2013-02-13 Treating Wounds

"So, Nightcrawler.. you really should be taking it a little .. easier. Don't make me have to confine you to quarters, or worse yet, have you remain here overnight just to be sure you're getting rest."

Kurt is seated on the side of an exam bed, curtains open. He's got his shirt off and settled upon his lap, revealing cuts and gashes, areas where there's no fur due to recent injury. His right arm is held out before him, and the doctor is the one that is changing a bloody dressing, wrapping a clean one around and around the arm. It looks less mangled than it had last night, due to healing agents, but he's nowhere near the healing ability of, say, Logan or Laura. He's sitting quietly, not wanting to look at the state of his arm at the moment, so looking away.

"And when I mean no teleporting, I mean.. nothing past 5 miles. No going into the City," the doctor continues. It sounds as if it's almost from rote; but knowing Kurt? It probably is.

Finally, the blue elf has something to argue, and he looks back, avoiding looking at his particular 'ouchy'. If he looks at it, it'll hurt more! "Was? There is nothing wrong.."

"Yeah, Doc. You know we just sneak out anyway," Bobby Drake's voice can be heard as he strolls into the med bay. He'd been getting in some Danger Room time with students so he's in 'uniform'...as much as shorts and boots count as a uniform. He'd heard that Kurt was down here so he came to visit. Taking the bandana off his head, Bobby offers smile to his friend. "Now is that a ban on going into the city entirely or just teleporting?"

'Stay, rest. Take it easy. Don't go anywhere.' Even if anyone had a chance to tell Domino things like that it wouldn't have mattered. It's not long after Bobby shows up that she stumbles in through the door as well, looking far from acceptable.

After coming back from Limbo and getting the initial battery of treatment here she passed out for a few hours, then up and disappeared. Several hours later and she's now returning as though nothing were amiss. Except for the fact that she looks like she just stepped out of the shower half an hour ago. While fully clothed. Somehow she also manages to prove that it is possible for her to appear even more pale than the norm.

"Today sucks, I want a refund."

Really, Kwabena should have gone to the medical lab following the incident with Highball at Old St. Anthony's. He'd not admitted it to anyone, but getting caught in a massive fireball explosion actually did him some damage. Instead, he'd gone off to Mutant Town with a few others, only to get caught up in trying to prevent -yet another- terrorist attack.

Not too much longer after the Blackbird landed, he felt the pain getting worse. Begrudgingly, he left his quarters and made for the medical lab, making sure to avoid hitting the flask of bourbon concealed within one of his belt pouches until he was out of juvenile sight.

As the doors whisk open, he walks right on in, not expecting to see anyone else present. Of course, catching sight of Kurt wasn't much of a surprise, but Bobby? That was unexpected. "Hey, fellah's," he emotes, before walking over toward one of the self examination stations.

Then, Domino's voice is noticed. The African looks her way with a half cocked eyebrow. "Did Ah miss someting?" he asks. "Is dere a pahty down here, or am I on Doctah Doom's special drugs again?"

"I know.." The doctor tsks and looks to the blue elf before finishing up and makes sure the bandage doesn't unravel before letting his arm go once more. The medico nods towards the sling in a meaningful gesture, and exhales, answering Bobby for his patient. "Entirely."

"Teleporting."

Kurt and the doctor answer at the same time, and a blue face looks up to the non-mutant, normal looking one, brows rising in question before Kurt looks back to Bobby. "I shouldn't go regardless. The Cafeteria still needs it's finishing for the dance tomorrow."

Domino's entrance, however, brings his attention around, yellow eyes widening a little. "Fraulein," It's gone from 'leibchen' to 'fraulein'? "You look.."

The doctor interrupts and points to an exam bed and finishes the elf's words, "Like you are going to pass out."

Apparently it is a party? The doctor tends to use 'callsigns' more often than not, and Shift is no different. He watches the Ghanian enter, and nods in the direction of the self-exam table. "I'll be right there."

Kurt's turned towards the entering of Shift, and brows rise, "Mein freund?" You too?

"Considering how busy the girls have been, I don't think it needs much more doing," Bobby remarks to Kurt. He waits till the doc isn't looking before leaning over to whisper to Kurt. "Just say the word, dude, and I'll sneak ya into the city," he whispers. Domino and Kwabena entering get a quick surprised and concerned look. "Dudes..." he trails off, standing out of the way. "Anyone need ice on anything?" he offers. He's not much else help in the med bay unless he's working with Hank or Jean.

"I'm fine," Domino cuts in with perhaps a bit more of an edge than she meant for. Kwabena's format of a greeting is answered with a dismissive wave. "Minor shootout. Sprinkler system. No big."

She's barely healed from her -last- shootout!

The wet trench falls off of her shoulders and gets tossed into the nearest sink before, with obvious distaste, she pulls one of her pistols out between the tips of thumb and fingers, letting drops of water fall out of its internal components. "Gonna take me half the night to clean this mess up," she mutters with a tired exhale. Bobby's question earns him a level stare for a moment before she asks "You any good at sucking moisture out of metal?" Can't hurt to ask...

Wait, and -Kurt- is in here again? That's not her drugged-up mind playing tricks on her! Dom's shoulders hang, carried down to her sides like dead weight. "What'd ya do this time, Blue?"

"Yah, me too," answers Shift, for the sake of the doctor and Kurt. When he steps into the vicinity of the self examination station, its artificial intelligence arms begin moving in his direction, aimed for the neck of his X-Men Uniform. His hands jerk upward in a blocking motion. "Wai-wai-wai, -wait-."

The mechanical arms pause, their servos winding down in a manner that almost sounds disappointed.

Shift reaches up and slips a finger between a small divot in the collar, and begins sliding downward. The thick, clingy uniform separates and falls into two pieces, until he stops about mid-torso. The dark skin revealed seems to be bubbling as if suffering from burns that might border on severe.

"God... damnit," he hisses to himself, and begins carefully shrugging out of the sleeves, arm at a time. Before he can give the machine permission, however, the mechanical arms move in and begin poking, scanning, and prodding at his flesh. "Ow- hey! Dat is unplesahnt!"

The machine bleeps at him angrily.

Stifling the urge to flip the self examination station a middle finger, Kwabena tilts his head so that he can see Bobby and Domino. "Yeah, maybe," he answers the former, then cants his head Domino's way. "Looks like de sprinklah system won."

"I haven't yet seen it." But that's not a big surprise. Herr Wagner hasn't been around for his gaggle of girl students to beg, cajole and plead with their drama teacher to come and look! His own voice lowers, and is accompanied by a shake of his head. "I think if I go out of doors, I may not make it back. It has been a couple of days. Und who am I to tempt fate?" He hasn't lost his humour, however, and he reaches with his good hand, his 'bad' one taking a light hold of his shirt, "Have you a date for the dance tomorrow night?"

The doctor, for his part, scowls at Kurt one last time before he moves to attend Domino. Pale.. means loss of blood which hasn't been made up as of yet. He's heard 'I'm fine' more than once from those far 'better' than she, and the medico doesn't look concerned in the least. "I'm willing to bet you're anaemic," and he goes to a cabinet to pull a container down. He sets it on the counter and picks a smaller container.. and sorting things, has thirty 'horse pills' set aside, and then put into the smaller, the larger now put away. "There."

Kurt twists back around and shrugs.. with one shoulder. "Explosion at St. Anthony's. Then a shootout at a clinic." Both of those mentioned brings something of a sadness to the elf's face, but there's something that helps tamp it all down. He apparently is coming to terms, slowly, that the world simply isn't the place he thought it was. "I had heard you'd come in from Limbo.." Injured, gravely at the least. "Und then, when I came down.. you were gone."

Now, for the doctor- he knows something of triage, and tossing the capsules towards Domino, takes a jog towards Shift. "That.." and he looks to the readout to check the provenance of the burns- that'll help as to the healing regimen that is begun. Kurt looks to Shift now as the man protests.. and winces. That.. hurts.. and he can feel it from here!

"The incredible Nightcrawler," Bobby replies simply, giving his best German accent. Kurt did ask who he was. When asked about a date, Bobby sighs. "No, unless I find someone soon the Iceman will be going stag," he says with a shake of the head. Kurt describing what happened makes Bobby frown but he ends up tensing when Limbo is mentioned. He's not Magik's biggest fan ever since the whole thing with Sam. Shaking it off, he holds his hand out to Domino. "Hand it over and I'll see what I can do," he says. Shift's exposed injuries get a wince. "Damn, man! What happened to you?!"

Doctor-types. They just -love- to insist. Domino says nothing as he rounds up some tablets for her, instead quietly increasing the radius of the puddle of water where she stands as soaked weaponry is pulled free and laid out across the countertop, in nice, tidy, symmetrical patterns. Picture-perfect. They're also making a wet, oily, greasy, carbon-stained print upon the formerly nice, clean, sterilized countertop.

Maybe she's just humoring the Doc then when she takes the offered pills with a simple "Right," swallowing them dry without another thought.

"-This- shootout dealt with a financial business, not a clinic. Hackers, bank accounts, yadda," she trails off while passing one of her guns over to Bobby. They can handle being cold better than they can handle being wet. As an afterthought, she adds "Mind the trigger, she's hot."

Glancing back to Kurt, she considers his remark before nodding once. "Yep." Pause. "Had something to take care of." Then (of course,) there's Shift. "Power came back to bitcha in the ass again, huh. We didn't lose anyone in the explosion, did we?"

"I am guessing dat if my smoke form comes into contact with fire, -it-... burns... too." Invincible against projectiles and bullets is one thing, but right here? This is proof that Shift -can- be injured, or worse.

The medical readout indicates something perhaps more troubling than that. It would seem that the burn damage to Shift's body isn't merely external. "Sweet Jesus," says the doctor. "Your -internal organs- are hot. Are you running a temperature?" A quick glance to the computer terminal. "Sure are. If we don't get this solved, you're going to get very sick, very soon." The doctor reaches up to scratch behind his ear, seemingly stumped.

"Your bedside mannah is -just- bettah dan dat of your machines," Shift offers, pinching his fingers apart about one quarter of an inch before shooting a scowl at the now prone mechanical arms nearby. Bobby's answer comes without a beat, spoken distantly as if he wasn't much for receiving sympathy. "I got blown up at St. Anthony's."

Yeah, like, the other day, I was off in the park bird watching, and got exploded. Just another day in the life, man.

"We did not," he answers Domino. "Dough I guess we ah lucky it was Logan who got caught in it with me." He winces again, but this time, it's not because of his hot skin. Rather, it's the gory memory of seeing Logan ripped to pieces, quite (and disgustingly) literally.

Kurt grins at Bobby and puts a finger up, "The Amazing Nightcrawler," he offers in slight correction, but he continues soon after. "Though, I don't mind an upgrade." He does nod, however, at the news of his friend potentially going 'stag'. "Ja.." and it's a commisseration.

"Our shootout had to do with innocent women und children.. mutants all. The church, well.." and Kurt raises his injured hand. "If it had been any worse, I could have had a hook.. or," and he raises a hand to push his hair from his forehead, the gashes not immediately evident, but still there. "I could have gotten an eyepatch, too." Then he'd really be a pirate!

Yarr!

He does nod, however.. "Logan was injured, und a couple more." Not to mention the renewing of a friendship also happened, after a fashion.

Yellow eyes turn back to Shift, and Kurt's brows rise in concern. He holds his shirt in hand, and slides off the exam table, onto his feet. "Are you- is he alright?" It's not sounding good..

Bobby just stares at all those weapons, sighing. "Sheesh, why not carry a bazooka," he mutters. "I can probably take care of the clothes too," he offers. "And don't hit me for this but you'll have to take 'em off first unless you like frostbite," hands quickly go up defensively. "Not trying to be flirty or pervy. Simple fact," he adds quickly. His attention snaps to Kwabena quickly though. "If he needs cooling, I'm your man," he says simply.

There's a minute tightening of Dom's expression when the name 'Logan' is brought up. It's easily pushed aside upon hearing that Kwabena is, apparently, cooking from the inside out. Bobby's got the right idea, too. "Well hell, we've got a guy -right here- that can summon ice. How quickly do you need to cool him down, Doc?"

Deflection! Being lucky rocks.

Losing blood rocks a bit less. There's a brief passing of time where her eyes flicker, then she rather suddenly has herself a seat upon the floor beside the counters. The voice that follows has been reduced to a mutter, "Gravity works."

Right, then. Now that she's seated good and proper (or nearly sprawled out as the case may be,) she looks back to Kurt with a wince. "Hell, glad it didn't come to any of that. The pirate accessories are a lot more entertaining when they aren't there by necessity."

To Bobby, Domino grins slightly. "I do, on occasion. Don't worry about the duds, I can change out later." Either it's a twisted sense of pride or she really doesn't care to expose herself in front of everyone, though knowing that he can dry fabric out like that? That gets filed away for another time.

The doctor eyes Bobby speculatively for a moment. He was well versed in what was known about the various X-Men and their abilities, and after a moment's thought, he nods his head in a clipped manner. "You'll have to be -extremely- careful. Too cold and you'll run the risk of damaging him permanently."

Kwabena, having shared a brief look with Bobby, goes so far as to roll his eyes. "Great," he quips. "At least you've been around for some few years, Iceman."

The doctor beckons Bobby over, and punches up something on the computer console. "This is the temperature of his internal organs." 101.3 degrees and climbing. "It needs to be brought down here." He taps another place on the color-coded scale, reading 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. "Shift, I will need you to revert to..."

Kwabena seems distracted by Domino's adoption of the floor as her new home. Worry is etched into his eyes.

"Shift."

"Huh? Oh." Kwabena darts his head back to the doctor. "Smoke form, right?"

"Right."

Kwabena lets out a deep and loathsome sigh. "Swear to God, Bobby, if you create icicles in my nuts, de payback will be -hell-."

-Poof!-

Kwabena disappears in a man-shaped cloud of dense, black smoke, which begins to curl into a slightly smaller ball that hovers between the Doctor and Bobby.

"I will avert meine eyes." Kurt.. doesn't quite promise; it's more.. an offer.

Still, with his concern over Shift (as Dom is being rather closedmouthed about her own injury), the blue elf hadn't noticed the distinct, subtle distress Domino is in. Until, of course, she finds herself on the floor. A single beat of a heart doesn't pass before Kurt suddenly disappears from where he is standing to where Domino is leaning-


 * BAMF* Beat. *BAMF*

"Domino!" Kurt is a medic; obviously no doctor, but he knows something as he and Hank serve double duty as the field medics. "Where-" and he does begin to look.. paler than usual means blood loss to the elf too.. "Where, leibchen?"

His gaze moves up, and before he waits for any answer, he teleports to a free scanner, Domino in arms to set her down.

Immediately after landing, however, the doctor barks out, "Nightcrawler, that is EXACTLY what I was talking about."

"Dude," Bobby gives Kwabena a mock-hurt expression. "I wouldn't do that to you," he says. "-On- is an entirely different story all together for if you start a prank war," he teases, trying to add a little humor to the situation. The doctor just gets a flat look from Bobby at the talk of temperatures. "Doc, this is kinda what I do. Don't worry," he says. As Shift goes smokey, Bobby takes a deep breath. "Tell me if this tickles," he jokes again, reaching out to put both hands in the smoke. He concentrates, slowly and carefully chilling things. He occasinally glances at the readout to make sure he's not going too fast. When he brings the temp down enough, Bobby takes his hands back. "Good to go?" he asks.

The commotion behind him makes Bobby look over his shoulder. "Kurt, man. Take it easy, let me and the doc handle the lifting."

"Hek--!"

"Hrk--?!"

If Dom wasn't utterly dazed before, she certainly is now! "Isn't the room supposed to be about seven feet further -that- way..?" Blink. "Cripes... Kurt."

Okay, -okay.- She'll concede this battle (and a battle over what, exactly?) Now sprawled out on a place meant for people to sprawl out upon she pulls her torso free of the combat webbing and, right there in front of everyone, unzips her armor. To the tune of 'not a whole lot underneath.'

"I got shot, you know..." Zzzzzip. "Right here."

Perhaps it's luck at play once again that the wound is hovering near her heart, she can reveal the patched injury without taking things to a whole new level. "Set up a transfusion if necessary and make sure none of the stitches got pulled out, I'll live."

Go figure, the show's less hers and more about Shift and Bobby over there with their air-freeze act. Deflection redux. It's interesting to watch. Honest! Also kinda creepy, but she's come to expect that as the norm around here rather than the exception.

Kwabena is able to discern things when he is in smoke form, but it is much different. Instinctive, more so depending on how far his molecular structure has changed. In this state, he can only discern Kurt's teleportation, and he 'hears' Bobby's words more like an echo of thought rather than tangible sound.

"That's... that's perfect!" says the Doctor, watching with awe as Bobby goes to work. He looks back up at the Iceman, smiling widely, until he realizes that his -third- patient is now in need of work. Haphazardly, he claps Bobby on the shoulder before rushing over toward Domino.

The ball of smoke suddenly unfurls into a man, complete with the slight sound of air -whooshing- as it is displaced by more solid matter. Blinking to clear his head, Kwabena quickly checks himself out, noticing that while the burn marks are still on his chest and torso, they don't seem to -hurt- as much. "Whoa," he offers, grinning wildly at Bobby. "Thanks!"

He spins about to tell the others, and that's when he catches sight of where Domino has moved to. Not to mention her current, shall we say, state. "Ah, hm. Let me see here." He looks pointedly away, and moves back toward the mechanical arms, hoping that they might offer a distraction by examining him again.

Which, of course, they don't.

Kwabena reaches out to smack his hand against the side of the station. "What, you go to sleep?" he blats.

"Don't punch the equipment!" calls the doctor lazily, as if it was something he was used to around here.

"A morgul blade," is meant to be teasing, but in Limbo? Who knows what is truth? Kurt watches as the zipper lowers, looking away when he realizes that he's *ahem* staring. Once the wound is shown, however, it doesn't look.. really great to the teleporter. But that's just him. "Ja, certainly a transfusion."

"Thank you, Dr, Wagner," comes the dry response just behind the teleporter now, the doctor is here. "The pill was an iron suppliment, as well as a couple other minerals.. potassium, sodium.."

Kurt begins to look for saline, for the time it takes for the doc to find the units of blood. "Ja, you will." Of course, the bandages that were just changed on Kurt's arm begins seeping once again. Bobby was right.. the heavy lifting really should have been left to him and the doc!

"Kurt, sit down, man," Bobby requests, giving his friend a concerned look. The clap on the shoulder and thanks from Shift get a smile. "Don't mention it. Just buy me a drink sometime," he says half seriously. Domino's unzipping gets a little staring but the first sight of injuries has flipping into serious mode and moving to take over the search for Kurt.

Dom hooks an arm around to drape across her face, more to block out the light than anything. She's still swimming on a cocktail of pain killers, alcohol, and a selection of uppers simply to keep herself moving. Some people really are too stubborn to heal before getting into yet more trouble.

"Yeah, really, Kurt," she says in a tone resembling more of a groan and less that of conversation. "Plunk your fuzzy little butt down and have a drink or something, nervous energy's not gonna help anyone." Not that his frantic search for help, apparently his feeling that he -needs- to help, isn't flattering as hell. But, she is in the best possible place to have everything start to catch up to her. There's people that work here, just for handling situations like this. Patients treating patients? C'mon, now.

She'll at least try to appear grateful though, for his sake. That arm lifts away from her eyes long enough to pass him a sidelong glance. "Thanks for gettin' me up here."

Good to see that Kwabena's getting himself in better shape, too. Without all of the fussle and bustle.

Kurt doesn't particularly want to.. and there's that moment when he has to decide which is the better cause. The doctor, however, decides it for him, and turns around, his patience at an end for the blue elf. "Down. Now. You're here for the night." And don't push him!

There comes the tail droop, and he looks at Bobby, murmuring and pointing to a cabinet, "It is there, the saline." before he does exactly what a petulant child would do.


 * BAMF*

Now, Kurt's in a 'bed'. "Bitte."

"Oh, de next -round- is on me," is Shift's promise to Bobby. "I hope you ahr along de next time I find myself caught in something dat blows up." That fearless attitude is back, Kwabena's curse for living a life of invincibility for so long. The jury's still out on whether the St. Anthony's explosion will teach him to be a little more careful.

Of course, with folks like Bobby around, being reckless ends up not being so bad, after all.

Bless those unstable molecules, they've kept his bourbon safe. Shift reaches down into a pouch on his belt, retrieving a flask of liquor. As soon as Kurt has bamfed into a medical bed, he tosses the flask over toward the furry blue patient. "Kurt, heads up!"

With his X-Uniform still half undone, Kwabena finally summons up the stones to wipe away his embarrassment and walk over toward Domino's table. "Lucky shot, huh?" he asks, and shoots the girl a wicked smirk.

"I'll try to be but I've been mostly working on training the kids," Bobby remarks, heading for the cabinet. He really wishes things were still arranged like they were in the old days. He knew where they all were then! Once he has the saline, the...not really all that dressed...X-man hands it over to the doctor along with the supplies to start an IV. "More like unlucky shot."

The question is met with a sneer, Dom's arm shifting onto her forehead as she looks back to Kwabena. "Yeah. I could have done a lot worse."

She'll just give that thought a moment to take root, there.

Then there's Bobby. Man, everyone's got a little something for show and tell tonight. All of those hours people spend in the Danger Room? They pay off, with interest. "All depends on how you look at it, I guess. Wasn't quite so lucky for the other me."

She should probably stop being so cryptic at some point.

"Wound up having to fight a copy of myself while handling that whole Limbo deal. Figured the only way I was going to get a shot on the bitch was to work the odds a little." Fine line, insanity and genius.

All too often, Kwabena pulls that whole Mister Spock routine. His left eyebrow cocks up into the air, and he spies Domino with a dubious look. The only thing that's missing is an uttered, 'Fascinating', along with the pointy ears.

Looks like pointy ears just dropped his flask onto the floor. Out cold.

"Well, training de students is importahnt," notes Kwabena with a look in Bobby's direction. There is a touch of gratitude in his eyes as the other half-dressed mutant brings the saline over for the doctor, a little sign that his chiding of Domino is the sign of a friendship that runs a touch deeper than his typical, arms length banter.

"Ironic," he mentions, looking back to Domino. "The whole explosion at St. Anthony's? Courtesy of our wondahful friend, Highball." He shakes his head. "De bastahd got away, -again-, aftah terrorizing an entiah congregation of helpless people."

And if Domino had any stretch of imagination following their earlier encounter with Highball, she might be able to picture the veritable bloodbath he'd witnessed in the church's sanctuary.

Turning away, Shift gives the doctor some room to work on the transfusion, occupying himself with the task of retrieving his flask. Coming back to the table, he offers it toward Bobby. Sorry, Lady Luck, but Shift would double down on the hand that says Doctor Knowitall wouldn't let him pass it to you, next.

"Especially with stuff like this happening," Bobby agrees. He scowls slightly as Domino explains what happened. "Damn Limbo crap," he mutters. He quirks a brow as Shift mentions his bad guy. "Highball? Seriously? Unless you're Sam or maybe that kid from the news you should not have ball in your codename. It makes the jokes too easy and that kills half the fun," he says, shaking his head. He accepts the flask with a nod and takes a swig. "Now I'll clean up that mess..." he trails off, heading towards Domino's guns and the puddle she's left.

She's heard enough. "You're fucking -kidding- me!" Domino blurts out, suddenly sitting bolt upright on the bed only to suck a sharp breath in through her teeth. She's lying back down a moment later, her head swimming anew. She does -not- look happy.

"Gonna shoot his damned nuts off next time we catch him," she says around a small, pained breath. "None of you guys should have had to deal with that mess. Should have never--" she cuts herself off, a hand held in the air as her fingers flex, curl, then smack down against the frame of the bed with a resounding -smack.-

Much to the doctor's irritation. "Is that -really- necessary? Everyone's hating on the equipment today..."

Dom pauses then looks back to Bobby. "Not your problem there, Frosty. Wasn't trying to make extra work for you kids, I'll take care of it." Just..as soon..as she can keep herself upright again... Now it's time to hold still, IV needles at play.

A nod of agreement is given to Bobby as the flask is taken back. "We do well, keeping dem safe here, but dey have to be ready for what's out dere." Or what might find them here. He'd begun to fear that, so long as the X-Men keep meddling in the affairs of the world, it would only be a matter of time before the proverbial cork popped off the bottle. Xavier Institution could, indeed, one day be found out.

Domino's outburst draws his attention back to her straight away. He's not really surprised at the outburst. Hell, he'd gone to Mutant Town to try and keep the dark thoughts from his own mind.

"Yeah, well." His voice has gone quiet now, an almost guttural near whisper. "I had the same thought. Should have put a bullet to his brain in Brooklyn." He shakes his head. "Maybe we made de wrong call. But it won't happen again."

He doesn't need to say it again. At least not out loud. Highball tried to blow up an entire congregation of innocent people. Next time Shift runs into the blue-haired killer? It will be a fight, and a chase, to the death.

"Give it time, Triggah Fingah's," he offers. "We'll catch up with him. He can't run forevah."

Bobby nods. "Especially since they like to sneak out on their own," not that he was a perfect rule-abiding student when he was there age. Heck, he did the same stuff. The outburst from Domino gets a little sigh. "Dom, lay down and rest before the doctor sedates you," he says simply. He then scowls a little. "How about we try not killing?" he suggests, muttering something about the X-men being better than that. Walking over to the puddle Domino left on the floor, Bobby concentrates and draws it upwards as he freezes it. Once he's got the chunk of ice, he walks it over to the sink and leaves it there to melt.

The 'suggestion' passed Dom's way earns Bobby a narrow-eyed stare, followed by a tiny sigh of resignation. Given her previous stunt, and the condition she returned in, she wouldn't put it past these guys to do just what he says.

"Castration's not killing," she mutters back, ever helpful.

Oookay, point again to Bobby. She didn't think for a second that he could simply freeze the mess and carry it away. Neat trick! She'll let him have this victory, too.

"What else would you suggest we do, Frosty? We tried to level with the kid. When that bombed we tried -threatening- him. We had his word that he'd give it up, then he goes and pulls a stunt like that. Would you rather we imprison him forever? Put him in a deep freeze then tuck him away until the end of eternity? We can't just pass him a beer and tell him to stop being a murderous asshole. If you've got any ideas, crazy or not, I'm right here."

A dark look is passed Bobby's way. The mutant's remark draws conflict in him. "We let him walk the first time," he offers, boosting a bit more detail onto Domino's explanation. He looks back in the mercenary's direction. "I'm not suggesting it was wrong for us to do dat, eithah. That whole... high road thing. But after what he did to dat church? To dose people? To de -children-? What he seems more dan willing to do again and again?" He shakes his head and glances Bobby's way once more. "Dere are times when de needs of de many outweigh da needs of de few."

He's leaving out one critical detail, the one that struck home when Kwabena saw the explosives Highball had rigged St. Anthony's with.

It was the same C4 and remote triggering mechanism that Shift had used to 'sedate' Highball during their first encounter.

It was personal, and none of the other X-Men knew it, because Shift carries his secrets too damn close sometimes.

With a sigh, Kwabena takes one more hit from the flask, then caps it off and stuffs it back into his utility belt. "I need a smoke," he mutters to himself, then cants his head back in Domino's direction. "I'll check on you latah, Dom."

As he passes by, there is a pause near Bobby. A touch of humor in parting, perhaps, is needed. "You're right. -No one- should have 'ball' in dere nickname."

"You kick his ass and give him to the cops. We're supposed to be the good guys, not judge, jury, and executioner," Bobby replies simply. He's not looking at Shift or Domino as he speaks. "We're supposed to be good examples for the kids here and all those mutants out there that look up to us," he goes on, picking up one of Domino's guns, he unloads it before doing anything else. This work takes a little more concentration so he goes quiet.

Staring intently at the weapon, Bobby puts his powers to work. A light frost forms over the gun as Bobby works. When he's done, he knocks the weapon on the table and then tilts it until all the ice falls off and out. One dried and ready for whatever else Dom has to do with it, more to go.

"You really think the -cops- are prepared to handle someone like that?" she asks with a note of challenge in her tone. "Hell, Shift and I barely managed to take him down!"

Know when to let go, Domino.

"Right. Fine. Not our responsibility." And not her problem. She wasn't too keen on tracking him in the first place. Specialists have bigger fish to fry than misguided mutant youths with vendettas against everyone around them. "You guys can handle the situation, I won't get in your way. 'Emotinal involvement,' or whatever the hell."

Kinda seems weird to be talking about this while Bobby's working on the very weapons that she nearly put Highball down with the first time he was caught.

"Yeah, catch ya later, Shift."

Bobby is half tempted to just smash the guns and leave it at that but he reigns in that temper. "Hence the kick his ass part," he says. When he finishes de-icing the last of Domino's guns, Bobby stretches. "I'm headed out too. Gotta grade papers," he says. "See ya later, Dom," he offers, heading out as well.

Before he goes, Kwabena notes the way Bobby is cleaning Domino's guns, even after suggesting that killing is not the answer. It's... food for thought, to be sure. Perhaps it was tragic that his first real mission with the X-Men was to Mureybet; a mission that was all about war. About killing.

It's time for that damned cigarette.