8571/Red Alert!

Red Alert!
Date of Scene:	29 July 2019
Location:	War Room - X-men base
Synopsis:	Beast, Jubilee, Magik and Elixir grab and interrogate the man who tipped off cyborgs before the mutant bus attack. They turn him over to police. Elixir has a startling revelation about Magik's world and kills a small demon. Jubilee shields Elixir and Magik leaves.
Cast of Characters:	Beast, Magik, Elixir, Jubilee

---

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy calls whoever's available down to the War Room. "Got a call from Sergeant Quaid. They ran down some leads on the bus attack. Three words: Church of Human Potential. A man named Jerome Carter vanished after the attack, who had been working at a charity, and has ties to the church. He's hiding from the cops, too."

He taps at the table, and a three dimensional map of a NYC neighborhood springs up, with a building highlighted in a red glow. "We have options. Capture him and interrogate him ourselves. Capture him and run him down to Quaid's precinct in zip ties with a note. Well, we also have other options, but those are at best last resorts. Questions? Ideas?"

Magik has posed:
Illyana sits quietly in the back of the war room with her knees together, back straight, eyes forward, and hands resting on her thighs. She watches Hank deliver the message, sort of a thousand yard stare. When the map indicates the location they will be hitting, the Queen's pale blue eyes fix on it. "We burn this place down with all of them locked inside?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh shifts uncomfortably in his chair. "I'm the last guy that should say anything, but... There are kids and stuff that go to HumPo churches," Josh replies to Illyana. "They're like, the KKK, I know, but they're not all. Reavers. Some are just ignorant or stupid or naive. Kill the Reaver types, they won't stop. But everyone?"

Jubilee has posed:
"I...THIIIINK that is one of those last resort options, Illyana..." Jubilee furrows her brow. "Anything wrong with capturing and interrogating, then letting the cops have him? Not sure I trust the fuzz to think of EVERYTHING, cause I mean they have sentinels and robots and explosions and drugs and prostitutes and ..." She pauses as Josh pipes in, and quiets. "Yeah I don't wanna hurt any kids...Not that it ever stopped THEM."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy sighs. "Sorry, CAPTAIN Quaid. Give the man his due. I've known him a while and I sometimes forget he got promoted." He taps the table again, and zooms in on an apartment window in the highlighted building. "Illyana... it's as Josh says. There are innocent people mixed up with them. Non-combatants. Don't tempt me." He bangs his fist into his hand and looks to Illyana. "I'll give you first crack at questioning him before we drop him at Quaid's precinct. How's that sound?"

Magik has posed:
Illyana turns enough to look at Josh for a moment, then over to Jubilee for one of her own... but her pale eyes fall upon Henry when he offers up a counter argument. One that has the Darkchilde grinning in a quite unwholesome way. "Da, this is sounds good to me." Thumbs up. Actual thumbs up.

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks guilty and stares at his shoes under Illyana's gaze, a hint of colour rising in his face. He folds his hands together and stays quiet.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee gives a low whistle. "Dude won't even know what hit 'im," she chimes. Maybe a hint gleefully. Maybe. The grin she offers Illyana might be a little telling.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy nods. "Alright. To please Scott, let's outline this. Objectives: Acquire Carter, gather information from him, turn him into the police, with zero civilian casualties and minimal property damage. The risks are that he's surrounded by civilians, or is heavily armed and will use surrounding people as hostages. We must enter with caution. Suit up, we'll fly a chopper to this pad on the adjacent building, which should let us surveil the apartment before going in. Questions before we go?" And assuming all is set, he'll suit up and fly the chopper out there.

Magik has posed:
"I can get us there quicker." Illyana points out quietly as she stands from her stationary, statuesque, seat near the back of the war room. "Meeting me back here and I will teleport us all there." She makes her way forward to get a better look at the holographic map, "What is layout of building? How many civilians are present to get in our way? What kind of weaponry is knowing to be had there? Should we expect great resistance from full members? What is the rules of engagement for opporation outside of loss of civilian life and property damage being negociable-" Not allowed, but she said what she said. "- I have many questions. Tactical questions... logistic questions.. several questions about structural integrity of building that is unrelated to killing everyone inside.. Are these things not important?"

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, and I'll grab the comms gear for us, the ties. You want us to bring tazers? Cyclops has been getting big on secondary armaments since the Moon," Josh sighs. "He's on a tear about relying too much on our powers."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy nods. "Alright, meet back here and Illyana can teleport us to that rooftop. That's much cleaner. Josh, get the equipment. Jubilee, let Frank know to expect a present soon, and if he can get a little traffic diverted, so much the better." Hank for his part just suits up and gears up with comms, ties, and a body cam.

Magik has posed:
Illyana continues to look at the holographic map since she's no reason to go change into her armor. It is ready made at her beckoning, but she does follow Henry out with the motion of her pale eyes tracking him. Once he's gone from view, they snap back to the topography of New York where they will be attacking to formulate her OWN plans.

Elixir has posed:
Josh gets up and goes to the war room computer. He uses some of Kitty's programs to get access to city plans for the apartment building Jerome Carter lives in and run a couple checks with the DMV.

"Okay, looks like this guy is 25, and lives at home with a man and woman with the same last names in their 50's. Probably his parents. Nobody else with a licence there, it's a two bedroom apartment," Josh says and points to the floor plan he brings up.

"It's an apartment building, so all kinds of people live there. We really don't want any fires or anything. We got nothing on this guy though, so no idea if he's one of the HumPo's millions of lackeys or a straight up Reaver cyborg, you know? If he's just a dude, he'll probably shit his pants. If he's a cyborg, he'll fight to the death, no questions asked. Any of them will, they're /insane/."

Josh looks at the building projected on the wall and swivels his chair back and forth a bit.

"Honestly, I don't think we want anyone to know we were in there. HumPo is no joke, they have people /everywhere/. Police, government, whatever. It's how Donald Pierce got away with so much last year. So, like, for this one? I know I'm not a team lead or anything, but don't kill anyone unless you have to. It'd look so bad if we left bodies in the building. Find him, subdue him, bring him back. Let it be mystery, they won't know who to punish for it."

"If you gotta kill him, don't hit the head. Um, I know from ah, what Pierce said," Josh says looking guilty and rubs the back of his neck. "If the brain's not damaged, they can put the person in a new shell. We could probably bring it back and interrogate him here even with just the head. It's Hank's call though, it's his op. I'm just spitballing."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy returns in his singlet, and wires himself up. "Check check. Okay, comms good. Elixir, I agree. Magik, the adjacent building rooftop whenever you're ready. What I intend to do is, if it's clear in his apartment, jump across, and climb down to get right into his window. Sound good?" Once they're across, he'll start sizing that jump up firsthand.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee pulls out her cell phone, and she wheels through the contacts until she finds Captain Quaid, then calls. She retreats to a farther end of the war room, and she paces slowly as she talks.

"Captain Quaid? Oh...sure, I can hold." She begins humming Girl from Ipanema. Apparently, along with the music.

A few moments later..."Oh, Captain Quaid! Hiya! How's your daaaay?" She has a seat in a chair and listens for a moment. "Ooooh, what kinda donut? Oh seriously? God I LOVE those. Y'know, King's Donuts makes those the best, you should try 'em sometime." At some point she flipped over in the chair, with her knees hooked over the back as she lies on her back in the seat. Her head is hanging, upside down, off the front of the seat. "Oh right riiiight. Well, coupons are impor--Huh? Oh..why...OH RIGHT. I was just gonna let you know that we're heading out to check out that guy that attacked the bus." A pause. "Uh huh....Uhhh huh. Right. Exactly, you got it! Perfect. I'll tell 'em. Oh definitely, you can have him when Il--Uh....when we're done with 'im. Oh, we'll be careful, I promise. Yeah! No problem...Okay huuugs, see you--Hello? Captain Quaid?" Jubilee looks at her phone and looks upside-down at the others in the room. "He hung up."

Magik has posed:
Illyana looks to Josh blankly, but with the smallest hint of appreciation, and then back to the floor plans with a critical eye. Pale blue moves steadily over the floors until the indicated suite apartment building with an attention to detail for architectural design and structural anomolies based on weight baring walls.

"With respecting to team lead." She says quietly, "I believe surprising attack is more efficient. I can teleport us here." One finger points directly at the largest room in the suite, likely indicating some kind of living area. "This renders collateral damage for neighbors to acceptable levels. Beast, you can encourage compliance from older couple?" Glancing back to Josh, "Any indirect friendly fire, you can field this?" To Jubilee, "If things go Berlin, can you provide distraction to keep civilians from becoming too ...." She pauses, brow furrowed, eyes cast down a moment.. "What is... if they becoming lyuboznatel'nyy.. snooping. You stop them?"

She looks back to Beast, "I will grab Jerome, teleport him here to Limbo.. if he is cyborg, I will hurt him until he is no longer combat effective.. I can spend years making him talk... it only be a couple seconds on Earth. Could be back in time for late lunch?"

Glancing around slowly, "This is not good plan?"

Elixir has posed:
"Quick and clean," Josh comments though looks a little queazy about torture in Limbo. "I'm clear."

He does a quick comms check for everyone and secures a tazer in a drop holster on his leg.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy folds his arms, and looks to each of the team, consdiering Illyana's suggestion. "Teleport us to that rooftop. Then you can... take your couple of seconds. Zip tie him, and we can take him to the precinct. I think the plan is sound."

Magik has posed:
Illyana frowns a little at Beasts redirect, but agrees with a curt nod, "Is your op." She tells him, closing her eyes a moment that her armor begins to materialize upon her, black plates replacing her street clothes as if the two are interchangeable.

Then without warning, they're all standing on the rooftop overlooking the apartment.

There's only the dematerializing step disk at her fingertips and a glance back at Beast with a raised brow. "I am having leave to assault?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh blinks in the sunlight until his eyes adjust. He crouches down behind the raised rooftop edge so he does not stand out and takes a seat to wait.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy looks around. "I meant..." he smiles. "I meant we can go in, but come out to here first. Spend the minimum time in the apartment. But, now that we're here, let's surveil inside, and see who's in the apartment at the moment."

Magik has posed:
"Oh.." Illyana is not yet holding her massive sword, but her hand was out as if she were about to summon it. She looks disappointed that her english caused a misunderstanding and that her plan has been foiled again by linguistics. "If we must." She says quietly agreeable, pointing out to the apartment to summon a shade imp inside to do a better inspection than they could from the rooftop.

Elixir has posed:
Josh watches Illyana's armour appear with a mixture of fascination and a shiver of fear. Sometimes it just was not possible to forget her Majesty's other side.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee stands stock still. Only her eyes are moving, to move her gaze from one of them to the other, finally settling on Hank. She is deathly pale, and there is a cold sheen of sweat on her forehead, despite the warmth outdoors. "Does it feel nauseous out here to anybody else?" she asks in a queasy voice. Somebody apparently isn't used to being teleported

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy grins. "You guys think that was bad, try having Nightcrawler take you somewhere sometime." Shaking his head, he glares. "Okay. Magik. Go in. Get him here. Jub, you go out front and distract. Josh, You're overwatch. I'll jump over and cover direct. Sound good? Suggestions?"

Magik has posed:
Illyana waits until Henry has indicated that she CAN teleport in and then she does. The massive soulsword summoned in her outstretched hand a half second before she disappears and reappears in the living room through one of the visible windows.

Over comms: <I am inside.> Obviously.

Elixir has posed:
Josh sits on the rooftop to wait. With Illyana alone inside the apartment with Jerome, there is not much to do but be ready to keep Jerome alive if he does something stupid.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee shrugs and climbs over the roof access ladder and down to street level. She has plenty to experience in distractions. She's still in a tanktop, cutoffs, and flip-flops, because she was too busy on the phone to change. But it works for her purpose.

She produces a flat black disc about 3 inches in diameter from her back pocket, flicks it, and it turns into a small steampunk top hat. She tosses it on the ground at her feet and begins "juggling" balls of light...one by one, they turn into butterflies and flutter away, to be replaced by another ball. Children from in front of the building are drawn away from it, toward the street performer. And someone tosses a quarter into her hat. A small crowd is drawn down the block, and away from the action alley.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy sees that Illyana is no longer present. "Well, go time," he grunts, making a running leap, and jumping from building to building, and grabbing on. He then shimmies down to the right window, and bursts on in to see what's going on inside with Illyana.

Magik has posed:
Illyana is standing in an apartment with a big firey sword, battle armor, and the most luxurious blonde hair this side of 90210. <It looks like an apartment.> She murmurs into comms, <Hold, found him>

The Demon Queen can just barely be seen flashing across the window to slam her forearm directly into Jerome's through as he comes out from one of the backrooms. Whatever he might have said, warning, threat, or otherwise ending abruptly upon an armored wrist against his trachea. "You are to be coming with me." Forearm becomes a fist in his throat, slamming him down on his stomach so that she can bind his arms, grab him by the hair on the top of his head, and drag him bodily towards the window.

Meer seconds later she's pulling him by his hair through the gravel on the roof from which she appeared. <Target acquired.> Unaware that Henry had jumped the roof to the adjacent apartment.

Elixir has posed:
Josh sees Henry go to leap and stands up. "Hank, where are you going? Magik can...." he says and watches Beast sail across to the other building. "... Handle it. What the heck is going on?" he asks himself, confused.

When Illyana re-appears on the roof Josh comes over and crouches by her victim.

<he's fine> Josh pronounces over the comms after touching Jerome briefly. <Time to interogate and ditch him>

"Don't make me work too hard when you bring him back," Josh says to Illyana, looking a little uncomfortable.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy gets on his feet, looks around and... sees that nobody is here at all. "Magik, you're good. I guess you didn't need my backup at all. Well, at least I had fun." He dusts himself off. "Zip him up, bring us back, and do your thing, my good lady?"

Magik has posed:
Illyana opens her palm so the soulsword vanishes and with it her armor. Once Josh has done a cursory inspection of Jerome, she kneels down with her knee pressed harshly between his shoulders. "Thirty seconds, I am being back." Glancing up at Henry with is as close to an apologetic expression as she can muster on her pale face. "Move faster next time." She says quietly, smiles just a little, and disappears with her bound charge to talk in more comfortable environs.

At least for her.

Elixir has posed:
Josh stands up and crosses his arms. "I shouldn't feel bad for him," Josh says apologetically. "But I do. I mean, he's total scum and will go to Hell when he dies for what he's done. Probably should die for setting up kids like that... Maybe it just creeps me out. The hell thing."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee decides it's time for a grand finale, and suddenly all of the balls in the air explode with a quiet 'paf', showering colored sparks everywhere, and drawing applause. Still in character, she takes the hat, now full of change, and dumps it in the Make a Wish box on a church windowsill, then starts climbing back up to the rooftop. So. Like, that was fast..." she comments, dusting off a tiny smoldering spot on her yellow tanktop.

Magik has posed:
Not a minute later, Illyana reappears. She is wearing different clothing and has her hair pulled back rather than hanging loose, but if she's not the one who looks worse for the trip. To say that Jerome has had a bad day would be an understatement. Several of his fingers are gone and there's something terrible growing off the side of his neck that probably looks a lot more vegitive than mamillian. Whatever it is, it's definitely consuming him. Eyes sunken and gaunt, he's a fraction of a hair away from being a corpse, and not a terribly attractive one at that.

"He will live." She tells Josh, thumbing back at the racist. "Make sure of it." Then begins to recount what she's learned in a minute. "It took me four days to finally find his trigger... but once he is starting to talk... He has been going to same HumPo church for years with family.. so he hates us. He also hates Mexicans. He also hates learning because he is STUPID..." The last word is shot back venomously at the prone figure cowering away from her whenever she even moves as if she might glance at him.

"He is recently being told to join charity and reporting back to a Gary McIntosh who his pastor.." Her heel grinds backwards into Jerome's knuckles, it's absent, almost second thought, but he doesn't have anything left to scream with in his tired lungs.

"Is charity run Tyrrelll Farnsworth. He is running retreat of church in Jersey.. Black, rich, handsome- he used this word specifically -pastor is wanting information on this group. Now we have information." The Darkchylde pops her neck and glances down at the HumPo nutjob. "You are very lucky. I would take you back with me now... I would spend many more years hurting you in ways you did not know people CAN hurt, much less that pain like this is possible at all..." Her boot shoves him away towards Josh. "Instead you got prison maybe.. Shame."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy stretches out. "Fantastic work Illyana. Take a dollar out of petty cash." he pulls out his phone though, and starts tapping out some notes. "Now he gets the cops to deal with. Captain Quaid is a good one. He'll handle this."

Magik has posed:
"You joke, but dollar is a lot of money in Russia." Illyana jokes, only she does so deadpan.

Elixir has posed:
"Holy shit..." Josh breathes, horrified. He looks wide-eyed up at Illyana until she shoves Jerome his way.

When she does, he is reluctant to even touch the man. Josh forces himself to touch Jerome's head. His hand glows and Josh immediately gag.

"Jesus Christ what is that thing?!" he asks, sounding a bit panicked. The glow around his hand turns black and spreads across Jerome. The vegetative growth on Jerome withers to dust and Jerome writhes weakly. Josh pulls his hand back and stares.

"Oh shit, oh shit..."

He puts his hand back on Jerome's head and concentrates. The light returns black, disappears, flares gold then black, disappears, gold and sputters black then finally golden. Now the golden light spreads. Jerome passes out almost instantly with a vague look relief on his face. It takes a few minutes. The ends of Jerome's fingers twitch, stretch just a tiny bit and then retreat back and heal over. Josh pulls back from Jerome, gives Illyana a weakly terrified look and passes out.

Magik has posed:
Illyana kneels down beside Jerome and holds out her hand to whatever it is that's attached to the side of his neck. It starts to reach out towards her, but then something Josh does causes it to go into spasms and slump a little. It's clearly dead, but doesn't even have the good sense to die like something from earth. Rather, it withers up rapidly and turns into ash that smells like death incarnate..

Once it's gone, she looks back up to Josh, "You killed it....." A deep, almost saddened, expression on her face, "Why you are killing it?"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee quickly kneels and catches Josh as he loses consciousness, and she gently lowers him to the ground.

She quickly twists her pigtails into two little buns atop her head, to keep them out of Josh's face as she hovers over it, clearly crestfallen. "Josh." Jubilee pokes his cheek. "Joooosh...." she tries again, in a loud whisper. She remains kneeling, looking directly into his face, with her hands pressed gently against his cheeks, squeezing them slightly.

Again, she whispers softly. "Josh. Please be okay."

Magik has posed:
Illyana storms off to the edge of the roof with her arms crossed derisvely across her chest, head up and chin out, fuming over the loss of whatever the creature was. "I am very unhappy with you, Healer man. You will not see revenge coming. It will be swift."

Jubilee has posed:
"So help me, if you broke Josh..." Jubilee begins, looking up at Illyana. Then she sighs and shakes her head. "The boss is down and the healer is knocked out." She turns and looks back at Hank, then to Illyana. "And our tank is back. Time for the mage to take us home." Jubilee takes a deep breath and holds onto Josh, just... in case.

"C'mon, do that voodoo that you do so well."

Magik has posed:
"He breaking himself. Do not try and read mind of creatures from Limbo." Illyana remains defiant at the edge of the roof with her nose turned up and her arms crossed over her small chest. "He will be fine. They are only having very limited consciousness.. probably a little of black magic taint, but it will clearing from his system soon."

She spins slowly towards Jubes and Josh and pads over to them to kneel down at the healers right shoulder. Her hand cocks back and slaps towards the side of his face, "WAKE UP!"

Elixir has posed:
The slap makes Josh's eyelids flutter, his eyes are unfocused. When they clear enough to resolve what is in front of him he panics and pushes away from Illyana, harder against Jubilee.

"Get away from me! That /thing/ was a fucking monster!!" he shouts, levelling a finger at Illyana. He is pale and a bit drawn. "The fuck am I on the ground for?!"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee shifts around, when Josh pushes against her, and she uses it to maneuver herself between Josh and Illyana, one arm pressed back around him. "That thing on him, you killed it, and you made him better. But you passed out," Jubilee explains to him without taking her eyes off Illyana. "And if /you/ touch him one more time, I swear to God..."

Magik has posed:
Illyana watches Josh scoot back away from her and listens to Jubilee's unspoken threats with equal measures. If either hurts or concerns her, it stays well clear of her pale blue eyes and equally pale features. "You said to wake him, he is awaked." The Queen of Limbo stands, she looks a little darker than normal, but she has just spent God only knows how long in Limbo torturing a man for them. "You have poor way of showing gratitude." And Josh, her cold eyes shift down to him. Rather than answer the fear or apprehension he's showing, she turns on her heels and stalks away. One hand comes up and snaps from right to left as if she's swiping on tender... at what point she simply vanishes, leaving both on the roof together.