9780/The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt
Date of Scene:	26 October 2019
Location:	Friends of Humanity safehouse, New York City
Synopsis:	Sam Bean heads into the city, followed by Vi. He takes down an FoH group, while Samuel Guthrie comes looking for them.
Cast of Characters:	Samuel Morgan, Vi, Cannonball

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Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It's been a while since Bean has felt anything like this. A rage, cold rather than red hot, smoldering under the surface and threatening to set his soul on fire. The fire doors of willpower have been firmly shut, but there's no containing the pyromaniac of the mind. Within, the caged beast stirs and lazily opens an eye...

    In his room, the first thing Sam does is lock the door behind him, a privacy feature he hadn't been used to, but has quickly started factoring into his plans. Firm strides take him across to the bed, and the backpack that was seemingly casually thrown underneath. It's there to look innocuous, like any other discarded bag in any other teenager's room. Except that Bean never had a need for a backpack given that he rarely left the Mansion, and had never openly bought one. It is, in fact, his Go bag hidden in plain sight.

    Out comes the faded denim jacket he bought for five bucks in a thrift shop, and the featureless black cap that so perfectly hides his hair and shakes his eyes. A pair of gloves, obviously against the winter chill, never mind that the palms are made from thin kangaroo leather, and the knuckles have been reinforced with kevlar and carbon fibre. Those belonged to the last thug that tried to jump him, only a few days ago. How poetic...

    Finally he turns on the cheap phone and places it carefully on the night stand, ensuring that the cloned device has the Warlock Tracker app installed. The joys of being a technopath. With all preparations complete, he moves to the window and looks out, ensuring nobody is moving in the back garden, before opening the window and climbing out, closing the window slowly behind him. Then it's up to the roof and over, to the front, for a gymnastic descent via the garage roof.

    And now he's running free, along the driveway, disabling motion sensors as he goes and opening the electric front gate. Those daily runs weren't just for exercise...

Vi has posed:
The nights seemed to be getting colder to Vi. She looked down at her feet, missing the sight of her toes looking back up at her. The boots that Lara Croft had bought her adorned her feet. Not worn out of preference, but merely because it would keep her feet warm without needing to use her power.

The sweatshirt wasn't quite warm enough tonight either, though someone had forced a jacket on her which Vi was now glad for. She sits with her legs having over the edge of the tower, looking down at the grounds and the mansion below. The high places had an appeal to her now. As if she could lift off up and away from people and be alone.

Alone felt safe.

The movement below drew Vi's attention. Her senses sharpened, the dark of night seeming to part as it became as easy to see as if it were daylight. A familiar looking form, sneaking out across the roof and then down onto the grounds. Heading for the gate?

Vi hesitated a moment before making up her mind about following. A hand quickly checked her supply of vials. There was a cache she'd hidden up here on the roof, but she'd hardly used any tonight. She was fully loaded.

Vi burns Steel, pushing off against metal in the tower and launching herself into the night and down along the drive. About the time her ballistic path levels out and drops off, she shows a washer ahead of her, the metal disk hitting hte ground and proving her another target. Once she's above it, she pushes herself back up higher into the air, then pulls it back into her hand rather than leaving it behind. She stays up in the air for now, her enhanced vision following Samuel on the ground below, wondering where he is going.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Through the gate, down the lane, and not a single thought spared for the possibility that he's being followed. Of course Bean checks, several times in fact and at different intervals, but there is nothing to be seen... he was never trained to look for a pursuer that could fly. At an easy pace, he jogs along Greymalkin Lane, to the intersection with the major Breakstone roads, and there joins the foot path to a bus shelter. It's late, but the service runs all night, for those who don't mind sharing a bus with those who prefer not to come out during the day.

    He lounges for a few minutes outside of the view of a camera, and walks up to the bus just as it's coming to a halt. He waves what he pretends to be his wallet at the smart card reader, which happily chirps him through with a valid fare, as he walks along the bus to take his seat, glancing around him. It would be lunacy for someone his age to take bus like this at this time of night... but Bean is comfortable that he's the most dangerous person aboard. There's nothing else to do but ride the bus into New York...

Vi has posed:
Vi is glad to see Samuel stopping at the little covered spot with the bench. She's having to do a lot of hovering to avoid overtaking him, and she's finding that is more difficult to do by far than actual travel us. Once he stops there, she finds a convenient tree, tossing down a trio of washers around it to control herself. A trickle of Pewter allows her to avoid scratches from the branches as she lands amongst them, though one tears a small hole in her new-used jacket.

Vi sits there, watching from the tree, and wondering what the little bench is about. It doesn't seem a particularly scenic place to go sit and reflect. Finally a vehicle arrives and stops there. Ah. So that is what that's about.

Vi pushes herself back into the air, pulling the washers with her. Once she's near enough, the bus itself draws her, aligning her trajectory to its roof. A few pushes with Steel slow her to land fairly lightly on the roof, though there is the softest of thumps.

Vi crouches on the roof, riding the outside of the bus. Pulling herself to the roof whenever it takes a corner or she otherwise thinks she might slide off.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The bus takes nearly an hour to get into the city proper, even with the relative lack of traffic. Once across the bridge, in Manhattan proper, Sam leaves the bus along with a few other people, looking far less out of place here than he did in Westchester. He looks for a moment, then turns resolutely in one direction and starts to walk. He's nearing his hunting grounds, and the prey he seeks dwells here... along with other people he would prefer not to meet just yet.

    The way to blend in is to walk as if you belong, as if nobody could ever possibly doubt your right to be there. And so Bean acts like any other New Yorker, walking in a straight line as if he owns that part of the sidewalk, glowering at people to get out of his way if they're coming the other way, and treating traffic lights as mere suggestions. North he goes, ever further north, in a direct line for Harlem.

Vi has posed:
After awhile Vi lies down flat, as the bus gets into more populated areas. Though it being dark, people are unlikely to spot her up there even if she stayed crouched. Finally the bus makes one of its stops, and Vi peers over the edge as she has at each spot, looking to see if Samuel is one of the people who emerge. And he is.

Vi has a moment's pause. She followed him mostly out of curiosity. And following people, for a street thief, is a pretty common thing to do. Yet Vi feels a little sense of discomfort that she's spying on Samuel like this. She never would have thought that way before, and she finds herself questioning why Samuel, of anyone, would deserve privacy from her.

Better she should keep an eye on him. Or that's how she should feel. But she doesn't. Vi gives a frustrated sigh and then hops off the bus, landing on the sidewalk like the dozen feet fall was nothing. She gets some astonished looks but the petite teen is already moving off down the sidewalk. Hurrying her step. Intent on catching up to Samuel.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Street after street, block after block, Sam keeps walking as if he has his destination very firmly in mind. But then why not take the subway? Surely it would be faster, and certainly he doesn't have to worry about the fare? No, he stays on the surface, taking a few detours every now and then, through narrow streets and cross passages, some no more than mere alleys. Every so often there's a glance back, or a sudden stop as he looks in at a shop display, scanning the area and the faces around him in the reflective surface. But is he looking for pursuers, or something else entirely?

    Every step takes him nearer to where the incident took place, and the closer he gets the more circuitous his route becomes. He's looking for something... or someone...

Vi has posed:
It won't be much longer then before Samuel does find someone. But probably not who he is expecting. As he's near to his destination, Vi finally catches up. She could have forced her way through the New York crowds, but that just isn't in her nature. And so she's been slowed every step of the way by people who make little effort to let her hurry past to catch up to Samuel.

It will be very clear to him that Vi isn't being stealthy when he spots her. She's looking right at him, making eye contact, and then raising a hand to wave towards him when she sees him looking her way. Not exactly a master of stealth then. But what the hell is she doing here?

The girl, about the same height as Samuel, but many pounds lighter, approaches him, her step slowing as she draws near. Stopping a bit away much as he did out by the water the night before. "Hi," she says softly, lifting her hand again. Her cheeks are a bit red from the cold, but nothing terrible. And she's wearing some nice boots too. "Um... mind some company?" she says after a few moments of trying to decide what to say.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It wasn't who he was looking for. Not by a long shot. Every stop since he entered the city has been to look for a particular kind of person, a particular kind of thug that has started to become far more numerous these days. But first, it seems, Bean is going to have to deal with Vi. He doesn't go anywhere as she walks up to him, waiting by the mouth of an alley, his expression utterly blank.

    "You shouldn't have followed me." is the first thing he says, motioning for her to follow as he turns into the alley. "But since you're here, might as well join me."

Vi has posed:
Vi continues slowly up nearer to Samuel as he waits for her. "I wasn't really intending to. That is... I was just wondering where you were going. And the rest kind of just snowballed from there," the small brunette tells him.

Vi glances towards the alley, and towards the surrounding neighborhood as well. She had a chance to sightsee some during the bus trip here, but other than that, this is all a completely new experience for her.

"Not sure I know how to get back," she comments to Samuel, though as he leads the way into the alley, the young woman follows him. Her eyes glance all about, used to checking for guards. Or anyone she's stolen from before how saw her face enough to recognize her again. Neither are likely here, but old habits.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    On the whole, Sam's quite pleased that it was Vi that managed to spot him and follow him all the way into the city. At least he knows she's capable of staying out of trouble, and remaining unseen if she wants to be. After all, he hadn't had the foggiest idea she was on his trail until she let herself be known. That's a skill that could be very useful. "I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing, Vi. But sometimes you need to break the rules to do the right thing."

    He glances around the alley and notes a few things. The oddly used feel of the place, the clearly anti-mutant graffiti, the discreet FoH tag in the far corner by rolling shutters conveniently half hidden behind a pair of dumpsters... Yes, this is the place. He looks up and smiles. "See you on the roof, and I'll tell you what we're doing here." A quick dash towards the nearby wall, a jump and he pushes off with his right foot, twisting in mid-air to grab the lowest run of a run-up fire escape ladder. With practice ease he swarms up higher and starts to climb, toward the flat roof five stories above ground level.

Vi has posed:
Vi's life has been a study in breaking the rules. Not out of any desire to be a rule breaker, but out of simple necessity. Few in the camp would bother any extra resources for a child not their own. Not when they themselves were barely getting by. So orphans became urchins and thieves, having to steal to get by. And getting caught by the guards, recognized as someone not contributing to the production of metal from the mines and foundry, was a death sentence.

The young woman looks around the alley, spotting none of the things that make it of interest to Samuel. She looks back to him as he tells her he will see her on the roof. "Sure," she tells him. There's no need in the city to distribute her own metal to use as anchors to push against. Vi burns Iron and pulls on a bar at the top of the fire escape on one side of the alley, and what turns out to be an air conditioner on the other. The result is she jets up into the air at a fair clip. Once she's cleared the roofs, she pulls on just the fire escape below and to the side, her path curving as she is pulled over to the anchored metal. She stops there on the roof's edge and glances around, wondering what about the place interests Samuel.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It takes Sam a bit longer to get onto the roof, but not by much. And once there, he paces along the edge bordering the alley and kneels down just behind the coaming. Now he can see into the alley, but is almost impossible to spot himself. "A short while ago, a group of mutant haters attacked a women not too far from here." Bean begins, keeping his eyes on the alley as he starts his explanation. "They beat her, covered her in fuel, and set her on fire. She should have died... would have died, if people from the school hadn't rushed over here to save her. But they got hurt in the process, and one of those people who got hurt is someone I care very much about. Someone I have sworn to protect. And the worst thing about this? The woman they set on fire wasn't even a mutant, just someone who save the lives of some mutant children a while back." When he looks at Vi, his expression has turned to near naked anger. "We're here to find a nest of these criminals, and see if we can't even the score."

    Next he takes a bluetooth headset from his pocket, and slips it into his ear. "Mister Guthrie, you were trying to call?"

Vi has posed:
Stealthy, Vi does understand, when it's needed. She moves over to crouch, careful that she doesn't cast much silhouette against the dark sky should anyone look up. She lowers her voice, speaking in a very quiet whisper, even as she begins to burn Tin, allowing her to see more clearly in the darker alley. "Why do they hate mutants?" she asks quietly.

Vi's expression shows a bit of horror at the thought of someone being set on fire like that. She's never seen anything like that before, had never even considered it. That might be fortunate for her, not realizing what people look like when badly burnt. Those who can't work would never be left alive in Echo long enough to be seen.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The other wonderful thing about being a technopath? You can carry on two conversations at the same time without the need to constantly mute a microphone. Bean considers the question for a moment, and then answers Vi. "Hatred is sometimes its own reason. You must have noticed it? How you were treated once they found out you had powers? It's because, at its core, most of humanity is afraid of us. And fear turns to hate very quickly... especially if the hatred of others can help further the goals of those with evil intent." People like HYDRA...

    In the headset he replies "I would tell you that I'm in my room, but after the messages I got from Nightingale, let's dispense with the charade. I would prefer not to tell you where I am, only that I'm neither alone nor planning anything that would bring the school into disrepute." Then a pause, and he continues. "I would prefer not to tell you that, Mister Guthrie, I wouldn't want to get them in trouble. But let us for the moment assume that I may be in a position to assist. What did you have in mind?"

Vi has posed:
Vi is not really given to philosophical introspection about things like people's behavior. It was really just enough to understand what would harm you and what would be likely to keep you safe.

The words are examined briefly and then filed away, though they leave the petite mutant teen with a small frown. With how she'd been treated, by the Avengers, by SHIELD - ok, most of SHIELD - and at the school, perhaps she'd begun to think everywhere outside of Echo was as nice.

She crouches quietly with her thoughts, used to watching nearly unmoving for hours at a time if need be, waiting and watching for a score. So this feels familiar. Though with Tin burning she's aware of so much that she wouldn't be. She can hear the rats scampering in the garbage, and the voices of people in the buildings.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The conversation over the phone is utterly inaudible, because it doesn't actually get the chance to form sound, going the direct route into Bean's brain. The reply, however, must perforce be done out loud, even if it's at a reduced volume. "I take the safety of the person with me very seriously, Cannonball. Please don't look for me, I doubt very much you'd find me. Some things cannot be done by standing on the sidelines, and the people here are uniquely skilled in what we're doing."

    His eyes are still on the alley, and he starts to notice the telltales of impending action. The same person loitering outside the alley twice in as many minutes, the same car driving past three times, the lights going on in a single window... "Vi, how good are your eyes and ears?"

Vi has posed:
Vi adds a very slow burn of Pewter so the louder sounds of the city that can start and stop suddenly, honking horns and the like, don't cause her any discomfort. She looks over to Samuel at the question. "Very good. I can sharpen them. I don't really know how far. It isn't something the men in the lab focused on very much. They were more interested in other things I could do," she says quietly.

She glances back down. "There are five rats in the bags there, I can hear them chewing through things inside and moving around, if I focus." Five stories down she's hearing that, apparently.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    As he listens to Vi's reply, he makes one of his own. "I am prepared for that. I shall see you in a few hours." and then takes the headset out of his ear and puts it back in his pocket. The look Bean gives Vi is one of astonishment and pride. "Now that is impressive. I want you to try to listen for heart beats in the building below us."

    Presently, three people emerge from the building through the rolling shutters and take a look around. Moments later, another six emerge and walk out of the alley, into a van that pulls up almost at the same time, and drive off. The three that came out initially go back inside and close the shutter behind them. "Because that looks like organised crime to me."

Vi has posed:
Vi finds herself feeling a little burst of pride as Samuel compliments what she is capable of doing. The only ones to ever discuss her power before, were the Hydra scientists. And hearing their interest in them tended to have more of a foreboding feeling than anything to do with pride.

Vi tilts her head, heightening her Pewter a little further, and then flaring her Tin. Within her stomach the flakes and pebbles of the metal are being consumed rapidly, but her senses swell to incredible levels. So many sounds, she has to focus to differentiate them. The Pewter helps keep her from being overwhelmed as she concentrates on each sound to the exclusion of others.

"I heard, at least three hearbeats," she says finally. "And sounds, clanging, repeated. Rhythmic. Machinery of some sort." She emulates the sound a bit, but she has no particular gift for mimicking such things so it might be difficult to get any idea what it is.

Vi's nose wrinkles. "The smell of the guards, their weapons. I smell that too," she says finally. Her Tin burns out, not having lasted long at that level. She pulls out a vial of just Tin and swallows down the contents.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Well done, that's exactly what I needed." Unprompted, Bean will give Vi a pat on the shoulder and moves off in a crouch, towards the roof access door... only to find it, surprisingly, locked. So much for complete stealth then. For a moment he debates asking Vi to twist the lock open, but he doesn't even know if she's capable of such a feat. And never let plans hinge on uncertainties, that's the quickest route to failure. Thinking rapidly to come up with a secondary ingress route, Bean moves back to the fire escape, whispering to Vi as he does.

    "I'm going into the building via the window and make my way down. There is likely going to be violence... you don't need to come if you don't want to."

Vi has posed:
Vi finds herself smiling as the teenaged boy approves of her what she was able to do. She stows the empty vial now the water and metallic fragments within have been stowed, and goes back to just a light burn of Tin to see better in the night.

The young woman swallows as Samuel mentions violence. Her tongue wets her lips and her eyes flit about in the dark. She glances down at the fire escape and then back to Samuel. "I will go with you. Try to make sure you are ok," she tells him quietly.

Vi pulls out a washer into each hand, and will move to follow him. She slips off her boots, leaving them there on the roof, going back to her own bare feet which makes her feel much more confident. She's adept at moving quietly, sneaking along behind the other mutant teen.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Few people ever lock their windows. People on the fifth floor are even less likely to do so. And on the fifth floor of an abandoned building, a window might as well be an open invitation. Bean slips inside the building, setting his feet carefully in the gloom, taking a few moments to get used to the low light. Debris crunches under the soles of his combat boots, and he whispers a warning to Vi. "Careful. There's glass on the floor. I suspect there's going to be needles as well, try not to stab yourself."

    It's a warning that might be more necessary than normal. How much does his companion know about drugs and diseases? Best not to take any chances.

Vi has posed:
Vi follows along quiet as a church mouse wearing rubber-soled shoes. Cute little tiny mouse shoes. Though her own feet are bare as she steps inside, not seeming to worried about the possibility of stepping on something to cut her, her Pewter burning slow but steady.

She has a washer in each hand, though she's sensing instead the rest of the metal in the building as they go in through the fifth floor window.

Upon the roof? Samuel Guthrie might notice a small pair of boots sitting by the coping.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bean starts to move quite strangely once he's inside the building. Never walking in a straight line for long, he moves his feet before transferring his weight, checks every corner, every shadow, every shape. Corners are taken via the route that exposes him for the last possible amount of time, and then at an explosive motion that eats up distance in the space of a heart beat, just in case someone is actually lurking there. Then it's onto the stairs, down, down and down again... until he's at a door behind which even he can hear his targets.

    His heart, which had started to speed up as time passed, starts to slow again. Goes slower even than when he was just sitting on the roof. From his pocket, he takes two glow sticks and cracks them, shaking them to let the soft green glow bathe the hallway behind the closed door. He looks over to Vi with a smile, a grin even, that warns her that it's show time.

    Without warning, all the power fails in the building, plunging it into darkness.

    The door is kicked in, splintering as it leaves the frame altogether, and two glow sticks sail into the room.

    A dark shape dashes inside as the thugs are still looking around in surprise.

    From the stygian gloom comes the sound of violence...

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie comes sneaking down the stairways. He is looking for signs of the two, or more. The man has experience in this type of stuff himself is seems. He will keep silent, frowning as he walks along.

Vi has posed:
Vi hangs back a little. letting Samuel lead the way. She's very used to sneaking through buildings, homes or otherwise, trying to go unnoticed. Her bare feet tread carefully, avoiding anything possible that might make a noise to betray their approach.

Vi watches as Samuel Bean prepares the glow sticks. She looks back towards the stairs as she hears something, but that is just when Samuel is opening the door to the now-blackened room and rushing in.

Vi hesitates a moment, about what might be coming down the stairs, her enhanced hearing picking up the footfalls. She turns back to the room though, able to see fine. As one of the men goes for his gun, it suddenly flies away from him, stronger than he can hold onto. It flies towards the doorway, hitting the doorjamb hard enough to break the wood before falling to the ground there.

Vi turns then, stepping enough away from the door she won't be visible to those in the room as she turns to face the stairs. She lifts her hands that each have a washer, holding them between her torso and the stairwell door.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The flying gun comes as a surprise not only for the thug, but also for Bean who was about to disarm him. Now, though, he has more time to play with his victim. A vicious kick to the lower leg sends the thug spinning face first into a table, breaking the furniture completely and probably not doing much for his chances of ever winning a beauty contest. Grabbing another thug's wrist, Bean twists until the arm splinters with a spiral fracture, and then keeps twisting until the white-faced thug is spun head over heels. A single kick to the head sees to that threat, leaving only the third, who has backed away in the green gloom to the weapons rack.

    A kick in the man's lower back sends him sprawling into the rack, and the follow up sweep takes him to the ground, amid a cascade of firearms in various stages of cleaning and disassembly. Bean drops down on the man's chest and punches him. Punches him. Again and again and again and again... Long past the point where he ceases to be a threat, roaring out in anger as his fists come down, again and again, snapping the thug's head from side to side.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie steps around the corner into the hallway. the man is frowning and at the road. He will say in a calm flat voice but loud enough to be heard by both of them "Thats enough." He continues walking towards vi.

Vi has posed:
Even with just the faint light that is bouncing and scattering out from the two glow sticks inside the room, Vi doesn't seem to be having any trouble seeing. She hears the footsteps nearing the exit and flares her Pewter to strengthen her body, and gets ready to let the washers loose if it is a threat.

But it's not a threat. It's a familiar face. It catches Vi completely by surprise. Her mouth hangs open, gaping for a few moments.

The sounds of fists thudding into flesh finally gets Vi's attention again. She looks from Samuel Guthrie, back to the room, and then goes to look inside.

Seeing Samuel Bean beating the man, Vi hurries over. "Stop," she says gently. She will reach out to catch Samuel Bean's wrist as he is cocking it for a punch. If she manages, the small hand will have the strength of the strongest of large men, likely capable of holding back a normal person's arm.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    There is no more time. There is no more sound. There is just Bean and his rage, and the victim that is caught in his wrath. There are no more thoughts. There is no more consideration. There is only anger. Only rage. Until a hand catches his wrist, and Bean practically topples off his victim with the effort to continue the beating. He's not super strong, he's no Captain America, certainly no Hulk. But there is a surprising strength behind that arm.

    With another roar, Bean stands and rounds on Vi, face contorted in a rictus of rage, until through the haze of red he recognises her. The beast within claws at its cage, but the doors slam shut and lock it inside. His expression returns to normal. His eyes stop glowing an eerie blue.

    The lights come back on, showing the full extent of the carnage. The man nearest him is still alive, but only just. The other two are unconscious with various head injuries. With the power restored, the printers resume their run of 'Death to Mutants', that wonderfully uplifting manifesto that's been going around. Weapons of all sorts litter around, pistols, rifles, hand grenades... the armory of a criminal group or a small terrorist cell.

    And in the doorway, there is Cannonball. Bean gives him a look bordering just on the civilised side of outright hostility. "What did you think was going to happen?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the younger man, and his face is cold hard "Ah thought you were here making a mistake, and it seems if Ah had not come here would have been a lot worse." He walks over to start seeing to the worst of the wounds on the man who had been beat the worse, working to stabalize him. "Look around you and tell me, who did this? The man who is trying to do good and help people or the one who they made. Your better than what they made you. You looking for an eye for an eye? Well gonna tell ya a secret.... we loose that fight. For all our power, all our abilities, if we go out and kill them, what does that make us? Where does that put us?"

Vi has posed:
When Vi sees that Bean's anger and rage are receding and he seems to have regained control, that unnaturally strong grip lets him go. Vi meekly backs up, looking down at the three injured men, and then over at the weapons. She takes a step closer to the printing press, but the stacks of flyers hold little interest to her. She can recognize a few letters but their message is unintelligible to her.

Vi doesn't say anything as Samuel Guthrie talks to the younger teen. She just stays back, holding to the washers in her curled fingers, but hands hanging at her sides. She watches Samuel Guthrie administer the first aid, but doesn't make any move to do the same.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Look at this!" Bean roars again, tearing off towards the printers and ripping a page from the press, a page exhorting any and all to kill any mutant they see, anyone they suspect of being mutant, shoving the crumpled page at Cannonball. "Look at this! Look at it!" And now he snatches a grenade off the weapon rack, holding it in his right fist as he shakes it furiously at the man. "Do you think that if the situation was reversed, they'd hesitate for even one second? For a moment?"

    The grenade is put back with less care than someone not used to handling might consider wise, then pushing the half disassembled jumble of weapons around, toppling the table and throwing a pistol barrel across the room. "What do you think they're doing here? Making teddy bears for sick children?! And six of them just took off in a van, what do you think they're going to do? Trick or treating?!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the other man staying calm "No, I think in the reverse position they would kill every last one of us, but I also like to think we are better than that. Coming in stopping them is a good thing, destroying their weapons, good, killing them no. There is a line, and we don't cross it." Once he has the other man stable, he will stand and walk over to within arms distance of Sam. He holds his hands up showing the blood. Where do we stop if we start killing them? Do we go to their homes, and find their family and finish them off, cause you kill this man, his family are going to hate us more, and spread the word of the Mutant killing human, and that spreads fear and hatred. So to stop the hate we go in battle it with hate and anger?

Vi has posed:
Vi stands quietly by, having retreated back far enough, over by a wall, as to be out of the line of their heated conversation. She's glancing all about, paying as much attention to what she hears in the rest of the building, as she is what is being said.

Vi's hands rest at her side as the two men, sharing a name but separated by years and experiences, have it out. At one point Samuel Guthrie speaks of destroying their weapons. Vi looks over to the weapons rack and all of the guns scattered about. Guns, and other things she doesn't recognize.

The guns start sliding towards her across the floor, first one or two, but soon in bunches and then all together. They step a few feet away.

Vi crouches down and looks at them. A large gun on the far side starts to move forward, while another gun closer to her shifts away from her. The two meet and there is a groan of metal as they start to deform and bend around each other. There must be hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds of force being exerted on them. It seems Vi is likely just starting, nudging other weapons into line with each other while the first two are deformed far past the point being unusable.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "If there was any justice in this world, I'd set this place on fire with them still in it." Bean says, quietly. Coldly. The anger and rage is still there, but contained behind steel doors of self control. In some ways, that's even more frightening. "But luckily for you I'm not the monster you think I am. I didn't come here to kill them."

    Is that a scrape of metal on stone? Hang on, is that gun moving? Bean's eyes go wide as he sees the weapons, the evidence, start to crumple up. "No! Stop! This can't..." and he sighs, clenching his fists at having to calmly explain something that is so very obvious to him that he can't understand why nobody else is seeing this. "This can't look like a mutant hit. Because, as Cannonball says, that will only escalate the situation. This needs to look like..." Nope. He's not going to say it. There is no power on this earth that will compel him to admit that he's been working with Fisk to fight the Foot.

    "Most of these guns are likely to be illegally purchased or used in crimes. If the police raids this place, these three jokers are looking at enough of a prison sentence that they won't do any harm to anyone anymore. And if the investigators are half competent, they'll make them identify at least a dozen more. And from those dozen another dozen, and so on and so on until the public sees that this isn't a political group with a military bent, that these criminals aren't the Volks..." No, focus Bean. English, not German. "That these people are not the neighborhood watch, or the citizen's militia. There's enough evidence here to start an investigation that will break this group. That must break this group."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the man and says "Ah don't think your a monster, but Ah know your angry, and think you knew you were doing something we would not approve of. You made me track you down, would not tell me who was with you. Ah think your anger led you to come do something you thought we would not approve of. Ah also think you were not in the right mind to do this, tell me, what would have happened if Vi has not grabbed your arm?

Vi has posed:
Vi stops as soon as she hears Samuel Bean. The first two guns, both rifles or assault rifles, are mangled to the point it would take superhuman strength to separate the one from the other.

The two weapons stop pressing into each other, sliding over to rest at Vi's feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she says softly, her eyes darting about. "We can take these with us, and leave the rest, maybe?" she suggests.

Vi backs up again, going over to the wall beside the door and waiting there, the two twisted guns lifting off the ground to fly up to her hand, and then they fall to the floor, but gently like they were being lowered.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "That would be best." Bean agrees when Vi suggests taking the two mangled rifles. He might even find a use for them later. As for what he would have done, Bean rounds back on Cannonball, still looking every bit as angry. He extends his finger to the one man he'd been pummeling. "If nobody had stopped me, that man would now be dead and the world wouldn't have been any the worse for it. If anything, it would've made it a slightly better place." Having said that, he clenches his fists again and then brings his hands up as if to run them through his hair, then remembers forensics and drops them again.

    "I know you wouldn't approve of this. Everything you've been trying to teach me has been about peaceful coexistence, about getting along with humanity. And I'm all for getting along, Mister Guthrie, but you can't get along with people who actively want you dead. You do not peacefully protest people who will gun you down on sight. You fight. That's why this world needs monsters like me." He stalks over to the printers and the weapons, looking over the tools of hatred with a scowl on his face.

    "I know their tactics. And the longer you let it go on, the bolder they get. They expect us to fear them, and the only way to break that cycle is to make them afraid. Afraid of the dark, of the unknown, of knowing that no matter where they gather, they can be hit and arrested. The only thing these people understand is pain."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie 's phone rings and he ignores it for now. "Fighting them is a good thing, but not like this and not killing. You find them and you stop them yes, but now, you can;t follow these guys to their leaders and find the place where they are meeting and find more of them that are spreading the hate. You do not have to be a monster, it is your choice, and if you do choose to be a Monster, what right do you have to bring Vi?" He looks to the other man, and says. "You want to fight you do it within our rules. Tell me have you two went to shield with your info yet?"

Vi has posed:
Vi stands quietly, not trying to contribute anything. She listens to them talk, but then finally Samuel Guthrie speaks of Samuel Bean having brought her. She lifts her voice enough to be heard. "He didn't bring me," she says softly.

Whenever that gets Samuel Guthrie's attention and he looks to her, assuming he does, she adds, "He didn't tell me anything about it. I saw him leaving and wondered where he was going. So I followed," she says softly.

Vi gives a little shrug of her shoulders. She pauses, listening to the building, and then says, "I'm going to go get my boots." She doesn't know anything about forensics. But she doesn't want to forget them. And with that she slips out, hurrying up the stairs and back to the roof to grab them, before heading back down.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bean motions to Vi as she explains her presence, and then he lifts an eyebrow at Cannonball, as if asking if he wants to take that particular line any further. "She's safer near me than alone in the city. I do give a damn, you know?" Fine, he took her with him, but surely he wouldn't have done that if he thought it would have been dangerous for her. Would he?

    "SHIELD." Now Bean laughs, the hollow laugh of incredulity. "Wake up Sam. SHIELD doesn't give a crap about this group. It's not a metaphysical threat, they barely register on their threat meter. I could tell them all about this place and they'd just sit on it, maybe send one low ranking agent here to look at it, see there's no alien technology and leave it. They don't care, Sam. Not about this, not about us. Nobody cares about us except us."

    Having delivered that bit, he walks back to his erstwhile victims and starts going through their pockets, picking out phones and throwing them on the table. "And now I can go after everyone. You still don't understand what I'm capable of, do you? You look at me and you see a traumatised child soldier, a poor mutant that's been through the wringer." Standing, he walks over to Cannonball and stays just out of arm's reach. "You don't see the mind that's run HYDRA operations for three years, the operative that infiltrated, tracked and destroyed. They taught me how to handle groups like these, and now I'm turning it around on them. You should be encouraging me, not telling me to quit."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the man and says "Ah was not talking about this group, Ah was talking about Echo." He will tell the man. " Ah have been preparing to go save those people if Shield does not, making sure they have a way to go. Ah see a young man, who says he wants to be a good person to help the innocent, who is saying Ah can fix things by what those who treated me and my friend in some of the worse ways possible. Who want those are trying their damndest to trust him, but he is not willing to trust them. You ever think about oh Ah don't know sending her back, dropping her off at X-corp or someplace she would be safe? Looks to the young man and says "Ah was looking at you as reserve leader for the younger members of the team, but tell me this, what does this show me of your concern of their well being?

Vi has posed:
Vi misses all of that. Or they might assume that. Well, Samuel Bean might suspect otherwise after tonight, but Samuel Guthrie probably doesn't know she can still hear them as she retrieve her boots, then slips back inside.

Vi doesn't put them on yet, staying barefoot with the lightest burn of Pewter to strengthen her skin against the glass and other things on the floor that Bean warned her about.

She returns to the room quietly, just slipping inside the room. "Are you planning to wait for those who left to return? If not, maybe we should go?" she asks quietly, avoiding the eyes of both men.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I don't even know where X-Corp is, Sam. How can I trust the security of a place I've never seen?" An exasperated Bean asks, throwing up his hands in sheer frustration. "She followed me. She was my responsibility, so I took it. And anyone that can track me for over an hour without me noticing is someone that's not going to get themselves hurt in a quick scrap against three thugs. How's that for trust? I trusted her to have my back. I trusted you to have some confidence in me and not barge in when I'm on mission. You, being here, complicates things."

    Another sigh, a deeper sigh. "Plan is this. Tie these jokers up, open the shutters and leave two or three guns out in the open. Then I place a call through the phone of some random passer by to the NYPD, claim to be a concerned citizen, and that I saw guns in an alley and people fighting. They come in here, find this mess, arrest this lot and take it from there. And if they don't move in the next few days, I take the contact details from these phones right here..." and he thumps the table twice next to the recovered phones "... and start looking for the rest of the cell, and start moving up the chain. Then I do this again, and again, until enough of the Friends of Humanity are behind bars that the ones that were on the fence in the first place get scared enough to have nothing to do with them. The rest of it, the political part, I'm going to leave to you and your connections."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to them, and says "Set things up, and we leave and you call in, we finish this conversation back home. Aint heard a howl so no one is coming up on us yet at least." He looks to them and says "Ah am not in the system, and should be nothing of me left on him." He nods tot he hurt one

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    First things first. Bean pauses by the phones and copies the data, cloning the phones themselves onto his own. It's honestly not recommended by the manufacturer, but ... well, technopath. At least he'll have something to go on when or if this investigation goes nowhere.

    Next, he makes things look good. Pistols are selected from the jumble, and placed in the hands of the thugs or left nearby, making it seem like they were jumped by surprise, arranging the unconscious bodies so they appear to have been closer together. Then he changes the printer program, making the presses run off page-wide Sentinel icons, just to confuse the issue.

    Lastly, he opens the shutters and drags a few rifles to open doorway, scraping them across the floor to make it seem like they were dropped in a hurry, by someone who was here for the guns rather than the people. He takes a moment to survey his handiwork, and then nods toward the stairs. "Out the same way we came in."

Vi has posed:
Vi stands quietly by, not having understood some of what they were talking about. But other parts she got, and she doesn't know enough about how police procedures work to make it realistic, so she just stands and waits, holding her boots.

Once the setup is done, Vi nods. She looks quite ready to be away from here. She's kept those heavy metal washers in each hand the whole time. Once Samuel Bean gives the nod, she begins heading back out and up the stairs to the window they came in. She waits on the fire escape then to see if they plan to descend from there.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will walk with them out gathering Andrea, and sending her out ahead of them towards where they were parked, but motioning for her to go in the round aout way to get there. He looks to Samuel, and says "You got a way to get back, or want a ride?

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    From the roof, to the ground floor via the fire escape. It's a roundabout way of doing it, but Bean doesn't want to be seen near the guns or near the scene of the... well, crime. In more ways than one. Once out on the street, he walks casually, bluetooth headset in his ear once again and force pairing it with the nearest phone he can find, sending a quick message off to 911. That does limit their dwell time. And really, there's only one responsible answer to Sam's question.

    "Normally I'd go back the way I came, but I have to think about Vi as well. So if there's space, I would appreciate it if you could give her, or even both of us, a ride back." And once back, he fully expects a carpet parade.

Vi has posed:
Vi puts on her boots once back outside. She steps off the fire escape, falling towards the ground but then quickly slowing and landing lightly. She eyes the tear in her second-hand jacket she was given, sticking a finger through the hole, and then following Sam and Sam out to where they are meeting others.

She stuffs her hands into her jeans pockets, the washers returned to her pouch. "Not really sure how to get back," she says very quietly, keeping her eyes down.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "YEs, I came to get you, and was not fully sure who all you had with you so I brought the station wagon." He will lead them to the car roundabout ways but making sure none connect them to the area.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    In the distance, sirens can be heard, quickly approaching the alley they're rapidly leaving behind. Bean nods to Vi, smiling. "That was good work. Thanks for having my back."

    In the armory and printing shop, one very unlucky thug is just waking up, hand reflexively grabbing the pistol that was laid in it. It's just at that moment that the beam of a flashlight catches his eyes, several patrol cars screeching to a halt just outside the shutters. The first officer to arrive sees the gun and calls it out. "Gun! Drop it, drop it now!"

    "Taser Taser Taser!"

    Several thousand volts later, unlucky thug is slightly singed and arrested thug, while more officers arrive and scratch their heads at what they've just found. "What the... Jimmy, call downtown, this one's gonna go political."