2013-02-28 Escape to New York

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The weather is starting to change in the city. It is still cold, but now the days have wet cold rain coming down rather than snow. Slush is in the gutters and the sidewalks still have salt on them to protect from the freezing temperatures once the sun goes down. It is 4pm in the afternoon. Some folks are starting to get out of work so the streets are starting to fill with streets and sidewalks with pedestrians.

It is no different in Harlem although the glitz and glow of Midtown Manhatten is somewhat lost on the north end of the island. People turn up their collars to the rain or pull a hood up and over as they try to get to their destination in a hurry and out of the near freezing rain. One place people are going in and coming out is a large apartment building that has seen better days. The bricks are dirty from pollution and bars decorate some of the windows. The fire escape is pulled up high along the alley that is stroon with trash.

There is a man across the street from this apartment building. He is a tall black man. He is wearing a long brown trench coat. His polished black boots can be seen, however. What is also distinguishing about this man is a large 'M' tattooed on the right side of his face. He narrows his eyes to the rain, but keeps them trained on the basement entrance to the apartment building.

Lurker is thankful for all the people around. It makes doing what he needs to do that much easier. Hood up, darkness covering his face, and hands in his pocket, Owen's walking through the crowds of pedestrians. He's making a point to bump and brush people, stealing little bits of LifeForce from everyone. It's not a lot, just a few brief seconds to help stave off transformation into a monster. The rain is annoying him greatly though. Wet fur is never fun so he's not planning on staying out long tonight. He just has to figure out where exactly he can stay in the neighborhood for the night.

High above the thawing streets of Harlem a black object floats in the sky, heading northward. The trip is the tail end of the journey heading back to Westchester. For the X-men, it was much ado about nothing in Seattle. A pro-mutant rally went off without a hitch, despite widespread rumors of an anti-mutant group planning something violent. Cyclops and his team never even got close to the rally, having watched the proceedings from the clouds. "Should be home, shortly. I'm going to take the controls back and start having us circle our normal route. Everyone get strapped," Cyclops says looking over his shoulder. Bringing the blackbird in is something he's done a thousand times.

Harlem is not one of Tommy's usual hangouts, the young speedster came to deliver a message to a valued member of the semi-criminal underground. Ended up staying to listen to the local gossip, and eat free pizza, and only now he is getting out of a small eatery and grumbling about icy rain and late winter. Does he run and gets wet or takes the Subway and gets bored? Decisions, decisions, and all of them bad ones.

In the back of The Blackbird, there's one Laura Kinney. She's been strapped in for the entire flight. And she's been silent. Some may argue a bit too silent. But then again she's kind of shown herself to be that way, most of the time. The fact that she was asked to help with that mission is not questioned. She just follows orders. Quietly. Efficiently. Maybe a little too well. But as long as no killing is involved, and the people who are hurt obviously deserve it, then she probably doesn't have much of a reason to question the orders she gets.

Bishop has been out here for hours watching the flop house and finally it is paying off. Another man comes up towards the basement apartment. He is tall and fair skinned which makes the 'M' tattoo stand out even more on this man's face. He knocks on the door and is let in after a pause.

Bishop steps off and heads towards the apartment building. As he gets to the other side, he drops the trench coat and the blue and yellow uniform he wears is seen by all. Along with the massive weapon hanging on a shoulder holster. He pulls it free and heads towards the door. Several people on the street blink at first at the sudden reveal and then someone screams as they see Bishop draw his weapon. A nervous wave seems to go through the crowd. Bishop comes down to the basement door. His eyes glow red as does his left fist. With a crack of power, he blows the handle and lock out of the door even as he kicks hard at the door with his booted foot. "By the authority of the XSE, get your butts down on the ground," he cries out in a sharp bark.

Trench coats, tattoos, and odd hair colors are usually things Owen ignores. Common things in the city. But when he sees a man up ahead suddenly reveal a strange uniform and a huge gun, he pauses mid step. "Oh hell..." he murmurs, immediately getting that 'tonight is about to start sucking' feeling. He just ends up letting out a little sigh as things start getting kicked in. "Ah shoulda stayed in Westchester," he mutters, starting to move to try to get a better view into the building.

"Hold that," Cyclops says back towards Laura as he focuses. "Looks like we're on a bit of a detour. Get in position for a drop. Apartment building below. Take a look at the readouts I'm sending your way." Cyclops unbuckles his belt and moves back between the seats after setting the Blackbird on autopilot. He scales the distance between the cockpit and the ramp in no time and reaches up to press the button that opens the hatch. "Let me know when you're ready."

Tommy buttons up his coat and prepares to run back to Central Park when he hears the screaming. He turns, frowns a second, and runs in the opposite direction of Central Park to check out the scream. Probably nothing, but he is a superhero now (at least when he is not busy being a petty criminal) and he is supposed to look after stuff like that. If he wasn't a superhero... well, who is he trying to deceive? He would go /anyway/. Let him know?

All it takes is one glance at those 'readouts' (which she probably doesn't understand), and noticing what Scott is moving to do, and Laura is unbuckling and heading right for the hatch. Only she doesn't actually wait for a signal or say that she's ready. Instead, once the bird is 'low' enough, and as soon as that door is open, she just runs, and jumps.

Inside the basement is a massive number of men and women huddled together or lounging about the place. About half of them have 'M' tattoos as well.

"Oh crap. Bishop!" comes the cry from a number of the tattooed people. Even from outside, the glow of energy discharge can be seen through the small basement windows. Suddenly, the bit of masonry between the pavement outside and the first floor of the building blows outward in massive explosion of dust and masonry. A scarlett energy bolt comes out as well knocking off the top of a lamppost in a shower of sparks. Men and women start trying to scramble out of the building like rats off a ship.

Creeping his way down to the basement to investigate, the hooded Lurker's eyes go wide behind that supernatural darkness when he sees the sight. Huddled, lounging people getting attacked by some glowing guy with a big gun. He shields his eyes from the bright flashes of light, glancing upwards at the sounds of all that destruction. As people start trying to scramble out, Owen starts heading inside to see if he can put a stop to things before the whole building comes down. "Hey! Whoever's shootin' off the fancy lights needs tah cut it the hell out before ya collapse the whole damn buildin'!" he calls on the way in.

Cyclops lands just after Laura does and as he rights himself, he begins giving her hand signals. His plan is to burst in through one of the top floor, rear facing windows and make his way down the back stairwell to avoid being noticed out front. He wasn't given a whole lot of information heading in, so maximum discretion is a must. He leaps over the side of the building and crashes into one of the windows with his feet, knocking it into two parts and pushing the pieces through with his boot. Cyclops waits a moment for Laura before making his way to the back stairwell.

And it's definitely a good thing that Cyclops doesn't stop moving. Because as he crashes in Laura is right there on his heels! In fact there's a tell tale *SKNIT!* as her claws pop out of her hands, even as she follows along through the building, towards the stair well. And yes, much like a professional, she remains silent, and lets Cyclops call the shots.

Tommy peers. People with M tattoos? Not a gang he has heard about, which is very odd. Also, huge, overcompensating guns are sooo 90s. On the other hand superpowers are very 21st Century, and shooting people has never gone out of style.

"Crap!" Moving at super-speed, he types some commands on his smartphone, in the case any other member of the Young Allies is in the area. Then grabs the closest civilian (not tattooed, not armed) to the starting battle and takes him or her to the other side of the street, he does this with any citizen that looks could get hit by blasts or shots. It only takes him half a minute. Own is probably among those he tries to get to safety.

The escapees come pouring out of the building as if a bee hive was kicked. Apparently, a great many escapees had tried to hide out here as Harlem was developing their own mutant culture. The basement window, and great deal of the wall, has been blown out of a tall, beat up looking apartment building here in Harlem. The escapees flee into the cold wet drizzle. The cold is better than facing Bishop. The crowd is about two thirds marked with the 'M' tattoo of Bishop's team and the rest are from the hear and now; trying to shelter those that had escaped. Many of them look to trample Owen as the young mutant comes towards them and they try to escape.

The crowd on the sidewalks are looking to be caught in a crossfire. Many are turning and trying to run away from the scene only to crash into people trying to get in there to see what is happening. The convicts look at the crowd of Civies and try to get towards them to hide among them even as Tommy begins to get some out of there. Bishop comes back out of the basement apartment, kicking the damaged door out of his way. He comes up with his energy hand gun raised. Without saying a word, he lowers the gun, takes aim, and fires. One of the tattooed escapees is struck square in the back. His front chest explodes outward and he drops like a rock on the pavement. "No where to run any more that I can find you, convicts!"

Lurker grunts slightly, shoving past the first few people that try to rush through him. A particularlly dense man ends up sending the Dark Force controlling mutant stumbling back. But before he can even start to fall Owen finds himself on the other side of the street. Looking around quickly, he has no idea how he got there. When he turns around to see Bishop just blast a hole in someone, Owen freezes. He knows there are times when you have to kill, he's come close willingly and he knows his other side is more than willing to kill for a 'meal'. But he's pretty sure he just saw someone killed in cold blood and that's not something he'll stand for. Growling, he vanishing with a burst of DarkForce energy. Teleporting back across the street, he reappears near Bishop and tries to punch him hard in the jaw with a work-glove covered fist.

Tommy has seen enough gang fights to know people will die often and messily. But Bishop is talking more like some kind of law agent than a ganger, a murderous law agent too. The white-haired teen races to see if the one shot is... chest exploded, very dead. He struggles not to vomit the pizza right there, giving Lurker time to punch Bishop. But recovers enough to run to the side of the time-travelling mutant and reaches for his gun. If he manages to touch it, he transfers a powerful hyperkinetic charge and makes it explode.

It figures, doesn't it? The pair of X-ers reach the first floor right in time for all those 'escapees' to end up rushing out the 'door' (so to speak). Then again considering all the noise, not to mention the 'gun' shot and the people rushing out, it stands to reason they're probably running away from something. Thus down they go, into the basement. Where the door to the stairwell goes flying off it's hinges, before a certain clawed mutant girl comes flying from the doorway, her arms straight ahead, and her claws extended.

Bishop has a couple inches and about 75 pounds on Lurker. The punch strikes his face, but just makes Bishop turn his with the punch and then look back at Luker. "This is an offical matter of the XSE. Back off now or you will be considered an accomplise of my targets." His voice is deep and obviously not used to being questioned. However, he is paying more attention to Luker and not to Tommy. His weapon is grapped and explodes. Bishop is thrown off of his feet and has blood running down his right hand.

The escapees turn as they hear the gun explode. "Hey! Bishop's down. Kill him!" The criminals turn and get more into fighting mode. Eyes begin to glow. Claws pop out. Razor fins extend from backs and forearms. One begins to swell and turn into rock. They come rushing back towards Bishop, Lurker, and Tommy with Scott and Laura coming out on the door steps.

Owen isn't that surprised when Bishop doesn't go down. He growls again. "Ah never heard of any XSE. How 'bout ya'll stand down instead and we let the NYPD sort this mess out?" he says, thick Southern accent obvious. There's suddenly a Tommy and an explosion. Owen gets knocked off his feet as well, hood falling back and revealing the whole furry face and glowing green eyes thing.

He groans as he starts to get back up, cursing under his breath when he hears the convicts and sees them getting ready to fight. "Back off!" he yells, getting to his feet and letting Dark Force start to spread from around his legs like some kind of thick, inky and eerie fog. "No more killin' today!"

By the time Cyclops' boots hit the floor he's already trying to assess the situation. Just as he's about to bark orders to Laura, he's cut off by the criminals trying to bum-rush Bishop. He's not sure who is on what side or who is in the right, he's only sure that the violence needs to stop.

As the baddies burst towards the group, Cyclops fidgets with his visor, turning a dial to give him a lighter, stunning blast instead of the full power of his mutant gene. He unleashes a wide blast at the one who looks like a rock, believing him to be the biggest threat.

Tommy managed to disarm the killer cop, yay him! Oh wait, all those M-tattoo gangers are mutants. This looks bad. "Hey, he is down, don't..." not that he is unsympathetic with them wanting to beat up the guy that just killed one of their fellows. "Yeah, no more killing today, he is not going to kill anyone else either!"

As she flies forward, she ends up crashing into one of those escapees. But... Laura holds back. A bit, anyways. Oh sure her claws are out, but she doesn't try to go for the kill. Instead, there's a sudden, quick motion as she tries to stab him in the leg to keep him down, before she rushes towards the next person.

To be honest, X-23 isn't sure who she's fighting. Or why. But considering the number of people popping claws and the like while apparently all targeting the same man, they targets. That is until both they and Bishop back down and stop trying to hurt or kill each other. Heck, as Laura tries to kick a second escapee, there's a *SKNIT* as her foot claws pop out as she just tries to again, knock a mutant off their feet by /hopefully/ stabbing them in the leg. This time with a foot claw.

Bishop sits up from the ground pressing his wounded right hand to his chest. Even as Lurker and Tommy call out to the attacking criminals, Bishop raises his left hand in a fist. Again his fist and eye glow and suddenly the force of the exploding gun blasts from his hand. The nearest mutant with razor fins is suddenly without a head. He is slowly getting to his feet. "Going to take more than some explosion to keep me from my duty." His fist continues to glow as he faces the attacking horde.

The razor finned man drops with a slight forward slide of momentum. The rock guy is struck by Cyclops's blast and is sent crashing back through three or four other mutants knocking them off their feet. Others cry out as they are cut by X-23's blades although one seems to be healing quickly from the attacks. One mutant explodes into fire and sends a baseball bat sized stream of fire straight at X-23 as she moves through the crowd.

Lurker glances at Tommy and starts to say something but then Laura and Cyclops arrive and join the fray. He watches their attacks and how the horde turns on Laura with a little grumbling about New York being insane. And then Bishop is attacking again. Owen's jaw drops as the finned man falls and he turns towards Bishop with a snarl. Fangs bared, he takes off his gloves and stuffs them into his pocket. "One last warnin'! Stand the hell down or Ah'll make ya'll calm down!" he says, claws extending from each fingertip. Sure, they are NOWHERE near as threatening as Laura's but they're still sharp.

Cyclops stops in a split second of horror as Bishop blasts the being away. Just like Laura, he's got no idea whose. "Stop!" he yells and dives towards Bishop in a tackle, trying to prevent him from blasting someone else to hell. Tommy does a double take. But he had a gun! Why did he have a gun if he could blast people too? It also looks like more mutants are fighting each other for no reason he can understand. Wait, he even knows the girl with the claws. Laura helped him fight a robotic octopus (and then she didn't want to give him her phone number, sheesh). "Anyone cares to tell me what is going on?" He asks, dodging away from one of the clawed mutants, and then ducking under a fireball.

The mutant that heals quickly even after Laura's slash may or may not be noticed by the adamantium clawed girl. But as long as he (she? it?) stays down, it probably doesn't matter. Not as she just tries to knock as many people down in non-fatal ways, but still ways where they really shouldn't be able to get right back up.

Or at least that's the idea. Because then that fireball comes at her, and knocks her flat onto her back, and even sets her hair on fire. Not that the fire bugs her as she does a kipup, and tries to charge right at the mutant that set her aflame.

"Don't know." is said in a very neutral, near emotionless way towards Tommy, even as she tries to stab the fire guy a couple different ways. "Find out."

"Back off," Bishop snarls towards Lurker as he begins to take aim once more. "They are escaped convicts and as such, their punishment is to be terminated. They knew it when they escaped." He steps forward but is hit in the side by Cyclops's tackle. He is knocked to the side and almost loses his footing, but he still wins the mass battle with the slim mutant leader. He brings his wounded right hand down towards the back of Cyclop's head as he tries to drive Cyclops off of him.

Several mutants have gotten close enough to grab at Lurker and Tommy. Both have enhanced strength as they have ripped a parking meter out of the ground and use them as clubs towards the pair's heads. Fireman begins to back up with a paniced look as Laura just advances on him without fear and her hair afire. "Stay back! I'll burn you to death! I promise I can!" Multiple fire balls start flying at Laura quickly.

"Ya might wanna start by producin' a badge, officer," Lurker snaps. He doesn't care whether or not Bishop actually has a badge, really. The sudden tackle from Cyclops makes Owen stop before he can lunge himself. He starts to turn to Tommy os ask if he has any clue what's going on, having not heard the exchange with Laura. Instead he sees someone swinging a parking meter his way. Throwing himself down to the sidewalk, he gives the mutant that attacked him a shocked look. "Are ya'll stupid?! Ah tried tah keep that jerk from killin' ya'll and ya try tah take mah head off?!" he's getting mad now. "Lights out!" he growls, extending a rolling fog of Darkforce at the mutant attacking him and the general area around him. Anyone caught in the darkness will find it getting suddenly cold and it getting darker than any night. Not even things like fire or the glow from energy blasts will give any relief from that darkness. Owen's hoping the darkness calms people down or at least just makes it easier to deal with them. When Bishop's right fist smashes down upon the back of Cyclops' head with an intense ferocity, there's an immediate resignation that his plan did not work. The resignation is followed by a seering pain through his neck and shoulders as well as at the impact point. Cyclops feels an intense nausea and sees a bit of a flicker-flash and knows he's suffered a concussion.

"Find out? How?" Tommy kicks at the fire-casting mutant from behind, aiming to his knee, trying to make him fall and not set Laura on fire more. It is already eerie enough she keeps going with her hair on fire. He is almost glad it is raining icy water. Then he has to avoid the parking meter, "okay, Ihadenough." He quickens himself, and punches the superstrong mutant ten times at nearly supersonic speeds. He stops at ten because all has gone dark. "What now?!" And as those fireballs come at her Laura rushes towards the 'Fireman'. Some hit, but this time for what ever reason, they don't knock her down, while others miss (but they're close misses). the ones that do hit burn her, and burn her bad. But if one were to look directly at the sites of the wounds caused by those fireballs, they'd notice that it looks almost like they're healing already (and in fact are).

And if she can get close enough, well... She'd bring her arm back, and make it look like she's about to stab the fire guy in the head, but would just stop milimeters from his face. "Just fall, and don't move." Then of course that darkness just has to set in...

The Fireman falls down. And doesn't move.

The mutant that Tommy strikes tries to hit the speedy mutant, but his empty swings just leave him open to the supersonic punches all the more. He swings, but as more punches hit, he crashes down to one knee in pain and then falls over as the darkness hits them.

Bishop is close enough to the darkness that it envelops him too. He feels the chill and the drain on him. He turns on the balls of his feet and tries to grab Cyclops and throw Ol' Fearless in the direction the young mutant had been. Even as he throws, he tries to scramble to his left to get away from the darkness, but for the time being he is still in the dark just feeling his way as even the glow of his fists dies out in the black.

Unlike others, Owen can see just fine in the darkness. He keeps working on maintaining the dark field, looking around quickly. When he finds Bishop, Lurker starts towards him. Hit by the thrown Cyclops, Owen goes down with a grun. Without him maintaining the dark field, it starts fading slowly going from inky blackness to a thick black fog and eventually just fizzling out wisps of smokey blackness.

Cyclops' discombobulated body is heaved through the air as Bishop's massive strength flings him with little effort. The leader of the X-man flies through the darkness which has an even worse effect on his stability. Crash!

He smashes into Owen and grunts himself and does his best to maintain consciousness. Tommy usually adapts quickly to the dark, but this dark is darker than... well, blindingly dark. The speed is of little help and as he tries to step back, he bumps with someone, slips on the wet ground and ends up crashing on the pavement. Muttering curses, he tries to crawl away, avoiding angry mutant fugitives. He still does not know what is going on.

There are some people that darkness really doesn't hinder as much as it does others. Laura could be considered one such person. Unfortunately the fact that the darkness does come in as quick as it does catches her off guard. So by the time Fireman hits the ground, she's momentarily caught off guard.

And yet, as she recovers, she sniffs the air, and listens. If she'd seen where Cyclops landed, or who threw him she might try to help one way or another. But instead, while she takes things in, she stands there, and just lowers her arm while her wounds continue to heal up.

Even as the darkness begins to eep away, many of the escapees and rioters have fallen down from the influence of the Darkforce. Some that managed to stay on their feet are trying to get away. A couple are even playing Frogger and jumping among the cars as they work on escaping the battle zone. Most of those that are down are those without the 'M' tattoo, but there are still some of those among the fallen as well.

Bishop is slowed as well as the Darkforce had drained some of his energy reserves. His hurt hand is throbbing now especially as his power is low. He decideds now is the time to get out of here himself. He's stopped a couple more of the escapees. He can track the others down again. He turns and tries to make his own way back into the crowd that is still rubbernecking around the area.

It's not too long before the darkness is gone, Owen groaning slightly as he tries to push Cyclops off himself. "Sir, could ya'll get off me. That psycho's gettin' away!"

Cyclops pushes himself off of Owen and staggers a bit. Though he tries to walk straight, he kind of leans off to an angle. He has trouble concentrating, and realizes he's messed up and in a bad situation. He fumbles with the communicator on his belt, trying to radio to have someone help him out of this predicament.

Tommy stands up and seems the 'gangers' are trying to leave. Which is fine for him. The police, the New York police, will be here soon. He spends a few seconds making sure no innocent bystander got hurt, and then a few more checking if any of the injured needs immediate medical attention. Laura included.

It becomes a question, doesn't it? After all, as the darkness fades and she can see what's going on again, Laura /could/ go running after Bishop. She may even be able to track him down. Heck, odds are she could. But then again, considering that she's the only person with an X-Men connection here, and she notices just how Cyclops is doing...

Is there really a choice?

Thus X-23 does /not/ chase after Bishop. Instead she moves over to help Scott. And to get him on the Blackbird if he needs the help. Just hopefully if they make it that far they don't black out if he does let her help him get onboard, and they both board the aircraft. After all, she's never flown a plane before!

Bishop makes his way through the crowd. He hopes no one back there has enhanced senses for the moment as he could probably lose a trail but not his scent. He makes his way a couple blocks and then ducks into an ally. "Stupid," Bishop mutters to himself although he shivers from the chill. "Walked right into a friggin' Empath." He pushes away from the wall and heads further away.

The NYPD does start to show up. Many of the unconscious mutants are taken to a nearby hospital for injuries. The morgue shows up to deal with the two that are clearly dead. Police begin to go through the crowd to try and find out what happened.

Standing, Owen scowls but can't find Bishop. Cursing again, he starts to say something to Cyclops but stops when he sees Laura handling him. A quick glance around for Speed and Owen pulls his hood back up. He's not sticking around for the NYPD, starting to walk away. He teleports after a few steps. Time to go find some people to drain to make up for using some DarkForce.

Tommy is not there when the cops arrive. He is a runaway and suspected thief, by the time the injured mutants are taken to ambulances, he is in the subway station under Central Park, trying to shake off the chill with a gallon of hot tea and more pizza. And the strangest thing? The Internet has nothing about people with Ms tattooed in the face. So he is writing about them in his blog.

And by the time the cops arrive the Blackbird is gone. Thus Laura and Scott are gone too. All though later on... Never mind. Won't go there. But heaven help the X-Men if Laura is ever taught to pilot the Blackbird.