7257/The Book Was Better

The Book Was Better
Date of Scene:	17 April 2019
Location:	X-men Base
Synopsis:	Scott, Forge, X-23, Rogue, Kitty, Lorna try to locate 3 missing students with help from security consultant Jason Todd
Cast of Characters:	Cyclops, X-23, Rogue, Shadowcat, Forge, Polaris, Red Hood

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Cyclops has posed:
    The hours have passed by since the disappearance of the students who were supposed to be babysitting Rogue. In that time some phones have been picked up and messages or calls have been sent, while some people from the school's less than well known secret hero team have been pulled together in the basement in order to get to work solving the issue of kids literally being stolen from the school's grounds in front of three of the more experienced members of the team.

    Simply, there's a gathering in the war room around a sigular object with a dossier pinned to the corkboard wall on the side with pictures of the missing students along with a facebook default photo used as the culprit as there are no photos of the fire like haired woman. Scott stands near the wall and with his arms crossed before his chest, the leader eyes the wall before turning away to address the object that was left behind. "This is all that was left when the woman disappeared with the kids and it was in the middle of her spell?" Scott asks, frowning and lifting his hand towards his face to rub at the bridge of his nose where his glasses usually rest. "Okay...What do we know about this 'game piece'?" Scott requests from those present.

X-23 has posed:
    Laura considers it. "There's a scent on it. Not one of ours. Likely the person who was behind the disappearance." She looks to the others. "If we go where the disappearance happened, I may be able to follow it." She doesn't even need to go close to it; she's got enough of a sense of scent to smell it from where she stands.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is here. She's even in her green and gold bodysuit with her leather jacket on up and over her shoulders, through the suit is unzipped down to just bellow her collar bone and not all the way up to the neck like when she's in full mission-mode, its Casual X-Men Suit mode right now! Sorta.

She points at the table and then up to Scott. "Its not Jumanji." She then says. "Cause... this woman was way weirder than anythin' outta those movies. This is more like that space one." She eloquently elaborates. "Or some kind fairy tale version. It had a weird vibe to it, like in that Labyrinth movie?" She glances at the others in the room to see if they know that movie and can confirm that comprison. "Except not David Bowie. I'd be more inta not killing this person if it were David Bowie..."

Clearly Rogue has all the information. Rogue then points to Laura. "Thats a start." She replies to the cooler of the two Wolverines.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde comes in after having cleared bringing a guest with her. She'd told Scott that the guy she'd been seeing was a security specialist with a lot of detective skills that might help here. And he already was aware of Kitty's mutant ability and her part of a super hero team, if not the details. He'd also met a few people from the school already, if he didn't know it was all mutants.

So after getting clearance, she walks in with the dark-haired young man. "Everyone, this is Jason Todd," she says. "He agreed to help us go over the physical evidence and see what he might be able to add to the situation," Kitty adds, turning to smile gratefully to Jason. "Jason, you've met Rogue before. This is Scott. Laura. Lorna, and Forge," she says, making the round of introductions and indicating each person.

Forge has posed:
Forge emerges from one of the lower laboratory areas in the X-Men base, into the hallway. He smells clean, of recent soap, and has a soft green towel in his hands as he arrives into the war room. He continues to dry his mechanical hand as he arrives, a satchel thenpulled off of his shoulder and set on a tabletop near him.

He flips the towel onto one shoulder, while quietly opening the leather bag, and bringing out a few containers of mixed natural materials: an envelope of bark, a cup that looks like it is carved of wood with a cotton fiber top covering it, bound with leather. None of it meshes with the technological mutant, but he doesn't call attention to it either way: just goes about his little setup near the board.

Forge is quiet at first; he examines the board visually without touching it as he inventories the purification items. "This object is not innately magical, itself," the Native American says simply, with an even certainty.

When introduced, Forge gives a brief nod to Jason Todd, in his reserved way.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna had divested of her suit and dress clothes she'd been wearing previously. The dry cleaning bill would no doubt be sent back to Genosha later.. but for now, the Princess of Magnetism was wearing another version of her X-men attire. Deep green pants and a zip up black jacket with a green edge to the hems and seams. Metal coated the collar in round studs and was clearly meant to be a weapon as much as for defense. Her green head-band was sharply pointed at the top, looking more like tiara than anything else. She sat quietly, having nothing further to add that wasn't already in the report.

A glance was spared as Kitty made introductions before her focus returned to Scott. "Wait, how do we know this is magic to begin with and not some form of mutant powers?"

Red Hood has posed:
If he knew he'd be introduced to everyone, Jason would have probably worn the hood, and gone in incognito. But no, he got blind-sided on this one. Hands stuffed into his pockets, Jason does not sometimes seem like the type that Kitty would date. Not big and shiny enough. Or something. Instead, he's dressed down into a rock-band tour shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Hey." he greets the others, and then peers at the game piece as it's shown. "I know that piece. Comes from a game called 'Tempt Fate'. It was like.. tell your future and move around the board to find your destiny type thing, made by Mad Grey Dawn Games." he says, a frown creasing his features. "It was one of Riddler's front companies for a while. You know. Edward Nygma. Mad Grey Dawn?" Hopefully someone else will get it.

Cyclops has posed:
    Scott looks around at the team assembled and nods slowly, "So - Edward Nygma is dumb enough to use an anagram of his name as the company front." Scott says, rolling his eyes invisibly with a sigh and then a twist of his head as he looks to Lorna and then motions towards Rogue and Forge with both of his hands. "If these two say magic, I will believe them. She lived with Doctor Strange for a time and that's Forge, he knows things." Scott says with a nod towards the Native American friend. "However, Lorna has a good point, we need to be open to the idea she may be a mutant as well. Or it may just be a coincidence she picked this school to target." Scott frowns.

    With a turn of his head back towards the corkboard and the place holder photo he then speaks towards Laura, "It may be possible she got to the school via mundane means and then teleported once she had her targets in hand, we might be able to follow that lead, but I would like to look into the company angle as well. What all do you know about it?" Scott asks, his gaze shifting from Laura to Jason.

X-23 has posed:
    Laura listens silently, for the most part. She's not really one for small talk. She looks over interestedly at Jason, though, as she considers the young man. Forge's shamanic demonstration gets an attention as well, mostly curiosity as she watches what he does.

    "If our enemy is magical, we should learn what we can about how they do their magic and how best to neutralize them. I can investigate the arrival site, but tracking companies will not be my strength."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes lift up to Kitty's introduction of her boyfriend. Rogue responds to this cute introduction by raising her right, yellow gloved, hand and offering a teasing wiggle of her fingers toward him. "Heya, Casanova." She says playfully to the man from Gotham. Everything he says about the Riddler makes her frown though and glance back toward the game board piece. "I think I've heard of that game now that ya mention all'a that."

With a light exhale, Rogue's green eyed gaze goes up to Lorna and Forge then. "When I was with Strange, I saw a lotta seemingly normal lookin' objects that were anything but normal. But I mean, I'm no magic expert and thats partly why I'm not livin' there anymore too." She tips her chin to Lorna. "If she were a disgruntled mutant, it'd give her rhyme'n'reason for harrassin' us, for sure."

A slight nod is given to Laura then. "If it is magic, we can ask Strange or Wong for help. Maybe. Whatever we do, we need t'do it fast, these kids are... in serious trouble."

Red Hood has posed:
"You have no idea what an idiot he is for someone so smart. It's his thing. Like.. breadcrumbs or something. The whole 'Riddle me this!' schtick he has." Jason shakes his head with a small chuff, as he keeps his hands stuffed in his pockets, a glance towards Kitty. There's a thin line to his lips, unsure if he's able to trust everyone in this room. He's taking a huge leap of faith on this.

"If it involved Gotham, it can be any number of crazy things. Including mutants." There's a frown as he turns his attention to the corkboard. "But if it's involving fire and magic? Going to need more work and investigation. Definetly not Isley's MO. And I don't know of many teleporters in the streets there. Villains there seem to be more -- well for lack of a better word -- grounded? You know. Gimmicky. Like Condiment King, or Riddler. Or Penguin. They tend to tell their tales pretty early on."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives Forge a smile of greeting as he sets up his things. X-23's mention of the scent gets a little nod from Kitty, used to working closely with the man she is descended from. Kitty glances at the game piece herself, frowning a bit, and then turning as Jason. His recognition of the game brings a soft smile from her. Though the smile slips a bit at the mention of Edward Nygma. Those with extra fine senses, like X-23, might catch Kitty mutter something angrily to herself under her breath. Something about... cigarettes and boats?

"He just got locked up recently," Kitty says of Nygma, repeating the information that was in the paper just a few days ago. Kitty glances to Rogue's comment and says, "The woman did say she was disappointed in our attempts to stop her, and free them. And something about how you shouldn't meet your heroines, like she'd looked up to us or something."

Kitty then follows Scott's lead, looking back to Jason and interested to hear what else he can share about the company. Kitty's look back to Jason includes a little nod and an encouraging look, as if she's caught his uncertainty and is letting him know her surety.

Polaris has posed:
A hesitant look crossed Lorna's expression, her arms folding as she leaned back in her seat. "The woman did say she knew us, you're right Kitty.." She pursed her lips together briefly and shook her head. "I just can't fathom who she is. Besides myself being a public figure.. there's not a whole lot out there for someone not in the know to have any idea what to expect when they mess around here. Much less ... this game piece having been from Gotham.." She frowned, exhaling a breath as she let her hands fall back to her lap.

"Why steal the students? Was it those in particular or any that would do? Or was it all just meant as a test to get us three out there?" She reached up to press the heels of her palm against her eyes as she bit back a frustrated sound.

"Too many questions and not enough to go on I guess... is where we're left."

Forge has posed:
"There's residual magic, but that doesn't rule out other abilities as well, Lorna," Forge answers her question. He removes a pinch of something from the bottle with the cotton cloth top, pressing the herb between his fingers just briefly, with a thoughtful, meditative look, passing the hand along the edge of the board without touching it. With something clearly decided from that, he moves his metallic hand to the board, to physically turn it, and then puts it back down. The bits of crushed herb are cleaned up using the moist edge of his towel, and the objects he'd put out are re-wrapped, as if he decided he were done.

"I can tell you there was magic in and around it. There's residual here, but nothing active. It's safe. Which means this is where my information ends: it was used to lure them, I would say, but nothing more. It wasn't directly used to take them somewhere; that isn't what I'm seeing here." He gestures a little to the board, with a mild frown. "I don't think I'm more help here; I can look at the site where they disappeared, though, and at least determine if one of the other magicians can get something from it."

Cyclops has posed:
    "I recommend we all split up and cover as much ground as possible. Forge, you and Lorna are to go out to the site the kidnapping took place, find out what you can out there and then contact us as soon as possible. Everyone else. We're going on a fiend trip." Scott issues his orders with a sharp nod before he starts towards the door to get to work and change into a costume to go prowling into a warehouse.

X-23 has posed:
    Laura nods. She hasn't bothered with a costume; she's in her jeans and t-shirt ensemble. She'll stand, and move to follow Scott. Which will probably require an explanation that he's getting ready when he tries to go change, because otherwise she's going to end up following NewDad into the locker room.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes scan over the others in the war room and then return back to Scott. She reaches into her leather bomber jacket and pulls out her cell phone. No, not to text or to play some money sponge of a cell phone game, no... "I'm gonna look this board game up and see if I can't find a place that sells one. There's some occult shop in Salem Center, I bet it'd have one'a these things. Its a pretty cool shop, if you're, ya know... inta that kinda thing."

She looks up briefly while her phone loads the search results and she looks to Scott as he's leaving. "Field trip?" She asks, glancing then to her team members, and Jason! "We're not goin' t'Gotham are we? Can't we just shine a light up inta the sky and tell Batman t'come here so we can tell him t'go... I don't know, figure this all out?" Rogue doesn't really like Gotham, its dirty and has a lot of creepy things going on in and around it.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives a nod as Scott hands out assignments. She turns to Jason and says, "Thank you for coming in on short notice like this. Sorry I sprung it on you, but the kids are kidnapped and trying to move fast. Are you ok with coming with us to this company? More of your knowledge might be invaluable."

Kitty gives Jason a soft grin and adds, "And, you'll get to see a pretty cool bit of transportation, at that," Kitty tells him. She smiles and reaches over to squeeze his hand. "I'm going to change real quick and get Lockheed," she tells him. She'll wait for any response before hurrying off to change and go grab the little dragon.

Red Hood has posed:
"You saying I'm dirty?" Jason asks Rogue as he passes by her, then smirks, glancing to Kitty. "You have no idea." Or does she? Who knows what Kitty's told people about her boyfirend. "But if we're going into Gotham, I'm going to need my gear. Because if I'm going to catch absolute /Hell/ from the old man for letting you people go in, I better make it worth it."

There's a little rumble in his voice at the thought. Clearly, he was NOT told this was going to happen. "You know, I just spent the last two weeks convincing that little speedy thing to stay out of Gotham. Double standard much?"

Forge has posed:
"Of course, Scott," Forge agrees to going to look at the site. "I'll be able to network about anything I find, if you feel you can better aid the group," Forge offers to Lorna, should she prefer to have a more active hand instead of watching him pick at teleportation mystically-burned grass.

Forge picks up his satchel and immediately heads out the door, intent on getting to the site right away. If he can advise his team, sooner is better.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged, fighting the urge to grimace as Scott sent her on a side mission with Forge rather than with the bulk of the group. Still, orders were orders, and the green haired mutant wasn't about to contest them when she was barely around to demand why she should be on this team or that team. Beyond that.. magic was well beyond her scope of understanding. It was beyond her depth. Sure, Wanda had magic of some kind... but that didn't mean Lorna knew jack all about it.

An increasingly irritating gap in her knowledge that itched for her to immediately start trying to figure out as much about it as she could.

Once the kids were safe that is.

A sigh escaped her as she stood and her boots clicked against the tile floor as she made to follow Forge. "Not much for me to do either way. I'm not a tracker. I don't know anything about magic.." This time she did grimace, "I'm rather limited here..."

Cyclops has posed:
    Scott stops midstep and looks down at Laura (With a U and no N) and shakes his own head. "I meant for you to go with Forge. I was looking at Lorna and her name just slipped out of my mouth. I need you to go with Forge and sniff around. Lorna, you're with the rest of us." Scott says with a sigh and a mumble to himself. "Ineedavacation." The man says to himself as he shakes his head and turns towards the male locker room to get his super suit on and get on with saving the children he's in charge of.