4967/Machinations: Chemical Romance

Machinations: Chemical Romance
Date of Scene:	19 July 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Donald Pierce, Rogue, Twitch, Jubilee
Tinyplot:	Machinations

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Donald Pierce has posed:
It is a typical summer day in New York, hot and muggy. There is no breeze to relieve the heat as people go to and from their work days.

At the old Brooklyn Navy Yard, business goes on as usual. Trucks come and go from small manufacturers, people hustle to and from meetings as they try to finish up the day's work.

A shorter container ship with a black and red hull and MERCK painted on the sides is pushed up to the wharf at Carmichael Specialty Chemicals by a tug boat. On the stern, the ship carries the name Maria and a Panamanian flag. There are some sounds of confusion and surprise from CSC employees at the wharf, but lines are tossed to shore and tied down.

CSC's yard is pretty big. They manufacture a lot of chemicals at their factories and ship them worldwide from this facility. There are two metal warehouse buildings with forklifts coming and going carrying containers and cannisters of various sizes. Near the road, there is a parking lot and administrative building, three stories tall with fading light blue paint. And of course there are the chemical tanks. Large, at least the height of the administrative building, they are spread out across the yard. Piping runs throughout the yard in a tangle that suggests the engineering firm that designed the yard hated maintenance people.

At 4:42 pm, an explosion rocks the yard. Tank 14, near the middle of the yard, goes up in a colossal fireball. The ruptured top of the tank spews flames 60 feet into the air. The explosion can be heard across half of New York and echoes across the bay.

Burning liquid rains down around the yard. The heat is unbelievably intense. There is another rumble and crack and Tank 14's side splits. Burning fluid roars out of the tank and across the east side of the yard. Whatever was in the tank burns hot and is not quickly consumed. It creates a burning lake on the cement that completely cuts off Warehouse 2 from the front of the property and surrounds some other tanks. Anyone inside cannot get out of the yard on their own unless they are going into New York Harbour. There is panic as people in the yard run and take cover. Some are trapped between equipment and walls of flame. One of the forklifts was overturned by the blast and the driver is pinned. Some pipes are ruptured and are hissing ominously.

People in hard hats and various clothes, from lab coats to dock worker's jeans, come running out of Warehouse 1 toward the road exit from the yard.

On the wharf eight men dressed in black come running down the gang plank from the freighter and onto the wharf. They do not seem at all phased by the fire and are running towards Warehouse 2.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is today in her Avengers green and white costume, flowing through the sky and trying to cool off by just getting her own wind going... with some very fast and intense flying up into the big blue sky... at least the higher you go the cooler it gets!

She is way up above Manhattan when the explosions go off and she doesn't see them until she's headed back down toward the island itself. They're pretty visible on the backdrop of the city though, so it doesn't take her long to zip in that direction... and as she grows nearer to the site, anyone who sees her will see her now carrying a water tower that she's plucked off the top of a building (quite common place in Manhattan)... Rogue flies through the air over the buildings toward the fire, with a trail of running water behind her from the tower she holds over her head, her hair and white scarft whipping around behind her head as she soars!

Twitch has posed:
Tyler is out and about on his Harley today, cruising through the city for a while before heading to his fight gym to get some training in. He's not too far from the docks, exploring along the surface streets, when the world shattering explosion reaches his ears. Almost falling off of his bike when the concussion hits him, the young mutant has to recover quickly to prevent himself from laying down his vehicle. Stopping in the middle of the road, Tyler looks around, trying to figure out what's happening.

It takes him a few seconds but soon the young man has located the source of the sound and angles his vehicle to head in that direction. He ends up weaving between traffic as he heads for the flames, his expression one of determination mixed with fear behind the glass of his full face helmet. When he gets closer to the scene of destruction the heat starts to roll off in waves and the kid, already wearing gloves and long sleeves to protect himself despite the heat begins to sweat profusely.

When he finally gets close enough to see people fleeing the explosion he pulls out a cell phone and shoots off a quick text to someone at his school, telling them what's going on: 'Explosion! Docks!'.

Jubilee has posed:
    Jubilee is on every emergency text line for every school and borough in the area. This proves to be possible overkill now, as her phone goes insane with a flurry of texts warning of the explosion and danger in that specific area. She's shopping for some clothes to wear while teaching in the fall, in the mall, and stops to gather her thoughts. (Who am I kidding? You know she's in Spencer's.)

Jubilee gets a locker and shoves her purchases in. She doesn't take the time to put on her body armour before hopping on Bump as the Harley roars to life. Weaving traffic, she does put on her helmet, and it connects into her music. She is practically headbanging when she pulls into a spot behind emergency crews, and pulls off her helmet. For whatever it looked like she was listening to, all that is audible to anyone nearby is a Pride & Prejudice audiobook.

Briefly, she observes the scene before springing into action, only NOW putting on her bike armour.

Donald Pierce has posed:
Fire crews are starting to respond, blocking off the area and directing people to leave the yard. Some fire fighters are running toward neighbouring businesses, waving for people to run. For miles there are the sounds of sirens starting up as crews are called in. A fire captain is standing with some people in suits and lab coats. He is barking directions into radio. They are going to evacuate Brooklyn Navy Yard. Someone else is yelling about people being trapped in Warehouse 2.

Someone spots Rogue coming and word spreads fast through the CSC employees in the parking lot and spilling out on the street. A cheer goes up, then dies as she comes close enough that people can see what she carries. Three people in hard hats and safety vests and two firefighters start waving their arms frantically. Some, quicker on the uptake than their colleagues, just turn and start running toward and down the street. Others mill about uncertainly.

Rogue has posed:
There's a hose hanging from the water tower that the southern Avenger is holding up above her head and its gushing out the anti-fire deliciousness that is tepid New York tap water! And she flies in a directed pathway now toward the fire, where she just slows herself and lets the water rain down over the flames while she floats there beneath it with her left leg extended down further than her right which is bent upward at the knee. Rogue looks down at the flames, then over at the Firefighters and the various other people gathered around in safer areas, she watches them for a moment before looking down again to adjust her position where she floats.

Unfortunately for the 19 year old girl (who's doing her best to be a hero like Carol Danvers) she doesn't know what caused this fire, or if it was foul play at all... nothing else seems 'a foot' so she's just focused on putting the flames out with her own system, though its REALLY HOT, and fire may not damage her, but smoke can... So she's having to turn her head and place her mouth against her left bicep now while trying to get out of the way of the smokey uptrails.

Jubilee has posed:
What Jubilee lacks in powers to assist with the fires, she makes up for in ability to get through the chemical tanks and use pipes and equipment to fly over the fires. She makes it first to the forklift, and grabs the attention of three of the trapped men in hard hats. Because hard hats are tanks, and white coats are mages. "On the count of three!" She counts, they lift, and she slides the man out from beneath the machinery.

Twitch has posed:
When he gets to the scene of the incident Tyler hears that people are trapped in one of the buildings. He removes his helmet, hops off his bike, pulls a bandana from his back pocket and puts it over his face as he tries to figure out a way to get to Warehouse 2. The flames between it and him make it difficult for Tyler to figure out how to get where he needs to but he spots a place in the flames where the pool of fire isn't as wide. It's next to a series of shipping containers. The young man runs towards it, climbing up it easily. As he gets to the top he gets a running start, leaps the river of flame at its skinniest point and hits the ground, rolling as he does so to lessen the impact. Nevertheless, he lets out a grunt of pain, rising to his feet and heading for the warehouse to see if he can't get in to help the people there.

Donald Pierce has posed:
When it registers that Rogue is not stopping, the people that were waving their arms start to sprint as fast as they can for the road. Fire fighters that have clued into what is happening turn around and bolt, trying to put fire trucks or other big objects and Tank 14. At first nothing happens when Rogue starts pouring water on the fire. The heat is so much the leadering edge of the water evaporated before it penetrated the flames. As more water falls, some starts reaching the surface of the chemical in the tank. Huge bubbles form and burst sending thick, flaming liquid spraying in all directions.

Burning blobs of the chemical from Tank 14 fall across the yard. One lands on the back of one of the hard hats that were helping Jubilee. He rips off his plaid workshirt and tosses it to the ground. And just in time. He narrowly avoided get burned.

The administration building is not so lucky. A few burning blobs land on it and start the structure on fire.

The emergency overflow valves on Tank 13 blow and start off-gassing. The side of that tank nearest to Tank 14 is starting to look a little warped.

There are screams coming from Warehouse 2. When Tyler bursts through the nearest door, he sees it is large with bright overhead lighting. Cannisters are carefully stacked in rows on racks or in palletized cases. The body of a young woman, maybe in her late 20's, dressed like a dock worker, comes flying toward Tyler and lands at his feet. Her eyes are glassy and wide, her face set in a permanent expression of surprise.

Some docks works and people who look like lab technicians are running toward Tyler's end of the building in a panic. At the far end, Tyler can see two men in black /carrying/ a huge pallet of cannisters in square shipping braces. It is hard to make out details, but the biohazard symbol is clear enough. He can see the top of a forklift over the rows of containers, moving in the same direction.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue disengages her watering of the fire when the burst/explosion happens. She gasps and flies upward and out toward the docks, then glides down to set the water tower she was holding down into the water. She hadn't helped and hadn't realized she was doing more harm than good, it would seem... yet again foiled by not understand science class... Dr. McCoy would be SO mad at her right now.

Rogue lands ontop of the water tower, which is now resting in the Hudson River, and she jumps from it over to the dock, then starts to run toward the chaos, running quickly instead of flying now, she tries to join the Firefighters to have them direct her, if they so desire her super powered help at all. Odds are pretty good that she'll be labeled more of a nuisance at this point than a help though!

Twitch has posed:
Dropping to his knee to check on the woman at his feet, Tyler soon finds himself moving out of the way of the people rushing in his direction. The young kid gets a look of horror on his face. It doesn't last long before it's replaced with one of rage. He begins a sprint towards the men in black, trying to close in on them.

Letting the sound of people fleeing cover up any noise he might make Tyler gets ready to go toe to toe with the would be thieves.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee can hear commotion in the warehouse, but her power is sparky, and sparky here seems to be a potential danger. But there are people here searching for ways across the flames, as well.

Stopping at an emergency station, she looks from the map of the tank yard, to the MSDS sheets, and back again. "Numbers... numbers... chemicals.... Oh, colours! I can do colours." She puts her finger on the tank in the diagram that is explodey, and then the one that might be explodey soon. "Fantastic, ALL OF the colours."

But there's an app for that. A large plastic tub at her feet holds forty pounds of a powder designed to put out flames involving all of the colours, and a nifty plastic scoop. She hoists it and runs for the narrow spot in the flames, tossing the powder liberally as the heat stings, burns, and blisters her skin. If she can part the seas, she can start getting people to safety.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The captain turns to Rogue as she comes, interrupting his flow of commands. "The fire lit up the escapes on the admin building," he says in a heavy Brooklyn accent. No preamble, no mention of mistakes. Just business. "There are people trapped on the third floor. And," he says and pulls out a diagram. It is of a bunch of lines of different colours crossing the yard joining large circles and coming together at one end. It takes a moment, but then it is clear it is a map of the pipes. "See this shed here? It's right in the middle of the fire. But there's these valve controls in it, see? We can't get to 'em cause of the fire. Five wheels, turn 'em all full right. It'll start emergency venting for Tanks 15 to 19. Can you do that?"

Jubilee's intervention is timely. Heedless of the fire, people come streaming out of Warehouse 2. The power does its job, dampening the flames immediately, creating a pathway between two walls of fire. It's hot, scorching hot, but passable. As soon as they see the break in fire the people coming out of Warehouse 2 break for it.

The woman Tyler checks on is dead, very dead. Tyler sees the first two men carrying the pallet of cannisters, which must weight a thousand pounds or more, walk out of the far door of Warehouse 2 towards the dock. As Tyler runs down between the cannister stacks the forklift comes into view heading after the first two men. It has an even bigger pallet of similar cannisters. Two more men carrying another pallet between are walking behind the forklift. He can hear talking out of view behind them. Three more voices.

Rogue has posed:
Coming to the side of the man barking orders, Rogue stands there with her hands on her hips and her eyes on him. He's taller than her by a bit, so she looks up at him and when he regards her and starts to explain the situation she nods her head. "I can get them shut off and then save the people." She says to him. "I just need...." She looks over to the fire truck and reaches for one of the oxygen tanks with the mask. She grabs hold of it and slides its rig onto her shoulders, then places the mask on her head. "Lets hope my suit is fireproof." Rogue mutters inside the mask as she starts to walk toward the fire, flames, where the shed is hidden amongst it all.

Unless stopped, Rogue leaps up into the air and toward the center where the Shed is. Once she spots it she drops down out of the sky again and lands at the edge of its doorway... she grabs hold of the metal industrial door and just rips it open, right off its hinges and tosses it aside, then darts inside the building to find the valves!

Twitch has posed:
There are a lot of guys for one man to deal with, but Tyler isn't the sort to let people get away with thievery if he can help it. Especially if these assholes are who he suspects that they are. "Screw it," he says to himself as he starts off towards the closest guy in black, keeping his head turning from side to side as he closes on him. When he gets close he pulls a lead ingot from each of his jacket pockets, one for each hand, and hurls them towards the faces of the bad guys as they carry their pallet.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee has her shirt over her nose and mouth, the smoke already turning a large spot of the pale pink fabric black where she has drawn it through the fibers. "Hurry, guys!' She helps a woman who is stumbling either from heat or shock, or both. She helps her a few steps toward the passage, until two more hard hats take her from either side and assist. When the passage is large enough and thoroughly coated with powder, Jubilee turns back toward the warehouse where Tyler went in, inexplicably armed with two lead ingots in his pockets.

She starts a swift but silent run toward the doors, then stops to cough violently, the smoke and chemical fumes getting the better of her stealth. "Musta been the blue part," she says of the HMIS colour-coding. Once she gets a semblance of control, she again makes for the entrance, slipping inside and creeping along aisles till she spots Tyler. "Huh," she says as he pulls lead from his pockets. "Guess that's one way to keep peeps from stealin' yer jacket." And with that, Jubilee is running behind Tyler, leaping and taking a foothold on first one shelf, then the next, across the aisle, gaining speed and height, to get a better perspective on the situation.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The she door goes flying and skitters across the ground, audible even through the roaring of the fire. And yes, it is extremely, extremely hot. Inside the shed five large pipes curve up out of the ground and then back down in a u-shape. Facing Rogue on each one is a large red wheel. The wall to her left is covered in some diagram that surely makes sense to someone, but to anyone else may as well be a map to Bora Bora. But that's immaterial. If Rogue turns the wheels, which might have taken two grown men to do but is easy for her.

Across the yard by the wharf, several caps blow off standing pipes that rise at least 30 feet into the air. Pilot lights catch the gasses that are suddenly flowing up and out of the pipes and light them on fire. Each of the pipes, probably too big for Rogue to put her arms around, are now giant torches.

Tyler's ingots, of course, find their marks. On each man, the side of the face closet to Tyler is made concave at the cheek and their jaws are twisted. Both startle and drop their end of the pallet. It lands on the floor with a thump. The braces for the containers must be locked together because they stay piled on the pallet. The two men look in Tyler's direction and start to run at him. They are really fast.

Two men are already outside carrying a pallet between them. The forklift has just gotten outside as well. They look to be heading toward the ship. The men Tyler hit had been following behind the forklift. Behind them were another two men carrying another pallet of containers. And finally, the last man crouches, leaps and lands on top of a row of cannister racks.

Rogue has posed:
"Why do we build things like this right next to giant cities?!" Rogue shouts inside her mask as she wanders around inside the shed. She spies the valves/hweels and makes toward them, her gloved hands helping her find her way. She ends up on the left-most wheel and starts to turn it while her eyes glance toward the map. "Thats like tryin' t'find your way to Bora Bora... Who makes these maps!" She grunts inside the firefighter's headgear. The wheel turns rather easily for her, like it were all greased up with butter! She's quick to move to the next and within moments the southern girl is now turning two at the same time until she's got them all spun as far to the right as she can.

Its then that Rogue spins around and starts back toward the doorway, she can feel the intense heat... but the heat doesn't harm her skin, and her suit seems to be holding up pretty well too (love that Stark Tech clothing!)

Twitch has posed:
"Suck it, cyborg assholes!" Tyler yells at the pair of men running towards him as he charges back at them, not being particularly passive. As he gets close to them he rapidly darts to the side to hopefully be able to address one at a time and starts to unleash a flurry of blows. Tyler's not quite a blur, but his hands move fast enough it's hard for the average person to track as he sends a series of strikes at the first enemy combatant. Each of his punches and kicks is aimed at a different vulnerable location: A kick goes for the temple area, hoping for a quick knockout. A palm strike heads for the nose, hoping to break it. A powerful jab goes for the Adam's apple with the intention of closing off the airway. A knee towards the solar plexus to take the breath away. A snap kick at the groin to cause pain.

Tyler, apparently, has given up on fighting in anything resembling a sportsmanlike fashion. After unleashing his combination he steps backwards, still in a fighting stance, swiftly checking the other bad guy to make he doesn't get blindsided.

Jubilee has posed:
Are cyborg assholes anatomically correct? Jubilee can only wonder as Tyler lands his flurry of punches. Huh...hopefully. Jubilee stands up as one cyborg asshole finds her hidey hole.

"Hey there big guy! I was just wondering if you guys have-" and she interrupts herself sending a softball-sized ball of blue plasma directly at his groin.

Donald Pierce has posed:
The administration building is now burning merrily. The entire south side is alight, which is unfortunate, because the fire escapes are on that side. The lower floor was hit by some of the wash from Tank 14, so is now fully engulfed. One of the ladder trucks is up against a window, and two firefighters are going up. Will they be able to get everyone out before the building comes down? Iffy. More fire trucks are roaring towards the scene and neighbouring businesses are being evacuated.

The Maria has lowered a large metal plate, reinforced with steel beams, using its onboard crane. The plate is large enough park a dump truck on. The first two men carrying a pallet. The two men carrying their pallet put it down on the plate and then jump 20 feet up onto the deck of the Maria. The forklift drives onto the plate and its driver does the same.

Inside Warehouse 2, Tyler manages to line up the men running at him so they are one behind the other. The man moves at least as fast as Tyler, maybe faster. He blocks the first strike by raising an arm and weaves just enough for the nose strike to miss. He starts a vicious left hook just when Tyler goes for his throat. There is the sound of something snapping and the man is gasping, holding his throat. There is no time to celebrate victory, however. The second man brushes past the first and tries to tiger claw Tyler's throat.

Jubilee's friend takes a plasma ball to the groin. He drops right away as his pelvis melts and he can longer control his legs. He lets loose with the stream of obscenities, sound more angry than hurt. For now he is stuck up on top of the stack. The other two, without needing to speak to coordinate, unceremoniously drop their pallet and pick up the one Tyler's friends dropped. They start for the door.

Rogue has posed:
Once back outside, Rogue's shielded eyes look left to right over the flames as she tries to re-associate herself with her surroundings. She has NO idea that Jubilee is even here still. Her eyes DO spot the firefighters going up their ladder toward the building and thats where she exhales and starts toward them... running right at the flames she leaps up into the air and soars over them, with her gloved hands held out.

Rogue flies up to the firefighters and appears right beside them, reaching her right hand out to steady the one who was startled by her approach... she doesn't want him falling off that ladder afterall, and he's kinda cute too... (SAVE FLIRTING FOR LATER, ROGUE!).

"Here t'help." She tells them as she floats up to the window that they're angling to get inside of and she reaches out to put her hands on the frame and look inside for any survivors or people wanting out! "Come with me, I can get ya outta here."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee winces, and sucks air in through clenched teeth, making a hissing sound. "Oooh....not anymore..." She shrugs and turns, trying to stealthily jump down and slip out between pallets.

The plate where the pallets are being deposited is just at the outside edge of her range, but it is worth a shot. She puts her hands up, palms facing the plate, and a long, continuous thread of white-hot plasma, aimimg to wrap it around the main cable and work on melting it im two from her vantage point behind some empty crates.

Twitch has posed:
As attacks come his way Tyler has to lift his arms and cover up as he tries to get away, getting the flesh on his forearm scored and his jacket torn by his attacker's clawing attack. "Holy crap!" The young man exclaims as he attempts to deal with this threat. If there was an experienced martial arts practitioner around they might notice a change in Tyler's stance away from a stance associated with mixed martial arts to one from ninjutsu. Then he starts attempting to fight really dirty, letting his opponent strike at him only to dodge aside and attempt to gouge his eyes with his own raking attack before trying to move to his side to keep him from being able to unload with all his limbs in an attack.

Donald Pierce has posed:
At the window, Rogue sees seven people crowded together in a large office, all lying down on the floor to avoid smoke. They look up at her with a mix of desperation and deep relief when she appears and start coming her way. The ladder makes it to the window and the firefights hop inside.

"Can you clear the floor, make sure there's nobody else?" Firefighter McHawtie asks Rogue as he and his partner start helping the people in the room up and onto the ladder.

Plasma lances out through the doorway of Warehouse 2 toward the crane cable. The reaction is immediate. The last two carrying a pallet between them drop the pallet and start sprinting toward Jubilee. They make Usain Bolt look slow as they come thundering back across the concrete.

One of the men on the ship leaps off and onto the plate. The crane starts to lift the plate, not waiting for the last pallets. One of the four lines spreading out from the central cable snaps, melted almost clear through. The plate lists to that side and the man on the plate steadies the forklift with his hands. The other pallet slides a bit.

The eye gouges were arguably very wise. The man punches at Tyler, misses, and his fist cleaves through one of the metal bars holding up a rack of cannisters. Tyler is able to get inside the punch and drive his thumbs into the man's eyes. The man does scream, his body does not jolt. The eyes crunch under Tyler's thumbs. Then the man starts swinging wildly, trying to connect with Tyler but having no idea where he is.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gives a decisive nod to McHawtie. "Right away." She says to him after floating through the window and looking over the seven folks who were waiting to be let out. "Any others?" She asks as she floats across the floor toward the deeper parts of the building. She's still got that mask and airtank on over her green and white hero'ing suit, but her voice is still audible, if a bit muffled.

Rogue floats through an open doorway and scans her eyes left and right. "God, please don't be some kids or a box of cats in here... that'll be so sad... and just kinda, weird. This is an office buildin' right?" She mumbles to herself while she zips around silently through the smokey air, not wanting to touch the floor with her boots because fires and floors lead to unstable buildings...

Twitch has posed:
Rolling backwards to get away from his now blind enemy, Tyler takes a deep breath to steady himself and waits for an opening. When it comes he snaps a kick towards the visually impaired cyborg's throat, hoping to shut him down before the bad guy gets a lucky blow in.

After the kick, whether it hits or not, Tyler gets a little more distance and looks for the next threat. Seeing the pair rushing towards his gymnastics teacher he calls out, hoping he's in time, "Lee, three o'clock!" Then he sprints to attempt to get to her attackers before they can get to her.