13067/Milk Cartons: Las Vatos Locos debe pagar!

Milk Cartons: Las Vatos Locos debe pagar!
Date of Scene:	20 April 2021
Location:	Hell's Kitchen: Los Vatos Territory
Synopsis:	Cloak and Dagger track down more missing children with the help of Spider-Man and the X-Men! The Los Vatos have been defeated.
Cast of Characters:	Dagger, Cloak, Spider-Man, Moonstar, Beast, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Psylocke
Tinyplot:	Milk Cartons

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Dagger has posed:
"Kurt! Fifth and Liberty!"

That was the last thing Dagger yelled out to Kurt and Dani within the Holy Ghost Church moments before Cloak wrapped his dark folds of fabric around her and the pair teleported out, leaving the church cold and lonely in their wake.

Hell's Kitchen is alive tonight beneath the neon signs, pools of water and bonfires in trash bins. The homeless are currently ambling about aimlessly along the sidewalks, rooting for food or coin and mumbling to themselves. Those who are not affiliated by a gang or poverty make their way through the neighborhood quickly with eyes lowered so not to catch one's gaze. For those familiar with this block, everyone knows this belongs to The Los Vatos. The Crazy Brothers.

The latino gang has made a name for themselves in the last few months in the form of murder for hire, drug running and being overly aggressive assholes. They pushed the 198's back from their own territory two months ago and has been beating their chests ever since. The warehouses of this area are long forgotten as well. In the 50's they used to be alive with the textile industry. Now? They are used for safe houses for various gangs to meet at.

It's on one warehouse on the corner of Fifth and Liberty that the shadows ripple and tear through the dark dimension, revealing Cloak and Dagger. The young woman's face is set in a tight frown, her breathing heavy as she can feel the rush of adrenaline roaring through her veins. She has amped herself up, ready for the fight. Members of the Vatos are wearing their gang colors, Green and Gold with cartoon roosters stitched on the back with a psychotic smile upon their face. It's as if someone took Foghorn Leghorn and turned him into something you would find on a 4Chan thread, holding a butcher knife.

"I am ready." She says soft, her breath misting around her lips as she looks over to Tyrone. "Are you?"

Cloak has posed:
"I have no idea how they expect any respect tryin' to rep something like that." Cloak growls under his breath as he stares disapprovingly at the insignia of the gang. He doesn't seem anymore ramped up than normal, but then Cloak doesn't get fired up insomuch as he gets colder and nastier.

With one last judging glower, he tucks himself back around the corner of the decrepit warehouse and returns his gaze to Dagger.

"I always am, you know that. The less trash, the better; and these are certainly worth being thrown in the nearest compactor. What's the plan?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Does he swing from a web? Yes he does. In fact, Spider-Man is doing that right at this moment, heading through the city on a long patrol. With graceful, arching swings he can cover a great deal of distance in a hurry, enjoying the feel of the air on him through the costume as he looks and listens for signs of trouble.

Tonight, his wanderings take him to Hell's Kitchen so he can check on Los Vatos, make sure there's no gang wars brewing. No need for people to be losing their lives when there's a friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man around to save them from violence. Using less lethal violence of his own.

"Well, I see the chickens have come home to roost," the red clad hero remarks to himself as he perches atop a building across the street from Fifth and Liberty, surveying what's going on at ground level.

Moonstar has posed:
After the shouted out location, Dani had immediately gotten on the 'radio', as it were, and contacted X-men central. The location and basics, that there'd been a tip off of locating some missing mutant children within the clutches of the gang of Los Vatos. After, she'd looked to Kurt. "Drop me and grab the others?" That could be least taxing for the teleportion end of things, right?

Dani gets back on the radio though. "Someone grab my bow and quiver, would ya?" She steps up beside Kurt, who lays a hand on her shoulder. And BAMF, away they go in a puff of the blueish black smoke he puts out.

The blueish black smoke puffs as they BAMF into place on Fifth and Liberty. Dani steps away as Kurt BAMFS again, this time to retrieve their teammates. And hopefully her bow!

When the return BAMF comes, bringing the team all together, Dani is not where she'd been left. Nope, she's already gone ahead to check things out.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy is a doctor dressed all in black. It's a jump suit that kind of obscures the fact that he's blue, but not that he's a square of muscle. Some things you can't change - not prone to wearing one of those gadgets that creates an illusion over himself, is he? Nope. He's got a shoulder bag of triage supplies, a belt full of pocket pouches and a few of his own gadgets and gizmos that might come in handy and as he materialize, is tossing a small thing that looks like a frankenstein portable speaker, with wires and a cobbled woofer that does weird things to noise -- easy and although quite breakable, there's very little that can actually go -wrong- with them, which in this sort of a situation, he considers to be a good thing. THe black get-up has a hood, which partially hides his face. "Anna, catch..." another tossed toward Kurt. "...just try not to get two Bobs in one cubit. No guarantees if you have two bob, it won't even buy you a good sarnie from Pret'a'manger, just a headache..." pause "...where the heck did Dani go? Augh." Brandishing bow and arrows in his other mitt, he sniffs the air, to follow her scent.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is sometimes glad she wears her ususal green and gold body suit with the X belt and her yellow gloves on a slightly regular basis. When news comes calling that they're needed somewhere and fast, it makes being ready to go a lot easier. So it's nothing to let Kurt BAMF her from where she was at the mansion to where they needed to be. Easily catching whatever it is Beast tosses her way and then she looks around the area for a moment. "Two Bobs in one cubit? You wanna put that in stupid speak, Hank?" She asks the man, watching McCoy for a moment, a little smirk on her lips even as she looks to whatever Beast just tossed to her. "What exactly are we doin' here anyway? Should I take a look.." And she points upwards, like perhaps she should give them a higher vantage point.

Nightcrawler has posed:
A little BAMF here, and a little BAMF there. Kurt easily takes Dani from the church to the intersection that had been mentioned. He's not really feeling any better about the situation, though, but... feelings are to be dealt with later. Right now is for getting the pieces into place in order to be able to save mutant children. And he had easily given a nod of agreement to Dani's strategy. It was sound, and it made sense.

And so, after the first trip to deliver her, he'd gone for Rogue and Beast, to bring both of them at the same time. His tail lightly swishes behind him, and he easily catches the device that's tossed his way before clipping it at the waist of his jeans. So much for the uniform tonight! He's just in jeans and a turtleneck, for better or for worse. "Right... should be fun," he comments, trying to find some measure of his chipper self. It's not entirely there, though. He did, at least, grab a sword for himself when he went back, so that's at his back. "Mm, well... you know Dani... she's likely already getting into trouble," he comments, at least a bit jovial with that. "It means don't expect it to work if you've got two of the robobrains around you. So, try to either steer clear of them, solo them, or not need your powers around them," he offers. "Rescuing children and serving the good of the world, one night at a time," he adds, his tail flicking behind him.

Dagger has posed:
"The plan is we go right through the front door. Put me in the middle." Dagger says from her rooftop perch. Her hands begin to glow brightly as she takes a running start for the edge, then leaps with her arms stretched outwards. She knows her partner will be right behind her to swoop her up in his darkness and transport them. From up high, Spider-Man and the X-Men most likely can see a ripple of light hit the air, designed to draw attention upwards, to cause a distraction, to pull their defenses.

Once they land in front of the warehouse and she steps out, a trio of blades is flung out from the dark, striking three of the gang members who were caught off guard clear in the chest. There is loud screams of pain as they hit the ground with a heavy sound of body upon concrete, eyes rolled up in the back of their eyes with the glowing blades lodged deep. They shake as if they were being tasered, eyes rolled up and frothing at the mouth.

"LOS VATOS!" Her voice rings out as one hand raises upwards, a ball of light glowing brightly. "You have stolen innocent children from their mother's arms! Your drugs poison this city and bring nothing but death to the sick and innocent! You are nothing but a cancer and I AM THE CURE! From the darkness there will be light! We are Cloak and Dagger!"

Always with the dramatics as she burns as bright as a star, lashing out with her powers as the gang members on the outside start to run for cover, while a few pull their guns. There is a hail of bullets that flood the block, muzzle flashes of light as she keeps herself within the dark so that she won't be struck.

Within the warehouse loud shouts of Spanish can be heard, followed by a pair of men with long rifles peering out the second story windows, taking aim at the duo of dark and light.

Cloak has posed:
For the most part, Cloak leaves the flashy theatrics to his partner. She glows like the star of the stage, drawing the eye and attention. Him? He's the phantom, waiting behind the audience, ready to strike when the lights go down and the music dies.

Two men down under the flashing lights. More lights, sparking out from muzzles above. Cloak takes quick note of their positions compared to where the duo stands, and then reacts.

Cloak shields the bulk of Dagger within the shadows of the cloak he wears. As the hail of bullets storm down, he engulfs her in darkness and they reappear several feet away and in front of the door, a moment intended to surprise and confuse the men above and give Tandy the opening to fire back.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Oh man, I must have missed the memo," Spider-Man comments when he sees Cloak and Dagger appear and start blasting away at Los Vatos. Well, since he's never one to sit these things out the wall crawler swings into action. Literally swinging across the street to get to the action.

At the lowest point in his parabolic arc, the wall crawler attempts to deliver a devastating kick to one of the gangsters before his Spidey Senses trigger! His attention focuses on the pair of shooters up high and levels a wrist at each of them, deploying his web shooters to try to gum up their rifles, "No fair, boys! You don't get to shoot flashy lady and the blanket man tonight!"

And he's already zipping to get another perspective on the battle.

Moonstar has posed:
Dani... has gone where Danis go. Danis are impulsive beasts at best. And this one might be the most impulsive Dani of all. Especially when there might be lives in danger. Kurt knows her for certain. Probably already getting into trouble. Yup. That's Dani. From her location, hidden not actually all that far away in a bit of shadow, Dani taps her comm. "Geeze Kurt. She's as dramatic as you are," she says quietly into the feed.

As bullets start flying, Dani moves. Forward at a fairly quick rate for her, and faster than that of most humans. The sword is out and one of the gangsters is clocked from behind with the hilt of it. Gently, because she'd rather not have to clean brain matter from the hilt again.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy sniff-sniffs the air again, gesturing with bow and arrows toward Kurt. "What he said," because it's easier. And then there's a friendly neighbourhood arachnid fella swinging in, bullets flying, flashy things and he cringes, sniffing again with his head tilting. More things are lobbed toward Rogue. "Anna, get this to Dani..." the bow and arrow chucked like pro footballs. He's good at throwing things, he is. And then he's gesturing through and back, hustling for cover and calling to Kurt.

"Engine revving around the back. Kurt, see if you can go make use of these..." he tosses a bag at the teleporter. It feels like it's full of kaltrops, likely razor ones "...I'll try and catch up, but you're sneakier than I am."

A glance up at the heavy artillery and the distraction and Hank attempts to wall-crawl in the not-so-easy way, to avoid being shot and to get over to the back of the building; all claws and acrobatics.

Rogue has posed:
"Right." Rogue says as Hank chucks the bow and arrow into the air, causing the X-Man to take flight, snatching the weapon and then moving through the air to get to where Dani is. Bullets are flying, but they all seem to be ground level for the moment which means Rogue is fine in the air for the short spurt of flight she needs to take.

Then again, it's not like a stray bullet will really do her much harm. Finally spotting Dani, watching the other woman brain someone with the hilt of her sword, Rogue swoops down and lands just beside the other one. "Special delivery." Said with a grin as she hands off bow and arrow. Then she looks around before pointing upwards and takes off to the skies again - for that better vantage point and all.

Nightcrawler has posed:
There are people with guns, and there's gunfire. The short sharp blasts of it are things that gain Kurt's attention, and his ears perk up somewhat. He takes a moment to glance over the building, though most specifically to the windows where the men with the long rifles are. That... that simply won't do. One of his ears flicks over towards Beast, and he tilts his head a little to one side. He grumbles under his breath a little. "I am not dramatic," he says quietly. Pause. "Sometimes."

He easily catches the bag that's tossed to him, and then he gives a small nod. "I'll do what I can," he says. And then he's BAMF'ing off again, leaving that telltale aroma and smoke behind. He reappears at the back of the building, his feet stuck to the wall of it like some mythical gargoyle, his tail flicking as he surveys what's there to be seen. Rather than risk being seen, he teleports to the front of the semi, trusting in the bulk of it to obscure him as he places the caltrops where the wheels will strike them, and will even go so far as to creep under the truck itself to make sure that all of the wheels will be deflated by them.

Psylocke has posed:
Psylocke was a little late to the party. She had not been as close as the others and made her way there via her fastest transport method. Not the Blackbird. The darkness that allowed her to slip into the Shadow Dimension, where all was red and black and yellow. It allowed her to move rapidly from one spot to the other. Though it took her a few jumps, she was able to use her telepathy to find her teammates in order to join them.

Upon arriving near where the others had gathered--before all hell broke loose--she reached out with her telepathy to spot the humans she could then shared their locations telepathically so the team would know who they were after. Well, those she could tell. For those that weren't, she gave locations on the comms as well.

As for Bobs? She looked for that white noise that gave her a headache. Unless they had upgraded and were hidden completely now.

Dagger has posed:
Inside the warehouse, Betsy would be able to detect the white noise to the far left where the loading docks would be. It's almost as if her telepathy just 'stops' in that blank space. There is seven other members of the Vatos and six children that are terrified and still conscious. The sounds of gunfire did nothing to calm them down as panic is loud within their minds.

As Spider-Man swoops out with his trademarked wit, he webs up the two rifles that are hanging out the windows and gives them a yank away from their arms. There is the sound of Spanish being yelled back down to the others. << It's the Spider! The Spider and the Avengers! >> The X-Men need to hire a new PR person.

Another gang banger falls from Dani's surprise attack from behind as he hits the ground. His partner a few feet away pops off a couple of rounds towards her before he is struck in the head by a blazing dagger of light, causing his eyes to roll up and he slumps to the side with a visible twitch.

"Do you feel that?! My light burns the sins of your soul and punishes you for your crimes. Run if you must, scream if you need to, you won't escape. Tonight, Cloak will feed on your undeserving light!" There is emotion in Tandy's voice as she whips her hand around to strike another in the chest before making her way for the doors, allowing Cloak to run defense and soak up the bullets that may come her way.

As Rogue goes high, she can spy a sniper up on the roof setting up with a large caliber rifle. It's taking him some time, but he finally locks in the scope, then takes aim down below. Tandy is his target as she is the one that glows bright. << Es Tu Muerte, puta. >> He spits out in Spanish, locking the bullet with a loud clack.

By now Beast has scaled the warehouse towards the back and Kurt has teleported in behind him to spy a large Semi Truck being loaded with a heavy metal green rusted container. Several members of the Vatos are pushing it up a ramp and into the back, with two more in the cabin. From the warehouse dock doors is two men of pale skin, bald and wearing three piece suit. They are talking to each other through headsets and directing the gang members. "Faster, or you will not get paid. If you wish for The Madame to reward you, you won't fail her." Or else. That much does not need to be said. Get paid, or get buried.

Cloak has posed:
As the X-Men and Spider-Man tackle the various shooters, Cloak is working ground patrol. Primarily he's protecting Dagger, keeping close at her back to provide a protective shield of darkness or teleport her out of danger - or closer to it. One has to wonder about their sense of self-preservation some days.

Focused as he is on the street level, he misses the sniper high above, though one gang member armed with a machete comes charging out from behind a nearby stack of old crates only to quickly get zeroed in on and absorbed in Cloak's darkness with a flaring sweep of striped fabric and a snarled, "...have some damn respect for yourself. God damn chicken mascot."

He clearly has no respect for crazy roosters.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Is there a superhero convention going on?" Spidey asks as he maneuvers, dodging artfully to avoid getting shot to pieces as he tries to web up a guy here and punches at a guy there. It's all very smooth. In point of fact, the masked man manages to avoid touching the ground as he tries to take out the villains. "And nobody thought to invite me? I'm not really a menace, I swear!" He is still menacing Los Vatos, however, efficiently taking them on.

Moonstar has posed:
Dani Moonstar grins as a special delivery reachers her. "Thanks Rogue," she says, accepting bow and arrows. Quiver is quickly belted and the bow tucked over one shoulder, for now. Just in case distance shots are needed. "Uh huh," replies Dani to Kurt's comment about dramatic. Or not being. She doesn't add to that comment though. Maybe later, but not right now.

She sends a wordless burst of appreciation to Betsy at the information granted about locations. At the comment about the Avengers having arrived, Dani rolls her eyes. "<<We're not the Avengers. Idiot.>>" Also in Spanish. Heard over the open comm, of course. Then, "We need a new PR person, guys."

The couple of rounds fired at her are quite ignored. The calibre isn't enough to hurt her even if it hits her. "Okay, Kurt, you're not /quite/ as dramatic as your girlfriend is," she says wryly. Her lips quirk up at Spider-man's commentary. "It really was last minute," she says.

Now, she slips into the warehouse, heading for those targets Betsy had painted for them all. Along the way, any gang member she runs into either gets knocked cold, or dead. Whichever needs to be done at the time.

Beast has posed:
"SPeak for yourself, Dani," Beast chuckles softly into the comm, his voice otherwise very quiet. Is the sniper going to be taken care of? Hopefully so, as Beast eyeballs the group of bobs. Gaggle of bobs? Sleuth of Bobs? Babble of Bobs? Bad of Bobs. They travel in bads. So sayeth Hank McCoy. He glances about on the roof though, as there's rather too many of them in a cluster for the franken-woofers to work well, his eye settles on a rusted length of roof-access ladder that can neatly be yanked from its rusted fixtures. Armed with six odd feet of heavy iron, he sneaks along the top of the roof toward the Bad of Bobs and crouches there, glancing to do a quick count of heads.

Leverage there. Twist. Use the edge of the roof as a fulcrum.
Use the momentum you create to amplify your force.
Land, apply said force and let Gravity help. They're rather tough they are.

ANd so he executes this pole-vault physics application, coming down in the midst of the Bad; his powers may be briefly neutralized, but that's the fun thing about six foot of iron ladder plus four hundred pounds of muscle, applied with mathematic precision and with gravitational assistance. Hopefully at least two, maybe even three of the bobs will be separated and tossed into other things. Like walls. Or Danis. Or Rogues. Or Spidey webs.

Rogue has posed:
"Oh hell no..." Rogue says as she catches sight of that sniper and hears the tell-tale 'click' of the rifle being loaded. She's fast, and the sniper won't have it in them to catch her before she's snatching the rifle from their hands and landing on the roof behind it. "This? Really?" She snaps the rifle over a knee and tosses the scraps to the side.

It's a few moments after that the practically unconscious form of the sniper is tossed over the edge of the roof to the ground below. Does Rogue flinch about it? No. Not even a little bit. These were bad people doing bad things, and sometimes the only justice in the world is to rid it of such garbage in a perma-type fashion.

Once she's done there, she shifts to take off into the skies again. Snipers will be easy pickings for her, so she scans the rooftops to see if she can spot any more.

Nightcrawler has posed:
The mission had been a bit impromptu, at best. Kurt wasn't as well prepared as he might like. But he'll use as many of the caltrops as what he has or needs, depending on whether he runs out of tires first or caltrops. For a moment, he lingers underneath the transport, looking out and watching beyond it for a moment.

Kurt takes a breath, moves his left hand to the hilt of the sword at his back, and then he teleports again, arriving on the raft behind one of the shooters in the second window. He finishes drawing the sword and then attempts to run the man through. "Ruhe in frieden," he whispers softly. If he's successful, he'll withdraw the weapon and then teleport out to stick to the outer wall. It is a sin to kill, but... he will pay for his own sins later.

Psylocke has posed:
Since they have a telepathically challenged member, Betsy sticks with the comms for communicating with the team. "Six frightened kids in the metal container. Seven gang members. Two bobs I think from the nothing I'm picking up, inside. No idea what they are doing."

Then she adds for good measure as her body begins to shift into shadow. "Being compared to the Avengers isn't so bad. They are well known heroes. It's better than 'oh no mutants'."

Then she disappears into the shadows only to reappear inside near the ones loading the container. "Shall we dance?" she asks the gang member just before she goes for a roundkick to his head.

Dagger has posed:
As the gang members 'outside' get dispatched quickly and efficiently by the X-Men and Spider-Men's webbing, the doors are flung open by Dani and Dagger as the two women move forward side by side. The light-engale strikes first as she whips her hand around to send out a chorus of blades through the dark room, lighting it up as they strike a man down who rounds a rifle in their direction. As he hits the ground, bullets spray upwards in an arc, rattling loudly.

The sound of a body hits the ground from the side of the warehouse that Rogue lobbed over, terrifying the other gunman in the window who was reaching inside his jacket to pull out a fresh pistol now that Spider-Man stole his larger gun. He stares upwards at the site of Rogue, then screams when Nightcrawler teleports in to stab his friend through the chest. "DEVIL! IT'S THE DEVIL!"

That causes a bit more chaos as rifles are pulled upwards to fill the second story with a thunderstorm of bullets where Kurt 'was' before he teleported out again.

With a loud sigh, one of the Bob's glances to his twin brother and gives a shake of his head. "Handle the cargo, I will deal with these miscreants." As he raises one arm upwards, it splits in half as a bright blue beam can be seen charging up, followed by a large pulse blast towards Dani as she busies herself with a gang banger.

Incoming Beast! As he pole vaults in between the the two Bob's, the one who isn't blasting at Dani was turning to head out the back, instead, he gets a chest full of blue furry Beast! The moment he comes into contact, he can feel his body shudder, his fur instantly falls off and he starts to grow 'weak'. He loses his heightened senses as well. As the Bob topples over and hits the ground with a clank, he reaches into his perfect white coat and pulls forth a long muzzled revolver, pointing it at the good Doctor. Click. BANG! He doesn't even hesitate. "You owe me an arm." He also has a good memory.

When Psylocke comes out of the shadows like a sneaky whisper and snap kicks one of the gang members in the head, he hits the ground like a sack. The other members of the gang let go of the container which begins to slide backwards with a quick jerk, causing the children inside to scream out in terror as it starts to tip over. They start scrambling for their weapons to pull upon the ninja.

Cloak has posed:
There's a rush of displaced air somewhere above Hank. It's not the distinct sound one attributes to the nightcrawler, but a hiss of cold and a low rumble of air rapidly refilling the space. Form that momentary spot of darkness, the sniper rifle drops right into Hank's lap while the Bob is getting to his feet.

It's only seconds later before the same sound occurs, only this time the roar of displaced air is instead replaced by the screen of metal from the rafters above the other Bob as he finishes his charge. It's a moment too late as the beam goes off, but a compact sedan comes nose diving from thin air right on top of the cybernetic being and fills the air with the grating of metal, the gunsmoke scent of airbags, and the incessant bleeting of a car alarm.

One last rush of air, and in the back corner of the warehouse Cloak appears and slumps in a mound of fabric, still standing but clearly winded from the efforts and looking much less tangible than he is even normally.

Spider-Man has posed:
Once the outside seems mostly quiet, or at least quiet enough, Spider-Man swings towards the front door to the warehouse, aiming to get inside. As he goes through the threshold he leads with his feet, doing a twirling sort of barrel roll before landing and squeezing off some webs to try to pin the fellow pulling a gun on the formerly blue Beast with a *thwip* *thwip*. "I can't wait to see where they put the roosters on those three-piece suits!"

Moonstar has posed:
Dani Moonstar chuckles at Beast's comment. "True. I keep forgetting you consult." Kinda like she does for Shield, though she tries to keep that a bit hush hush. Maybe Murder of Bobs would be more fitting. Like ravens. It is a sin to kill. That might be why Dani is aiming for disabling rather than killing for the most part. Where she can. "Yeah. You're right. It is better than 'oh no mutants'." But still!

Inside, she makes her way toward the loading container as well. Somewhere, Dani had sheathed her sword and is using her bow. But so far, she hasn't used any of the arrows in her quiver. Nope, she's using psionic bolts to blast the gang members' own worst nightmares at each in turn. She finishes stabbing a gang banger with one of those pionic bolts and rolls out of the way of that pulse blast coming for her. Now she does draw an arrow, a real arrow, and nocks it to string. She comes to her feet out of the roll, and starts to aim at the Bob who'd tried to fry her. Only to see the other aiming a gun at Henry. She draws and looses in one smooth motion, one of her special exploding arrows that are big enough to blow up a single person but not much larger than that takes the Bob straight in the chest. "Eat Boom Boom bitch," she says half under her breath. As promised, there's a small boom boom as the arrow detonates and blows the Bob to bits. Bits that rain down on the now hairless, but perhaps getting hairier Henry.

Beast has posed:
You know, there are moments that stick with you. Everything ends up being slow motion, when you're staring down the barrel of a gun at point blank range. Whatever I've done, (whatever, whatever) keep staring down the barrel of a gun. Sandy brown hair, human face, metal ladder in his hands still, a line-backer's physique, but the extras are all gone. ANd there was a bang, as Henry McCoy's eyes go wider in that instantaneous moment where you know that a lot of things are fast, but are they faster than a bullet?

He looks up even as the BANG is going off, sees the car, feels the impact of piercing fire into the right quadrant of his lung and falls back onto his back, the ladder shoved back with a BELLOW of just a man, shoving with all his might as metal tears through flesh, using iron against cybernetics to at least try and do a bit more damage. Then Dani's arrow hits and whoever knows what happens to the Bob.

Hank is bleeding from his right lung, a splitter of red coughed out in a fine mist. "Well, that was clever Henry," coughcough "...Now you're bleeding by a Bob. Clever. Next time, heed your own advice." Webs splatter nearby but he just makes sure to breathe. Bullets hurt.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks around and then narrows her sights where the semi is and she listens to Psylocke's run down of what's going on where. So she moves to fly down to where the semi is, noticing as she gets closer that the container with the kids inside it is beginning to tilt over. She comes around and manages a spot from where it's leaning to shoulder it some, making sure it doesn't fall over entirely. "Is this the only container? I can take it somewhere safe unless we need to take the whole semi... I'm good either way."

Nightcrawler has posed:
The words from the other sniper weren't lost on him. Devil. Satan spawn. Demon. Kurt has been called many things over the course of his life. So very many things. And not all of them have been kind things. His feet stay stuck to the wall behind him where he's perched, and he lightly flicks the sword he holds in his hand, blood droplets skittering from it.

Kurt takes a moment, and he looks over the front side of the building to get a lay of things as they've developed to be. Part of the issue with being a teleported is that the details can be missed sometimes. His tail flicks behind him. "Are the children safe?" he asks quietly, through the comms. For the time being, he waits.

Psylocke has posed:
"Thank you, Rogue. Yes, all of the children are in that one," Psylocke confirms for Rogue. "I'd say take the entire semi. There might be something inside that will give us further information about them."

There had been nothing she could do to stop that semi so Rogue's timely arrival was welcome. She was able to focus on the gang members around her, making pretty short work of them.

Dagger has posed:
As Cloak opens his darkness to let out a 'Civic', the vehicle falls down from the ceiling and slams into the Bob that was firing upon Dani, crushing it with a shriek of metal. The car alarm sounds off loudly in a tireless howling of MEEP MEEP MEEP MEEP. Luckily there was no one inside, but someone's insurance rates may go up.

Unfortunately for Beast, he takes the bullet square in the chest, opening him up from the high caliber projectile that was meant to pierce armor. It goes in one way and out his back, leaving behind a gushing hole. Before he could peel off another blast, Spider-Man's web shooters pins him to the wall, followed by Dani's follow up arrow that causes him to explode in his front chest cavity. The cyborg slumps forward as it dangles against the wall in it's sticky prison.

By now, Dagger had finished off the last of the gang members, leaving them for Cloak to consume so that he can pull himself together. They were not worthy of any light and thus she pays them no mind or sympathy.

Now that the threat has passed, the two gang members who was in the cabin having fled for their lives just to get dispatched by the quick moves from Psylocke, that leaves the shipping container full of children as they bang on the metal walls in desperation. They are screaming in fear, not knowing what was going on outside of the pitch black box.

Cloak has posed:
As gunshots fade and the only cries are those of frightened children, Cloak turns to the grisly business of cleaning up the scene. At least of the gangsters. For some of them, he even walks to instead of teleports, though the end is the same no matter how he elects to reach them. Weapons are cast aside to be collected (and turned in, recycled, or pawned - he's not picky) before each man is draped in fabric striped shadowy black and blue like ugly bruising. When the fabric comes away, they're gone, and Cloak looks a little more solid and stable as he moves.

One by one, the gangsters are taken into darkness unless otherwise stopped. What lies on the other side is a guess to most.

Spider-Man has posed:
"What's going on with that box? Are there people inside?" Spider-Man asks, sounding quite serious for once. Though he is distracted by Blanket Man seemingly consuming the gangsters somehow. "Are those guys going to be alright? I mean, not the ones that got impaled. Or crushed by a car. Or exploded." He may even sound a bit concerned about it. "So... uhh... what exactly is going on here? I missed the pregame pep talk."

Moonstar has posed:
Dani's arrows are fast, but they are not quite as fast as bullets, no. She's strong, so her bow is set up accordingly. But still not /quite/ as fast as a bullet. "Maybe next time don't pounce on the Bobs, Henry," she says as she moves up closer to him. "Kurt, come take Henry home, please. He's been shot." She looks to Henry. "You just got out of there. You're gonna have poor Scott in tears this time." At least there aren't any twinkies involved this time.

Her mind is full of the terror of the children in the shipping container. She moves toward it now, probably to go with it wherever Rogue is going to take it. And does her best to transmit soothing and reassuring emotions to the kids to let them know they're safe now. "Wasn't really any pregame prep," she says over her shoulder to Spider-Man. "The woman in white has all the details." She continues on her way to the shipping container.

Beast has posed:
High Calibre Projectile. That is not something good to hear. Exit holes are larger by far than entry. And point blank. Luckily, right lung. Scott in tears? Ohhhh, people. Doctors make the worst patients, particularly when they're psychically cataloguing their injuries, when they pass into unconsciousness.

This was a very bad mistake by Beast. Hopefully he'll be able to explain that later on and apologize with his trademark wit. Snub nosed high calibre revolver to the chest within 10 feet is never, ever, ever good, when you're not super tough. Ever.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue hefts the container gently into the semi, if only because it will make carrying the semi easier. Once she gets the semi up into the air, she carries it to some pre-determined place where they can safely let the children out and then take the semi apart to get more answers. She's quick about it, but not in a way where anyone inside the semi would likely get motion sickness - hopefully anyway. Once the semi is set down, she'll simply walk up to the container door and - whether it's from adrenaline, her powers, or likely a combination of both, she'll simply rip off the container's door to free the children.

Nightcrawler has posed:
The sword is slipped into the sheath that's worn at his back, and Kurt leans a little to one side in order to peek through the window of the warehouse. "He's not supposed to be getting shot. I'll get him home safe," Kurt says softly, his brow furrowing. It only takes him a moment to BAMF the distance from where he is to where Henry is.

His arrival is after Henry has fallen unconscious. "Do not worry, my friend... you will not smell it, at least. Little things, ja?" he says softly, sincerely. He reaches out to take one of Henry's hands and then he teleports, leaving behind the scent of burning brimstone and tendrils of smoke, taking Henry directly to the medbay of the school, if it's close enough. And if it's not, he'll make the fewest number of hops to get there.

Dagger has posed:
As she makes her way to the X-Men, Dagger's eyes land on the sight of Beast and she can feel the rage sucked out of her quickly. She holds her hand out towards his wound, letting her light pour out of her as she looks to expell the pain from his body, even if it's briefly, and give him back some of her living light. She glances at Kurt for a moment, swallowing before he teleports out.

With Rogue flying off with the container and the semi to a safe place away from gang territory, she will find inside the container six frightened children. They each have a collar strapped to their throat to keep their powers muted. They range between the ages of 10 and sixteen. Two of them look as if they were beaten quite badly, having put up a bit more of a fight than their younger fellow prisoners.

Looking to Spider-Man, she says. "Hey, thank you again for coming to our aid. Without you and X-Men, this may have gone poorly." Her voice is tight as she looks over towards Dani next who is the last one left behind. She reaches out with her hand to take hers, then says, "Hold on to me and Cloak will take us home. Don't let go, or else you will go mad within the dark." She says, looking over towards Cloak. "See you later, webhead." She says to the swinger.

Cloak has posed:
With Beast already medibamped out by Nightcrawler, Cloak is left with the remaining lot of heroes and children. Cloak returns to Dagger in a rush of cold air in time to see Rogue take off with the lot of children. "More for you to protect and see them home. It's a good problem to have."

He looks from Dani to Spider-Man and remarks, "I take it the Spider doesn't need a ride home." Peter's seen what's on the other side of Cloak's portal. He may not be so inclined to see it again. Towards Dani he turns then as Dagger takes her hand, and without a word he sweeps both women into darkness and to a place unknown.