4329/A Touch of Brimstone: Mutant Town

A Touch of Brimstone: Mutant Town
Date of Scene:	07 December 2020
Location:	Clinic <Mutant Town>
Synopsis:	Remy infiltrates a clinic in Mutant Town where the HFC were picking up some of their subjects and meets the Cryokinetic doctor- with explosive results. Rogue and Noriko find his partner, a Big Lebowski villain, at a nearby club, and have a bit of a scrap. Both encounters lead to standoffs and chases, leading toward the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yards.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Remy LeBeau, Logan Howlett, Noriko Ashida, Rogue

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Jean Grey has posed:
At the recent mission briefing, Jean had assigned Gambit to lead the follow up investigation in Mutant Town. When Remy was last in the area, he'd gotten two viable leads about the HFC kidnappings, albeit pointing in two different directions:

The first was that a local clinic had been offering free medical services to the otherwise disenfranchised local community, with a focus on the unusual needs that mutant patients often had. While the clinic itself had a long history in the neighborhood, they'd apparently gotten new funding from some nonprofit organization. The investigation came up murky on background details, the locals weren't asking too many questions: when you can barely afford any sort of healthcare, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Yet, Remy had heard a few rumors of friends going to the clinic and disappearing.

Then there was the 'hard' approach, outright abductions under cover of night. The Cajun had gotten reports, but not a lot of hard details. To a local, this was just part of the background level of criminal activity: someone taking the wrong turn down a dark alley and never being heard from again. Still, he'd found at least one victim who'd escaped such an attack. They'd seen two men: one the X-Men would recognize, at least by reputation, as present at the Long Island facility, a Cryokineticist who killed his coworkers and collapsed the facility to prevent capture or interrogation. The other is unknown, but described as 'Eurotrash'. Blonde hair. Maybe even a ponytail. You know the sort!

The clinic presents an obvious location, although a somewhat more 'official' one where casual busting heads of civillians might be frowned upon. Of course, Mutant Town has a dealers choice of shady hangouts, bars, dance clubs, flop houses, and worse, all of which might provide useful informants... or serve as hunting grounds for the kidnappers.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy is still nursing the after effects of his hangover from a few nights before. Tossing a few aspirin into his palm to dry swallow where he's watching the clinic from across the street. Usually he'd be in his long brown coat, but it was destroyed by the young mutant they'd brought back to the medical wing of the base, so instead he's in less obvious clothing. A black turtleneck sweater, a pair of dingy brown slacks, and a multi-colored leather coat with 8-ball symbols on both arms and on the back between the shoulders that looks like he bought it right out of a thrift store.

He's not entirely sure how he feels about it yet.

"Dis a multi-prong approach. Team A: Wolverine, Rogue, Surge... I been talkin' to dat mutant got away from dem kidnappers an' I want you three to take a look in da area round da alley where dey taken. Rogue, you fly aerial. Surge, I want you ta move through dem alleys like yer comin' back home... Ol' Man, if ya smell somethin' funny... ya know what ta do."

What's Remy's part?

He adjusts his coat, smooths back his hair, and slides on a pair of shades, a charming grin, and holds up a hand to pause traffic long enough for him to jog across the street towards the front doors of the clinic. All he has to do is get back there and he'll find /something/, right? "'Ello young lady, I was wonderin' if dere any chance I can be seen?"

Logan Howlett has posed:
Wolverine's opinion on taking orders from Remy is made obious with a small growl when he gets his marching orders. He looks like he is about to say something about it, too, before he glances sidelong at Rogue and reins it in a bit.

"Just don't get too distracted with the desk girl," he states in his trademark snarl. He glances at Surge and Rogue and nods, the shorter mutant here in case of violence, and not interested in leading the two ladies unless he has to. So, he follows along.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko was once driven to Mutant Town.  She lived these streets.  To come back with some measure of control, even aided, or even to come back at all.  It feels unsettling, like the beginning of a stomach ache.  Noriko briefly wonders if she ate enough.  Remy's call to action gets her sharp attention.  She nods to Remy, then looks down at her new, though quickly fabricated gauntlets and the charge gauges.

"Let's do it."  There's a bristle of electricity when she pops her neck to the side and drops quickly into a runner's stance.  Then she shoots off at near instant acceleration to recon ahead.  Stealth through speed.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had been dealing with the absorbing of said young mutant in the X-Men base a couple days past. It had lead her to being a bit isolated and staying away from others as the boy's personality was conflicting with her own... but they both wanted to stay away from people. It was wearing off though more now, and the Belle was ready for the mission. Dressed in her green and white uniform again tonight, she's got a white silken scarf wrapped around her neck and a black leather jacket worn over top of it all. "Sky patrol. Got it." She tells Gambit quietly, her eyes going to Logan who gets a soft smile before she looks to Nori. "Be careful." She warns the explodey girl.

Moments later and Rogue is up in the air, arms out and scarf fluttering behind her shoulders.

Jean Grey has posed:
The alleys are exactly what one would expect: narrow, dirty, trash-strewn, and dotted with occasional signs of possible human habitation: boxes and piled newspapers arranged into makeshift shelters or bedding. Trash cans that have been used for makeshift campfires in the colder months. Not every alley is as bad, some are merely isolated and lonely. But as a whole, they paint a picture.

Also? They smell. Of old trash, wet paper, spilled beer, and here and there the delightful touch of urine. None of it is especially out of the ordinary. Of course, they have a new weapon in Logan, and when he reaches the spot Remy told him, he can pick out some more useful smells among the less pleasant odors: people. Two men, and a younger woman.

Noriko covers ground fast, as fast is what she does. All of this is familiar, even if individual details have changed. At speed, its hard to get details, but she can locate a few places that seem to boast more current activity: a cook out behind the rear kitchen exit of a restaurant, getting a smoke. Another back door with a crowd of people messing around, including a young couple making out, maybe the back of a club or something. One where the homeless have gathered, starting one of those same fires.

For Rogue, the aerial survey doesn't show much- yet. Well, she gets a wonderful view of the neighborhood, and a lot of what Noriko can spot, but with less detail from that higher vantage. There are a couple vehicles in a small lot behind the clinic, as well.

And then there's the receptionist! She smiles brightly as Remy approaches. "Well, you may have to wait a few minutes, but we don't have too many patients in today so you're lucky. Is this just a checkup or do you have an issue bothering you? If you want to fill this out," and she has a form, "the doctor will see you as soon as they're free."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan taps his team communicator and grumbles into it. "I got some scents. Two men. Younger woman." He brushes his bristly, wild hair back, though it just springs back into its usual haphazard style.

He sniffs the air again as one hand flexes and unflexes, as if in anticipation for adamantium slicing skin to slide into the chilly air. He glances about and then takes a breath and begins to follow the scent.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Someone is upset that Remy is calling the shots on a mission?

You don't say..

The Cajun doesn't even lose a stride at Logan's curt growl, leaning in against the counter before the receptionist with a winning grin. Arms folded to provide a perch, he's raising a brow at her inquiry with a little awkward glance over both shoulders. "Well, chere, it kinda private, but yer a professional, ye no?"

Curling a finger suggestively to draw her closer.

"I got dis big hairy mole. Angry little t'ing... t'ink he mad dat he aint da head mole.. Da kind of mole dat ya just /know/ I caught in Canada." With his coms open. So that Logan can hear him. "I just kid..." Winking a black/red eye at her with a widening grin, "Just a checkup, mm? I aint got no insurance tho. Just lost my job down at da docks... dat gonna be a problem?"

Hearing the sitrep coming from Logan first, he sucks his teeth in an acknowledgement. Something unintrusive to his mock flirting to get to the head of the line.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko does have a lot of obstacles to mind as she goes, so it is no wonder details breeze by.  Plus at these speeds her mind feels a little scattered in some ways, which might be why she comes to a complete stop when she sees the fire, like a signal jumping out of her past, bringing her back there for a moment, for her at least.

The girl dials herself down to speak into comms as she checks her charge gauge.  "Cook smoking behind a restaurant.  Maybe a bar or club, some couple going at each other.  Back with some friends."

Rogue has posed:
Up in the sky above, Rogue's gloved hands are out beside her, her arms spread, her white bangs fluttering against the sides of her head as the rest of her dark hair is tied back in to a bun on the crown of her head. She's up high, her eyes down low, scanning the surface level. She's eying the vehicles in particular, but there's nothing to outstanding about them.

Quietly, the Belle is singing to herself. "I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far. I can't go back t'where I used t'be... A whole new wooooorld!" She's lost inside her own head, turns out that boy she absorbed enjoys her singing so he's encouraging it inside her head too!

She even does a full twirl in the air, arms out and knees together with her booted feet pointed back behind her!

Jean Grey has posed:
While there are plenty of unusual odors to offer distractions, when Logan says he's 'the best at what he does,' tracking happens to be on the menu. He's led on a windy trip, until a point where the trail splits: one man goes one way (back toward where the group started), and the other and the young woman go a different way, headed North and West depending just how far he follows it, toward the edge of Mutant Town where Bushwick runs into Williamsburg and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Remy's 'admission' to the nurse causes her to give a little 'oh,' though she quickly assures him: "I understand. Its alright, I -am- a professional." HEE HEE. "Oh, and the insurance isn't a problem. We offer some free basic services on site, funded by a private research group. You'll have to sign this waiver, but we can see you today if you're willing. No out of pocket cost!"

When Noriko slows near the group, they do pause and look at her, up from their fire. "Hey there young missy," offers an older man, smiling gently. "You OK? You got a place to stay? Its cold, these nights."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan follows the trail for a good while, keeping his head down to avoid looks from people he passes. Just a short, thick dude with a baseball cap, jeans and flannel. Pay no attention.

His hand flexes again as he does his job, following the trail until it seems to be of little more use to him. He takes note to himself on where it leads before he doubles back.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Rogue's up there singing Aladdin and it's hard not to smirk.

But like the receptionist, Remy is a professional. Weathering the storm with a hand brushing across his stubbled jaw. "For free healthcare, dere aint a whole lot I don't do, ye no?" Said with a lopsided grin and another wink. He's scoping out the back office behind her though. Looking for the door that leads into the reception area, ducts feeding air into the cubicle. Power lines.

"Dere any paperwork I gotta fill out?" Leaning on his elbows returned to the counter. He's listening to the updates from the team, Nori and Logan specifically. The latter of which is suspiciously (or not so much so) quiet. "And why ya got a waiver? Jus' curious... Most da time it a consent form, eh?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I'm good.  I used to live in these parts.  Didn't have blue hair then though.  Name's Nori."  It's easy to see by her roots what her hair color was though.  Noriko shifts her weight slightly.  "You seen anybody taking people off the street?  Look.  I know.  People go missing, but this guy is different."  It's a warning, eyes glowing with concern, certainly the combination a new thing for the girl, though she doesn't realize it.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue sweeps down out of the sky and darts beneath a lit-up neon buildboard that has an animated axe chopping a glowing bright piece of wood in front of a camp fire. She zips right beneath the axe before it chops down on to the log in fact, still singing, not realizing her comm is still on.

"A new fantastic point of view! No one t'tell us, 'No' Or where t'go! Or say we're, only, dreamin`!"

It's possible that the new alter ego inside of her head is still influencing her more than she realized. Maybe it's because this is the first time she's flown since having him in there, and it's resurfaced his side of her mind now, and this is... you know, pretty fun for someone whose never flown before!

Jean Grey has posed:
The receptionist supplies Remy with the paperwork. Most of it is normal. There are questions about mutant status and abilities, but given the clinic's major clientel, this may not be suspicious in and of itself. The extra waiver looks mostly like legaleese- stuff so they're not liable if your uninsured ass gets malpracticed on, more or less -but its heading does list the 'ADVANTIX(tm) Medical Research Group' on the paperwork. The area behind the receptionist doesn't look too unusual, just generic office space in the building they've managed to get, with a door on the left on the hallway that leads from reception into the rest of the building, with a more doors along it, presumably exam rooms and the like, before it makes an L-turn out of sight.

Logan follows the trail for a bit, still on back streets. It ends in an alley, and where it ends, there is the faintest touch of worn rubber on the pavement. Probably a vehicle. The intersection just beyond- Broadway and Flastbush, dividing lines between the various nearby neighborhoods -is very busy. On the assumption he might have had an unwilling guest with him, it would be difficult to go unseen there, even at night.

The man frowns at Noriko's question. "... you looking for Kaya? We all heard about that, by now." Evidently, even in a place like this where these things happen, people hear, people care. Maybe they just can't do much.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy accepts the paperwork and gingerly snatches a pen to go get it all filled out with believable, but still bullshit, information. His inclination to make a joke out of some of the more mundane questions is strong, but there's only enough room for one goofball on this mission and it sounds like Rogue has everything well in hand down that road. Murmuring quietly into his comms, "Rogue... what are ya doin, mon chere?" She's always goofy, but this feels different.

He can hear the wind whipping past her mic, which means she's not watching, which means... Something's wrong.

Likewise, Logan remains absmally quiet, which wouldn't be that big a problem if it didn't mean Nori was out in the weeds basically alone. Which is precisely what Remy /didn't/ want. It's the reason he brought the two heavyweights.

"Great." Smiling, up nodding to the receptionist, he returns to the counter with all his paperwork signed, dated, and delivered. "T'anks... ya got a toilet I can use?"

Jean Grey has posed:
They do in fact have a toilet! Even the poor-ass Mutant Town clinic isn't THAT bad. The friendly receptionist indicates where it is (a door between two exam rooms - possibly because some of these exams are of the 'pee in a cup' variety) and accepts the variety of bullshit paperwork with a smile.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori doesn't seem to mind the soundtrack, now that she's slowed down to be in the moment.  It kind of takes some of the effort out of it, in a way.  "Back-off, it's-nice," she murmurs and then clears her throat.

Then she nods to the man, a scowl forming at the whole business of their conversation, an anger crackling in the microstorms of her eyes.  She sighs and reins it in.  "I assume so.  You know where I could find Kaya?  I'm here, with friends.  We're going to do something about it."  It's a hard honesty to strangerkin.  "We could really use your help if you know anything."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is continuing to the next verse of the song when Remy's voice over the comms interrupts her and makes her shut up for a few seconds. "Sorry. Somethin' happened when I took t'the skies. I'll... explain it later." Her mic goes dead then and there's no sign of her for the time being.

Up in the sky though, she doesn't see anything of value, so she just drops down to stand on one of the building's, her feet apart and her white scarf blowing gently in the wind around her shoulders.

Jean Grey has posed:
"I dunno where she lived at. But she had a place, wasn't out here anymore, thank god. Probably crashed with friends. She had a lot of friends. You know how the kids here are, life's hard but they smile through it, still find ways to have fun." The man smiles. "I seen her coming out of that place," and he nods back down the way, toward the busier alley where Noriko had seen the club overflow in the alley. "Mostly those kids ignore us, or you know sometimes worse. But she'd say hi, or even bring a bite to eat if they had anything."

His smile is sad. "I hope you find her, if you're her friends. But I only heard whats going around." However, as Noriko implores for more information, he makes an effort in gathering some of the others. Most of the stories are about what Remy heard, about one of the two men or the other. The 'Eurotrash' guy had been hanging around the club too, standing out not just for his dubious style, but being older than the young crowd. The old man calls him a creep.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
The words weren't angry, but concerned.

Remy inclines his head appreciatively to the receptionist and heads towards the bathroom indicated for him. Cutting on the water inside to cover the sound of his voice, "Anybody seen short'n hairy?" Leaning on the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. He doesn't bother responding to Nori, just rolls red eyes at her telling him to back off.

"Advantix(tm) mean anyt'ing to anyone?" Splashing some water on his face, fingers run through his hair, and he's drying off his palms. Waiting a few extra seconds, with a glance up to see if he could fit into the ducts if he had to, before heading back out into the reception area. "Dat's a nice bathroom." Thumbing over his shoulder, he retakes his seat to wait. Fingers on one hand drumming his thigh while his other hand uses one of his (someone elses previously) cellphones to look up Advantix on the wedternet.

Jean Grey has posed:
The place does have decent ventilation, presumably for health reasons. A very tight squeeze for transit, but they're there!

A brief phone googling will reveal a very generically sleek looking company website. The main page features a stock photo of a woman in a lab coat doing something with a beaker full of blue liquid! Other menus lead to few photos of equally generic looking people who are apparently employees of this group, as well as a blurb about their medical research. While there's no usage of 'mutant' language, there is something about 'breakthroughs' into various 'genetic disorders.'

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori was /not/ one of those kids.  She was the one carrying anchors behind her, shadows behind her eyes, but she did know the type.  "Yeah, we all get through."  By now the girl's eyes have stopped glowing.  She looks back over her shoulder to the nightclubish place.  What the man says though surprises her.  If we're her friends, she mulls.

But then the others gather round and tell their stories.  Even though she hears repeated information, she still gives each one of them her full attention, in gratitude, as if it were the first time she were hearing it.  "Thank you."  Nori leaves her transmitter on.  "Yeah.  He even looks like a creep."  Still while staring after the trashy guy, she wonders if she should stay around even longer, ask after details about Kaya.

Nori looks back to the man after a silence.  "I should probably go now.  Thank you again."  She bows her head and then walks off to a shadow, speaking into her comms, "I've found one of our guys.  That Eurotrash Viking Abba shithead.  I think he's preying on girls.  He's at a nightclub, out back.  Can I go kick his shin in?"  It is a dark jest.  Nori would never ask for permission if she really intended to do what she wanted...or didn't.

Rogue has posed:
"I think that stuff is the stuff that makes ya bleed outta places I'd rather not mention." Rogue replies over comms back to Remy's question while she stalks the edge of the building's top. Her arms cross over her stomach and her gloved hands clutch her elbows through the small leather bikergirl jacket she's wearing over her green and white uniform. "No sign'a Wolverine out here. He may'a got hit in the head with a brick." She smirks at herself before she looks down at the street and sees a hotdog vendor, and the battle of internal emotions starts up again. She shakes her head. "We can't get a weiner, we're on Overwatch. No, not the video game, the uh... look, no weiners."

Is she talking to herself? Sort've yes.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
The irony that Noriko is the one bringing home all the juicy bacon is not lost on Remy.

Thankfully the smartass punk can't see him grinning or the impressed look in his eyes as he scrolls through the generic page... Hearing something, even grunts that resemble words and directions, from Logan relieves some of the anxiety he was feeling. Further so when Nori's reports from locals start flooding in. "Good work." To the kid, nonchallant. Totally unimpressed.

Totally.

The phone slides into his pocket and his wrist turns over to check the watch beneath his hand. Just a fella waiting to be seen over here, pretty receptionist, nothing to be alarmed about. He's trying not to acknowledge that Rogue is talking to herself, which should be stranger to him than it is, and instead focuses on putting together a plan to snatch up Eurotrash.

"Keep'n eye on dem.. soon as he leave dat club, I want you'n Rogue ta grab dem. I rent us a little squat motel, pay by da hour, wit a fire escape access..." Rubbing his jaw to stubble to hide his face, he's already pushing back up to head for the bathroom with an apologetic look at the receptionist. "Hey chere, ya t'ink I need ta get a urine sample? I wet hard on some coffee earlier an I t'ink its got my bladder doin' tha water dance..." Regardless of the answer, he's headed for those vents.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"But we don't know if the cryo guy is in there.  What if this asshole can lead us to him?"  Noriko keeps an eye on her target from her little shadow, but no place is safe from detection forever, and she lights up in the dark.  "Still sticking to your plan unless you say whatever," she zips out quickly as an afterthought, realizing how her tone might be interpreted.  WHAT?  Nori?  Self awareness?  But then a different side of her has always accompanied her on missions, emerging from her normally sardonic isolation

Rogue has posed:
"Yes, can I get a single New York Dog with everythin' except relish?" Rogue asks, now standing beside the street vendor. Her gloved hands are i nthe pockets of her leather biker girl jacket. She nods her head to the vendor's response and then flashes him a smile when he compliments her outfit and her hair. "Awww, thank ya, you're a sweety." She says back, only to get a compliment about her accent too. "You're inflatin' my ego, Mistah." She says, her comm still on. When he gives her the hotdog, free of charge, she just smiles all nice and big at him before turning and walking away.

"I'm across the street from the Club." Rogue now says over the comms, holding her dinner. "And you really know a lot about these skeevy motels, huh?" She adds to Remy, because.

Jean Grey has posed:
Is it hurting Remy's chances with the receptionist that most of their dialogue seems to be centered around the poor condition of his nether regions? Maybe! Though she's very understanding about it all. "Oh that's alright. When you're done, I think the Doctor's ready to see you.'

The Doctor may be kept waiting!

The vents are vent-y and tight, although without his jacket (RIP jacket), Remy can manage. There's negative pressure throughout the vent system, no doubt to circulate out air and reduce any risk of cross-infection. Crawling along parallel to the hallway, he can make out a few exam rooms (one occupied, one not). At the end of this stretch, there's an T-intersection, over the L in the hall, one following the turn, the other continuing on, toward what seems to be the direction of the exhaust.

Nori's speed brings her quickly to the back alley of the local hotspot, where the same assortment of youths are hanging out. "Woah, lookit her go," murmurs some dude sitting against the wall.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Yer right." Remy says to Nori as he's shimmy shimmering through the shimmiable vent systems. Using his elbows to crawl him along, wiggling his bottom, and running along his very fine nether regions thank you very much. If he wanted to bed that receptionist, she'd already be getting swampy. He just doesn't, okay? It's a decision he's made, not a reprecussion he's suffering.

"If ya can follow dem back, all da better. But if it appears like he know we dere, take'em." All quiet because he's in a vent and everything sounds ridiculously loud in a vent. Like Rogue being judgemental of his knowledge of motels.

"Oui. I know quite a bit about dem." Because he does and he's not a liar.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is enjoying her dinner, well, one side of her current personality is anyway, all while standing across the street from the location she was meant to be watching. So at least she's doing her part, mostly.

A car drives by and honks at her, some guy shouts something out the window at her and she raises her left hand to give him the finger.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"On it.  No movement yet," Nori murmurs into comms.  She hears some of the reverberation from Remy's surroundings through his mic and just shakes her head as she finally makes it out.  Grinning, she looks back to the group of youths and wiggles her metal enshrouded fingers.  The friction between her fingers makes a tiny shink shink shink sound.  A dark twinkle in her eyes.

"Got it," Noriko acknowledges Rogue's position and reports, "Hanging out back."

Jean Grey has posed:
Remy can explore the vents a bit: going toward the exhaust gives him a limited view of the area behind the clinic- the small parking area that Rogue had seen from the air. Following it around shows a larger room at the end of the 'L.' It looks like a treatment room, although perhaps a little surprisingly well-stocked. Clinics like this usually don't have the facilities for anything beyond very minor, minimally invasive procedures. Major surgeries and the like still mean a trip to the hospital.

Out back, the kids get a kick out of Noriko showing off. The young man on the ground mimics the finger-wave, but his fingers bend in weird directions. A pretty harmless mutation, although in context it's just a -little- suggestive, albeit in a playful way. "You here for the party?" he wonders.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy slithers along, but stops seeing one of the well stocked treatment areas. Well stocked in mutant town. Suspicious to say the least, but he's not going to get a bankroll statement looking at items in a stock room, so he keeps looking for something with a computer and fewer people. With his limited time, there's only so long she'll believe he's got a bladder like a teenager.

Eventually he's going to have to start making grunt sounds like he's pooping.

This is taking a while.

Jean Grey has posed:
Remy is out of rooms! Its more than a stockroom, beneath him. There are gurney tables down there. IVs. Equipment. Medical gear of various descriptions. If there are any computers, they're not directly beneath the vent. But it's definitely a suspicious amount of gear. His other options are the treatment rooms he went over, or the fairly minimal office space also occupied by the receptionist.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko kind of leans back, but her smile doesn't falter, though her eyes squint a little.  "Of course," she says with a smirk as she walks confidently through the back door should no one signal or stop her.

"You guys are too right?" she asks as she turns around to step over the threshold.  Ugh.  A part of her withers inside.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue grimaced as the car drove by on its way down the road. She looked after it a moment before she puts her eyes back on the building across the street. "Gambit? What's the situation? You need help in there?" She asks. "Nori?--" Rogue takes to the skies again, just launching up off of the dark part of the sidewalk and in to the air like a bullet. "You need some backup where you are?"

Up above the building, Rogue sweeps over to the back of it, seeing Noriko on her way toward it like she's going inside the place. "Careful, you might set off some kind of alarms." She warns over the group's comms.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
All out of options, Remy pops the hatch and swings down into the room with the suspicious amount of equipment. Might not have a computer, but he can go through some of that equipment to see if there's any specialized gear that might seem even more out of the ordinary for a clinic down in the slums. Aside from being well outside the paygrade for a privately funded institution, of course.

"Should be okay, chere." Remy says to Rogue, going through whatever he can find and speaking in as quiet a voice as he can manage. Wont be long before someone comes to check on him in that bathroom, as well. So he's gotta work quickly.

"Ya see anyt'ing in da street?"

Jean Grey has posed:
"Yeah. Just taking a break, getting a little air," the young man answers. "Or-" And he jerks an oddly angled finger toward the pair that are amazingly STILL MAKING OUT all these many minutes later.

Inside, the place is the definition of your typical underground party/dance scene. Whether it's actually a theoretically by the books venue breaking a lot of regulations or an outright illegal one is a matter for the police (or maybe the Fire Marshal, its awful crowded). The back entrance is a very narrow hallway that passes a couple store rooms and a bathroom before emptying into the main area that takes up the majority of the mostly empty floor space. There, people of all shapes and colors, human and mutant, are getting their dance on. There is a DJ booth to a side, and a bar at the other, although it is a rather temporary looking construction pushing the consensus toward the 'illegal temporary rave' definition more than a legit establishment.

Along the bar is a man with dark glasses (inside) and platinum blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. He is watching, more than anything.

--

The room Gambit drops into is definitely a medical one. The door back to the hall that he never got a look at is a bit more secure. This whole area might have once been part of a loading pay to the vehicle area out back, before it was made into a clinic. But its been set up with equipment, and a set of plastic sheet divers from the loading bay doors. There are the tables he saw before, but there's also a single... it looks like some kind of portable glass and metal pod on a roller, sitting back near loading area. Its empty.

"Should it really?" asks a voice from one side. Maybe things aren't so great. In about the time he can turn to the voice, he feels the temperature around him drop, and faces a thin, nondescript man with dark hair- right before he unleashes a barrage of frozen shards through the air.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Cool, yeah,"  Noriko flashes a thumbs up when she calls out, though the latter part was directed in a timely answer to Rogue.  It's hard to move through this crowd.  Noriko has to slow down, look.  Her eyes, however, betray how she's almost wading through, twitching quickly this way and that as she sorts through the people around her.  If anyone makes eye contact, she just lazily grins and keeps on her way, blending in effortlessly.

It's too loud for her to report anything at this point.  In fact, she has to shut her comms off for the sake of the others.  "Shit.  Rogue better have caught that."  She scans the place for exits as she keeps moving.  There are people behind her now.  She makes her way toward the side, scooting up to lean against the wall.  Very odd for someone to not have a drink in here.  Not that one would really do a dent in the girl.

Rogue has posed:
With the sight of Noriko going in to the club on her own, Rogue 'gets a bad feeling about this' and drops out of the sky. She lands on the parking lot area with only a slight bend to her legs before she starts to walk toward the same entrance herself. "Gambit, I'm headed inta the club to make sure Nori's safe. Are you sure you're okay?" She asks the Cajun.

Approaching the thumping noise-filled building, Rogue tosses the door open and just walks right in like she owns the joint, her white scarf draped down her chest and her black biker jacket helping conceal her X-adorned costume beneath it. The place is loud, and just stinks like people.

She scans for Nori, spotting herup ahead.

A sea of peole are forced to part, because none of these jackasses can avoid being bumped out of hte way by Rogue as she approaches Nori to put her gloved hand on the back of the girl's elbow. "Come on. This place is too dangerous to be walkin' around alone."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Guess not." Remy answers the rhetorical question from the figure on the otherside of the divider, but the temperature is already dropping and the flurry is already coming. Quick hands and quicker feet may be the only thing that prevents him becoming a Swamp flavored Cajun Ice treat! Diving to one side against some equipment, he grabs the first thing he can get his hands on, which happens to be a packaged urinary cathater tray, and charges it with kinetic energy. Throwing it like a frizbee right at the source of this tempermental temperture guage.

"It aint what it look like, mon amie.." There's no chance this works. He's not even considering the possibility that it will. What he's doing is banter, which can go either way ultimately. "I was just tryin to find da executive bathroom, is all." His hand lands on something else, a bunch of something elses actually, in the form of IV needles... hurling them like kinetically charged darts with the kind of precision that has one him more than one drunken game at the pub!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I've been in worse places.  I can take care of myself," says the dumbass girl who has been kidnapped /twice/ in the last couple of months despite being a speedster.  "Okay maybe I can't but I didn't come alone.  I called for backup.  I didn't do anything." Nori holds her arm firm and tilts her head to the, "Pony tail.  Bar."

Jean Grey has posed:
Nori gets bumped around a bit as she nevigates, but in a friendly enough way- people are dancing, having fun. While people notice her, they don't seem to take any of her 'unusual' behaviors (or handgear) as much of anything. This place is full of strange people, strange clothes, strange hairstyles, Mutant Town being its most out there. It might actually be appealing in some ways, the sense of freedom in it all, if it weren't for the shadow hanging over the whole thing.

Rogue fits in less well than Noriko does. But then again, the Belle doesn't care- and she makes a much more brutish approach to the other young woman!

From their vantage, the man at the bar appears and disappears, not out of any crazy power usage, but just as the crowds swell and move. He's not doing much of anything except- did he touch his ear?

--

In the backroom, the dark haired man, who -is- dressed somewhat like a Doctor, touches his hear. "I have an unexpected caller."

They have radios too, looks like.

The flying tray causing him to dodge aside as well, although something slightly unusual seems to happen as it flies toward him, slowing slightly in the air, making it an easier 'dodge' than one might expect. "Do you know what 'cold' actually is, 'friend'?" he wonders at Gambit, maneuvering around a medical bed to give himself some cover. He doesn't shoot again, but Gambit can feel the temperature continue to drop. "Its the excitement of molecules in physical matter. Their movement. Or rather, the lack there of. Its a curious thing, we think it something tangible, yet it is in fact more elemntary, more basic." The darts slow too, though their explosive power doesn't seem reduced, as they tear apart whatever he was hiding behind, only to find the man has moved away, changed positions again. Now he gestures, holding out a hand, and the very air starts to feel heavy around Gambit, as if everything was grinding toward a halt. A frigid, deadly halt.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue keeps her right gloved hand on Noriko's elbow and just keeps looking around while the slightly younger girl pleads her case of being entirely capable of taking care of herself. "Yeah, I know." Rogue distractedly says, dealing with a lot herself as that personality conflicting with her own is reacting pretty strongly to even being in this place. But Rogue's own persona has taken the forefront. "Wolverine's comm is down. Which demands a fall back."

She notes the indication to look at the bar, which she does, and eyes the Pony Tail man. She notes his own use of a mic which just further fuels Rogue's desire to break off.

"Come on." The Belle tells Surge. "We're goin' back the way we came in, it's closer t'where I think Gambit is." She has to say all of this loud enough to reach Nor's ears sadly, but at least the music is on a bit of a throbbing lull and more base than volume.

Turning back to the back exit, Rogue leads Surge out of the building again, once more not shying away from just shouldering people right the hell out of her way. "Gambit. Nori and I are falling back to the SUV. Wolverine is off comms, somethin' feels off. Meet up with us, we gotta regroup."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"I aint come here for a science lesson..." Remy is moving as well, thinking quickly to try and find either a way out or something he can use to level the playing field. Especially after he sees his projectiles slow in mid-air. "But while we doin' energy one oh one.. do ya know what kinetic energy is?"

Remy drops his arms back, the coat he's wearing sliding down to the elbow with his fingers dragging into the palms charging every fiber of the garment. Rather than throw it, which has proven to be of little use when Captain Frap over there can freeze air, he taps excites it enough to set off the stored energy right behind him.

The jacket is shredded, but Remy uses the force of the blast to speed himself up. Planting his hands on the top of a gurney, he cartwheels over it and uses the full force (or what's left of it in the hyper excited molecules around the doctor) to swing his foot around in a kick.

"Somet'ing, somet'ing, somet'ing, science..."

He can hear Rogue, but there's a lot of interference with the change in barometric pressure. "Foun-" static, "-ice-" static, "he-"

All he has to do is get his hands on Frosty, though, right?

Jean Grey has posed:
"Ah yes. Now I remember. You're in the files we received," speaks... Captain Frap, apparently. Apt enough for the moment. "A very powerful mutant. And an excellent potential subject. As for kinetic energy I'm quite familiar with the subject. It's really all the same thing. Objects in motion."

Still, while the man seems to be prepared for the sort of attacks that Remy has been throwing his way, the sudden explosive launch does prove to be surprising to him, and the way that Gambit excites and energizes everything around him is apparently enough to net a total positive against the slowing, sapping, decelerating effect of his powers.

So the total effect is that he gets kicked in the face.

The Doctor (if he is a Doctor) goes flying, hits the ground and skids, some of it turning icy slick beneath him. And while surprised, he does seem to have a defense in mind by the time he hands, closing his outstretched hand into a fist. In the space between him, the effect intensifies, and the moisture in the air - maybe even the air itself? - solidifies into a barrier.

"Do you copy? They're here!" he shouts into his earpiece. "Get to the ship, the cargo is more important now!"

--

Partway across the neighborhood, Mr. Sunglasses touches his ear again, and starts heading for the back, the way Noriko had come initially.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Oh.  Yeah."  Noriko may show promise sometimes, but she's still inexperienced in working with others, and this is one of those times.  "Got it," she projects back.  There is a little bit of a squirm though from Rogue's hand as they move through.  It's involuntary, reflexive.  "Sorry," her murmur lost in the cacophony.  When they get out, she to Rogue.  "Let's tail him."

Rogue has posed:
It makes Rogue uncomfortable that Wolverine has seemingly gone off comms all together, and Gambit's are now barely functioning. It feels like the team is being picked off, that's pretty much the main reason her hand is still on Nori's elbow, holding on to the last team member she has like she's not gonna let her out of her sight now... of course she's pretty strong, but still managing not to hurt her friend and team mate.

When the 'guy' is on his way toward the back of the building ahead of them, Rogue mutters something but it's lost amongst the ambient noise of the bumpin' and thumpin' club all around them. Mostly she just feels like they're about to try and spring a trap on she and Surge, and that then means Rogue's gonna have to make a scene in the middle of a room filled with people who'll trample each other if a 'scene' does break out.

She nods to Nori though, they have no choice but to tail him, really.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Adorin' fans? Ya want me ta sign somet'ing for ya or...?" Remy rolls out of the landing and smacks right into the barrier, both hands up to protect him from hitting it face first. A half wall run, flip over into a stumbling backwards fall on the slick sheet of ice across the floor. "Glad nobody dat matters seen dat..." He murmurs, already getting to his feet with cards whipping out from his sleeves like a rapid fire Blackjack Deck.

Each of them a brilliant magenta, slicing into the barrier wall, creating explosive charges ready to explode... he's positioned them in such a way to make something like a sharp charge, with the hope that, it blows the ice wall INWARD towards Captain Frap.

"Dere movin' somet'ing!" He's trying to communicate, but ...

<<"De- vi- So-">> Is all that comes out.

He's learned something new about Crypto, though.

All he can do now is try and get through that wall before Frap finds an escape route and hope Rogue and Nori are picking up more of his transmissions than he thinks they are.

Jean Grey has posed:
Touching the barrier provides an interesting lesson: because it burns.

Actually, it doesn't really burn. It's just so cold that it feels that way, much colder than normal ice would be. It's more like trying to pick up a piece of dry ice would be, the kind of thing that threatens instantenous frostbite. Needless to say, its good that Remy didn't go into it face first.

As it is, his unique gloves shield him from a lot of it (although some of the material he may later find has hardened enough to crack and disintegrate) though he might get a few burns on the spare fingers. In the haste of the situation it doesn't slow him down, though, the cold even numbing the initial pain soon after.

His charged cards, however, have no trouble cutting through it. The material isn't a lot stronger than normal ice would be, and while each card glows a little less bright as it tunnels through, they get where they need to go, and then explode. The shards pelt Captain Frap (as he is known!), maybe a little slower than they ought, but enough to drive him back into a gurney as he's trying to scramble back to his feet, knocking him down again. If he's scramlbing anywhere, it's backward toward the big roll-up door to the loading bay.

--

On the street behind the club, Rogue and Noriko burst out. There's no ambush.

Sunglasses and ponytail is there, holding the kid with the funny fingers by the throat, holding him aloft with a hand. "Maybe you save him, ja?"

Then there's the sound of something cracking, and the kid's thrown toward them like a projectile.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko Ashida is about to break free when the Trash Viking holds up the poor unfortunate bendy kid.  "All you."  She knows Rogue has a better chance of saving someone and that her own specialty is tailing.  "Original!" Noriko calls out to the jerk.  "Oh look."  The kid's coming toward them.  "Yeah.  Totally all you."  Noriko busts out of there with a zig and then zags for the pony tail guy.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue and Nori exit the building to see the pony tail guy standing there in the parking area by the street. She suddenly gets a memory in her head of a movie she once saw. "Fuckin' nihilists, Donnie." Rogue mutters in a very serious voice, channeling Walter himself.

When the kid is tossed at them, and Nori expects Rogue's reaction it comes. The Belle lunges in to the air to intercept the body, and bring him down to the ground where she -sets him- carefully before she then looks up from a kneeled position at the man who threw him, and then LUNGES at him, with speed and flight power carrying her onward, she's much less gentle with him, her right fist and right knee aiming to clobber the man and knock him back in the opposite direction!

Remy LeBeau has posed:
That... hurts.

Remy is kicking himself for not thinking that it would hurt too, which is worse than it hurting.

Flexing and unflexing his fingers, it'll definitely make his aim a little off, but he's moving after Captain Frap.. who he now suspects is herding him towards something. Since this fellas been a step ahead the whole time. That was also a mistake to underestimate this guy.. and he wont continue to make it.

"Listen.. dis aint gotta go pearshaped, mon amie." Red eyes cantering around looking for something, anything, he can use.. What he finds, well.. It has him grinning internally. Grabbing one of the oxygen tanks, he whips it around to sit under his arm like someone holding a pet chicken (don't ask why that's the first animal that popped into mind), he doesn't even /have/ to charge it to make it fly!

All he has to do is knock the nozzle off and let it fire out like a rocket towards the scampering mutant. Safe that the cold air is going to slow it enough not to cut him in half, he's not taking any chances! Charging it up as he releases it so that it explodes /near/ the Bad Doctor. At least, in theory...

Could take this whole place out, but with any luck, the air inside will freeze just as it explodes and create a nice.. if temporary.. cage.

Jean Grey has posed:
Pony Tail Guy proves not only strong enough to hoist the kid (and possibly break his neck), but also fast enough to see Noriko coming. And, as it turns out, trained in some sort of military-looking martial art.

He steps into the zag, and while the whole sequence plays out a little fast to easily make sense of for Rogue, it ends up with Noriko feeling impacts first to the face, then something against her leg, a hook maneuver with his own that puts her off balance. She lands on her back, pretty hard. One of her ankles hurts.

He's turned for Rogue by the time she comes and the two meet, and where her fist comes across his jaw, his goes into her stomach. Neither of them falls, though his lip is cracked when his face turns back to her. There may be slight cracks in the pavement where his feet anchor his stance, though. "His neck is not broken, but fractured, ja? Go to hospital, maybe not die." He rolls his shoulder. "Or we keep going. Little rat is nothing useful. Is no loss. Who needs crooked fingers?"

--

BOOM! The air cannister does slow, but it has enough momentum to get close enough, and it carries the charge toward the doctor, who attempts to solidify the air around it as it nears. Ultimately, though, this only provides more icy shrapnel. The explosion is pretty large, and a mix of different forces - Remy's charge, the pressurized oxygen, whatever weird atmospherics are happening due to the other guy's powers. Remy sees enough to see the doc fly like a ragdoll toward the curtain door to the loading bay, although the moments immediately after are obscures as the air quickly turns misty and dense, the extra pure oxygen doing weird things in the cold.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko just underestimated Pony Tail.  It isn't every day someone pulls a fast on her, so he totally gets the drop on the girl.  At first, Noriko doesn't move.  Landing on the ground, the breath gets knocked from the stunned speedster.  She's not built as durable as the others.  Her hands go up suddenly as if to shield herself from further blows, reflexively as she tries to scramble away, limping.  Breathing hard, she realizes that he isn't in pursuit finally.  "You're such an asshole."  She's like a bird with clipped wings.  She tries to go fast but only gets a few feet before while gritting through the pain and dropping.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's back on her heels after the man tanks her thrusting attack. He's strong, very strong to accomplish that. So back 8 or so feet, Rogue just smirks at the man before she looks over to the boy he cracked the neck of.

"I'm not movin' a person with a broken neck. That's only gonna make it worse." The Belle says as she turns around to face the injured boy, her eyes going to where Nori had fled to, but then looks back to Pony Tail.

"So what say we call a momentary truce, till the Paramedics can arrive, then we'll leave?" She walks toward him, extending her right (now ungloved) hand. "Shake on it?" She asks the man with a sweet smile on her lips, her white bangs waving gently against her cheeks in the outdoor breeze.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
That went according to plan and then stopped going according to plan.

Remy is also blown backwards, crashing through medical equipment when the two storm fronts meet and cause a surge from which he cannot protect himself. Covered in bedpans, suture trays, and a whole bottle of Ultrasound jelly, the cajun drags a hand across his very lubricated face... spitting the clear substance out dramatically.

Trying to find any trace of the guy he watched go hella rag-doll...

"Well, it was a good run wit da good guys.." He murmurs to himself, just about /knowing/ he blew that guy back to the stoneage. Or at the very least, the afterlife.

"Vy... am I cover't in goo..." Mandatory popculture reference.

Jean Grey has posed:
Noriko is up - and for a moment Ponytail is watching both of them, cocky, but no doubt cautious of the odds.

And then she falls down.

"Ah well. Now is fair fight, just you and me pretty lady. But I remember her, the little jittery one," the Euroblonde taunts Rogue after Noriko's rise proves short lived. "You let her out?" He shakes his head. "I told them: that security? Its no good. They are like your, ah, from the movie. Paul Blart. Fat American mall cop." This one definitely likes to run his mouth.

His hands are still up, his profile turned, definitely a trained stance. Rogue would gauge him as being a little under her class from the blow she took, but there's definitely some training there, to make up for it. And he's fast. So it might be a fun little fight.

Still, for all his bravado, he doesn't push his luck. "Smart girl." Well the truce, anyway. "You go call for ambulance. Real shame to lose crooked fingers. But me? I got places to be, baby." His eyes never go to her hand, so it's not clear if he has any warning about her powers, or just doesn't want to be here when the ambulance comes - maybe with the cops with it. Still, he's back pedaling from her, back out the alley and toward the main street.

--

Inside the back room, Remy takes a few moments to get up from the blast as well. When he has, he treks into the foggy back part of the room, searching until he gets a very obvious clue-

An engine starting up outside.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori grabs her ankle and groans, "Ow my eye," because really they both hurt.  It was like running into a brick wall that hates you.  "I'm down. I'm so down," she says from the ground, curling up as if she fully expects the man to catch up with her.  Her hands are raised up over her head, but he doesn't come.  So she touches her nose where she started to feel a trickle of blood from faceplanting.  She's pretty scuffed up.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Both of his hands are burnt, his shirt is tattered and hanging off his muscular chest like a 90s action hero, and he's got a limp.. So it's pretty obvious, even to Remy himself, that he's not going to catch that vehicle before it gets away. But he still bursts out, totally shirtless, and falls into a lean against one of the yellow parking markers. He's just trying to get the license plate and, now that he's out side, send some clear transmissions.

"Found Captain Frap.. he gettin' away.. I'm covered in lubrication." No context. "An' my hands are burnt." Less context.

Hotwiring a car is going to be problematic, but the King of Thieves is quick, ready to give chase.

"We need backup."

Whipping the Honda out of the parking space, ready to give chase.

Shifting it into gear with a squeel, grimacing against the pain in his palms gripping the steering wheel.