4902/Fire

Fire
Date of Scene:	12 July 2018
Location:	Neogen Devices
Synopsis:	Wiccan, Speed, Twitch, Rage, Storm and Green Arrow thwart a billion dollar R&D theft and save many lives. Kano wreaks havoc. Pierce weeps into his expensive brandy.
Cast of Characters:	Donald Pierce, Twitch, Green Arrow, Speed, Rage, Wiccan, Storm, Kano

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Donald Pierce has posed:
It is one of those grey, cloudy days that bring cooler weather and some relief from the heat. New York city is awash in diffused grey light, which is a stark contrast from the golden summer light of recent weeks. The city seems to be busier, if anything, freed from the stifling heat.

NeoGen Devices occupies most of the floors of a tower in the Upper East Side. It is one of the world's largest bio-medical device manufacturing companies. The company makes everything from hospital equipment to advanced robotic prosthetics, and even sponsors a few heroes who have needed replacements over the years. Listed in the Fortune 500, it uses the New York facility for its main corporate offices, engineering design, and advanced research.

The main panel in the building lobby lights up around 10:20 am. Moments later, the fire alarm starts to sound intermittently. Four minutes later, the building is rocked by an explosion on the 23rd floor that blows out the windows, showering glass into the streets below. Fire billows out after the glass. The alarms sound in full.

Four fire trucks with 9 Hall, Lower East Side, markings are on the scene almost immediately. They start to deploy bulky, heavy set firemen in full turnout gear into the building and blocking off the street. In the distance, 8 Hall, Upper East, alarms start ringing and crews rush to their trucks. People are just starting to run out of the NeoGen and adjacent buildings.

In the alley at the back of the building, two black SUV's screech to a halt. Two men with half-shaved heads and long hair, wearing long leather trenchcoats pile out of the trucks, along with a short, slight man who seems to almost hum as he moves. More men and women pile out of the remaining seats. The group forces its way into the backdoors against the tide of people starting to make their way out of the building.

Twitch has posed:
It's not a bad day to be in the city. Until those there's an explosion. Prior to that a group of youngsters, Andrea, Speed, Wiccan and Tyler, were cruising through the Upper East Side's shopping centers in Andrea's white BMW.

Once the sky lights up and the terrible noise of the destruction at the NeoGen Devices office reaches them Tyler immediately pulls out his cell phone and shoots off a message to the faculty on duty at the school: 'Big explosion, Upper East Side. Going to see if people need help.' Tyler, apparently, is learning responsibility. Or something.

The BMW heads in the direction of the fire, maneuvering deftly through traffic to get where it's going as people flee in the opposite direction. It arrives and stops across the street, probably crushing already broken glass under it's run flats.

As soon as the car's in park Tyler's door flings open and the young man gets out, looking over the scene with a horrified expression on his face, trying to see if he might be able to do anything to help the people present.

Green Arrow has posed:
Having already been in the city for the Manhatten leg of his global patrols, Green Arrow can see the explosion in the distance easily. Looks like the fungus war will have to wait. "That doesn't look like the mushrooms..." Green Arrow observes to himself.

The green clad vigilante turns in place on his skybike, already going top speed as he switches to hover mode to fly his way over noon traffic. Tuning his emergency services commlink, he listens in on local channels to get an update on what's actually going on as he heads towards the explosion.

Speed has posed:
Ugh. Cars. Tommy hated cars. But given the choice of riding in the slowmobile and being a spaz and running to the city he picked the former. And okay, maybe it wasn't so bad chatting with Andy, Tyler and his bro while they drove. But he'd be damned if he was going to admit that.

When they reach the building Tommy hops out of the backseat, with a quick, "Be right back," and does a quick circuit of the block to scope out the situation and let's face it stretch his legs.

Rage has posed:
As she parks the car, Andrea gives a visible frown as she climbs out and yanks a backpack over her shoulders by the straps. "I really hope I don't have to tear through another pair of vintage boyfriend jeans. It's hard to find these now from the 90's." She says as she puts a hand to her brow. The sight of the fire trucks gives her some relief as she gives a glance to the rest of her friends. "I don't know if we should engage if the firemen are on the scene..." She trails off. She looks to Wiccan and Speed and ponders thoughtfully. "Billy, can you do some type of x-ray vision spell where we can see into the building to determine if there is any casualties or people that are in high risk of danger? We can use Tommy to pull them out. Tyler and I can be ground support here and try and help those who are running out to safety. Take minimal risks here."

Wiccan has posed:
Wiccan met the others at the shopping center and seemed a bit surprised when they -drove- to the next set of shops...but then again, he's never driven himself anywhere. Why bother when you've lived in the city all your life...and now you can fly?

But as soon as the car stops he's also out and, with a gesture and a quiet, "Costume," he's already 'changed' out of his civvies. He also lifts up from off of the ground to get a better vantage point. "Do we need to do a search of the building? I don't know that I can just put that out..." Magic is tricky sometimes.

Glancing down to Andrea he frowns in thought, "X-ray vision spell? I don't think so, but maybe...uhm..." He tries not to take too long before he starts quietly chanting, "GPStoPeopleInDangerGPStoPeopleInDangerGPStoPeopleInDangerGPStoPeopleInDanger"...

It may work?

Storm has posed:
Ororo is peacefully at her desk having tea. She is going through paperwork, as per usual for many of the school instructors, and has news coverage playing in the background. The television in the far corner of her office gets little attention. She takes a sip from the steaming cup and moans her approval.

Her cellular device starts to chime and Ororo raises it see a text message. "Big explosion... upper east side... going to-- no, no, no!" Without wasting time, she leaves the office and heads into a nearby elevator, and then heads to the lower levels. It takes Ororo close to six minutes to put on a uniform uniquely designed for herself.

Running to the hangar, she activates the roof -- which also functions as the school's basketball court -- and winds carry her into the sky. From Westchester to Manhattan, it is a fifty-three minute commute; however, Ororo increases her flight speed to up to three hundred miles per hour.

She will be on the scene in less than ten minutes.

Donald Pierce has posed:
Fire crews from three of the 9 Hall trucks have done little more than block off traffic. People coming out of the NeoGen building run up to them with reports of fire or injured people, and are yelled at until they keep going, wide eyed and scared. The firecrews have not even started deploying hoses or hooking the pumper truck up to the ladder trucks. The entire fourth truck crew seems to have gone inside the building.

Fire trucks from 8 Hall, Upper East Side, come barelling down the street and are forced to stop at the perimeter set up by the 9 hall crew, who refuses to move. The 8 Hall captain is out of his truck in a flash and yelling for the 9 Hall crew to move. The 9 Hall captain comes over and starts yelling back. Before long, it is chaos among the fire crews and shoving erupts between the 8 and 9 Hall men.

The emergency services channels are a mess. 8 Hall's communications were clear, crisp and normal until they got near the scene. Then they got more and more choppy until they cut out entirely as they approach the building. Confusingly, 9 Hall seems to be asking over the air whether it should interrupt its training seminar and send its trucks, saying they will be delayed. On combined services channels, NYPD and the ambulance services are asking for updates from the scene and starting to dispatch their own vehicles. There are no replies from anyone at the NeoGen building.

Tyler's phone beeps when he tries to send a message, it goes through then ends up with no bars. No signal. Everyone else's phones beep as they lose signal close to the building.

There are a lot of people in danger. There are people trapped by fire on the 23rd floor, and people from the floors above are having a hard time getting down the fire escapes. There are injured people on the 24th, 23rd and 22nd floors, and a smattering of them on other floors, probably people who fell during the explosion or trying to get to the fire exits.

News choppers are starting to fly toward the building.

Twitch has posed:
"Good idea, Andrea," Tyler says to the young woman as he moves a few feet to get a better look at things, glass crunching under his boots. "Yeah. We can let Tommy and his brother do their thing and help out the firefighters. You and I can just be on standby in case something else happens, stay out of the way mostly."

The arguing firefighters are given a look and a frown. The frown only intensifies when his phone beeps and he looks down to see that it's suddenly got no signal, "That's weird." He looks to see if perhaps there was a cell phone tower atop the burning building. "What the hell is going on?"

Speed has posed:
There's not much Tommy can see on the outside of the building except that Hall 9 sucks at their jobs. "New York's bravest my ass," he grumbles as he speeds back to an alley then walks snail speed back to the group.

"Couldn't see much outside. The firemen aren't doing jack though, it's probably on us to save everyone," he reports, the last coming with a roll of his eyes.

Rage has posed:
"I don't think we should get invovled unless necessary.." Andrea says to Tommy as he returns, chewing on her bottom lip. She gives a glance to Tyler and Billy. "Billy, you did it once before .. can you teleport all innocents out of the building to the ground floor? Maybe do one at a time if you aren't strong enough? I don't want us going in... unless we /have/ to... it's dangerous guys and I know we all want to go in there and be heroes, but if we put ourselves at danger, then we aren't any good to anyone, you know? Let me deal with the firemen. Maybe someone will recognize me and I'll put on a performance. Try and get them to cool off." She says as she takes in a deep breath, then looks to Tommy. "I know you're gonna .. do whatever you want." She grins at him a bit faintly. "But if you decide to go in there.. make it count okay?" With that, she heads over to the arguing firemen, calling out,

"Hey guys! HEY! My grandfather works here and he's on the twenty-third foor! Guys, you need to help him, /please/. My phone won't work. None of ours does. People are going to die!"

Are those tears that well up into her eyes. She popstar actress clenches her hands together for a moment, then points at the building.

Green Arrow has posed:
Coming to a hovering rest just above a rooftop near the NeoGen building, Green Arrow takes a moment to survey the situation. "Jamming. That's not the fungus." Green Arrow mutters.

Taking off his backpack/quiver, he slides out the construction chamber, placing it in storage in his Skybike, before he takes out one of his spare payload canisters and slides it into place... effectively replacing his fungus arrows with anti-human arrows. One anti-fire arrow is taken from the fungus payload before it goes in, nocked on his compound bow, and fired through a top floor window. Oxygen suppression gas is deployed locally to immediately put out the fire there, before a grapnel arrow is launched right after it, the other side anchored to the rooftop.

A device is then taken from his backpack; a fire suppressing gas launcher, before he attaches to the line and ziplines in, the motor on his attachment device keeping his speed moderated.

Anyone looking up will easily see Green Arrow zip-lining inward.

Wiccan has posed:
"I could -see- those people," Wiccan points out, and there were a lot less of them. He notes the fire-people fighting amongst themselves and rolls his eyes, "Seriously?" before he gestures to all the fire trucks. "Hosesuphosesuphosesup" is chanted, a blueish-white glow coming from his hands and lining the hoses as well.

Without any help from the bickering firemen, the hoses from the trucks begin to rise and undulate in the air, like some sort of fire-hose Kraken as they try to obey the magic. "Wateronwateronwateron!" is then called for. The mouths of the hoses turn towards the fires on the 23rd floor and, with a little groan of effort, begin spraying water in that direction. They may be a little uncontrolled and not entirely accurate, but hopefully the number of hoses will help.

Storm has posed:
High in the air, above the clouds so as not to draw too much attention to her, Storm -- because she is wearing her uniform -- flies at incredible speeds. A protective bubble keeps the force of the wind away from her, ensuring she is not harmed during this intensive flight. Thinking about her students and the possible danger that surrounds them, she increases the speed from three hundred miles per hour to four hundred miles per hour with concentration, not yet reaching her top speed. Storm wouldn't need it: five minutes to go.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The firefighters do not seem to notice Andrea, because the shoving and shouting has turned into an all out brawl. The three 9 Hall fire crews are now actively fighting with the 8 Hall men, keeping them away from the burning building. People mill about in confusion, yelling and pointing at the fire just as Andrea does. One 8 Hall firefighter yells for help into his radio, uselessly.

The fire in front of Green Arrow puffs out as the oxygen is suppressed in his landing zone. The heat is still pretty intense. It looks like this floor were some kind of executive offices and boardrooms. In the northeast corner there are about a dozen people trapped in a conference room by the fire. They are lying on the floor trying to avoid the smoke. There are bodies in business clothing in the area nearest where Green Arrow landed. It looks the explosion was concentrated on his side of the building. What he could guess was one of the corner offices is just a room of raging fire. A moment later Green Arrow will notice water starting to pour in through the windows behind him, haphazardly. Fire hoses dance and writhe in the air as if by... well... magic.

Anyone who can see into the lobby can see the fourth 9 hall fire crew is standing in front of stairwell exits and the elevators, facing outward. They hardly seem to notice people coming out of the doorways or elevators. One shoves an intern who comes up, crying, begging for someone to go up to her floor to help. She falls, backs away along the floor then picks herself up and runs.

Speed has posed:
Tommy smirks, "Who says I want to be a hero?" he says to Andrea. But she was right about one thing, he was going to do what he wanted.

For example the Hall 9 guys standing in the lobby...

Tommy zooms in front of the lead guy, coughing as he gets a deep breath of smoke. He smacks the Hall 9 guy right in the face, not like, super hard, but hard enough so he feels it. "Wake the hell up, man! You're in the middle of a fire and Harry Potter out there is doing your job!" he jerks his thumb to the dancing hoses.

Twitch has posed:
Already looking up to try to spot a cell phone tower, Tyler can't help but notice Green Arrow sliding into the building to start helping people. The young man happily calls out, "Hell yeah!" Then he gets more serious and looks at the other teenage boys, "Alright guys, Andrea's going to get the firefighters to get their asses in gear, we're going to have to get everybody out of the building while we wait on them. Billy, that's awesome, keep doing that. Tommy, you try to zip in and look for a safe route that people can take to get out and make sure it's clear of debris and stuff. I'm going to follow and try to start getting people out of there."

Taking a deep breath and muttering to himself, "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done," Tyler heads for the front door at a run. He slides between people to get through them and into the building itself, then makes a break for the stairs guarded by the firefighters, "Come on guys, get your asses in gear! There are people that need help up there!" He can tell something is wrong. These guys should be helping people, not shoving them! As a realization hits him his face starts to go white, "Watch out, Tom!"

Green Arrow has posed:
Taking out a gas mask attached to an oxygen canister, Green Arrow slides it over his face. Usually used for dealing with gas and poison attacks... it'll work fine for anti-smoke inhalation, and he immediately gets to work. His suit is fire resistant by design, so he's fairly insulated from the worst of it, but there are people in here that need help. Another grapnel arrow is nooked and prepared to launch from the window when the water starts coming in. "Magicians." Green Arrow hisses under his breath as he's hosed. A foam bed arrow is launched to just on the other side of the street, granting people a soft place to land, before a grapnel arrow is launched just above it, the other end anchored to the window sill, or the nearest pillar. Immediately, he starts to launch gas suppression pellets, putting out fires as he heads for the conference room.

Once the way is cleared to the conference room, a pellet is launched near the door, clearing the path for the survivors, "I have a zipline down to the ground from the window behind me, or you can follow behind me while I clear the way through the building. Choose, and go!" The voice masked vigilante speaks with authority and a clear 'I know what I'm doing' attitude to him, before he starts searching the floor for any other survivors to add to the pile of bodies that were knocked out.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The lead guy turns his attention on Tommy. Through the faceplate of his mask, Tommy can see the man has a few days of stubble on his cheeks. And he must be the Olympic bodybuilder of fire fighters, because even through the turnout gear, the man seems huge. In fact, all of them do. "Get outta here kid," he snarls and moves to shove Tommy with his right hand. He is fast, too. Not Tommy fast, obviously, but faster than any person has a right to be.

Another of 9 Hall men in turnout gear looks in Tyler's direction, his facemask pushed up on top of his head. The man has a full beard, and his left eye glows red. "The hell? Get lost!" he says to Tyler and starts moving in his direction.

The people in the conference room rush to Green Arrow, rushing into the water spraying in from the outside. The floor is starting to get soaked now, and the water has kept the fire from expanding toward the area cleared by Green Arrow. The people balk though, looking down from what seems to them like a dizzying height. A young man in shirt sleeves shouts at the others to come on, and hops on the zipline. People below gasp as they watch him coast down and crash into the foam pad. Encouraged by the lack of sudden falling death, the others line up to go, except for one woman, still sporting her red bottomed heels, who backs away shaking her head vigorously. One of the men in a suit looks like he is going throw up and backs away as well. They will follow the Green Arrow. The people on the ground nearest to where Green Arrow entered are dead, or burned badly enough it will not make a difference. A diligent search of the floor will find two more people trapped in the lunchroom by burning debris fallen from the ceiling in the hallway. One of them is unconscious and bleeding from the head. It looks like everyone else on this floor got out.

Wiccan has posed:
It's all Wiccan can do to try and control the fire hoses since the fire-fighters aren't doing their job! If the fire is out on the one floor, he'll try to direct the hoses to where there might be more...hoping that enough people got out! Upon seeing Green Arrow zipping into the 23rd floor, he flies a little closer to peer into one of the broken windows and narrowly missing folks as they zipline down. "Whoa, cool..." is muttered before he calls in, "Need any help? Is the fire put out here?" Dark eyes catch sight of those who didn't make it out and there's a sad sigh, "Dammit..."

Storm has posed:
The city view of the Upper East Side of Manhattan inches closer, until the chaos can be seen from Storm's aerial standpoint. She takes a moment to hover and analyze the situation; all the while, she is trying to find any recognizable faces in the form of her students. There are too many factors occurring all at once, however, and her blue eyes draw the attention of civilians that are having difficulty getting down from the fire escapes.

"Please, remain calm," Storm projects, "I will have you to safety in no time."

Extending her hands, Storm calls out to nature, and the same wind that continues to keep her aloft wraps its embrace around them. Descending from the 24th floor, Storm takes notice of a green-clad vigilante helping on the inside. There is still a lot of fire flowing rampantly within. That would be her next goal. When all of the civilians are safely on the ground, Storm returns to the sky and her eyes milk over as she taps into her mutant gift.

The gray clouds in the sky begin to darken even more and collect. It isn't long before thunder roars through the heaven and rain begins to fall, heavily.

Storm reaches the 25th floor and lands. She extends both hands as she manipulates the air to push the water from the rain throughout the floor.

Speed has posed:
Tommy hears Tyler's warning.

Dwayne "The Firefighter" Johnson, may be fast, but Tommy has time to notice a couple broken stitches on the guy's glove as the punch comes his way. Tommy slides under the punch, cocks back a foot and delivers a push kick to the man's stomach meant to send him flying back against the wall.

PR? What's that? Tommy's not thinking of headlines like "Mutant Youth Kicks Fireman" he's more on the whole, this asshole tried to punch me.

That said as quick as the big guy was, there's no guarantee Tommy's kick lands.

"The firefighters are punching back!" Tommy calls to Wiccan. "Hit em with a bit of water?"

Twitch has posed:
"Not going to happen, asshole," Tyler tells the guy that's heading his way, staring right into his red eye and taking a deep breath as he rushes forward. The young man is not quite a blur, but he's moving pretty damn fast as he utilizes his agility in an attempt to quickly take down the faux firefighter. "They're not firefighters, take them down!" announces Tyler as he starts throwing punches, starting with a low hook towards the rib cage, more as a distraction before sending another blow at the guy's Adam's apple, not even pretending to play nice. More strikes will be thrown as Tyler makes sure to keep enough distance that he'll be able to dodge any return blows, the young mutant trying to put down the red eyed asshole as fast as possible.

Green Arrow has posed:
Wasting no time, two pintpoint charge arrow are launched, breaching the burning debris at critical points enough to clear a path, before another fire suppression pellet is launched at it, putting out the fire and clearing a path out of the lunchroom. He immediately heads for the man bleeding from the head, checking him, and taking out his medkit to do a patch-job on the bleeder. He's got the demeanor of a trained medic as he works, "I'm going to need someone to carry this man down the stairs, or help him to the zipline in the window. Can any of you do that?" Green Arrow asks of those with him.

When the lightning starts to come in, Green Arrow glances in that direction..., then rain comes. "Someones got an interesting way of handling this." Green Arrow quips, before he gets back to work. A few seconds later, and he's standing up, grabbing the front end and taking the weight as he pulls the survivor to the window. Alone, if he has to. Taking his spare harness, he straps the survivor to a zip-line attachment, programming it to release to place the man on the foam bed. "I only have one of those. Any others will have to be carried out, or taken by someone else." Green Arrow notes to those with him, before he starts to head into the lower portions of the building... rain soaking his gear as he goes.

Rage has posed:
Watching the team move into action, Andrea is left behind with a visible frown on her face as she watches the firemen start to throw punches at each other. She drops her act of being worried and starts to growl low in her throat. She is about to snap off on them when Tyler's words reach her ears. Perking upwards, she glances over to watch him engage in combat, letting out a curse under her breath. "Shit. I can't.. do this here in public.." She grunts out as she returns to her car and takes out her taser and a pair of pepper spray. She lopes over to Tyler and his combatent, looking to shoot him in the face with the pepper spray.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The fire hoses were a godsend. Even inexpertly aimed, they beat back and contained the fire on the 24th floor where Green Arrow is, keeping it from fuelling the flames spreading into the 25th floor. People below are snapping pictures of the crazy, magical dancing fire hoses.

Then the sky darkens massively and Storm's torrential rain begins. Water whistles almost sideways, sheeting into the broken 24th and 25th floor windows in a torrent. Both floors, front to back, are soon soaked and slick. The fires sputter and begin dying deprived of further decent fuel. Whatever other problems there are, fires are not one of them. The news choppers pull back sharply as the weather turns suddenly. Any experienced New York pilot has seen this before and knows better than to stick around.

The unnerved man from earlier sucks up his courage and helps Green Arrow pull the bleeder to back to the zip line. He still has no desire to go down the line, so volunteers to go with Green Arrow instead. The young woman and the other person from the lunch room follow along as well. People in the street point upwards as they see another person sliding down the zip line to safety.

The Green Arrow sees people helping each other, or injured but not critically until he comes to the 19th floor. The smell is the first thing that gets him; charred flesh. It is unmistakable. He comes out of the stairwell just in time to see six people, including two with half shaved heads, get into an elevator and the door closed. The numbers above the elevator are descending.

Down in the lobby, Andrea, Tommy and Tyler have problems. Six of them. Dwayne "the Firefighter" Johnson is rocked by Tommy's hit, flying backward off his feet into the wall behind him. Tile veneer cracks with the impact and the man shakes his head, slow to peel himself back off the wall.

One eye drops an elbow, blocking the hit like an experienced boxer. He reaches out to grab Tyler, but catches the punch in the throat before he can. The man gurgles, eyes bulging. Then, if it is possible, his eyes bulge wider as he takes Andrea's tazer to the face. His red eye flickers and his whole body twitches then falls.

So maybe only four problems.

The other four rush at the three young mutants, two coming from the bank of elevators and two more from different stairwell doors. There are screams from people still pushing their way through the lobby to get out as the fighting erupts. Anyone paying attention will see all of the elevators have bottomed out and sitting open at the lobby except for one. But its floor ticker is counting downwards from the lobby.

Wiccan has posed:
The sudden start of the torrential rain causes Billy to let out a squeak of surprise before he tries to see the reason for the downpour. Nevertheless, his efforts are now proven to be moot so the fire hoses are lowered carefully back to the trucks even as he also tries to lower himself, just as carefully, back to the ground. He's now soaking wet and exhausted...and the others are nowhere to be found. "Guys?" is called as he looks around at the crowd of people.

Maybe the rain will help clear some of the firefighters' heads? He could always aim a hose or two at them if they're still fighting.

Storm has posed:
As the fires on the twenty-fifth level are put to rest, Storm immediately moves to the injured in the room. Her eyes return to its brilliant blue shade as she looks to one downed civilian. "Where are you hurt?" she asks. The older gentleman slowly motions toward his back, informing Storm that he cannot move. "Unfortunately, sir, we are going to have to move you somewhere safe."

"You," Storm calls out, to a younger man not far from them. "Please, help get this man to the window--" Her commanding voice rises to all those that surround her, calling out and looking in their directions. "And everyone else that wants to leave, please head for the window /now/."

When they all gather together, extra caution put on the older civilian, all the survivors on the floor are brought to ground level. At that point, Storm takes a small breather, beginning to feel a small strain against her focus. When she hears the screams coming from the lobby, Storm flies over the crowd and lands to see her students engaging in a fight against... the fire fighters?

Dashing in their direction, Storm uses the art of surprise and intercepts one of the four men, utilizing her momentum to close line him. She lifts herself up from the ground immediately afterwards, her gloved fists ready to fight.

Twitch has posed:
As the four guys in bunker gear rush their position, Tyler starts to move again, making sure to keep himself between the cyborgs and Andrea as well as he can. As the first guy gets close to him Tyler snaps off a kick towards the head with enough force that if it doesn't connect he'll likely spin himself around. Regardless of whether or not it hits it's only aimed to be the first blow in a combination, a series of blows to hopefully put the man on the defensive before Tyler goes and attempts a double leg takedown, aiming to lift his opponent off of both feet and slam them onto their back so that he can then jump on the guy's head, ideally.

As Storm enters the fray Tyler calls out, "They're not firefighters! They've got red eyes!"

Green Arrow has posed:
Elevators with only two people? Somethings not right there, but Green Arrow doesn't have time to worry about that. Keeping the fires suppressed with more pellets as he goes, Green Arrow continues to help those who need it, both physically and medically. He checks each body for signs of life. Those who need far more hospital attention then he can give are marked mentally, before he continues on. Once all the survivors are marked, he takes them, and places them up against the rain soaked wall together, for easy rescue. "They'll be safe here for a minute or so. Let's go." Green Arrow commands of the three with him.

He continues through each floor, helping survivors in this manner, until a floor looks clear.

Donald Pierce has posed:
NYPD cars have arrived on the scene outside. Some of the officers are starting clear the people milling about inside the perimeter set up by the 9 Hall crew. Other officers have joined in the melee, adding yet more confusion to the scene. Paramedics are stuck on the outside of the perimeter, but seem to be making some headway in setting up triage stations and starting to deal with the worst of the wounded. Two have rushed a stretcher through the driving rain to the Green Arrow's foam pad and are working on the bleeder from the 24th floor.

There are fewer and fewer casualties as the Green Arrow moves down. By the time he hits the 17th floor, the halls are deserted. Those who could use the emergency stairwells from the floors above the 24th have mostly made their down by now as well.

Tommy whips past the firefighter charging at Andrea, grabbing his arm as he passes. The man is spun around, his momentum now carrying him backwards toward Andrea. She takes full advantage and tazer him in the back. The man twitches and jerks hits the deck. Tommy races back at good old Dwayne, hitting him again but this time with room to gather speed first. The man rockets back into the wall again, but this time slumps and falls face first to the floor.

The firefighter Storm picks out sees a blur coming at him at the last minute, he tries to stop his run, but cannot avoid the hit. Storm can tell the man weighs easily three times what he should. He slams into the tile floor, slides, then rolls over backwards and comes up in a crouch. His boots leave rubber streaks along the floor until he comes to a stop. His head is twisted at an unnatural angle, and it lets him see that Storm landed behind him. He whips around extremely quickly, lashing out at Storm with a sidekick at a speed that should not be possible in bunker gear.

These guys are fast and their full attention is on the fight now. Tyler's first kick is guided off the man's forearm to slip past his head. He snaps out a jab at Tyler, then blocks the next three blows coming his direction. Tyler just does not have the weight or momentum behind him to lift the guy off his feet though; it's like tacking a wall. The man must weigh more than 400 lbs.

The last elevator opens into the lobby. The two shaved headed men, Flameout and Burnout, step out of the elevator. Without hesitation and no regard for either the fake firefighters or the civilians, they both hold up their hands. Bright orange and red flames shoot outwards toward the melee.

"FIRE!" Tommy has time to yell.

Behind them, a slight man just... appears... in the lobby, holding a Pelican case big enough to hold a guitar. Two more men with similar cases come running out of the elevator. All three start running toward the hallway at the back of the lobby. A final person comes out of the elevator holding a pistol. He starts backing down the hallway, covering the retreat of the other three.

Wiccan has posed:
This just isn't right. The firefighters should be helping! Wiccan doesn't yet know what's going on inside the lobby except he sees Storm dash in to join the others. There's a blink again before he looks back to the firefighters who are also now fighting policemen. "Seriously? New York's Finest is so much better than this!" is said to no one. Out of frustration, he gestures to the brawlers and commands, "Pink!"

It's not specific, but the firefighters and policefolk who find themselves fighting will also find themselves suddenly wearing pretty, pink, frilly dresses. No doubt the media will -love- that.

It's about then that Billy sits on one of the abandoned firetrucks to try and regain some strength. Magic sure does take a lot out of someone!

Twitch has posed:
Taking the powerful jab to his midsection, Tyler gets knocked back slightly, letting out a soft "Ugh", but not being much slowed down by the blow. After failing to lift his opponent off of his feet the young man shakes his head and instead looks for an opening he can exploit somewhere. That's when Tommy's warning reaches his ears! Rather than let himself get roasted Tyler grabs the front of his opponent's jacket and pulls himself tightly into the larger man, letting him take the brunt of the flames. As soon as they dissipate Tyler releases the man in bunker gear, hoping he's sufficiently toasted so as to be out of the battle, and reaches into his jacket pockets to remove a pair of lead ingots, one in each hand. Rolling to the side in an effort to stay ahead of the fire he hurls his projectiles, one aimed for each of the faces of the men with shaved heads.

Green Arrow has posed:
With all the people and fire dealt with and lined up, Green Arrow is taking his survivors down the stairwell. He himself has no issue with rushing every single floor... but given how no emergency crew has come up yet that he's seen, something is going on. Green Arrow looks to the others, "Keep going. I need to check on the ground." Green Arrow alerts those with him as he takes a grapnel arrow and launches it to the roof. Securing himself to it, Green Arrow starts to descend through the center of the well, checking those going down still, and heading for the door into the lobby.

Then, he comes into the warzone that is the ground floor.

Having no idea what's going on, Green Arrow just goes for the obvious targets; the two shooting flame.

Good old fashion regular arrows are built on the fly... and sent flying through the crowds with perfect accuracy as Green Arrow tries to put arrows through both wrists on each man.

Kano has posed:
What does this whole situation need?

More Fire. More Chaos. More 'fun'.

A cop car in the back of the police group suddenly is hit from behind, and with a screaming lurch, goes hurtling into the confusion that is already ongoing outside in the street. It flips end over end, the trunk entirely crushed like tinfoil, the shriek of metal and high artillery adding that special extra zest. It hurtles in.

It is followed by a reporter van, that is flung more sideways than end over end, blasted to clear the cop cars, tipping slowly, showering pieces of equipment, directly into all of the people and stretchers that are being brought in to help the wounded.

Storm has posed:
Hearing Tyler's voice call out before rising to her full height, Storm lowers her fists slightly when she notices the natural appearance of her assailant's head. With his speed far superior than her own, the kick connects with Storm's side. She winces, grabbing hold of the false man's leg with both of her arms.

"I will NOT lose to a MONSTER!" she exclaims, releasing a massive about of bioelectricity through her entire body, channeling most of it into her arms and hands. And without wasting time, Storm turns around swiftly to deliver a booted round-house kick to the man's head.

In that moment, Storm turns to see a blazing inferno heading in their direction. "Great Goddess... GIVE ME STRENGTH!!" Her call is heard, and the weather delivers with hurricane-force winds to counteract any of the remaining flames shot in their direction. Concentrating, Storm pressed forward, dropping the temperature around them to considerate levels, in an attempt to flash-freeze both targets in place. If it works, Ororo will fall to her knees in exhaustion.

Donald Pierce has posed:
There is not even a blink. One instant there is a mess of blue, yellow and red uniformed people engaged in an all out hand to hand brawl along the perimeter. The next instant there is a sea of adult men and women wearing pink dresses of all sizes. It takes a few seconds for people to realize, but right quick the fighting stops as the bewilderment sets in. In fact, it seems to settle everyone for a second.

Then the explosions begin. The burning police car comes screaming into the mass of people inside the perimeter. There are fresh screams as the vehicle falls out of the air and plows through people, leaving carnage in its wake. Shrapnel flies outward from the news van as its satellite dish boom is blasted to pieces. More screams, more people dropped to the concrete. The mass of people emptied out of three buildings starts to panic and surge in all directions realization hits the mob. People are trampled as true chaos ensures.

Tyler's move was timely. The large firefighter makes a fantastic shield. There is the smell of burning of plastic and something else acrid. Tyler sees exposed organs, flesh and metal as the cyborg topples forward. The flames burned clear through the bunker gear. He launches his lead shots after the blast rocks past him, and both twins are caught full in the face. Burnout's nose explodes in blood. Both men scream as at the same instant arrows pierce their forearms from an archer they did not even see coming.

The hit on Storm is hard; these cyborgs are /strong/. But they are also weak to electricity as Andrea discovered. The bioelectric shock ripples through Storm into the cyborg and he is already dropping, limp, when she hits him. The wind was more than timely. Andrea is dropping to the floor and curling up when the gale whips past and catches the flames midway down the lobby. They dissipate under the wind, then there is a terrible freezing around the twins. Both men are caught, midway through reacting to the traumas inflicted on them by Tyler and Green Arrow. They topple, frozen.

There are screams and the smell of burned flesh in the lobby. At least half a dozen people were caught in the blast before Storm could stop it, and are strewn, charred, along the floor in front of the now frozen twins. The last remaining cyborg also topples to the ground, skidding into the tiles, caught by his own people's blast, bunker gear melted. There is no flesh left on his skull, which is almost completely metal.

Anyone inside the lobby that looks can see the crush of panicked people now running and hear the screams coming in from outside.

The man down the hallway opens fire blindly down the hallway toward the lobby, spraying bullets. Down the hallway an emergency door is open and the three men with cases are running through it to the black suburbans in the alley.

Twitch has posed:
Now that the guys shooting flame and the fake firefighters have been dealt with the most immediate threat is the guy with the gun. The explosions behind him will have to wait. Springing into action Tyler hurries towards the man shooting into the lobby, dipping, dodging, tumbling and at one point jumping off the side of the wall in an effort to get to him without being shot. When he gets there Tyler will duck to the outside of the gun arm while attempting to grab the shooter's wrist, pull the arm until it's fully extended and then drive the palm of his hand as hard as he can behind the guy's elbow, intent on doing some damage while taking the weapon away from him. Should he get his hands on the gun Tyler will try to shoot the guys with the cases through the knees, but only if he can manage to operate the firearm. Otherwise, it'll end up a projectile itself.

Storm has posed:
Falling to her knees, Storm grabs her side. While she is wearing protective gear, the cyborg's strength is nothing to gawk and, and she is feeling the effects from it now -- not to mention the mental strain of pushing her abilities without proper concentration. Wincing, she tries to collect her bearings, but the gun shots cause her to find cover. Breathing heavily, Ororo quickly surveys the scene to see Tyler engaging in the men that were trying to make an exit.

"Do NOT enga--" Pain. Storm's words are cut short to her students as she continues to reel from the cyborg's attack. Facing the outside, Storm sees another threat begin to surface, and she curses to herself. "Can't I go one day without being pulled into some sort of drama?" she asks herself, trying to allow the pain in her side to pass before trying to do anything else.

Green Arrow has posed:
With the lobby more just a panic then a serious hazard now, Green Arrow darts out into the street, his suit protecting him from the worst of the impacts as he tries to find the source of those cars being rammed. As he goes, he mentally calls for his Skybike to hover just a bit off the street so he can launch a grapnel arrow at it and zipline up once more.

With his vantage point above, he glances over the area, trying to find trouble spots to deal with... or stop.

Kano has posed:
"Alright alright, decent opening volley. Let's clear out that barricade of crap on the south end, make it real easy for 'em to cross that lawn," Kano instructs into his headset, from his vantage point behind the smoking barrel of an artillery launcher. He drags it physically back into the rear of the truck parked a good distance away, and beats his palm on the side to order his driver to change their position. From the air, there's a few military-looking trucks around. One is retreating, and the set in the south? They've got more of those big guns.

"Unit two, fire. See where that ambulance is in the way? I want to see blood spray airborne from all the way over here. No pressure. Just body parts."

The other south group, consisting of five men (two powerful car-tossing launcher guns and what looks like an exotic flare-like-gatling gun thing) fires on the southern craziness, making it obvious to not go that way. Flares and rockets light up the area in an overwhelming display of unnecessary force. "Happy twelfth of July," Kano jokes. Then men with him laugh along, wisely.

Donald Pierce has posed:
Tyler is able to wind his way down the hallway without getting hit, if only barely. Twice there is the telltale hiss of bullets /very/ close to his head. But the shooter seems to be human instead of cyborg, so his reflexes are not up to par. The man punches wildly at Tyler when the young mutant closes on him, but misses. He yells and drops, craddling his broken arm. The gun clatters to the ground. Tyler is able to scoop it up and fire down the hallway, but only one of the three men is still visible, and he is half into the black suburban. But with unfailing aim, Tyler catches the man in the knee. Tyler feels that same inaudible hum he felt at the bank. Then black suburban pulls out with a screech of tires.

Andrea is picking herself up off the ground, unharmed by the blast thanks to Storm's intervention. Tommy looked like he was about to run down the hallway, but he catches the start of Storm's words and comes up short. He looks to the X-Man for direction.

The ground shakes as artillery fire lands on an ambulance and the triage area set up beside it. The artillery shells explode and body parts fly in all directions. Then the shooting starts. It is a massacre as heavy weapons shoot into the crowd. Dozens go down immediately. Crying and screams can be heard between explosions and there is a full stampede heading north. Wiccan is forced to run along northwards with the crowd or end up under it.

Two black suburbans come roaring out of an alley on the south side of the building, accelerating fast with hardly a couple of feet between them. The vehicles lean sharply as they turn out onto the street and take off under cover of heavy weapons fire. There is no response at all from the first responders to the weapons fire. They are among those being mowed down, and no longer have weapons anyway, their entire uniforms having been turned into pink dresses.

Twitch has posed:
By the time he's told to not engage Tyler's already done a bunch of things. He's holding a gun in his hand for the first time in his life, apparently having made it go bang successfully. The guy next to him is holding his messed up arm before Tyler whips the weapon in his hand around to buffalo him with the side of the barrel.

Tyler turns back in the direction of Storm, Tommy and Andrea. "Are you guys okay?" He asks, looking at the folks in the lobby with horror on his face. "The bad guys are getting out in black SUVs."

The mess of explosions and gunfire out in front of the building has his attention next, the young man staring at the firepower being unleashed on the civilians. "Oh my god. No!" His gaze travels over to Storm and he asks, "What do we do?"

Storm has posed:
Finally able to catch her breath, Ororo slowly rises to see the chaos unfold outside of the NeoGen Devices building. She is tired but frustrated, watching on as the group stole lives without thought. There is one promise she made to herself and has maintained for years: to not kill, to not look on as others are killed. Angry, Storm's eyes milk over, and she turns to Tommy.

"Stop that car," she orders. "Take Tyler with you and do what you must. These animals cannot be allowed to get away. Go!"

Electricity dances through her white hair, her expression one very much so not pleased. The cries and screams fuels her as she walks towards the front of the lobby, and with a step she is once again taken by the winds. Oh, and they begin to howl in anger, feeding off the emotions of their commander. The rain continues, but lightning makes an appearance this time. Thunder rumbles!

"YOU... WILL... PAY!"

Lightning cascades downward in an effort to hit and disable multiple assault vehicles. Winds press dangerously forward, forming two massive tornados that makes itself at home right in the center of the street. These attacks are precise, focusing on the "bad guys", with Storm directing each attack simultaneously from above. She wants them to feel the pain of the living!

Green Arrow has posed:
He's been in his share of superhero wars at this point. Military grade weapons on the street isn't something you see everyday, but it's happened. The initial carnage has nothing for it, but Green Arrow immediately aims a containment foam arrow at the heavy weapons group down south, then another, then another. The truck will require a better angle, but at least Green Arrow can stop the civilian deaths as the Skybike starts to go forward southward.

The Containment Foam is enough to handle enhanced individuals of Spider-Mans strength, so regular humans don't stand much chance against it... and people like Thor could break out of it with a concentrated effort. Nonetheless, he's focusing on crowd control.

Kano has posed:
"They're comin' out? Then we're done, we did plenty," Kano instructs as he's relayed information. His personal truck is away, but that also cramps what he can do. A bizarre storming mutant that's making the weather go entirely insane? Some kind of Thor, maybe. That does play a part in this. Not that he'll look weak in front of his men. Clearly this is strategy. "Don't shoot 'er; heroes are gonna want to save those lives. Use it as cover to retreat!" Kano commands.

Kano's orders came too late for the south artillery team, Green Arrow takes them apart, in terms of the foam making it impossible for them to shoot anymore, the foam is in the way, and one gun is entirely coated in it. They stop shooting and try to seek cover in the back of that military truck, having trouble being fast because of their massive weapons. Their driver decides it isn't worth it, and attempts to ditch the situation. Green Arrow did, in terms of that, successfully stop that aggression. The military trucks as a whole are attempting to fall back, though Storm's electricity and gales are going to restrict at least one of them from getting far; it stops and the men inside pile out and scurry in all directions: not to attack, but to survive. They blend into the jumble of cops and other people in equipment, but they aren't attacking anymore.

Rage has posed:
Picking herself back off the ground from the knockback, Andrea gives a bit of a wobble as she clutches a hand to her ear to try and stop the ringing. "Ow." She cries out in frustration as the world around her swarms a bit. She gives a glance over to Tyler and Tommy as it appears they are going to take off after the cars. There is so much going on that she looks confused and scared, trying to contain the monster down that is begging to be unleashed in the back of her head. She ducks down behind her white BMW for the time being, still playing with her phone to try and get service. "Come on.. come on..."

Donald Pierce has posed:
Tommy nods to Storm. "On it!" He lets Tyler climb on his back and then is gone in a flash. He weaves through the chaos outside as if the world was standing still, picking his way between running civilians and downed bodies. He tears past the shooters with the heavy weapons and down the street.

The world comes into focus again for Tyler when Tommy pulls up beside the rearmost suburban and matches speed with it. The people inside have no time to react before Tyler opens the rear passenger door and Tommy tosses him in. Inside the surburban are the driver and one of the men with the cases; the one Tyler shot. He is cursing loudly and trying to stop the bleeding using his belt. The driver is just starting to turn his head, really not clued in to what is happening yet.

Tommy takes off at top speed again. Then the suburban in front of Tyler's starts to swerve wildly. It veers off the to the left and slams into a parked UPS van. As Tyler's suburban goes by, he sees Tommy waving from beside the crashed suburban with a big grin on his face.

The area in front of NeoGen is most clear of people who can move, except for a few taking cover behind the 9 Hall fire trucks. There are at least two dozen injured and dead laying in the street. Grim as it is, it would have been far worse if the barrage was not stopped when it was.

Cell and radio service returns to the area but dies up the street where the Suburbans are. The emergency services channels erupt into a mess of units requesting help, but support is incoming from surrounding halls, precincts and ambulance halls. If nothing else, the live footage from the news choppers let people know what was going on.

Twitch has posed:
Suddenly in the back of one of the SUVs, Tyler starts to react, lashing out violently at the two men in there with him. His first blow is a kick towards the knee he'd just shot, hoping to take all the fight out of that guy. The second is a hammer fist at the back of the skull of the driver. Then there's a short hook aimed to the case carrier's jaw. Tyler then slides himself into the front seat, continuing to punch the driver in the side of the head in the hope that he'll drop so that the young mutant can take control of the vehicle.

Storm has posed:
Control yourself. Calm yourself. It's okay.

A voice deep within Storm calls out to her and directs her from causing more damage, more pain even, and it takes her a while to soften. When the attackers finally decide to scatter, the tornados transform into a soft breeze, thunder is silenced, and lightning is sheathed until another day.

Breathing steadily now, the disastrous weather dissipates and Storm begins to follow the trail where the suburban sped off to. Within a few moments, she sees one of the vehicles wrecked behind a UPS truck and not far ahead is the other. Increasing her pace with a thought, Storm darts in front of the car, ready to stop it if Tyler is not able to.

Green Arrow has posed:
Without any immediate threats and emergency services -finally- getting in there, Green Arrow starts to fly the Skybike in the direction of the military vehicles. The children have their priorities and the weather mutant as backup. Green Arrows priority is taking military grade weapons out of mass-murdering hands.

When he has an angle of one of the trucks, the Skybike is set to autohover to match speed with it, allowing Green Arrow to launch an EMP arrow directly at the engine block from the side. It's a hard shot to make from this angle and distance with the weather... but Green Arrow is nothing if not a grandmaster with his compound bow.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The shot to the injured man's leg does take all the fight out of him, and the hit to his jaw lays him out. Getting punched in the back of the head bounces the driver's forehead off the wheel. He swerves. Two more shots to the head and the driver's out, but not before sideswiping a black stretch limo going in the opposite direction. Police cars whip by toward NeoGen, not even noticing the suburban, or at least not stopping for it. It is dicey in the extreme, but soon enough Tyler is basically sitting in the lap of the unconscious driver and has the truck. Storm can see the ruckus then Tyler take the wheel through the windshield. The back door opens while the vehicle is moving and Tyler sees Tommy in the rearview. Tommy tosses two cases into the truck and then hops in himself.

The suburban melts into New York traffic and Storm, no doubt, into the cloudy sky.

Andrea is left there at NeoGen, helping the injured who can move make it to the newly approaching ambulances and fire trucks.

The truck that Green Arrow takes aim at dies. The driver manages to bring it to a rolling stop in front of the 72nd Street subway station. The men inside bail and disappear into the crowds heading into the underground. Green Arrow loses sight of them almost immediately.