12164/The Cure: Enter Metaforce

The Cure: Enter Metaforce
Date of Scene:	11 September 2020
Location:	Liberty Island, Manhattan
Synopsis:	A field trip is interrupted by anti-mutant protestors and the villainous Metaforce.
Cast of Characters:	Pixie, Faraday, Red, Cyclops, Zombie-Girl, Aegis, Nightingale
Tinyplot:	Mutant Cure

---

Pixie has posed:
There are still a few warm and sunny days left in summer, although the days are gradually getting chillier. And while most students are heading back to school, there is still time for a little fun in the sun. This often includes school field trips, like today, at Liberty Island, and what better way to spend a sunny day than for some of the students at Xavier's school to enjoy the sights and sounds of Liberty Island?

Theres a small market square set up at the base of the iconic statue, with buskers playing colorful music while merchants sell fresh fruits and veggies here and there. Heck, there's even a living statue posing by the entrance of the statue.

Megan is wearing a white embroidery dress and leather sandals as she slips through the square towards the tower with some of the students, peering excitedly at this and that as she heads for the statue itself. "Oooh this is Soo much fun! I just looove field trips!" pink wings flutter excitedly, having given up on trying to hide them, or maybe she just doesn't care.

Faraday has posed:
It wasn't her first time visiting Ellis and the Statue, but it'd been ages, and Indira was more than happy to sign up for an excuse to get out with her classmates and go check it out. Her great-grandparents were in the ledgers, so it was a nice reminder to her of where they'd once passed through.

In a sharkbite style neon purple shirt and black skinny jeans, Indira walks along in the wake of the fluttering Megan with a cheery grin on her face. "Nothing like a free mini vacation." She says towards the faerie girl. "I mean, I'm not looking forward to the paper I gotta write after, but at least I get to stretch my legs and snag a horrible souvenir as a trade off."

Red has posed:
Alice did tag along, partially as a chaperone for some of the youngers, partly because field trips had been seriously something that was lacking in the school time she had had before. That means, even as a NYC resident, her school had never even managed to fund a trip to Ellis island or such. The problem of the piss-poor M-town school system was that it was... well, piss-poor.

Now, she wore her favorite type of boots, the impossible type up to the half thighs, though in lieu of the weather she also had opted for a longer skirt, down to somewhere around the knee, combined with a red jacket. "Megs, please stay on the ground. We ain't knowing the weather forecast for the wind and I ain't see any trees for you to grab in case you do fly away."

Cyclops has posed:
It appears that Scott Summers picked the short straw and was left in charge of this excursion of children out on to Liberty Island. Dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a polo shirt, the X-Men's field leader is striding along and keeping them all within eyesight. "Let's try not to cause too much of a scene, kids. After the other day, we should keep as low a profile as we can."

Truth be told, they should have canceled this field trip after the stunt Magneto pulled, but he was outvoted by puppy dog eyes and quivering bottom lips. He takes in a deep breath, running a hand back through his hair as he glances around, remembering when he was younger how he'd run about with the other four best friends of his that he grew up with. How times have changed so rapidly.

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl is normally not a fun in the sun individual; she's typically more of a spooky graveyard at 2am person. But she's noticed some activity from the demonic street gang that she's been keeping tabs on around this part of the city. So she decided to take a trip on over to the island to see if there was any sign of them there. She hasn't been to the island since a field trip in middle school.

She stands out a little, in that she is even more covered than the weather warrants. Wearing a zip-up hoodie with the hood up, black leather gloves, a medical mask, and dark wrap around sunglasses that cover her eyes. She's keenly aware that it makes her look odd and gets her the occasional odd look, but she would get a lot more odd looks without such a disguise.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn does notice the girl in too much covering, and gives Zombie girl an odd look and nervous smile as she passes her by. Oh well, maybe she's a mutant too or has a major sun allergy who knows? "Nice day, isn't it?" she quips cheerfully, but her wings do droop a bit at the reminder of what happened the other day during Andrea's concert.l

Still, it's not always easy to hide her wings under summer wear, especially when it's this warm and sunny. But Megan does flatten her wings against her back. It's not like most people think she's anything more than a crazy cosplayer anyway, with the pink hair and all, but no need to draw anymore unnecessary attention to herself.

"Well...Poop..lIm still gonna have a fun time, so there!" she makes a face as she nears the statue..

Things are getting even livelier as a small group of people (protesters?) make their way onto the island, carrying billboard signs wuth messages like, 'No More Mutants!' and Human Lives Matter!'.

At least they seem peaceful...More or less. They carry no weapons and are not acting violently at all. Still they're rowdy enough that people start to clear a path to let them pass. But they're moving closer to the group of mutants, which Canmore bode well..

Faraday has posed:
"Mm, she's probably right. At least walking is more fun than getting stuck on the torch, right?" Indira says aside to Megan with a quiet laugh as she cranes her eyes up and up. "Course, it would make a funny postcard. At least you can skip the steps. I don't usually miss leg day, but that'd still be one heck of a hike. Do they even still let people up there? I bet it's an amazing view."

It seems that Scott's warning - though dutifully nodded too - ends up jinxing the moment. She looks towards the arrival of the protesters with a dismayed sigh as she mumbles just loud enough for the others in her group to hear. "Aww, really? ...I don't know what they really expect. I'm sorry I'm offensive, lemme just go move to Mars?" There's a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth as she looks over to their esteemed chaperone for their next move.

Aegis has posed:
Xio was born and raised in Spanish Harlem. As such, the big statue in the bay is something she has seen before. When she was eight. And on a field trip, such as this. The good news was she didn't have to write a paper that time. Which summed up to one thing.

These people at Xavier's were jerks.

Not all of them. In truth, most of them were great. She'd even made a few friends among the group that called themselves New Mutants, though she wasn't part of their little club. Not officially. Yet, she seemed to be around them all the time.

Her eyes weren't on the statue, they were on the crowd. She was dressed down. A pair of cut-off jeans, a plaid shirt tied at her waist. A white tank top, leaving her brown skin to suck up that Vitamin D coming down in the form of sunlight. Her hair was down, wild around her shoulders. Her attention was for the people though. Looking, scanning. As though she was expecting someone to show up.

If Miguel got her text, she should see some familiar faces soon. Some she hadn't seen since she got recruited for the fancy school upstate. As the protesters showed, she muttered a few choice words in Spanish, low enough that hopefully Mr. Summers didn't hear. "Ignore them. It's the best thing to do with estupidos."

Cyclops has posed:
"We can have fun, let's just not get in trouble. That's all I'm asking." Scott says stiffly as he gives a glance over towards Megan. "You're an adult now, not a student, remember. You're not here as one of them, you're here to back me up in chaperoning the students."

Yes. He is going to be 'that' guy today. As he glances upwards, he takes his phone out and snaps a picture of the statue, then sends a text of it to Jean: 'Miss you. Wish you were here.' The brief moment is torn away as he hears the chants and sees the signs in the distance. His lips press together thinly.

"Class." He says with a firm clear of his throat towards the students. "We're going to get something to eat. This way." He says as he gives a motion of his hand, aiming them towards some of the snack stands. "We'll take a detour around them. No one engage. No one boo. Not a single peep out of any of you. Understand me?"

Now he's not a teacher. Now he's something else. That tone in his voice is not to be questioned, or one would be lucky if they got detention.

Red has posed:
Alice groans at the sight of the protesters, slipping up tighter to the group. Because honestly? if things would go violent, she's the least that can fight normally. Her eyes seek the direction of Cyclops, trying to give him the nod to the problem people, right before Indira goes out of her way to rumble about them. Too great. "They just got no idea that everyone here is pretty much human."

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl raises a brow when she notices Megan in return. To her the fairy girl looks like someone granted life to a Lisa Frank notebook. Still she has to give Megan props for her guts looking like that and not hiding it. Not that she's about to go ditching her hoodie herself any time soon. ZG's attention is broken away from sizing up the other weirdo to the sudden commotion of the protesters.

"Great. Looks like the fraternal order of assholes just dropped off a tourbus of paste eaters," she mutters quietly. But she's not too worried. In her experience most indignant sign wavers had an equal amount of both bark and bite as an oak tree.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn bites her lip and nods stiffly to Scott. "R-right!" Yeaah, she'd rather not draw undue attention to herself, and she does flank the group rather protectively, trailing after Scott and the others towards the snack stand. "Yeaah, food sounds good.." dammit, she really needs to get an image inducer or something..That bright hair and wings stand out like a sore thumb! She did think to bring a little pink scarf shawl though, and she rearranges it to drape over her flattened wings, making them less visible.

Fortunately, as the X-group heads off towards the food stand and out of the way of the protesters, they manage to remain largely unseen by them. One of them does pause and peer at Megan's pink hair and she backs away so her wings are hidden against a nearby wall, shrinking back a bit to appear as small and wall flowery as possible..Before hurrying to join the others.

For the most part, the protesters don't even pay attention to the little x-group, and some the music and market vendors have started to disperse. A couple of food trucks remain, some of the vendors smiling a bit nervously at the students. "Hi! What can I get you?"

Faraday has posed:
'Yes, sir." Indira says up towards Scott as he pulls out the big boss voice, though she does slant one sidelong sour look towards the protestors.

She glances over to Xio as they walk towards the food booth and then towards Megan and back again, with a subtle tip of her head. Then she picks up her pace a few steps to begin flanking Megan. Just to the side and slightly behind, letting her own body be a visual block.

As they reach the trucks, she pauses to look up at the various signs, though it looks like what appetite she may have had has stalled out. "Um... er. I think just a fries for me. What about you guys?"

Aegis has posed:
"Two cheeseburgers with extra pickles, large onion ring and a large chocolate shake." Xio isn't shy about her food intake. She has taken up a position a little more behind Megan, allowing her a bit more hiding of those wings she has under that shawl. It isn't much but the attempt is there. Maybe if Xio was taller it would've been more helpful.

She does give Mr. Summers a look. She's heard his teacher voice at the school, when people are acting the fool in the hallways. But something different about this voice. Even she isn't going to buck when he sounds like that.

Cyclops has posed:
As the kids order, Scott reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. Flipping it open, he slides out a number of bills and passes them over to the vendor once he orders a pretzel for himself and a Diet Coke. He continues to glance casually over towards the hate group, gauging the situation from all corners and angles. Most of which is exit strategies.

"Just don't pay them any attention." He says with a cooler voice once he gathers up his change and tucks it into his wallet. "If anything happens, Megan will port us out back to the parking lot and we will all get pizza instead."

Red has posed:
Alice is lucky that the group goes away, smiling a little as the food stand comes into sight. "Safety in groups. Comeon, who wants a burger?" she asks before lining in to order, making sure to read the whole menu before ordering. "When will that kinda scum ever die out?"

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl takes a seat on a bench and crosses her legs. As long as the idiot brigade is here, it will make looking for those she's hunting next to impossible, if only due to sheer annoyance alone. So instead she just keeps a watch on the protest to ensure that everyone remains nice and civil. Though she doens't make this too obvious, only keeping the protesters in her periphreal vision as she stares forward at the bay.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn smiles as it's her turn at the food truck. "Umm I'll have a hot dog too! With extra cheese and pickles, cuz pickles are awesome!" she grins and winks at Xio, who seems to share similar taste to her.

To Scott's assurance, she nods, remembering the parking lot they had passed by on their way here. "Right! No worries, we'll keep you safe!" at least she's feeling confident as she waits for her meal, and hands over the cash. Hey she's an adult now, she has to start paying for her own stuff too, right? (siiiigh).

"Hmmmm, looks like they're staying outside for now, maybe we can head inside the statue...?" Megan glances towards Scott, uncertain if that's a good idea, but the further away they are from the protesters, the better....Right?

The protesters continue to peacefully march along, marching in a tight circle, remaining largely peaceful if loud. At least the slogans they yell out seem more defensive than anything, crying for 'protection against dangerous mutants!' and 'Humans have rights too!'

Annnnnd that's when things go to hell...Starting with a huge explosion of fire that sends a nearby food truck and a couple of trees on fire, and sends the protesters scattering and screaming in fear. Others scream and scatter too, though mostly the attack is focused on the anti-mutant protestors.

Faraday has posed:
"I'll probably regret the grease later, but hey, that's the fun of trips right?" Indira remarks with a quick shake of her head towards Xiomara, teasing her roommate with a "Man, you're giving me heart pains just to hear that. I'm jealous. Guess I'll have to make myself some veg burgers when we get back and cry in the corner."

Alas, further commentary is stalled as one of the nearby trucks becomes a churro-delivery drone and the girl is ducking on pure reflex and dropping a string of virulent sounding curses in Hindi. Several sparks fly off of her like a cat puffing out in alarm and she's balling up her fists at her side.

Aegis has posed:
She had just accepted her little bag with her goodies in it and her milkshake when everything went to hell. It was instinctive for Xio. Both hands opened. One was pointed palm out toward the explosion, the other in the direction of the protestors. Since she wasn't sure if they were the ones causing big badda-booms.

Two glowing green walls appeared, each a good twenty-by-twenty feet, one in each direction. The fire and shrapnel from the exploding truck struck hit the shield instead of their small group--and their personal food truck was saved as well.

Her bag and drink cup hit the ground by her feet, the cup exploding and her shake oozing out on the concrete. She didn't even noticed as she kept up those glowing shields, eyes wide. "Madre de Dios! What the fuck!"

They are going to need to start a swear jar at the school. Just because of her.

Red has posed:
Alice had just ordered and paid, when the detonations happen. BAD mojo. REALLY bad mojo. Scrambling for safety with the others, she searches her pockets for... for something to work with! The jacket pockets reveal however not much more than a few plastic wrappers, a few dollars and a trolley chip. Not much to work with.

For long moments, she tries to, keep her head low. "Dangit! It... it's not sentinels, we'd be dead then... only good side of this?" she mutters, as her eyes finally hit the stack of foamed takeout boxes. "Ey! Can I have those boxes?!" she yells to someone that might still be in the foodstand.

Cyclops has posed:
As the explosion rocks the area, Scott quickly whips his head over towards it. "Shit." He mutters to himself as he sees that the protestors themselves are the targets. He glances over towards the students for a moment, then to Megan. "Pixie, you're with me. Let's see what's going on. Farady, Aegis." He's using code names now. "Come with me, do not engage. Let the two of us handle it. If we need to engage, you need to charge her shields up so that she can use them defensively. I will lead any offense. Do not deviate from that plan or one of you may get killed."

As he starts forward, he glances over to Alice for a moment. "Plastic Girl." He has no clue if she has a code name. "Stick close to Indi. I don't know what you can do, but these kids have at least been somewhat field tested."

Reaching into his pocket, he takes out his collasible visor and slides it on after a quick shut of his eyes to swap off his Raybans.

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl freaks the hell out when everything around her starts suddenly exploding. A strangled squawk of surprise comes out of her and she throws her arms up defensively in front of her out of reflex. Unfortunately she also goes tumblign backwards off of her seat and lands flat on the ground. She presses back into the fall, turns it into a roll, and pops back to her feet with the minimum amount of grace to make it look like it was intentional. She can see what exploded. Trees. Food truck. But she can't yet see who did the exploding. She licks her lips in anticipation of finding someone to punch in the face. Maybe after that she'll punch the protesters in the face. They aren't at fault here, but it still feels like something to do on principle.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn only managed to take a bite or two of her hotdog and she's pretty hungry right now...But alas, duty calls (dammit!) She sighs and pulls off her shawl, not even bothering to hide her wings as she nods to Scott, fluttering a few feet off the ground as she peers towards the source of the flames.

"Up there!" she points skywards, towards four shadowy figures, partially obscured by the smoke and fire, although a sudden strong breeze makes their appearance a bit clearer. Four humanoid figures hover in the air, protected by glowing opaque bubbles as they float to the ground. Two women, one with green hair, five big, glowy green crows hovering around her head. The other, a young woman, her skin covered in pink crystalline material, much like The Whute Queen's diamond form. A man draped in a long black cloak lands, face obscured by his black hood although his hands glow with magical energy. And the last, a tall muscular man with a shock of short, flame red hair, dragon wings, and claw tipped hands, a ring of smoke hanging around him. He seems to be the leader and he steps forward, addressing the human protestors, ignoring fleeing civilians and mutant students alike.

"Hear me, inferior humans! We metas are the next stage in evolution! And your lives are short lived. Allow us to make an example of the fools who dare defy the superior species! Metaforce...Attack!" at his command, the crow girl sends her flock loose on a group of protestors. Crystal girl unleashes a fury of massive crystal spikes on another group of protestors, and Dragonlord inhales deeply, unleashing another wave of flames upon a cluster of trees, sending them crashing upon more protestors as cloaked man looks on silently for a while..

Faraday has posed:
"Got it." Indira calls over to Scott and hunkers herself down to keep low behind the glowing barrier of Xiomara's shields. Her one arm begins to crackle and pulse with electricity that flows down in branching sparks and glows a vivid silver-violet. "Yell when you need a boost - small, medium, or large, or super sized!" She says aside to Xiomara before looking over to Alice as she raids the plasticware. She doesn't interrupt her in her business, but she's clearly aiming to keep her two closest compatriots in eyesight.

"...Metaforce? Guess Dragonforce is still copywritten." She keeps her charged hand out towards Xiomara's shield, ready to feed her energy as soon as she asks it.

Aegis has posed:
"Did he just tell us to go /with/ him? Like toward the crazy people blowing shit up?"

Xio can't have heard that right yet, it seems that is indeed what their chaperone wants. Throw in he used that name. She blames Jeremy. Since he came up with it and had to have shared it with the staff. Probably put it in her file somewhere.

"I ain't no hero," she muttered even as she started to follow the Cyclops and Pixie. She kept two shields up, prepared to drop them as needed. They were a bit smaller now as she realized that the protestors were actually the victims. As trees were set ablaze and went torward some of them, she dropped one of the shields she was holding. It appeared in front of the protestors, the flaming trees falling onto the shield instead. It pushed them back away from the humans, giving the people a chance to get away. But then the shield was summoned back as she kept up with the duo who were going to keep them alive. At least they better. Or she was going to haunt their asses if she got killed.

Red has posed:
Alice groans at the somewhat silly codename Cyclops tosses towards her, but nods, eying Indira before she tries to grab the boxes despite them being pretty much a lot of air, making them light and squishy. but at least they were easy, clean and simple material. Ok for a moment, though not the best. It's just a jump to and fro, and soem ten or such are in her hands before hunkering down next to Indira. "Dragonforce is good music. Metaforce is hiphop crap."

Ok, time to get to work, yes? Whlie Indira offers power zaps to the others... she quickly refashions the boxes into what might be best described a blob of plastic... to make other things from.

Cyclops has posed:
"Stop bantering and /focus/." Cyclops rumbles in his throat at the students discussing their musical tastes. "We can't let the innocents get hurt, even if they're assholes. Aegis, keep it up. Rotate your shields about if you can. Indi, hit the flaming guy, I got green bird. Pixie, teleport crystal girl in the middle of the ocean. I don't even care if she sinks."

With that, a red laser blast erupts out of the crowd as he taps his visor, opening it wide and looking to cut a swath through the green birds and straight into the chest of the one who casted them. He isn't holding back or pulling any punches at the moment. They're trying to murder people, that means the gloves are off.

"Rubber Maid!" See, he's coming up with a new one for her. "Do whatever you can to form something solid and use it as a shield and help the civilians get to safety. New Mutants, don't be afraid to let loose!" This isn't the DR, kids.

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl yanks wrestling headgear out of her jacket pocket and snaps it in place on her head. Next she shucks off her sweat pants, unzips and removes her jacket. She's left in a black wrestling singlet with a stylized skull on the chest. Finally she pulls off her dark sunglasses. Without them the infernal flame within her body licks out of her luminous yellow eyes like two small bonfires. Readying herself to charge the group, she's stopped when the leader announces the group. She snerks when he says "Meta-Force." She composes herself, trying to ignore the fact for now that fighting a group called "Meta-Force" is going to do little for her cool-factor. She runs, her legs pushing off the ground with inhuman strength to run between the protestors and the barrage of crystaline missles. She flings her arms out wide to make herself as large of a target as she can manage.

Nightingale has posed:
     Miss Grey said there'd be days like this. A rookie mistake was thinking that a field trip from the school would go at all smoothly. Yet somehow, hope sprung eternal, and Shannon went along with her classmates to enjoy a sight she thought she'd never get the chance to see in person--Liberty Island.

     Of course, you know... rookie mistakes.

     Perhaps she ought to have had the image inducer on, but in a place where a good portion of the United States had first begun their journey to become one of the greatest melting pots of ideas and cultures that the world had ever known, it should not have been necessary. When the group made a detour to the food trucks, to avoid the protestors, Shannon gave the rest of them a look, shook her head, and murmured to Mr. Summers, "Ten to one we have to go 'professional' before this is all over."

     There were times it sucked to be right.

     Hearing and seeing the situation when she comes out of the nearest ladies' room, she lets out her own volley of swears, reaching for the Bluetooth headset she always kept in her little brown leather bag. Thankfully, she was modestly dressed for cooler weather, in her dark blue jeans, caramel suede boots, and a wine-colored turtleneck. "Nightingale, you've got eyes in the sky." A few running steps, a few strong downstrokes of her wings, and she was taking to the sky, keeping an eye on things down below.

     Hopefully, her 'other' gifts would not be needed....

Pixie has posed:
People start screaming and fleeing for their lives. Tents and trees and cars burst into flames as Dragonlord continues to unleash fire upon fleeing civilians and protestors alike. "That's right...Run like the scum you are.." he snarls..

Cyclops blasts through the flames, and the crows scatter, storming and rushing at him instead attacking with a flurry of beaks and teeth..Although it seems they are psionic in nature, capable of causing significant mental pain should they hit, and only minor physical pain, much like Psylocke's psi-daggers. Her eyes widen a bit though, briefly distracted at the laser beam..Something that might easily kill her, were it not for quick thinking from the robed man who creates a protective bubble barrier around crow girl.

Megan narrows her eyes, focusing on crystal girl who is about to get teleported away when she suddenly launches a rain of crystal daggers down on Megan. She shrieks, darting this way and that to avoid them, and fortunately the strange goth girl intervenes. Unfortunately that makes her the new target, and crystal girl launches another shower of diamond hard crystals on Zombie Girl.

There are already a few wounded caught in the crossfire, though most civilians have fled the scene, leaving mostly protestors as the main targets.

Faraday has posed:
"My mom is gonna kill me. Worth it!" Crows Indira as she bounces once then twice like she was prepping for a sprint. She keeps one hand aimed at those shields while her other comes up to aim a crackling palm towards the lead singer of the Dragonforce cover band. Wings. Flying type. Know what that's weak to? With a toothy grin that's part grimace, she sends out a lancing bolt of lightning towards Dragonlord. The superheated air around it booms and reeks of ozone. Her hand's dropping as soon as she's launched it and she's shaking out her hand like it went numb. More practice is definitely needed.

Red has posed:
"I know I know!" Alice complains as she tries to work the air out of the plastic bubble as she hunkers down close to Indira, because it is like squishy brittle with all the air, and it needs to get out to get back to a somewhat sturdy shape. Otherwise... a shield the consistency of food packaging is not a shield, it's a target practice. "This takes a few moments! This stuff isn't exactly great..." Well, at least it starts to look like a shield, if only it had the consistency of... well, thick food cartons. Which is only slightly better than the consistency of target paper. At least it looks like a certain iconic shield that... at best might prevent being hit *directly*? Scott would know why he wanted her to make a shield though. Though... that shield's like only ready when Indira is already well underway.

    Eh... yes... they had combat training, right?! They knew what they were doing... great... ok... Get civies to safety... while wielding a flesh-colored, half pound shield reminiscent of captain america? Uh... how does cap do that again? Grab the rim and throw like a frisbie, right? And then... oh, right, that's an idea... that stuff's flameable!

Running after Indira, Alice tries to get closer to that Metaforce. But instead of tossing the frisbie shield to his someone directly, she deliberately touches it to one of the smoldering pieces of buring wood right before sending it on its way for some four or five meters, towards Greenie. It's a rather slow moving thingy of foamed plastic that is in the process of turning itself into a burning puddle of plastic if the rotation stops to cool it.

Aegis has posed:
The only thing Xio has to do is concentrate on those shields. She spies another group of people about to be hit by flaming debris. The second shield goes away and reappears in front of them. "Fry the bastardo!" At least she is encouraging her friend in their pursuit of whatever it was they were doing!

Which seemed insane. But you backed your friends, even if they were crazy. Her gang had taught her that much.

She is support, a role she plays well. As more debris hits the shield, she grunts faintly. The people there are running away, trying to get away from the crazy powered human haters.

It is then that Xio spots someone she had been looking for earlier. Miguel was crouched down behind an overturned vendor cart. The shield that had been in front of the small group of students disappeared, suddenly in front of her friend and keeping another falling tree from hitting him. He looked her way, gave a smile and took off running toward safety.

Cyclops has posed:
As the green crows swoop down towards him, Cyclops taps his visor multiple times with pin-point accuracy, looking to cut through them as he jerks his head left to right. Millions of hours logged in the Danger Room prepares you for these types of situations and much like Bullseye, he won't miss. As his original target gets bubbled, he gets more original in how he attacks. There is a flash of red as he pulls his head to one side, firing off a beam towards one of Xio's shields, ricoheting it back towards the caped man who seems to be their support player.

"Why are you throwing your shield for? I told you to use it to protect people!" He calls over to Alice with frustration rising up in his throat. This is why he drinks, because no one listens. He keeps himself at the head of the group, to ensure that he can cover any angle to defend the students. If he finds an opening, he will take it, mostly focusing on the two combatants in front of him. Green Crow and Spooky Cape.

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl throws her arms up in front of her face in an X to protect her head. She does her best to bob and weave around the volley of crystals, but the closer she gets to crystal girl, the more difficult that becomes. One of the crystals nails her dead center in the chest, which knocks her back a few steps. Anyone behind her can see the dagger poking out of her back a good four inches. She doesn't bleed as a normal person would, but there is a lazy leak of a glowing yellow fluid that oozes from both the front and back holes. She winces. Though she doesn't feel pain like a living person does, getting impaled still feels pretty weird.

"You see this? Do you see it!?" she yells indignantly. "I'm gonna give you three guesses where I'm gonna shove it, and the first two don't count." That being said she resumes her rush of crystal girl.

Nightingale has posed:
     Okay, that lightning coming up from the ground could only mean one thing--Faraday was on the job. As tempting as it was to execute a flying drop-kick on the jerk, Shannon had no wish to become the victim of friendly fire. "Cyclops! Faraday! Keep these yahoos off my back while I get the wounded taken care of, would you?"

     Time to go to work.

     This sort of battlefield madness was nothing new to the winged teen, much as perhaps her teachers might wish it otherwise. But she knew her abilities would take her into the worst possible situations, where they were needed the most. At least she had her friends--no, her /family/--backing her up.

     Veering away from Dragonlord (lord of -what-, exactly?), she spirals towards the ground, coming in for a landing next to two teens not much younger than she was, who were in panic mode with the mayhem going on around them. "Hey. Take it easy, just hold still for a minute and let me help you, okay?" It seemed to be some burns that looked a bit nasty. No charred flesh, thankfully, but definitely some blistering. Out come the gloves from her little brown leather bag, and some proper burn dressing supplies. As she works, she spreads her wings instinctively, as if trying to shield them from the view of what was going on around them. Anything to prevent panic. "Soon as I get this taken care of, you get to shelter, capisce?"

Pixie has posed:
Indira's aim is true, and it's enough to knock Dragonlord off balance, sending his next fireball into the water instead of the crowd of protesters. "Fool!" he snarls, turning to focus on the lightning girl, "You would protect our enemies? You are a traitor against your own kind!" and he launches another cone of fire towards the girl.

Fortunately most of the innocents are protected behind Xio's handy shields but there are still so many people running around and chaos going on.

Scott's aim is true and he has little trouble destroying at least three of the crows although the other two re quite fast and vicious, attacking his face from opposite sides, attempting to confuse and disorient. Rubbermaid's plastic shield isn't terribly effective, bouncing off crow girl's shield.

Unfortunately as Scott aims at cloak guy, he yells and staggers back, his shoulder singed, crow girl's shield sputtering and growing weaker.

And during the distractions Zombie girl co to use to provide, Megan finally has a chance to cast her spell, porting crystal girl away into the bay..It'll take her some time to swim back to shore. With that in mind, Megan turns towards a group of the fleeing protestors and starts porting then to safety next..The mainland harbour should be a good safe place for now.

Faraday has posed:
"YOU aren't my kind!" Indira yells back towards Dragonlord with her eyes sparking the same silver-violet as her powers, only for their glow to be overtaken by the surging fireballs aimed at her. "....shit!" She yelps and dives to one side, though she's left doing a drop and roll as her shirt comes out just a tiny bit on fire.

She does a rapid scramble backwards closer to Xiomara's shields. It's not a glamorous retreat, but no one does great in their first real firefight. She throws out another thunderbolt towards the dragon as she makes her hasty exit back behind friendly lines.

Aegis has posed:
One of those shields takes the brunt of that cone of fire though. The energy from it just dissipating and being absorbed, drawing it in and becoming part of Xio herself.

"Let's fuck him up." There is a sort of feral looking smile on her face as she drops a second shield, bringing that free hand up to aim at Indira. Just before she fires off that next thunderbolt, there is a surge of energy from Xio into Indi. All the power from the fireball attack thrown by Dragonlord has been taken in, changed into Indi's power type and is now fed into her friend.

The effect? Indi's going to have one shot that will be double her normal power levels, charged by Dragonlord's own energy being turned against him. It will be a lightning blast on steroids that comes from Indi this time!

Red has posed:
With the shield having been ineffective and taking fire as it topples and falls to the ground, Alice tries to take at least some cover behind a recycling bin, but close enough to the green gal to do something. Something being stretching out her mental concentration to whatever the green clad crow wears under her costume to start and ball it up, fiber by fiber. Right, stuff up the whole thing up past her musculus canalis ani, piece by piece... which takes a little time. At least that maneuver was at least somewhat combat tested - when she had all the time in the world to do that on a ganger that was occupied shooting at a cop.

Cyclops has posed:
As he blasts away, Cyclops is taking his time to ensure each strike is pure. When the two green crows that get through his offense attacks him, he lets out a loud noise of pain as he clutches at his head for a moment, feeling himself wobble a bit on his feet. He fights through the pain, gritting his teeth and lifting his chin up once more, then opens his eyes wide as he sees nothing but 'red' as he looks to blast the green crow lady out of the sky.

He does notice Zombie Girl take a crystal straight through the chest and panic wells up in his own. That is until she gets back up and yanks it out. That's going to be nightmare fuel tonight and something to look into later.

As he watches Xio and Indi charge each other up, there is a hint of pride for a flicker of a moment. They're working together, just like in practice! "Good job!"

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl wiffs a punch through empty air just as crystal girl vanishes. Denied her punching, and with her fist still feeling thirsty for a face, she turns on her heel to find a new target. Spotting crow girl ZG grins. She grabs the crystal in her chest in both hands and pulls it out with a wet tearing sound. Once it slides free there is a nice clean hole through her chest a little wider than a golf ball. Infernal flame leaks from the wound as her body goes to work on regenerating the damage. With the crystal in her hands she now holds it in both hands like a baseball bat.

She shouts, "Batter up!" Then leaps up at the crow woman, leaping off the ground with incredible strength and swinging her improvised club.

Nightingale has posed:
     Thankfully, the wounded onlookers were few in number, leaving Shannon little to do but dress a few burns, wrap one or two sprained ankles, and make sure the people were under some sort of shelter--with the strong injunction to seek proper medical attention from first responders at the earliest given opportunity.

     Glancing back at the group, she's just in time to see Scott get hit. "Scheisse!" He was -not- going to be happy with this, but well, you just don't leave a teammate down. Turning to dart back into the fray, she makes her way over to him to better assess his injury--and to back him up where needed.

     Even if that only meant making sure he wasn't seeing things, when it came to Zombie-Girl.

     "Ugh... tell me -that's- not going to be nightmare fuel for a few days... you okay?"

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn continues to teleport as many protestors and other innocents to safety as she can, rapidly reducing targets for metaforce.

"Fools!" snarls Dragonlord as his attack starts to go to hell. He wasn't expecting mutants and a Zombie girl to come to the rescue of humans protestors for crying out loud! And now his team is separated and weakened. First Indie launches electricity at him whuch he mostly deflects as tough dragons ale armour appears over his chest, absorbing most of the blow.

But then it is increased two fold and he snarks as a larger bolt of lightning charges through him.

Until black robe surrounds him in a powerful shield bubble, then in the next sweep of his hands he surrounds crow girl with another protective bubble. Both Alice and Zombie girl get in a shot at her first and she screeches in pain before the shield protects her, lifting her into the sky and finally the last team mate is lifted out of the water.

"You'be won this round, but we'll be back! Crysalis! Fluttergast! Coronis! Let's go!" he snaps his fingers and all four vanish from sight.

Faraday has posed:
Indira is just prepping another blast when the team calls for a retreat and begin to bolt. She drops her hand down to the ground to dispel the charge with a hiss and crack of superheated concrete before she finishes crawling her way back over to just sit at Xiomara's feet. "Damn girl, we did good. I think. Go team!" She holds up a fist towards Shannon and Alice.

She huffs and puffs as she catches her breath before a thought occurs to her. "...did we just fight the edgelord My Little Ponies? Ugh, Boss, I'm ready to go home."

Aegis has posed:
As the bad guys are going away, Xio just sits down on the concrete next to Indi, her shields disappearing. "I better not have to write a report after this," she mutters to her friend before glancing over to their chaperones.

"You good, Mr..." Wait. Is she supposed to call him by his name now? Or code name? "Jefe?" That works!

Red has posed:
Alice just about manages to stuff the whole pair of panties away within the green crow before she is whisked away, sighing as she glances after the retreating dragonforce. "Next time, you'll not just need a whole lot of laxatives but a surgeon to get rid of your panties again!" she yells after them, shaking a fist after them, only to give Indira the same one as she extends hers. "Seems so."

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl manages to stick the landing when she comes back down from her leap. Not willing to let up, even when it's a pointless gesture, she hurls the shard of crystal at the crow woman who is now protected by the shield. "Get back down here so I can break your kneecaps!" she shouts and raises a fist in the air. She drops her arms when it looks like the aren't coming back. "Bitches," she says in a more subdued voice. With the action over she probes at the hole in her chest curiously. It's smaller than it was a moment ago, but only barely. The hole has closed up by maybe 10. The flames from her inner fire still pour from the wound like she were a walking furnace. Unfortunately her ability does nothing for her clothing. Speaking of which, she starts to search around for where she ditched her jacket and sweat pants.

Cyclops has posed:
When the four disappear, Scott lets out a frustrated noise as he rubs at the side of his head. He is clenching his teeth tightly. "FFf.. Good work, kids. Megan, get us out of here. Group up." He says as he straightens up. Don't show weakness. The kids need to depend on you.

He looks over to Zombie Girl for a moment, staring at her, then calls over. "Hey! ... You okay? You got a hole in your chest. Are you one of us or .. something else?"

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon raises a fist of victory right back, grinning over at Indira, Xio, and Alice. "Good job, guys. But what do you say I make a giant batch of that vegan chili when we get home?" Because, you know, comfort food after a fight!

     But she hears the tension in Mr. Summers' voice, and can see the way he is gritting his teeth as he addresses the group. Her brows furrow lightly, but she says nothing directly. She's seen him in training before, and knew he was probably hurting a bit more than he was likely to ever let on in front of everyone. As stubborn as he was, he would likely just carry on without a fuss, ever the stalwart pillar of strength for the entire team. All she does is briefly rest her hand on his shoulder, nodding in a gesture of support. It was all that was needed. She wouldn't take his pride and dignity away from him by openly offering help.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks and glances around, nodding to Zombie girl, "Heey thanks for helping us out!"

But she lets Scott decide what to do about her. "Hey, is everyone alright? Nice team work!" she smiles although grimaces atAlice and her panty bunching maneuver, Okaay, that's definitely new. She is a bit bruised and scratched up herself but no worse for wear and she straightens up, glancing around.

"Alright, everyone gather close! Let's get out of here before the police come.." she lifts a hand skyward as she prepares her teleportation spell..

Zombie-Girl has posed:
Zombie-Girl walks over toward Scott. "What me? Nah, something else. Don't worry, I'm fine. My vitals are no longer vital. Plus I don't feel pain, see," she sans then sticks her thumb in the hole and presses down. Even if a normal person would still be alive after such a wound, doing such a thing to the injury would likely make them pass out from pan.