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The X-Folk had their marching orders. Maybe. Though, it was unclear if this crew were apart of the X-Men or not, and Jean was nearly ready to test their meddle. But out and about they were, roaming and wandering the streets on foot, not in uniform persay, but everything was covered and coveted save for the face masks.
And then it happens:
A loud explosion from a high rise apartment that was ten stories high (maybe highrise? Who knows), the sound of screams, and a rag-tag crew of assholes excaping out of the front with two women in tow who happened to kick, bite, and fight back much to their chagrin!
It wasn't so much of a chase as to where they were going, for the women, still kicking, biting, slapping and screaming caused the driver of the non-descript black van to head -right- into the abandoned parking structure not three blocks away, only to allow the surrounding mayhem to be catered to a resounding…
!BOOM!
Of course, there was more shouting, more screaming, what in the world was going on inside of that parking structure?
There was more smoke, darkness.. and flickering lights that could quite possibly be fire. As well as the smell of gas.
"Alright ladies and gents.." Jean says (cause, however they had gotten there doesn't need to be mentioned), "..give me a good plan and lets execute it quick. I'll telepathically link us up, keep your resistance low, I promise I won't peek.."
Explosions. Fires! Action! Isn't this what Kamala Khan signed up for?
Not when she was supposed to start classes again really soon! "You're going in our brains? That's so cool! But.. you'll probably be bored to death in mine.." Of course, there's that rabbit hole where Kamala keeps all of her fanfiction, but Jean certainetly wouldn't mind a trip to Princess Pony Unicorn Island, right?
As far as a plan goes? She doesn't exactly have one in mind yet as she looks to the rest of the team to see what they can come up with.
Kaleb was dressed to teh nines not that he ever needed a reason. His dour expression…well couldn't get more dour but was finally appropriate for a situation. His eyes wandered the smoke and said, "Link my head up to theirs and I can get a scan of hte place, see where the hazards are…I don't…" His nose wrinkles "fight" Meaning he had no ability and no inclination to get his hands actually dirty. "I can try to cover you guys moving in from being heard but… I dunno." He wasn't a telepath but echolocation was grand for occluded areas.
"Good grief," Hope stares at the explosions from the parking garage, brows rising. "That's a mess." Likely to no one's surprise, the redhead from the future is always prepared for a fight, even if her jeans and oversized jacket aren't exactly a snappy uniform. It's also probably best not to ask where she got the gun she keeps in her waistband, or the knife in her boot, but she's not going to bring it up either.
Keeping an eye on the garage, she calmly starts to roll her sleeves up to her elbows. "Jean, can you tell how many of them there are?" she asks.
A COUPLE BLOCKS AWAY
!BOOM!
"… hell," a woman who is by all appearances only just old enough to be wasting the evening on a bar stool murmurs with a glance towards the door.
One briskly paid tab and bathroom trip later, the bar's lights flicker, the woman is gone—
THE GARAGE
— and a street lamp near the parking structure explodes about a minute later, making way for electricity which arcs to the ground and resolves into a severely annoyed woman. Eyes lidded, Jenny lets extranormal senses range out in search of electricity while stalking into the structure and fetching smokes from her brown trench's inner pocket. Since the fire and smoke and screams are the main things standing out in the darkness, they're what she aims herself towards.
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 6
It was a classic setup, the parking garage had three points of egress and ingress; easy ways to get out and in. It's just a matter of finding it, and depending on the integrity and structure of the build. But the men holding the women captive weren't ordinary; they were mutants and were looking for revenge.
You see, the Bloody Axe gang was looking to make their mark. Sure, they had about twenty people to their roster, but if you put them up against the NYPD, -their- gang was notoriously bigger, coupled with the fact that a particular few hated mutants and locked up a good portion of the Axe Gang just for hanging around. Now it was time for revenge.
Revenge in the form of the two women that were captured; the wife of a cop and her sister, hanging together in that apartment building that exploded while making pies for the school party the next day.
Jean listened to their words, her own sleeves flopped down over her hands, not rolled up just yet, but she was getting to that point. The all too knowing gesture when Charles was about to do his mind-bendy thing, Jean takes on, fingers pressed to her temples yet eyes focused towards the garage first, then message relayed to the group.
"Everyones brains are boring." Jean states, hopefully easing Kamala's worries about such. No, she won't go digging for fanfiction today. Quite possibly when she needs a little pick-me-up from the stuff at the library. It takes a bit of time, but the link was slowly established, only known by the tickle upon the back of their necks and a warm hug for good luck…
..at least the feeling of it.
"Alright, everyone is linked. I can't quite handle more than what we have here, so you guys are going to go in blind. But I got three. They're angry. Two frightened, possible hostages. From the looks of it, this place isn't stable so keep everything contained and don't bring the parking garage down on your heads."
Thankfully, she's backup!
"Hope. You take lead. I'll stay out here to try to keep the streets clear until the hostages are rescued. We have eyes on us now already, but if that moment comes where the cops and fire rescue comes, I'll need you to help with crowd control."
What Jenny could sense where the others cannot, a massive energy spike of electricity upon the upper floor of the parking garage. And since she's the closest? She can hear the whimpering cries of the women and the threatening voice of the captors, three clicks ahead of her and -up-, right where that spike of energy is.
"You heard the teach, you're in charge." Kamala would stick out her tongue at Hope, but the situation is a bit serious as she straightens her Ms Marvel costume, leaving to take up the point of the group, since she's the one that could most likely tank the damage more than the others.
Kaleb stood with his feet planted shoulderwidth apart; eyes closed and hands in teh pockets of his trench coat.
FOR EVERYONE ELSE
Being on the inside of Echo's head was rough because there was soud coming off everything, however it also lent to giving a clear picture of the parking garage and the solid matter moving in it: coloums, cars, people, dirt bags… You know, all the stuff we want to know about. Mind it won't protect anyone from choking on smoke and dust but it'll aid to running in there 'blind' by offering 'sight' and situational awareness. There was also a shimmer: a 'wall' moving in front of the 'team' to reflect sound back so their footfall and voices won't give away their position.
Echo's voice reverbed around him, "Move in, I'll cover your approach"
"Let me know if you need help with the link," Hope nods to Jean, smirking faintly at Kamala's comment. "Yeah, well. Step one, Kamala, your priority is the hostages. Protect and extract, okay? Kaleb…" She gives the sharply-dressed mutant a look, taking a breath. "Keep your distance, gum them up. Once we get in close, see if you can box their ears a bit, yeah? If you can shake up their inner ear, they'll lose balance and they won't be as likely to hit anything they aim for. I'll head in and try to take them down once you guys have the prep covered. Sound good?" Once they're all ready, she starts to move into the garage, carefully sorting the sensations of other powers away.
Brown eyes abruptly snap open. The trenchcoat-clad woman freezes, allows herself a moment to curse her laziness in not just hoofing it to the garage, then sparks up and takes a deep drag.
Smoke billows and wafts behind Jenny a beat later when sprinting commences and exertion drives a smoky breath from her lungs. Despite the darkness, proximity and freaky mutant senses serve ably as guidance; wide eyes and sweeping hands will have to suffice to protect her from slamming into lurking cars, and the first time she even approaches doing so, she's liable to slow her pace somewhat.
Regardless of whether any bumps and bruises are sustained, she has to drop from a sprint to a practiced skulk before too long - certainly by the time they're on the same level - lest she risk alerting the Bloody Axes with careless footfalls. Once she does, she'll duck behind the nearest vehicle and continue approaching in the hopes of getting eyes on the situation.
JENNY'S VANTAGE:
There were cars there, yes. But most of them were abandoned and broken down, occupied often times by the homeless population who were looking for something other than concrete and benches to sit upon. Most of them were rusted, some parts were stripped here and there and doors were busted open, bent, and probably shorn off due to rust or someone thinking they were as strong as the Hulk. Right in the dead center of the second floor the crew as well as the hostages were, right where the concrete bent to give the ceiling beneath a bit of a bubble, there were cracks and open spaces that expose metal bars that were rusting and rocks that threaten to fall below.
The girls were hunched against another beater of a car, huddled together and sobbing quietly as the three argued amongst themselves. One, the taller, slender one, seemingly radiated with heat, and every time he spoke a harsh word, lines of electricity rode up his arm in waves that snapped off right at the shoulder and close to the ear.
The other one was smoking, quiet. A short, stocky man who's nose seemed a little bit too big and crusted at the end. Like someone put a cigarette out on it, and did worse.
The shorter guy wasn't much to shake a fist at. But he occasionally slapped away at his neck, turned to speak to the darkness behind him in hushed tones.. which resemble the words.. 'Quit it' or 'Stop it!' They all weren't dressed as much, but it was clear that they were the all too typical greasy 1960 thugs that no one felt like dealing with.
EVERYONE ELSE:
"Got it." Jean says to Hope, allowing her hand to draw down and to shift within her pockets to fiddle with a good luck charm. There was no worries for the other red-head, aside from her believing that those who shared the same hair color as her had their stuff together, proof was in the pudding for how fast Hope dished out orders. Jean takes a spot next to Kaleb and remains still. Maintaining the link, occasionally breaking it just a touch to listen to the other sounds surrounding them, and to see if other minds wer—…
"Got another player. Can't tell if friendly."
Here's looking at you, Jenny!
Once the team starts to head in, the first thing they would come up on is the truck that they tried to escape in. The front of the grill was mashed and bashed into a pillar in the middle of the parkway, right where the corner is created that turns -upwards-. Gas leaked from the bottom of the truck itself but it doesn't look like it'll ignite. Yet. But if Hope tapped into the powers that Kaleb and Jean provided, she could tell that everyone communed upon the second floor. Including where that last person appeared.
Kaleb murmured, though it was picked up on Jean-net that thyey shared, Enemy of our enemy is our friend? I don't know why they would be sneaking up… on their own." APicking up the environmental details he spoke out to Hope as she was opted shot caller, *Hope, if this parking garage takes an explosion there's a 48 chance for collapse causing peripheral damage to any possible civilians in nearby structures on that side…* He paused and sighed, *I'm an architecture major. Just… trust me on that*
Oh, I believe you, Hope agrees quietly with Kaleb, a veritable montage of explosions flickering across her mind. She's seen enough things destroyed to know how much destruction to expect. Her nostrils flare as they move past the truck, noting the gas on the ground. "Careful," she murmurs. "Let's try to minimize sparks." So that's the gun out of the question.
"Bloody fucking…" Jenny just about mouths while ducking beneath her rusted out cover for another drag.
As she inhales, her eyes close, her muscles tense, and free fingers splay across the ground. The world falls away beneath her fingertips, leaving her in a yawning void with only a single, sparking star for company. Hovering right on the edge of her reach, it tantalizes and taunts, vital yet elusive— hopelessly foreign and familiar, all at once. Arms shake. Sweat beads. The cherry glows, racing towards the filter. Seconds of struggle pass like centuries—
— until a wave riding along the radiating kidnapper's arm freezes. For a beat or so, it merely lingers there like a crackling armband, rapidly intensifying in magnitude— and then electric fingers leap through the air to be caught by five brown digits extending just past a ruined vehicle.
"You lads and your little stunt," Jenny says, rising into view as energy dances down her arm and around the rest of her upper body, "have been awfully busy up here, then, haven't you? Kidnapping. Reckless driving." Brown eyes flood with crackling. "What say we cap it all off by putting our hands up and surrendering like good boys, before some mean old lady comes 'round and fries us?"
Jean would probably be the mean old lady. She is kinda old..
"If they're sneaking up and not walking boldly, they may not be theirs." Yes, Jean said this aloud, and yes, she transmitted it through the link as well. There was no time to finesse the psychic link. She could feel a sense of urgency growing behind her. And the questions. The questions that flood through the link since Jean was bleeding everywhere..
'Why are they just standing there?'
'Who just went inside?'
'Are they twins?'
'Someone call the operator!'
Hope was right to want to avoid the sparks, thankfully the crash was on the first floor instead of the second. The gasoline was leaking down and forming a puddle, even through the cracks upon the foundation beneath the concrete upon which the parking garage was built. It's going to smell for a while.
Further up the ramp that the team would go, they'd notice a few things that could possibly be at their disposal. Crowbars, bricks, fenders. Someone even tore out a transmission and left it in pieces right in the front. There was even a car door handle that looked to belong to a Ford (found on road ded, bwaha), and a bicycle that was bent, ruined and rusted.
Sure, there are even papers, dead rats, a ton of debris and even a clump of something that someone could easily say it's mud but probably not. It's.. it's just probably not.
Still, the three talked. Hushed whispers and tones that seemed almost urgent as the fear factor picked up in the girls. Even as the electricity built within the man, he stops as he feels something funky. Then looks down at his arm. Then looks at his goons. Then back to the girls.
'OYEY Which un of 'oo fookin' bitches are jammin' me wires?!' He points out, staggering towards them with a finger raised and ready to jab them right upon the middle of the head.
But as soon as Jenny speaks up and out, they all turn in her direction, the women cease their whimpering, allowed with a little gleam of hope with bitten lips and crushed forearms.
The smaller one, the one that really didn't seem like too much says nothing, but he was already departing from the crowd to move sideways. The stocky one? He's the one who speaks.
'Ain't nobody gonna do nothin' round h'yea! We da Bloody Axe Gang.. and sincin' you inte.. inte..'
'Interlopin', Long Bones..' The short one calls out.
'AH know ma goddamn words!'
'I's just tryin ta help!'
'How bout you help yoself and shaddup! Nah! As I was polite-uh-ly sayin! You's interlopin! Now you's gonna getit lil' girl!'
And through the link.. for some odd reason, Jean just felt a little dumber..
A distraction! That's what Kamala needed. And that's exactly what Jenny is providing at the moment with her call out to the kidnappers.
Turning to look at the others for a moment, Ms Marvel considers before she's moving quickly into the garage, heading towards where the vehicle is. When Jenny gets their attention, the young woman stretches her arms out to work her way past the debris as she seems to … shrink from view.
Little voice in the group head speaks up. Got eyes on the distraction. Another girl. I'm gonna try to get closer to the victims and protect them if this goes bad.
Kaleb snorted as Jean was lamenting over her IQ dropping from these folks. A wicked little smirk curled on his face. *…and you all ask me why I can't stand people…Alright, Hope, I'm going to try and stun em. Get ready to advance* And that's when his thoughts slid up to teh forefront. "Kamala's right," he thought' "those civilians would take the brunt of it…fucking humans having no goddamned respect for thei-… is this thing on? Well… whatever. Get ready."
He focused for a moment and pushed a wave of sound to bounce off those LOVELY flat concrete walls and to… Jenny's got to be wondering where the voice was coming from. "Lady, careful, there's a gas leak nearby. You got friendlies in the building." He glances to Jean like 'yeah I let her know. Taking a deep breath half his buffers dropped and instead his hand shot out in front og him, fingers splayed to cause a shrill High pietched piercing noise that, hopefully, might induce nausea, confusion, possibly blurred vision, and if we all win? A desire to change job vocation.
Hope watches closely, keeping tabs through Kaleb's echolocation and Jean's telepathy alike to know when all the pieces are in place. Of course, there's also the question of just what powers the gang members have, but she's already working on cataloging those in the back of her mind. Once Kaleb lets off his blast, she darts into motion, moving to try to cut off the one man who was sneaking away.
"All I'm seeing from here's a battery and a conductor, sunbeam."
Scintillating fingers curl inwards as Jenny speaks and offer a reverberant *SNAP!* as punctuation. *SNAP!* becomes *CRACKLE!*, blistering tendrils stretching from the charged captor to clench around the stocky one's body at the British woman's gesture. The runner escapes her notice; the strain of pulling on an organic source - even one as lively as the Axe - demands focus, especially if she's tasking herself with trying to spook them while doing it.
Especially if there's some invisible bloke giving her tactical advice in the midst of it all. Eyes asquint, she briskly glances around before snapping her attention back to the business at hand— which, a heartbeat later, expands to include 'fighting the reflex to jam her fingers into her ears', thanks to Kaleb.
"Not my first go 'round," she hisses through her teeth, "but, yes, thank you; I'll keep this nice and tidy."
"Stay sharp, Kamala." Jean says outloud and through the link. It was clear that the authorities have been called, the sounds of the siren were not too far off from where they were standing. It could be that they were responding to the fire of the apartment building, but all of that remains to be seen. "Pick up the pace. We're going to have friendlies on scene at any moment!"
Inside the warehouse, Kamala had a very good point of vantage to see the women huddled up and curled, quieted as the action was just getting started. One of them scoots over, attempting to drag the other with her, but the slender, electrical one snaps his fingers in their direction and they immediately kowtow to his anger.
But, there wasn't a time to talk, the action was getting good and Jenny played her part as well as Kaleb. The wall of sound penetrated the garage like it was water, and soon the women let out a scream with hands immediately clasping their heads while the sister of the wife of the cop begins to gag.
Yes, she wanted to puke, but thankfully she hadn't eaten, and nothing came out.
The little man was nearing to a hunch until he catches sight of Hope heading his direction. He had no powers to speak of, and Hope could feel it, but he did have two, working eyes at the base of his neck. (Which means yes, he could see behind himself when focused.) But not now, those eyes were darting back and forth, attempting to readjust from the sound, while he also attempts to focus on Hope, which wasn't doing him too well because of the sound.
So he resorts to flailing and wind-milling, his fingers curled into a fist as his arms flail with an abandon that a no-fighter knew how.
The stocky guy was ready to give Jenny a good punching, at least until she cracked him with a bit of a shock, with a little help from his own friend! His power? Little lava balls that shoot from the palms of his hand. But he didn't even get that far from the jolt of electricity that hits his system.
The slender guy? The one feeding the current that Jenny stole from? He didn't know what to do. With great power, came great responsibility but this poor sap didn't have an inch of that in his bones. Instead, he shrieks with fury, electricity crackling all around him, the currents of them flowing to his finger tips as he puts on a lighted display with nowhere or no how to throw them.
(Editors Note: The Bloody Axe gang? They're kinda dumb.)
OW! Kamala's head is nearly scrambled by the 'shriek' as she moves suddenly and quickly, going from very small to large as she wraps her arms around the two women and engulfs them as she becomes a very large and squishy target. "Please don't throw up in me." she offers quickly to the women. "Hold on tight and keep your hands inside the car at all times!"
What does she mean by that? It's because she's moving to form her body into a sphere and starts to roll out of the parking garage and towards the good guys.
Yeah, she'll have to clean up later. Cause ew.
Kaleb said intensely, because he never raised his voice *Kamala get them out of there tuit suite. Something I think is happening. Can't… tell yet.* Hey at least he had warned thema nd did as Hope directed. He was disavowing any dirty looks for discomfort. His brow knit though and weirdly there was, with his wave of utter disgust for like… well the entire human race but for mayibe… eh like 3 of em were kinda alright… there was a concern. As if… Hell since when did Echo ever have feelings?! Are we SURE sure he's not Kellan? Oh yeah people covering their ears. Yup. That's Kaleb. But his intents were audible on the neuro-link *Man I really hope no one kills anyone in there* Huh.
Hope doesn't waste any time when she catches up with the man. Turns out she knows a few things about putting people down. A quick uppercut, a knee to the gut, a twist of her arm, and she's already trying to toss the man unconscious to the ground. It's the electricity that sticks in the back of her mind, though, reaching out with her own powers to keep tabs on it and make sure nothing sets off a fire or explosion. And with sirens coming closer and the hostages on their way out…
"Echo, pull back," she calls over, the words coming through the link as well. "Let the cops take the clean-up."
Furiously crackling electricity is a problem, especially with a gas leak beneath the action and two frightened women in the thick of it.
Kamala's sudden appearance solves half of the equation, drawing Jenny's widened eyes towards her in the process. For just a moment, fingers twitch in the rolling girl's direction before her focus returns to the slim thug and her other hand rises.
Every erg of unleashed fury bends towards ten brown fingers. Some of it finds its way to the stocky guy convulsing with futilely upturned palms; most, however, pours from every pore and both eyesockets in brilliant but contained surges as dozens of braids flutter wildly in energized air.
"Just where," she calls out while flicking her eyes Kamala-wards once again, "do you mean to take these women, Roly-Poly?" A quick check for Kaleb. "'Echo'?" she semi-credulously tacks on. "Have any of you got an ETA on the sirens?"
After that last question, she finally cuts the flow to the stocky guy, leaving him agonized but alive.
The girls, shocked as they were, were unable to comply with Kamala. Well, of course they wouldn't dare exit out of the squishy shell she provides but they certainly weren't talking! They knew of mutants due to the rants of her husband/brother-in-law, but to see them in action, so friendly and helpful?
Someone was going to change their tune just a teeny bit tonight.
But inside the ball they were all screams, rolling, turning, thrashing against each other, quite possibly throwing up but.. that's Kamala's secret to tell.
Yes, the rage out, scream out slender man was on a burn-out, all unknowingly feeding Jenny the god given juice that she deserves. It doesn't help that his ear-drums were popping to the point of bleeding, for as soon as that final wail of furious fury escaped his lips he fell to his knees in dramatic fashion, wavered just a little, and fell flat upon his face.
Much like the skinny-neck-eyed-guy! Hope made quick work of him; and it was pretty sad. But watching the young woman work was like magic. Well placed upper cut causes his jaw to clack and teeth to near crack, his head snapped back and arms noodling. But that wasn't all! The knee to his gut sends him doubling over, the fluid move sending him spiralling towards the ground with all four eyes closed; unconscious. He was down for the count, so was slender guy, the stocky brute never really had a chance.
He too, falls to the ground a sizzling mess, and with Jenny souped up as she was, it was a wonder if she were going to come down from that high.
"Wrap it up folks, we have incoming soon!" Yes, Jean heard Jenny, but it was up to the rest to answer. For a quick glimpse through the eyes of Hope, Jean had the womans number and would hopefully be finding her soon.
Probably tomorrow.
She did ask after the women, after all.
Kaleb pulled up on the blare, taking all of his concentrated to not actually 'break' anything and then strooped doing… all teh things. The echolocation was clear and broad and didn't shut off; only intensified. There was a brilliant grid work of the city built up in his mind with all teh moving parts and a million angles from ambient sounds filling in the picture like a crayon rubbing. The fire and police getting that much closer as the back up was arriving. Math calculated in his head factoring angles, speed and time. Quietly he only answere, "Three minutes 47 seconds and closing."
"Right, then."
Jenny's electric corona dimmed shortly after the slender guy went down, leaving her with just enough juice to light the fresh smoke she fetches and taps free after responding. The pack is gestured towards Hope and Kaleb as she takes the first drag.
"Time enough fo fuck on off. Lovely working with you." Once that's said, she lingers long enough to rattle off digits - and complete any nicotine transactions - before hustling towards an exit.
"Just don't forget to let us know about the girls once you find your way back to a phone," she adds in parting. "Ask for Jenny; I'll be waiting."
"Thanks," Hope tips her chin up toward Jenny, though she doesn't take any of the cigarettes. "That could've gone bad." Across the link, she sends Kamala a message of where to meet up before she turns back to Kaleb. "Three minutes? Let's get out of here before people show up and start making assumptions."