7112/The Blaze

The Blaze
Date of Scene:	01 April 2019
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Psylocke and Negasonic end up saving a bunch of people from a burning building, each in their own unique way.
Cast of Characters:	Iceman, Psylocke, Negasonic Teenage Warhead

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Iceman has posed:
The blaze is raging out of control. The Shepherd's Mill apartment complex is burning and things are looking bad for the people trapped inside. The furious flames started quickly and in various spots throughout the building. Luckily, some friendly costumed mutants were in the area and available to help out with the situation.

The apartment complex is in a rough area of town already, with a great deal of gang activity and a high amount of drug dealing. The residents of Shepherd's Mill are mostly just people trying to get by, though.

Outside of the trio of five story buildings a crowd has gathered in the parking lot and on the lawns. Many of them are wearing pajamas, presumably residents forced to flee from the inferno, but there are just too few to add up to all the folks that should reside in a housing project of that size.

So far the only emergency response vehicle to show up is a police patrol car. The officer it belongs to is already heading towards the closest building, trying to usher people out of it, "Quickly! Grab your families and pets and get away from the building! The fire department is on the way!"

Psylocke has posed:
The trip to town had been a necessity. Betsy had agreed to be chaperone for Ellie, so the student didn't run into problems with being out after curfew. Besides, Betsy's teleporation allowed for a lot faster round trip to the city than being toted there by Sam.

They were preparing to head back when the sight of the fire blazing against the sky in the distance caught their attention. At that moment, Betsy glanced to Negasonic and then ported them through the shadow realm and back out in front of the apartment buildings, at the back of the crowd where their arrival wouldn't be noticed.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
Honestly now Ellie is using any excuse to get out of the mansion and take trips just about anywhere.

The city. Check.

Wine Country, sure why not at this point.

Space, in a heartbeat but no one has offered damnit.

When the fire is spotted though Ellie peers at the smoke and then there is a yelp at the teleportation to the back of the crowd. "Mmm" well damn. "So uh.. I mean.. I can blow the building up but that seems counter intuitive to the whole saving the building and people still stuck in it?" okay yeah she is snarky even in a crisis.

Iceman has posed:
The police officer doesn't get far into that first apartment building before gunfire rings out and he drops to the floor, blood steadily pooling underneath of his body. There are most screams from around him and a pair of people wearing bandanas over their faces and pistols in their hands come bouncing out the door, almost skipping over the downed cop's form.

The folks in that building seem terrified of the gunmen as screams erupt from inside. There's another exit at the back of the building but this one seems blocked off by the villainous duo. One of them lifts a cell phone to his ear and moments later other pairs of masked men exit the other pair of buildings, popping off rounds behind them to keep more people from leaving.

From down the street an ambulance approaches, siren blaring as it closes in on the scene of the emergency.

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy is already pulling out a hand kerchief from her pocket and is about to tie it around the lower half of her face when the gunfire rings out. "Things just went from bad to worse. This wasn't an accident and they are doing their best to keep everyone inside."

She glances to Ellie. "You help keep people safe. I'm going in to try to help evacuate people. I'll bring them to this alleyway." She needs to try to get to the officer but that isn't going to happen with a frontal assault. She realizes there is no way she will be able to save everyone but she is going to save as many as she can. A moment later, her form goes solid shadow then sinks into the darkness below her feet.

She appears inside the apartment building, finishing tying that cloth around her face to try and keep from inhaling too much smoke. She is in the first apartment. The front door is open and she peeks out, seeing if she has a chance of getting to the bleeding officer without the thugs spotting her.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
"What I am hearing is take out the gun totting bad guys while you evacuate... this is a solid plan." with that Ellie fingerguns at Betsy and then starts to walk towards the gunman, well the closest group gunmen.

Her pace starts off as a surprisingly slow walk as Negasonic pops her neck rolling her head a bit before she starts to jog. Well these guys seem like normal people, maybe, with guns, so yeah best to not just atomize them you know. Right.

Which means Ellie makes shadow boxing rabbit punches at them, firing off a blast at the nearest two that are only a fraction of a second of build time now.... it is liable to blow them way off their feet but not kill them this way.

Also no quips or announcing herself, that shit is for Spiderman... or Lamepool.

Iceman has posed:
The two dudes outside of the first apartment turn when the ambulance approaches, opening fire on the emergency services vehicle and sending bullets ripping through the cab. The EMTs in the vehicle try to make themselves small to avoid the gunfire as they pull away to make space between them and the shooters.

The wounded cop struggles to move. Looks like a lot of the rounds hit his vest, but there's still blood. An attempt to sit up is foiled as he slips in his own bodily fluids and collapses back down to the floor. Tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes, rage and frustration starting to get to him as he tries to force himself up.

As Ellie approaches the shooters closest to her they start to turn to check out who's coming, one even leveling his firearm at her. Only they don't get much of a chance to react as a powerful kinetic force hits them. Their feet leave the ground and their bodies begin spinning through the air before they slam into the ground yards away. As they hit the pavement their guns slide away from their still forms.

Psylocke has posed:
The coast seems to be clear so Psylocke moves toward the police officer. "I'm here to help. Sit still. I'll get us out of here but it will be a bit...strange," she warns him, accent obviously British. "But first..."

She glances around and finds a light switch, flipping it and giving shadows to the area, created by the flames. "Much better."

She moves to put her hand on the shuolder of the officer then wills them both into the shadows. A moment later, they appear at a nearby emergency room. She sends a telepathic call to the people inside, willing them out to find him sitting near the entry door in the shadows. Then Betsy is gone again, back into the flaming building as she sends out her mental probe to find people who are hiding. She makes a beeline for the first one.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
Ellie's eyes narrow just a little bit now. Okay she really hopes she hasn't killed those two, bu then she imagines they will be fine. I mean they can get medical... oh wait they shot at the EMT's driving the ambulance.

Well their poor life choices are not her fault.

Still jogging towards the bad guys she lets out a piercing whistle ~TWEEET~ to make sure she has their attention and they aren't shooting into the buildings. I mean the explosion should have done it but one doesn't know for certain.

At the same time she whistles at them she shadow punches two more explosions right group of assholes #2 then quickly gets under cover behind a lightpole before group of assholes #3 can shoot her.

Iceman has posed:
"What the hell? That was..." The police officer starts to say to Betsy, shocked at the sudden transition to the emergency room. Once he's started getting his wits about him he tells the heroine, "Thank you." Then his face shows shock again as she disappears suddenly. At least the guy remembered to be polite.

In the building there are a number of people hiding, having been driven back into their apartments by the gunfire. Smoke starts getting thicker in the hallways, too, the danger increasing steadily.

Assholes #2 turn at the sound of a whistle and raise their weapons at Negasonic, fingers on the trigger. Luckily, the young mutant is quicker on the draw than the gunmen and they go flying through the air like their comrades before them. They slam into the building behind them and sink down to the ground. There's a good chance they're still breathing.

The last group of shooters turns towards Ellie and start firing in her direction, rounds slamming into her cover and pinging off of it. One of them shouts, "She's a Meta! I'll light her up! You check on the boys!" The other begins to move towards the first group of downed criminals.

Psylocke has posed:
Hearing the sounds of gunfire outside, Betsy does not yell that it is safe for people to come out of their apartments. Instead, she has to go to each person and approach them. She starts using the shadows when she can and, when she can't, she does it the old fashioned way by kicking in doors and heading straight for the person's hiding place. "I'm here to help. I'm going to get you to safety."

Then she will teleport them to the outside behind the crowd. She glances in the direction of Negasonic then decides the woman has things well in hand going by the number of downed thugs. Back into the building she goes for the next rescue.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
"Hey My Dudes! I am totally a Meta! I am totally pulling my punches as far as I can possibly pull them!" ... Ellie pauses to let that sink in "So I'll give you like to the count of me finishing talking to throw down your stupid guns before I have to blow you up for real instead of these love taps you dumb fuckers!"

If there is a clatter of guns on the ground great, otherwise she will duck out the other side, putting up a bigger charge which means a blast field around her protecting her from the bullets as she launches herself at the gunner providing cover fire. It isn't a big boom but it is a launched boom with blast shield... he may be in the hospital for a long time if this is the choose your own adventure he picked.

Iceman has posed:
The people teleported to safety have a variety of reactions, but most of them are thankful. A few seem disturbed that they were saved by some kind of masked meta vigilante. They're all, however, happy to be out of the flames and the line of fire.

More sirens are approaching now, police and fire on their way. The response times around here aren't the greatest, apparently, but emergency services do seem to be showing up. A couple of vans begin to pull up in front of the burning apartment complex and their side doors open up to reveal a guy in each with a submachine gun. They wave towards the guys with guns who are still standing, "Lets get out of here!"

Of course the guy shooting at Negasonic keeps blasting at her. The bullets strike the blast field harmlessly before the man is slammed backwards by the wave of force. His arms and legs extend as he gets tossed through the air. When he lands he's a crumpled heap on the ground, all sorts of messed up with limbs bent weird and road rash on his exposed skin. That person's partner drops his gun as he kneels down next to one of people taken out by Ellie, trying to drag them towards a van.

Psylocke has posed:
It becomes a sequence of events repeated over and over. Mentally locate the next person, teleport in as close as possible to retrieve them, bring them to safety. The problem is her exposure to the smoke is starting to take its toll, despite the cloth on her face. It can only do so much, after all.

As she brings out the couple and their two kids, she is coughing and staggers a moment, leaning against a wall to get her head to clear. Fire trucks on scene. More officers. The van trying to get the bad guys together. She frowns and reaches out with her mind, trying to get information from them as to where they are going and who they are. Just in case they getaway, she wants to have the information to pursue them later.

Then it's back into the flaming apartment building.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
Ellie is not very nice, she did note that if they threw down their guns they wouldn't be blown up for like really real. She never said they wouldn't be blown up a little bit.

Turning away from the guy she just totally made sure gets a free trip in an ambulance eventually she looks at the guy trying to drag his downed friends towards the van. "I didn't say you get to not give up and run away!" and she shadow box punches at the last guy sending a blast at his back now, trying to aim to plant him in the side of their own van.

Lets just hope none have a heart condition.

Iceman has posed:
It's a good thing Psylocke is there to grab people and get them out of harm's way as the fire and smoke are starting spread. Now that proper emergency services are here the police officers move in to try to deal with the armed men, driving in towards them before getting out of their vehicles with their weapons at the ready. They begin issuing commands to the various criminals.

Negasonic knocks the one guy into his extraction vehicle. Its door slams shut seconds later and the two vehicles begin to pull away, trying to get gone before the cops realize what they're there to do or the lady that blows things up does something to them.

The guys with the guns are local gang members, The Second Street Saints, trying to make sure they get their respect and punish the locals after a group of them provided evidence of their crimes. The arson and shootings were all about leaving a message and making a mark. They just had no way to know what they were going to end up dealing with.

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy gets out a man of at least 80 years. As soon as they appear, a woman in the crowd rushes to embrace him. She's likely the same age as he. Seems they got separated when she made it out just before the thugs started shooting. She hadn't thought she would see her husband again.

Betsy sags against the wall again and leans her head back, blinking at the firetrucks as she reaches out mentally again to try to locate anyone else in the building.

Whether she does or not, she ends up sliding down to a sitting position as she tries to drag in fresh air. The portion of her face that is exposed is covered in soot and grime from the fire. Her clothes are likewise, as is the kerchief. She lifts the material a bit and her lower face is less stained. She leans her head forward as she rests.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
Negasonic narrows her eyes.

If this were a movie it would zoom in and go all verticle bar style with just her eyes showing.

Then Ellie just shakes her head "Jackasses..." and moves around to find Betsy looking for her friend and when she finds her she crouches down. "You okay?" for once no snarky comments from Nega.

Iceman has posed:
The cops start rounding up the crooks, a couple of patrol cars leaving to chase after the fleeing vans. People are starting to get organized by the emergency services personnel. Firefighters start getting their trucks ready as others wearing bunker gear begin heading into the burning buildings. People who appear to be suffering from smoke inhalation are directed towards EMS teams. One of the EMTs even approaches Betsy, "Ma'am, are you okay?"

Psylocke has posed:
Before Betsy can answer Negasonic, the fireman approaches. She takes the kerchief off, stuffing it in her pocket and gives him a nod. "Of course. I'm quite well. Thank you for your concern." She reaches out to Negasonic, silently asking the other woman to help her keep up the fascade.

Once she is on her feet, she continues to the fireman. "There are others that need attention. You should go take care of them." She gives a little mental nudge as she says it, to send him on his way. Then she focuses on Ellie. "I will be alright. Just...I will never understand how people can smoke. Bloody awful feeling in the lungs," she says. Then she motions to the alley, somewhere they can hopefully get out of sight. "Shall we get back to the mansion? I think I have one more teleport left in me."

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has posed:
Yeah of course Ellie helps Betsy up to her feet now and then once the fireman is gone she mmms "Only if you are sure Betsy.. I mean we can definitely just call an Uber if that would be better." a shrug there. "We will get back when we get back either way we have a good excuse for not rushing back."

In the end Ellie leaves it to Betsy