4805/Cyborgs for Lunch

Cyborgs for Lunch
Date of Scene:	03 July 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Cyborgs attack Laura, Andrea and Mason, and don't live to regret it.
Cast of Characters:	Donald Pierce, X-23, Rage, Mason Steele

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Donald Pierce has posed:
It's a beautiful day, warm if muggy, and traffic is the usual slog as they make their way through Manhattan into Two Bridges and toward Wo Hop City, perhaps the most famous eatery in Chinatown. Andrea, Mason and Laura are in James' car being driven, as Andrea usually is. The drive has been a bit long, but the food is supposed to be amazing.

James turns off Cherry, north onto Clinton, then west again on Monroe, winding his way toward the restaurant. Traffic eases up as they hit Monroe, a side street winding between big cross-shaped Housing Authority apartment buildings.

X-23 has posed:
Laura frowns. "We are being followed." she says, matter-of-factly. "There is a black van that has matched our course." The girl's enhanced senses and combat training (and well, general paranoia) keep her more aware than most.

Rage has posed:
Instead of her usual energetic self, Andrea seems a bit more subdued as she stares out the window of the back seat, positioned behind James on the driver's side. She has her white pods in her ears a she listens to music, lightly bobbing her head at times. Giving a glance upwards at Laura's voice, she wiggles one out of her ears, then glances over her shoulder. James as well takes a peek through the rearview, then mumbles something into his radio on his shoulder in the form of code words. 'Phoenix enroute to WaPo. May have a Raven in pursuit. Standby.' The popstar gives a glance over to Laura. "How long they've been following us for?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Probably just a news crew," Mason comments, having not noticed them prior to Laura's declaration. His arm drapes across the back of the seat, long enough to reach behind both Laura and Andrea, and he tilts his head to look back. "Listen to that, when did James start speaking in code?" He quirks a smile, not taking the situation very seriously.

Donald Pierce has posed:
There is a screech of tires from up ahead as the old red, hatchback Civic in front of them slams on the brakes suddenly. The back of the little car seems to rush toward them. There are cars in the oncoming lane, so James hauls hard on the wheel. Their tires squeal as he pulls them into an alley between two tenement buildings, strewn with trash. They barely avoided crashing into the Civic, and James brings the car to a stop. Up ahead about 20 feet is a brick wall, sealing off the alley. There are steel doors into the two buildings bracketing the alley, and fire escapes with their ladders raised. Up ahead of them is a green dumpster, the lid of one side open, the other chained down.

They barely have time to register what happened when there is a smashing sound. Glass shards rain down on Andrea, Laura and Mason from behind them and a brown and yellow cylinder lands on the floor in the back of the car.

X-23 has posed:
"Not a news crew." Laura states. "Tinted windows. Riding low, carrying extra weight. Last three turns." Of course, she also doesn't really seem /bothered/ by the idea that someone's following them. It's just a fact. Sky is blue, water is wet, they're being followed.

And then the trap is sprung. The grenade is lobbed into their car, and Laura's first reaction? Well, she's small. She pretty much tosses herself on it and turtles on it.

Rage has posed:
"Holy shit!" Andrea calls out as they become trapped in the alley and chaos erupts. When the grenade is launched into the car, she shoves herself against the door to push herself out and into the alley, already feeling the ripple of her skin as the wolf howls within her chest to be let out. "Mason, Laura, get out!" She cries to them as James himself is unbuckling and hauling himself out of the car, unholstering his weapon and flipping the safety off. The large man in the suit is military trained as he steps towards the celebrity.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason flinches as the grenade flies into the car, and it takes a moment to register that it isn't a rock. A moment that might kill him. He lets out an indistinct yelp, opening the door and trying to topple out of the door. He is still restrained by the belt, however, and the result is a momentary flailing as he reaches down and undoes the harness, falling out on the pavement and frantically pulling his arm from the belt before balling up with the anticipation of the explosion bursting out of the door.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The flash bang goes off under Laura. There is a surge of heat and energy under her, causing her body to jump when it goes off, burning through the front of her shirt. Some light escapes when her body bounces, but she absorbs almost the entirety of the disorienting concussive blast.

The black Astro Van that was following them is parked across the mouth of the alley. The front passenger door is open and a man is lowering what looks like some kind of grenade launcher.

Four other men have piled out of the sliding door of the van and are running down the alley. They are wearing some combination of jeans, boots, t-shirts and non-descript jackets. To a man, they are heavily, almost ridiculously muscled and have a variety of arm and face tattoos with prominent swatstika inked on them. The driver is out of the van, aiming an assault rifle over the boxy hood of the van. He starts firing in James' direction.

Of the four men, two crouch then leap impossibly high, arcing toward James' car, almost seeming to fly. The other two are sprinting down the alley at Olympic speeds.

X-23 has posed:
Problem one, solved. The grenade not being an issue, Laura has classmates on either side of the car, which is her next problem.

No, not Laura. Not really. This is pure X-23. The Weapon is here, not the girl. With her shirt blown off by the grenade, and the ensuing pain from that, there's a snarl from the girl, a loud *SNIKT*, and she comes right out the back window, claws leading the way as they shatter the glass easily and give her a path that doesn't result in having to go past her teammates in this state. Tactical assessment happens in an instant, and she heads for the driver, moving to put her own body in the line of fire between the driver and James, as she charges him with death in her eyes.

Rage has posed:
Shrieking loudly as bullets start to ricochet off the car, Andrea ducks down behind her door, using it as a shield as she glances across the way to Mason. She bites her lip and calls over, "Just stay down! Okay? Just stay down and call 911." Her voice grows huskier with each word until the last couple are snarled out growls. Instead of a girl coming up from behind the door, is a large, eight foot werewolf of muscle, fur and rage filled terror as a loud war cry bellows from her throat. Her claws flex in razor sharpness as a feral laugh rips from her gut. ~I am going to tear your limbs off and mail them back to your parents!~ She bolts forward in a blur of black and white patched fur, meeting one of the men in the air who jumped towards them, tackling him to the ground with a firm yank. Once they land, she begins to gore into him with a murderous ferocity.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason looks up briefly, spotting the incoming aggressors. He glances at Andrea, and Laura's explosive attack from the car. There are a lot of them.
    He plants his hand on the ground, and slides a strip of pavement toward him, under the foot of one of the men running to knock him off his feet like a banana peel, and then slides it back, then rolls back to get between the door and the attackers, desperately scrambling for better cover as he makes his way to the front of the car.

Donald Pierce has posed:
One round, clear through the shoulder. Two more off the wall beside her. The bullets come flying at Laura as she puts herself between the shooter and the others. She hears repeated single shots from behind her; .40 caliber, low, no hiss. James firing back.

The running attacker nearest to Laura flinches twice as he takes rounds from James, and then she's past him, bearing down on the two men by the car. The front passenger is pulling out a machine pistol and getting ready to shoot, but she will have covered the ground in time.

There is the most bizarre and out of place sensation of movement as part of the concrete seems to /slide/ and the second running cyborg loses his footing. He hits the ground and skids some distance, victim of his own inertia.

There is a massive whump when Andrea collides with one of the two cyborgs in the air. They go down in a tumble. He swings in effectually though as he was not ready to meet anyone in mid-air, and certainly not a fully changed werewolf. In seconds after landing he is blood, gore and sparks under Andrea's assault.

The second jumper lands on the roof of James' car and it caves under the impact. Everyone can be glad they weren't inside. He sees Mason running and makes a smaller jump off the roof of the car to try and land ahead of him and cut him off.

X-23 has posed:
Bullet through her shoulder. Inconsequential. It's healing almost instantly...her healing factor is actually /better/ than Logan's, and that's saying something. In less than a second, the hole is sealed up, leaving only blood to mark its passage. She snarls, and slashes, once at the driver's midsection with her left arm to try and make him double over with pain, the other arm aiming an uppercut to put claws through his head as he doubles over.

Rage has posed:
As her combatant goes down beneath her, Andrea yanks the head clear from the shoulders and slams it face first into the ground two times before she lets out a loud, defeaning roar into the alley. ~Remember, you wanted this!~ She howls outwards as she rises to her full height, covered in blood and relishing in the coppery scent in the air. The wolf is in full control and Andrea is now a backseat driver to the monster as the dark eyes smolder in a glowing gold color. Spying X-23 handling her business, she whips her head around to the man that leaped after Mason and goes full tilt after him as she blurs past James who doesn't bat an eye. He just continues to fire his silenced gun with pin-point accuracy in a calm, collected manner. His radio squawks that the police has been notified and back up is enroute per his GPS location.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason stops as the large cybernetic monster lands in front of him, and he backpedals so hard that he falls back onto his rear. "Whoa, whoa!" he holds his hands out in surrender. "Cool it, we're cool, we're cool!" he protests in panic. He pulls his wallet from his pocket, tossing it before him on the ground. "Take it, I got like $500 right now, I'll get you more if you want, just let's chill, right?"

Donald Pierce has posed:
X-23 cuts through flesh and metal with her first swipe, disembowling the driver. He looks down in shock just in time to see the points of her uppercut coming for his face. Everything ends for him there. The front passenger swears, cursing X-23 in colourful terms as he prays and sprays bullets over the hood of the van. She dives claws first over the hood, bullets grazing her arms. Her claws plunge into the cyborg's chest and he goes down under her and a rain of stabbing punches.

From close by there is the sound of a car peeling out, and the red Honda Civic tears off up the street, abandoning the men from the van, or what is left of them. In the distance sirens are fast approaching.

"Almost there, get ready to evac," James hears over the radio as his bullets finally find their real mark, zippering up the chest of the running cyborg until two punch through his face.

The cyborg near Mason turns and sneers at Mason's display as he stalks over. "You're gonna die, then that mutie bitch will," he snarls and lifts his foot to stomp Mason into the asphalt.

Rage has posed:
The cyborg threatening Mason gets the surprise of his life as the large black werewolf leaps over the car and over his body as she tackles the cyborg to the ground. ~You leave my mate alone!~ She roars into his face as she yanks him upwards by the throat as her claws dig into flesh and cybernetics. Slamming him against the wall of the building as she hoists him higher, her free paw tears forward into his stomach, seeking guts and components alike as she looks to tug them free. ~He is MINE. MINE. MINE!~

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason was scrambling back to avoid the stomp when the black shadow of fur blows over him, the sight of the gore burning into his mind. He looks away as a spatter of the blood spackles his face and shirt. He gets back to his feet, only to turn and see an equally grizzly scene unfold on Laura's end. "Shit, oh shit." He spins back toward Andrea, then to James. A gun, that's...well, it's less brutal than the other two. He stumbles backward toward the wall of the alley, finding himself entering a state of shock. So much blood.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The smell in the alley is unbelievable. A bizarre mix of blood, urine, entrails and the acrid smoke of burning circuitry as the artificial parts of the bodies of the cyborgs seem to start burning.

X-23 scans the alley quickly and then stands, seemingly oblivious to the fact the front of her clothes have been blown away, or that she was shot just a few moments ago. "They are all dead," she says simply. "We must go."

There is the sound of an engine roaring down the street toward the alley and then squeel of tires. A black Tahoe slides into view and a man piles out of the front passenger door. He starts to raise a pistol but then lowers it.

"What the hell happened here?!" he exclaims looking down at the shredded mess that was the driver of the Astro Van. He has not even looked down the alley yet. "James! Get her, let's go!" he calls out, eyes stuck on the mess in front of him.

Rage has posed:
Breathing heavily, Andrea turns towards Mason once she discards the body with a flip of her large paw behind her, dropping it with a heavy, wet thud. She stares at the cowering boy for a few moments before her ears wilt backwards. The glowing gold of her eyes flickers away as she starts to melt down in loud, painful cracks of her body as she shrinks to her normal form once again. She is naked, covered in blood as she croaks out. "Mason, we gotta go. Come on." She says as she holds out a hand down to him, looking regretful. "We'll get back to Xavier's and clean up and .... I don't know... "

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason instinctively raises his hands as the tahoe driver exits with the gun. "I didn't do it!" he exclaims, only to feel that his sentence makes no sense a moment later. That fits, nothing happening makes any sense. This isn't the police? Wait, why hasn't he called the police?
    "We gotta call the cops," Mason says. "We gotta call...the...shit. The army, the marines, my mom..." he starts rambling. He shrinks back when Andrea offers her hand. "Andrea... you, you just killed that guy. You turned him into...shit!" He doesn't seem to know where to retreat to, given the dead bodies strewn around. He's definitely not handling this well.

Donald Pierce has posed:
James swears under his breath and holsters his firearm. "Come on, son, we're gonna go somewhere safe," he says to Mason firmly. "That's our ride, time to get in." He moves to the trunk of his now wrecked car. With a grunt he heaves on the trunk. There is a grinding noise and it opens just enough for him to reach inside and pull out a duffel bag and an emergency blanket. He tosses the blanket to Andrea.

"/NOW/," he barks at Mason and points down the alley way.

X-23 considers the man who climbed out of the Tahoe idly, but seems to conclude he is no threat. She just walks around the Astro van's hood and takes up position toward the back of the Tahoe, watching.

The sirens are definitely getting closer.

Rage has posed:
"Mason, snap out of it, we gotta get the hell out of here." Andrea says as she reaches down to snag his hand after wrapping herself in a towel. She gives him a tug upwards. "Look, I did what I did to save your life. That guy was gonna kill you, and these /things/ aren't even real people. They're just cyborgs who gave up their life a long time ago to turn themselves into toasters." She starts nudging him to the Tahoe. "Come on, we can't be here when the cops come. You don't want that in the press."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason seems unable to resist at the second attempt, he allows himself to be maneuvered, jumping at James' command. He gets in the Tahoe. "But, we gotta tell the cops," he tries to protest. "They will come looking, if we flee the scene...they'll arrest us, they'll put us in prison. I don't wanna go to prison. I didn't do it. I'm innocent."

Donald Pierce has posed:
X-23 is last into the Tahoe. Her foot is barely off the ground before everyone is pressed back into their seats. Her door slams shut of its own accord under the sudden acceleration and they tear off down the street and away from the alley.

"Did you..." the driver of the Tahoe starts to ask James.

"Yep," he says before the question is even complete.

There is a /whump/ and flash from the alley and a plume of black smoke rises into the sky.

Rage has posed:
"/Mason/." Andrea says as she climbs in after him, toweling the blood off her body. "Snap out of it. I know this was scary and you're freaking out right now. But don't worry, okay? Miss Grey and Frost will handle it." She says as she looks at him, pushing her bloody hair away from her face. "Just... take a deep breath, focus. You won't get in any trouble. I promise you."