8856/Something Coming

Something Coming
Date of Scene:	18 August 2019
Location:	Danger Room - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	Several mutants practice handling ambushes in the Danger Room at Xavier's.
Cast of Characters:	Elixir, Beast, Nightingale, Sunspot, Shadowcat, Wolfsbane

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Elixir has posed:
Word has spread through the X-Men; a number of members of the team have contracts out for their lives because they fought against Hook dealers or Hammerhead. Training was always emphasized for the X-Men and after the attack in Salem Centre? A priority. So extra Danger Room sessions were being made available to practice.

It is still early in the day, just after morning training for the X-Men. Josh offered to run a training scenario for anyone who was interested. He even let Shannon know in case she wanted to come.

Josh sits in the control room and finishes setting up the scenario. When people walk in they find themselves at a rally on the NYU campus outside the library. Anti-Magneto protestors, some pro-mutant and some anti-mutant, are making speeches demanding Magneto go home. The building is to the north, with steps up to a landing before the front door. That is where anyone taking the mic goes.

To the east is paved walkways and landscaping. Low bushes, the occasional decorative tree. To the west is a paved concourse leading to the student union building. To the south is the road.

The protest itself is in the paved concourse out front of the library, with someone people spread out on nearby grass.

"Alright, simple scenario. You're at one of these protests, like some of us saw the other day, you know?" Josh says through the microphone in the control room. "Get where you'd be and I'll hit play. Safeties are on. Nobody's gonna bleed, but you might get some nasty welts if you're not careful."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy comes down in his professoral suit. "If I'm going to get shot at, it's going to be in routine life. I need to be prepared for that."

Nightingale has posed:
     These danger room training sessions were starting to become a bit more frequent than Shannon had anticipated, but it was not an unwelcome thing in the least. She was, however, very surprised to find most were fairly senior among the X-men and varied other teams. It was a little bit intimidating, but still, the best way to learn would be from working with those that possessed a far greater wealth of experience and wisdom. She furrows her brows, crossing her arms as she considers the situation. "Too many good places for an ambush," she murmurs half to herself. "Another situation, I'd consider being eyes in the sky, but do you think that's a wise decision with the anti-mutant protesters? Would that just give them a more visible target?" She is as yet uncertain where best to place herself.

Sunspot has posed:
Ah, Danger Room games, the nostalgia.

Roberto even managed to get one of those old yellow and black X-Men outfits. He also looks for a good place to watch the rally from above, where he can see if there is some group about to start anything violent. "I am going to be up there," he decides, pointing to the library rooftop and flying up right there.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks over at Beast as he arrives in the suit. She has her X-man uniform on underneath her clothing. "So are we going, stumbled upon the situation then?" she asks. "Can go with that." Kitty had her comms earpiece ready to go into her ear, but pockets it for now instead, leaving it to be inserted should a moment come she would in a normal situation.

Kitty looks over to Shannon and nods. "They have a right to protest even if we don't like the message. Mutants have a right to protest back as well. I guess it comes down to how willing an individual is to potentially antagonize and have result spiral out of control. And there's no easy answer to that I'm afraid. If we could draw that line easily, we wouldn't get to the point of flying metal fortresses in the air off the East Coast," she says.

Speaking of other protestors, Kitty looks for any mutants in the area. If there are any she will eventually make her way to be adjacent to them but still apart. Though first she makes a little walk of the area, noting storm drains and sewer manhole covers. Good for the phasing girl to know what is beneath them. Finally, finding a nice tree to lean against and give her some shade, Kitty keeps an eye on things from ground.

Wolfsbane has posed:
Having learned she was on a hit list for battling Hook dealers was news to Wolfsbane. There may be a first for everything, but that isn't the type of thing one wants to end up having to deal with at all. It's already led to more caution around Mutant Town, including the reluctant step of going out dressing more normally and differently while looking more human as well. If nothing else, it's good practice to keep senses tuned higher while hiding some of the 'werewolf' side the would-be killers are looking for. That's the way she starts out here.

"If we know there's an ambush coming, it's no' as much o' a surprise but even if we expect it, we dinna know where it'll come from. I think I should be more around th' bushes an' trees, but there's no' a lot o' cover," Rahne says, and rather than her usual outfit or an X-themed costume, she's come to this in civilian attire. "When things happen, I might have tae show muhself for whit I really am an' tha' could draw some attention. But if we split up an' have comms on, we can call oot where th' trouble is because one o' us should see it faster."

Elixir has posed:
Someone is droning on indistinctly. The Danger Room computer takes advantage of the bad acoustics in the area to simply make the speech a Charlie Brown teacher-style audio mash. What he says is unimportant.

There are a few obvious mutants around, mostly to the west side of the protest with the pro-mutant group. The more rabid anti-mutant protestors are farthest on the east. But the crowd is not really riled up.

The first sign of trouble is Roberto's. The door to the roof some 20 feet behind him opens and two men in unmatched fatigues with futuristic looking white rifles come out of the door. They are in a hurry and were not expecting anyone.

"One of those X-Men!" the first shouts, his delivery worthy of a B-action film. The Danger Room is randomizer is getting better. "Kill him!" The two men move in opposite directions out of the door and raise their rifles.

Two men also in unmatched fatigues show up at the edge of the roof on the library. They both throw smoke grenades that land near Beast and start to spew grey smoke. Then they shoulder more of those futuristic looking rifles.

"Kill him!" shouts of one two protestors who turn and charge at Beast. They are both in normal civilian clothes and have produced sizeable knives.

Rahne catches movement out of the corner of her in the bushes to the west. Two men with the white rifles pop up behind the bush and take aim. They pull the triggers to shoot blue plasma blasts toward her.

A hand grabs Kitty's shoulder from behind and tries to pull her off her feet. It is another plainly dressed man and he has a knife in the other hand. On the street, two men get out of a van, also in a mish mash of fatigues, and raise their rifles toward Kitty. Right now the guy grabbing at Kitty is in between them and their target.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy grumbles "At least they didn't shoot first," and starts to move. Rushing TOWARD the civilians with knives, he looks to get right in their personal space, take the knife, and bonk them together like the Three Stooges. "Yoink!" He laughs, while keeping his head on a swivel looking for rifles aimed at himself.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shit. The minute Shannon saw those men grabbing at Kitty, she knew that Kitty herself would be alright. She'd already seen her get herself out of some pretty tight situations, and did not need to be tied down protecting her. But the sooner she got in the air, the better, and that's exactly what she does, winging her way into the sky and keeping the sun behind her as a form of cover. She might not be trained for combat, but she could alert her friends on the ground to incoming attacks, if need be. Thank heavens for comms. It's a little overwhelming, but she does try her best to take in as much as possible visually, to figure out what to do next. There wouldn't be much time, if any at all. It was already turning pretty ugly.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto didn't even have time to depower when the assassins appear behind him. "I think I have would-be snipers here," he says to the coms, taking flight again. As the men are firing, he is shooting a low power plasma bolt to one of them, trying to move too quickly for them to hit him. "I don't recognize the weaponry, it is not conventional," he adds diving under the rooftop level to avoid the shooting and attempt to move around the library reappear behind the attackers.

Shadowcat has posed:
Years spent drilling herself on reflexively phasing when something startling happens kick in, though Kitty would otherwise not have responded by phasing had she not been taken by surprise. The man's hand fails to grip her and Kitty whirls, ending the intangibility as she grabs his wrist while tangling a leg with him to force them both prone to the ground.

The move was itself near instinct, and there's just a flicker of recognition from Kitty that it is the first time she did a League of Assassins move without forethought. It will be interesting to see if Logan views the tape of the session and comments on her use of a style beyond the ninjutsu he's taught her.

Kitty's leg moves to wrap about the man's other forearm to secure the knife hand before she tries to deliver an elbow to his head to remove him from both the fight, and consciousness.

Wolfsbane has posed:
Whether it's the programming or something else, not even Rahne's attempt at cover does much to keep her from being noticed. Is that how it would go in the real world, not just a scenario like this? As comm-chatter comes in, she adds to it. "Two wi' strange white guns by th' bushes!"

This is said /after/ she's gone into a roll as the plasma shots impact the turf she'd just been standing on. She leaps toward the side behind a tree, getting her bearings. "Are they just shooting a' us, or other people as well?" she asks those who may have a better line of sight than her, and she ducks low through some of the shrubbery to use it as what cover she can, seeking to reposition herself for an advantage.

Elixir has posed:
Protestors are scattering everywhere now, yelling and screaming as they go.

Hank gets the knife from one of the two attacking him. The other stops short and rolls to the side out of the way. The one Hank catches loses his knife and is knocked out cold. The remaining man rolls to his feet and takes a knife fighter's stance. He squares off with Hank.

The two men on the student union rooftop to the east train their rifles on Shannon and start shooting plasma bolts at her as she flies.

Plasma bolts whip past Roberto. The first of his shots hits one of the attackers and he goes down. Then Roberto has disappeared below the roof line. The other attacker runs toward where Roberto disappeared and does not see the flying mutant pop up behind him.

Kitty's attacker was not prepared for the experience of reaching right through her. He looks startled and swears. She takes him to the ground and knocks him out with a well placed elbow. The two men on the street abandon caution and fire plasma bolts toward Kitty.

When the plasma bolts miss Rahne. The gunmen fire again, leave more melted terrain behind her. She can hear the men crash through the decorative shrubbery, past the little path, and toward her tree. They round the same side of it and the woman is gone. They go back to back a few feet apart and look around for signs of her.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy takes the knife he did get and slips it into his belt. Out of the way. Squaring off, his hands up, he winks at the knifeman. "You have one knife. I have 20 claws. Throw it down, and get the hell out of here before you get yourself hurt, son."

Nightingale has posed:
     Well, at least if they were firing at her, they weren't firing at the protesters on the ground, or her friends. Shannon aims to present a moving target, taking advantage of her previous training sessions working on agility. There were no chains to tangle her attackers up in, nor claws or phasing, but she did have speed and altitude to her advantage. She spirals higher into the air as they fire at her, her course taking her in a general easterly direction until she can get the sun behind her and right in the shooter's eyes.

     Bull's-eye! She taps her comms. "Roberto, can you fire a bolt at the student union rooftop? I've got some unwelcome company that needs some distracting."

Sunspot has posed:
While the gunman is looking for him the wrong direction, Sunspot lands behind him and attempts to grab his gun and pull it from him. "Who are you and what do you have against the X-Men anyway?" He rambles, "I can't keep track of all the racist groups anymore. Can't you use colorful uniforms like Hydra and AIM and all other old murderous groups?"

He frowns when he sees the flashes of plasma weapons down there. "More snipers at the... hmm, Student Union building?" He says through the coms. "Watch out, they are on the roof."

Wolfsbane has posed:
A good way to avoid being shot is to not be where they're shooting at. With no need to hide what she truly is, Wolfsbane lets the fur out, literally, and by the time one of the two shooters in her vicinity is starting to face in her direction, he'll get a glimpse of her leaping at him. She wasn't far off by that point, and she's reaching in to both grapple with him and wrench at the gun he's using, trying to disarm him. The goal, for the moment, is to use him as a shield in case the other one decides to get trigger-happy. Would it even matter with a plasma weapon? Good thing this is a training session, to find out.

Shadowcat has posed:
The first shot is close enough to graze Kitty before she can phase again after grappling the knife-wielding assailant. Thankfully it being in the Danger Room, she won't be left with scorched flesh, but does get a jolt of pain.

"Yowza!" she exclaims as she rolls to her feet, beginning to dodge the fire though phased, not wishing to make too obvious her advantage. With the crowd behind her, Kitty instead runs sideways so stray shots are less likely to take out protestors. She dives behind a metal trash can to the sound of plasma bolts smashing into it.

Pick up the can and using it like a shield, Kitty charges towards the men. Her body is phased except for her hands, just to be safe, but she wants to keep their fire contained on the can where it won't hurt anyone.

Elixir has posed:
The Danger Room checks the commitment to cause of the man faced off with the massive blue mutant and comes up with 'Mercenary'. He drops the knife, raises his hands to shoulder height and starts quickly backing away from Beast.

The two on the student union building rooftop are not at all happy about this flying mutant and keep shooting at her. Their eyes and rifles are trained up into the air while they takes shots and try to anticipate Shannon's moves. They each close one eye, squint and fire into the glare toward Shannon.

Roberto's man is caught by surprise by the loss of his gun. He blinks, snarls, then draws a combat knife and swings it toward Roberto.

Whether they were prepared for a werewolf or not, one leaping out of nowhere all fur and teeth is terrifying. The gun is ripped out of her target's hand. The other attacker is startled. His reaction is to try and butt stroke Wolfsbane in the head. By the time his strike lands he finds his compatriot's face is in the way instead. The nose of the man in Wolfsbane's grip explodes and he goes limp.

Kitty's metal trash can disintegrates very rapidly under plasma blasts from the two men on the sidewalk. They were not far away though. When the final blast melts away all but a couple of bits of metal she is hold, Kitty has a clear view of the two men a few feet in front of her. They are in firing stances and ready to shoot more.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy grabs the knife, shoves it into the other side of his belt, and grins. "Well done. Well, let's see..." He looks around, and well, sees Shannon. "Well let's do something about that," he grunts, sprinting on all fours toward the building where the riflemen aiming for her are perched, and does his best to climb right up and give them a hard time.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto floats away a few inches, avoiding the knife, then and kicks the man in front of him. Not full force, but hard enough to break some ribs. He has no time for more, as Shannon asked for help. He crushes the rifle in his hands and flies towards the Student Union building.

It is a tricky thing shooting plasma and not setting things on fire. Which is why instead of firing the requested bolt, he just takes advantage of the snipers 'squinting' against the sun to charge at them and try to run them over. Some more bones might snap, but mostly he is trying to get their weapons.

Nightingale has posed:
     Bingo. Shannon spots Hank coming up behind them, and gives him the best chance she can to let him take the snipers out. With the sun still behind her to make matters a little more difficult, she folds her wings in tight, diving towards the rooftop at breakneck speed. Well, for her, at least. A later reading might clock her at 55 mph, or around 88 km/hour. This was likely to get her hit, but hopefully speed and the sun were on her side as she uses the maneuver and hopefully some element of surprise to 'herd' the snipers towards Hank--or at least keep them distracted long enough for him to do his thing! Her left shoulder -does- get nicked, making her yelp, but she does not change course till the last possible second, snapping her wings outwards and swooping upwards once more.

Shadowcat has posed:
The trash can gives itself valiantly, and the loss in the fight against pollution is a gain in the fight for mutant equality. Kitty feels the trash can literally come apart, little more than two fragments of metal in her hands now, and a stream of the contents left on the sidewalk behind her.

Rather than run straight at the men, Kitty whips the two large fragments of metal to distract them as she darts past them to the van they stepped out of. She grabs the front door of the van and phases just the door. Suddenly freed of the bolts that secure it to the vehicle, the door is wrenched around by Kitty as she artfully twists her body like a discus thrower, gaining speed and power as she whips the 50 lb door towards the two gunmen.

Wolfsbane has posed:
The surprise of what she is has a good effect on the state of mind of the two attackers Wolfsbane is dealing with, and with each of them somewhat separated in their own pockets of conflict, she needs to act decisively to keep things from getting worse. It's to her benefit that the freed-up shooter decides to go for a more physical attack, catching his mate right in the nose and knocking him out. That would have stung. As he goes limp, Rahne flings him at the one who's still upright, trying to get both of them temporarily down. She has something else in mind, but may or may not get the chance to try it. "Ye picked th' wrong people tae mess wi'," she snarls.

Elixir has posed:
Beast's last knifeman is in full rout by the time he turns and runs at the Student Union building. Anyone stupid enough to be standing around watching is treated to the sight of Beast climbing and leaping up the front of the building using window sills, edges of bricks and the flag pole jutting out over the doors.

Backing up was a smart move. The combat knife whizzes past Roberto's stomach with barely an inch to spare. Commited to the swing, the gunman is not able to counter the follow up kick. He takes it in the lower half of his abdomen and goes down in a crumpled heap of pain. He will not be getting up on his own.

Beast lands on the gravel of the roof with a crunch much to the surprise of the two men shooting at Shannon. They both start and their heads whip around. The two start to turn to bring their rifles to bear on the famed mutant. They get about halfway round when Sunspot barrels through them like bowling pins. There is a lot of crunching on impacts. Guns and injured bodies are scattered over the rooftop.

The gunmen firing on Kitty flinch slightly but keep firing. The guns do not repeat as quickly as assault rifles. One shot goes through Kitty, the other beside her. When she reaches the van, one of the men takes a step back to fire. The other steps forward to butt stroke Kitty. Neither plan works out well. The door catches the nearest one in the face on its way past. The second hits the door midflight, but that just means it is hot when it knocks him flat.

The unconscious body Rahne hurls bowls over the man close to her. The one on the bottom is awake and struggling to get out from underneath the unconscious one on top of him.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy lands, is ready to fight, and then, well, stuff is already happening. "Way to go Berto," he grunts, as he lopes along the roof, doing his best to rip rifles out of the hands of falling and stunned men. "Gun inspector."

Sunspot has posed:
"Doctor McCoy," greets Roberto. "We need to use the coms to coordinate better. Shannon asked me to help and... hmm, we can talk later, I guess," there are still some gunmen down there. I'll try to find Rahne," he decides, flying down to try to find his former teammate. "Anyone needs help?" He asks through the coms? And anyone has a clue who are these guys?

Nightingale has posed:
     "Holy hell". Shannon was now more glad than ever that her arrival at the school went as well as it had, witnessing both Hank and Roberto in full swing. Despite the gunmen having been firing at her, she winces with the crunching of bones and the sickening thud of flesh against flesh against rooftop. Okay, so it could get messy out here. There was a lot yet to learn. She hovers in the air nearby a moment longer to make certain neither of them were hurt. "Thanks!" Turning her attention to the rest of the grounds, she reverts to being eyes in the sky, keeping her comms and her eyes open.

Shadowcat has posed:
After a look about for more threats, Kitty sets herself to incapacitating the men with zip ties from her costume pocket. "Your attempt to exercise your First Amendment rights is noted and appreciated. But with regards to that fine line between 'allowed speach' and 'crying fire in a movie theater', yeah, murdering people with plasma weapons is no where near the line," she tells them. She kneels her weight in the back of one man a little harder than necessary as she zip-ties his wrists, before heading back to secure the unconscious knife-wielder.

Wolfsbane has posed:
That's one thing about being in the middle of a fight requiring focus. It's not always easy to think about talking to others over a comm. Wolfsbane presses her advantage with one of her shooters tangled up in the limp body of the other one, and she reaches down to quickly pick up the first of the dropped guns to test how easy or difficult it is for her to break it in half, and what happens if she does. Sparks? A little boom? Nothing? Hopefully not a big explosion! She missed Sunspot crushing one.

With voices in the ear again, she remembers. "I've go' one pinned doon. Maybe we can get him tae talk." That is, assuming no trouble with the plasma weapon. He may still be within reach of his own if it wasn't knocked out of his hands by the unconcious guy.

Elixir has posed:
The rifle is about as difficult to break in half as an assault rifle, which is what the Danger Room used to model it without any better information. The parts inside have that bland indistinct look of things the Danger Room is fuzzing over for a lack of data or to save processing power.

The simulation freezes and chimes signalling the room is now safe go off.

"So like, that was a small army you guys took out," Josh says from the control. "Nice. Uh, maybe next time we'll total surprise, you know? Like no setup. But seriously, you messed these guys up. Computer says pass."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy chuckles. "The hard part is, once we're in here, we know something's coming. Nice set up Josh. Good work team." He stretches and grins.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon comes to a landing as the simulation freezes in place. She looks around and whistles low. Holy hell, the place was a mess! Score--team, 1, baddies, 0. But she'd had her taste of training scenarios before, and was not going to rest on any laurels. "Yeah we did, didn't we? But is there any way we could have done better?" Lesson learned, the hard way. Still, that little verbal pat on the back from Hank -did- bring a small smile to her face. Always room for improvement, true, but no reason to overlook what good had already been done.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde leaves the fake men behind then, walking over to rejoin the team. "I know this was a simulation, but it brings back to mind, I wonder if we can get a lead on these guy's base of operations from their weaponry. I snagged a gun from an attack of the commune that was attacked. Hoping we can make track it back to its purchase, see if there's a shipping address, credit card number or a name to go with it," she comments.

Wolfsbane has posed:
No need for questioning, as the sim comes to an abrupt halt. Mission accomplished, in the sense of dealing with the ambush. "When ye know whit's coming, just no' quite how or where, it still makes it a wee bit easier than it being a complete surprise," Wolfsbane admits. And, while she's not going to specifically say it, handling two relatively normal people is not much of a challenge for her or most of the people here with any sort of training. "But I've been looking over muh back in Mutant Town ever since..hearing I'm on a list."