10903/Taking the Bait

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Taking the Bait
Date of Scene: 27 January 2020
Location: Bushwick (Mutant Town), Brooklyn
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Multiple Man, Vi, Strong Guy




Multiple Man has posed:
"No, no. I'm not saying that." Defensive, Jamie Madrox stands his ground both verbal and physical. The Multiple Man with binoculars in hand, is immediately turning the tables to keep the focus where it should be. The facts. "What I -am- saying is that Luthor Corp makes a more streamlined and user friendly smartphone. Starks is pretty, yeah but the operating system is so simplified that it's.. " Binoculars snapped back up to his eyes, Jamie Madrox spreads two fingers and parts the blinds. The dull neon glow of the motel across the street cutting a ghastly line across his face. "It's so smart it's dumb is what I'm saying. And I can't play MLB '28 on it soooo."-

Across the street from 'The Blue', an old and mostly avoided no-tell motel was under the borderline obsessive watch of X-Factor tonight. Plenty of cases to go around and what has Jamie got them wrapped up in? Pro bono entrapment and possible assault. You know, for a good cause. His continued survival. Brows furrowed and jaw clenched tight to grind pearly whites in a constant, low riding annoyance. This is day four without a cigarette. Perfect time for a stakeout, right?

"Dammit, he's doing it again. Again!" Stepping away from the wondow, the blinds snap shut as Jamie clamps both hands to either side of his head. Hair raked roughly back as he squeezes his skull to force the tension headache to switch gears. Dressed to impress, Jamie Madrox grunts with an annoyance aftet catching himself looking through pockets for a pack of cigarettes that wasn't there.

Across the street at The Blue, Jamie has left a rather unconcerned and positively rebelious Dupe to lay in wait. It's been a week now but he's feeling good about the tactic now. He's laid some basic groundwork. Rumors of his Dupe going seperate ways. Selling his car and using the money to start a drug ring. Of course, this is all a plant.

The Bait Dupe lighting a cigarette was just a slap to the face. "He -knows- we're quitting. He knows. Oh, he knows and what's he do? First chance he..." A breath. Deep. Held and slooooooowly let out as Jamie composes himself in this little, bare bones office space rental. A long table, some brand new rolling chairs and a white board. All with a view. "I'm good. I'm good. Not gonna kill him. Need him not dead." That he does. Trying to draw out his -real- Rogue Dupe and maybe irritate Tombstone while he's at it, Jamie needs this Dupe to play ball. He also needs to chill the heck out.

Vi has posed:
The sound of a bubble popping comes from behind Jamie. Vi is sprawled in one of the chairs. It's got a tall back so nearly a third of it extends up above her head, especially as the petite teen is slouching. It's a wheeled chair, and she's already tired of rolling it slowly around the office and has instead just settled back to tip the chair back, feet up on the small desk and pass time.

Pass time by blowing bubbles.

It's not clear which Dupe introduced her to bubble gum. Bubbalicious. She prefers the standard bubblegum flavor, though the raspberry is also a favorite. It only took one incident with gum on her shoe for the brunette teen to make sure she disposes of the gum after accordingly.

And oh the bubbles! She's only discovered the gum five days ago, but she's already gotten a bubble within a bubble on three occasions. Vi drops her feet down to the floor from where they were propped up on the desk. Blue jeans, and the boots that were her first pair of shoes, provided by Lara Croft from SHIELD. A dark top with a mock turtleneck that fits her figure snuggly.

Vi pops up out of the chair and walks over to Jamie. One hand moves to rest on the small of his back, while the other retrieves her pack of gum. A piece is removed and her fingers dexterously open it using just one hand, before she offers it to the nicotine addict's lips.

Multiple Man has posed:
That sharp snap of a popped bubblegum bubble feels like a sprinters signal. It's just gum, Jamie. Yet he startles with that little innocuous noise as if it were a gunshot. Jamie Madrox is a lot of things, it's kind of what he's widely known for, what he is not? Is a functional quitter. He's been on edge. Pacing. Drinking more water than is rightly adviseable and... mostly just taking his frustrations out on himself.

"It's fine. He's playing it up. Not exactly a stress free environment, sitting pretty in a bear trap. Gotta go easy on him." Eyes closed, Jamie Prime centers himself as best he can. It's harder when the bulk of his serenity is currently elsewhere. To be xact, a very patient Dupe is currently doing breathing exercises on the roof of X-Factor on the other side of Bushwick. The small hand at his back, the presence of Vi and a thin, pink little offering do more than any meditative technique could right now. "Thanks." He says with a small bit of a bashful smile on his lips. "Here, you take over." He says while folding the stick of gum against his tongue and offering Vi the bulky binoculars.

A lopsided, half forced smirk slips free as he chews noisily for a moment before leaning his shoulder to the wall beside the window. "Been watching him the better part of two days and nothing. Starting to think my little stalker isn't as interested in being me anymore. Which is both insulting and relieving."

Hours and hours. It all bleeds together on a stakeout and this one has been far from exciting. Truth be told, none of them ever are. Stakeouts are literally just waiting and watching the boring, monotonous parts of someones life in the hopes that they or someone else would do something to keep the idea of self death by boredom at bay. "Think he even wants that Dupe? Maybe he's picky. Likes to sort of shop around before he kidnaps his siblings and experiements on them in ways that I can only assume are both gruesome and far from enjoyable." Jamie frowns then, chewing sternly on his gum. "I really hope he doesn't have a mustache. Like, you know, -just- the mustache."

Vi has posed:
Vi takes the offered binoculars, the hand on Jamie's back making a lazy circle to add more motes of relaxation or at least calming presence to the touch. She doesn't use the binoculars though, just makes a little shush gesture, which means talk softly not be quiet. Vi parts the blinds just slightly and peers out. She'll be burning the small flakes and pellets of tin that are in her stomach, heightening all of her senses until she can see better with her eyes than the binoculars. Smell and hear too.

"So you know I just can't really tell the differences with the phone, right? I mean, it comes down to which one has the better voice inside of it," she says. Most of her google searches and anything 'smart' phone related is done via voice command. Though she can navigate to a contacts list or the dialing pad on her own, most of the time she can just tell the phone who to call. So she does.

"Well, if you were wanting to pick this guy up, how would you go about doing it? What would you be suspicious of? What all would you check out first?" Vi asks the man who can get into the head of a rogue Jamie better than anyone. "You know I was thinking... Rogue Jamie. We should get you some white dye for your hair right here," she says, reaching up to pat the spot on Jamie's hair where Rogue's signature white mark is.

A bubble is blown. A bubble is popped. Pop!

Multiple Man has posed:
Tension. He's coiled like a steel spring from head to toe. Radiating a near visible energy of barely restrained potential. That's the problem though, the restraint. As Vi rubs gentke circles at the small of his back, Jamie's shoulders sag ever so slighy as little waves of worry and stress fade. Shushed, he smirks with bemused acceptance and nods. He knows what she's doing. His tone drops to a mere whisper so as not to rupture those eardrums.

"Have you ever met Tony Stark? Pretty sure he only had those phones made so he could talk even more. Can you imagine being Black Widow? Just leave the room, done listening to everybody peacocking about whatever it is the Avengers do..." Arms crossing, Jamie leans there against the wall, watching Vi spy on him from across the street. Well, -a- him. Emerald green shirt fitting like a second skin, sleeves pushed up his forearms. Fingers drum endlessly on a bicep. "Then you ask for the weather and BAM! Tony Stark. Back at it." He lifts a finger to illustrate his point. "That's why I prefer the emotionless, uncaring directives of a Luthor device. That and it's cheaper."

When Vi asks the question of the hour, Jamie frowns some. Bottom lip pouted in thought and muted concern. "I'd be suspicious of everything. I'd watch for days. Weeks. Looking for signs of willful refusal or... I'd want to see either a weakness in distance or emotionally." That smile stretches wide, noisily chomping at that pink wad of bubblegum as she pats the top of his head. "Rogue would kiiiiiiiick my ass. Bad." That's when it hits him. "Ah, dammit! Her birthday party was the other day! Ahhhhhh, been stuck in here too long. Starting to lose my mind. Not enough to dye my hair though. Yet. Let's see how it looks on a picture first."

Vi has posed:
Vi gives a little shake of her head. It took her all of about an hour to master not chewing the gum with her mouth open even when focused on other things. Like Green Jamie across the street, standing out in the cold probably cursing that he had to get shaken out of Jamie's body by a hard nudge in the shoulder when he did. When's a Madrox going to be needed to stake out a gentleman's club!?

Vi blows another bubble, hand slipping away from Jamie's back towards her pocket. "Never met Tony Stark. He's something to do with the phone then? Inventor?" she asks him. Yeah, she's still getting used to the rest of the world. "Phone," Vi says, the phone now in hand. "Get a picture of Jamie and give him white hair in front," she asks.

Vi says, "I don't really know how much these cost," she comments of the phone as she glances up and down the street. "How much is it compared to like, my shirt?" she asks, of the mock turtleneck she found for $12 at a secondhand store. She discovered how much cheaper things are there and has yet to show any concern for designer clothing.

Obviously she hasn't met Janet van Dyne either.

Multiple Man has posed:
A tactic that Vi has mastered, Jamie pointedly ignores. Sometimes he just can't help but be mildly irritating even when not intentionally pushing everyones buttons. He chews gum a touch loudly. Though pauses his annoyance factor for her increased and potent senses. The room smells of fresh paint. New carpet. Jamie himself? His recent vice purge has left him crippplingly hooked on sweets. The faint, fruity scents of suckers and juice snacks mingled with cologne and gin.

"He's an egotistical know-it-all that thinks he's funnier than everybody. He invents things like phones and war crimes." Jamie says with a shocking lack of self-awareness. He's in a -mood- and can't help but dig at a man he's only met briefly in passing. When Vi commands her phone to do the unthinkable, Jamie pushes away from the wall. Hands thrown up in defense. "Alright! You win! You win! Need a new name for this guy before Rogue sues me over copyright infringement. Jamie Black? Evil Jamie? Mister Sinister is already taken, so that's right out." Stalking across the short, dense carpet to the mini fridge across the room, Jamie drops down onto his haunches and peers inside the little black box. "Almost out of beer." He mutters to himself before taking one out. "Oh, it'd be about a hundred of those shirts and, in my opinion, far less stylish. Love the little turtleneck thing going on. Don't think I haven't noticed."

Looking back to Vi as he stands, kicking the mini-fridge door shut, Jamie nods at the window. "He doing anything other than smoke and run my credit through the ground?" Oh, but if only that Bait Jamie would get to enjoy his night. The three black sedans pulling up to the seedy, hourly rate motel would imply that he is likely -not- going to.

Vi has posed:
Vi keeps watch, Jamie's movements as easy to track as if he were Guido wearing metal-soled shoes as she moves about the rented office space. "Hmm. What would we call evil Jamie?" she muses to herself quietly. "So... ah, what happens when you absorb him? I mean... I guess it's not like you get a big jolt of evil that affects you? Or... you'll have to live with his memories, but they won't be affect who you are in worrisome ways, other than, well, as memories, right?"

She asks what could be a scary question for her, but there's no sound of fear in Vi's voice. As if she has full trust Jamie Prime will manage it and is just trying to figure out exactly what it's like for him.

She blows another bubble while keeping her attention outside the window. "Not really," Vi says of the Duplicate doing much. "Turned to oggle a pretty girl walking past. She has one of those short skirts on that seems like it'd be really cold to wear. You know, the kind you usually turn your head to watch after one goes past?" Vi says, her tone totally conversational. "I could wear one of those sometime," she comments, trying to think if she's seen any of those for sale at Murray's Thrift Store. "Car driving past slowly. Second time it's driven past in the last five minutes," she says.

Multiple Man has posed:
"Evil Jamie just doesn't have the proper ring to it, you know? Jamie Dark? Mean Madrox?" With beer in one hand, Jamie had to decide what to do with the gum currently being roughly gnawed at. A shrug to no-one but himself, he sticks the gum under the edge of the table before a long drink. "Serious though. Mustache. Really hoping against it. I look terrible with a mustache."

Her question is one that's been plaguing Jamie day and night. Like a dog chasing a car, the end result has seen far less thought and consideration than the chase itself. He doesn't answer at first, instead choosing to have another drink instead and bide his time. "I'm honestly not sure, Vi."

While not exactly stunning, the revelation that Jamie was not yet sure how to resolve the increasingly dangerous situation could be a discouraging one. There may be no fear in Vi's tone but there was clearly worry in his. "I don't know if I even can. Or if that's his plan in the first place. What if he's baiting me instead. I absorb him? Does he get the keys to the Lambo right then and there? Do I keep my hands on the wheel?" Arms spread wide, Jamie shrugs as he leaves the mini fridge for Vi's company at the window. "I don't know. Half tempted to chain the guy up and throw him in a padded room but then what does that say about me?"

Jamie grunts lightly when his shoulder thumps against the wall beside that window. Shoulder still bruised from that Guido punch last week. "Would you even want those memories of his? Mixed with yours?" Brow arching beneath that M etched into his skin, the corner of his lips twists i to a half smile. Partially hidden by the lifted beer bottle in his hand. "I know the kind." He admits with no hint of regret or shame. A sip from his beer, Jamie chuckles under a breath. "Oh, I know you could. Well at that. Second time, huh?"

Second time indeed. As the sedan completes its last circut, it is joined by one and the another. Three black sedans parked outside 'The Blue'. The rear passenger doors open, a tall man with long white hair and a severe white suit. Out the other side? Someone distinctly familiar. Jamie Madrox. Same overcoat. Same shirt. Same slacks. Different smile. Cold. Predatory. Satisfied and looking right at Bait Jamie as he is handed what appears to be a shotgun from someone inside the blacked out, nondescript sedan.

Vi has posed:
Vi reaches over as Jamie moves back into her touching range. Hand sliding up onto the taller man's shoulder. Just letting the brush of her fingers be a touchstone for the man as he deals with the thoughts that she herself pulled up with her questions. Or if not pulled up, brought back to the forefront.

Her hand tightens just a bit as she sees the extra cars pull up. "I think this might be it," she whispers. Vi starts a very low burn of pewter, strengthening her body which in this case just mostly helps protect her enhanced senses from being overwhelmed by bright lights, intense smells or loud noises.

Noises like the one that shotgun might create! "What are we doing? Following?" she asks, grabbing her jacket where it sits near enough it can be reached from the window. She watches through the window, burning some steel and iron and feeling a connection to all the metal in the area, including that shotgun. Though she doesn't act yet, likely expecting it'll be used to abduct the Dupe and not shoot him.

Multiple Man has posed:
"If I absorb him, who knows what it'll do to me? Or if I'd even be me afterward. If I kill him, it could all hit me anyway... and with what he might know? Is it worth the risk?" Dark ruminations, Jamie Madrox has been going back and forth with himselves for weeks now and no answer has come from it. Just more questions. "What does it say about me if I'm willing to imprison him forever? It's... he's got me on the defensive. Everywhere. It's exhausting."

Her hand on his shoulder is covered by one of his own. A light, reassuring squeeze follows the one she grips him with. He's got this, right? That's what he keeps telling himself as he dives deeper and deeper into trouble. When Vi notes that it's going down, Jamie leans over to part the blinds with two digits. Peering through almost excitedly. "Thank god, this room was killing me. Started to feel like I wanted to wear a cheap tie and complain about my re-negotiated benefits package."
    Reading lips isn't as hard as many would like to think it. That said, also not that easy either. While Jamie is missing bits and pieces, Vi may be able to pick up more. Directed senses. Shielding. She's in a better position by far. "Following. I want to see where he takes him."

The white haired man, older and world weary as only a life long mercenary can get, stares at the exchange between the two Madri. The one now holding a shotgun? All smiles. Cheerful. Yet it's the hardened look of cold, sharpened hatred in his eyes that sets him apart from the rest of the Madri and Jamie himself. What she could see was quite possibly the sadistic, violent side of Jamie in the flesh.

"No, no, no. No talking." Says the Dupe holding a shotgun on the city sidewalk in the middle of the night. Ch-CHAK. A round is locked and loaded, shotgun leveled on the Bait Dupe now holding up his hands. "Alright! Alright! Just don't shoot me, man! I'm too pretty to die like that and we both know it." Bait Jamie, nervous and suddenly far more exposed than he'd like, looks toward the office building. Shotgun Jamie and the white haired Merc also do the same.

"What are they doing?" Jamie Prime asks while grabbing for his overcoat.

Vi has posed:
Vi has pulled her coat on as she continues to watch. "Looks like Greenie is going to go with him and... and he just looked over her. Evil one too," Vi says, not moving. Knowing that seeing a shadow moving through the blinds would probably be worse and make her stand out more.

She swallows and burns her pewter a little stronger. She keeps her attention on that shotgun, ready to shove it away from her if it looks like the barrel is coming her way and preparing to fire. "There's a guy, white hair, stands out," she says of the merc, while holding her place. She pulls on one of the washers in her belt pouch, pulling it up and out the slot in the top, just to have one ready of the heavy disks that she uses both as weapons, and for steering, ready to go.

Multiple Man has posed:
"That's good. He's got a tracker on him and... what do you mean he looked over here?" Jamie, half in his overcoat, pauses with one arm up through the sleeve of his likely trademarked jacket choice. A little worry grips him. If they knew, then the game was over and that was that. Resisting the urge to look through the blinds, Jamie shrugs into his heavy coat and tugs the collar up. "Screw it. Let's get 'em. We have the numbers. Easily. We have -you-. We got this." Confident and reassuring smile aside, Jamie Madrox does not, in fact... got this.

As Vi burns metal after metal, amping up her powers with each flake and chip, the show down in the streets takes a turn for the worse. White haired Mercenary Man takes off his sunglasses(yes, he's one of those guys) and fixes his gaze directly on the window Vi was looking out of. "You know what you were paid to do, Nitro. Don't make us regret the choice." The shotgun toting Madrox says while looking right at that window as well. "He's up there. I can feel him. Which means he can feel... this." As the twisted image of Jamie Madrox's hate and violence passes a wink to his audience(thinking it Madrox himself). Vi's senses, her magnetic grip may be the only thing between the Bait Dupe and a shotgun slug to the chest. A finget curls around the trigger and squeezes it back.

It's impossible to ignore. Jamie Prime, against his better judgement, parts the blinds to look out. Just in time to see the fiery glow in the white haired Merc'a eyes. "Is that Nitro? Oh crap! Get out of here!" Jamie shouts as the explosive Merc starts stalking toward what was once thought to be an empty business center.

Vi has posed:
The shotgun swings towards Green Bait Jamie, and Vi sees red. She knows the deal with the Dupes as well as any and far better than most. But it's still Jamie. The girl's hand tightens around the washer she gripped and she burns her steel stronger, fueling her mutant power to push on metal. Thankfully the gun is pointed perpendicular so when it's suddenly hit with a thousand pounds of force, it wants to shoot off to the side of the Evil Madri who is wielding it, rather than moving the trigger into his finger.

At the same time she tells Jamie, "I'll get the other away, don't worry about me." A flush of strength runs through her as Vi burns faster the flakes and bits of pewter she swallowed earlier today. Her body grows tougher though it looks no different, no outward sign is given of the change. She's burning through it fast, not sure what this 'Nitro' can do exactly, so giving her body a level of hardiness that would seem impossible to some.

She lifts her hand, moving the washer between her chest and Nitro. Not shooting the heavy metal disc yet, but watching to see what he does as he stalks towards the office building.

Multiple Man has posed:
Times like these, Jamie worries that he's grown to accustomed to this lifestyle. The constant dangers. The impossible odds. The completely insane hours. Putting loved ones in the way of clear and obvious danger. Yet here he is. Doing exactly that. Something about growing up a militant mutant super hero changes a man. "Right. Distance is your friend." Jamie says before taking a good space back from the windows. "This is going to hurt."

Almost talking himself out of this mad idea, Jamie tsks. Taking a breath to steel his nerves, Jamie Madrox charges at the glass barrier between himself and a three story drop.

As Vi burns more metal like the powerful mutant forge she is, Nitro grins up at the building. Tossing sunglasses aside, orange light and glittering embers dance and sway in his stare. He starts his approach while shedding suit jacket, watch and a few other little items that must mean something to him. It's that push from Vi that sets off the night. Shotgun blast ripping a hole through a blue, street corner mail box. Bait Madrox dives for cover with a tuck and roll that puts him behind the bumper of a black sedan.

Glass shatters outward as Jamie Prime hits the window. One man becoming half a dozen. As a team, they all plummet. Hands grab at the street light. Other hands grab forearms and collars. Like acrobatic fire ants, Jamie and the Madri grab and swing themselves to safety. Using the momentum to THROW Jamie Prime halfway across the street at his wayward Dupe.

Nitro? He does what any man embued with the power to detonate like a bomb. He detonates. Like a bomb.

Glass shatters. Heat flares and a scorching explosion ripples and rips across the front of that office building. Sending Madrox OG skidding across the street. Car alarms go off in every direction. Glass falls like crystaline rain onto the sidewalks in a one block radius.

Vi has posed:
Once Jamie is safely through the window, Vi follows him, pushing off metal in the framework of the building to sore out the window. She is just clearing the hole in the glass when Nitro goes off. A plume of flame and heat engulfs the little brunette teen, swallowing her like some hellmouth dropped down in the middle of New York.

Out of that rolling fire a body flies, clothing smoldering and trailing smoke. Vi's face, exposed skin and clothing are blacked, but she flies through the air then suddenly halts as she flexes her mutant power to push against the building on the other side of the street. The washer she was holding is held out between herself and Evil Jamie, and then the heavy metal disk becomes a project, zipping down towards him at high speed.

Vi looks up, searching for Jamie and then pulling herself hard down towards him, the frame of a window near him, already without grass, bending with the force of the pull. As she nears the ground she pushes on it instead, slowing herself to drop to the sidewalk protectively beside him.

Strong Guy has posed:
Down the street, Guido Carosella sits at a counter stool in a late-night diner. He's just about to bite into a cheesesteak when a nearby explosion lights up the sky, followed by the heavy rumble of the resulting shockwave.

The cheesesteak jitters out of its bun and onto the plate. And the counter. And the floor. And Guido's lap.

"Aww, crud," he mutters, face twisting into a deep frown. "The thirty minutes I take for a snack break..."

He stands and fishes out some cash to slap on the counter. "Sorry fer the cleanup. But I gotta, ya know, save the day an' all," Guido says with a sigh before striding out of the diner toward all the trouble.

Multiple Man has posed:
Having just flung himself out a third story window to avoid being blasted to bits by debris, Jamie is instead blasted against the side of a parked Lincoln. Which is probabky better than shredded by parts of a conference table, right? Battered and bruised Dupes getting to their feet around the Prime as he struggles to clear the cob webs from his brain meats. Explosions are more distracting than Hollywood would have you believe. Ears ringing. Throat burning and right shoulder numb to his hip, Jamie stands... He really wishes he hadn't.

Vi, having thrown herself through what felt and truly was an inferno, comes out the other side a blackened streak through the cold Mutant Town air. Nitro, admiring his handiwork and destruction, looks on as the buildings face falls to burning rubble. Nodding in approval all the while. Not bad, he thinks to himself. Not bad at all.

Now what we have here is an unarmed Jamie Madrox on the street corner, shouting demands at Nitro. "Yeah, that's real cool! Can you maybe do it again, you moron?!" Clearly, that Jamie was not a nice man. Identical as he may be, this Jamie Madrox was decidedly much more concerned with causing more property damage than he was saving the now scattering civilians of Bushwick AKA Mutant Town.

A Dupe hiding behind a parked car is the first to see Guido on his approach. He's lighting, or trying to light, a broken in half cigarette with shakey hands. "Jamie found him. You gonna go save his ass? I'm not. You know he used me as bait, right?" Watching Guido pass, the cowardly Dupe ducks back to cover as Jamie Prime and the Rogue Dupe finally meet. Over explosions, attempted kidnapping and violence.

Strong Guy has posed:
Pausing for just a moment as the Jamie with shellshock speaks, Guido offers a tight-lipped smile and nods. "Sure, buddy. Sure. You just take five."

He begins walking, then jogging, then running toward Nitro. As he approaches a nearby mailbox, Guido swings out with his right arm in a haymaker to smack the box at Nitro, the impact of his fist on the container a 'buuuuuuunggggg' sound that rings down the block.

"HEEEEYYYYYYY!" he booms, still charging forward. "/I'm/ the one yer lookin' for! Here I am! You want summa this? Come an' /get/ it!"

Multiple Man has posed:
It's a funny thing, really. From the outside looking in, as many are doing right now after an explosion in the streets, seeing the much larger Jamie Madrox being helped to his feet by the substantially smaller Vi. While Jamie is a little shakey getting back up on two legs, Vi looks unstrained. Soot covered and sleeve on fire, sure but otherwise no big deal. "This is going to be dumb. Which means it just might work. C'mon, Vi. Let's get this done." Enthusiastic in his want to pummel a Rogue Dupe into a bloody paste, he's overjoyed in spotting Guido marching into the fray. "Just in time."

Emboldened by the addition of Strong Guy to even the odds, Jamie Prime starts to cross the street toward his deranged Duplicate. The Rogue Dupe searching for his shotgun as Nitro gets a proper introduction to Guido Carosella. Mailbox rocketing toward the white haired mercenary, the wirey framed man turns just in time. Reflex saves him as he detonates. Booom! The force of a couple grenades deflects the mailbox into a closed bakery. "The only one I'm looking for has a stupid letter on his face and a paycheck with my name on it. You wanna be my bonus, big man?! Come and bring it to me!" He shouts back. Making no move to approach the mountain of a mutant. Defensive Style: Explosive.

Strong Guy has posed:
"Joke's on /you/, ya blork!" Guido shouts, massive arms pumping as he continues to close the distance between himself and Nitro. "I don't /have/ a stupid letter on my face! And the only paycheck I got fer ya is--this!"

Gritting his teeth, Guido twists just slightly to careen shoulder-first as he races toward Nitro, his regular-sized-but-somehow-really-tiny-on-him legs pumping hard to keep up his momentum. Fists clenched, the man's arm flexes and hugs his chest tightly.

Multiple Man has posed:
"Vi, don't let him put holes in me." With the metal warping mutant at his side, Jamie doesn't have much to worry over. She's becoming more powerful and creative with her gifts every day. A nice change of pace considering Jamie's own relationship with his mutant powers. Boots stomp asphalt as he makes his way to the center of his ire and recent troubles. When Vi snatched and flung that shotgun from the Dupes hands? The man instead revealed a plastic box much like a garage door opener. "Ah ah. Far enough." Knowing himself well enough, the threat gives Jamie Prime pause.

Nitro, on the other hand, has no such need for a trigger. He -is- the explosion. He's the bokb, you could say. Reluctantly. "Nah, you got somethin' dumber there." The lean and haggard of build Nitro widens his stance, preparing for Strong Guy with a wild sort of acceptance in his orange glowing eyes. As that massive shoulder bares down on him, the low rent Merc does what he does best. He explodes. A smaller detonation again, he is both protected from the heavy shoulder check yet flung back regardless. The force hitting Guido just as he would have impacted with the force of a car accident.

Jamie Madrox and Evil Jamie Madrox, who would be outright insulted at the moniker, both wince and cringe at the newest of booms. "You hired a bomb. You're dumb. It's Nitro, man. You have a coupon?" The Dupe sneers back at his Originator. "Figured cheap was your wheelhouse, Madrox. An homage, if you will. Now... this."

With a bright and clearly bonkers grin, Jamie Madrox the Bad Guy(he'd much prefer that name) hits that little button. Immediately, the street is filled from curb to curb with... More Madri. At least a hundred. Maybe more. Not even Jamie himself could top that witb such little effort.

Strong Guy has posed:
After the flash of Nitro's detonation, Guido's nowhere to be seen--at least not at first. He lands on the roof of a nearby car, which collapses like it was made of tinfoil. The tires all blow out, too, in response to the force of Guido's weight plummeting onto the car.

".....uuuuckkkk," Guido wheezes, slowly moving his limbs to try and free himself from the wreckage-cradle he's currently lying in. After his hands and feet wiggle, he sighs deeply. "Aw, thank God," he mutters and then rolls out from the car.

"Madrox!" Guido calls, cupping a hand to his mouth. "Madrox!" he shouts again before pausing and twisting a finger into one ear. "Mahhhhngngg. Booommmbom." He stretches his mouth open and then closes it. "Damnit!" he says a bit too loudly for normal conversation. "I can't hear anything!"

As Madroxes suddenly surround him, filling the street, Guido reaches out to grab one by the upper arm. "Jamie! I! Can't! Hear! Anything!"

Multiple Man has posed:
Jamie is going to have some issues after tonight. Hearing being one of them but forst and foremost? All the questions. The cops. The locals. The property damage. It's all going to come back around and bite him on the backside. He knows it. When Nitro rattled the streets once again, Jamie was left staggering back to his feet. "Oooowwwwww. Why couldn't you have hired Solo or somebody less friggin' loud?!" He shouts at his Deranged Duplicate.

"What?!" Shouts the Rogue Dupe back at Jamie. Then there's Guido. Shouting into the high pitched ringing that they all now know and enjoy. Jamie is blinking through the sting of smoke and blood in his eyes. He doesn't remember taking a hit but a head wound sure does like to bleed. Sleeve wiling at his face, Jamie spots Guido rolling off a near flattened SUV.... surrounded by sooooo many more Madri.

"That's not good! That is NOT good!" Jamie shouts, turning on heel and clearly overwhelmed by seeing so very many himself.

Guido reaching out for yet another Madrox, his massive hand passes through the other man. Air. Light. Holograms. One and all.

Strong Guy has posed:
As Guido's hand clamps down around nothing, the large man takes a long moment to squint, staring at his hand, then the holograms, then his hand, then looking around for some easy explanation. "Madrox! This ain't funny!"

He stretches his jaw again, shaking his head.

"Fer cryin' out loud," Guido sighs, rolling his shoulders. "It's gonna be like this, izzit? Nobody better be recordin' anything..."

He begins wildly swinging, almost twirling about, as he begins to move in a chaotic, aimless path through holographic Jamies. Guido stumbles as he kicks the curb, but he recovers quickly. "Madrox! This ain't funny no more! I don't wanna be in none'a yer weird Japanese porn!"