6753/Kick: Break on Through...

Kick: Break on Through...
Date of Scene:	06 July 2021
Location:	Bushwick <Mutant Town>
Synopsis:	Leo gets the bad guys while Clarice and Lydia get sucked into Nicolai's other world in a way that's never happened before.
Cast of Characters:	Nicolai Codona, Lydia Dietrich, Leonardo, Clarice Ferguson

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Nicolai Codona has posed:
    It's just after dark and most of the kids that were milling about Hope House during the day have either left to go home, or headed upstairs to sleep in one of the rooms available with their family.

    The street outside is quiet when Nicolai steps out of the building. He's wearing - well, not exactly 'ninja' gear, but as close as one can get and not look crazy. That is to say that he's dressed in black from shirt to boots and all of his clothing is just the right amount of 'snug enough to not trip up and loose enough for ease of movement'.

    Anyone familiar with anything close to what a man getting ready to go on the 'night watch' in his city looks like? Well, that's Nicolai right now. He's ready to hit the streets, or more to the point the rooftops, for a quick, lone patrol.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia, however, is wearing a soft pink sundress that has flowers at the edges of the skirt pattern. It's something that you can usually see her in during the summer since it's nice and light and cool. As always, a softly phosphorescent green haze surrounds her.

She has just finished volunteering for the Watch, and is heading towards her little silver Vespa, whom she affectionately named The Toaster. Passing Nikolai, he gets a curious quirk of the eyebrow, but since he doesn't look like he's about to cause trouble, she leaves him be.

Leonardo has posed:
Ninja gear makes someone look crazy? Not if you're also a humanoid turtle nearly five and a half feet tall and carrying a pair of swords on your back. No, the crazy totes comes from things other than the ninja gear there.

There are others patrolling the night and Leonardo is one of those. His brothers? Not present, they're still working on the whole group dynamic recovery so he's alone tonight. Its early so he's not /resting/ perched atop a nearby roof scanning an alley and the streets around Hope House, of course not. No, he's stratigizing... planning... looking to see if there's any trouble brewing that he'll be able to prevent.

Observing the street and its occupants he would appear to be taking stock of those out and about to anyone who might be observing him.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "He's fine, Lydia," Clarice remarks as she spots the woman eyeing the man a bit askance. "He's one of us. More or less." It's not something Clarice plans on going into at the moment - she had more than enough emotional turmoil for one day earlier that afternoon. She gives Nicholai a nod - the Bushwick Neighborhood Watch band still clear on her arm for all to see. She has no desire to turn in quite yet. She was worked up a little - and part of her still hoped she could find //something// - hell //anything// to relieve some of that pent up pressure.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    The young man that approaches Nicolai from the opposite direction of Clarice and Lydia seems all the world ... harmless. "Mr. Codona," he calls as he approaches. "Is there any room tonight? My sister and her kids..."

    He doesn't even get to finish before Nicolai responds, "... of course, you can tell them to come any time. What about..."

    ...you, but he doesn't get the word out. It happens so *fast*, the man in front of Nicolai brings his hand up, the inhaler there revealed only a split second before a *puff* sound announces its activation. The strange, blueish mist from the device hits Nicolai straight in the face. His eyes widen and then start to water, it burns a little.

    His 'assailant' is off and running before Nicolai has the chance to utter, "What the..." ...and fall, seriously, he *face plants* if no one catches him. That's gonna leave a mark.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods to Clarice. "Good to hear." She's been patrolling with her and notices her antsyness. "You know, I could try to create a boxing dummy for you to punch if you really need it. I've never tried creating a person before but I'm sure I can do a reasonable facsimile."

Then movement out of the corner of her eye and she turns just in time to witness Nicolai faceplant. "Oh my goodness!" She cries, and turns, tugging on Clarice's sleeve to follow her. "He just fell down." She rushes over to him to gently turn him over to make sure he's still breathing.

Leonardo has posed:
Now that got Leonardo's attention. For a moment there's hesitation. The victim needs help but the assailant should be stopped also. And then the girl in pink... okay, the victim's getting aid. Enough? She can call on more help so if she can't provide sufficient on her own he's still got help.

So its the assailant. Anonymous call to 911? No, no time.

Turtles are slow. Everyone knows this. Right? Wrong. Maybe its a part of his mutation. Maybe its just a myth that everyone believes. But Leonardo is not slow once he makes his decision.

Strenght, athleticism, training. Leo begins moving along the rooftops in parallel to the man fleeing the assault on the man in black. Silent. Swift. Sticking to the shadows. He's obviously cast his lot for the evening. At least for the immediatent time.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Nix?" Clarice asks in concern - two different concerns warring in her. The first - to prevent the man from falling. But the other- what did that asshole spray on Nicolai? Getting a sample could make all the difference.
    It's Nicolai starting to collapse that makes the decision for her - in a blink of purple energy she's at his side - lowering him to the floor, concern on her features.
    "I'll send you up to the clinic," she promises him. "Then go catch that guy. Okay? You're going to be alright, Nicolai."
    She waits a moment to give him a chance to reply - her gaze flicking towards the man running away - a javelin appearing in her hand, ready to be tossed.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    When Lydia turns Nicolai over, he's bleeding from a gash on his forehead, his eyes are closed, but he does seem to be breathing. Whew, that's good at least, right?

    But then those odd, glowing eyes of his snap open, wide and a little vacant. He sucks in a deep breath, lets it out in a rush and...

    ...the world goes to shit for anyone around him. It starts with a chill in the air that turns to arctic cold in a blink. Just before ice forms on eyelashes and nose hairs, the world around them shifts, the solidness of the 'real' world fades away and leaves behind a landscape built from a nightmare.

    The astral plane, by anyone normal person's standards, is a bizarre and surreal place. The spot in it, the spot where Nicolai has, unwittingly, dragged the girls is a dark and twisted terrain where the shadows from the trees surrounding them seem to have life of their own.

    Clarice might recognize the structure in the distance though, despite it being darker, more rundown, more... *creepy* than it is back on the other side. It's Nicolai's castle.

    Nicolai himself is nowhere to be found on that side and, on this side? Well, now he looks pretty dead to anyone passing by and the girls? Well they look to be at the very least, unconscious.

     Leonardo won't have trouble keeping up with the assailant. He could easily catch the guy if he wants to... or he can follow him a little, see where that leads? It's easy to see from the way he gets winded after three or four blocks that he's obviously not any sort of meta or super anything... at least physically. He does speak along the way, likely into some sort of comm unit. "Got him, square in the face. Do-gooder mutant bastard didn't even know what hit'm."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia gasps at this sudden change of scenery, looking at Clarice in wonder. It's only when she looks around does she scowl. "This place... feels familiar. It's..." she shakes her head. "I don't know." Maybe it has something to do with the magic that she's been practicing with at home. Maybe it's from a dream and she's just getting deja vu.

Regardless, she shivers and rubs her arms, trying to get some warmth in them. "I'm not dressed for this." Fortunately, the haze of ectoplasm that surrounds her is still there, though it seems to be a bit thicker than normal. Out in the real world, while she's laying unconscious, her ectoplasm is gone.

Leonardo has posed:
Why apprehend someone immediately when you can trail them and learn more. Of course Leo follows. Far enough away and above to not be seen... and if he can be heard he'd be taken to task by Splinter (or ridiculed by his brothers... more likely both!) but he overhears the chatter.

So of course the assailant is part of a hate group. Why wouldn't he be. Donnie'd have a tracer they could plant but he's busy taking IT calls and helping the tech-helpless tonight so that's out. Just need to keep the guy in sight. See what hole he crawls into and infiltrate. See what's happening and then... the guy'll have to slink out of the hole at some point and then he can be apprehended.

Speaking softly, to himself but the way he would to his brothers if they were with him, "Gotta get a sample of what he used on Codona." Priorities. Sure the badguy is important. The victim is more so. Must help with the recovery of the victim.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice is just about to toss her javelin - when the world goes //wrong// - and her stomach starts to sink. "Nononono- Nicolai? NICOLAI?" she calls out into the strange, terrible landscape around them. "Shit. This is - uh. This is part of Nicolai's gift. I- glimpsed this once." She climbs to her feet, turning full circle - before ending up faced towards the castle. "That's... his home. Where he was raised. I mean - sort of. I guess it represents it. I'm not sure what my gift will do here," she adds - unsure if she wants to test it out in this strange place. Not one them, anyways. Instead, she pats her pockets, trying to find her credit card, or her phone.
    They're both still there. She pulls out the card, holds it in her hand - and tries to blink it a few feet above its current position. A safe enough test. ....right?

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Leo's trailing will take him all the way to Brooklyn, at least the outskirts of it near Bushwick. The blond guy disappears into what looks like no more than an old, boarded up pizza joint - go figure. But thin lines of light filter out through the boards on the windows, the place obviously is not completely closed 'for business'.

    On the other side, Clarice's attempt to blink that card ends with... something trying to come through her portal that isn't the card in question. No, whatever *it* is, it has glowing green eyes, its mouth opens to reveal a swirling darkness of a pit filled with moths. The moths just begin to come streaming out of the mouth when the portal shuts.

    When those moths start fluttering around the heads of both girls, it's like their little wings are made of razors.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"What the...." Lydia says as she witnesses the horror that's trying to come out of Clarice's portal. Then the moths start cutting at her face, and in response her ectoplasm snaps to her skin, forming a kind of chitinous armor to protect herself. Looking over to her companion, she reaches out a hand and a bubble of ectoplasm forms around her and then expands to push the moths away.

"Ow," she says, bringing her hand up to her forehead where she's started bleeding. She looks at the blood and shakes her head. "This is probably going to get in my eyes, isn't it?"

Leonardo has posed:
A smile crosses Leo's face as he sees the place the goon crep into, almost as if he's hearing a oneliner dropped by Mikey despite his brother's absence. He easily and noiselessly lands on the roof of the building and finds a roof access point. Unsurprisingly, as few people think to secure rooftop access points, he finds an access point he can open and slip into.

Backrooms are normally used for clandestine meetings but when the whole place is boarded up the path of least resitance has those meetings in the main room. Equally unsurprising, this is the situation Leo finds to be the case as he slowly and silently cracks open the door to the backroom wide enough to get a glimpse out so as to assess the situation: exits, occupants, sources of light and... of course... the conversation underway.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Shit. SHIT!" Clarice exclaims, willing her portal to close. As the moths start cutting into her skin, she slaps at them futiley, giving Lydia a grateful look at the woman covers her with that armor. "Looks like... you're going to be a lot more use here," she admits - letting out a sigh. "Okay. No powers for me. I guess... we go to the castle, see if we can figure out anything there?" She glances around uncertainly before adding, "It's possible we'll see spirits here. Possibly from our own pasts. So- I mean. Be ready for that, if you can..." she suggests - before she starts to walk across the strange landscape.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    The party Leonardo is crashing isn't a big one. Four, no five there's one over there in the corner.

    "So, you think that'll be enough to slow him down?"

    "That asshole? It'll probably just spur him on. It's okay though, it'll just make it more fun when it's all gone again."

    "Fucking mutant freaks..."

    "...yeah."

    The only obvious exit is actually to the back of the place, the rest of the doors are boarded like the windows. Light sources are bright spotlights in three corners of the room, flood lights, battery powered.

    As the girls walk onward, thunder rolls in the distance and lighting, green rather than white, strikes from purple storm clouds rolling in. For the most part, however, they aren't bothered further, at least not on their trek through the woods. It's when they come to the edge of the trees that things take a turn for the worse. The castle sits in sort of a valley. The valley holds a river and the river... seriously looks like the river Stix. There's even a skeletal ferryman at the docks on this side. Waiting.

    Between them and the ferryman are what must be... trapped souls? A sea of them, but unmoving.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods to Clarice. "I'll try." She grimaces, "I have to concentrate to keep that armor on you. It's easier if I see you so I need you to lead the way." With that, she falls in step with the other mutant, brows furrowed in concentration.

Once they're out of immediate danger of the moths, she lets the armor drop on both of them, and they reach what is, for all intents and purposes, the river Styx. "Uhhh..." Lydia begins uncertainly. "I don't have my purse with me so I don't have any coins with which to pay ..." she waves a hand helplessly at the ferryman, "Charon, I guess."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Who the hell carries coins anymore?" Clarice remarks quietly - her gaze locked onto the sea of souls between them and the ferry. Her expression is uncertain as she pauses above. Is she worried, perhaps, about seeing faces she will know?
    Damned straight she is.
    "Nicolai," she murmurs. "If you can hear me... you gotta snap out of this, I got no idea what I'm doing here..." But standing here isn't doing them any good. She lets out a heavy sigh. "Come on," she urges Lydia, stepping down towards the sea of souls. "See if you can maybe... create two coins out of ectoplasm? Failing that... We'll try giving him just any old thing in our pockets. Maybe he likes cell phones."

Leonardo has posed:
Three lights. Not possible to get all three out at once. Two down though... would create interesting shadows, might also cause the cowards to clump together in the remaining light. Shuriken, maybe... kunai, definately.

The evaulation doesn't take long, it's almost an engrained instinct to scan, examine and decide. Out come two kunai, one in each three digited hand, as he slips out the door having confirmed none of the five are looking in the direction of the backroom door. Thrown simultanously at the farther two lights, the simple wedges of hardened metal swoosh silently and shatter the lights.

Maybe a goon or two see the blades flying though the air out of nowhere. But their source? No, that's not something they'd notice. Especially as darkness cascades over that side of the abandoned pizza shop.

Crouching as he moves, Leo intentionally allows his feet to audibly, but oh so softly, pad on the ground just enough for it to be clear they aren't alone but insufficiently to allow them to know where that presence is.

Though out this he maintains a clear mental picture of the placement of the mutant-hating hooligans, espcially the one he followed here.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    In unison, every last soul turns to stare at the newcomers. The ones that are *alive* the ones that don't belong. In the sea of faces, it's likely a few stand out, important individuals to each. Some of those even raise a hand to point as if to say... 'I know you'. But they make no other moves, yet.

    "SHIT! You were followed!"


*BANG* - One gunshot rings out, the aim in Leonardo's general direction.


"I was not!"

    "Then how the hell!"

    It'll take them a moment to pull it together, but it seems like they're trying to move toward the light and move to a 'back to back' formation.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lyida hurries along, trailing behind Clarice as she pushes through the throng of dead souls. "Uhhh.... Clarice?" She says trying to avoid /touching/ any of them as they stare at her. An impossible task, sure, but still one she still attempts. "I don't have any pockets."

She considers the request to just create coins out of thin air, which she does, holding out her hands and doing her best to recreate silver dollars from memory. Four glowing green coins. "I don't know if this is a smart idea. As soon as we get out of range of him the coins will disappear. You really shouldn't cheat Charon." She shakes her head, "You never know when you might need safe passage again."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yeah, well..." Clarice mutters to herself. "What happens to me after this world really isn't that-" She's been passing soul after soul. A Little girl she failed to save the day Genosha fell. Some of the men she killed in Moathia the other day. Some of the mutants that died on that island, thanks to... Hydra? Apparently? But one of the faces stops her short.
    Fatimata Inyene, an esteemed mutant rights activist from Genosha, who'd fled the country while the Magistrates had been in command - and who had keeled over in front of a large audience at a rally in America once day - abruptly dead. "No..." she breathes quietly, her eyes locked onto the woman.
    You don't have time for this, Clarice. You don't have time.

Leonardo has posed:
Had Leo not been crouchiing. Had it not been a wild shot. Who knows what could have happened had the circumstances been different. As it is Leo is wincing, not in pain but at the thought of another nick on the edge of his shell. Luckily the bullet then ricocheted upward.

Moving toward the light. Just as expected. Almost as if they are following stage directions written for them by Leonardo.

Already having two weapons to retrieve the blue masked turtle kicks the last flood lamp on its side, reducing the amount of light greatly in the one move.

Dashing forward and performing a leap kick each foot connects solidly with a head, tossing them aside and flinging them into walls or counters hard enough to introduce them to unconsciousness. Maybe they'll remember a chunky figure with only a vaguely human-like profile coming out of the deep dark into the shallow dark at them.

The other two who didn't get followed here are grabbed as they start to turn and are pulled into each other so that their heads crack into each other. As they too fall to the ground, one of them is divested of his jacket which is promptly wrapped around the head of Leonardo's target. The impromptu hood is held in place by one hand (nothing builds grip strength like urban parkour) as he hisses, "Drop your weapon," at the man while looking to see if there is any movement from his four compatriots.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    About half way through, the familiar faces begin to move forward. The ferryman turns his gaze up to watch. He lifts a skeletal hand to toss back his cowl. ... and reveal a mop of black curls that would, in any other circustance, be comical on a skeleton. Fuck, is that *Nicolai*?

    Back in the pizza place, Leonardo makes short work of the goons, really short work. However, it doesn't seem that last one is very willing to just give up without a fight. Or... maybe he is? He doesn't drop his weapon, in fact he raises it - to his own temple. "You won't get nothin' out of me, you mutant FREAK." Assumptions are made there, wrong ones. Does Leo stop him... or let him end his own ignorant suffering?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, and pushes her way through the souls, following Clarice. Her sudden stop causes her to look at who she's staring at and recognizes Fatima. Her looks soften in sympathy and she lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay," she says with a gentle squeeze. "But we need to keep moving."

Once she gets close enough to see that the ferryman isn't Charon but Nicolai she blinks. "Uh. You should probably talk to him Clarice since you two know each other."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "But-" Clarice protests quietly, not sure what else to say. She lingers a moment longer, calling out a quiet, "I'm sorry." What else do you say?
    She's so sorry.
    She's still shaken by the time they reach the ferry. She's not ready to deal with this shit - not by a long shot. But she takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly, and approaches the man - one hand going out to try to touch his arm. "Nix? Nicolai? Hey... You got to snap out of this. You have to get us all home. You need to go back to your body." Her hand tightens around his bony arm. "Can you hear me? It's Clarice. We don't belong here, Nicolai."

Leonardo has posed:
Oh no, that level of cowardice isn't to be encouraged. Leo reaches out with his other hand and, with a twisting motion, disarms the man... he takes care to make sure that if the trigger is pulled the bullet will not hit him, the mook or any of the mook's friends.

"Life is too precious to surrender it so easily," Leo says softly, masking his vocal tones slightly. Then adding, "You may want to take some asprin in the morning," as he hits the man at the base of his skull after discarding the gun.

Weapons are collected and put outside though a gap in the boards at one window. The arisolator that was used to drug Codona is collected and more are found. /Now/ an anonymous 911 call is placed on his Shell Phone ("An assault occurred at Hope House, the director of the center was the victim. The assailant and friends can be found at <address provided> and their weapons are outside the boarded up front windows." *click*).

Departing from the pizza place (with a pang of hunger, maybe ordering a pizza is in order?), Leo finds a perch on a nearby roof to watch and make sure that nobody leaves before the authorities arrive.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Nicolai doesn't answer, he barely acknowledges Clarice at all. He just steps aside and points to the boat silently - get in.

    Behind them, the souls of those they knew have moved now, to the edge of the mass of strange faces. It's only after they're all front and center that the 'ferryman' rasps out, "Pick one..." One familiar soul to cross the river to the other side?

    Before the police ever arrive, there will be the sounds of at least one or two of those goons inside the pizza joint banging on the door. But they're just human, escape won't come easy, if it comes at all.

    Three inhalers total is what Leonardo will find. The one used on Nicolai, still plenty full and two others.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia steps aside, brows furrow in concern. "Clarice..." she says, worried. "I can pick if you don't want to." This seems to be a trial set up just for Clarice, and she's only a passenger on this ride, but still she's going to help if she can.

Leonardo has posed:
Only one of the inhalers were taken. The one that was used on Nicolai. The others can be found on the thugs when they're arrested. Hey, at least it'll be in a police lockup if they need to be retrieved right?

Once the police are there and its clear that the crooks will be taken into custody Leonardo departs, heading back toward Hope House with the confidence that any prints he left behind aren't going to make any sense... thick, inhuman prints aren't really easily understood. Plus he retrieved the two kunai so there's barely any evidence of him beyond the bruises. There's enough stree heroes in the world that the police won't be looking for him or his brothers.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Nix?" Clarice repeats. "You've got to wake, Nicolai. Nic?" She tries shaking him - presummably to no effect, and turns her gaze on Lydia. It lingers there for a moment, then she shakes her head, her gaze flicking over the many faces familiar to her. The little girl isn't alone - so many died on Genosha that day. She wasn't responsible for that.
    Is it any surprise she takes Fatimata's hand, drawing the woman forward - drawing her towards the boat. "Take her please - Nicolai. Make it right." You can't ever make it right, Clarice.
    "And wake up, please."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    As she takes the woman's hand and draws her forward, faint shadows on Clarice's forehead seem to deepen until they form something legible. #083.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    When Clarice makes her choice, Fatimata steps forward and the rest, the others familiar to Clarice? They all let out a keening wail of a sound, in unison... it's bone chilling and almost crushing, the amount of sadness in that sound.

    One skeletal hand reaches out to help Fatimata into the rickety looking boat.

    "Clarice, don't!" It's Nicolai's voice, but from where? There! On the other side of the damned river, standing in front of the castle. Then who... is the dude getting into the boat with Fatimata? The figure in the boat turns to look over his shoulder just as he shoves them off from the shore. It's not Nicolai, as the face shifts and distorts from its skeletal form, what rests in place is the face of one of Genosha's most wicked, heartless Magistrates.

    ...so far, how in the hell is anyone's guess, but no one has stumbled across the three prone forms in front of Hope House. Leonardo will find them all laying there when he gets back.

Leonardo has posed:
Reaching Hope House, Leo approaches a back door and pounds on it to get someone's attention inside. However, he also leans against the door so that it won't be able to be opened fully. Instead, when it opens he says, "Get this to someone who can figure it out. Its what was used on Codona," and tosses it though the gap.

Confusion from inside is addressed with a follow up by the turtle stating, "Check out front, he and two others are unconcious. Get them help, that thing has a drug in it that was used on him."

Thanks may come from within the door but by then he's already gone because thanks are not what the New York splinter (pun totally intended) of the Hamato Clan do this for after all.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, not at all surprised at Clarice's choice. She looks over her shoulder at the mass of souls. She's been lucky in that nobody close to her has died. Her parents and grandparents still live, as well as all her aunts and uncles and their children. Not a familiar face in that crowd. She blinks as the blood from the cut on her forehead finally gets in her eyes and her eyes water up. From the blood. Not from the heartbreaking display in front of her. From the blood. Right.

Then Nicolai's voice reaches her and she looks across the river and her face goes pale. "Oh no...." When the ferryman's face changes, she doesn't recognize the man, but she does recognize the cruelty in his eyes. "Oh no," she repeats. "What have we done?"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "What?" No. No. "NO!" Clarice stares in horror at the changed face - at the figure now in possession of this soul - is it a soul? "You can't have her again!" she shrieks - the pain and desperation is palpable, and what happens next is an instinct, but doubtlessly a very ill-advised one.
    Clarice tries to teleport onto the boat, between Fatimata's spirit and the figure that resembles one of her nightmares.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    "Lydia, duck!" Wait, how does he know her name? Because this is Nicolai's world, as much as the world of the living and the 'real', this is his world and in this world, he... knows things.

    He reaches around to his back and brings out a crossbow, a weapon Clarice has never seen him use, but... he sure looks like he knows how to handle the thing. One bolt fired hits its mark directly behind Lydia and explodes into a shadow-y... is that a fucking 'portal'? "Go, gogogogo!" If Lydia listens? She'll wind up back in her damned body through the door Nicolai just opened. If not, well, she's going to find herself set upon by that sea of souls.

    Clarice's portal? It drops her right out at Nicolai's feet. "It's not HIM, Clarice, it's your GUILT. It'll become him if you let it!" Even as he's speaking he's reaching down to pull his friend up and behind him. Because the 'souls' not engaging with Lydia? They're wading into the water of the river.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia's eyes go wide as she sees what Clarice is about to do. "Clarice! Don't-" but it's too late. She's already on the other side of the river. She rushes up to the shore, careful not to touch the river and throws out her hands. Two pseudopods shoot out from the palms of her hands, stretching out across the river, with her brow furrowed in concentration. "Hang on!" she shouts, and the tendrils wrap around the other mutant and /yanks/ her back over to the shore, over Lydia's head, and stuffs her squarely into the portal.

Lydia doesn't hesitate after that feat. Her chitinous armor snaps around her, and the pseudopods dissipate, and she bursts out running, cutting her way through the souls to dive headfirst into the portal herself.

Out in the waking world, EMTs have been called and they're working on getting Lydia's unconscious body loaded up into the back of the ambulance when ectoplasm just /streams/ out of her body like steam from water dropped on a hot iron. When it fills the ambulance it /snaps/ to her skin forming the armor, and severing the restrains that they had used to strap down her body for transport. She sits up with a gasp, her eyes wide, and looks wildly about as she gets her bearings. "Oh..." she pants, looking at the startled eyes of the EMT attending her. "Oh I'm back. Thank God."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Wha- Nic? I-" Clarice is confused. Confused, angry, and even, yes, scared. None of this is right. "My guilt? But- Fatimata Inyene..." she starts uncertainly, before she's grabbed, and yanked across the river by Lydia's psuedo pod. "Wait- no! NIX!" Her hand goes out, trying to snag the man, trying to pull him along with her. Is that a good idea? She's not sure. But she figures together is better than apart.
    When she wakes up in her own ambulance, she sits up abruptly, discovering she's already in motion - sirens running, pulse oximeter attached to her finger. "What- no. Nicolai? //Where's Nicolai?//" she asks urgently. "Where is he?"

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    There's a coroner's van present at the scene as well. For all intents and purposes, Nicolai Codona is... well, dead.

    "I'm sorry, Miss, your friend... didn't make it."

    They're just about ready to zip the body bag when Nicolai's eyes snap open and he sucks in a deep, gasping breath.

    The coroner may have just shit himself?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia struggles to get out of the stretcher, but there isn't a lot of room. "Lady, you need to lie back down. It isn't safe!"

"Screw that," Lydia says in a rare display of vulgarity. "I need to get to Clarice and Nicolai!"

"Clarice? The other woman was still unconscious when we got to her," the EMT says. "She's already on the way to the hospital. The other guy didn't make it, I'm sorry."

Lydia whirls to the EMT. "No you don't understand. They're..." She groans and sends a tendril out to open the back door of the moving vehicle. "Hey!" the EMT shouts as the door swings open, much to the surprise of the car behind them. "You can't do that."

"Oh, for Fuck's sake," Lydia says exasperated, and uses her tendrils to launch herself out of the back of the vehicle. She doesn't hit the car behind them or the ground, though. As soon as she's outside, wings sprout from her back and she lifts up into the air to chase down the other ambulances.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "No, you don't understand- he's- did they transport him? Did they move him yet? //Is he still there//?" There's real desperation, bordering on panic in Clarice's voice. She is not dealing with the stress of the shit that just happened well. No at all.
    As soon as someone confirms that Nicolai is still back at the scene - she disappears in a flash of purple energy, momentarily forgetting that she has a momentum problem. "Oh shi-" she starts, disappearing again, and this time reappearing so her momentum has her falling //up//. This takes care of the problem easily enough, and she catches herself in a crouch.
    "Get away from him!" she practically growls at the coroner.
    A few deep breaths later she asks the man a simple, "You- you good? They gave you something. I can- we can go to either of the clinics." He must know which two she means.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Nicolai is still really just making some seriously desperate gasping sounds. The coroner has recovered enough to have the wits to scramble back just a little. "Should... should I call for... I mean... he was... there was..." The dude was DEAD man.

    "I'm cold..." It's true, he's trembling and shivering uncontrollable, teeth chattering and everything. It's what happens when one's core body temperature drops to dangerous levels because there's nothing in said body to ... make it work. "What happened?"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Some punk hit you with sometime, Nix. A drug? A gas? I don't know. Hey - com'ere man," Clarice responds, dropping to the ground beside him, and pulling him in towards her. If someone's cold - get them warm. Bodies conduct heat better than air. Thank goodness it's a warm night, huh?
    "Nicolai - where we going? Bushwick clinic, Brotherhood clinic, or Hope House?" she asks. She keeping her voice calm and controlled now - even if she still feels like she wants to scream.
    Nicolai isn't entirely there - and her panic is not going to help matters.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
When the ambulance turns off its lights, Lydia figures that Clarice probably woke up and portaled out of there. Not sure where else to go, she wheels around the sky and heads back to Bushwick. After all, the Toaster is there.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Nicolai feels like a corpse, because technically he was one for awhile there. "Just my loft..." he chatters out. "I'll be fine." He's really not lying either, he will be, as soon as he warms up some. He wasn't out so long that it was life threatening.

    "Should I call..." Someone, another ambulance? That poor coroner is REALLY confused, seriously, Nicolai felt like rigor was setting in! He was DEAD, man!

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Loft I can do," Clarice promises him. She finally has pity on the poor coroner as she remarks, "He has special medical needs. Not your fault."
    The two disappear in a flash of purple - Clarice still holding Nicolai against herself to provide the man for warmth, and leaving the poor baffled and frightened coroner behind on the street.