2013-02-13 Trouble Down in Mutant Town

Meanwhile, a van full of four men drives slowly through the streets of Mutant Town. The driver, Aaron Lindsey, as well as the other three, recently lost their jobs when one of LexCorp's plants closed down. There were little details coming from Luthor himself, but the rumor was that the operation was moving overseas and taking advantage of mutant labor in the third world where inequality in the workforce could be exploited.
Lindsey in particular was assuredly losing his home. His wife had already filed for divorce. The other riders in the car had similar stories. In short, they were mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
*SLAM* A sports-utility vehicle smashes through the facade of the urban clinic, spraying glass and panic everywhere. It doesn't take long for the four men, all dressed in black ski masks and armed with submachine guns, to exit the vehicle and begin firing indiscriminately. 
　
The hospital, nicknamed 'Mutie General' was still in the throes of being rebuilt, so the clinic has the added strain on its resources. So, of course it's filled to the brim, as it were. Standing room only where all eyes turn towards the nurse as she appears at an slightly ajar door, announcing the next name, with 'The doctor will see you now' appended.  
Kurt Wagner, now erstwhile volunteer behind the desk in the office itself, isn't so much looking to help them with the flow of traffic per se. More like, making some use of the computer files to see if he can't dredge up anything on the hostages taken from the last attack on the hospital. Clandestinely, of course.  
Looking up at the sound of gunfire, Kurt has a rather pained expression on his face that doesn't actually come from the tightly wrapped and bandaged right hand (that is out of a sling that still hangs about his neck). Rising to his feet, yellow eyes search the tableau before him before finding a target.. and he'll be separating man and machine gun.. a pointed-toothy smile. "Very rude. Do you have an appointment?" 
 *BAMF* 
　
Despite what a certain mutant at The Xavier Institute asked of her, one Laura Kinney hasn't exactly been up there for at least a few days now. Oh odds are she could still be there if she wanted to. Odds are she /should/ still be up there. But well...
What is there for her to do up there? After all, it's not like she's a student or anything. And worse, sitting still, even if in theory she should be safe has just left her feeling a bit too much like she's a sitting duck. Thus she just slipped away without leaving so much as a note. 
Then again, odds are she will be back, eventually. 
Either way though, she is in Mutant Town right now. In fact, as luck would have it, she's even walking past that clinic. Right as that car pulls up, and it's men spill out before causing chaos all around. In fact as she watches what happens, there's a *SKNIT!* before she up and charges right at the men, a loud growl coming from her, before finally she tries to slash at one of the guns (should she get close enough). 
And yes, she in the end does shout a single word towards the shooters.  
"STOP!" 
Yeah. odds are she's one huge target right now. And she may even end up regretting her actions sooner rather than later.
　
Piotr doesn't usually volunteer at the clinic. There's too many places in need of volunteers and his skill set isn't really geared toward medicine. But everyone needs lifting and carrying to some degree and that's one of the things he does best. And knowing Kurt was going to be there, he agreed to come along and do whatever needed to be done. He's in the back when it hits the fan and even as the sound of gunfire starts, he's switched to metal and runs for the front of the clinic. 
Knowing that some of his mutant friends were spending the day in Mutant Town, Shift has gone to visit as well. Following his second encounter with the killer known as "Highball", he needed some time to himself. Regardless, the resounding crack of submachine gun fire draws the ear, especially while standing outside of a coffee shop with a half-smoked cigarette in hand.
The cigarette is swiftly discarded on the street, and a few moments later, Shift's Harley Sportster is ripping free from its parallel parking spot. The engines scream as it tears down the road, headed toward the sound of gunfire. It appears to be coming from the south...
"X-Men, dis is Shift," he speaks over the earcomm connected to his helmet. "What is going on?"
　
"Copy, Shift, this is Cyclops. Airborne in the Blackbird and in route. We have reports of multiple shots fired at a mutant clinic in Mutant Town. Reports say multiple gunmen. Very dangerous. Use extreme caution. I'll meet you there."
Screams erupt from everywhere and blood begins to flow as injuries mount. Kurt, due to his quick thinking arrives and then disarrives with a gun in his hand. Just like that, they're down to three. 
"One of the four gunmen takes Laura's advice and stops-for a moment, before turning the gun on her. *RTATATATAAATTATAT* The force of the bullets knocks her from her feet despite her excellent strength and low center of gravity and she can feel multiple bullet wounds pierce her body.
Meanwhile, Piotr bursts through into the lounge lookin' all metally and intimidating. The other two gunmen blast away at him, showering the room in sparks and flying metal as bullets bury themselves into the wall. The good news is there's a lot less fire on the people now. 
　
Now, mind, Kurt doesn't normally bring his radio with him, but he does carry his cell phone while in his 'civvies'. Of course, if anyone in the waitingroom had wondered what sort of mutant power the blue fuzzy demon had, all questions have probably been answered. Some children, hiding behind their parents, behind those plastic chairs that are attached by metal rods, stare wide-eyed. It's not really happening, right? Right? 
Wrong. However, with the arrival up front of Piotr, Kurt is feeling a great deal better. (The extra supplies from Mutie General can wait..) Yellow eyes turn towards the gunfire at Laura, and he blinks.. and the moment he disappears, he reappears beside the next, reaching for the gun that is going off wildly in the man's hand. "There are more than a few in front of you. You must wait your turn."
*BAMF*
　
Being shot hurts. Being shot up multiple times hurts. Being shot multiple times to a point where you're sent flying off of your feet hurts like hell. being shot multiple times, to a point where you're sent flying, by (semi?) automatic weapons that are most likely assault rifles (OOC: Sorry, this player doesn't know guns at all)?
Is there even a phrase that can describe how much that hurts? 
Of course pain is temporary. And to an extent Laura is even use to it. but still... Still she's down for a moment or two before she starts to get back up, and she tries to rush them again. And this time, she looks seriously pissed. 
　
Colossus doesn't mind being fired on. In fact, he prefers they do so instead of choosing other targets. Steadily, he advances on the gunman closest to him. "Your weapons can not hurt me." he tells them grimly. "But I guarantee, I can hurt you. If you are still armed when I get to you, I will be legally justified in making sure you can not hurt anyone else. If you drop them now, I will not hurt you and the police will deal with you. If you do not, you will be in the hospital for a very long time. You understand, da?" Sometimes it sucks being in the Justice League but here and now, he has to be reasonable.
　
"I copy."
Shift leans forward, kicking the motorcycle into a lower gear and whipping dangerously around a work truck. The engine winds up hard until he shifts up again, and rips toward the clinic at speeds that would have gotten him arrested.
When the clinic comes into sight, he speaks onto the comm again. "Clinic is in sight. No sign of hostiles yet. Must be inside." Releasing the throttle, he begins coasting toward the entrance, then banks through the busted gates. Tires spit rubble and broken glass all around, and with the screech of brakes, Shift pulls the Harley to the side and throws down the kickstand. He quickly removes the helmet and sets it aside, then, with a -poof- and a momentary cloud of smoke, his civilian clothes fall to the ground, leaving the gunmetal-gray-garbed X-Man behind.
Reaching up, Shift pulls the hood over his head, then speaks into the earcomm. "On site."
　
Nightcrawler snatches away another of the guns, just in the nick of time, to add to his collection. Unfortunately, the two gunless attackers now begin to pull pins on and throw grenades. These guys came armed to the teeth.
Likewise, realizing that the guns are having no effect on Colossus, the man switches to the grenades in his pocket, lobbing a pair of them at Piotr.
Laura is forgotten on account that they just assumed they killed her. She rises without being noticed.
"Blackbird has landed. Readouts indicate that there is a huge amount of explosives located in the clinic right now. The multiple buildings obscured the scanners. I need visuals," Cyclops yells as he turns a block and can now see the mayhem.
Oh for crying..
"Will you please take the hint?" Beat. "Everyone out!" Kurt, however, is quite a bit more concerned with the grenades going off.. and he begins to pray as the rapidfire teleporting begins, "..Pray for us sinners now..". Hoping, and praying that there is something of a timer attached to the grenades. If there isn't? There is going to be red and blue all over the walls of the waiting room. Or perhaps wherever he appears on the 'other side'. With one of the scooping, however, he reaches out to touch one of the men before- *BAMF*
The elf isn't so cruel as to leave the man with the live grenades, however..
　
And considering who she is, and what she can do, ignoring her is beyond a bad idea. In fact as she charges, if one were to look close enough, it'd appear as if her wounds are already starting to heal. They're shrinking. One or two appear to even have the bullets fall out of them. The flow of blood coming from them lessens. If one were even able to see inside the girl they'd see a lot more, much of which could be considered pretty amazing.
Of course between Colossus doing what he does (which is pretty distracting) and Kurts efforts... They aren't exactly the same they were before, are they?
Either way, as the girl charges (and the grenades are apparently dealt with) she tries to charge at and slice one of the remaining guns with her claw, before trying to come to a stop in front of the person whos gun she's slicing up, before raising her other claw into his face.
And no, it isn't said, but with the claw that close, she may as well be shouting, 'If they can do that to a gun, imagine what I could do to /you/.'
　
Lobbing grenades at Colossus? Really bad move. He catches one in each hand and then leaps forward. "There are yours, da?" he asks, displaying the grenades. But he should have time to pull his hands in toward his body so when they explode, the force of the blast is in front of him and to the sides instead of further into the clinic. And if the gunman gets caught in the blast... Piotr's not as forgiving as Kurt.
　
Now on foot, Shift goes running for the clinic. However, the sound of exploding grenades brings him pause. He has an advantage in that the attackers do not yet know of his presence.
Following a quick darting of the eye, he spies a large supply truck parked near the side of the building. He runs at it full steam, leaps into the air, and poofs into smoke. Just before striking the side of the truck, he reverts to man-shape again, and with a spring of his legs, vaults himself in a rebound from the truck's metal chassis.
Another poof, and he's soaring through the air in a cloud of dense, black smoke. The arc plummets downward, and moments before striking one of the upstairs windows, he reverts to human form, tucked into a ball. His back shatters the glass window, and upon landing in the room beyond, performs a full somersault before skidding to a halt in a crouched position.
Immediately, the African begins scanning about from behind his mask, trying to locate the explosives that have been reported by Cyclops.
　
Nightcrawler is able to get the grenades thrown in his direction off into a place where they will not be an issue. He ports away the bad guy into the back alleyway and stands there with him, a look of shock on the terrorists face. It's quiet out here. Too quiet.
Laura slices and dices at the man in front of her and disarms him quite easily. He gives up in no time flat, sticking his impotent arms in the sky and looking as if he's about to piss himself.
*KABOOOOOOOM!* Piotr brings the grenades in and has them explode against his body but his mutant powers take the brunt of the damage. 
Shift looks, but the bomb is not readily apparent. Meanwhile, Cyclops enters the clinic and surveys the damage. He looks around, and then it's obvious. "It's in the truck!" 
The entire back of the SUV that was brought into the clinic is wired to blow and judging by the size of the SUV, it's going to pack a mighty punch. 
The remaining terrorist smiles, pulls a cell phone and presses a button.
　
Kurt looks.. sad and disappointed, and advances upon the poor, now unarmed man. "Why would you do such a thing?" He's ready, so very ready, to give the man a lecture on how mutants feel, and bleed red (mostly) like everyone else, his own injuries from the night before seeping now through the bandages. "I am certain your mother did not raise you to be like this." Taking a step back now, he's on his way back to the clinic to help his teammates.. his friends. 
BAMF 
　
The guy who surrenders to Laura is then given a single, swift movement by the young female mutant to try and render him unconscious. Nothing meant to permanently harm him. Just enough to make sure he doesn't get up or leave just yet.
If she had an X-Communicator, she might do more related to that bomb. But instead, as that last guy does what he does to the phone, she lunges at him, and tries to subdue him as well.
All though as she does that, she does, for a brief instant flash Piotr a slight smile, if only because of how he deals with his grenades.
　
Oh look. Cyclops is here. Colossus isn't quite sure what's in the truck, but seeing Scott's alarm and the terrorist's satisfaction, he can take a pretty good guess. "Nyet!" Lunging forward, he reaches for the man's hand to crush it, the phone, anything to keep it from sending the signal. Maybe one of them will manage in time. Or maybe Cyclops can vaporize it. Can you vaporize explosives without making them go off?
　
The moment Cyclops reports that the bomb is in the -truck-, Shift closes his eyes and winces, mouthing a curse word without speaking. He should have known better. He should have -thought things through- before leaping in where angels fear to tread. He could have judged correctly and done something about the bomb. Instead, he was too damn distracted over his failure with Highball.
A beat later, the regret is left behind, and he's bursting out into the second floor lobby. His sudden arrival draws a myriad of shocked cries and surprised gasps from the patients and staff who have chosen the central area to hunker down and await help.
"Everyone, move to de back and get down!" he cries, while motioning with broad strokes of his arms for the crowd to start moving toward the back end of the clinic, away from the front wall where the truck had crashed through.
With any luck, if the bomb does go off, they'll be far enough away from the blast to avoid damage.
"Move! Move! Move!!"
　
Laura knocks the man easily out cold and he hits the ground with a satisfying thud. The previously grinning terrorist screams in horror as his wrist is broken in four spots under Colossus' massive grip! 
Shift begins herding people as he comes shoulder to shoulder with Cyclops, facing in opposite directions. 
"Too late," Cyclops says calmly and unleashes the optic blast at the van.  
The red blast is force, not heat or electricity, and the force crunches the engine block of the SUV down, but it holds structurally and shoves the van out from the clinic, across the street and crashing through the next building. 
The explosion is fierce, but the group is far enough away to be unharmed.
"Everyone with any first aid skills whatsoever, stabilize whatever you can." Cyclops punches something into his wrist and the Blackbird roars to life a few blocks away. "We have about 4 minutes until the authorities arrive. Go." 
　
The explosion catches Laura off guard. Cyclops actions don't. It's just the explosion itself that does. 
On the other hand the explosion itself does cause her to suddenly throw her hands up, over her ears as soon as the sound from it hits her, causing her to cringe slightly.
And then, and let's be honest, as the female clone of Wolverine recovers from that, she frowns slightly at Scott. She doesn't really admit that she doesn't know what to do, not given her past training and abilities. But for some reason she does try to move over and help the injured. Emphasis on the word 'try' though.
　
Hopefully the building across the street was unoccupied. "I will stay." Colossus says and runs across the street to see what the damage is and whether there's anyone there who needs help. The clinic is full of medical professional to help the injured.
　
Shift turns around just in time to watch the optic blast as it's unleashed from Cyclops' visor. He blinks twice as it crushes into the truck and forces it away. then lifts an arm to shield his eyes from the heat of the explosion. Not that it was entirely necessary - the mask was enough. Instinct, as it is.
First aid skills he doesn't have. However, he's got a good eye for injuries on a scale he refers to as 'ugly, uglier, gonna die'.
"You," he says, grabbing a doctor by the shoulder. "Come with me." Then, he begins guiding the shell-shocked doctor throughout the injured, pointing out injuries. "Ugly, ugly, uglier, gonna die. Gonna die. Ugly... -maybe- uglier. Dis one here, dead soon. Dat one, ugly, can wait."
　
As the injured are tended to, it becomes clear that the police and ambulances will be arriving momentarily. "Alright," Cyclops says. "We'll need to leave the rest to the professionals."
Outside, dust and debris begins to fly around madly as the Blackbird descends between the two buildings quietly. Of course, the only ones who know it's the Blackbird are the X-types. Large floodlights send out blinding rays of illumination and shroud its shape, color, and markings. Bystanders cower in fear, some thinking it to be a UFO of some sort.
Cyclops nods to Colossus as the large Russian departs across the street. To Laura, Kurt, and Kwa, Cyclops says, simply, "Time to go."
He exits through the large hole in the wall and walks up the ramp, disappearing in the light. 
　
To be honest, Laura doesn't really know Cyclops. At best she may have smelled him at the school, or saw him in passing up there, but with how he orders Kurt and Shift (both of whom she does recognize) and how she probably does recognize his scent (again from the school) she does follow with. For now. 
But if anything, this does raise more questions for the female clone. Questions that sooner or later she will need to have answered. 
　
As a member of the Justice League, Piotr doesn't worry about dealing with the police. And given almost everyone knows what he looks like, he can't hide even if he wants to. His powers make him rather distinctive. So he'll deal with the cops, give them a full report, and help with the clean up once the fire fighters get here. 
　
When the time comes, Shift gives the doctor an apologetic look. "You'll do well," he encourages the man, then makes for a hasty retreat with the others. His motorcycle is grabbed from the ground and hastily pushed up the ramp of the Blackbird, mere moments before it begins to lift off. Only then does he finally notice that Laura, Weapon X-23, was along with them.
He looks toward her steadily for a moment, then reaches up to pull the mask back from his face. "Welcome aboard," he offers. It's a small token of friendship, even though there is nothing to smile about. They may have saved lives, but it was an ugly situation regardless.
Those tend to stick.
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