8547/Undercurrents: The Butterfly

Undercurrents: The Butterfly
Date of Scene:	28 July 2019
Location:	The Butterfly, Bushwick, New York
Synopsis:	Cypher, Jubilee, Rogue, Scarlet Witch and Elixir take down The Butterfly and the gang members that ran it.
Thanks to:	Cypher, Jubilee, Rogue, Scarlet Witch
Cast of Characters:	Elixir, Scarlet Witch, Cypher, Jubilee, Rogue
Tinyplot:	Undercurrents

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Elixir has posed:
Jubilee got the word out that Captain Quaid came by the school that morning and left a gift; the address where they could find the people who were prostituting the students in the Nachesko Building. It was not hard to find people interested, especially among those with a close connection to the situation.

Some information gathering found that the address was a two-storey commercial building in Bushwick. The bottom floor were just shops, all closed at this time of night.

The top floor was the domain of The Butterfly, a 'massage' parlour that had been around some time. A check of the website, with pictures on it for entertainment purposes and not solicitation (perish the though) had pictures of some suspiciously young looking women. All 19 in their profiles of course.

The place is busy even late on a Saturday. Or perhaps especially. Men of different ages come and go to the back, go up the stairs and are buzzed in. From the city plans, the floor has a reception area, four massage rooms along a hallway and a big room at the end of the hall.

A few rental cars show up, stop, are met by a guy from inside The Butterfly and then drive off. Being a 'legitimate' business, police did not often have cause to go in and harass places like this. And by just how infrequently they get taken down, one has to wonder how many sex crimes investigators are either on the take or customers. Of course, nobody can ignore the aftermath of certain kinds of events that may happen to an unsuspecting brothel.

The group is assembled a couple of blocks away in the underground parking of an office building. Josh was eager to come when Jubilee told him and suited up. He let Wanda know since they were together when he got the information and she was there when the overdose happened at the school.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda donned her uniform going with one with darker colors, and pulled an extra dark coat atop it to better avoid notice for the time being. Rather than teleport over, a town car with tinted windows drives up. Wanda and Josh emerge from the back doors closing them and letting the car depart.

"I've made a call ahead to let a friend within the NYPD know there may be a lot of arrests coming their way tonight. Also alerted a facility to care for the girls if we find what we expect we may," she tells Josh as she walks around the car to join him.

"So any thought on how you wish to pursue this?" she asks him when she's rejoined his side. If anyone else is there already, they move over to greet them.

Cypher has posed:
Doug looks up. He's holding his phone in his left hand, and tracing the fingers of his techno-organic arm along it. "I'm into every cell phone and computer in the building." He says.

He looks up, and gives a slow blink. "Nobody's going to be making calls or sending texts to get a getaway ride."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee is uncharacteristically quiet tonight. She has seen these people in action. The thought nauseated her then, and even now there is a roiling rage at her center. Two of their own - and possibly even more - have been broken by these people. And Jubilee wants to break them. To show them a modicum of the pain they have inflicted, and will undoubtedly inflict even when they are removed from the equation. And from free society as a whole.

If she is quiet, it is only because her internal voices are screaming. Raging. She has to find a way to quiet them if she is going to survive the night. Or if /they/ are. Dressed in a black leather full body suit, palmless and fingerless black gloves, and boots, she stands in silence, with fire in her eyes.

Jubilee /sucks/ at poker.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is wearing her green and gold, standing in a corner and staring at her phone. She's trying to keep herself calm, not wanting to go murderous tonight on people ven though the desire is strong.

She'd listed those puppies up on her social media page though, so staring at their little fuzzy faces was a surefire way to keep her anger down...

A glance is given up to the others, she's listening to them, but... she's her to be told where to go and what to punch.

Elixir has posed:
Josh has a look at the faces of the others and takes Wanda's prompt. He may not be the senior person here, but from the looks of Jubilee and Rogue, they were more interested in laying waste than anything else.

"Perfect, thanks for thinking ahead," Josh says to Wanda. The two join the others.

"So, they're a mutant gang, Jubilee saw that in the Nachesko Building. Sonic powers and strength are all that was in the report. So I guess, you could find anything, you know?" Josh says and runs a hand through his hair.

"Probably they're mostly gonna be in the back room. Say Rogue and Wanda, go through the walls or the roof or whatever back there and mess them up. Uh, so I guess that's Jubi and Doug through the front. I'll follow them. Wreck their night, round up their crap and turn them over to the cops, and make it so they're not opening again, right?" he says, the last with a sideways glance to Jubilee.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda greets the three X-men with nods rather than the friendly looks they would usually get, as if the events of the coming night are dominating her thoughts. "The more evidence that survives, the easier time the police will have with incarcerating them," Wanda comments.

She rests her hands on her hips, glancing over to Rogue. The smile that is comes isn't one of her friendly ones, but more suggestive that she's thinking about what they likely get to do to those subjecting the women to such horrors. "What do you say, Marie? Roof or wall?"

Whichever Rogue's choice, Wanda will accompany her when it is time. Cuffs of her coat pulled down low over her hands to help hide the telltale glow of her magic as it lifts her into the sky, flying over to the building until she is ready to carve a hole in it for entry. Once overhead, she drops her coat, letting it flutter down to the roof, and nodding to Rogue that she's ready to go when the X-man is.

Cypher has posed:
"Oh, there'll be plenty of evidence." Doug says, "I'm making backups of everything digital inside, from here." Having done that, he sets the phone he was using aside, and then gets up He checks his sleeveless uniform, makes sure his tool belt has everything he needs, and then gets to his feet. He puts his hand on a baton on his belt, and then says "Ready. Let's make it fast."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee nods to Doug, and looks to the building they're targeting. "Through the front it is," she replies matter-of-factly. She takes the lead with Doug, and she's off. "Silence whoever you have to silence. We dont need more company. Just whatever you guys do, DON'T get directly in front of me. Fair warning," she says, as she departs for the Butterfly.

As they reach the upper level near the door, they meet a young man in his twenties coming up from the other direction. He looks nervously at Jubilee and Doug, then to the door, grasping the sweaty wad of cash in his hand more tightly. Jubilee gives him an "Ah ah ahh.." finger, and a shake of her head, swinging her sleek ponytail side to side as she does. The man blinks, turns in his heel, and walks hastily away in the direction he came from. "Ready, set..." And Jubilee calmly pushes the door and walks inside where neon lights bathe the foyer. Her calm facade would be enough to terrify anyone who knows her at this point. Unfortunately for these guys, they don't know Jubilee.

Rogue has posed:
"Personally, I'd like t'just fly right through the building a couple'a times. Get'im all shook up inside, then I'd like t'come up behind it and just push until it falls over..." Rogue says all of this while she walks to join up with Wanda. "But... I ain't heard whether or not there's civilians inside... or rather, innocents or whatever? Plus, I mean... 'not supposed t'kill folk'." She air quotes that last part, as though in this instance she doesn't take it very serious.

"Either way, Witchay Woman. I'm on your tail for this, I'll keep ya safe'n clear t'do whatever it is ya want. I figure you're probably better at not killin' than I am. I mean... I can smash people squat like they're made outta egg yolks. Not easy controllin' all this power, especially with folks I kinda would like t'see dead."

Rogue's with Wanda on this one though, she'll follow her lead because she's quite frankly worried she will kill if she goes at this in her own gut-instict sort've way.

Elixir has posed:
Doug has a wad of data from the phones of the people inside. Clients call histories showing them calling The Butterfly. Text messages to wives and girlfriends saying they will be late, or to friends saying they were off to get a massage. Texts back and forth between the young women working inside and their friends, families, girlfriends, boyfriends, each other and regular clients. Text messages between eight people inside complaining about being stuck there all night, talking about getting their freebies, complaining about some of the girls, not complaining about others and doing refills for a couple of people acting as dial-a-dopers for them. Doug can put it together that there are two of these guys in the reception area and the rest are in the back. With the phones of girls and clients in the massage rooms.

When Jubilee opens the front door, a woman in her mid-thirties looks up from behind a desk. She frowns in confusion. A guy in his mid-twenties sitting beside her also looks up from his phone, looking bored. Another guy is sitting on the couch to the right. The room is deep maroon walls and tacky carpets with blue, green and red neon lights, like some acid dream of opulence gone horribly wrong. It smells of perfume and a cheap water feature tinkles away on a side table. 'The Butterfly' is written in neon on a sign behind the woman at the desk.

"You gotta get buzzed in," says the guy on the couch. "Make an appointment like everybody else."

The soundproofing is at least decent. They don't have to hear whatever is going on in the rooms.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
The Scarlet Witch looks over to Rogue, her eyes glowing with the same red aurora as emerges from her hands. "There are likely innocent girls in there," she tells Rogue. "But I understand your feelings about the rest."

Doing something when you have anger seething through you feels good. So when Wanda takes the roof of the building and rolls it back like she were opening a giant can of sardines? That feels good.

It gives she and Rogue a view of a good thirty feet long swath of the back part of the floor. At least three small 'bedrooms' are revealed to the night sky suddenly. The one on the end nearest to Wanda has two people on the small bed. The man on top is suddenly lifted, leaving a plume of red light behind him as he jets up into the sky. The Scarlet Witch might have an urge to just jettison him off into the night, but instead she causes him to descend to the rooftop. A little harder than strictly necessary. Part of the building material she peeled back shifts over to rest on top of him and pin him there as Wanda descends into the room. "It's alright, you're going to be safe," she tells the girl who covers herself. "Stay here, keep your head down," Wanda says as she blows the door to the little room off its hinges, bouncing it into the hall as she steps forward behind it.

Cypher has posed:
Doug looks over at Jubilee, and then inhales a deep breath. He hears the explosion, and then raises his eyebrows, and says, "Avon calling." Then he shrugs off his coat, revealing that blakc and gold metal arm, and pulls the baton off his belt. He snaps it open with a flick of his wrist, and the taser on the end of it crackles to life.

"I'm the good cop." He says, before he gestures to Jubilee. "She's the bad cop. And man, does she have some things she wants to bring up to everybody here."

Jubilee has posed:
"Lady and Gentl--Oh, who are we kidding here? As you may have noticed, your establishment has been breached. It is my advice to peacefully retreat to this corner," she instructs, "kneel, and place your hands behind your heads." The man from the couch begins to hasten toward that corner instantly. "Ah ah...Slowly. Slooooowly. Make me forget my troubles..." Jubilee chides.

Her hands are still at her sides, until he slowly meanders past her toward the corner. Unfortunately, he makes bad life decisions. As he passes by her, what seem to be horns and spikes begin to rise from his flesh, and an energy vortex begins to form around him. Jubilee lifts a hand toward him without taking her eyes off the other two, and a volley of roiling pink balls of plasma become sucked into the vortex. Her demeanor remains calm, however, as she is still focused intently on the other two.

"Always trust the Good Cop..."

Rogue has posed:
While Wanda rips the roof off of the building and sends a guy flying out of it, Rogue descends out of the sky and lands on her wedge-heeled yellow boots within it. She lands right in front of two big dudes who just grin at the sight of her and start to walk toward her telling her some very derogatory things.

One of them is sent flying over her shoulder out toward the roof of the building behind her like he were a discarded bag of styrofoam and this leaves his partner gaping for a moment, then getting angry. He raises his hands up and points his fingers at Rogue...

And thats when his fingers start to shoot at her. Like literally detaching from his hand and firing fingers at her only to instantly be replaced by new fingers and then those new fingers shoot out at Rogue too!

They bounce off of her chest whilst a disgusted look spreads over the Belle's face. "Gross." She says to the man.

"Fingerguns! Lets go! We gotta get out of here." Another voice yells from deeper inside the building under siege.

The man shooting his fingers is apparently named Fingerguns. He looks down at his hands and stares in disbelief as his fingers didn't shred Rogue to pieces like he must've been used to them doing.

He's not long for the waking world though as Rogue lunges forward and delivers a punishing fist at his jaw. She's control enough of her powers now after nearly daily Danger Room routines to know how much force she can apply to a man's face and successfully knock him out, versus knock his head off of his shoulders entirely... or just make it explode into a fine red mist... Nope. Fingerguns just gets knocked the fuck out.

She then steps over his body (and all the discarded fingers laying on the floor) and starts to walk her yellow-long-booted legs through the open building now, hunting for her next target, sashaying her hips as she goes...

Elixir has posed:
Josh follows Doug and Jubilee into the establishment and stays by the door. He certainly has nothing to offer this stage of things other than zap-strapping fools after they are handily dealt with. By now there are startled shouts coming from the other massage rooms. The doors to each open one after the other with men coming out in various states of dress. The winner has to be the guy with his jogging pants on backwards, and his shoes and shirt in his hands. Regardless they gape at the hole in the roof and break for the front entryway.

The woman behind the reception desk is remarkably calm. She stands up, backs against the wall behind her and puts her hands up. When the fighting breaks out she stays there and just does her best to avoid getting caught in any crossfire.

"It's like a bad movie set in here," Josh says wryly. "So gross."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
The Scarlet Witch stalks through the hallways, pulling doors off one by one. Men inside the rooms who don't give any sign of resistance find themselves restrained with whatever objects in the room can be bent about their wrists. Lorna would probably be proud of the number of metal chair legs that get ripped from furniture and used as makeshift cuffs.

Those who do resist? Well the same thing. Just with more bruises.

Wanda reassures a young woman, causing a robe to fly over to her. "Stay in here until the police come," she says, then steps back out into the hall.

The wave of sound that is waiting for her sends Wanda flying backwards to smash into a wall, caving the drywall in a vaguely body-shaped depression.

Hair flying around her from the barrage of one wave of sound after another, Wanda raises her hands, making a wall of scarlet energy and send it racing back down the hallway. The man shouting towards her sees it coming, pushing his own sound back at him. When he hits a wall, it doesn't just break the drywall, but flies through it bodily. Wanda drops back to the floor, stalking down the hall to secure the man, bending some beams from the wall about him to keep him from moving, and another as a gag.

Cypher has posed:
Doug turns and looks around, and then as the guy with the guy in just his jogging pants comes out, he taps him on the side with the tazer, which makes his body go all jell-o jiggler. Dig that wobble.

"EVERYBODY IN THE *CORNER*." He says. "ON YOUR KNEES. *HANDS ON YOUR HEADS*." He looks around, and says, "You are all complicit in this. Every one of you. The women back there had their right to consent taken away, and you took advantage."

"Is that all we are to you?" He asks. "Things?" A guy breaks for the door, and before he even DOES it Doug is moving to trip him and zip-tie his hands behind his back, before he drags him to the corner. "You should all be ashamed."

He touches his ear, activating his radio.

"The front room is under control. I'm going to zip-tie these guys and truss them up as a present for the police." He looks toward Jubilee and Josh, "...I've got this, go take care of whatever business you need to. X-World is starting to sound better and better..."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee watches Doug in her peripheral vision, as others come flooding into the foyer from the back. Jocko the Vortex Boy, meanwhile, takes a handful of plasma balls to the flesh, and he drops, screaming and writhing, to the ground. Jubilee sighs impatiently and steps over him to the front door.

"Please learn from this man's bad decisions, and calmly approach this corner," she gestures. "Kneel, and place your hands behind your head. Resistance is not advised, and will be met with a swift response." She steps in front of the door and locks it, turning to face all comers.

Rogue has posed:
While Wanda is getting tossed about, Rogue seemingly isn't fairing much better. As she'd entered into a room to break up a party inside and a man who was previously only around 5'0" suddenly grew to about 7'0" and started to rush at her. He has her by the throat now and is yelling as he crashes through walls with Rogue in front of him.

Smash after smash, furniture and walls crumble to pieces while Rogue's hands are holding onto the man's wrist and trying to pry it from her throat! He must be insanely strong!

As they reach the back wall and he slams her through it, he holds her out over the alleyway and grits his teeth staring at her as she's prying his hand open with her right.

"Pathetic." He says to her. "Time to crush you now."

But Rogue's left hand comes up and touches the side of his face, she cups it almost lovingly, with no glove on. He instantly starts to drain weaker... and she leans in then, no longer held by her throat, and places her lips against his forehead. "Night night, sugah." She whispers to him then as he drops from the smashed-out-wall and down toward the ground below where he impacts against the alley floor like a wet bag of meat.

Rogue's hand then goes up and brushes at her own forehead. "Mmmm... you got an interestin' powerset indeed. Or rather, I guess I do now." The southern belle flies back into the building to go find Wanda now!

Elixir has posed:
Resistance crumbles quickly then as the most powerful of the mutants are put out of the fight. Seeing bits and pieces of various fights convinces the others to give in to Doug and Jubilee's demands at that point. Josh helps zapstrap any who remain free and then picks his way carefully down the hall.

"R? W? You two alright?" he calls down the hall. "That was a lot of crashing."

Josh pokes his head into one massage room after the other to check on the young women. They are understandably terrified, and two have minor cuts and bumps from flying debris when the heroines were fighting their respective mutant foes. He assures each in turn that he's there to help and repeats what the others said to them; wait for the police. And that goes well until the last one.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?! This is my fucking job! What the fuck am I gonna now?" the last young woman yells at Josh. Thankfully dressed, at least in a nightie, she pushes and swings at Josh.

"Calm down, for fuck's sake," Josh says. He catches the young woman's wrists and spins her around against the wall to zap strap her. He looks more than slightly embarassed at having to do so.

"I'll fucking kick your ass!" the young woman yells. Josh quite happily makes an exit from that room and goes to look into the back room where Wanda and Rogue went in. There are some baggies around, suggesting the police will find their share of drugs hidden around the place. He puts his hands on hips and looks around.

"Saturday night in Bushwick."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff is standing over a beautifully coifed older man whose pants and dress shirt are folded over a nearby chair, leaving him in boxers and a t-shirt. There's no 'masseuse' in the room presently, but from the way Wanda's eyes are blazing with scarlet fire, there most likely was.

"Look, I didn't know they weren't doing this on their own! For the money!" he protests. "I always tipped well!" he says.

"Tipped well? With what you did to her!?" Wanda exclaims. "You think that makes up for it!?" Her fingers clench into fists, straighten, then clench again. Finally they spread and a red aurora gathers about them as Wanda leans forward and takes the man's head in both hands. The red light flares around him and then she turns and stalks away out of the room to meet the others.

The man lets out a sigh of relief. "Thought she was going to do something to me," he says, breathing more easily as all of his thick hair begins falling off his head to either side of him.

Wanda looks about at everyone else. "I'm well. Just a little banged up," she tells Josh. He'll have felt the little surge of pain, but know it has faded to what will be some nagging bruises. "Jubilation Lee, Douglas Ramsey, all is well at the front?" she asks them. Rogue will be given an approving nod at the former Avenger's handling of herself. Wanda looks back to Josh, giving him a softer smile and he'll sense what words don't need to say.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee is up front, with everyone ziptied. She is pacing amongst them with her hands folded behind her waist. "I suppose you wonder why I've called you all here," she begins. A few of the "management" roll their eyes, while the patrons just stare in abject horror. Sweat Pants has pissed himself, and is kneeling in the puddle.

"What we have here is an unfortunate situation brought about by your own bad life choices. And you're being given a second chance."

A few hopeful eyes look pleadingly up to Jubilee as she continues. "Because to be honest, there are quite a few people around who just wanted to kill you all. But NOW you have the chance to consider your--"

One of the patrons, in his growing panic, attempts to trip her by swinging a foot out in front of Jubilee. She fingerguns (not Fingerguns) a blazing gold ball across the top of his scalp, giving him a reverse mohawk, and he falls screaming to the ground to writhe.

"As I was saying, you have the opportunity to consider your--"

"Jubilation Lee, Douglas Ramsey, all is well at the front?" Wanda calls out.

"Oh for the love of...WE'RE FINE, THANKS FOR ASKINGGG." Jubilee will have words with Wanda for using not only real names, but FULL names in front of known members of organized crime. That shit just is NOT gonna fly.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue appears in time to see the man complaining and to see his hair fall out. It makes her grin as she turns and trails after Wanda now. She puts her glove back onto her hand and then runs them through her two-toned hair since the collision through the walls had puffed it all up and made it all kinds of crazy looking, with bits of drywall and other dust and debris dotting it.

She releases a light sigh then and pops her neck muscles by turning her head left and right. "I feel like I'm about t'just bust right outta my clothes." She quietly says then for a number of reasons. Partially because she just absorbed some of that man's personality too and although she's been training actively to fight that stuff off, its still one of the harder things to do surprisingly... people's personalities just kinda soak in like butter on warm bread.

All the same, Rogue keeps a look out for more targets who might want to tangle with her as she's feeling even more aggressive than she was before...

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee sighs. Screw her speech, anyway. Not like she's gonna get through to them.

"I'm calling it in two minutes, firm. You have approximately four to vacate the premises before badges arrive. Elixir, please come up front and get clear of the building with Doug and myself." Jubilee says quietly into her comm. "Scarlet Witch, I trust you'll see the girls safely into the hands of the authorities." She unlocks and opens the front door, and Doug exits hastily ahead of her. Jubilee, squinting, fires blue plasmoids at the various neon lights, taking them out of commission, permanently. Then she steps out the front door, looks at her watch, and on her mark, she fires a pink plasmoid skyward. It hangs in the air for an unnaturally long time, like a flare, but it does not drift. It does not waver in the night breeze. After a few minutes, it explodes into a large pink butterfly, then catches fire, and dies in a fiery blaze. By the time the police stationed nearby can respond, all they will find are handily ziptied perpetrators, a half-demolished massage establishment, and Scarlet Witch, guarding a handful of girls who now have their entire lives ahead of them to heal.

For some of them, that's how long it will take.