1964-02-25 - Stay Tuned: Raging Bull(s)
Summary: The Planners encounter some of Mojo's recruits and some very confused cattle
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
billy tommy hope ava teddy lorna mojo 


Suffice to say? Spain's been a trip so far. While there was a day of rest to enjoy the city and it's sights — or in the case of at least one member of the team, run into a bit of 'bait' from the master programmer. Other than the incident earlier where Seth was spotted — and then spotted dissolving — it's been a quiet evening in the streets of Pamplona. The question is: What does it find our heroes doing?

*

After watching what she thought to be the very friend she was attempting to rescue melt into a screaming pile of goo, Lorna was quiet. Well, at least she had been after she'd nearly brought the stadium down around her in a fit of rage and anguish, and been swept out by Tommy. That had led to several screaming insults hurled his way, and then promptly dissolved into tears.

The knife that had been picked up from the clone didn't leave the mutant's hand, and she was constantly turning the pocket knife over and over again in a morose silence. She followed along beside her nephews, but didn't offer further comment. Other than the fact that this 'Mojo' had seemed to want her on his show for some reason.

Followed by several scowls and falling back into silence.

*

Pamplona's sights of bull-running, sangria-swilling, and siestaing go only so far for Hope. She vanishes some time after dawn for a rooftop run, and probably hasn't been seen until naptime with fresh intelligence for Ava. Ava seems to be the nerve centre for helpful security notes about city layout, odd sights, suspicious individuals, and clusters of old-fashioned technology like TV screens, which the other redhead is happy to provide. The state of the football stadium warrants a look, too. For the moment, she munches a Valencia orange with a purpose. Like Tommy, her caloric needs can be rather consuming. Hence a pair of chocolate bars sticking out of her pocket. "It's so much warmer here. Reminds me of when I grew up."

*

Billy is peeved. He doesn't know this Seth guy from Adam, but this Domo fellow are doing something weirdly nefarious in a way he hasn't quite penned down yet, but he knows nefarious when he smells it. Add onto that but his magic-aunt seems to have been taking this all rather hard, evidenced by her trying to collapse a building on top of everyone. So there's now a Mission, something To Do. Now that something involves a trip to Spain, which might be considered a vacation, so he talks a door into opening up into a nice, quaint little diner in Spain, and there they and anyone who came with him, are. He manages to talk himself into speaking spanish, too, which rather helps finding the best place to eat. It turns out, Billy like has a serious thing for spanish food. But, Pamplona. There's still a Mission and Things To Do. So they are clearly going to meet up after scouting out the city some (scouting likely being his brother's jobs), and there they… meet. "Soooo." he says to the others, "We're in Spain. I have eaten SO MUCH FOOD I feel like I'm gonna explode, so someone have an idea where this badness is going down so I don't see another restaurant and just die?"

*

Ava is anti-social. This is probably a common opinion by now, although the young operative will provide a whole host of reasons for why it's better if she keeps a distance from the rest of the team. The primary one is that she's still not completely certain if she was made at the studio, and if a moment of surprise can give them an advantage at some point, then they should take it. Also, she'd rather the higher-ups at SHIELD not ask why she was caught on camera engaging in her own heroics with a group of other young people.

She's flipping through a paper at a news stand, not actually looking at the rest of the group, but within easy listening distance. "I am certain that we're going to know when it starts," she says quietly. "Whatever this is, it seems to be about entertainment. And that requires attention."

*

Teddy looks around curiously at where they end up. He's never been in Spain before so every street is a new sight. He's never even been outside New York City before. Being born on an alien planet doesn't count since he doesn't remember it. "This isn't going to take long, is it? I have a test on Shakespeare tomorrow and need to study." In fact, he brought a dogeared paperback copy of Julius Caesar with him and it's stuck in a pocket. "I definitely need to be home by tomorrow before my mom calls Billy's parents." Because that's where he told her he was staying.

*

In fairness, Tommy's used to having insults be thrown his way. Used to them being screamed, and used to them being screamed by family. Also in fairness, Lorna had reason to need an outlet. Tommy wasn't particularly bothered by this as a result.

"So, apparantly the dude we're lookin' for was here, and then /melted./ How coo-" Pause. Lorna's right there. "-awful was that? I mean, /pretty/ sure it wasn't the real thing that melted. He doesn't do that. Not normally, anyways. " the quick-talking twin offers, before a grape is plopped into his mouth.

Scouting /was/ Tommy's job. He was doing it, too. Running here and there between attempts to comfort Lorna and flirt with / bring food to Hope. "So, no sign of the bad guys so far. Bulls were still doin bully things last time I checked. They need to work on their jump shots, though… they're a bit lazy coming towards the hoop."

Of course, the last time he checked was about ten minutes ago, thanks to the distraction caused by Lorna. Those bulls? They're housed to the south. About ten /seconds/ after Tommy says they were fine? That's the direction screaming (in Spanish) is coming from. Related? Maybe, just maybe.

"I think you just got your wish, T-Dog. T-Zilla? Tedorino? I'll figure something out." And away he goes!

…then he's back. "So, uh, the running of the bulls isn't supposed to be happening yet, is it? 'cause they're definitely running. They're running a lot." he reports, looking expectantly towards the others.

*

Lorna scowled faintly, slumping in her seat and crossing her arms. "This Mojo guy is into Entertainment, using mutants for it at least. He wants something flashy. Something that can draw a crowd. I said I wouldn't put on a show for him. So—" She shrugged wordlessly, her lips peeling back into a snarl.

A glance was spared for Tommy and she sat upright. "If that was actually Seth I swear I will rip that guy apart and shove his stupid TVs down his throat." She exhaled a shaky breath, and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and not let her powers spike with her emotions. A single eye opened as Teddy spoke of a test and she groaned. "Don't remind me, I have one on Wuthering Heights and I haven't read past page 50."

Then Tommy was back and talking about bulls. A blink. "Uhhh. Wait what?"

*

"Let's be boring, then, and go back to that restaurant. Maybe the problem will come to us," says Hope, her flaming hair caught underneath a very plain Spanish hat. Another slice of her orange comes to her lips, popped in and chewed in rapid order. "That way you can do your study stuff for school, and trouble will eventually come to us. We're cool." A glance aside finds Tommy and she gives a shake of her head. "Sign said July 14, which is Saint Fermin's Day or something. I mean, maybe someone engineers this to throw a whole bunch of bulls out here, in which case I'm hotwiring a car and we're going to laugh at the face of one bullpower against one hundred horsepower. Though we have a giant stadium for the bulls like five streets over, last I checked, right in the middle of downtown. Mm, dunno, should we just take to the rooftops or something?" A rooftop restaurant? This causes a sigh of quiet desire.

*

Patting Teddy's arm, Billy shakes his head, "Don't worry, we'll get you there in time. This whole 'living with mom' is cramping your style, dude. Having to check in with 'rents is bad. I say this as someone who has somehow managed to acquire *four* parents." There's a long suffering sigh, but soon enough Billy's mind returns to his true passion: "Who invented tapas?" he asks of the crowd importantly, Billy does. "Whoever thought of this as a concept is a genius and how can America call itself great if it doesn't have tapas? When we're done saving whats-his-name…" An apologetic look to Lorna, "We will return to our glorious homeland and preach the goodness of tapas. Tapas in all shapes and styles, but in particular the albondigas. Oh my god I am so full and hungry at the same time. My stomach and tongue do not agree." Billy pauses, "Wait did you say bulls?" he asks with a widening of eyes for Tommy, "WAit those screams don't sound at all normal shaped. Those people aren't just being like, oh bulls! Running on schedule! They're being like oh shit bulls are running why is that happening." Ie, badness is here.

*

Ava hears the screams, and when Tommy zips back in to explain, she sets the newspaper down with a glance in that direction. "The bulls are not supposed to be out," she agrees with Billy, glancing to Hope's mention of the stadium as she starts to formulate a plan. "There are people on these streets, and they are not prepared for this. We need to get the bulls to the stadium on the shortest route possible." She eyes Billy for a moment, considering. "Could you put a portal in front of them that lets out into the stadium? Could you hold it long enough?"

*

"Do you know how much apartments cost to rent?" Teddy asks Billy, turning to look in the direction that supposedly the bulls are coming from. "Even with SHIELD paying me to be a consultant, I can't afford it. Not and pay for college too." The life of a young superhero in Manhattan. At Ava's suggestion, he nods. "He can do it. He opened one to an alien spaceship while it was flying. This should be easy."

*

"I'll handle people-clearing. Innocent hands, promise." Tommy offers, with the latter part directed towards the redhead who shares his powers. There's no time for debate, away he goes!

Except he's back a split-second later to add, "Yup! Definitely shack up. I can give you addresses from the ones Hope and I saw. Really gotta go now, though!"

And the screams get closer. Except the words used, while more intelligible as they grow closer, are changing. Still in Spanish, though!

*

An exhale and Lorna pushes up from her seat as Tommy explained what was going on. "Well, if Billy needs a funnel for those bulls, I can always tweak some things." She eyed the tables. The wrought iron work was pretty, and oh so easy for her to shape.

Her knuckles cracked as she gestured for everyone else to clear the table and chairs.

"Ready when you are Billy! Just tell me where to make a funnel. I'll keep 'em from going off course into alley ways."

*

"You at least need to establish some sort of I'm-not-a-kid-anymore-and-can-come-and-go thing then. I'm thinking of …" But the mundane matters trail off as Billy comes to focus more. Because there's pressure! Ava's question has Billy forgetting tapas to eye the street in front of them, and then look at his hands. At Teddy believing in him? That's sort of sweet but also nerve wracking! "Its usually not a question of holding the wormholes open long enough but getting them closed on a predictable schedule." Then he blinks, looking over to Ava, "Did they say werewolf?" he asks the only other spanish speaker, even as he turns lifts his hands, looking to Lorna, nodding quickly, then declaring for all the world to heed: "Bulls go round round baby round round!" Err, as far as spells go that doesn't quite count as either elegant or sensible, but the words aren't as important as the intent, and he's making a loop of bulls, right? Round round! "Bullsgoroundroundbabyroundround!" He concentrates and pushes out with everything he has, "BULLSGOROUNDROUNDBABYROUNDROUND." And reality is ripped open, albeit neatly, about street wide and yay tall, leading back…well, it was supposed to be the stadium, but truth be told it ends up in some random field in China. Someone is going to be REALLY CONFUSED about that. This might be where he decides in his life to check out a self-help book and really get a hold of this 'spell' thing.

*

"I heard werewolf," Ava nods slowly to Billy, not quite sure about what that means. But whatever's happening, it doesn't look like she'll be able to stay in the shadows completely. She reaches beneath her jacket at the small of her back, pulling out what appears to be a pair of hilts for fencing sabers. "Keep them headed for the portal," she nods to Lorna. "Teddy, cover Billy and Lorna. They were interested in them, this could be a distraction." In short order, though, she's disappeared into the crowd of people running away - only she's headed toward the trouble.

*

Teddy nods to Ava and steps in front of Billy, becoming larger, thicker, and much more muscular as he does so. And green. "Bulls are no big deal." he tells them sounding very confident of that. Which shades to uncertainty as he adds "But I don't have any silver." Swinging his arms a couple times to loosen them up, he shrugs. "I'll wing it." Waiting for whatever it is to arrive, he says "We should get an apartment together." This is probably directed to Billy.

*

Oh, they /did/ say werewolf alright. The only problem with that is the guesstimate was not /quite/ as accurate as it could have been. The creature that's running along alongside the wolves, spotted first by Ava who's running towards the trouble as opposed to the others who are setting up a trap appears to be less wolf, more jackal, with all black fur like the common depictions of the Egyptian God Anubis. Running on all fours and, for those who might recognize the behaviour? Effectively herding the angry bovines in the directions they're going, which sometimes entails leaping from one side of the street to the other to stop a wayward steer from, well, steering out of the appropriate path.

Of course, considering that they're running /towards/ the group, it's not long before Ava's not the only one who can see the situation at hand. A herd of… maybe a dozen bulls running through the streets of Pamplona. The human-sized jackal running alongside. Civilians running /away/ from the animals, and occasionally dissappearing in what Hope, at least, will clearly be able to point out as Tommy's doing.

Of course, the Planners being able to see the problem also means the reverse. Which is why said werejackal leaps forward to try and veer some down a /different/ street — but not all. Seven of the twelve are introduced to the rice fields somewhere outside of Beijing, and with the time zone difference? The farmers have /not/ come out to work just yet. Cue a stroke of luck on that one! Although they're definitely going to be doing some property damage. Especially once they hit the little village's shopping distract down the way. Kinda like…

…bulls in a China shop.

*

With a lift of her powers, Lorna pulled herself up into the air to better see the oncoming rush of bulls. Her hands thrown out around her as she pulled on the cafe's tables, chairs, and eventually tugged in a few lamp posts and other bits of metal that she could sense. A fire escape became fodder for her just as much as some railings from a rather nice looking balcony up above. All to block up the alley ways that led up to the portal with iron and steel gates.

The appearance of the were-jackal had Lorna making a face, her eyebrows climbing higher. "What are we doing with that thing?" She called, woobling slightly in her levitated state above the street.

*

With the bulls going to the 'stadium' with Lorna's help trying to direct them, Billy waits a minute longer then drops his hands. The portal remains. Billy frowns and waits a moment. The portal stubbornly continues to exist. "Okay, done now." He waves a hand. The portal is not inclined to listen. Tapping his foot, "Wormhole off." he tries. The portal remains portally. "Look here, if Stephen finds out I created a sorta spanish loopy thing he's going to be peeved for some esoteric and incomprehensible reason mumble-mumble mantle mumble-mumble and this vein in his forehead will probably pop and that would be bad. So, stop being a hole." The portal is not persuaded. Huffing, he rises up into the air with Lorna, "It'll go away on its own soon." he says a bit defensively, before Teddy's words— "…did you just say we should get an apartment together?!" he's half-shouting at Teddy in exasperation. He's going to work on making the wormhole stop being a wormhole and leave the werejackal to Teddy and the others.

*

When the creature takes a turn, Ava turns along with the bulls. She may not have superhuman strength or speed, but she does seem to have a sixth sense for which way to run, which turn to take in order to get around the panicking crowds. She's fast, and she's nimble. Enough to link those hilts back at the small of her back, instead pulling out a pistol. Blue energy seems to glow from her eyes, crackling as it climbs behind her head and down her arms to charge the weapon before she fires a bolt of electricity at the jackal.

*

Teddy waits for the bulls and the werewolf and then, when they come into view, he notes "That's not a werewolf. I don't know what it is but it's not a wolf." But then a bunch of bulls go away and the others are herded off to the side so a pair of large bat wings sprout from his back and he flaps upward in order to chase the werenotwolf. "Yeah? I can't afford an apartment but I can afford a half an apartment." he tells Billy as he flies past. "If you don't want to, it's cool."

*

Where did Hope go in the midst of this? One minute she's there and the next, she most certainly is not. Getting used to her sudden disappearances is par with the course given her skill at evaporating like dew in the Sahara is considerable. A quick run puts her up to one of the older buildings where handholds are plentiful and window ledges broad, great for a calculated climb up the front to a decently placed balcony. Anubis the Jackal-headed Referee. She crouches down to follow any signs of movement, and from that lovely height, gains a fine sense of surveillance. "Watch out for the ones peeling left!" she shouts, and then goes springing off the ornamental gratework. This is why she spends hours a day practicing parkour, because when the going gets tough, the tough cookie gets going by free running her way along walls and clothes-lines and rooftops in an acrobatic display.

Ooh, shocking actions on part of Ava make a fine point to colocate to get behind that black-skinned jackal-man. She runs at speed to try and tackle the lightning-targeted Mr. Anubis from above-behind. This is where not being able to fly hurts. The ground is coming up much too fast for comfort. "Oh fuckity ow ow ow."

*

It's fortunate that 'jackal-man' can't hear Hope's thoughts; otherwise she would be pretty angry at the redhead. Of course, she's also got /other/ things to worry about as Ava's hesistance to be outed at the station? Leaves said creature completely unaware that electricity might be coming for her. BZZZT! Shortfur stands on end and there's a yelp as she tumbles, rolls through the streets. Only to be tackled by Hope, nonetheless! One combatant down, though level of 'out' is debatable.

Tommy's been doing /really/ well at the whole, getting the civvies out of dodge thing. However, there was this /one/ fellow that had his back to the rest, apparantly too interested in drinking his beer to bother moving. Bulls run. It's normal. Right?

Tommy was about to sweep him off to safety like the /rest/ of the crowd… only to suddenly and unexpectedly /stop/ when touching the man, who starts to glow with a pulsating energy as a result. "Hey, thanks. Needed that." he offers to the momentarily-frozen speedster, before walking towards one of the bulls coming for him (which, by the way? No herder means they're scattering instead of running in a pack!).

The bull, angry little thing, charges in what it certainly expects will result in a successful core, and a showering of praises from all the ladycows back at the farm. Instead? As horns touch, it too is frozen. Moments later? It's sent hurtling through the air at about a hundred miles an hour. Right at a magnetic mutant who was just trying to get a better view!

*

And down the street, inside one of the houses and safe from harm? A little boy sees the flying bull and watches in awe. Thus, the idea for the game 'Burrito Bison' is born.

*

Lorna glanced toward her magically inclined nephew as Billy floated up toward her, a brow lifting as she glanced down at the still very much open portal. "I'm not going to tell your dad that I brought you along to try to track down some interdimensional being. I'm not a rat." Being caught by fathers was most decidedly on her 'not do deal with today' list of things.

Then she turned her attention to turning more metal into blockades against the bulls, trying to keep them from going down other streets and alleys. The result being that she turned herself around and lifted herself even higher into the air in order to see.

Of course it's at this time that a bull went sky high and went flying in her direction, and of course flew smack dab at the magnokinetic. Knocking her out of the sky in a solid hit, that had her crash landing to Earth and pavement with a sharp crack. Metal rattled and the makeshift barriers collapsed into the street, useless piles of bent steel crashing just as Lorna blacked out.

This would likely result in at least a concussion, if not worse. But either way, Lorna was out for the count and sprawled on the street.

*

Billy glares at Teddy, "You don't just go and ask someone to move into an apartment together! God, you don't have a romantic bone in your body." he huffs, but his focus is on the wormhole… which finally blinks out of existance, which has him relaxing, "Okay, good." But there's some bulls? And werejackles? And a flying bull heading for his magic-aunt! Reaching out, Billy tries to wrap telekinetic force around it but he's able only to slow it slightly before the momentum completely breaks through his hold: he is not strong enough telekinetically to actually do anything about bull-ets. "Crapmonkey! Look out, Lorna!" he exclaims and then winces when the bull-et goes smack into her. He flies down to check for a pulse, and she has one at least, "She's out but not dead! Uhh, go hit whoever did that. I can't stop flying bulls so we should try to encourage there to not be any flying bulls."

*

With the jackal down, Ava dashes up onto the side of the street, doing her best to get out of the way of stray bulls. She keeps her gun up, but the glow is gone - was it a special weapon of some sort? When she sees the man freeze Tommy and then do the same to a bull, she presses herself against a building, running through options in her mind. Slow the speedster, stop the bull. Energy sink. Do not shoot the energy sink with more energy. Or punch him.

"Billy! Teddy!" she calls down the street. "Don't touch or shoot at the man who threw the bull!" There's a phrase she never expected to have to use. "I think he absorbs energy!"

*

…"Romantic? I just meant sharing an apartment." Teddy protests. Which is probably not the smartest thing to be doing, especially under the circumstances. Fortunately, a bull flies past before he can say anything else that's going to piss Billy off. "Hey! Don't hurt the bulls!"

*

Let's get something straight right off the top. Irregular cobblestones hurt when somersaulting across them, even partially padded by a short-furred canid woman and that voluminous coat. Hope misses the awkward nesting talk of Billy and green-skinned boyfriend, and she gets only the blurriest glimpse of a flying bull. Groaning, she mutters, "When pigs fly. Pigs! No one likes a classic." Disgust drips from her tone as she rolls a little further, tucking her knees under her to avoid colliding with the wall any harder than she has to. The impact knocks dust and a few curses unfit for publication loose. Creakily rising, she gives herself a hard shake to shove her shoulder back into its socket, and limps down the street as fast as her borrowed speed allows. Thankfully the bulls and bits left her a trail to follow.

Expression more than a bit miffed, she kicks along a squashed orange that precedes her. Ooh, look, Ava closing on the others! Perfect. "Wait up! Bullspackle he's getting away with this." Her hat's missing, allowing bloody-red locks to blow behind her in a banner that she shakes out. Lounging on her back heel, Hope extends her arm and curls her fingers to her palm twice in a classic kung-fu 'bring it' move. "Tora tora tora!" Look, she's displaced a few centuries, it's going to show. Or someone teach her 'toro,' please. Or maybe she meant that.

*

"I know that's what you meant, that's the problem." grumps Billy, all ready to blast a guy— but Ava says no? And so he blinks, hovering for a moment as he tries to work out how to address this problem. "Wait, we can't hurt the guy who throws the bulls or the bulls, I'm feeling a pacifist movement going on here that I can't really support getting behind. Can we all at least agree that its okay to hurt the werewhatever? Wait, Tommy?" He flings out a hand to wrap his frozen twin up in telekinetic force and pull him away from the energy absorby guy to deposit him over there, to maybe unfreeze? "You okay man?" Otherwise Aether is a bit lost

*

~~What the hell? Where'd it go!? I've got— The hell ain't I talkin'!? Switch, who's side are you on!?~~ A very freaked out… kinetokinetic? Broadcasts this message psychically to any mind not actively blocking him. This /also/ results in Speaking of bull-ets? Nobody doing anything about the four remaining bulls means that they can choose their targets at will. One such target is the only starting to move Tommy, who's only able to /barely/ get out of the way due to efforts of his twin.

"I'm good, thanks bro! Back to work."

Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away? Another mutant hears the message being sent out. Not by the voice that he's used to hearing in his head, and without Hope's fine control of his powers? The randomness provided by the man /his/ team calls Switch goes into effect.

Fortunately for the aptly named Anubis, she's been left alone by both opposing sides - the bulls not wanting to mess with their herder, and the heroes simply thinking her out, and distracted eyes might not see her getting back up to her feet after the initial shock and tackle.

*

Now how's he supposed to take the guy out if he can't punch him? Which is the last of Teddy's worries as his wings suddenly disappear as do his muscles and greenness, leaving him not hovering in mid air. Fortunately, he was over a house and not a street so he doesn't actually break anything when he lands there. Hard.

*

It's not that anything disappeared from Ava. It's more that, all of a sudden, there's a whole lot more there. She presses her back hard against the wall, eyes closing tightly for a moment as she tries to organize it all. Not good. Something here has gone terribly wrong.

Then again, this isn't the first time that Ava's found herself with skills and abilities she didn't earn. She rifles through the powers suddenly filling her up, swallowing back bile as her stomach roils. « Team. » It's…an extremely broad band of telepathy, at much too high a volume, before she dials it back. « Something's not right. Powers are off. Sound off. »

*

Someone just smothered Hope and it takes her a second for the delirium of the sensory input to pass. Discomfort is nothing new, but the staggered sense leaves her deeply uncomfortable. Plan B, the brass knuckles and the gun. "It's too quiet." Cue sliding in closer to Ava, disengaging the safety, and turning back to back with the woman. Or back to wall. "Come on, focus on me. Whisper, yeah? It helps. I can walk you through this." She's going to have to, since a slug of steel is all she's got at the moment to work with. "Someone out there is warping abilities. They swapped us around like a nutshell game. You can switch too, you just focus on the person. Think of moving one person around with another, like they're taking one another's places." Unless it's Billy. Please don't be Billy. Don't be Billy.

Her speech is low and certain, though that head-splitting silence keeps the panic at bay. "Back, forth. Back, forth. I can't guarantee it will stay but you keep turning them around, we'll take down the source."

*

Billy be flyin', yo. He flies as well as anyone, practically. He doesn't even think about it! So its with quite a bit of surprise when he finds himself *falling*. He yelps. He wasn't over a building at all, so he fallllllllls towards what will likely amount to a broken bone, and without thinking at all he reaches out to try to brace/push against the ground as if he could telekinetic it. Only he can't. But… he lands. And the landing is remarkably soft, almost like a feather touching down. For his part, Billy looks both bewildered and surprised, even as he stares at this odd sensation in his hand. He tugs a quarter out of his pocket, and eyes the quarter, then eyes the werejackal, and he instinctually makes the odd sensation go from his hand into the quarter. The quarter suddenly finds itself zooming off towards said jackal. "That's … new. Wait." He flings a hand out. Nothing happens. He flings his hand out again. Another nothing happens. "Crap! I can't woosh! Alert: Wooshing Has Been Neutralized. I… don't really understand what this thing is I *can* do. I stopped my fall and kinda put it into a quarter to make it a bullet. What the hecking heck?" Only then does he notice the not-green Teddy up there, "Teddy! You okay?" he calls up with concern.

*

"It is all right," Ava shakes her head to Hope, eyes closed tightly for a moment as she focuses. "This is…not the first time." Well, it's the first time she's had a bunch of mutant powers shoved into her head. But not the first time she's had to separate herself from something that's rightfully someone else.

After a moment, she pushes off the wall, breathing hard. "If you have my powers, be careful. The electricity…it can be overwhelming. You have to hold it back." She's looking for the rest of the team then, passing her pistol to Hope. "Channel it through this to shoot." It says something about her respect for the other redhead that she doesn't feel the need to explain how.

"Teddy! Are you okay out there?" she calls, already heading toward the kinetic. "We need to contain the kinetic one before this wears off!"

*

As genes are switched in the blink of an eye? Someone else can move at the blink of an eye, someone who only Ava can see make that arrival. "Hey, this? /This/ I like. Better than the time I was on fire! How about you, Catastrophe?" the dark-haired man… teen? chirps. Actually, something notable about the assembling group that they're facing? Except for the werejackal who's age is hard to determine at the moment, they're /all/ likely in their teens or early twenties. Connection? Maybe.

"Sure, first you give me Brainy's power, /then/ you just take it away." The now-identified Catastrophe complains, getting up in his ally's face. "The hell have I got now? The hell have I got? ThehellhaveIgot?!"

…that's answered very quickly in the form of magical wooshing. Request hell? Get hell. Specifically, a trident that materializes into being that seems to be set ablaze with fire that Doesn't Look Quite Right at the pointy end, now wielded by Ava's target, Catastrophe. "…whoa."

"I know, right? Now get to work! Mojo wants a show, we give him a show!" demands the newly minted speedster Switch, who's decided the former one makes a good target, and catches Tommy with a fist to the jaw that sends him flying before he realizes that /he/ can switch people's powers, now. But he'll be down for a while from that punch.

Meanwhile, poor Anubis. She'd /just/ gotten up and was getting ready to get back in the fight when a quarter tears through her leg with wicked momentum behind it, taking her down to one knee and causing her to howl out in pain.

*

"Ow." is Teddy's very coherent answer from where he lays on the roof. A bit too close to the edge as it happens since, when he tries to roll over, he rolls off it and lands on the balcony a floor down. "Ow!" What's everyone talking about powers? "What the f… fig is going on?"

*

One gun put away, the other will be taken. Hope handles it with all the loving care a retro-futuristic device deserves, and she gives Ava a lopsided grin. "What else is new? Overwhelming is all I am." Feeling for the shape of the weapon and its heft occupies her partly for a second, but she's made to get the gist of is way too quick. Her adoptive father is the mutant equivalent of a cybernetic bear armed for, well, bear. This she can do.

"Shove the mess at me if it gets too much. Mass it all up and dump it in. I can handle it." Not wearing the burden for the first time ever is new to the redhead, but she doesn't mind, taking up a position between Ava and the world. Nearest person to show up is potentially getting a blast of electricity, especially if they're Anubi- or not spoken for another power. See, being really boring at the restaurant was the way to go.

*

The newly minted speedster punched his brother. Billy is all seriously pissed off about that. "Teddy, get up, figure out what you can do. Someone power swapped us all. We need help!" And with that he rushes towards said speedster, "Hey, you, jerkface! Don't you dare hit my brother!" Upon seeing the guy woosh up a trident, Billy frowns, pointing, "Priority target! He's got my wooshing." But he's still going for the speedster.

*

Right, of course. If everyone got different powers, then kinetic boy had to get something else. Ava grimaces to see the weapon appear in his hand, rifling through the card catalog of powers crowding into her mind. "Ugh, I thought I was done with this feeling," she admits to Hope, finally settling on what must be Lorna's power.

As Ava raises a hand, a bit of wrought iron railing flies toward him, trying to wrap around him in a tight coil before he can get a chance to use that thing.

*

Tommy would make this point, Hope might back him up on it — the best way to fight a speedster is /with/ a speedster. Or, potentially, a kinetic transferrence specialist, but that's more of a nullifying force; a trap card, as it were. Switch is aware of this, and when he realizes that Billy's coming for him? Oh yes, he's getting /right/ out of dodge and making his move to try and target Hope with a high-speed uppercut.

…but that's not before Anubis, the whipping girl of the team for the moment, gets zapped /again/ as she got up. This time she's down and out; breathing, but out like a light. Then there were two visible combatants.

Catastrophe meanwhile is about to try and make the downed Lorna into shishkabob… only to find her very own powers used against him. Caught by the railing, he growls in disgust. "How the hell does this thing work?" he complains, trying to remember. "Uh… lemme go? Lemme go! Lemmego!"

…and so he goes. A wormhole is opened in front of the bound trident-wielder that pulls him in and deposits him at the other end — somewhere a few blocks away. Inexperience with powers? Not very fun.

*

Oh, powers were swapped. Sure, that explains it. Except he wants this powers back! Teddy reaches up for the railing but instead of pulling himself up with it, it flies into his hand. … Oh. He's seen what Lorna can do. But more than that, he's seen news reports of Magneto. And they can fly without wings. "Ow!" This time it's because he flew up into the overhang of the roof head first. "Okay, now I'm just getting angry." And anger works well for Magneto. Glaring at whichever kid is within sight, all the balcony railings near him come loose and fly toward him/her.

*

ROLL: Hope +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 18

*

A second shot charges up and Hope has to drag and restrain the electrical churn running through her. Teeth grit to capture and channel too much energy, like directing the ocean through the eye of a needle. In the confusion of flying metal and knocked out boyfriends, she narrows in on the remaining combatants, all too aware of her limitations. Don't stay still, which means ghost in front of Ava and behind. For a speedster, this defense probably means nothing, which means she is going down to a hell of a punch. What she cannot see, she cannot defend against — and Switch making contact with her is enough to knock her senseless. Yeouch.

But then, Hope has the psychic equivalent of a retributive strike still locked up in her head. All that power bundled up in her mind lashes out in a lightning saturated flood forward, a pummeling wave as she drops to the ground. It doesn't have to end well.

*

Hm. The problem with this new ability of Billy's is that while he is awesome at stopping a speedster, the speedster has to be coming at him for that to work, really. Thinking, he glances around: when he sees what Teddy seems able to do, "Hey, throw something at me as hard as you can!" he calls out to the ex-green guy, digging some more quarters out of his pocket. When the guy with his power vanishes, Billy frowns and looks around, "Crap, I need my powers back! Where'd he go? Anyone get an eye on him?"

*

"All right. New plan." Ava is not a fan of this. This is doing terrible things to all her carefully laid plans. But the speedster is a problem. The hard part is figuring out if she can use powers at the same time, and just how that works. But as the new speedster starts taking out her allies, she lets herself dip into that power herself, scanning for him. And once she sees him? She takes off after him, trying to prepare the kinetic power to put the brakes on.

*

A little chaos gets thrown into the mix and everyone starts dropping like flies, it seems like — unfortunately for Mojo's chosen champions, other than Lorna's abilities they didn't entirely know what they were getting into, so when the switching started? The switching had to start no matter the cost. It has one Anubis down — who, unconscious, is starting to shrink in size and revert to an olive-skinned, dark-haired girl that Ava would be able to pick out of the crowd. It caused Catastrophe to teleport /himself/ out of the battle unexpectedly and Switch? He /was/ doing great with two knockouts to his name, now… until being set upon by a team that's starting to work together rather than /his/ team that's clearly more individuals working for the same cause.

Electical attack works at the speed of, unsurprisingly, light and zaps him mightily, causing at /least/ the stun, and then those metal pieces fly out and smack into him again and again and… yeah, that one's the next member of the enemy team to be out like a light.

*

Teddy fistpumps as Catastrophe falls unconscious and then he spreads his fingers and slowly closes his hands, the railing wrapping around his body tightly and then digging into the ground. Even if he wakes up, he's not going to be going anywhere. Then looking up and down the street, he spots a car on the street and flings it at Billy.

*

Much like Lorna and Tommy, Hope is currently counting electric sheep and imagining how she might blow them up with Cable's favourite gun, the one he probably nicknamed Daisybelle and pets in his sleep.

*

Billy's eyes go wide: he wanted something flung at him, but he wasn't expecting a car. "Whoa, you think big!" But he reaches out to brace himself and the instant the car touches his hands it comes to a complete halt, as all that momentum gets absorbed into his body, this huge tingling sensation making him want to vibrate out of himself. "Whooooa." he breathes, "Where's the stupid-me? Anyone see him? I've got to get this out of me." He pauses, then jogs up and looks for the nearest bull, sending a quarter out at it. The kinetic force of a car flying through the air is narrowed down into a coin and it might just be the coin goes supersonic at that point.

*

"Speedster's down, wolf lady's down, Hope is down, Lorna is down," Ava counts things out, turning in a circle. "Weird version of you went through one of your…wormholes. He might be anywhere. But if we switch back now, then he'll stay wherever he is and not be our problem." She frowns as she looks around, putting a few pieces together. "We thought they were all unwilling, captured. But I'm beginning to think that some of them are enjoying this."

*

In a building not too far away, the unseen member of the enemy team is siting in a little cafeteria, enjoying food as she monitors her allies telepathically — keeping open the lines of communication between them in order to help them work as a more cohesive unit — sees the lights go out one at a time. Now the final fully functional member of the team - and odd woman out in the power-switching ordeal - she reaches up to her neck to press a finger to the pendant she wears. It starts to glow.

In unison, similar pendants around the necks of Switch and Anubis start to have the same effect.

Meanwhile, yes, the bulls continue to run through the city — but one bull still lingering close enough to be targetted is sent tumbling by another quarter shot out by Billy. Make that /three/ bulls rampaging through the city, now. This one won't be getting up for a while.

*

With no one left to fight, Teddy floats down to the street and walks over to where he's caged the one. "As fun as this was" Not "I want my powers back. How do we do that? And what's that glow?" Making a circle with a finger, the railing pulls out of the ground and flips the speedster over so he can see the pendant. Frowning, he holds his hand out and the chain breaks to float over to him.

*

"Probably nothing good. Do not hold it," Ava cautions Teddy. "Nothing that you take from your enemy that starts to glow is ever good." Practical. "I ended up with Hope's power, which means I have all of the powers. And I do not like it; it is making me very nauseous." Hope's used to it. She's built for it. Ava? May have some experience sharing and separating minds, but it's not how she was made.

She takes a deep breath, frowning as she focuses on the power. "Hopefully this works…correctly." Because she's trying to put everyone's powers back where they belong.

*

"Yeah, glowing things from bad guys is bad." Billy frowns, "I want my powers back mostly because I don't want anyone else to have them! They're my responsibility! The chaos a villain could cause if he can do that would be really bad." He eyes Ava hopefully, his eyes all FIX ME PLZ, not realizing she can't.

*

Congratulations, Teddy! By swiping the pendant away, you've just secured your team a captive. Last time things glowed around Mojo's minions? It was a sign that teleportation was about to occur — and it's the case as the pendant glows unnaturally bright… and just disappears. As does the one Anubis was wearing (along with Anubis herself, as she's still wearing hers). Switch, however, is still left unconscious and in Pamplona.

Switching powers back? Not that hard with the combined understanding of powers provided by Hope's and Switch's collective powers — as long as she doesn't try to switch herself and Hope until the end of the process; if she and Hope are the last ones? Billy's going to be the only one left without his powers until the hour finishes — about fifteen minutes more — as Catastrophe is presently far enough out of the range of Switch's powers that Ava can't even sense him.

*

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