14821/Rampage in Manhattan

Rampage in Manhattan
Date of Scene:	18 March 2023
Location:	Lower East Side, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Magneto recruits Juggernaut for a trip up to the mountains
Cast of Characters:	Juggernaut, Magneto

---

Juggernaut has posed:
It is a typical afternoon in this part of Manhattan. People attend to their common every day affairs, some with a smile on their faces, some with..less then friendly looks and others with just what to be expected of the average New Yorker dealing with the not so average circumstances that seem to enjoy plaguing the city. One such person seems to fit the description of 'not so average'. An absolutely -huuuge- man literally swamps over an entire park bench that faces the streets. His hair is red, dark sunglasses rest on the bridge of his broad almost flat nose and his massive unshaven jaw is set into a fairly non descript thin mouthed expression that seems to indicate he's hardly paying much mind to the stares that are sent his way..nevermind the fact that he looks like he ate the entire linebackers lineup of The Giants, moved on to the local superheavy weight bodybuilders and power lifters and is due for a stop at Strongman and Sumo buffet. So yeah. He's huge. Dressed well enough in form fitting likely custom made casual jeans and a tee shirt that probably unironically has an image of Godzilla on it.

He draws some attention but aside from occasionally glancing at the watch, custom fitted for that monstrous wrist of his, he pretty much minds his business and leaves things be.. That is until a final watch check leads to him rising and making his way towards an alleyway. Maybe he needs to take a leak.

An armored truck begins to make its way through the area shortly after, heading towards an intersection that would ultimately connect it to a route to make its way further into the depths of the city, bound for some important vault or another. It's all pretty normal and everyday.. that is..until there is a flash of red light, the ground begins shaking, and then a titanically muscled, reddish armored, nearly ten foot tall behemoth, emerges into view and begins to walk, almost boredly, towards the middle of traffic and the direction of the incoming truck. The earth splinters and shakes violently. Cameras flash and people start scattering in all directions. So yeah..

Typical afternoon.

Magneto has posed:
After his meeting with Jean Grey and Scott Summers, Magneto had been given a supposed map of the location for him to begin searching for the missing mutants. Yetis, that's what Jean had said. Yetis had been spotted in the mountains where their students had decided to camp. Magneto truly believed that they were neglectful to have let their students go off on their own. He informed them of their opinion, then they had the nerve to accuse him of the same thing. Like he didn't have a whole country to run full of mutants instead of a school full of a handful of students. The missing Genoshans aren't even children. They don't need watching. Nevertheless, Magneto was determined to find out what happened to them. Especially considering one of the missing mutants was none other than his lieutenant, Mystique.

However, he didn't decide to rush off into the mountains to follow some map. Instead, Magneto has decided to make a quick detour into Manhattan. He told Jean and Scott that he would be seeing Emma soon. This of course had upset Scott, but that wasn't going to stop the Master of Magnetism. Yet, she might not have even been on the school grounds. There was always the possibility of finding the White Queen in the Hellfire Club. So, that's where Magnus decided to go first.

Juggernaut has posed:
The Juggernaut is naturally oblivious to most of these circumstances.. Though there is the irony of the fact that he also had a recent conversation with Scott and Jean and that the subject of missing mutants has come up on at least a few occasions around him. This, perhaps, isn't especially surprising given the general 'social circle' he keeps...if you can call it that.

Still ..the conversation did not leave him feeling especially pleased with them or even himself though he'd never admit that aloud. Scott and Jean make quite the Bad Cop/Good Cop duo and he doesnt have time to be berated by those who are, in his opinion, merely the snot-nosed brainwashed followers of his dear step-brother. No, no. He's stealing to do.

As he makes his way into incoming traffic, most cars manage to swerve wildlky out of the way, but a few unlucky ones crash right into his legs with all the fanfare of crushing an empty beercan up against the side of a super alloy battleship. Airbags are deployed but they still go spinning off, possibly endangering others in the process. As for Juggernaut part, he seems to hardly notice the impacts against his legs, barely registering them like someone else might register the lapping of waves against their ankle.

The Juggernaut flexes, muscles straining against the armor and producing a sound like plates of landmass grinding together. The force of the muscle fiber twitching enough to cause a depression to form under him as cracks spread out beneath him. His chest expands and his arms splay out at an angle like some sort of nightmarish bodybuilder. He seems to literally fill up the middle of the street as the armored truck hits the breaks as there's nowhere for the truck to go but straight into the expanding wall like blockade that is the giants torso. It lacks the manueverability or the space to avoid a potential head on impact.

Magneto has posed:
As Magneto flies between the skyscrapers of the Manhattan city skyline, he hears a commotion from the streets below. More out of curiosity than anything, Magneto makes his way to the Lower East Side. There he sees beneath him, cars swerving out of the way as a behemoth of man makes his way towards an oncoming truck. Some of the cars are not so luck and they end up being crushed as the man pushes through the afternoon traffic. He briefly considers the possibility of a mutant being trapped inside one of the cars. Then decides that the chances were slim. Still, he lowers himself towards the carnage to get a better view of the action.

Then the behemoth's target makes a futile attempt to stop before crashing into him. Of course, if Magneto was feeling generous, he could easily have stopped the truck himself. On the other hand, he could have lifted the truck right over the man's head, and it would be on its way down the street. But Magneto wasn't feeling generous. He was now starting to feel bored. It wasn't that unusual to see a man stop a truck with his own body in New York.

He begins to turn away, and head in the direction of the Hellfire Club, then it dawns on him. This behemoth wasn't just any other man with more strength than a hundred men. This was Charles Xavier's half-brother, Cain Marko; better known as the Juggernaut. Ever since becoming the Juggernaut, Cain Marko had been a long time enemy of the X-Men. He wasn't a mutant, of course, but that unstoppable strength could be useful.

Instead of flying away, Magneto lowers himself towards the ground. Then he stops, a couple of yards in front of Cain Marko and at eye level. Then he waits to see what the behemoth would do next.

Juggernaut has posed:
Only in New York can a man stopping a truck with his own body be seen as not that unusual or at least not unusual to the likes of someone like Magneto. Hard to impress indeed.

Others are less unflappable. Possibly on account of being easily crushed, even if by accident, by the antics of the helmeted goliath. As for the truck itself? It practically is an accordion as it slams fully into the giants waiting body and throws around the security on the interior like rag dolls from the sudden force of the crash. Juggernaut...barely blinks and doesn't move, keeping his arms relaxed casually at his sides. Driver and front seat passengers are cushioned by the deployment of airbags and prevented from hurtling through the windshield by seat belts..but they are fully and utterly knocked unconscious.

It is then that Juggernaut takes notice of the newcomer and he turns slightly while reaching up to push the flattened truck back off of him with a single finger, screeching its metal on the concrete as he levels his gaze towards the observing Magneto.

"Huh. I got an audience." he muses, "Magneto..right? Whatcha doing here? Looking to take on the role of the local good guy? I thought that wasn't your angle.."

Magneto has posed:
"That would be correct," Magneto replies. "It is good that you have heard of me, it removes the need to make introductions. I am not interested in stopping you from... well, whatever it is that you are doing here. So, please, don't let me stop you. Although, if you do draw the attention of New York's finest, I am not going to help you either."

Magneto then gently drops himself to the ground, then he quickly searches the immediate vicinity. "Well, that is until a mutant might make the newspapers as the innocent bystander caught by a stray bullet. Then I will probably intervene, though I am not sure which cause of action would be best in that situation."

Then Magneto sighs, "I am curious though, what do you plan on doing after you done here?"

Juggernaut has posed:
THe helmet does a good job of hiding the majority of his expressions and facial features but you can practically hear his scrunched up confused look as he responds, What is this, an interview? You asking me for a date?"

There is a horrible wrenching sound as the giant reaches forward and plunges his fingers into the side of the armored car...and then pulls his arms apart, literally ripping it in half like so much tinfoil. Its contents come spilling out. Bags of this, crates of that. But giant doesn't seem particularly interested in the cash.

Back to Magneto now, he begins examining the revealed contents for a moment before speaking again,

"So what's the deal then? This clearly isn't because you're just bored, yeah? This about Charles?"

Magneto has posed:
"Ah, yes, Charles Xavier," Magneto says. "I was wondering how long it would take before we got to him." He thinks for a moment on how best to frame his idea to the man before him. It seems that Cain Marko wasn't interested in money. That would have been easier. No, there was another reason for why the Juggernaut was here.

"What if it did have something to do with your brother? What if I told you I was working on something that would work in direct opposition to your brother?"

Juggernaut has posed:
"I aint got much love for Charles but everything I get into isn't centered around him." Juggernaut begins. His back is still to the Master of Magnetism as he ruffles through the contents of the truck and then finally stands back up and turns slightly to face the mutant leader. His massive hand holds a simple small box..well..small copared to his hand. But a simple locked box nevertheless. The money, indeed, seems to hold little interest to him as he steps over the ruins of the truck and the groaning guards and begins to approach Magneto now, "But yeah I'd bring him up. What other reason would you of all people have to come calling on me? I don't mind ruining his day still but I also aint much for the Mutant Suprmacy doctrine either. In case you didn't remember, I'm good ol'fashioned human. Just got my goods from another source.."

He tosses the box up and down in his hand a few times and then finally says, "So just cut to the chase, Mags. Are you looking to hire me for something or what? I got no problem with you. Fact is.. I even put in a good word with my 'circles' to give Mutant Town a break from trouble. So what's this all about?"

Magneto has posed:
Magneto looks at the box in Juggernaut's hands. He wonders what could be so important in that small of a box. "I am planning on putting together a team of my own." He pauses for a moment to let the words sink in. "I am aware that you are not a mutant, but your powers would still be very useful to my team. I also believe that you used to be a part of the US army. So, receiving orders would not be something new to you.

In other words, yes, as a matter of fact, I am looking to hiring you. To begin with I want to hire you to accompany me into the mountains. Some of the mutants of Genosha have gone missing. Jean Grey believes that they could have been the recent hikers to have gone missing. The only problem is, she also believes that they are yetis in the mountains. I believe that is something that you would have no problem in dealing with, whilst I searched the for missing mutants."

Juggernaut has posed:
Much of htis is indeed true. He was in the army and before that was a mercenary. He also defected and it was Charles attempt to bring him back that led to the discovery of the Temple of Cyttorak and the rest is, as they say, history.

The thought of joining an actual team, therefore, bring some mixed emotions to him. It's not about following orders or sticking plans or what have you. He can do that. He's no bererker. But--

"..Being tied down by obligations to a team..I don't know if that's my style these days. I've got my fingers in a lot of pots."

The Light being one of them but that's not something Juggernaut even really understands outside of being on call for occasional work by mysterious clients.

"I might get called on to do anything at any time. You might not like the sorta thing I get called on to do but..let's put a pin in that. This missing mutants thing. THey're -your- mutants? I thought they were Charles kids?" he seems aware of what's been going on.

"Jean Grey tried to get me involved in this until her stupid boyfriend made me mad. This missing mutants are yours?"

Magneto has posed:
Magneto nods, "Yes, Jean had informed me that there had been mutants missing from the school. However, I am led to believe that the students are now safe back on the school's grounds. They possibly had a run in with yetis whilst in the mountains. So, it seems that they managed to complete the rescue without your help."

Magneto pauses for a moment, "However, some of the mutants from Genosha, or as you put it -my- mutants, left Genosha to come here to America. I was under the impression that the missing mutants didn't know each other, and I am not even sure that they came to New York. My initial plan was to make a request for someone at the school to provide me aid me in my search. Then I ran into Jean and Cyclops. He wasn't too happy to see me either.

Jean believes that the group of hikers that went missing in those same mountains are the missing mutants from Genosha. She gave me a map to a location in the mountains to begin my search. Scott wasn't too happy about that either."

Juggernaut has posed:
"Yeah so much for mutant solidarity eh? I mentioned that maybe ol'Charley needs to run Cyclops back through some courses on ethics maybe. Guy's got some nerve being judgemental on others but..anyway.."

Juggernaut's rumbling voice trails off as he considers all of this and weighs his options and obligations here. He could easily say 'well good luck' and just leave Magneto to the matter but mild curiousity is now tugging at his interests.

And then there's the fact that he could have something to hold over Scott's head here since the X-man seems to think Juggernaut is incapable of doing anything with altruistic intent. He may be right. This could be as much helping out of sheer spite then nothing else.

"Alright, Mags, you got my curiousity. I'm anxious to see what the big deal is about Bigfoot then."