2013-01-28 Electric Lights Out

There are usually a lot of people in the park busking. Some have permits and some don't and while many have been chased inside by the chilly weather, there's a band playing today in one area of Central Park. Just a small group of twenty somethings that are trying to make it big. They've been collecting a decent sum of cash with their music from people in the park but they've got two other things going for them that are drawing in attention. The girl on guitar doesn't really have hair. She's got brilliant rainbow fire instead and isn't bothering her hide the homemade 'mutant and proud' shirt she's got on. And while he isn't playing anything, there's also a young man with the band generating a light show. It's been getting them attention. But it's not all good.

A small group of rather loud and unruly young men is gathering around the group and trying to look menacing. "Cut that noise out, mutie freaks! No one wants to hear it!" one heckles, his friends joining in with various anti-mutant slurs. Of course in such a situation it's only a matter of time until violence occurs and the first blow comes when one of the thugs shoves the light-generating young man to the ground and starts to kick him. This sets off the rest of them starting to get physical with the band. Looks like they could use a little help...

Scott Summers, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater, charcoal pants and coat, is walking through Central Park during one of his many trips to the city. He sighs as he sees the altercation and makes his way over to see if he can help break it up. "Hey!" he calls out, his heart tugging for the young mutants. "Hey, cut it out."

Gar Logan, the inimitable Changeling, /had/ been filming the band with his phone-- way back away from the crowd and in a tree, for the best angle. But then there's the shouting, and he stops filming. And then there's the shoving, and he gets scowly. And then there's the falling down, and he drops out of the tree, turning into a big green hawk and starting to swoop toward the band and the aggressors-- and then there's the kicking and the big green hawk yells in a teenager's voice, "WHAT THE DUDE IN SUNGLASSES SAID!"

And oh god there are kirbydots in the air and the hawk's turning into a pteranodon, equally green; he extends his claws and wings and grabs at the kicky guy's coat, trying to lift him up just enough to pull him off the lightshow guy. "GET OFF HIM YOU ASSHAT!"

Sue Storm is one of those freakish people that goes jogging outdoors in ALL weather. Unlike the other freakish people, though, she has a good reason for not fearing the cold. At least she makes a sort of concession to everyone else by wearing long jogging pants and a long sleeved hoodie type thing while running. She's just passing the man in the black turtleneck (the glasses do not get her attention) just as he yells to get the attack on the band to stop, and she stops dead and with a single glance also detours to try and help. "I'm calling the police!" she yells warningly after the turtleneck-clad man's words as she breaks into a run to get there as quickly as she can. The green hawk yelling at people only gets a brief glance.

"Stuff is, mutie-lover!" One of the thugs spits Scott's way, going so far as to swing a punch at him. None of them are too bothered by Sue's threat but the yelling green dino-bird is cause for concern. Especially when it swoops down and scoops one of them up. This brings a pause to the group before one speaks up. "It's another freak! Get 'em!" he yells. That's followed quickly by the wet thwunk of a snowball pelting him in the back of the head. Snow crunching under boots, the creak of a bench protesting being used as a springboard and then the sick sound of fist meeting face and wet-thug going down with a newly broken nose. Axiom stumbles as he lands, trying to look intimidating while thinking. 'ow! hurt my hand!' "Hey, Changeling! C-careful where you d-d-drop him!" the masked teen calls to his teammate as the thugs start to focus more attention on attacking him and Scott rather than the band that's busy crawling away. Well, almost all of the band. The fire-haired girl is busy packing up the guitar case full of money the band collected before she's ready to go.

Scott bends neatly out of the way of the punch--he's had quite a few of them thrown in his direction before--and attempts to use the momentum of the punch against his attacker. He reaches up and tries to grasp the thugs wrist, giving it a tug, while trying to trip him to the ground.

Snowball to the head?! Gar goes whirling through the air, dropping the kicky dude with a WHUMPH in the snow in the bushes, then kirbydots himself again, shifting into a tremendous green woolly mammoth. Complete with tusks and-- dare we say it? An ANGRY MAMMOTH TRUMPET. He leaves the kicky guy in the bushes and runs, with thunderous footsteps, back toward the fracas. "Whatever, he can eat snow for a while!" the mammoth yells back to Eddie, then scoops another antagonist up in his mighty trunk, curling it around the guy's waist. "What are you guys, some kind of neo-nazis? You know everybody laughs at conservative punk, right? LAME!"

Sue Storm starts making force fields appear here and there: one in a half-dome keeping the attackers away from the flame-haired girl while she scrambles to protect their earnings, another protecting the rest of the band and their instruments, a third between the young man that just threw broke one thug's nose and anyone else approaching him, and... no, Turtleneck doesn't look to need the protection. He's dealing with an attacker like she's seen people do in the movies. She places herself at the fringes of the chaos, trying to see what else she can do at the moment. Which, of course, makes it look like she's just standing there NOT helping.

It's not hard for Scott to get the upper hand on that thug. The extent of their fighting skill comes from watching UFC while drinking. The thug lets out a curse as he goes down and eats snow. This display of fighting skill doesn't stop another of the thugs from rushing Scott and lunging for a tackle.

A mammoth is something even more unexpected than a talking pteranodon. Thugs scream and dive out of the way even as one of their buddies gets picked up by the pre-historic pachiderm.

"I j-just meant careful not to drop him somewhere we'll have t-t-to rescue him from later," Axiom replies with a small smile. He turns to the thugs approaching him and settles into a defensive stance. When a thug with a bottle runs for him and crashes into Sue's forcefield instead, he just ends up blinking. "Uhh...not my fault," he offers the thugs pounding on the field. "B-b-be with you guys in a sec," he says, moving to help up the fleeing band members to help them away from the chaos. As the thug approaches him, Scott kneels slightly and moves to deliver a stiff, and hopefully well timed uppercut. Though he's not one to just pick a fight in public, if he's going to be attacked, he feels he's more than justified in protecting himself.

Sue Storm visibly startles when a green mammoth trumpets and stomps into the fray, and she can't help but wince in anticipation of the pachiderm bumping into a force field. She knows it's about to happen. But even so, she puts another force field close to the ground -- perfect trip hazard height -- to catch all of the fleeing thugs. Oh, and despite her threat earlier, she's still to all appearances just standing there watching everything and NOT reaching for her cellphone.

Once the trunked-thug gets tossed into the snow behind the mammoth, Gar tries to pick up another one, and bumps his huge nose into Sue's forcefield. Abruptly he's a short green kid in a parka, holding his nose and flapping a hand in dismay. "OW GOD what the hell was THAT? Are you jerkwads done being jerkwads yet? Or do I gotta turn into a T-rex? BECAUSE JEEZ!"

There's another sickening crack as fist meets jaw and thug gets knocked clear off his feet. That seems to be enough to get them to back away from Scott, those that had been gathered near him giving him wary looks before turning tail and running.

Axiom glances up from the young man he's helping when he notices bad guys tripping on seemingly nothing and tumbling into the snow. Frowning, he looks around and squints when his gaze settles on Sue. "We're g-going to need an ambulance here. This guy is pretty hurt," he calls out, checking the light-show creator over. He glances up again when Gar calls out, wincing in concern.

The rest of the thugs? They're still trying to run for it while leaving their fallen buddies behind. Scott looks to Axiom and Sue and approaches the hurt person. He looks over at the young person and inspects, seeing if his marginal First Aid skills might help.

"Anything broken?" asks Changeling, coming over with his hand still over his nose, also still green. He's ignoring the thugs /now/, since they're running away and tripping and all; he crouches next to Eddie and Scott, peering at the lightshow guy. "Hey, are you awake? Stay awake. Can you move at all? If you can move I might be able to get you to a hospital faster than an ambulance, but it would be a little jostley, and if you've got spinal issues that's not a great idea."

Sue Storm winces when the mammoth hits the force field, but then as the thugs start to scatter and one young man says that someone is hurt, the force fields all drop and she rushes over NOW pulling her phone. "Check to see if anyone else is hurt," she tells Axiom in a tone That Must Be Obeyed while dialing on her phone. She sheds her hoodie, a thin tshirt and her '4' necklace being revealed, and covers the injured musician with it. "Yes, ambulance please, Central Park, northwest corner. Priority level FF-01, home in on my signal." She then sets her phone down without hanging it up and looks at the others a bit questioningly.

The young man that was the first to be attacked by the thugs isn't in good shape. He's got some likely cracked ribs, a split lip, various cuts and bruises, and one eye looks to be swelling shut from where it was caught by the thug's boot. He mumbles something about moving being painful but doesn't say much else.

Axiom gives Scott a quick curiouss look when he comes over. "Are you alright, sir?" he asks, just making sure. Gar gets a little shrug from Axiom. "I c-can't tell. Maybe," he says. Then there's Sue and recognition finally hits the masked teen. "Yes, Ms. Storm-ma'am!" he chimes, moving to check on downed thugs while the band comes to crowd around them to see their hurt friend. The band only has some scrapes and bruises otherwise but they're definitely worried. "Oh m-man...I broke this guy's nose. And that guy's missing two teeth," Axiom winces as he gestures at the thug he punched when he arrived and the one Scott uppercutted.

Scott nods to Axiom but stays quiet as he assesses the injuries from a distance. Though Sue looks to him and the others, Scott doesn't respond. Even when Axiom mentions the teeth.

Sue Storm puts one hand gently on the injured young man's forehead. "You'll be okay, just don't try to move. An ambulance is on the way." Of course, if they take too long, she might risk moving him herself. When Axiom points out the injuries on the thugs, she refrains from voicing her thoughts and instead says, "They'll be fine. And remind me what your name is? We keep running across each other and I don't think we've had a chance to be properly introduced." She then offers up an almost bashful smile to Scott. Trying to help, honest. She then osays to Gar, "Is your nose okay?"

Axiom walks back over after checking on the thugs, again giving Scott a curious look as he stays all quiet. Sue draws his attention again and Axiom smiles. "I'm Axiom, ma'am," he offers his hand. "Me and Changeling are with the Young Allies," he adds. Gar gets a concerned look before the sound of sirens can be heard approaching. Apparently someone called the cops after all.

Scott gives a soft, forced smile to Axiom along with a quick nod. When the sound of the sirens can be heard, Scott jams his hands into his pockets and takes it as a sign that he'd better head out.

"Yeah, I--" Gar starts, then takes his hand away from his nose cautiously, looks at it. No blood! "Yeah, just bruised. I mean I had a lot of nose at the time," he says with a laugh, then gingerly pokes his nose and flinches. "Right: No flying into closed windows for a while. Ax, the thugs shouldn't've attacked these guys if they didn't wanna lose teeth. Don't sweat it. If you and Shades here wanna split, that's cool, I'll stay with Ms. Storm and talk to the cops." And then he claps the drummer and the fire girl on the shoulders, grinning. "And before the crap hit the fan, I totally got your first three songs. I'll post 'em on YouTube if you want, what do you call yourselves?"

Sue Storm smiles and reaches up to shake Axiom's hand, staying kneeled down next to the injured young man. "Good to meet you both, and thank you for stepping in to help... and yes, if any of you need to leave, I completely understand. Though... I can probabbly help you want to stay but don't want to have to answer any questions." Her tone is a bit conspiratorial as she offers that last.

"Uh...bye," Axiom offers to Scott as he starts walking off. The masked teen is wondering who the guy is but considering that he was on their side and apparently one of the good guys, he's not too worried. Besides, people to worry about. Turning back to Sue and Gar, Axiom just smiles. "N-no, I'll stick again," he tells his friend. "And you d-don't have to thank me, ma'am. I'm a mutant t-too so I couldn't just sit back and let these guys get hurt. And even if I wasn't, it's the r-r-right thing to do. We're superheroes after all," he says.

The fire girl stares at Gar like he might be insane before speaking. "Seriously? That'd be kick ass. We're Electic Lights," she says, her attention mostly on her injured friend even as cops are approaching.

"Hey," says the green kid to the firehair girl with a crooked grin, "that's totally how Vampire Weekend made it big. It is *no problem*. You guys are awesome." Then he straightens up and puffs out his chest, striking a heroic pose with his fists on his hips and, okay, hamming it up some for Sue Storm. "Superheroes, /totally/. And you can call me Gar, it's my name. Gar Logan. I'm on Facebook."

Scott scurries away, dipping behind a bend of the trail and disappears into the masses. There are more people making their way to the scene, than from the scene, and he seems able to disappear somewhat easily.

Sue Storm turns to visually locate the police and hopefully EMTs, raising one arm to wave them over without rising from her place next to the injured young man... the face that her knees are actually resting about an inch above the ground visible only to anyone close enough and paying attention. When she remembers, she glances around for the man in the turtleneck again, but he's already fled the area. Curious. Then her attention is back on Gar. "Pleasure to meet you, Gar. I'll, um, ask Johnny to look you up." Did she just admit to NOT being on Facebook?

Don't worry, Sue. Axiom isn't on Facebook either. He just smiles as Gar speaks, moving to stand by his green friend.

Police arrive and start to work cuffing thugs as one officer comes to ask Sue for a statement. EMTs aren't too far behind the cops, a pair of them rushing up through the snow carefully. Scott Summers has partially disconnected.

There isn't /quite/ enough lack of dignity on Gar's part to try and interrupt the cops getting statements from Sue and doing other parts of their jobs in order to give a statement /himself/. He's green, if they want to talk to him, they know where he is. Instead, he elbows Eddie lightly and says, sotto voce, "She totally wants me."

Sue Storm answers the police from where she's kneeling until the EMTs arrive, and THEN she finally collects her phone and moves away from the injured band member. She accepts her hoodie back when they bundle him up for transport. "Please keep me appraised of his condition," she tells the medics, then returns to answering the questions of the police officers. "... and this young man here was filming the musicians when they were attacked." Proof incontrovertible that the mutants did NOT instigate this incident, and she wants the police to have zero doubts.

Axiom blinks a few times to Changeling, head tilted to the side. "Who? Ms. Storm?" he asks, confused.

The police take statements from Sue, the uninjured band members, and even come to ask Gar for his. Axiom keeps quiet when the cops near, following Scott's example of silence there. Still not a big fan of cops. The EMTs get right to work, one of them nodding to Sue. Eventually they load the young man onto a stretcher and start back towards the ambulance, the fire-girl going with while her bandmates are left to gather equipment and meet them there.

Gar definitely gives his statement! After nodding solemnly to Eddie. And then he even gives the cops the URL to the youtubes, because he definitely doesn't want to surrender his phone. Mostly he loiters, hands in his parka pockets, lingering with Axiom out of the way. Once everything's being packed up for realsies, he blows Sue a hammy kiss, then returns his attention to Axiom. "I'm gonna help these guys pack up the rest of their stuff. I'll be back in a bit. Should I pick up Thai?"

Sue Storm stays until the police are gone as well, then as Gar addresses Axiom, she just smiles a bit to herself and pulls her hoodie back on. Her afternoon jog is pretty much ruined, but she should have time to get home and start cooking spaghetti or something similar.

"Are you sure?" Axiom asks, not so sure himself. He shakes it off and loiters as well. When the cops go, Axiom nods. "I'm g-going to go get into something warmer and meet you b-b-back at our hangout. Anything you want to bring is fine with me," the power booster replies.

Gar Logan shoots Eddie a double thumbs-up, then trundles through the snow over to the band members, waving his hands around. "Hey would a Clydesdale help...?" he can be heard asking as everyone else filters away.

Sue Storm stops, blinks, and turns to look at Gar again at the mention of 'Clydesdale'. I mean, of course it's possible, he proved that with the mammoth stunt earlier, but it still struck her as amusing. Though, with the recent presence of the police and EMTs, traffic around the Park sounds even worse than normal. Taking on a moment to decide, she walks over toward Gar and the rest of the band still packing up their belongings. "Anything I can do to help? Traffic sounds really bad out there."

Axiom nods, ducking back among trees to get his backpack with warmer clothes stuffed inside.

The remaining band members share a look and shrug. "We took the subway," the drummer answers simply. Horses probably won't help down there.

"I can just carry stuff-- or-- Ms Storm can," laughs Gar, waving his hands again. "It was good to meet you all! Sorry people suck." And with that, the green kid in the parka's all kirby krackle again, and flaps up into the air as a really green crow. Off to Neverland.

Sue Storm waves after the green avian, again oddly unperturbed by it, then she smiles to the remaining band members and creates a flat force field floating a few inches above the ground. "I can probably get you home a little faster than the subway." And maybe she can sweet talk Johnny into firing up the grill for dinner. Actually, no sweet talking involved.