13137/Into the Batlands: Martyrs (2)

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Into the Batlands: Martyrs (2)
Date of Scene: 27 April 2021
Location: The Badlands, South Dakota
Synopsis: It's a Riot Critical members of the X-Men cause and stop a riot in it's tracks.
Cast of Characters: Harley Quinn, Archangel, Colossus, Rogue, Red, Magik, Nightingale




Harley Quinn has posed:
A WEEK AGO:

The entire town was in an uproar. But it was quiet; like a slow burn that was lit with the intention of exploding, all due to whispers from a few neighbors who had happened to see or at least be in the know of the deaths of the Dixon family. Rumors began to swirl about the inability of the small town cops, the cops themselves joining into the whispers at the way the Detective stalled on the investigation and called in unknowns.

Because, if you let the locals tell it, they haven't had a murder in over twenty years.

"Listen." The ringleader of the secret town-hall meeting said, hushing the voices that clamored in the gymnasium of the local high school. "We already know that a mutie was behind those killings. They even said it. Now you got that lady detective running around and not telling us anything. She's an outsider! She doesn't even -belong- here!"

The crowd roused, and began their mumblings again.

"I saw it!" One man shouted. "That cop bitch is a mutie!"

THREE DAYS AGO:

The crowd gathered around the home of the detective, shouting in protest at her inability to do her job. In the night, tiki torches would have been a thing but they had branches slicked and wrapped with oil cloths to keep the fire burning. Women and children held each other, some cried, others screamed profane words, handing down hate to little ones who barely could wear a size two..

A brick flies through the home of the Detective. Her third eye opens as she remains against the back of the couch, shotgun at the ready to pull the trigger if they should enter.

She was alone. She was off duty, and repeated calls to the local offices fell on deaf ears..

NOW:

On the day of our lord, April twenty-seventh; an appointment was made a day after the first meet of the X-Men and the Detective to examine the bodies of the Dixon family with the Henry McCoy while the others perform a perimeter search around the home of the deceased. The same route was taken; The Blackbird touches down, cars at the ready, the hours long drive into The Badlands was met with an empty town save for a few lights of the homes of people who decided to mind the business that paid them.

The route was taken to just a few blocks outside of the perimeter of where the Detective lived, barricades set up to make that entire section an autonomous zone. People were milling about, mostly men who looked battle ready, armed with sticks, bats and chains. A few even had their own shotguns slung upon their backs, fingerless gloved hands lining the leathers with a tug to make sure that the fit was still true.

It was a suspicious scene for an outsider; most of the streets were littered with trash that mounted up and set on fire to keep the streets warm. Pictures of the Detective which red spray-painted X's above her face. The Dixon family suffered the same fate; for they had realized that the culprit was the teenaged son, and flyers were already posted in that particular area searching for his whereabouts.

The other cars that were with the X-Envoy veer off into another section of the city to look for another way around, while the remaining stayed behind, gifted with the opportunity to figure out what the hell was going on.

Archangel has posed:
Prefering to fly rather than ride in one of the cars, The Angel soars overhead of the convoy, conveying what he sees to those on the ground via their communicators. "This place is a mess. Keep your eyes and ears open people. I see firearms, and somehow I have the feeling that nobody here is going to have any hesitation in using them. If we don't find this kid and they do, I fear it is going to be a bloodbath. What do we know?"

Colossus has posed:
Colossus prepares for such dangers by arriving in his organic steel form. He's clad in his current costume, red and gold tunic paired with tights and boots. Even in his flesh state, he's a rather formidable figure, but he's even more intimidating as Colossus, his eyes gone pure white and intimidating as he swivels his massive steel head around.

"Those vulnerable or afraid should seek shelter behind me. I am wide and indestructible."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue has ditched the car ride herself, deciding to fly alongside Warren. She can take a beating pretty well, and get away quick if she needs to, with people who need to get away quickly if and when things go south. "Yeah, it ain't lookin' like we're gonna get a friendly greetin'..." The Southern Belle accented woman says to echo what Warren had told them. She stops and hovers there a moment, taking a good look around to see if there may just be any holes to get through a bit more smoothly than going in head first. "Like goin' fisticuffs with an angry gator..."

Red has posed:
Alice isn't in the Alpha team. Or in the youth team. But at least as Backup she did join this rescue mission. "Well, obviously find the kid and shield it, and if not, we stop the bloodbath." Hopelessly optimistic, ain't she as she's sitting in the back row of the car? First missions she didn't slip into on accident, so she's not wearing civies! Though neither what accounts as a 'typical' X-men uniform. She's after all her own costume maker. Fiberglass and Kevlar plates carrying a carbonfiber optic on the outside cling to the spandex below, red seams between the plates. Not that it is as good as other heroe's armor with high protective value, but good enough to be about as much as a ballistic vest around most of the body, including the half mask that is styled as a red Menpo.

"Depends on the Gator's size, ain't it?"

Magik has posed:
    Illyana sits in the back of a car, arms folded and looking out the window at the mess that once passed for a functioning place. Does she feel helpless here? Not really. But she doesn't feel especially helpful either. They were called in to find someone and while she could probably help with a locator spell of some kind, the people they've come to help don't seem to be particularly keen on them being there. So mustering up a lot of the sympathy for them isn't really coming to her. Rather than answering anyone on the comlink, she remains quiet. It'll be time to speak up once they meet the people they're here to meet.

Nightingale has posed:
     It could have been just another quiet night of studying, movies, and general shenanigans back at the school. Nobody would have blamed the mansion's resident healer in training one bit for staying behind. Some might, in fact, have insisted upon it.

     Shannon, however, would have none of that, digging in her proverbial heels until, through some miracle (or some might say misfortune), she was allowed to suit up and join in--with strict orders to remain as 'eyes in the sky', and backup medical assistance if necessary.

     "Understood. Let's roll."

     With her image inducer on to hide her wings for a lower visual profile, and in a black tactical suit, her hair pinned up completely and kept under a black knit cap, she was a shard of shadow in the night, slipping out of the Blackbird after it touched down, and taking to the sky. She had her usual brown leather bag in tow, with its assortment of first aid supplies, and if necessary, her collapsible metal staff, in a holster on her right forearm.

     With almost silent beating of her wings, she takes to the sky to join Rogue and Angel, her comm in and ready to go, waiting and prepared to follow their lead.

Harley Quinn has posed:
In essense, humans are the apex predators. Where most animals lack the ability to continuously run for five miles at a time, there's a two footed mutherfucker chasing them down to their deaths at all cost. In being that humans are apex predators, they do not suffer with the need to look up; their eyes weren't designed to rest upon their temples, see far enough and in the dark, their ears weren't made to sense far away sounds and conversations. Even the instinct that something terrible is near is dulled by that confidence in being apex.

They simply just do not see Rogue, Warren and Shannon.

What they do see though? Is a large, metal man emerging from the vehicle. Like most predators, they examine the scene. They watch. Some have their mouths open, others scowl. There's a sound at the back of those who turned to watch as the large man steps out of the car.

"Yo what the fu--"

A brick flies through the air and plants itself into the front windshield of the SUV Collosus traveled in. Which kicks off the whole mess of..

"GET 'EM!"
"MUTIES!"
"DIE!"
"Ow my foot!"
"Move it you scary mutherfucker!"

A decent sized crowd was beginning to approach the vehicle, and a few of their own behind them began to shine their floodlights in attempts to blind the mutants on the ground. And the floodlights of a pick-up truck outfitted with the overhead ones are damning.

Colossus has posed:
Colossus flicks his head as the brick hits the windshield, swearing in Russian and striding forward to try to shield his fellows as best he can. "Please, we are only here to help. There is no reason to be afraid. The X-men are your friends," he says.

Another brick flying through the air is caught by the big Russian. He looks down at it for a moment, his face obviously saddened by the violence here. And then, with a single flex of his hand, he crushes the brick into powder.

"If you wish to harm my friends, you will have to go through me. I assure you that you will fail.."

Archangel has posed:
"Well this just went from bad to worse," Angel mutters under his breath, but likely picked up via the communicator. Seeing the violence start and the floodlights come on, Angel makes a decision to dive towards the nearest bunch and do a fly by, trying to smash the bulbs as he rushes past. It would be so much easier to take them out with flechette feathers...and dismember the lot of them... some dark part of Angel thinks, but he pushes his darker desires down least things really go from bad to worse.

"Rogue, try and take out the lights on the trucks. If they can't see, they can't fight as well."

Rogue has posed:
"They ain't lookin' at us... gives me an advantage..." Rogue says, low enough for her companions in the skies and the comms to pick her up but no more. It's a good thing she wore black today. As Angel goes in to the closest group to smash bulbs, she actually goes to try and take out the floodlights on the truck. Landing and giving each of them a good fistpunch before taking back to the skies again. "I think I got a few. Lets try to get them to no light, or at least low enough they stop shootin' at the big metal thing and start actually listenin'..."

Red has posed:
Alice slips from the car, the carbon fiber and red making a striking contrast, the red hair pulled back into a ponytail. Colossus in front, she slowly steps to back him up, just planning on posing for the moment as he crushes the brick... when the light goes out under the air-wing's attacks. Flinching, she ducks down, preparing for the worst, waiting for the first attackers to come within 20 feet so she could join their shoes to the rough tar of the road. Level the playing field, so to say.

Magik has posed:
    Illyana rubs her temple at the sudden headache that's been brought on by her brother getting out of the car in full armored form. He means so well, but... Illyana doesn't expect better than what she's seeing here from the average person. Thankfully Piotr is pretty safe from a bunch of normal people with homemade weapons and rocks. As she hears on the comm that they're talking out the lights, she eventually speaks up. "Are we truly going to fight these people?" She does get out of the vehicle, though she doesn't teleport up to the crowd just yet. Anything she would do right now would only make matters worse and while these people could be dangerous if this got out of control, they don't need to make that happen.

Nightingale has posed:
     It seemed all those nights of flying outdoors without artificial lighting to help Shannon were about to pay off. "Go get 'em. I'll do a wide sweep up here and see if I can spot anything that might be our kid Friday from up here." With that, she circles wide, her hidden wings beating the air to gain altitude and take her out of range of most projectiles--but not so high that she can't spot their target from the ground, or otherwise keep an eye on things.

     While each missile launched at her friends does make her flinch ever so slightly, she reminded herself that this is the sort of thing they trained for.

     They knew their jobs.

     Now she had to keep to hers, and trust that they would be alright.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Challenge accepted!

If they were going to go through Colossus, they were going to do it right.. about..

"GET HI.. IT!"

Colosus would be met with five men, all full sized and healthy for their ages. A few of them would be carrying bats, all attempting to strike at the larger mutant to take him down if their shoes aren't melted to the ground. One would carry a shot-gun, hanging back until he gets a good aim down his sights to fire off a round or two to put him out of his misery. Or joy. Which ever!

There were people in the bed of the truck, one hanging onto the bar of the lights as he sees the downward arch of Warren. One immediately ducks, arms shielding his head from the blast of glass from the floodlights while the other falls back with pieces imbedded into his skin. People aren't used to impromptu pain, and his cries could be heard as Warren speeds by.

But there always had to be that one quick draw of the bunch that blasts off a shotgun round in Warren's direction.

With the rest of the lights down, (one possibly remaining but doing -nothing- for the rioters cause), the driver of the truck decidedly punches the gas pedal, skirting his tires against the ground, then lets off the brakes to send the car barreling forward.

Right towards their own, Colossus, Illyana and Alice.

Colossus has posed:
At first, Piotr just lets them hit him. The bats won't do a damn thing, any more than the bricks or the fists or the bullets would. They're like planes swatting at King Kong, only likely to do damage if he takes a swipe at them and loses his balance. So he doesn't take a swipe and remains as he is, an implacable obstacle between himself and the other mutants.

Until that car revs up and starts to chage towards them, "Get down!" he shouts and he reaches out and just bear hugs all five men at once, lifting them up and checking them to the side as he puts his hands out to stop the truck in its tracks, his palms outstretched towards the hood of the speeding vehicle.

Archangel has posed:
There is always that one that gets off a panicked shot, but usually panicked shooters aren't accurate.

Usually

Unless they are extremely lucky, and happen to be carrying an auto-shotgun that sprays pellets in a wide arc.

The muzzle flash illuminates the area momentarily as Angel finishes disabling the lights, and then there is a cry out in the darkness and a sickening thud, the sound of something fleshy hitting something solid at speed. Then there is silence. As eyes adjust to the firelight, the crumpled body of a winged man lays at the base of a wall, a wall splattered and dripping with crimson.

Magik has posed:
    When the car starts to move, Illyana immediately draws the Soulsword. There's not a lot they're going to be able to do to prevent this from getting any more out of hand than it already has. And as the bullets focus on her brother, she takes a moment to create a portal just beside the car and steps through to reappear up near the crowd, but behind them. The reasoning is: if someone shows up with a flaming sword right next to you, you're probably not going to stick around and try to shoot anyone. And while she may actually make like she's attacking them, she's careful not to actually use the sword in the process.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue hears the scream, then the shot, then the other scream and she looks just in time to see Angel go splat on the ground. "Shit." She rushes to fly over to where he landed, gathering him up into her arms - cause like hell she's leaving him to bleed out - and she'll fly him over behind the line Colossus has begun. "Shannon, can you help Angel?" Asking as she gently lies the man down on the ground and then looks back towards the car that was revving right towards the man. She scowls and takes off towards it, grabbing the car likely just before it smashes into Colossus and company, then grins at the driver side window. "Hi." Super strength for the win, yo.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon is just circling about for a second pass when she sees her wing-brother shot down out of the sky. "Ballocks." She grimaced, assessing the situation as quickly as she can. If Warren got shot down, she wouldn't stand much of a chance, either. But she had to get him out of there somehow.

     Enter in Rogue, who at the moment seemed like an angel of mercy in her own right.

     "Nightingale. Perfect timing, Rogue. Just keep the area clear, let me see what I can do."

     With her wings hidden, and all but her face covered in black, she is hopefully very difficult to spot as she angles towards the ground, backwinging and skidding to a stop next to Warren.

     A quick visual inspection of his wounds has her grimacing. "I can get most of this cleaned up and stabilized, but there's likely more on board the Blackbird than I was able to carry. Soon as I get him stable, I'll need help getting him back there."

Red has posed:
Alice can't stop a car that's mving, but she knows the basic law of conservation of energy: if that car impacts Colossus, it will push him back, so she darts not only back from him, but to the side in a lunge, the fiberglass and carbonfiber plates softening the impact onto the tar as she skids some feet. Though she *also* focusses on the tire on the opposite side of herself to get it to pop, so it would veer away from her... though on the other hand, that probably took longer than the car needed to impact the man of steel...

Harley Quinn has posed:
The men were sticky and didn't even realize it! They were too busy attempting to beat Colossus into submission even though it wouldn't work. It was his strength that pried them away from the ground, and his yell that let the party of five know just exactly what was going on! Their own comrade was attempting to kill them!

With the men thrown aside like ragdolls, they fall over each other and roll, one actually hurting himself enough to cry out, stand.. and limp away in between two houses to lick his wounds. He was out of the fight indefinitely, so much so that he'll leave town by the morning.

The car smacks into Colossus' hands, crunching the hood, causing those who did remain in the back bed of the truck to fly and fall off. It was a chain reaction, the crunch of the hood and the snatch of the truck from the ground, the loud popping of the tire that sounded so close to a gun blast.. the driver screams bloody murder. He even rocks in the car, trying his damnest to take his seatbelt off to get out of the door! Why is he in the air?! Why is this woman saying hello?!

The others near the rear were already rushing towards the fray, some accidentally hitting each other until someone performs a perfect Wilhelm scream at the sight of Illyana. Where in the heck did she come from? And why is..

"Her swords on fire!"

If a path were to zigzag, the townspeople have found it. They begin to run every which way, even mistakingly trampling each other to get away from the undefeatable mutants.

Well.. almost undefeatable. One splatted against the wall.

Colossus has posed:
Colossus raises one massive steel fist over his head and punches down, driving right through the engine block of the car and into the ground to stop it dead. He draws his arm back out, shaking off a bit of oil and grease as he turns around and picks up the men thrown from the truck, grabbing t hem at the scruff of the neck like naughty puppies.

"I warned you of this. Your prejudice and ill temper have put you all at risk. Why must it always be like this? Numbskull!" he says and he just bonks them together and cracks their skulls off one another, knocking them out and dumping them back on the ground.

"Please, stop this mayhem, there is no need for conflict!" he shouts.

Rogue has posed:
"Aww. I'm sorry? Are you scared? I can put you down if you want me to darlin', but you're gonna have to promise you won't do me harm..." Rogue says even as she flies back, car still in arms and then lowers them down enough that when she drops the vehicle all it does it make a crunch and rock back and forth a few times.

"Now, the lesson here is, when you go up against mutants who ain't done you no harm and don't wish too either... is maybe next time you open up your ears a bit more." She smiles. "You look so scared... bless your heart... have a nice night now." Then she just flies off to maybe go pick off any stragglers still thinking it's a nice idea to fuck with the mutants.

Red has posed:
Alice grunts as she fights herself back to the feet, scratches from the impact on the cement marring the carbonfiber optic on the plates. "You effin Idiots... do you know how much time those took?!" she grunts as she moves in to those that the other, more combat trained ones left behind, pulling a some cable ties from under a plate. Good old nylon cable ties, perfect for immobilizing people by tying their wrists together behind the back. That's why they're known as plasticuffs.

Magik has posed:
    Illyana tries not to look /too/ pleased with herself as the townspeople start to scatter. Yes, they might be trampling each other now, but at least they're not shooting at anyone. In fact, she doesn't relent as they scatter, still making an effort to scatter the townspeople in 'her' crowd, swinging her sword here and there and emphasizing her point with a few carefully placed kicks until she's satisfied that they're not going to regroup and turn back on her, shooting any of them that seem to consider regrouping looks that make it clear: if they come back they'll be getting worse. Much worse.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon works as quickly as she can, as thankfully Warren is still breathing and has a pulse. ABC--Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Cleaning and binding his wounds as quickly as she can, she winces at the state of his wings. "Fuck." She'd had her wings broken before, and offered a prayer of thanks that he was out cold for this. With little to hand, she frees her staff from its holster on her forearm, and extends it to its full length, using that and some bandages to stabilize Warren's wing.

     "Do we have something we can use to improvise a backboard and some blocks to keep his head still? Looks like he rammed into that wall pretty hard and I don't wanna take a chance, even with his healing factor."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Even while the men try to get away, Colossus gives them a 'what-for'! His impassioned speech followed by the smacking of temples together cause the men to crumple to the ground unconscious. And if that didn't cause any more pandemonium, Illyana's display of magic and power causes more to scream and scatter! It was like a light in the dark place; all the unsavory being scatter to their own ends of the earth, hopping into various vehicles they've brought to the scene of the autonomous zone, trying their best to flee, cars crunching against one another and others abandoning hope all together and running.

Highly effective.

Rogue's taunting of the man has him crying; he wasn't a small fellow by any means. He was a crew-cut older gentleman, pot belly and salt of the earth. He slung iron for a living in some weird ass salt mine, and now he was crying and screaming in his truck! "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He wiggles, quite possibly not even listening to Rogue cause the beat of his heart drums loudly within his ears.

Alice's bindings aren't met with resistance, well, too much. They were flailing and crying as well, regretting their life choices in that moment. "It wasn't me! I didn't do nothing! I swear! I don't even hate mutants!" One cries out. Another fusses and spits, and tries to crawl upon the ground away from Alice if she goes for him.

All the while Shannon works on Warren.. someone sneaky comes from behind.. standing over her to watch her work upon Warren like the field medic that she is. "Ooooh that sucks.." Is all they say, and take off running. They clearly weren't the ones with the strong stomach, and were only there just to see bad things happen!

Colossus has posed:
Colossus jogs his way over to the injured Warren, looking over Shannon's shoulder and shaking his head, "I can get a brace," he says. He casually walks over and finds a park bench. He rips the seat part out with a casual jerk and carries it over, "Perhaps he can be strapped to this. Alice, can you fashion some sort of strap to help Warren?" he cries.

Rogue has posed:
"Yeah yeah, it's all hate on the mutants because we're big bad and scary and that's all you know because shit on us if we can't come around and show that we're actually NOT that big, bad, or scary...unless we need be." Rogue says this as she walks away from the car and then takes flight again. "Does anyone have eyes on this kid we're lookin' for? Ain't that why we came? Cause we're lookin' for a mutant kid that these folks were scared of?"

Magik has posed:
    Illyana, satisfied with her breaking up of the crowd, dissipates the Soulsword and returns to the rest of the group. Her brow furrows a little as she sees what kind of shape Warren is in. "Will he be alright?" She'd offer to take him to Limbo where her magic would probably do some real healing if Warren is in really serious shape. But most people don't want to make that trip. So if he's alright, she'll spare him the offer and the potential trip to a nightmare realm to get patched up.

Nightingale has posed:
     With a smile towards Colossus, Shannon scoots aside so the improvised park bench back brace can be set down next to Warren. "Okay, easy on the wings, and let's try to keep him from twisting around as much as possible... roll him onto the brace. One, two... three!"

     With those who are willing to help her move Warren, while she tries to keep his head and neck from moving around -too- much, the job is done. "Okay, if we can get him strapped down, and something on either side of his head to keep him still, I'd say let's get him back to the Blackbird and home ASAP. Dr. McCoy's going to have a busy night here."

     Though she's trying to keep her tone steady, even somewhat chipper, she's taking a few good, deep breaths herself, to keep her hands steady, perhaps a little more rattled than she'll let on.

     But everyone was coming home alive. That was the important part. A smile of gratitude is offered to everyone who was helping. Gratitude--and perhaps a little bit of pride.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Finally freed, the man in the car falls out onto the ground as Rogue says her peace. He doesn't even stand by to watch her gloriously walk away; he was already on his feet, tripping and running. Why, he even pushed another person down just to get away. Which was sad, he too, will pack up and leave town this very night.

The streets were mostly cleared, save for some picking themselves up from being trampled, slowly moving away from the chaotic scene that they themselves caused, it wasn't a quiet night, it wasn't a victory.. no one became martyrs.

But in the city proper, there would be no sign of the boy.

Colossus has posed:
Colossus sighs in frustration. He can easily help carrying Warren and he's thankful that things weren't much, much worse.

But they didn't accomplish what they came to do. And there's still a scared kid somewhere out there. And somebody, one of them, is going to have to find him.

Before these people do.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue frowns as there's no sign of the boy, at least not from up in the skies, and as she turns to watch Shannon and Colossus carry Warren away she moves to land near where the other X-Men are brushing off. "Well. It ain't a success...but it wasn't all a failure..." She offers this and then looks to the town folk as much as she can as they've all scattered away. "X-Men should re-group with the others and share what's happened. Manage your comms to know if we're meetin' anywhere specific to plan our next steps." Yeah. Real leader-type words there, Rogue.

Magik has posed:
    Illyana frowns a little as Warren is hoisted up. So they didn't really do what they were here to do yet and already someone is out of commission from dealing with the locals. That's pretty bad. Sighing, she looks around at the others to see where things are going to go from here and whether they should possibly back off. When Rogue lands and sets the direction though, she just nods. Hopefully the other team had better luck than they did, because right now Illyana doesn't feel great about how things went from them so far.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Copy that, Rogue. En route to the Blackbird." Shannon lets out a soft sigh, straightening her spine, though her head is bowed perhaps a little bit. "We all came out alive. I'd call that a plus. No extra business for my dad today." As she moves along with Colossus, keeping an eye on Warren to make sure his head and neck in particular remained stable, she glances over at Illyana. "Live to fight another day. It'll work out somehow."

     Yeah, she was definitely hunkering down in her dorm when they got home with a girl's two best friends--Ben & Jerry. It was one of -those- days.