6685/They Don't Want To Go!

They Don't Want To Go!
Date of Scene:	24 June 2021
Location:	Junkyard near Bushwick
Synopsis:	The gangers were confused, the innocent victims rescued, Rogue, Scott, Remy, Kitty and Clarice did their job... and the mutant who controlled them? That remains to be seen. He was caught, but at what cost?
Cast of Characters:	Clarice Ferguson, Scott Summers, Remy LeBeau, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Dyani Zitkala

---

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Professor Xavier had arranged for some of his team to meet with Clarice, who stands a bit awkwardly when faced with a number of the X-Men in their uniforms. But- well. They were the right people for this job. "So here's the deal," she announces without much preamble. "Dyani is a new student here - some of you may have met her." She nods towards Scott and Rogue in particular as she says this. "I rescued her from Hydra, and had her stashed in a safe house for her protection until I could arrange for her to come to Xavier's. But while she was in the city - some of her bee scouts witnessed something that alarmed her. A man, possibly a mutant, who can use his touch to control people. He's taken over a gang of thugs - and they keep bringing him civilians, that he subdues with a touch. And she says she overheard walk of them selling these people into slavery. Men, women, and //children//." She doesn't bother to disguise the disgust on her features.
    "They're in a junkyard near Bushwick, apparently. The bees can lead us there," she taps a jar in her hands - with holes poked in the lid. "We go. We find these guys. We stop them. Hopefully we can figure out how to break the sway this guy have over his thugs, and the civilians. And remember, we //can't touch// the leader, we might have to start fighting our own team here."
    She's silent a moment before asking, "So, umm... Questions? Comments? Strategy suggestions? Before I blink us over there."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers nods after listening to the debriefing. He's wearing his classic Cyclops costume, bodysuit in blue trimmed with gold, his visor gleaming and showing the single stripe of glowing red at the front of it.

"When we get in there, remember that civilian resistance may be the result of brainwashing. That means a soft touch. I know that doesn't always please everybody, but we're dealing with innocent people being manipulated here, not active enemies. If you have a ranged ability, like I do, do your best to get at the leader with that. Hopefully, if he's taken out of commission, we might be able to free his victims of his dominance."

"Everybody make sure comms are working. We don't have a telepath on this mission, so that's going to be our main and vital form of communication."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "So we're goin' wit' de classic vampire theorum." Remy notes as he adjusts the cuff of his 'armor' so that it's just barely out from beneath the cuff of his new duster, though he does open the leather coat to look again at the black with a cross pattern in gold stitching with small skulls at the every intersection, and frowns.

    "Rogue, ya motha 'as some... ecclectic tastes." He says but lets go of his duster and adjusts the breast plate of his armor and frowns at Scott, "Ah'm plannin' on bonkin' some folk in the 'ead for a little bitta mental recalibration, dat works in de movies."

    Remy looks to Rogue and smiles his biggest smile and holds out his hand to her, is he offering for her to take it? Is he offering something in his palm for her to take? Is he-

    "Got any gum mon amour?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is wearing her green and gold bodysuit but has a light leather jacket worn on over it with the sleeves clipped up over her elbows. Her gloved hands are in front of her lap and her fingers are hooked under the leather belt that is hanging loosely around her hips. She's got the majority of her light wet on her left leg whiee her right is off to the side a bit, her long thigh-high boots going up to her middle thigh level.

She blows on some bubble gum, and just stares.

Just stares.

*Pop*

The pink bubble is pulled back between her pink lips and she shows a grin at the briefing before glancing at her teammates. "I can't touch the guy? Or rather let him touch me?" She asks. "Seems like it'd wrap things up in a jiff if we let'em cop a feel, for a price'a course..."

She'll follow where the others go if they move out.

Rogue smiles at Gambit and reaches in to her left breast pocket inside her jacket to pull out a stick of gum to hand to him. "You kno wit, Sugh." She says softly at him before she leans over and blows gently on the comms clipped to her jacket lapel, to test the mic. It's working.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde wasn't there for the first few minutes of the briefing. Though she'd gotten some particulars already in preparing the graphics for it, and then disappeared off somewhere else in the base.

She steps through a wall, wearing her black X-man uniform with a bit of gold trim on it, and carrying a case in one hand, while Lockheed rides shotgun on her shoulder. "I brought some extra firepower," Kitty says as she walks over and sets the case down on a counter, "Though bapping the guy in the head with a two by four sounds like a good way to handle it," she says.

"But if that doesn't work, we can try one of these," she says, pulling out syringes with caps over small needles and the other end a plunger that is easy to hit. The kind of syringe for stabbing into someone in the heat of the moment rather than carefully finding a vein.

"They have a tranquilizer mix, but be aware since odds are it won't go right into a vein, it may take a couple of minutes to take him down," Kitty says as she distributes them to anyone who wants one.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "The other thing worth noting," Clarice remarks, "is that Dyani reported that some of the humans have already been loaded into a truck - and shipped off. If we can figure out a way to trace where they were sent, and get them back..." She gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, stopping it from happening again is the most important thing, but... Still."
    She gives Rogue an uncertain look - glancing towards Scott, assuming he would be in charge of this thing. "I'm not sure we want to risk it."
    The offering from Kitty is accepted - and Clarice takes one of the syringes, studying it with a funny look on her features. "You know," she remarks thoughtfully. "I might be able to get it right into one of his veins. If he holds still for a second." It would be a fun experiment, either way, and why //not// experiment on an asshole like this?
    "Anyways," she adds as she pockets the syringe. "If everyone knows the plan..." A portal opens beside her, leading out to a junkyard - hardly the most pleasant of surroundings, but what can you do?

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers nods, watching as the usual banter runs its course. The team usually has to make smart remarks and jokes before going into action, a conventional way to let off steam. Kitty's tranquilizer is noted and Scott makes sure he's familiar with the mechanisms involved. Odds are, he'll stick to his optic blasts, but it never hurts to be prepared.

"Keep close, people, and stay awake. We don't know how many people this guy's got. He might even have other mutants with powers of their own to contend with. Try not to split up too much, good chance they'll try to split us up and lead us off from one another. Strength in numbers goes both ways - as a unit, we're too good for them to beat. Remember that."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Taking the gum from Rogue, Remy smiles briefly before he starts to unwrap it and pop it into his mouth and start chewing. "Ah know ya chewin' on at least three..." Remy says, in his way of hinting he would like more, but not pushing it because she could still pop his head between her thighs like a grape and then raising his eyebrow towards her at the mention of 'feeling up'.

    Looking at the wall towards Kitty, "Y'know doors don't give us normie's nightmares when ya walk through 'em." Remy says as he reaches up to grab a syringe and looks at it between his eyes so close they go crossed and he smirks, before pocketing it at his own breast pocket.

    "Yeah, stick t'gether team, like dat human centipede... Only, non, not like dat."

Rogue has posed:
After handing the gum over, Rogue looks to the needle being passed to her by the Ghost in the Shell. She holds it in one hand and smirks a bit. "This'll be fun t'explain if I'm taken in by a Co t'night."

Gambit's words have her looking over at him and wincing at the Human Centipede comment. "Ew, gross." She says with a huff before the gateway is opened and she sees the junkyard.

"Ew, gross." She murmers before following after Scott through it and looking around. "Should I take t'the skies or just stay here on the ground eyeballin' folks?" She asks, slipping the Poker in to her jacket pocket along side the gum wrapper.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde puts a pair of the syringes in a pocket of her costume, and double checks she's got the phone of her own design. She thumb-taps on a few times making sure everything she and Doug have prewritten is uploaded and ready for use. "If they have any computers I can check them for any information on the people they might have already shipped out," she says. "Barring that, we can bring them back for interrogation on the subject."

When the portal opens up, Kitty steps through, already working on her phone to check for any wireless networks in the area that look promising. "Doors are so 2010, Remy LeBeau," she tells him without looking up from the screen yet.

Finally she does glance up and around. "If I had his power and was going this route, I'd probably be in a suite at the Waldorf," she comments. "Still, gotta give him full marks for going full-on villain with it." Lockheed gives a tiny flap of his wings, but stays there on her shoulder for the moment.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The junkyard is not a massive space like seen on tv, but it is large enough to have piles and piles of metal, plastics, and other discarded items. Cars, broken appliances, even a massive stack of old computers. Surrounding the grounds is a ten foot fence with thick slats through the links, with a large rolling gate marking the entrance. Beside the gate is a normal door like gate for people to go through. This 'establishment' sits among old warehouses, some appear to still be in business, most are closed down, boarded, up, everyone went home.

Inside there is also a large, two story building, covered in gang marks with several motorcycles and trucks parked all around it.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I rarely worry about doors," Clarice confirms as she takes a second syringe for herself, and steps through the portal. After all - if she misses the first time, she could always give it a second go.
    Or just teleport in behind him to give him a jab. Options!
    She steps through her own portal, closing it once everyone is through - and eyes the pile of broken computers, amusement on her features. "Want me to blink some of them to your room?" she asks Kitty teasingly. Rather than doing anything of the sort, however, she opens the lid on the jar - setting loose a few bees. "They can lead us," she murmurs as a reminder.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
One bee is dumb, landing on Clarice's nose. The other two however immediately head toward the building's back door. Two entrances, one in the front and one in the back, and numerous windows of course, but the sound of a party can be heard from inside.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers frowns, "Keep an eye on the junk. Plenty of hidey holes there," he says. Part of him just wants to clear the path with a few blasts, get the horizons open, but, if there were people hiding in there, he might trap them in some way. Just have to be alert instead.

He considers the entrances, "Frankly, back door is more likely to be narrow and force us to split. Let's go in the front door," he says. And then he reaches up to touch his visor and unleashes a modest optic blast, more than enough to blow the doors wide open, "X-men, to action!"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Ixnay on the amenay." Remy says, crossing the plane and taking a deep breath of that rusty and moldy smell of a junkyard and grins. "Whatcha talkin' bout 'Kat, dis place is great." He says, as his collapsed staff is pulled out from beneath his duster and clicks a few times as it's fully extended and the cajun taps the end against a rust bucket beetle.

    "Got everythin' a growin' bad guy could want." The cajun notes as he steps forwards, the plate mail on his knees, shins, and the tops of his shoes clanking against themselves as he walks. Yeah, he wears plate mail in 2021. It's important.

    Looking up and around, chewing on his gum, "Warriors... come out to play-iayy." Remy smirks to himself as he starts to lower his shoulders, adjust the grip on his staff and walk a bit more quietly, as if it was a simple switch for him to turn off his sound.

    The blast comes from the leader and the door snapped open, so, of course Remy is quickly against the frame beside and with a triplet of cards fanned in his hands, and glowing purple. He peeks, quickly, to get a view inside the room-

Rogue has posed:
Rogue shakes her head at the joke about porting old computers to Kitty's room. "Once you go down the path of a horder, never will you return." She says, trying to quote Yoda, sorta.

She smirks some and raises up off of the ground, her feet angled back a bit behind her as her knees are up in the air a bit now. She sees Scott and Gambit just ahead and sees the ruby blast that their fearless leader fires off, along with the sparkle of Remy's cards.

"I like this approach." The Belle says, flying up in to the air and getting up above the entrance just incase anyone tries to come outside she'll be right above them...

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde puts her phone back away and glances at the old computers. "Maybe I'll pick through it later," Kitty kids back towards Clarice, though her eyes are already focusing on the building.

Kitty reaches up to touch Lockheed on the back. "Why don't you go watch the back, Lockheed. If any bad guys try to escape out the back door... discourage them."

The purple extraterrestrial dragon gives a tiny puff of flame, seemingly both acknowledgement he understood, and also indication of just how he might discourage people. He flaps and winds off into the air, flying agilely around the building to guard the back.

"Right, I'll peek in upstairs," Kitty says as the menfolk head in to storm the castle. Kitty jogs forward, each step taking her higher like she were jogging up a staircase. When she gets to the building she's standing outside a second floor wall, and peeks her head through to get an idea of what's inside.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "So. Not going for stealth, then," Clarice remarks dryly as Scott announces their presence - forcefully. She reaches over her shoulder for the quiver of silver javelins she carries, flipping one idly in her hands as she strides forward - ready for whatever comes in through the door.
    With the order to deal with them non-lethally, she probably couldn't rely on her usual trick of redirecting their own fire back at them. ...a shame. She can always think of something, though.
    <<"You got eyes on the leader, Shadowcat?"?? she asks in a quiet voice.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The explosion causes all kinds of hell to break loose inside, one guy seeming to bellow loudly above the commotion.

"Stations! Get to your posts! Take no prisoners! Guard the stash!"

From the windows above, gun fire rings out, the bullets aiming at the X-men themselves, a few come from the roof as well. Nothing comes out that newly opened door however, so the numbers inside or what else might be in there is unknown.

Out the back door however, females in gang colors come screaming out the back door and scatter in numerous directions as once, the many tunnels through the junkyard making it easy for them to have places to go.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers shakes his head, "Stealth has its place, but the quicker we strike, the faster we can cut the head off the metaphorical snake. And metaphorical decapitation, for that matter," he says.

The gunfire causes him to keep low, "Gambit, you and I will give covering fire while Rogue, Blink and Shadowcat close the distance. Take out those shooters."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Stacked at the side of the now open door, Remy winces heavily at the sound of gun fire going off and he recoils, trying to press himself against the door tighter. "Screw it, Ah'm droppin' de floor above the door." Remy reports to Scott before he unfans the cards into a simple stack of three and with a low slung motion with a curl upwards.

    The cards go into the doorway upwards and near the ceiling just inside the door, a trio of nearly simultaneous explosions rock the ceiling/floor, trying to damage it enough to drop the floor out and down, trying to incapacitate anyone up above showing out at them from the height advantage.

    Reaching down and picking up an old oil filter can, Remy charges it as well, "Flash' n' enter boss."

    He then tosses the can in and it's meant to be more concussive and bright than damaging via the explosion.

    POP BANG

    "'Ow's dat fo' coverin' fire?" Then he'll follow into he room after his flashbang.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's back is up against the building a foot or so from it when the gunfire starts. She'd seen Kitty go through the wall on her left, so she turns to the right and zips around the corner, disappearing around the other side of the building...

Scott's orders are of course heard over the team comm onher lapel so after a moment of the gunfire getting a chance to do its damage, there comes the sudden rumbling crash of something impacting against the building!

Rogue comes through like a Wrecking Belle.

The wall is sent flying inward and across the ground inside of the building where the shooters and commotion is centered. She shakes her long two-toned hair out as the dust settles around her, her feet still up off of the ground and her gloved hands in balled-up fists.

"Am I late to the party?" She quips a second later before one of the gunment turns to fire on her and she lunges at him to grab his weapon and tear it in half after yanking it from his hands!

"Come on now, nobody partys like me!" She adds with a grunt as she tosses the gun halves at another shooter across the room!

Her eyes scan the room then, looking to find another gunmen or Hostile to take out...

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde sticks her head through the wall just enough to be able to see, then pulls it back. <<Big room inside, walls look like steel. There's a steel crate in back big enough it might hold the captives. Two stairs up,>> Shadowcat says over comms, and then she looks further up towards the roof where some of the other gunfire was coming from.

Shadowcat recognizes that distinctive sound of a Rogue going through a wall. <<I'll take care of those up top on the roof>> she says and then jogs through the air up to the roof. To those gunmen it looks like she just grabs hold of the edge and hops over like she was standing just below it.

"I really hate showing up at a party when I forgot to bring anything," she says as a man turns to fire at her. Shadowcat rushes forward, probably leaving him frustrated that his shots seem to miss. She grabs the gun out of his hands, just one moment he has it, the next she does. She tosses it over the edge of the roof and heads for the next gunman who is turning to shoot at her.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice gestures with a hand - and a portal appears, blocking the thickest section of gunfire coming down from the windows, and redirecting it harmlessly into the ground instead. Should give Scott an easier time as he makes his own approach. As Kitty handles much of that gunfire, though, the portal vanishes - and so does Clarice, reappearing inside the building, not far from where she could hear Rogue's voice. Sure, Rogue might be a powerhouse, but she shouldn't be the only one drawing fire in there.
    Besides, her boss might have a few choice words to say if she let Rogue come to any real harm on this venture of hers.
    The flash of purple that hearlds her arrival has one of the men swinging towards her with a gun, and Clarice tosses one of her javelins, causing the weapon to disappear from his hand. "Don't suppose you'd tell us where our host is? So we could pay our respects?" she asks.
    Look, if everyone's going to quip, she's not going to be left out.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
There is no other sound from inside, no more screaming, no more chaos. There is silence of voice and only the continued screaming of gunfire. When the portal moves the bullets, the shooting stops and then there is pure silence. Not a sound... unless you count the women out the back door screaming in terror as they bolt off through the junkyard, but really who counts that?

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers makes his way quickly inside, with the gunfire finally trailing out, keeping his gleaming visor ready to unleash more blasts if a threat comes out of the woodwork.

"Status report everybody, check in. See if we can find any hostages or any lead on the guy in charge of all this," he says. "Don't assume it's over just because it's quiet."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy is in the door with Scott, and everyone else seems to be above them really doing some damage.

    "Goose, checkin' in." Remy reports casually and steps into the room more fully, stepping over some spent bullet casings and splinters from the damage he and Scott did getting in.

    Looking around, another fan of cards in one hand, and the staff, now collapsed back down to a more nightstick size, in his other hand, "Ah ain't got nuthin' Cyke."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue stops flying when things get quiet. She just touches down on to the floor and puts her hands on her hips, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she looks around. She glances back the way she'd come from, seeing the steel struts in the wall bent inward from wher eshe came through it, which makes her smirk.

Her eyes go to the front door to look for Gambit and Cyke as they come toward the building's interior too, but ultimately she starts to walk through the place and look around.

"Sounds like Lockheed's makin' friends out back." Rogue says. "I don't see no scary leader though." The Belle says over the comms for the whole team to hear if they're not close enough to catch her speaking directly.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Lockheed seems to notice the lack of weapons, and the women's desire to just flee the area. He blows out a plume of fire over their heads which hastens them on their way away from the building when the sound of gunfire had intensified.

And Shadowcat is right in the middle of the gunfire on the rough. She's disarmed the first man, but his three friends have more to say about it, turning and shooting at her. "Seriously, I just got here, you could have at least offered me a drink first," she says, rushing towards the man with a rifle. She grabs it out of his hands, leaving him perplexed how she disarmed him. The rifle flies over the side of the roof. The gunshots peter out as the last two men are disarmed.

<<On the roof. I think me and my four new friends might play a game of beer pong now they lost their guns,>> Shadowcat says into comms. The men close in on her from all four points of the compass. Shadowcat cracks her knuckles. "Ok, ass-kicking instead then, your choice."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    <<"'Goose'?">> Clarice scoffs into the comms, clearly amused by this. <<"We're fine up here,">> she adds - reaching up as she brushes the bee from her nose. "Hey. You've got a job to do. Where's the boss, little one. Hrm? Lead the way." Does she expect this to work? ...honestly, she's not sure. She hasn't tested Dyani's powers enough to be certain.
    The man she disarmed seem unhelpful, so after a swift kick to the unmentionables puts the fight out of him for the moment (what? It's non-lethal) she approaches the door to the room they're both within, and opens it up. A glance up and down the hall reveals a series a doors - so she approaches the first of them, tapping a finger to the locking mechanism - a moment later, the mechanism simply seems to cease to exist. She kicks the door open, flinging another of her javelins at this guard's gun, as well.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The bee flies off as it is brushed away then lands on Clarice's forehead. Really dumb, or Clarice is very interesting.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers gestures for Gambit to approach the steel crate, "You're the thief. See if you can figure out how to get inside that thing. I think I've figured out where the rest of the welcome party is hiding," he says.

He turns his head and starts to sweep with a low-level optic blast, enough to shatter through some of the normal furniture and knock it back into the people hiding behind it, doing each side with a quick turn, then following up with individual pulses of force if anybody was left standing.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue ise walking around upstairs on the second floor with one hand on he rhip and the other swaying at her side. She joins up with Clarice in time to see the bee fly off which makes her smirk. "Cute power." She says softly about the use of the Bees.

Her eyes go then to Clarice as she follows the other through the hallway. "This is a weird place." The Belle mutters, eharing the sounds downstairs. "They put all this work inta reinforcin' the walls n'such, but they didn't know this much fire power was comin' their way." She grins at Clarice for a second

Then watches her.

Just... watches.

"Hmmm..."

Rogue walks to one of the trap doors and tests it, then moves to pull it off of its hinges with a simple yank of motion!

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "T'anks." Remy says with a look over to Scott as he starts to walk forward nearing the first piece of furniture and he leaps over the beam as he plants a foot on the wall as he bounds over the first couch, and brings his hand with the staff across a goon's face.

    No words are needed as he starts to make his way towards the unknown container and fighting off goons on his way.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
On the roof the four gang members rush in towards Shadowcat. She doesn't phase, launching herself at one before the rest can reach her, landing a kick to his chest that staggers him and then a second, spinning kick that connects with his chin and lays out him.

But then they are on her, one of them punching her in the side even as she elbows his comrade. Shadowcat grunts in pain, the punch knocking her a few steps which creates distance. The next one to charge in she blocks his roundhouse and then ducks under it to land a pair of strikes to his chest, followed up by a knee to his family jewels.

"We never said we were fighting fair, right?" she asks as the remaining man charges and tackles her. The two go down, the elusive X-man wrapping her legs about one of his arms and putting it in a lock which has him howling in pain until she thumps a knife-hand into the side of his head.

Shadowcat hops back to her feet, dusting her hands off before rubbing at her side. <<Roof is clear, on my way down,>> she says. She leans down, sticking her head through the ceiling to see it on the second floor beneath her before going through.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Not bad," Clarice remarks - as she steps back into the hallway just in time to witness Rogue's feat of strength. She continues down the hallway with Rogue - tackling the doors one by one. "Boys, if you'd all do us the favor of surrendering this would be much easier for you!" she calls out.
    The bee on her forehead begins to buzz with increased volume, prompting a sigh of frustration. "Dyani, darling, if you're trying to tell me something- you really got to teach me how to 'speak bee' before we try this on another op," she opines.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The two guys in the room that have the trap door ripped open scream, like girls, and drop their weapons... hand going into the air.

"Mutants," one says out loud, hands still in the air.

"Shit," the other one breaths, hand in the air as well.

Both are staring at the open door and what might be beyond it.

In the main room, the furniture is blown away revealing the solid steel barriers that were concealed behind it, and behind the barriers the gangers with guns. They have been tracking the mutants who entered the room but have not fired a single shot. They seem torn, visible on their faces it a desire to protect and something else, something not obvious but they all seem hesitant to shoot at the X-Men.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers sees that hesitance to fight, "Lay down your arms," he says. "This is your chance. No one needs to get hurt here today. Nobody needs to be enslaved. Nobody needs to be controlled. Leave here, free men and women, if you can."

"Your shields protect you now," he says, but then he lets the glow of his visor shine brighter, "But it won't if I decide otherwise. We are the X-men. We are here to help."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy pauses as the goons seems beyond hesitant, they seem full on afraid and frozen even. "Can I bonk one in the noggin'? See if'n that works mon chef?"

    The cajun smirks as he looks at one in the face and wiggles the billy club in his hand between their faces. "It won't be /dat/ hard." Remy warns before he looks back to Scott and simply shrugs before he moves over to the container and with a gentle hand waves a bee away from the lock. "Move along dear, Ah've got werk t'do."

    Dropping to a knee and pressing his fingers against the lock and holding it, testing it's weight, he then knocks on the wall, "Move back if ya in dere!" He shouts against the metal and then with a focus of his own powers, he simply breaks he lock, causing it to explode weakly, but enough to turn it to dust.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue glances out of the room to the hallway where Clarice is moving down to other doors. She looks back then in to the room with the two men that she surprised so thoroughly. She steps in to the doorway and leans against the frame of it.

"We're lookin' for your boss." The Belle says to them. "Why don't the two'a you be kindly toward lil ol' me and tell us where we can find him, huh?" She tries the nice route, cause why not?

"I heard he's got a magic touch, I'm eager t'find out how that feels." Yeah, she's not afraid of his power, her bravado knows no bounds, after all.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"What she said," Shadowcat says, her head sticking through the ceiling of the room where Rogue is trying to sweet talk the gang members. Shadowcat drops through the roof, landing lightly on the floor beside the Mississippian, and crosses her arms. "We don't want to hurt him. He's getting in over his head, so we came to try to help out a fellow mutant," she says, hoping that might play into what the mind control is directing them to want to do.

Out back, Lockheed wheels in the sky, keeping a watchful eye on the junkyard. He dives down as the back door opens and a man peeks his head out. A blast of fiery heat causes the man to yelp and he ducks back inside, slamming the door.

And leaving a miniature dragon that looks very pleased with himself.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice glances back towards the door Rogue was at - trying not to groan audibly at the woman's words. Hopefully she doesn't actually mean that remark. As she hears Kitty's voice as well, though, she leaves the two women to it - and proceeds with her plan, blinking away the door locks - and tossing javelins at any guns in sight. Unarmed mooks are her favorite kind of mooks, after all. "Just how many guys does this man have under his sway, anyways?" she mutters.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
One man downstairs stands up. He can't be more than twenty-five, maybe a little older. His gang colors look just like everyone elses.

"He's not here," the man announces. "Ya all wastin ya time, ain't nothin here." He waves his hands at the others, and slowly they all lower their weapons.

The men in the room scream like girls again, and one actually urinates himself, as Kitty sticks head through the ceiling. That's all it took, her coming down through the ceiling didn't add any more to it. Once their guns disappear a guys says, "What boss? We're just a gang man... lady... hot lady..." The other guy rolls his eyes at that. "Our boss ain't here, ain't been here since yesterday, he'll be back in a few hours, well maybe not now, but he would of been."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers frowns, "If that's the case, then I'm here to officially inform you that you no longer have a boss. Or a gang anymore. You all want to spend time together, start a fantasy football league. Because the violence is going to end as of now. And if you see this leader of yours again, you can inform him the X-men are hunting for him. And he'd better hope we catch him, cause the Brotherhood will if we don't."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Looking up from his lock the thief looks towards Scott and shakes his head, "Maybe don't make it sound like the brotherhood is better at this stuff d'an we are." Remy smirks and stands up away from the container but then he pulls on the door and takes a peak inside, and falling silent, opting to take a roll in the back of the class, to allow everyone else to do their jobs.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue doesn't look up at the ceiling, she doesn't need to know that Kathrine has arrived. When Kitty drops down beside her, the Belle raises her left arm up and puts her elbow on the other X-Men's shoulder. Her other hand goes back to her hip and she leans there on Kitty's shoulder (using her flight power to fake it if Kitteh is still incorporeal)

The Belle hears the response from the Ganger and it just makes her upnod toward him. "That so?" She says. "Why don't ya drop your phone on the table over there and then hit the road?" She asks him. "Don't let me or her catch ya back around here neither, or we might have t'rough ya up some."

She grins at them, then looks to Kitty and then back at them. "Now go!" She shouts a little louder and more seriously, nodding toward the door she ripped open.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde crosses her arms and stands still to be the armrest for Rogue, the added casualness in front of the two gangers possibly not helping their confidence at the moment. She watches as they do as 'requested' and relinquish their phone and then show discretion is the better part of not being stupid, and depart while they are able to.

Shadowcat moves over to scoop up the phone, pulling out her own in the process. She thumb-taps rapidly on her own for a few seconds. "Ok, cloned it," she says. "And extracting what's on it, we can go through it after we finish sweeping the building."

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
With the door open, thanks to the thief, a flight of stairs becomes visible descending down into the earth. There are no lights, it is pitch black. All of the bees fly into that darkness, except the one still on Clarice's forehead.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    <<"We're just letting them all walk?">> Clarice breathes into the comms. Yeah, okay, Dyani said they'd been controlled by this mutant - but... they were still a gang, right? She lets out a frustrated sigh, shaking her head. <<"...fine.">> She blinks open yet another locked door - tossing another javelin towards any guns held by the man - or men - inside. Blink, blink, blink. Guns continue to appear in the Brotherhood armory.
    What? No one said she couldn't.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers shrugs to Clarice, "We don't have any authority here. We can intervene and do the best we can, but I can't arrest anybody. People can be misguided and make mistakes. I don't need to break their legs to prove I'm right. And I certainly don't need to kill them."

"Dispose of the weapons, get the building cleared out and then we'll withdraw. Hopefully we don't have to come back again to reinforce our point."

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The man downstairs looks at Scott, well Cyclops in this case.

"We go no idea whatcha talkin about man! Sure football, whatever... but there ain't nothing here worth your time. We ain't done nothin violent to no one," he starts looking around, and now he looks confused. Not your standard 'huh' confused, we're talking seriously confused. "What the..."

Slowly, they're all looking that same confused. Anyone still holding a weapon drop it, looking shocked they even had one in their hand. They all appear to be waking up from a mass dream of some kind.

Upstairs the other trap doors start opening and one guy even calls out, "What the hell is going on?! Mike, where are you?"

From down the hall another calls back, "Here, what happened?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue nods softly to Kitty as she grabs up the phone. "Seems like a longshot, but ya gotta hope for anything, right?" She says before turning and watching the two men flee that were in that room.

She crouches for a moment to gather up their gruns, then rises and starts to leave the room, snapping the weapons in to pieces and taking the magazines to stuff in to her pockets of her jacket, might as well take the ammo off the street where and when she can too.

<<"Copy copy.">> Rogue says back to Cyclops as she ends up back in the hallway just as the trapdoors all open up. She smiles at the men who come out and then reach down to pick up the door she dorpped on the floor. She raises it up and holds it like it weighs nothing. "We've decided your gang-- and your cute little hideout here --are canceled. So make for the exit, in an orderly fashion, or I'll be tossin' your asses out the damn windows. Sound good?" Rogue asks, tossing the heavy metal door right through a window to display what she's capable of, before she smiles back at them.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
It looks like the men upstairs are not going to be a problem for Rogue. Shadowcat says, "I'll go down and help Cyclops and Gambit with the ground floor. Shout if you need me." She waves even as she's starting to sink into the floor, dropping to the ground below, and then jogging to catch up, saying over comms, <<Coming to join you Cyke.>>

She reaches the entrance to the metal crate. "So did we find the captured people?" she asks, looking toward the dark entrance. She pulls out her phone and turns on a its flash as a light to illuminate the doorway that the bees flew down.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    A few last weapons disappear in blinks of purple energy before the last of the men make their way downstairs - and Clarice follows them down, a bounce to her step. "Well. None of this is really going how I expected it. Where did the other two bees go? Did anyone see?" she asks. "They were supposed to lead us towards the asshole... //not// sit stubbornly on my forehead, buzzing away."
%

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The gangers are seriously just lost, confused, and clueless as to what the hell is happening. Scott said leave, so they start doing exactly that. They don't even know what just happened, but they are being given a pass by the obvious Mutants, so out the door they good, walking. Once outside, they run like bats out of hell, some get in the trucks, some on the motorcycles, some just disappear into the junkyard.

The flight of stairs lights up under the phone's flashlight. At the bottom of the stairs is a dirt floor and numerous bees flying around in circles.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue follows the gangers out of the second floor and watches them ehad outside and get in their vehicles. She shakes her head softly. "Off t'cause problems for innocent people somewhere else..." There is basically no right answer to these kind of things, but the X-Men base doesn't have room for a city full of thugs and wannabes.

The Belle passes by Remy on the way, checking on him for a second before seh ends up where Kitty is near the stairs. She peers down them and then just starts on down the steps, one after the other...

"Better not be any ghosts down here." Rogue says as she goes on down the stairs in to the basement. "Better be a freezer filled with ice cream treats. I've earned the sugah, if ya ask me." She states, searching for a light switch once she's down there in the cellar, or whatever it is!

"Hello?" Rogue then says.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"Can't really turn them over to the police for doing things they had no control over," Shadowcat says of the street gang. "I mean, maybe they aren't the Sharks and the Jets and spend their time in dance offs. But, this wasn't their doing, so we've been told."

She moves down the stairs, holding the phone-light up to illuminate their way down the stairs. She phases just to be safe until she finds out what is down here. "I could go for ice cream. Can we land the jet somewhere on the way home?" she asks.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Just past the bottom of the stairs is a string hanging down from the ceiling, a single bulb visible. Even with the light from cellphones, the cages are visible. Inside the cages people are just... standing there, staring off into the distance. Not one of them moves or reacts. Men, women and children just standing there.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Bet they've done other things," Clarice mutters. But proving that would be another thing.
    She follows the others down the stairs - a frown on her features as she adds, "Don't like that their boss has escaped. He won't give up on trying stuff like this. We need to figure out how to track him down. And we have no way of tracking down the people who already got sold..." What is she going to tell //Dyani// when they get home? And will the girl already know - on account of the bees?
    "What jet? We traveled here via Air Blink. I could always pop us over to Mootant Milkshakes - if you really want. Don't think the X-Men rolling up in their outfits would make too much trouble there. If a-"
    She cuts off as they get to the bottom of the stairs, her expression going angry for a moment before she forces her expression to relax. "Help me with these locks," she says needlessly - knowing each of them have their own way of dealing with this problem. She doesn't wait - as she starts blinking the locks away.

Rogue has posed:
Once at the bottom of the steps, Rogue unceremoniously tugs on the cord and the light bulb blinks on just over her head. A moth is instantly there to soak up the rays and Rogue glances up at it, curls a lip and then looks down at all the people just standing there in the cages.

"Well that's not creepy as hell..." She mutters before Clarice passes between she and Kitty to go get them out.

"Right." The Belle says as she drops her hands from her hips and moves to the cages. She starts snapping off locks and pulling open doors with her yellow gloved hands. "Freedom awaits, ya'll. Back to the work-a-day-world of being caged by the all mighty dollar bill."

She grins, trying to make this feel casual for the people who were... in a very uncomfortable situation!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shadowcat eyes the people in the cages just standing there. "Very Blair Witch vibe going," she mumbles to herself. She steps away from them to the side and says quietly into her comms, radioing back to the X-man base: <<We've found the kidnapped people. They are standing here pretty much in a daze, still controlled I think. Any chance of somehow tracking that influence if we got them to Marvel Girl, Psylocke or the like?>>

She looks over as Blink and Rogue open up the cages. "Seems like the others were released. That, or he's still in control and calling them back to him." She gives a frown. <<Lockheed. Tail one of the trucks, see where they end up going to.>>

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The people remain standing there even with the doors opened, the bee on Clarice's forehead finally leaves and flies off into the darkness at the very back of the space... then it comes back... then it flies off... then it flies back and they /all/ fly into the darkness. In total, there are about 20 people just standing there, mostly adults but there are four children in the cages as well.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Hey... sweetie?" Clarice asks. There's a gentleness to her tone that doesn't usually show itself as she crouches in front of a child in one of the cages, taking the girl by both hands, and giving her a gentle tug. "Look at me, sweetie. You okay? You in there?" she asks. She looks around the room at the various cages, a frown on her features. This was a lot of people to move...
    "...is the guest house by the lake empty? I could put them all there," she says in a dubious tone.
    Her gaze goes to the bee, biting her lip as she adds, "I think the bees still want us to follow. Do we leave them here for now?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue folds her arms over her stomach and shakes her head softly at this situation. "Lets just take them all to the Blackbird hangar for the time being. We'll get one of the telepaths t'come and help'em out as soon as possible, then Portal them to somewhere that isn't in the base so that doesn't freak'em out being in a giant metal room somewhere underground."

Rogue wlaks toward the stairs to go get Gambit and Cyclops to help, since Blink is their way out anyway.

"Plus, Hank'll be able t'look'em over, make sure they're physically okay." She adds as she goes toward the stairs, her boots thumping on them as she starts to walk up one after another.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The bees are trying very much so to get themselves followed, and when the three females finally get the hint and follow, the buzzy little insects lead them to a thick metal door set into a steel wall at the back of the large 'cage' room. This one has an electronic lock on it, and looks a lot like a vault door... still, Rogue shouldn't have too much trouble.

Near the back of this room is also a very large freezer, the chest kind in fact, with a lock on the door. A sign reads, "Open at your own risk".

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde tries to stop Rogue with a gesture of her hand. "Looks like they want us to follow," she says. And then she continues on, using the light to reveal where the buzzing insects are heading to.

"Well. Wonder what we have here," she comments, pausing to look at the lock. And then ignoring it, sticking her head through the wall rather than the door to peer inside and see what's there before they start breaking it open.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shadowcat leans forward, as she often does to look through a wall. Then she steps forward, disappearing into the wall entirely. After a moment her voice comes over comms, <<He dropped a bomb! He's escaping out a back way, I'm pursuing!>>

With that Shadowcat draws a deep breath and races forward. She grabs the bomb she saw the feeling man drop and phases it, shoving it into the ground to make it inert. She then takes off in pursuit, pulling out one of the tranquilizer hypodermic needles to ready it for use.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "How thick's the door, Shadowcat?" Clarice asks. Once she has the information she needs - and she's really glad she asked, three feet was more than she expected - she lays her hand on Rogue's arm, and the two //blink// appear on the otherside of the locked door.
    Kitty is still dealing with the explosive as Clarice starts dashing in pursuit - her hand likewise going for the the syringe in her pocket. Time to try her crazy idea, and if it doesn't work - well. What does she care, really?
    She focuses on the liquid contents inside the syringe - and tries to blink them out and directly into the figure fleeing in front of her. Directly into the largest circulatory target in his body. She tries to teleport the sedative - directly into his heart.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The lungs, that is exactly where that liquid ends up, as well as a piece of the syringe itself. The bomb does nothing, buried int he ground, but the sudden teleported liquid and piece cause the man to stop dead and start coughing, hard, very hard, then he falls down.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shadowcat disposes of the bomb quickly enough and races off. She catches just a hint of that purple aura that accompanies Blink's portals and sees the man go down. She races over to him, her own hypodermic at the ready. She approaches him phased to start with. "It's over. Slavery, really?" she asks him as Shadowcat moves within his reach while phased, seeing if he'll try to grab her to mind control her when he has the opportunity.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The guy can't do anything but cough, and cough, and cough some more, he actually look at Kitty with a 'help me' expression on his face, like he deserves any sympathy from her, but he does seem to be in a great deal of distress. And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse... he gets stung by a bee, but not in a place anyone can see.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "...shit." Clarice says quietly. She skids to a halt just short of the man's reach, a worried frown on her features. On the one hand - screw this guy. On the other hand - he's the only way they have of finding where the other people were sent. "I didn't- that didn't go how I'd planned," she says in concern. "I can send him to the X-Men's med bay?" she offers. "Or the Brotherhood's clinic - that would be easier for me." She's more familiar with the space.
    "I really didn't- damnit."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde tells Scott the situation as she checks the man for signs of immediate injury. "Back to our medical bay," she says with a nod to Blink. <<We're bringing the mind controller back. Have everyone in the base on alert,>> she radios ahead. <<We can likely call the police once he's away if the people wake back up again when he's out of range.>>

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice glances back towards the people in those cages - nevermind that she can't see them, that's where her gaze goes. But her mind is drawn back to the task at hand immediately as she nods to Kitty, and without a word - teleports the three of them to the X-Men's medical facility. Her hand on Kitty's shoulder brings the other woman along - but she tosses a javelin towards the man on the floor, rather than risk a touch, aiming to deposit him on one of the medical beds. She's been in there... what, two or three times visiting Christian? She knows it... you know. Well enough?
    Is it at all disturbing to the X-Men that a member of the Brotherhood can so easily teleport into the heart of their base? Maaaaybe.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Once back in the base, the X-men secure the mutant. Kitty begins making arrangements to house the people in the base while they work out how to free them from the man's control.

Kitty also enlists help getting to Lockheed to see where the gang returned to. Who knows, they may need to track the group back down at some point.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice doesn't linger in the medical facility once it's clear the man was well and truly under control. "I'm sorry. I- I tried to teleport the drug into him but I-" she holds out the syringe in question, which is missing a small piece of plastic. "Didn't go as planned," she admits.
    That message delivered, she's gone - back to the room with all the cages. She has the boys help her gather the people closer together - and the group is teleported into the X-Men's hanger where their needs can be seen to, and hopefully whatever has been done to them can be reversed.
    After that - she'll make her way to Dyani's room - a frown on her features as she tries to decide what to tell the girl, and how much she'll already know.
    This could have all gone so much better. But then again - it could have gone so much worse...

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The gangers went in many directions, it's called get the fuck out and away because the truth is, they don't remember what happened. They have the vaguest recollection of some guy coming to their hang out, and them doing things, but those things were so unbelievable, they are choosing to divide and not conquer until they remember more.

Containing the man was easy, he was already out and boy will he hurt for a while, but eventually the full truth will come out. The people from the cages, they do get a ride and it's only a matter of a few days before they recover and are themselves to tell their stories as to what happened.