16098/This is not the Danger room...

This is not the Danger room...
Date of Scene:	03 March 2024
Location:	Industrial Estate - Lower East side
Synopsis:	There's a lot to be said for owning a warehouse by the docks, they tend to be big and empty, ideal for testing out toys in. Also Lucifer got to eat fine seven-deadly-dining. Does this mean the Dragon is a part of X-force now? WE MAY NEVER KNOW.
Cast of Characters:	Sinister, Psylocke, Phantasm (Drago), Lucifer

---

Sinister has posed:
Lower east side, after dark. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

That's just about the start of every crime show involving the mob that ever was and a good many thrillers, spy and horror movies also.

ANYwhit, this is the locale, the weather outside is surprisingly calm, but overcast and ever so slightly muggy. The location is well... in the world where space is at a premium, it's probably prime real estate, but even docks require large warehouses to ... house things in. Grafitti and garbage litter the walls and cobbles of the open space outside, but there are signs of commerce that have kept it as only a memory of the '80's in NYC.

Doctor Essex sent out a message. There's a donut and coffee truck that parks on the corner here and an annoying amount of criminals that have not been paying their dues here. Meet. Also, wear athletic gear.

Psylocke has posed:
Some might be wary of an invitation to an unknown warehouse at night. This, for Betsy Braddock, is just another day. It doesn't mean she doesn't come prepared, though. She wears tight-fitting quarter length pants, shoes with only an inch of a height to them, a close-fitting halter top and a branded cardigan over the whole thing. Her version of /athletic/ gear. So sue her, she's a model.

A habitual /don't notice/ mental push prevents people from noticing the katana that's strapped to her back unless she draws attention to it, and even then it's kind of hard to notice like it has its own kind of protection. Despite the heels there's no noise from the purple-haired telepath as she strides down the street.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
When Nick gets messages from Lucifer or Sinister, they tend to be on the minimal side. Usually an ask to pop by Club Lux or the Penthouse. Or sometimes a mention that they're on their way over which hits the phone right around the time they teleport into his hotel room.

Yeah best not to ask about that one.

Either way, when Nick gets the message with the new location, all he REALLy has to do is step outside of the studio and go down a couple blocks.

But no.

There's apparently a dress code.

SO, Nick headed back to his apartment, switched over to the athletic attire Sinister saw him before when they had a bit of a brooding situation in the park. And then.... Poofed his way back to the Lower East Side to head to said address.

The attire is very simplistic. From a passing glance with the hood pulled over. He looks like your average run of the mill jogger with a backpack. Nothing flashy. Nothing that really stands out.

But for the telepaths in the crowd who may be listening?

'Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse
And I just about snapped
Don't look back
Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand
Love from the other side of the apocalypse
And I just about snapped
Don't look back
Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand...'



Nick doesn't have any mental push to prevent people from noticing him. The sticks are hidden away within the backpack. But if anyone for some REASON asks. For legal purposes they classify as walking sticks.

WALKING sticks.

Mmm hmm.

Hard to make sticks illegal. Even in New York City.

As for noticing him? Eh. It's just some guy. Not like he's a model or anything like that.

Sinister has posed:
There's a small crew of individuals that are hanging out at the donut truck; mid-twenties up to mid-forties in age it looks like... and they are ALL dressed in the kind of 'athletic' gear that the crew down here wear. It's hoodies and sweat pants everywhere you look, except where you look at the model of course. She does stick out, but not really for the purple hair. There's a couple of younger women that have pink and peacock hair there.

"Alright you lot, break's over. C'mon, back to work..." one of the older men hollars out, which disperses a number to various tasks of... well. Dock work. Some even put flourescent yellow safety vests on.

The truck barrista leans on the counter infront of himself and peers out. Portly. Italian, probably. Pop-eye tattoo'd arms. Scruffy and coffee stained. He tracks Psylocke in with porcine eyes, grins to himself with a gold tooth on display.

There's the sound of screaming metal coming from further down the dock; a bit of looking shows that one of the larger shipping barges is undergoing some repairs.

Psylocke has posed:
The thing is, Betsy is always listening. Most of it is protection; knowing who to avoid, knowing when to 'push' away someone who may be a little too interested, or even just getting a feel for the place she's stepping into. It's why she can hear Nick before she can even spot him.

Betsy normally makes it a point not to even acknowledge she can hear him; she doesn't actively seek to read his mind, not since that little encounter with the presence inside of him, but it doesn't means he can't hear him still when he's being loud.

Like now.

The way she walks invites attention, to a degree. The sway in her step is so ingrained it takes effort not to do it, so really, when she finds the barista's gaze on her, she's not that surprised. "Soy latte, one sugar please," she says, with a brilliant smile at the man. Not as brilliant as his grin, of course. She doesn't have a gold tooth.

Meanwhile, she's feeling out all those minds, light touches for anything of interest, as well as for Sinister's presence. Or more accurately the gap where he's hiding himself.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Fortunately for Psylocke, the volume of the thoughts don't get closer with proximity, just with the style of the song chosen. And as a case in point, when Psylocke comes into view near the donut truck, the also hoodie wearing, sweat pants wearing jogger Nick turns that way, getting into line behind her.

'Generation sleep, I'm falling in and out of love
I'm getting that tilted feeling out here
What would you trade the pain for?
I'm not sure
Nowhere left for us to go but heaven
Summer falling through our fingers again and
You were the sunshine of my lifetime
What would you trade the pain for?...'

Sinister has posed:
Because of course they have Soy milk lattes at the donut truck.

Modern life is fun like that. The barista gives Betsy one of those dubious looks, but goes about making steamed soy milk with an espresso shot in it. Served in a paper cup. A double double gets set down infront of Nick and a paper basket containing a cluster of chocolate and vanilla donut holes to boot.

"On the house," the voice is thick and gruff, but it starts to laugh softly as the dispersing crowd of workers gets out of ear shot. There is no 'hole' where Sin should be, only a gradual reveal of psychic obfuscations, accents and mind-patterns pulling away. "Seriously. Soy lattes at a dockside break truck?" Italian Gold-tooth rests knuckles on the counter, arching an eyebrow up his balding pate.

The Greasy Spoon that is Sinister peers out into the darkened dock, reaches up above his head and pulls down the hatch to the front, after they've taken thier refreshment though. "Be out shortly."

Psylocke has posed:
There are lots of things you can get away with when you're pretty. Annoying drinks, for one thing. Betsy actually doesn't drink soy lattes, but that's not the point. The point is to distract from any sense that she shouldn't be here with a blatant, oblivious New Yorker's understanding that money can buy anything.

Betsy doesn't need to turn to sense Nick's presence behind her. Maybe that's why she tells the donut vendor, "Oh, and I should... I'm buying for whomever is after me. Paying it forward you know? New year, new resolutions. It's why I'm resisting that double-glazed donut even if it is calling out my name very, very loudly. It's practically singing to me."

That 'nice' gesture is totally ruined with the appearance of Sinister. She looks entirely unrepentant, her laugh spilling out. "In that case, you could give me a real coffee. Or just bin the latte." She's not going to drink it, nope. Betsy half turns, casting a glance over Nick with a smile. "You're being very loud today, Nick. Is that a new song?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick looks to the coffee set down before him before he had a chance to order. There's no markings on the side to convey what's inside the drink. He was about to point out that he was going to order a coffee black but when the donut holes are set aside and there's a mention of them being 'on the house', Nick stops with that planned motion. Instead looking to the gold tooth immediately.

"Why?"

It isn't until Sinister reveals himself that he reaches up to the table to retrieve the food items.

Ok fine.

'We're told we gotta get ahead, yeah
No matter what it takes
But there's no way off the hamster wheel on this rat race
I'd never go, I just want to be invited, oh
Got to give up
Get the feeling, get the feeling
Don't fight it, fight it'

Hearing Betsy's wish to have something different than what she ordered, he offers up the cup he was given. He can wait. Betty's question gets a blink. "Reasonably new. Got a lot of songs to work with."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister emerges out of the side door momentarily, dressed in a black polo, zip-up black hoodie and jeans -- in hand, two coffees, both black without sugar. One is handed straight to Nick, "...Because." As he sips his own. After all, Betsy got the drop on the double-double in the wake of that. "Thank you both for showing up. I've got a crew of mechanics and a slew of drug dealers here. The mechanics are meant to be on locale. The drug dealers not so much. However, they're mostly an aside. I've got that, too..." he gestures at the warehouse with the coffee and grins. "And a new shipment that arrived. I'm very excited. Some of it exploded on the way. Hence..." he gestures again, this time toward the ship that's being repaired.

Sometimes it's the little things in life. Things that go BOOM.

"Rather he was loud than silent. Silent makes a body curious."

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy makes a humming noise. "I like it. Catchy," she says. When he offers up his own drink in place of hers, she smiles at him. "Thanks." She'll take it, and try it. Being a barista is, let's face it, one of those professions where the skilled stand out the mediocre are pretty common. Fortunately Betsy's not that picky; she prefers English tea, which you can't get at a place like this, nor would she ever dream of trying in one.

She has standards when it comes to English tea.

"Wait. Was this /your/ maybe-exploding shipment, or-" a beat. "Who is /he/?" of course she gazes curiously toward the ship. Yeah, curiosity and a lack of self-preservation are a devastating mix for Betsy. That the coffee is palatable is just a bonus, really.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Having relinquished his cup, Nick takes note of the new cup offered his way. "Thank you." He responds, reaching over to take the replacement cup. Glancing in the direction indicated, he listens as Sinister gives a run down. But the comment from Sinister regarding loud versus silent ends up rewarding the doctor with a look. Is this an extension of-?

No. They're not getting into that discussion right now.

"There's probably a good reason for both. But that seems more something to discuss later."

He is tempted to look back in the direction of the ship but figures all of them doing at the same time would seem pretty damn obvious. "...Cliffsnotes so I'm caught up on what I need to know about this?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister gestures with a single extended finger around the curve of the cup, in Nick's direction. Even as the man is not-really-explaining the statement. "Probably," he concedes, but nods to the rest of it. "My shipment. I've been working on a kind of energy transference technology and apparently, it worked. The crewman that decided to play silly buggers in the hold with the cargo... well..." he exhales. "Shall we? I have a saferoom in the warehouse. Unless you both -want- to tackle the drug dealers, which I'm perfectly happy for you to take care of... otherwise, I shall leave it to Lucifer. He does love a good Dealer."

There's a beam of a smile. "Ohhh, I am excited about this prospect."

Psylocke has posed:
"You've been playing around with one-of-a-kind-energy-transference-technology and you left it on a ship?" It's really no surprise there's a fair bit of a lilt of skepticism to Betsy's tone here. Sinister's normally exceptionally careful -- paranoid, one might say -- about his technology.

It's likely why -- with a little feather-like reach -- she stretches out mentally to look for that token, that butterfly she implanted in Sinister's thoughts, to make sure this is /their/ Sinister. So to speak.

"I would never deny Lucifer a delightful evening of indulgence," Betsy says, as she falls into step with them.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Okay so they weren't called here to deal with the dealers. Well that's nice to know. More or less tossing them out of the mental picture for the time being, he listens to the talk of the shipment and what apparently happened to it.

Nick turns his head to look to Betsy as she recaps in her own words. Giving a bit of a shrug. "More speculation but, was it a combination of needing to transport something potentially unstable and trying to restrict the potential collateral to things the world can do less of?"

Sinister has posed:
Within the mind, there's a likeness of Sinister watching that butterfly on the end of a fingertip. It's almost as if he was expecting that to happen.

And then Nick actually says his thought process outloud, quite well.

Sinister blinks a couple of times at the rockstars supposition and nods to him. "That exactly. The device needed a good test run of potentially rambunctuous conditions, someplace where the greatest tragedy would have been it joined the Titanic. That's tragic, but not world destroying and the crew probably would have survived. /I/ keep the right number of life boats."

A pause.

"And I also hire a quarter of staff as being unfamiliar with myself. It allows for a certain plausible deniability... but unfortunately the general resume screening missed the 'prone to dumb stunts to try and impress cute crewmates' on the interview process. Le sigh."

With a glance along at the work in progress, he ducks around shipping crates and heads toward one of the side entrances of the warehouse. Loading dock kind of area, where there's a top-load also, for huge crane jobs.

"Nick was informing me that you'd formally mentioned X-force, Betsy."

Psylocke has posed:
When Nick clarifies her recap, Betsy actually snorts. "Oh. Right." Taking out the trash. "How very two-birds of you, Nathaniel."

Mostly, she's just relieved that the familiar response of that butterfly comes back. So, just Sin being Sin. She doesn't linger, and that worry recedes as she psychically withdraws. There's not even the slightest hint in her posture of the momentary intrusion.

"You forgot to filter for the biggest dummy on the ship," Betsy concludes, with a grimace. "Well. Let's hope it's a happy accident." Her footsteps remain silent despite her heels. It's all about how she walks, how she sets down her weight as she follows in Sinister's wake. Probably also helps that as she goes she excudes that /don't look this way/ wave of psychic energy.

"Mm, I have," the telepath acknowledges with a look at Nick, one corner of her mouth twitching, "But he's keeping my on tenterhooks, leaving me twisting in the wind, wild in the throes of question asked but as yet unanswered."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
When Sinister confirms the stated hypothesis, it's Nick to blink.

Maybe he should run with initial thoughts more often.

As the trio makes their quiet trip to the warehouse. There's a slight uptilt to his lips as Betsy brings up the fact he hasn't answered her question yet.

"But while you were twisting, I did give you a bit of a freebie. So..."

Nick doesn't elaborate. He doesn't have to.

Sinister has posed:
Hello huge peticoat loading dock doors. You're reinforced steel you are, to catch wayward trucks and such. But you, door to the side are a fire escape with a pushbar. Sin gestures at it, the click on the other side audible as the bar depresses and the door opens.

"I do try and be efficient. For the longest time, it was only me and I hate wasting my own time, after all," stepping inside with a grin, he holds the door open. The space beyond is quite clean. Obviously, it's also the loading dock, but there's lots of swinging chains, hooks, dangerous objects to practice in, a miniature American Ninja course, without all the bright lights and camera crews. It's got Gantries, shipping crates, all manner of things to practice with and around. And nobody in sight. "I had the walls plated with a kind of lead-titanium alloy. That took a while to work out, those two metals don't like sticking together very well..." Sin heads to the foreman's office though, holding the door after having licked his fingertip to poke a little pad on the wall with it. DNA recognition? Check. "Toys inside."

Psylocke has posed:
"True," Betsy acknowledges with a smile to Nick, "Which is why I'm tolerating the impertinence of you thinking through a life-changing decision with such careful consideration." She believes in credit where it's due, after all.

Another time, a space like this would be a playground for someone like Betsy Braddock. An afternoon's pleasant excercise, perhaps. For now, she simply takes in the surroundings -- maybe makes a note to simulate something of it in the Danger Room -- and continues on.

As they're walking, she's listening -- with her mind -- not honing in on any specific one, just getting a feel for anything out of the ordinary. Fear and panic usually make thoughts much, much louder. The other two will be able to tell the moment her focus returns to the hear and now, because she blinks, purple brows rising. "Toys?" with a delightful little lilt. "You shouldn't have, Nathaniel." Oh, but he should have!

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick smiles to Betsy's retort, "And thank you for not rushing the decision process."

As the group enters in, Nick glances around the loading dock area which seems to have been filled with an obscene amount of chains. Although some of them look like they could double for-

Huh.

The mention of the reinforced walls causes for Nick to look over to Sinister for a moment. Why wo-

Toys inside.

Sinister gets another blink before he recalls the previous conversation. "...Oh." He walks inside.

It appears that the quality of Nick's responses vary like the tides.

Sinister has posed:
"I know, I know, I'm like a monochromatic often villainous anti-santa. I should be handing out lumps of coal left and right..." Sinister's voice sounds warm though -- the office? Ordinary. Light switch turned on and off twice in rapid succession and a wall swings around sidelong, revealing a surprised looking technician and a lot of work benches and catalogue computers. And STUFF.

Damn that's a lot of stuff. Not all of it looks like weaponry, there's bolts of material, sheets of metal/ceramics and tools aplenty, microchips, other micro-components of a good many things. But there's also toys. "Sir!" "As you were. Carry on. And the latest is...?" -- the tech points to the closest bench to the inner most wall. The MOST secure wall. "Thank you."

Over they go and the first thing picked up looks like the child of a screwdriver and a tuning fork. "Aha!" Hand held, it's grinned at and spun in his grip. "Energy transfer. Hand held. You know, I will -have- to thank Remy at some point, for giving me the inspiration for this one."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister says, "This is me babbling about a sceneplaceholder because this is the way we make it happen"

Psylocke has posed:
"One way or another, a decision will be made," Betsy replies to Nick with confidence. Might be a little unsettling that the implied, /the end of the world will probably force a decision/ is so casual from her, but whatever.

"I'm not complaining. I have no use for coal and every use for..." Betsy breathes out a long breath. So much stuff, all the stuff. She really wants to touch everything, but she also knows better than to touch, because Sinister's toys can be, well, deadly in all sorts of ways. There's a few weapon-like objects she eyes with interest, but she restrains herself.

That the grand toy is a screwdriver is a revelation that doesn't come with delight so much as frank confusion on the part of Betsy. "...Has Remy been watching Doctor Who?" Betsy has no objection. It is a uniquely British show after all. It's just she thought he was more into the bemusing Deal or No Deal style game shows.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick glances around curiously to the oodles and oodles of stuff providing various functions of unknown capabilities and origins by the musician's point of view. The ones cobbled together are probably the toys. But without the clarity one is left to assume.

The performer looks to the surprised technician and lifts a gloved hand in a slight wave of greeting. And then they move on towards the indicated bench. He looks to the device held up in Sinister's hand and blinks at the general shape of it. What on earth was the idiot doing with i-

Annnnnd like that Nick's mind goes back into song. But it's ok. Nathaniel likes it noisy.

'Oh, whoa
Oh, whoa
Oh, whoa
Oh, whoa

This sinking feeling sets
It feels just like a hole inside your chest
I know you're thinking
No, no, no, no, it is easier said than done
But please let me attest
I know it's hard...'

Sinister has posed:
Sinister gives a hooded look to Psylocked with a very slight quirk of the lips in an upward direction. "Hand held. Concealable. I'd have thought the stealth operative would enjoy the notion..." never mind the Whovians out there. He looks at the technician singularly, who gets the HECK out of the way, to look at cameras and hunt for drug dealers (and possible interludes from the Devil with those drug dealers).

It leaves Sin with prime opportunity to pull the 'in case of electrical flame, have bucket of sand' bucket over from one corner by the power of thought and a piece of end-cap that's discarded from other shipment packaging. Between finger and thumb, he rotates the cuff of the handle so that it clicks into place around the tuning fork and listens: There's a very slight 'hmmmnnnnn' barely audible. Then he holds the end cap up and taps the fork against it.

There's a limne of fleeting pinkish energy and then? The bit of discarded plastic starts to shimmer, glowing slowly and sparkling around the edges and across its surface. "If you leave it alone, it will eventually self-destruct by consuming itself in a chemical reaction with the potential energy transferred. But if you make it irritated..." he thwaps the plastic with the back of his hand, NOT dropping it, we'll note.


<<BANG>> -- that was quite... something. When people's hearing returns, there's so much char being dusted off of his fingers.

Lucifer has posed:
Breathe in......and out....."Ahhhhh...." The sweet scent of SIN fills the air. Not Sinister - although he can catch the scent of his lover among the other things in the air - but the more emotional kind that the Devil thrives on. He's gone a little out of the box with his clothing this time. Feeling a bit like dressing up outside his usual style so while he's in all black, it's a seemingly Victorian night for him. His hair all slicked back, eyes almost glowing ethereally blue, and he's layered with the top being an overcoat. He's got on black gloves and even walks with a cane capped and tipped in silver.

"Mmmn... who to begin with... Oh I do ever so love it when the pickings are left out for me to choose..." And he grins. And he likely will begin to ruin a few people's nights. Which will be explored more as he makes his approach to a deal going down at this very moment.

Psylocke has posed:
"My hands do a fine job of conveying energy efficiently," Betsy retorts to Sinister with a twist of lips. "But I'm open to a demonstration to convince me of the error of my ways." Yeah, she might not want to touch that thing until it's proven workable.

And Scott says she doesn't have enough a sense of self-preservation.

Betsy goes up onto her toes as she watches, like she's ready to move (run?) if need be. "Implosion?" she says, watching the pink coalesce. And yup, there it goes. Her ears are wringing and she visibly winces. "Warn a girl next time!" she says a little loudly. Then she glances at Nick, wide-eyed. "Nick would love to play with the screwdriver." It's practically like she's pushing him into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

And he's not even on the team.

While Betsy isn't reading people's minds, she does have her psychic senses open, and she senses when the mood changes. It's less about knowing Lucifer in particular is there rather than feeling the shift in the environment with an exhale, like an anticipation of pending violence.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
As Sinister demonstrates the object to not be whatever Nick had been thinking earlier, the musician watches the pink glow all while the music in his head continues

'You're feeling like you're trapped
But that's how you react
When you cannot see the light
But try and see the light
I'm tellin' you
No, no, no, no, you're the only one
Standing in your way, just take a breath
Relax, and t-OH FUCKING JESUS THAT'S LOUD.'

That's...probably not how the song goes.

Nick brings a gloved hand up to press against his ear, not at all appreciating the ringing effect he's getting now. When the ringing fades to where he can hear Betsy volunteering him, he shakes his head. "NO I DO NOT." He's seen enough people exploding as is.

Sinister has posed:
"Devil on the cameras, sir."
"Well, that was inevitable, he deserves a bit of extreme fun. There's a lot of mileage in the deadly sins."

Regeneration makes for a swift recovery from the effects of an unexpectedly loud bang. "Sorry about that, I'm never quite sure just HOW loud those are going to be. But I'm sure you can see the value in having to disintegrate evidence, or destabilize a structure. Or as that one crew man discovered, if you chain spots up you create a hull breach. Honestly, it's darwinian. There's even an award blog for it all." There's a cluck of the tongue and a giggle to himself at the reactions.

He's heading further along the bench then, to the cameras to take a look-see at them, smiling at the incoming arrival. "Oh, very snappy."

Ok, commentary aside, there's a look up and back with a cough. "Lucifer hath arrived."

And he is then looking at the other things, one of which is a briefcase which he opens. A couple of packs of communique headsets are set aside with a nod, then a gun from its casing, examined with a chuckle. It looks to be a colt forty five, the old style revolver. There's mild modifications around the drum though, and a slightly glowing fibreoptic cable very carefully attached.

The last of the things from in there, appear to be watches. They're probably not watches. But they LOOK like them. "I feel like Q."

Lucifer has posed:
Oh. Is Betsy tuned in? And the cameras are on? Well then... Lights. Camera...

ACTION!

The Devil strides up to the man in somewhat tattered clothing, hands shoved in his pockets and his head down but also looking around every so often like he's expecting someone to come up to him at any moment. Though the person who does approach him is certainly not the man he was expecting. Eyes shift upwards, the camera able to glean a little red where blue should be and he tilts his head while bringing his cane in front of him - grinning like the Devil. The only way a Grin is able to work.

"Seems a rough night for you. Trying to unload all that stash has to be quite heavy on the heart..." The Devil speaks. "Why don't we play a little game, you and I. See... I like to make deals of my own. And I'm feeling rather..." There's a sinister chuckle, "...generous tonight. You can give me everything in your pockets. All your little pills and powders and I will let you go..."

The man looks up and gives a sneer. "Ain't no one touchin' my stash lest they got the funds to pay for it...but you look like a well made man. Name yer price..."

"No. No price. Not monetary anyway...you're going to give me everything. For free. Or I will take your soul."

There's a heaviness that seems to fill the air, a thickness that cannot be cut - not even with a knife. Some things aren't meant to be seen by the eyes of others and a shade comes over the camera, like a veil has been lowered. Enshrouding the Devil and his soon to be victim...

Psylocke has posed:
Nick's vehement denial gets a bubbled laugh from Psylocke that feels a little... weird. Oh boy. Lucifer being in the house and on a tear feels like a low-grade shot of adrenaline and something else that should definitely be illegal.

"Getting rid of evidence /would/ be handy. We might need to draw straws to see who carries it though." Because most of the rest of the team can't regenerate. Well, there's Logan, but Psylocke is very certain convincing him to carry one of Sinister's toys is beyond even her skillset.

"You /are/ Q," she counters, even as her eyes are on the cameras, watching Lucifer. When that gleam of red eyes shows up on the camera she bites her lip.

The way she sways says, yes, she's tuned in, and probably should stop, but it's safe right? And she can't look away. She knows Lucifer can be terrifying. She's felt it before. Previous exposure doesn't make him any /less/ so when he's being fully the devil though. Even with the camera shuttered she can feel... terror. It closes up her throat and she squeezes her eyes shut. She's felt people die before when she was connected to them. This is like an echo of that, and before it gets to that point, she slams all her psychic shields up, taking a shuddering breath.

Betsy's looking a little pale.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick glances over to Sinister as he announces Lucifer's arrival. "Is he coming directly in or taking a detour?" He queries, remembering the comment from earlier the doctor made about the drug dealers.

Based from Betsy's reaction, he ends up getting his question answered. He opts not to watch the screen.

Hands shoved into his pockets, Nick's pale eyes assess the new items revealed. He recognize the headsets for what they appear to be. General thoughts to how impossible it is to adjust the settings of those things when phased. You either have the mic turned on. or turned off. Pick a channel and stick to it. They switched channels? Well you're SOL.

The eyes move over to the gun, lingering upon it as he looks to the cable and the drum modifications.

Hmm. He probably should go back to the range soon.

Speaking of guns...

"Does the energy transference device come with a safety?"

Sinister has posed:
Sin holds the device up, takes the cuff that goes from handle to 'fork' and clicks it to the right. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey," and he tosses the fork toward Nick, only to catch it with his mind about half a foot infront of the rockstar.

Whatever happens there, happens.

Betsy's reaction gets him watching her though, an assessment that has nothing to do with psychic ability and all to do with being a damn good doctor, if you ignore all the atrocities he'd committed.

A hand gesture is made and one of the technician's stools floats over right behind her. A very gentle kinetic shove is given, the equivalent of a hand on the shoulder pushing. "Sit. Before you fall. That can be quite the experience, if you're not used to the conduit to hell opening wide. I've had that thing flow through me to Lucifer before and it's... not something you ever forget."

Even if you might want to try.

"I don't think he'll be very long. He's ... eating at the moment."

Lucifer has posed:
That was a treat indeed. It's a few moments, perhaps a few beats of a heart that soon goes silent with nary a sound to accompany the moment. The veil then lifts and the thickness slowly subsides. Lucifer stands there, still as can be for a moment, before he chuckles and then smiles up at the camera, giving a little wave.

He then turns, cane swaying with him as he walks and being that he's attuned to Sinister's mind he puts that to use. One step, two, and then in the room where the trio are discussing things, Lucifer appears.

"Exquisite offering my darling." He offers first before glancing around. "So. What have I missed? What's going on? How can I help?" A recently fed Lucifer is a very peppy and energetic Devil.

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy's mouth parts to object, but she never actually gets that far. The 'push' urges her down onto the seat and her mouth bites shut. Her eyes close as she breathes out. Yuup. It's a lot. And her brain is at least half mortal, so probably only ingests or comprehends some small sliver of what she felt.

Look, maybe having her eyes shut isn't that bad a thing since Sinister casually tossing around the thing that can casually implode stuff would be at least a little alarming.

"I don't remember what happened when I died. But I do wonder if Lucifer met me before." Aka whether she went to Hell. It's not an out of bounds question; Betsy has absolutely done questionable things, sometimes in the service of the greater good, but not always strictly so. "I'm really not sure I ever want an answer to that, though."

How much of that will Lucifer pick up through Sinister? Hopefully not much. At least she gets it out before Lucifer appears in the room, and then her eyes open, watching him with undisguised interest. She's finnnne. Yup. "Nathaniel was giving out toys," she says.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick does not have time manipulation capabilities. Nor does he have superspeed. BUT, the brain is a funny funny thing. When the visual of the stick that makes thing goes boom comes sailing towards Nick's head, his mind goes into overdrive, taking in all of the information the eyes can process, cuing up the proper commands and just as Sinister's abilities are kicking off.

SLAP.

Hands raised and palms pressed together, the device's handle is nestled between the Nick's hands. The action side of the device fortunately pointed upwards and not towards anyone's head. Pale eyes fix upon the device and then looks over to Sinister.

Moments tick by. Extremely quiet moments. And after a few MORE moments, he moves his hands away from the device, leaving Sinister to be the only one holding it. Nick frowns.

Sinister has posed:
"Darling, quite the show..." Sinister moues his lips in an air-kiss and gestures to the camera bank. "You do all kinds of funny thing to recordings when they're live, that's for sure."

Other psychic is still sitting? Good. Give it a minute, Betsy. Just a minute. He inclines his head to the observation, indicating the gun and the optical arrays, along with the screwdriver and watches.

"You might be interested in one of those acutally..." picking one up, he presses both the buttons as one once did on sports watches to get the timer and/or alarm and/or stopwatch to work. Or you know, fiddled with it endlessly because it wouldn't work right. THAT. It's handed to the devil with another incline of the head -- for what it's worth those things look like designer high-end smartwatches, otherwise.

His gaze ticks to Nick. There's a smile, crooked at the still-hanging device and yet ANOTHER incline of the head, this with a strange sort of respect.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer glances over to Betsy who is sitting down and looking a little more pale than usual. He tilts his head and when Nathaniel mentions he puts on quite a show, there's a blushed grin. "I figured you all would enjoy it on some level...perhaps one of you not so much in the end." He says this and then walks over to Betsy. "Are you alright?" Spoken in a gentle tone as he is sincere in his wanting to know that she's okay.

The watch that gets tossed to him is caught without effort and he looks it over a moment before simply putting it on. No questions asked. He'll figure out what it does in due time, but for now, it's a little flash of bling to complete his ensemble for the night.

There is a glance offered to Nick, and even though the man is silent since he just caught something thrown at him in a particular way and lofts an eyebrow upwards. "So what's the occassion for all this toy offering, love?"

Psylocke has posed:
"Wow. That was very Karate Kid of you," Betsy marvels at Nick, and then nods approvingly when he veeeryy slowly releases the device. Wise. She might have to volunteer to take the thing after all. She makes a little /come here/ gesture and the fork floats toward her. She's not so much holding it as using her powers to hold it, but to-MAY-to, to-MAH-to.

Yes, Betsy's still sitting. She's not really one for guns; she much prefers sharp things and close quarter combat.

Her head tilts back when Lucifer approaches. The terror is gone -- it was never hers -- but the rush of it surges up again briefly, parting her lips. "You... are... a lot?" That's not what she means, exactly. "The way you make others feel is very, very intense. It's not, uh, a bad thing. Just stronger than I expected." Iit is a thing that takes her a moment -- and why shouldn't it? He's the actual devil. A little bit of terror is par for the course, as it were.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick gives a slight tilt of the head in response to Sinister's nod but he remains a bit quiet. Another nod is given to Betsy's comment. "...Most people can move quick when they see something's being thrown at their head." He responds, "But I generally don't recommend doing that." A pointed look is given to Sinister.

Eyes follow the device as it floats towards her.

Nick's eyes close for a moment as he takes in a deep breath, holding it for a few moments before releasing it Eyes open, setting back to Sinister. "...What did you do to the gun?"

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, mostly I wondered if any of my inventions that I came up with, that haven't been commercially or situationally put to use, could be used. I collated a handful of the ones I'd been working on with happy side effects and a few that I'd designed specifically to make everyone's lives a bit easier..." Sin indicates the watch that Lucifer wears as being one of those latter. A glance to the fork, then to Psylocke and Phantasm both, have him giving a noncommital kind of shrug -- the devil IS something to be in awe of, feared at times, loved at others. It's a gamut there. There's a facial expression reserved solely FOR the archangel of the light, with that particular thought process.

Then with a clearing of the throat, he looks quite pleased at the gun. "I am not going to apologise. I caught it. And it was interesting to see how fast you actually are -- we know how rapidly you can fall out of bed and slam a door, after all. You've got quick reactions. However!" He claps his hands, then points a single finger at the gun. "I got that in the 1800's, soon after I came to the Americas. It belonged to a metahuman by the name of Trickshot, well, that was his monika. Davey Stout doesn't quite have the same ring, I suppose... anyway. He was a huckster, one that empowered devices by I suppose a deal with an infernal or otherworldly entity, but I /recently/ managed to work out how to encode for hybrid technological-biological interface and it works like a charm now. It bends kinetic force. Doesn't change it. But it does mean you can do such things, as fire a bullet that goes around a corner."

Lucifer has posed:
"There is a time and place for guns, but it seems guns aren't the forte of current company." Lucifer offers this and then moves from Betsy to finally approach his lover fair, offering a chaste - but proper - kiss of greeting. "I take it most the toys you've been showing off in here have been modified in some way to do more than just what they're meant to do. Like this watch for instance. I'd like to know just what it is I put on my wrist...at some point. In due time." He chuckles then before glancing around once more.

Then, as if some huffy little Devil-child takes over, he shifts to pose in front of Nathaniel. "You haven't said a -word- about the outfit I chose for the evening. What do you think? I took some inspiration from you...and a little from here and there...and put this together. The cane was inspired by...oh what's the name of that movie.... ah! Ghost Rider. The man who plays the Devil has a cane just like this one and he's all sinister and good at the same time. It's absolutely stunning." The Devil in the movie, not the movie itself.

Psylocke has posed:
The non-committal shrug from Sinister is met with a wry smile from Psylocke. On the topic of Lucifer, she doesn't disagree. He has a unique kind of way of lulling her into thinking he's just another person -- don't blame her, it's the way a mortal mind copes with things beyond comprehension -- and then whamming her with his entirely criminal charm and terror unique to his true self. Only when Lucifer plants himself in front of his lover does Betsy's attention turn to the fork, turning it this way and that in the air.

Sin's explanation of the gun has her mouth parting in surprise and, well truly, alarm. Her wide eyes go to Nick. How does one test such a thing safely? "If you like I can stand next to you and throw up a shield when you fire." Because otherwise how does one practice exactly how to make a trick shot land where they expect? Certainly, unlike the tuning fork, she's not volunteering to use it. Guns really aren't her thing.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
To the lack of apology, Nick gives a curt nod of acknowledgement. His eyes shift back over to the gun as Sinister gives an explanation to the device. Silently he studies it, looking to the additions. "...Are the angles covered by a setting built into the gun or more by how it is handled by the person pulling the trigger?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister released Betsy with his presence it would seem, with Lucifer's magnetism shifting its gravitational pull. There's a widening of the eyes at the explanation and suddenly rather sartorially indignant Devil. "I... well..." then a small smile and a more sotto voce "...gosh, was it really? My word. Flattery... ahh..." and with a clearing of the throat, looks officially down and up then once more a little slower. "I personally am an extreme fan of black. But the tailoring is highly apt and it leaves just enough to the imagination to add to the mystery. Bravo, Seraph. Bravo!" there's even a frenetic little applaud of hands, as fine english ladies might have done two centuries ago.

Beaming, he indulges a kiss to the devil's cheek, then assumes the more sensible business of explanation.

"The watches allow technological understanding. Not the entire intimate in and out, but functionality. Basic function and how-to, a kind of lesser version of technomancy. THey'll also allow comprehension as to if something is /malfunctioning/ which isn't always obvious. They're proprietary of course -- and also function as a smart watch."

Inhaling, he looks to Nick and slowly lets the breath out. "I am afraid I don't know precisely -how- it functions, as part of the process was mystical in nature. The interface awakened the ability to use the Hex, I suppose. From my perspective, it appears to function by intent and imagination, as few of us have thoughts /faster/ than a bullet."

Lucifer has posed:
It is a rare thing to see Nathaniel Essex all flummoxed and practically speechless. It's even more rare to be the one that causes him to go into such a phase. Yet here it is, right before two of their very good friends. The Devil Grins(tm) and then tugs here and there at his coat and waistcoat to straighten any flaws from the fabric. "I am glad you approve, mystery included." He offers this much more and then the Grin(tm) softens to a smile at that kiss to his cheek.

When the watch is explained, he looks it over a bit and then nods. "You've been trying your best to find a way to help me understand bits and bobs about technology. I am glad that something as simple as a watch may hold the answers. Especially as we enter the next phase of our plan to fix that machine of yours." Of course, it will help with other things as well, like simple tasks around the club and house, and perhaps when having a conversation or few with Nathaniel. He's always hated getting lost in the translation of things and having to ask the Doctor to dumb things down - as it were. "Well. I do hope everyone is satisfied with their toys...and for the more violent ones, I hope you never have to use them. But one never knows..."

Psylocke has posed:
It's hard to say whether Betsy's scrutiny of Nick is for the fact that he didn't take her up on her offer, or something else. There's something almost thoughtful in her regard, such that she only catches the tail end of Nathaniel's speechlessness with a surprised blink and a soft laugh. If anyone can do that, figures it would be the devil.

Lucifer's comment reminds her. "Tell me what's happening with the machine? Seven explained it a little, but..." she spreads her hands. Maybe /she/ needs a watch, too. Satisfied?

"Wary," Betsy clarifies, over how she feels about her new toy. "Which is apt given the disintegrating factor."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Nick furrows his brow to the explanation. "...Sounds like the gun acts as a means to transfer will onto the projectile." He pauses. "...Or maybe it amplifies those with telekinetic tendencies." He glances over to Betsy. "...Would the shield you spoke of fall into that category?"

See he was listening.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister takes one more salacious look at the whole ensemble from top to bottom. And bottom. And bottom again, then on the way up across the back and to the face. Very nice indeed. Imagination may be running rife, judging by the ever so slightly lascivious edge to his smile. It fades rather quickly though, with a sloe-eyed look to Nick and a nod. "Will, I think. I mean... it's very easy to test. I can go and stand in front of a barrel, then get behind cover in the warehouse and you can shoot me. It's not like you'll do much damage and -my- clothing heals. If you shoot Lucifer, I'll have all kinds of protests to have, that outfit is far too delicious." Shoot Sinister. Sure. Why not. Right? There's a few would give their eye teeth for that opportunity. Of course, -they- would use phosphorus rounds.

Almost like he might be psychic, Sin casually gestures to the fact that that was not the ONLY watch in the case, even as he's looking at the fork in Betsy's grip. "For what it's worth, I think you'd have to hold it against a person for a very, very long time, for it to catch. Living processes seem to interfere with the kinetic transferrence of potentia. But... well, we're still having machines out of synch. The not-our-machines, that is. The prime machine, the one -I- made, is functioning. Just squiffily, owing to the quantum interferences. However, I think I have engineered a solution, but I'm fairly certain the rest of X-force aren't going to like it."

Lucifer has posed:
Oh. Lucifer catches all the eyeing he's getting from Nathaniel, and that lavicious edge to that smile. Inwardly he's loving it, outwardly he simply smirks and tries not to give too much away. All of that will be enjoyed later. At the Penthouse. When they're alone.

"Indeed. I would offer myself as a target but the clothing is rather new and I'd like to enjoy it's full potential before I do anything ruinous to it." He says this and then gives a shrug. "Nothing will hurt Nathaniel, not even a little bit, aside from it likely tickling him on contact." He looks to Betsy then. "A tuning fork? Interesting." He also caught the gesture from Sin. He figured this wasn't the ONLY watch, but that doesn't make what he said any less truthful. Just means he's not special in that regard, and that's -fine-.

"The rest of X-Force? Aside from us in this room the only other people are those mutants, right? The one who hates me for all that I am and his little girlfriend who's..." He drops the rest of that sentence and just grins. "The man never likes anything you do, and the girl seems to simply follow you like a lost puppy... We have to do what's best for the whole of the situation."

Psylocke has posed:
"The shield's telekinetic," Betsy confirms with a nod to Nick. "But I don't do guns. Even magical ones." A beat. "/Especially/ magical ones." There's a hardness in her voice there. It only fades a little at her follow up as she cuts a look to Sinister with a twitch of brows. "My sudden decision to be far away from this experiment is only partly due to the glaring absent concern about either Nick or myself getting shot." To that end she stands, though there's a brief flouish -- more a turn, with out the shift of her hand, to display the tuning fork to Lucifer, before she lowers it to her side.

There's a lift of an elegant purple brow from Betsy at Nathaniel's explanation, and then she looks at Lucifer. "Translation?" Is she testing out the watch? Seems so.

"I did get the last part. You're talking to a group willing to /die/ to prevent the future I saw, so whatever you're implying we're not going to like doesn't really fill me with delight, Nathaniel." She straightens. "Go on."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick frowns to the suggestion, nodding to Betsy's stated concern. "While I'm sure showing that the bullets never bother you anyway- Couldn't we use a non-living target instead for the gun?"

Sinister has posed:
"Now, now, Luci... that's uncharitable toward her. I worked hard on a relationship there, but she does have a passionate fire for arguing a case, I'll give you that. She's more of an attack dog with a very heavy fist, than a puppy though..." There's a lingering look to the devil, a slow descent and back up again with his eyes, then a sudden and colgate brilliant smile. TING.

He looks away as if that didn't just happen, a scoffing sound uttered. "Oh, very well, if you insist. Just outside the office door there's the stairs up to the gantry. There's a whole string of chains ready for overhead hauling out there. Lean out the door, focus and hit the /rope/ that's attached to the hintermost chain. You should sever it with a bullet and there's a lot obscuring direct line of sight and aim there."

A gesture is made to the door and it unlocks, swinging inward with narry a sound. The technicians in here move to the OTHER end of the office and the hidden space behind it. Just in case, it seems. Oh, the total lack of faith is admirable, isn't it?

Looking from the door to Betsy, Sin's expression turns a little black in humour. "Given that the machines need to be calibrated all at once and I will have to have my mostly undivided attention on the one in our plane, you all are going to have to borrow a sliver of my talent. I've designed a way to share my technomancy with others. I can, I think, do up to about ten, before my own mind starts having the most monumental migraine imaginable. I don't recommend it. I get tetchy when I've got a headache."

Lucifer has posed:
Oh there is no mistaking the glint in Lucifer's eyes after that most recent up-down come hither please look he got from Nathaniel. It leaves him a moment of need to clear his throat and force himself to be distracted by Betsy and the flourish she gives of that fork she's been gifted. The guide for how to practice using the gun is given to Nick and Lucifer glances to him a moment before lifting a single shoulder in a shrug. "I'm not opposed to guns, not even magical ones, mostly because they cannot harm me. But do be careful, Nick. For your own sake..."

Betsy seems ready to leave, until something Nathaniel says stops her. Then Nathaniel explains what needs to be done. "This, by part, is where the woman mutant comes into play yes?" He only asks this (mostly because it stops the writer from 'filling in' known information otherwise) and then he wiggles fingers in the air. "Don't worry. I'll soothe your testy little brain if it happens to try and burst out of your skull in the middle of the procedure, dear Nathaniel."

Psylocke has posed:
The fact that all the technicians move to the /other/ end of the room is, indeed, telling. With a twitch of lips, Betsy waves, and a purple shimmer of light comes into play, cutting the room in half, with her and those sheltering technicians behind it. As far as she's aware they're innocent, and she's taking no chances.

"I see," Betsy replies to Sinister, and her hard expression says she does. It's a hard sell -- even for her, even if with trust they've built -- and selling /that/ to the rest of the team is even tougher. "I don't think ten will be necessary." Even counting Nick there's not yet that many members in X-Force, let alone those /willing/ to put themselves in such a position. When Lucifer clarifies, her brows go up. "This hinges on Rogue? I know she can mimic powers -- but how would that share it to the rest of us?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Lucifer's words of caution gets a nod. "I will be, Lucifer. I'm not a fan of guns either but the situation I was in did result in me getting some firearms training."

A lot. Crammed into a small period of time.

As Nick talks, the general silence about him starts to fade as he listens to Sinister's instructions. As he looks to the door opening and the technicians moving out of the way he doesn't go for the gun. Instead he walks over to the door to get a general idea of where the rope is. AND what's behind the intended target. A rope is not going to stop a bullet after all.

He takes a bit of time looking around, also taking note of where the bullet would probably end up going if it doesn't bend like promised. It's probably been covered... somehow but Bucky would have his head if he didn't get some type of confirmation before they go shooting like I wild person.

Nick comes back through the doorway, looking over to Sinister. "What do you have in place for a Bullet Trap?"

Sinister has posed:
Sin points a finger at his own temple, which is potentially all that needs be said. He isn't big on guns himself, usually not needing them because of -other- things, but that's not to say he's incapable of appreciating them. And using them. And knowing what is going on when checking these things out. What's behind the rope is chain. Apparently, that's an extra binding, probably for large cargo haulage. Infront of it? Two more chains, looped down from the ceiling and the upper gantry. The third chain is obscured but just visible -- the shot COULD be done by an expert, but it'd be a reasonable test of the Trickshot.

A casual glance askance is given to the purple forcefield and the technician's huddle, with a soft hrrrmn in the back of his throat, though this is mitigated by Lucifer's words. "Promise you can keep, I think..." -- but there's also consideration.

Due consideration, even.

"Rogue's gift isn't really needed, unless something goes very peculiar with the devices. But the way her power works is what inspired me. It's a very unique kind of ability, in that her brain plasticity is far more fluid than normal people's. Her ability activates regions of the brain temporarily or with prolonged bio-field entropy, permanently. It gave me the notion to isolate and activate the neurones responsible for a parallel signal in both the Broca and Wernicke's area of the brain, using my own as a blue print. Too long, didn't listen..."

He smiles "...the modified EEG sensor and smart microprocessor synchs the devices with my own techno-understanding of language and function and transmits the same neuro-pathway activations for whoever wears the synch'd devices. Presto-changeo... you can use my gift, remotely. Temporarily. I think if anyone tried to use it for too long, it would scramble thier understanding of -all- language."

There is a pause here, then a grin. A SINISTER kind of grin.

"Which, you know, might be curious. And Hilarious in the wrong circumstance -- to compute the world in binary, you'd lose all inflection and nuance. Or you'd surreally start to understand the universal code. I -might- have to experiment with that..."

Lucifer has posed:
"Well. Seems like everything is covered then. Betsy and the innocents are barriered, Nick has asked seemingly all the right questions and... now it's just time to test?" Lucifer offers this with a smirk. "I think I'm going to go devour a couple more drug dealers and then make my way home. I should see you sometime tonight, love?" Looking over to Nathaniel as he asks this while shifting to give a proper kiss to his lips. "Sorry to dash, but, I have a few things to prepare for I think." And he doesn't seem to give a right damn who might have heard those words as he moves to make a proper exit back towards Dealer Haven.

Psylocke has posed:
Yeah, Betsy only got the 'gist' of that. It's enough, though. Judging by the purple haired telepath's expression using Sinister's gift for too long isn't a thing she's at risk of doing. There's a sharp awareness in her eyes when she asks, "Was that a deliberate choice to prevent your... understanding, being permanently stolen?" A trap, so to speak? At least he tells them, and she certainly seems to appreciate the warning, for all that, for her at least, it's an unnecessary one.

She likes the way she views the world, even if it isn't precisely normal.

"I would be offended by the fact that you differentiated me from the innocents, Lucifer, except you undoubtedly know better." Betsy's amused, at least. Oh, Lucifer's off to play. Yup, she's going to keep her psychic awareness to herself for a little bit.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick watches as Sinister gestures to his head. Okay...So telepathic shielding behind him and...kind of at an angle...ish. Well, guess he doesn't need to think faster than a speeding bullet if he's just setting up the trap ahead of time. And maintaining it. Giving a sigh he nods, moving over to the case. He takes a moment to check to see if the weapon is already loaded. Finding it empty, he takes a moment to test its weight before reaching over to the case to retrieve the ammunition to load a few rounds inside.

Sinister's explanation of the device gives him pause. If Sinister can't very well go to these worlds himself to fix the devices. How is he going to get the devices for synching over there? Is he going to send the plans over in the hopes someone else manufactures them? And what if those are also out of whack?

The musician pauses as Lucifer makes general hints to future activities rather hard to miss. He waits a few moments, allowing for Sinister to process the general offerings going about him before Nick interrupts.

"Gun's loaded." Nick advises before moving over to the door. "Let me know when you're ready, Nathaniel."

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, I imagine I shall be along shortly. I have to appreciate more of that outfit and less of it later... which is all part of the wonderous thing that is neither the past, nor the future, but the Present. And that's why it's a gift, no?" He returns the kiss, giving a lick of the lips in the wake, grins and sobers all at the same instant.

A sigh.

"I do love to see him arrive, hate to see him go but... at least I can appreciate it." Until he vanishes. Oh dat ass.

"And to answer you Nick, the prime reality device is like a metronome. All the others are just a little out of synch, but a broken clock is accurate twice a day. We just need to wait until all the metronomes are ticking at the same time, however brief that is, to work like a stink. We don't have an alarmingly long window, thus why I don't much care if there'd be -long- term effects of my borrow-Sinbrain. None of you are liable to be using it for long enough to matter. But... I dare say that you, Betsy... have some selling to do. Or a line to pitch. Or a doom to trawl. Or failing all of those, a line to cross or draw in the sand. Either way, I trust you'll put the fork to good use."

And Nick, well, he's going to get watched. And that bullet will be the end of this day, for absolute certain.

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy is deadly quiet. Usually for the ninja that's a sign of impending violence. In this case, she's trying very, very hard not to distract Nick from trying to send the bullet where he intends it to go.

Even if Sinister's prediction of a difficult path ahead of her is eerily on point.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Once Nathaniel indicates he's ready and that the bullet trap is up. Nick turns his head to look back outside. Ture to what Sinister said, he can't really see the rope from where he's standing, but from the previous look around he has an idea of the general area. Adjusting his postrue, he raises the gun and turns it as close in the direction of the rope as he can.

The sound of the gunfire reverberates around the warehouse but there's little concern of being heard over the sounds of repair work going on outside.

As the sound dies away, there's the visual of a piece of rope plummeting to the floor.

"Guess it works."