1964-04-21 - Civil Disobedience
Summary: A mutant rights rally predictably goes wrong. Magneto unpredictably loses his cool.
Related: N/A
Theme Song: 3 Days Grace - Let's Start a Riot
druid erik ne kai karnilla lorna illyana daredevil rogue 


Twilight creeps in over Washington Square Park, the great hub between New York University and Greenwich Village. Neat paths converge on the northern end of the park where beatniks and folk singers cohabitate peacefully during daylight hours. In preparation for the rally, a wooden lectern stands on a informal soapbox stage made from crates and boards. Ribbons in green and blue secure bunches of daffodils, tulips, and carnations in places. So far there are about a hundred people, some sitting on blankets on the lawns or standing in the paths. A few stand on the fountain, despite being told by the straitlaced to get down. Signs dance in the air, painted with "Mutant Rights Today" and "We're All One".

Musicians strum their guitars and try out their peace songs. One man stands up in front of the collection of wires feeding up to a microphone, nothing fancy, and leads the assembled crowd of largely young people — some of colour, some not, some openly different, most not — in one of those better known hymns.

"If I had a bell,
I'd ring it in the morning,
I'd ring it in the evening,
All over this land.

"I'd ring out welcome,
I'd ring out a warning,
I'd ring out love between
My brothers and my sisters."

*

Erik arrives quietly, his face one recognizable to many of those gathered. He greets any attnetion he might draw withrelative silence. the man is wearing a deep gray turtleneck sweater and balack trousers, something you might expect of a teacher or arts student. Erik's blue eyes are stern as they survey the people gathered but for now he has no words, keeping his hands buried into the pockets of his pants. Long strides carry him into the midst of the crowd.

Perhaps unbelievably to some Erik joins in singing the song. It seems like the thing to do.

*

Druid arrives to this rally, blinking as they seem to not really understand it. They appeared to have just been wandering through the area. They stop, on the edge of the crowd. The small, strange person whose true sex is hidden sticks out like a sore thumb. Standing in clothing that seems ill fit for city life, more suited to an adventure or something. They carry a leather satchel on their shoulder. And a large, gnarled wooden walking stick in their hands as they walk. Yellowish-green eyes gazing onto the crowd. Druid does not sing, because well, they clearly are clueless as to what's going on.

*

Matt Murdock is seated, leaning back deep into a folding chair, with one of his light pant legs draped over the other and his arm over the chair that sits to his left. Out in front sits a table with pamphlets. Odd in this atmosphere, but the parishioners of St. Patrick's church have thought it was a good time to show solidarity with mutants and invite them to worship.

Some are not convinced and eye the pamphlets warily, as they also eye the seated man warily. A few moments later, Father John joins by Matt's side.

"Any takers?" the elderly priest asks.

"Not a one," Matt replies.

*

Lorna had been there to help with set up since early in the morning. She hadn't actually been to a rally before, but given how she'd been volunteering her time around Mutant Town and other pro-Mutant activist community centers, it worked out. She'd donned a pair of simple jeans and a loose fitting pink shirt, her hair brilliantly green and tucked back behind a headband.

When her father arrived however and started to sing? Her eyebrows climbed higher as she made her way over to him, a magnetic ting on his senses as much as he was to her's.

She didn't interupt, choosing rather to wait until he was finished before she promptly swung her arms around him in greeting with a grin. "I didn't know you were going to come!"

*

"They never think about the meaning of the hammer," Illyana observes to nobody in particular. She is on the outskirts of the crowd, not really participating in the rally, but, perhaps, showing her support. At the very least she's carrying a sign, though it's propped against her shoulder, rather than being held high: "To Sin by Silence When They Should Protest Makes Cowards of Men! — Abraham Lincoln".

Americans like Lincoln, right? She's pretty sure they do.

In her other hand she has a hot dog. And she's contentedly nibbling as she watches the others around her. Somebody once said to her, if you can't afford to go to a movie, go to a rally. New York offers no shortage of these. A protest sign, a hot dog and people singing in typical group lack of tone. Sounds like a good Friday night.

*

Kai is one of those beatniks occupying the park during the day, and he's stayed on for the rally this evening. He's also one of the people standing on the fountain. He's in a black pullover, black chinos, with a black beret, and a kitschy white kerchief tied round his neck. The sign he holds up reads: WE ARE ONE. He holds it up high. When someone officious-looking addresses him as Young Man and tells him he shouldn't be standing on the fountain, he says, "Beat it, square, I've got rights." Yeah, that'll stick it to the Man.

*

Ne herself had always been one to hide her more obvious mutant traits in public unless she had a reason not to. A survival instinct from all her time on the street, why give someone an extra reason to lash out at you? Now? This seemed like a good reason. Although even in her disguise she tended to come across as odd, right now the young woman walks, her parasol open and resting against one shoulder while she reaches up to brush one of the bangs of practically neon pink hair from her two-tone locks, those faintly glowing hetrochromic eyes taking in the impressive crowd that can't help but bring a smile to the short woman's lips. There are very few if any here that she knows, but even so it was a lot of people campaigning for mutant rights and that in itself was reassuring.

She doesn't join in the singing, but would anyone really expect the woman often seen as mute to do so? She carries no signs, but the openness of her icecream-like coloring is a display in itself.

*

Erik actually finishes singing the hymn before he turns to greet Lorna. "Corra," he calls in n unusually warm tone. He smiles briefly before giving a slow nod. "I would have missed it. People need to be seen offering support for unity. It is the only way to go forward without… Mmm." He returns the hug Lorna is giving him rather tightly, pulling the young woman against him for a moment before releasing her and turning to survey his surroundings. "A person who stands back and watches is complicit in the crime. I was also at ONE OF the Black Rights rallies they've held recently. To be honest I wish I had arrived earlier."

*

Fifty voices and as many lighters are raised to the darkening sky. The guitar solo tapers off after the chorus, and their bearded musical host grins. His teeth shine white. "Good, good! Raise your voices loud, brothers and sisters, and we will be heard. That's the whole point tonight." He waves his hand to a line of cheering organizers. Nothing links them visually other than enthusiasm. "Hello, brothers and sisters! I am Brian and you get to hear a little of me before we hear a lot more from you. We're here to talk about things that matter." Cue a smattering of applause, encouraged by the conga line of six happy souls behind him.

"We come here tonight because our consciences are moved to act. I am joining you because a matter near to my heart moves me to speak out. About community," Brian tells them. "About bravery. About breaking a silence. The silence of defending those who are different."

He moves closer to the microphone, and holds open his arms to embrace them. "And opposing the idea that a man with fire in his eyes or a lady who can heal with her hands is not human. Some of us have already raised our voices against this noise. We are speaking tonight. We don't expect all of you to walk away with changed hearts and minds. But we'd like to start a dialogue. To give you thoughts to chew on. To listen and see things you might not know. And maybe a new spirit is rising around us, one of hope. This is an important time and we're the people who shape the future. So are we ready to hear why rights for everyone, be they brown or white or green or red are important? And how you can help?"

*

Druid looks at the man with the mircophone, listening and then a nod, as they move to hide sort of in the back, just watching the rally. Clearly a touch confused by it, but not in a place where they feel they should ask questions, just silently watching while leaning on their staff.

*

Both Father John and Matt go quiet as the man begins speaking to the masses. The normally skeptical Murdock would probably listen in on the man's heartbeat to gauge any sort of duplicity. He's seen so much of that sort of thing both in his time in the courtroom and his time as Daredevil. However, with the mixture of so many heartbeats, the loudness of the voice, and everything else going on, it never really occurs to him. Rather, he sits behind his dark glasses, fiddling with his thumbnail on the outstretched arm and listens.

*

"I'm all ears," Illyana says drily before taking another bite of her hot dog. Mutant rights are great. She's just not convinced that they're going to be managed by 'Brian'. But she's something of a cynic.

*

Lorna smiles as her father returns the hug, and steps back after a moment to fix her hair. "It's the first one of these I've ever been to. My mom and dad, my adoptive ones, didn't want me to get involved. Since so many of these turn into riots. But this one seems peaceful, I like it. It's a nice feeling to be around people that feel the same way, you know?" She arched a brow, and as the speak came up to the microphone she fell silent.

She settled in to listen beside Erik, a sharp intensity to her as she cheered with the crowd.

*

The older busybody tries once more to get Kai to come down from the fountain, and Kai gives him a mutinous look. He hops down and oops, splishes some water on the man's shoes. "I want you to know I choose to get off the fountain. I have business elsewhere." He walks off, sign held high, and his course brings him close to Matt and the priest. He glances at them with some consternation. From squares to squares. What, is he like a magnet or something?

*

Ne's not really going to speak up or shout her agreement, but she is listening. If nothing else, she'll be curious to see how many peoples minds might just be changed. Even if the day was a failure, it also gave her ideas of faces and mutants out there, if her idea of a place of refuge was truely going to be completed soon. As soon as she could find a big enough score to finance the last of it anyway… Her path takes the short figure with her umbrella close to Lorna, Erik and now the others, but her odd-colored eyes take a curious darting towards the church folks if only to wonder their purpose here. Perhaps she'd wander over and find out.

*

Brian reads the crowd with interest, giving a nod to the waving signs. "Many persons may be thinking about questions I hear. 'Why are you talking about mutants, Brian?' or 'How is this important, there's aliens out there!' 'What's your groove, man?' and 'Who are you to tell me what it's like?'" As a vocal mimic, he is brilliant, going from a Brooklyn drawl to a Jewish accent to a beatnik to a southern dandy's sophisticated tones.

He nods. "When I hear them, I understand their concern. I know those doubts too. I'm a normal guy but my sister here is an empath. That means she feels the sadness and fear and sorrow of others. Let me introduce Cathy, a nurse." The crowd murmurs and chuckles, mostly calm. A few friendly women and men cheer, clapping, to ease her way up.

His enthusiastic gesture to the person climbing the stage follows: a woman with a beehive of crisp, dark hair and a skirt-suit that might cut someone who gets too close. She gives a shy wave. "H-hi." Nervous? Very. And anyone out there nervous makes Cathy a little worse. "You might know me from the M-Town clinic. We help out mutants who won't come to the hospital. They fear it isn't safe for them. The girls and I aren't supposed to go there. The hospital says we could get something. We know that isn't true. Imagine you couldn't go get help for a broken arm or your sick mother. That can happen today…"

The microphone catches her whisper sidelong to him behind her hand. "…angry out there. Really angry, Bri…"

*

"What we need is people who are willing to step forward and be seen supporting what is right." Erik raises his voice slighly out of habit but he doesn't actually do anything drastic. There's no yelling or gesturing to make himself known. So what if a dropped coin here or there or the occasional unsecured metal object wobbles slightly when the man is speaking. He has his gaze firmly affixed to the microphone, and upon cathey and Brian by extension.

Rather than do anything initially Erik crosses his arms as the siblings speak. Hefinds himself nodding briefly in response to their words, his eyes tracking their movements as he considers what is being said in his brooding, deeply intense manner. A stoic expression becomes a frown as that whisper from Kathy to Brian is heard. Now Erik is scanning the entire crowd, lips pressed together to form a strong line.

If one were to hold their keys out on their palm right now they might topple to the ground. Small movements, for now.

*

Matt swallows dryly and it takes some effort. Father John, knowing him since he was a small boy, immediately knows something is wrong. "You going to go and do you're thing?" Matt nods. "Something's not right father."

Matt gets up and begins to walk towards an alleyway, "Save my seat."

*

Druid by far is anything but nervous, they are totally calm. Collected, cool as a winter's day. A push off the corner they were at as they spot Kai, wandering over to him. "Hello Kai, I am sorry to bother… but I seem to have stumbled into this…I'm afraid, I don't…rightly know what it is, or what is going on?" Druid asks Kai, tilting their head.

*

Illyana goes silent in the midst of her running, directionless commentary. Something… she can sense something here. A change in emotions — and not the anger the girl up on the stage is claiming. No, this is something more positive. She frowns — not because of the positive emotional energy building, though she's certainly not used to that sort of thing, but because the combination of the empath sensing anger, and her own sense… well. It's concerning. To her.

She starts to scan the crowd for those she recognizes. There's Lorna, at least. She can head that way.

*

Kai grins fiercely when he spies Druid approaching. "It's a revolution, man." He waves his sign. Look at him, everyone! "We're standing up for mutant rights. Did you know how dehumanized our mutant brothers and sisters are? We shouldn't be shunning what's different, we should be celebrating it!" He lowers his voice to mutter, "Look at all the squares looking antsy. They know there's a new day coming, you dig me, man?"

*

Lorna stood, listening and watching the stage with care. She pursed her lips, trying to put out the feeling of encouragement for the obviously nervous empath. She's lived with Jean after all for a short time and knew she ended up projecting rather well. Yet that attempt failed utterly at the whisper and it turned to concern. Her confusion deepening, and she shot her father a look beside her.

A glance was spared around her and she spotted Illyana and the green haired mutant rose up on her toes to wave toward her. "Hey! Illyana! Over here!" She called with a smile.

*

In her hand, Ne's parasol vibrates and pulls a little towards the magnetic disturbance that is Erik, causing her to blink for a moment and look around before closing the item and resting it with tip against the ground in one smooth movement. At least it didn't seem hostile, but she was very glad she didn't wear jewelry right about now. The pink-and-brown haired woman tilts her head towards Kai and his exclaimations at Druid, however her lips pull into a frown at the mic-caught mentions of anger. There was a difference between rightous anger and rage of ill intent, and the Empath nurse looked awful scared…

*

"It's cool, Cath, it's cool. We got this, yeah?" Brian puts a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder, and holds out his facedown palm, making an up and down motion. "Easy, friends. We know hearing this can make you mad. It can hurt, and it should. You're among friends. Tonight is bringing those walls down."

One of the other organizers, a farmboy stolen from the Cleveland Browns, helps the troubled empath off the stage by basically lifting her up one handed and putting her down. He might not even need the microphone. His voice carries in a big basso. "Settle down. Less you want me standin' up here tellin' ya the facts. We aren't so different after all." He checks on Cathy and Brian, who are retreating back to a column decorated in flowers. "We all want our homes an' our food an' a job. Ain't no different from me or you about the basics. Don't ya worry about payin' your bills? I sure do. Being like Miss Cathy there feelin' feelings doesn't pay rent magic-like. Penny drop yet?"

*Clink!* A faint noise of something falling to the ground might not be heard. A something - small and cloudy, like a marble - fallen from a pocket or out of a purse.

*

Erik's frown deepens as the conversations continue and the general unease in the crowd is getting morepronounced. He is staring toward the back of the gathering now, surveying the people knoted there. The faint scowl deepens around the edges, to the point where Erik acknowledges Lorna only with a brief look and then goes back to taking in the world surrounding them. That clink is apparently unnoticed. Erik doesn't have augmented hearing and he's really quite distracted iwth people rather than small fallen objects. Then he starts pressing his way through thecrwod, albeit gently, making his way toward the back.

*

Druid at first doesn't pick up on anything, but then after a moment or two, the small framed person growls softly. "Something is wrong….the herd is spooked…." Druid mumbles softly, to the average person they seem more relaxed, like there isn't anything going on. Though, to those sensitive to magic? Something changes with Druid as they inhale softly, their eyes change and shift to anyone paying attention, more like a bird of prey as they scan the crowd. "Kai….stay close please."

*

Matthew walks briskly in the alleyway until his senses tell him he's well enough alone. He dips down into an entryway, well hidden by the angles of the building and their cold cement facades. There are all sorts of smells down here. I will spare you the details. Matt reaches up to his neck to loosen his tie, revealing a crimson top underneath.

*

Illyana pushes her way through the crowd, over to Lorna, watching as the green-haired girl's father pulls away and heads toward the back — where she came from. "Something's happening," she says to Lorna, voice wary. Her sign is still propped against her shoulder, though she's finished her hot dog. There's a dab of ketchup at the corner of her lip.

*

Kai nods sharply to Druid, and he lowers his sign, leaning it against the priest just like the older man were furniture. Without sticking around to explain himself, he falls in alongside Druid. "Wait, are you trying to protect me, man? I can hold my own, like. I'm dangerous." As he natters, he too skims the crowd through narrowed eyes, and the air-headed beatnik is suddenly looking around like someone who's used to casing all the exits when he walks into a room.

*

As her father drifts away, Lorna frowned, her brows furrowing faintly but she stubbornly refused to budge from her position toward the front. She'd been there since set up after all, and wasn't going to miss out on actually being able to hear the stage for her first protest. Her arms crossed, and she glanced back toward Illyana as her former roommate approached.

"Yeah, I dunno? I hope it's nothing.." She glanced back to the stage, listening with care. "There's a lot of good people here today and if every protest breaks out into riots then well.. it hurts the message, right?" She missed the sound of something dropping, it wasn't metal after all.

*

Ne is no psychic, nor does she have any inhuman hearing ability. But the mute mutant doesn't have to be either to notice the budding concern breaking out in those around her. Her lips pulling into a more obvious front, the short woman exhales a lightly frosted breath and tries to ease back a little, eyes seeking threats as much as they are exits. Lorna wasn't wrong about riots, but being caught in a stampede of panicing people would be just as dangerous for any of them.

*

Dozens of people are looking at one another with new eyes. Battle lines are easy to measure in a way. Friends clump together while the strangers around them find an instinctive need for greater personal space. In close urban quarters the narrow circumferences jump by a magnitude, and grumbles hasten forming tighter clots. Tne crowd sticks together at the back mostly in wedges, leaving the middle barren. Blankets are pulled in as a precaution. Some push forward to the stage with an instinctive herd mentality. The solitaries might seem bewildered, and a few doughty people want to listen.

"Oh, shut up," grumbles a man in a trenchcoat and a sign propped up on a shoulder. "I'm here to listen. Not put up with lunkers."

*

"Yeah!" Another person stabs his fist into the air. "Sit down, squares!"

*

A middle-aged woman gives him a dirty look and stoops.

*

Among the organizers, Cathy is pulling on her brother's arm and the linebacker at the podium calls for calm. It's not working.

*

Erik soon rejoins Lorna near the front of the crowd, moving through the spaces now appearing between the various cliques. He looks over at Illyana and nods briefly before turning his gaze back to the green haired young woman. "Lorna, you should consider leaving. It doesn't seem as if this rally has had quite the effect the organizer intended." He takes adeep breath then, his expression slowly darkening into a deep, foreboding scowl.

Objects twitch again, drawn toward him subconsciously. Just small movements for most things, like key chains or lockets. A few discarded nickles begin to float. Erik starts to walk, his discontent coursing through him as tension, a frenetic energy threatening to rip free. He moves directly toward the stage now. After all, that is where the microphone is.

*

Druid scents the air and moves closer to Kai. "Look…the herd..their getting anxoius, frightened…angry…Either someone needs to step up and get them back in line…Or we're in for a bad time…" They looked around, a touch nervously, Druid's eyes scanning the crowd. Then spotting Erik moving up towards the mike, reading how he is. And then nodding, as someone else seems to hopefully have the right idea. Though Druid does move towards the stage, ready to hop on if needed and attempt to spread ideas of peacea and calm to the crowd.

*

Daredevil remains hidden in a crevice of a building, strategically located behind a gargoyle as he 'watches' across the street. Nothing has caused him to come out specifically, yet, and he's apprehensive because he doesn't want to cause worse confusion and tension. Instead, he remains hidden, and reaches out with his senses, listening to the budding arguments.

*

"It's magic," Illyana informs both Lorna and her father. "Somebody's making this happen. I heard something a few minutes ago — not sure what it was, but… I'm guessing that has something to do with it." Of course, by then Erik is gone, but she hopes her message came across. "We need to find the source," she tells Lorna. "It's going to be small. On the ground. Not metal." Because Lorna'd be aware of metal. Pause. "I'm pretty sure, anyway."

*

Kai lays a hand on Druid's arm as he draws closer to the stage. "I don't mean this in any bad way, hep cat, but maybe you're not the swingingest orator among, you know, humans." He regards Erik curiously. "Let's see what this bloke has to say, and if things go south, we'll handle it." He looks around again, just taking it all in.

*

"Herd?!" snaps a teenage boy with slitted eyes. "What the hell, man? I'm not a sheep!"

No, that statement did not win any points.

*

From another quadrant near the fountain. "I told you not to bring me here! I wanted to go to the Pearl Diner and you took me to a fight!"

*

A thready wail of protest, feminine, gets to the edge of hysterical. "Betsy, My father is gonna kill us!"

*

"We've got a lawyer!"

*

"What lawyer is gonna defend us? You melted the pavement."

*

Lorna frowned faintly toward her father as he suggested she leave, "Oh no way, there's no way I'm leaving just 'cause people are getting spooked." She shook her head, stubborn determination in her gaze as she watched her father march onwards toward the stage. She winced as the magnetic fields around him expanded to lift smaller objects into the air automatically.

Then her attention was pulled toward Illyana and she blinked, "Magic? Really? Oh man. That's bad, bad, bad. Shoot. I wish Wanda was here. Okay. Yeah, sure. Magic, something small." She pursed her lips, "Why couldn't it have been metal? It would make my life so much easier. First protest and someone magics it to the land of Oz. Great. Can I throw a bucket at the person doing this and call it a day, Illyana?" She asked over her shoulder, bending down to the grass to try to scan around as blankets were pulled up for something.

"Also, some description maybe other than something? not metal?"

*

A frown, a twist of her hands and Ne crosses her arms over her chest. She'd been standing close enough that she'd just spotted Erik moving inwards. Perhaps she'd wait, she'd pause for a moment to see if he could salvage the situation, but truth be told she was already preparing to 'jump' away.

*

Frustrated activists mutter furiously among themselves. The gesticulating is getting rougher, the tones harsher. "Maybe if you hadn't…" starts off one sentence, interrupted by "This wasn't us! Always one in every crowd."

It's only a matter of time until the first fist flies. It starts over a bracelet, over a belt buckle. A hand where it shouldn't be, pulled in by inescapable force. Then the shout. A closed fist and two men are grappling, the girl beside them clutching hold as her rainbow-colored hair floats in the air.

Cigarette butts in dry grass burn up patience, a cordite line traveling to the next squabbling couple who unleash a slap and a screech of protest. They get too close to the middle-aged woman in the ground who shakes her hand and snaps at them. "Get away from me!"

"Muties! Just a bunch of monsters." That's all it takes for a man to barrel into the boyfriend, and slam him to the ground. The girlfriend goes to wade in, a knot of people struggling, and the fallen woman gets up, scowling.

Attempts to keep things in check by talking through the microphone is limited in effect, for now. No one is on the stage except by accident. A good punch by a momentum-diverting mutation will do that for a person.

*

%r"No idea," Illyana tells Lorna with a sigh as things start to go to hell around them. "There's a low level field of magic around us — and I can see a few people with stronger magic than others…" She trails off. "Look, do what you can to separate the supporters from the detractors. I'm going to try gathering them on opposite sides of the field." A stepping disk appears, whisking Illyana off to a larger group of fighters.

*

Erik climbs up onto the stage. It's a hop really, and then his power catches him so that he can stride out in front of the people gathered. He extends a hand toward Brian for the microphone and when it is offered it floats into the auburn haired mutant's hand.

"My name is Erik Magnus Lehnsherr," Magneto calls out, hints of his natural German-Polish accent coming through clearly over the microphone. For a second there's distortion on the line, a crackling that dies over a few seconds. He waits patiently.

"You know my name," Erik calls seriously. "Many of you are quite aware of what I am capable of. You are being deceived. This was supposed to be a moment of harmony. They want us to fight. To prove that we cannot coexist." Erik nods at Ilyana and Lorna as if to say, 'hurry'.

Several of the fighters find themselves shoved apart. They struggle but their belts, their shoes, their watches all rebel and force them away from one another so that punches hit only air. Erik continues, "If you need a mutant to blame for what is happening blame me."

Even Magneto can't separate everyone.

*

Druid ducks out of any fighting, moving defensively with an experts ease. "Kai… There's a magic thing, somewhere, that's causing this, not made of metal, that's all I've been able to pick up." Druid points to Lorna, and then Illyena. "Those two, work with them, move, fast." Druids says this and then blinks, a frown forming. Then they move quickly to the grass, pressing a hand down. And another pulse of priomordial magic can be felt, as Druid does something with the grass.

*

The moment hits critical mass for Daredevil. For an instant he considers breaking into one of the homes and calling the police as his alter-ego, requesting a full blown riot squad. But, for two reasons that's not going to happen. First, it's too risky. Secondly, and more importantly, it'd cost some innocent some money he didn't want to have to deal with. It wasn't the right thing to do. One less sin he'd have to repent for later.

Daredevil swings down to the earth, getting to street level in one fluid motion. He hated coming out when it was light enough to be seen. Part of him really feels like being known as the mysterious devil of Hell's Kitchen helps add to the mystery and, therefore, the fear of criminals. Yet, desperate times call for desperate measures. Out comes that billy club of his, holding it between the hands as he switches some of the gears and inner working locks. Then, calmly, with a yank, he pops a fire hydrant, sending high pressured water towards the masses. Just as calmly, he heads for the next fire hydrant.

*

"There's always magic in Greenwich Village, hep cat," Kai says. He starts toward Illyana and Lorna, pauses, then looks back to Druid. "Why am I taking orders from you?" He shakes his head as if to clear it. "Right. Time and place." Right now, the time and place calls for him to make his way toward Illyana and Lorna. "Hey, chicks, I'm down with the cause, what can I do to help?" And then there's high pressured water spraying people, and he startles away from it. Ever try to render aid in wet chinos? No thank you.

*

Lorna was knocked soundly to the ground as she tried to cover ground to find something out of place, trash, bits of debris and various soda cans littered the ground and a yelp escaped her as she was bowled over by some fighting groups. Someone stepped on her hand, another person's foot landed on her side as she tried to avoid getting crushed underfoot outright.

It was by pure luck that she didn't get trampled entirely. A pearl earring was grasped between her fingers and she held it up as she scrambled to her feet, "Illyana, would this work?" She had no magical sense, she was utterly dead to that part of the world for all that her sister was cozy with the head wizard-dude.

But then she was knocked once more as water sprayed and people panicked around her and she lost the earring with another yelp.

"Gosh darnit!"

It would seem that the green haired mutant had problems standing in the crowd. Still, she didn't give up trying to search, at least there was that benefit of being on her hands and knees in the grass.

*

Time can be measured into before and after. Before Erik mounted the stage, most of the fights were localized. A few punches and kicks between unhappy souls. He gets about seven words out and the eyes start to turn. After, the mob moves as one towards him, a body with more than seven heads. Telekinetic sparks and ground-melting friction build as mutants and humans converge on that none too stable stage, propelled by wrath. Even those he tosses away flip over if they can and launch themselves again, using whatever rock, twig, brassiere or can as a weapon. No doubt if they had pitchforks and torches, they'd use those too.

Before the red devil of Hell's Kitchen opened the hydrants, most of the crowd gathered in small knots. After, they run, propelled by high-pressure geysers throwing white needles of water their way. And the poor man misses out on artist girls in t-shirts throwing their handdrums away!

Try crawling through a jet of water. Try crawling when magnetic fields pin you to the ground or the grass sways in wobbly lines. The middle-aged woman thrusts an accusing finger at Erik. "You! You are why we suffer the aliens, the Soviets, and the government sitting on its hands doing nothing for us. Nothing for the ones who need protection from abominations like you." Her voice rises. "It's your fault!"

It's not one voice echoing that. It's the guttural shriek, the primal cry, the frustrated and anguished yell of a marginalized population. It's forty people throwing themselves at the stage or scattering before water. And it is ugly as it is shot through by the red stain of anger.

*

Julie arrives from Greenwich Village.

*

Julie has arrived.

*

Illyana glances at the earring that Lorna's found. Stares at it for a moment or two, and then shrugs her shoulders helplessly. "No idea. All I know… this is getting worse." She turns from her friend, looking left, looking right, and then…

Stepping disks appear. Stepping disks carrying away the opposing factions — or, at least, this is Illyana's intent. She's trying to separate the fighters. The fact that they're going through a hell dimension on the way to their respective destinations, she figures, will cow them a little in the process.

*

"You're right! "Erik is shouting into the microphone. His hands are shaking, as is the microphone stand, which deforms and then is torn apart into shards. The microphone itself floats in front of him. "You are right! I am responsible for all of it! Your people oppress and abuse my kind. Policemen murder men for having scales or gills because they can't protect themselves. But I promise you I am worse than 'aliens' or 'monsters'."

The tall, moderately muscular mutant lifts his hands toward the crowd, trhen over his head. As he does he begins to lift into the air from the stage. People leap at him wildly, latching onto his legs, tearing at his clothes and preent him from taking flight. The sharp groan of metal tearing and twisting while under heavy pressure follows. Fire hydrants that were merely open now explode into torrential downpours. Belts buckles, purses, keychains, and other objects made of or containing metal are shooting up into the air all around Erik as he is struggling against the people trying to drag himto the ground.

It's a whirlwind of iron and raw energy. The smell of ozone follows the sheer intensity of the magnetic fields building around the stage as these objects circle wildly, smashing into the stage itself and battering the people assaulting Erik. Bruises, scrapes, and small cuts will surely follow. Some people are thrown bodily to the ground or knocked aside.

"My name is Magneto! And if you will not live in peace with me then you can learn to fear me instead!"

*

Druid stops and stares down the woman. The small person moves fast, moving past Illyana, tapping her gently and pointing to the woman before moving to closer. "And so what if he is?" Calls out Druid, using some more magic to boost his lungs. "Now, we must take matters into our own hands, right? To make change? I don't know a lot about this city and things like most humans, but I do know one thing that is continually taught to me, Humans don't do things like animals, and that means violence, like this, like what you are all doing? This feral natures, you should leave this to those like me, the wild ones, you should be civilized shouldn't you all?"

And a bit of a growl, as there are some ignoring Druid so then a roar of a lion to draw attention back to them. "Enough of this, humans, stop behaving like wild animals, use your heads, think, create, do what it is you excel at, stop lowering yourself to my level, to the level of the animals." A look about, as the small person, whether man or woman, it doesn't matter, they are decidedly animalistic, feral, but at the same time, they ooze a certian calming quality, they seem at ease with the chaos. Their hawklike eyes watching the people. A look of fear passes as Magneto starts his powers, another roar to pull attention. The voice still loud, booming, but calm. Druid nods to Magneto. "So, enough of the anger, of the yelling, of the violence, come together as a people, and start to build the future, create humans, create your utopia. Where all can live to their fullest."

*

Daredevil feels a tug on his baton and reaches down to grab at it as invisible forces begin to pull it away. His dipped head gets it even worse, however. There are two metal parts in the spikes of his horns that work to assist him in his senses. The metal, combined with the pull on his billy club begin to actually yank him closer to the fray.

*

Kai's belt buckle tries to toss him around, and his keys play havoc in his pocket. It throws off his balance. Still, he's pretty nimble, and he keeps his feet. He's got nothing hip to say about this. Wild-eyed, he's looking around for people who are hurt. There's a little girl whose mother thought it was a good idea to bring today, and she's right in the path of a blast of water. He brings up a hand, and the water is held back. It's an effort though, suspending it like that while more and more comes pounding after it. He holds it just long enough to snatch the girl out of its path. Then he releases it and it washes over the spot where she stood in a wave. He scoops her up and tells her, "It's okay, luv. You're going to be okay." He ducks and dodges and outright insists politeness from the water as he takes her to safety on the fringes of the fiasco.
*

As the magnetic fields her father drew on rebounded and yanked on all the metal in the area, Lorna did the sensible thing and changed her polarity. Narturally's her's was the opposite of her father's but it was easy enough to reverse her own magnetic field to match his own. So rather than being tugged this way and that, she, and by extension anything in the tiny bubble that was a hand's span around her, repelled his magnetism.

She kept her head down as the chaos ruled, her teeth gritted together as she burrowed between the crowds to try to find something that might be magical. A frustrated sound peeling from her lips as she crawled between the mob in her efforts to find the thing that had caused all of this.

At least she could ignore all the little metal things flying up into the air with her father's pull on it. Which left sticks, twigs, rocks, plastic wrappers, brown paper bags.. Yet Lorna was anything if not determined and set on trying to find the thing that caused this mess.
*

Magneto is buried under a cloud of enraged people. To their own peril, they're still besieging him. Some who weren't fighting now are. Some who were fighting are now vanished temporarily, tossed around the square and gibbering or throwing themselves at benches and bushes in a mad scramble to get away. Illyana's method of cooling them off has an effect at the cost of a few kicks. Even Kai gets the odd swat from an angry child. Some lie still where violence has taken its toll already. Water spills out everywhere in wild puddles while metal pulled off women and men in the crowd spiral around in a vortex.

Attempting to calm them by speaking has no effect. They are beyond listening.

Nearer at hand, those who cannot escape the enraged penguin are battered about, blood and screams blending together. The middle-aged woman accusing Erik yells as her brooch goes flying and earrings are ripped from her earlobes. But she doesn't entirely fall, clapping a hand to her bloodied ear.

*

Illyana stares as Lorna's dad goes ballistic. She'd facepalm, but her jeans just lost both buttons and zipper, and she is trying to hold them up. "This is not good," she mutters to herself. "We need to get out of here, Lorna. This is only going to get worse right now."

*

Erik lets out a shout. All at once the metallic objects come together overhead, twisting and combining their pieces into larger planks of iron and steel. These then descendi nto the mob of peopel surrounding the flailing, angry Magneto and begin to knock people back, shoving them where possible and beating into them where they won't let go. At least one man is left unconscious at Erik's feet. The steel boards form a circle around Erik once his free, shoving the crowd back as the Master of Magnetism finally emerges from the crowd of enraged citizens to float over the top of the gathering. He's now forty or so feet above it all, collecting the metal objects around him like a personalized hurricane. Even the microphone is pulled apart. Erik's gaze is raw fury as he stares down at the people beneath him. "I will find the person responsible for this…"

*

Druid sighs softly, knowing their about to regret their next action. Druid moves over to Kai and grabs his shoulder. "I'm going to do something stupid, something very, very stupid. After I pass out, watch over me." Then they touch the young girl and a pulse of life energy oozes into her, healing her of all cuts and burises, and then he starts moving through the crowd. Working on healing. A look is shot to the Master of Magnetism. And then a peppble is picked up and tossed his way. "When your ready to talk and stop hurting people, come find Druid." The small person shouts, though its more normal speak for them at the moment, but their voice booms and carries, the pebbl of course, doesn't hit Erik, simply flies nearby to gather his attention for a fraction of a second before Druid returns to his healing.

*

Kai grimaces as the kid socks him. Ungrateful little… He deposits her on the ground outside of the water blast zone and tells her, "Stay out of trouble." Then he goes back into the mess, picking up the ones who have fallen down, shielding them as the water moves for him. He bears the brunt of anger, rather resilient for a little guy. When the metal starts forming a wall, his belt goes too nuts, and he takes it off, letting the buckle join its fellow metal. A few studs pop off his chinos, and the top button whips off of him. Luckily, they're soaking wet and stay on. Wet chinos. Awesome!

*

Nothing like a wave of magnetism at volume knocking people out of the way. The eye of the hurricane may be calm, and raving mad. Not so much the walls. It is enough for the wounded to crawl out of the way of the blast radius, though if they can throw something at him, they will. Wooden shards of the crates and podium floor lie on the ground, and the cheery daffodils look terribly sad in a pathetic way.

The wounded and stunned at the periphery aren't going anywhere quick, but the angry, older woman stalks off to the south, muttering a few imprecations in her wake. The old days were better, assuredly.

One has to wonder how the city's going to pay for this crazy little fandango.

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