!" Kimmi is staring around, but since Ellie is speaking, she puts up a hand at Ellie. "I didn't do ANYTHING!"

There were two passerby playing Frisbee that fell and took cover, one of them slammed into a drinking fountain... but the damage is already undone by Joshua's following pulse. "Jim? Are you okay?" Frisbee man #1 asks Jim (aka Frisbee #2), both staring at ...well, at Hank, now. He's scary, and close by. "...!"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
It takes a little while before Kitty Pryde emerges. Were someone inside the wreckage of the bathroom building they might see the young woman rising up out of the ground, resting her hands on the ground while her lower body is still phased, and gasping for breath.

"Well, not quite what I meant about phasing when startled, Scott, but close enough," she says to herself, as if carrying on the conversation that she and Scott had in the Blackbird hangar last night.

Kitty rises the rest of the way out of the ground and phases through the debris in the exit, before emerging back outside again and looking around to take stock. "Josh?" she calls before she's spotted him. Over comms, she asks, <<Is everyone ok?>>

Joshua Foley has posed:
When Kitty comes back out of the ground, Joshua feels a pang of relief, but only for a moment. Now that he has had the chance to recover from his initial power fluctuation, his attentions swing to Kitty. "I can sense the wounded." he tells her.

He gestures to where someone is down on the ground. "Weak pulse, I'm going to need help." Pushing himself to his feet, Joshua makes his way over to the most seriously injured near him.

Pushing over the party goer, he winces as he notices that a pice of table had impaled them. He looks around and spies Hank. "Doctor McCoy!" he calls out, waving one arm as he pulls the tattered remains of his shirt aside to expose the golden chest. "I need you to tell me how to repair a perforated lung and broken ribs."

Then he quickly adds. "Or how to stabalize until we can get medical up here."

Negasonic has posed:
Trust me, Ellie wasn't going to touch her.

The sullen teen had no small amount of concern on her own features, and there was a shiver running through her limbs. She didn't know Scott's eyelasers were *that*... destructive. Might make her explosions look like a party favor. "Not going to touch you," says Ellie, some part of her knowing that she definitely wasn't the best person for this particular part of the role. But hey. She tongues her gum into the side of her mouth.

Chomping on it while trying to calm someone down might not be the best play.

"My name is Ellie," she says, lifting her chin as she keeps her hands to the sides, fingerless gloves with black polish on her nails seen. She tries, tries to tone down the tension in her shoulders. "You okay? Not too scared?"

She was trying to keep the girl focused on her, too, even if Ellie wasn't the cuddliest X-Person. Because, well... Ellie could hear the panic and chaos around her. And it sounded like Josh was taking care of a lot of it. But she was going to keep her eyes on Kimmi.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington gives a tight smile, "I have plenty of practice avoiding you zapping me in the face, man,' he says. He angles back, a slow swooping arc until Scott's eyes are aimed into the sky, "Fire away."

"This an ambush or just a startled kid, ya think?" he asks, wings keeping the two men aloft relatively easily, Warren's upper body strength enough to hold Scott aloft at least for now. He's relieved to see some of the others recovering, too, even as his eagle eyes scan to make sure there aren't any other surprises coming out to add a further attack, then trying to track down Scott's visor to give it back to him..

Rogue has posed:
Rogue, dressed in civilian clothing, arrives near to where Negasonic is. She stops running, and instantly crouches to pick up Scott's visor. "What the Hell happened?" She asks Ellie, as she turns the visor over in her gloved hands. Lowering it to her side, Rogue casts her green eyed gaze around the park, and calls out to Kitty and Hank. "Looks like a lotta people are either stunned or outright injured. We better not hang around here for long without any telepaths on-site to back us up!"

Her gaze rises upwarp toward where Warren is, and when he gets close enough, she'll toss the visor up to him. "Here!"

Henry McCoy has posed:
The Beast is there, clearly in an internal war with Henry. He hears the people calling to him - all but trapped in the concious of the feral side of himself. Nostrils flare and eyes dart towards the frisbees for a brief moment. There's something somoene needs - it fights agains tthe very real animal within.

Henry has a moment of clarity, bounding over towards Josh and Kitty are. He doesn't have words, almost shoving people clear so he can work on the patient. There's no bedside manner, no smiles - just an efficient mental-muscle-memory for the Doctor to tend to those injured.

Scott Summers has posed:
The picnic has a lot of bruised, but the lung patient-- that may be one of the worst. The patient is in a panic, as is two other bruised people. "Who are you? What have you done?" Asks one of them, distrusting all mutant powers at the moment, including those trying to help. They don't know who did this, so distrust is normal.

"Ellie. I-- I'm fine. I'm fine. Really," Kimmi says, to Ellie -- perhaps it is very good that Ellie is of a similar age, as Kimmi is trying hard to be cool punk too, to emulate the good example... "Where's Mom? Is she--" KImmi asks. The mother, Pauline, is still hidden behind the coolers.

And there's a new strange threat: the grass below everyone, within that explosive radius, is starting to weave, to come to life, as strange plants twist, angry aggressive vines twisting in the lawn. "Mom! The plants are here again," Kimmi warns, and then looks at Ellie urgently. "The PLANTS. They always come for me." As if that should make sense to Ellie. But it's clear the plants are a thing that she's used to seeing.

In the air: "I appreciate you taking those practice lessons about face safety," Scott answers Warren, and trusts his teammate: allowing the rest of the horrible amplification to rush out in the form of a beam aimed up into the sky. It's six or seven long seconds of pulsing energy, before Scott senses the headache reducing, and closes his eyes. <I'm good now. Blind, but good, under control. I'll have to stay out of range of Kimmi, though. Too volatile a mix.> That was on the comm.

The huge blue mutant, Henry, pushing people aside creates a new low-key panic-- but it DOES cause that group to scatter and get out of the way of the medic!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde's eyes go to Hank McCoy in those first moments, when he's shaking the effects that the girls powers had on him. There's a look of concern, Kitty having spent a lot of time helping her mentor when he was losing ground to his feral side. Maybe seeing some of the same signs as back then, before thankfully he's able to shake it off.

As Josh calls to Hank for help, Kitty nods and says, "If you're not sure about healing him," she tells Josh, and her eyes are already searching the picnic goers who are hurt. "Come on, looks like this woman could use help," Kitty says, encouraging Josh to come with her over to the woman.

"We can help ma'am, just hold still," Kitty says, pulling her sunglasses off so the woman can see the warmth and compassion in Kitty's eyes as she crouches beside the woman. Kitty looks to Josh, her expression showing confidence in him.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh was willing to try, he was getting confidence in his powers. But when Hank takes over handling the most serious injury, his attention turns to Kitty as she speaks of handling the others.

That he can do, he's sure of it. With Kitty's encouragement, he moves as pair with her over to the injured young woman. "You have some good cuts, and I think a broken arm." He swallows, but when he looks up and Kitty shows him that confidence, he nods.

Back down to the woman, Joshua lays his hands on her bare skin. "My name's Joshua. You're going to feel a warming situation as I heal your injuries. Please, do not panic." comes his words, trying to effect confidence in his skills and powers. And then he starts to speak.

"Reset the humerus, mend the bone, mend the brachial, knit the brachialis, close the muscle and the cut..." As he speaks, Kitty can see a golden glow within the woman's arm that seems to just be pulling everything back together.

"Heal the cuts to the face and legs, reduce the swelling in the eye..." It all takes less than half a minute before Joshua pulls back. "Give yourself a couple of minutes, but you should be okay to get back up."

His eyes scan the crowd, looking over everyone's biokenetics. "Over there." he says, pointing to a boy that'ss sitting on the ground, holding his knee.

Negasonic has posed:
"F*** if I know!" Ellie says, wincing after realizing that she just said that in front of a kid. Whatever. "Cyclops just started blasting everything, Kitty vanished, and I think..." And really, seeing Kimmi be cool meant that Ellie had to be cool, because a 12 year old being cooler than Ellie right now might not be the coolest for her. Ellie lifts her chin to Kimmi in acknowledgement as she takes a step back, and draws her tension down with a roll of her neck.

A twist on her heel, and the teenager frowns a little deeper as the grass starts to come alive.

"Yeah?" she asks Kimmi. "What do you usually do when they come, Kimmi?" she says, bringing a booted foot to give one a kick. "How about we get on top of that picnic table for now?"

There were a lot of glances to Rogue in the meantime. "Hey, Kimmi's Mom?" she calls out. "This happen before?" she'd ask, as she moves to try to clamber atop a nearby picnic table, but only while making sure Kimmi was coming with her. If Kimmi doesn't go, she's staying on Terra Firma, with all of the vines.

"What do you think?" she asks Rogue, in a low tone.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington swoops low and outstretches his hand, snagging the visor as Rogue tosses it up to him, handing it up to Scott as he moves to set the crimson-eyed mutant down. "Think you can use your blasts to cut down some of that vegetation safely?" he asks Scott, taking tot he air again and flying up again, more or less just prepared to remove anybody else who comes into harm's way, an emergency rescue service of one golden haired Angel, at your service.

He soars up and over, seeing Josh's healing energies going into action and giving a wide eyed, impressed nod, "That kid's gonna be pretty damn useful," he mutters. He may have some healing abilities of his own, but he's seen too many of his friends hurt over the years. He's often wished he could share his own healing abilities.

He also keeps an eye on Hank - that feral, bestial side of him tot he forefront means his old friend could potentially snap and, if so, the Angel Express can lift him up and out of danger, "Call out if you need a lift," he yells down.

Rogue has posed:
That is pretty much the answer Rogue expected from Ellie. It garners a momentary smirk from the red lipped southerner. "Right... we need to start gluein' those glasses to his face." She mutters before looking to Kimmy, then to the supposed mother of the young girl. It is about then and there that Rogue notices something brushing against her booted feet, and up the edges of her pantlegs. She drops her eyes down to see the lawn of the lakeshore actually rapidly growing up toward her ankles in level, and beyond. "What in the actual Hell.." Rogue says then, raising one foot up, before she jumps forward to a dirt patch in the grass where it is safe from the wrath of the lunatic lawn.

Her eyes snap up back over to Ellie, to the picnic table, then back again. "Get on the table!" Rogue tells Negasonic. "Take the kid with you!"

She, herself, rushes toward where the mother is. "Hey, lady. Look, we need to make for the skies for now, find a safer spot. I'm gonna need you to go get on the picnic table with your kid, okay?" She asks kindly, though the woman seems to be a bit nutso in the brain factory from Rogue's current observations.

The Belle looks back toward the others. "I'm gonna fly them out on the table, take them over to the parkin' lot area, if we can get people movin' asses!"

Henry McCoy has posed:
The call out from Warren is registered with a nod - Henry focused on the task at hand. His hands are not as nimble - not since he was changed by Essex. Still, he has the understanding of what needs to happen. He needs to focus - needs to try to keep the Beast occupied. For field triage, the injuries he's tending to are mended as well as he can.

The briefest of moments in reprieve has him noticing the animated plants. Several are slashed at, cutting into the weeds as he growls. It's not easy for him to pull away from the fight, but numbers are on the flora's side.

Scooping up his patient, he holds the person to his broad fuzzy chest. "Hold on." To his friends, it sounded /nothing/ like Hank. A leaping bound and he lands near the picnic table, laying the injured man down flat on the top.

Scott Summers has posed:
Vegetation? What? Scott doesn't ask yet, but he does WONDER what that is about. He has his eyes closed, until the visor is firmly back on. He also adds the back strap to it, that curls around for safety. It seems reasonable to expect it might get flung off again, if Kimmi's out of control.

"We'll see," Scott answers, related to the vegetation, but is now able to survey the area as he's dropped off, landing just outside of the animated, angry grass. The answer is yes, though-- Scott begins careful sweeps, cutting down the angrily surly bushes that are trying to grasp out in all directions. He's being very careful: if he gets amplified again mid-shot, that could take out more than shrub. Better to use caution. <Where did the plants come from? Is there another mutant here?> Scott asks the group. And there's Beast, leaping over near Scott: "Henry, I'll keep the plants off you -- do what you need to, to help him." Henry's voice is concerning, but Scott hopes he can hold it together.

Joshua aids the woman, and for once... there's a positive response. "I... thank you. You healed me... wow." She doesn't give herself a few minutes, she feels good, but does take it easy when she starts to go.

"We run away," Kimmi supplies to Ellie after they've climbed up on a table. She cringes back from Scott's blasts towards Ellie, automatically-- a little close.

"She's the mutant!" Pauline says when Rogue and Ellie try to talk to her, or make suggestions. It's accusatory, her daughter is a 'freak' is the subtext, as Pauline starts to try to escape the vines, the mess... and her mutant daughter. Pauline is choosing to try to run, not be airlifted on a table with the mutants. Pauline trips over plants, but panic is doing a lot for her speed to get the hell out of there.

"...Mom?..." Kimmi asks.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde begins encouraging people away from the park's more vegetated parts and towards the parking lot. "Come on, let's get away from the plants," she says to one man who is standing there dumbfounded just watching.

Taking a brief moment to pull out her phone, Kitty activates some programs that she and Doug have written. Backdoors in the local cell phone towers are accessed, allowing video and pictures of the events to be scrubbed before they can make it into the cloud or onto social media. Hacks already starting on phones that are identified as recording events so they can be scrubbed of images as well.

"Good job," Kitty says to Josh, flashing him an encouraging smile as he helps the woman. "Come on people, to the parking lot," she yells, shooing people forward.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua returns Kitty's smile, but seperates from her to assist with healing those that cannot run. There are only a few and once they are quickly tended to. He feels around one last time to ensure that there are no hidden hurt and draws in a breath.

He sets his shoulders and makes his way over to the table where Hank is with the wounded person.

He lifts his blue eyes up to the doctor. "I can help." It's said bluntly, not questioning himself for once. "Tell me how to heal this." His hands move and he places the golden digits on the patient's skin. And he looks to Dr. McCoy for instruction.

Negasonic has posed:
There was a serious furrow to Ellie's brow when Kimmi's mom starts running away like that. Black-painted lips turn down into a deeper frown as she watches after her, her hand coming to rest on Kimmi's shoulder, giving a squeeze, even as she bears her glare on the back of Pauline's head.

"She's scared. We'll keep her, and you, safe, promise," she says.

To accent that point, she brings the heel of her boot down on a bit of vine that tries to clamber onto the table, grinding it with her heel.

"Rogue? You gonna be okay to fly us outta here?" she says.

"Rogue's dope AF, just watch," she says. She gestures to Rogue, even if she looks back to Pauline, concerned.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington swoops low, his wings outstretched, and tries to snatch up Pauline whether she likes it or not, getting her out of danger. Her screeching and obvious revulsion doesn't phase Warren much, he's seen enough of it over the years. His own father wasn't particularly proud to have a mutant son.

"We're all mutants here, ma'am," he says as he lifts her up, "You make your own choice. But if you lose your daughter because you can't accept her for who she is, you'll regret it forever." he says.

He carries her to safety, dropping her off near Ellie and Kimmi herself, but not too close. He doesn't trust her and he maybe drops her to the ground a little less gently than me might have otherwise. His message delivered, he'll leave her to hear fear and her bigotry. Josh may be able to heal a lot of things, but Warren knows all too well that there's no power that can fix someone's heart. Well. Metaphorical heart.

Rogue has posed:
When the mother just up and runs, Rogue grits her teeth and mutters something. Normally she'd go after the lady, but she has other pressing matters. "Angel!" Rogue calls out, seeing the winged mutant already doing what she was going to ask of him, so she drops it there. If Warren can get the mother, then she's free to focus on...

The Belle ends up beside the table, looking at those who are climbing up on it, and those who may just be electing to linger around it while the strange flora grows wildly up around all of them.

"No time for picnic chit chat, folks. Get on or get lost in the weeds!" Rogue states, before she's moving down IN to the weeds herself.

With a grimace on her face, the southern gal slips under the table, and swims her way through the growing vines and grass. Some of it may try to pull on her, but she's got quite a strength hidden in her lithe frame...

Once in position under the table, she shouts out. "Hold on!" And soon it is lifting up in to the air, the vines that grasp on to Rogue's body are being torn out of the ground beneath her, likely many of which are just hanging on to her now for the ride.

The picnic table will lift up a good thirty feet in the air before it smoothly starts to glide like it is on ice, right past the grassy hills, sports fields, and out toward the pavement parking lot at the peak of the hills that surround the normally idylic lake...

Beneath the table, Rogue mutters. "Next time I'll bring a Weed Whacka..."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Balance being what it is, Henry has no problem maintaining his position at the table as it is lifted into the air by Rogue. His other hand goes to the small of Josh's back to make sure he's not left behind. A sharp talon points to the injured man. "Pierced lung. Normally... we'd suture. If we can get it to mend on its own..." He's at a loss for Josh's skills, or powers - it's beyond him at the moment, with his tenuous grasp of his true self.

The claws on his feet dig into the picnic table for better grip, the big man moving his hand over where the injury is. "Here. This lung." He looks to Josh, trying to guide as best he can.

Scott Summers has posed:
<I'll stay back to keep these plants at bay. Get the injured and Kimmi out of here, priority. Ellie, you're doing great with her. Keep it up.> 'Dad' approval from Scott, such as it is. He's relieved to see Warren is taking point with the mother. Scott continues to keep the plants down, particularly those that are grasping and fighting at Rogue's picnic table.

<Any eyes on the source of these plants?> Scott asks the group as a whole. It looks like they'll be able to get the seriously injured helped, and get Kimmi clear of causing any more problems.

Except Ellie did touch Kimmi. And though it isn't strong, the amplification aura does flutter a little. Subtle, this time, as if to remind them it's still there, though the big release may have drained Kimmi's ability substancially.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde sees a woman with a vine wrapped around her leg, hopping on one foot at first trying to get away. But then it tugs her off her feet and starts dragging her.

"Going in after someone," Kitty calls. She runs right through the foliage that flails at her, until she reaches the woman. It just takes a hand gripping the woman's shoulder and the vine passes through her leg. It swings back, trying to grasp them both, but it might as well be trying to grab a ghost.

"What-" the woman says. "How-?"

Kitty just shakes her head. "Just stay touching me," she says, though Kitty is gripping the woman's shoulder as the X-man encourages the woman forward, until both are emerging out onto pavement, where Kitty lets her go.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Scrambling up on the table to be stabalized by Dr. McCoy, Joshua listens and nods. "Alright..." he manages. "I can do this..." And then after Hank changes from vocal explanation to tactile learning, Elixir finds his hand inside the chest of the guy.

His golden scale pales just slightly, but he focuses, pulling it back as he starts to concentrate. "Seal the lung, stitch the vessels." he starts as he closes his eyes and both hands are pressed down.

His powers go diligently to work, sealing the lung, closing up the injuries as he starts to pull the ribs back together, latching and then mending them together, treating for clearing of the injury, closure, the return of breathing and finally, knitting the skin back together, the golden glow healing the wound entirely.

As soon as he is done, however? He slumps, falling back on the table as he makes a woozy noise. "Too much... don't think I can do anymore." he manages through parched lips. "Really hungry and thirsty. Hope it's enough."

Negasonic has posed:
Yeah, Ellie wasn't thinking about it. She even told the kid she wouldn't touch her, but here she was.

It was habit, you know. Making sure she doesn't tumble off this magic picnic table ride they were both on. And her fingers curl into Kimmi's shoulder, perhaps holding on a bit as she deals with the swaying.

"See? Badass," she says.

But something was wrong. Something was very wrong. That... sensation, like electricity drawing from the sky, wrapping around her skin, that feeling she has before she explodes? She could usually go by her day without thinking about it at all.

But that was changing now, in an instant. Ellie brings her hand up from Kimmi's shoulder, but it was a bit late. The air around the teenage mutant was... shifting, pulsing with energy, and her eyes had a fire within them. Ellie closes them, breathing deeply, trying to gently... nudge the fires away from the edge of the cliff they were tracking towards the edge of.

"F***," she curses, without regard for anything right now. "Can we go over the lake?" she asks of Rogue, voice strained.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington gets some distance from where he dropped off Pauline and, once in the air, responds to Scott's question.

<<It's the mother. The plants were radiating around her location. I think she's a suppressed mutant. And her daughter just un-suppressed her. Or expressed her. Okay, that sounds weird. Anyway, prepare for waves of mutant self-loathing from that one, if anybody wants to try breaking the news. I'm not. I hate breaking bad news. That's why I have lawyers.>>

He'll swoop down and see if he can help Kitty, too, snatching up anybody else who gets caught up in the remaining vines, doing his best to keep them from entangling him in the process.

Rogue has posed:
"Maybe it's the mother--" Rogue is stating over the team comms from the X-shaped pin on her jacket's lapel. She's still in the air, still taking that table to the paved parking lot, completely unaware of Negasonic's situation atop it.

The metal legs of the table touch down on the concrete with relative ease, and Rogue is quick to use her hands to guide herself out from under the table, still floating up off of the ground though, her eyes start to roam over everyone who was with her who had ridden on the table's surface.

She stares at Ellie, and within a second she sees what is happening.

"Son of a bitch." Rogue mutters before she instantly offers Ellie both of her green gloved hands. "Come on, we're goin' sky high." She informs the teenage warhead. "I'm gonna need you to hold on tight though, Sugah." She says in her naturally husky-voice.

Once she has a good enough grip on Ellie, the two are shooting up in to the sky at the speeds of a jet plane. It's likely enough to make Negasonic vomit, if not worse! Either way though, they're soon gaining enough altitude in to the clouds that an explosion will certainly rock Rogue, but ... she's tough right? Right...?

Henry McCoy has posed:
The ripple is enough to give Henry pause - feeling less and less like a man. Once Josh is drained, he ensures the man is not going to topple back to fall to his certain injury. There's no good work comment, no congratulations - just survival at the moment. Once Rogue touches the table down and launches up to the sky with Ellie, he releases his hold on Elixir.

He leaps back and away from the others, trying to put distance between them all. It's not to avoid the power - that is beyond his understanding at the moment. It is to keep clear - and avoid lashing out. His body crouches low, ready to pounce should he need to.

Scott Summers has posed:
Many people look upwards. Scott doesn't -- this would be a very bad time to fire upwards. He keeps his own eyes down on the plants. The plants are mostly shaved back now, like a cruel, oddly designed crop circle out from where Scott is. He knows better than to rush towards Kimmi, so instead he goes to wards the mother, to give her some ... words, quietly.

Kimmi said only, "Wow... you guys swear a lot," to Rogue and Ellie, impressed by it, before she's dropped off to safety. Sounds like Kimmi's 'in'.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde heads back into help someone else. She waves to Warren to come in for a pickup this time, and both Kitty and the teenaged girl she goes to help will reach up, should he come by, so he can grab at their hands.

"I think that's the last of them," she says. <<Probably best we get out of here then. Shouldn't be any photographic evidence left, I have a sweep running.>>

She looks around to check on everyone from the team, then slides her shades back into place. The poor man's disguise.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Thank you for your help, Doctor." Joshua offers to Hank as they are settled on the ground. He manages to push himself to his feet. "I'll go with the others to the medical office. And hopefully find something to eat."

His attention turns to where Rogue is taking Ellie upwards and his hands grip to his sides, a quiet little prayer that both women turn out alright.

Negasonic has posed:
Let's just say that this particular ride wasn't as magical as the flying picnic table ride.

Made all the more amazing by the fact that she was trying to keep from urping an explosion.

But... she did accept the grasp of both of Rogue's hands, squeezing tight as she was taken up, up, up...

And that fiery aura that surrounded her flared in heat and intensity, Negasonic closing her eyes, but with a bout of nausea, well, there was a *pop*, a little explosion - the first shot of pepper in the air before multiple other explosions begin. Little at first, like popcorn. And right when Ellie felt like she was going to hurl...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

That probably woke up the government for sure. From the ground, an explosion briefly lights up the shadows, even in the daytime sun. And as that explosion crackles across the sky, Ellie had that sensation of falling. And falling. And faaaaalling.

"WHY IS THIS BETTER THAN THE LAKE?!" she says. She didn't see Rogue anywhere, and the ground was starting to come up at her. She twists, writhing her arms and legs against the turblent wind of her fall, spiraling in the air as she desperately falls.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington brings Kitty and the girl along with her, showing off his strength a little bit by taking them both at once. "Better part of valor, yeah, let's get out of dodge," he says, then takes to the air. He lets Rogue drop off Ellie and he moves in to do the rescue part. This is who he is. This is what he does.

Well, yeah, and the billionaire playboy thing, too.

He'll snatch Ellie from the air, catching her up in his arms and swooping low for a moment, the two of them able to see themselves in the reflective surface of the pond before he pulls up to send take her to safety. "I've got you, kid."

Rogue has posed:
If asked later, Rogue would admit that she wouldn't have done this if Angel hadn't been also on the team for this little mission gone awry. But having him here meant there was a pretty good chance that even if she got separated in the ordeal, Angel would be there to do as his namesake would suggest.

Rogue's eyes were just up on the clouds, flying toward them at a high rate of speed like a million times she'd done it before. She sometimes even flew up to the clouds to have lunch inside of one. There's nothing quite like having a Wendy's Frosty up inside a puffy cloud in the middle of summer.

But this flight, had quite a bit more 'oomph' behind it.

"Warren," she says on the journey sky-high. "I'm gonna need your help here. Incase I'm not able to---" She's cut off when the Teenage Warhead explodes.

The blooming explosion sends the Belle in to the clouds, vanishing her amongst the madness of it all.

Thankfully though, the guardian Angel has Ellie just as hoped.

As for Rogue? Well, she ends up tumbling through the trees down around the lake, her jacket fluttering off toward the water, with her phone splooshing in to the gently lapping serenity of the scene.

She's alive, just dazed and probably in a bad mood for awhile afterward.

Henry McCoy has posed:
There's no hiding himself for Henry, not like Kitty can - no cool sunglasses disguise! Normally, he'd just amble off as the others departed - regrouping at the school as normal. The complication here is his heightened sense of animal - and the detonations in the sky.

The sky and the shockwave have the Beast bolting towards the woods, leaping and galloping towards the safety of the trees.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott makes the judgement that having the mother here isn't helpful, and sends her on her way for the time being. Best to talk later about serious situations when tensions aren't so high....

<Back to the vehicles, everyone. Withdraw. Emergency response is arriving, let's not get in their way.> Scott says into the comm. He leaves the mother to leave, and instead moves toward Rogue to help fish her out of the shallows of the lake. Warren aided Ellie-- Soctt can help here, to support Rogue. "New jacket, on me," Scott says to her quietly. He stares towards the exiting Henry, concern showing in his mouth. But he knows Henry can handle it, with a bit of time.

Kimmi is near Beast now, Josh, and Kitty. "I'm sorry," the girl says. "I guess it /was/ me. A little bit." Taking responsibility is a big step. "Can you help me not ...do that anymore?" She inquires of the X-Men. Kimmi pauses. "Please."