2014.05.16 - A Strange Riot

Professor Xavier was coming out of Central Park on his wheelchair, when four black pickup trucks suddenly come screeching into the area and form a square in the street in front of him. In the back of each pickup truck are a group of men each brandishing weapons. The men are of an assortment of different ethnicities, varying from early twenties to early thirties. Among the weapons include machetes, baseball bats, and a variety of guns. The gunmen begin firing into the air causing a panic from the public. People start running in all directions screaming and shouting. Four of the men jump, one from each truck jump down and each grab a hostage.

Gunshots at mid-afternoon of a street in Manhattan are rarely a good idea. New York must have the largest population of super-human crime-fighters in the world, and there is always one of them just around the corner. Like for instance Nate, who registered himself as one soon after arriving to this dimension, without much idea of what he was doing. Blame Illyana for that one.

Matter of fact, he has not getting involved in street crime since the skirmishes between Intergang and Stormwatch a year ago. Still, gunshots draw his attention, dragging him out the nearby Starbucks where he was looking for caffeine. The young telepath look somewhat worse from the wear today. Actually he looks like that since he learned about Apocalypse, these are stressful times. He is also pretty angry all the time, which means some idiots firing guns in the middle of Manhattan are due a serious beating. Since it is the middle of Manhattan, his mind-shields are up and blocking all those minds around him, so he hasn't noticed Xavier is around. If he had, he wouldn't even bother.

Central park! Lunair is out and about doing stuff and things. She's thought about her friend's words, and what to do. She's lugging a fairly large bag of sushi rice with her, and has a huge, almost panther-like black cat wearing an Egyptian style collar (think pharoah kind of collar) riding on her shoulders like she's a meat mecha. "Man. It's been like, 30 minutes and you are already completely spoiled." The black cat just looks smug. He is a pharoah! Cats never forgot that whole worshiped thing. And yes, Lunair is aware of the idea that guns in New York in the afternoon is a terrible idea.

She also doesn't have a mind shield of any sort, unless one counts being loopier than a whole box 'o froot loops. But she is pulled towards fighting, and goes in to investigate.

Okay. Gunshots in the street...and J'onn banks lower. This may not be something that needs such high powered interference as he has to offer. Or it may...and right now he has nothing more pressing to do. Cube investigation, but he can't do that 24/7 without his mind becoming so hyper-focused he misses stuff. This might be a good, brief diversion. Mind shield? He's controlled, but not fully shielded as he investigates the shooting. And...in the middle of it is possibly the most powerful mind on the planet. << Do you need assistance? >> he sends, lightly. The shielded Nate is noted, but he's more interested in Xavier himself.

Charles senses the two powerful telepaths coming into the area. He picks up on the message from J'onn << I don't need any help; I'll reach out with my mind and force them to give up on this frivolous pursuit. >>

Xavier places his fingers to his temples and begins to send his mind towards these unsuspecting men. However, as he nears the men's minds, he suddenly blocked by powerful mind shields. Xavier is surprised to find that these seemingly normal men have powerful psychic defenses; something is not right.

A huge muscular man with a red steps from within one of the trucks and begins barking commands to one of his men. The shorter guy, but who is no less muscular than the man whom is clearly the leader of this group, turns his attention towards Xavier. He smiles menacingly at the disabled man, and aims his gun at him. Xavier sends out a thought out to J'onn <>

Nate is not paying much attention to the mental plane. He sees gunmen and trucks and reaches with his power, trying to grab the trucks and flip them over, possibly scattering the thugs. "You picked a bad day to be stupid in New York," he notes, his left eye glowing with energy. He is also shielding himself with telekinesis, since he wants to draw the gunfire to him in the case some of the thugs are willing to try to fight super-beings.

And....the man pointing a gun at Xavier will find a green and red blur suddenly in the space between them, the Martian moving into position to block the shot. Xavier might have to worry about regular firearms. Martians? Don't. That's the advantage of having versatile abilities.

Really. No mind shields. No awesome, hot super soldier body. No flying powers. Lunair is really starting to wonder if she got the short end of the stick here. Seriously. She doesn't even get b-mail (That's brain mail) unless someone sends it. For shame. Nevertheless, she soon finds herself in range of the men. And they are about to beat up a guy in a wheelchair! People are panicking and there's hostages! That's just wrong.

Either way, she decides it's time for something Terrible. DUBSTEP TIME! And indeed, she's wubbing her way to justice.

The pickup truck that Nate attempts to flip doesn't even move; things are becoming weirder. However, the gun men do being firing at both Nate and J'onn, until the leader raises his hand calling for a ceasefire. The leader begins to laugh and decides to finally address the supers, "This is what you've got? You with the glowing eye trying to flip the trucks? Like we wouldn't have a plan? The same goes for you too, Xavier."

Xavier replies, "What do you want? You've gotten the attention of the public, and you've got our attention. And you're attracting even more attention." Xavier reaches out to both men <> For the first time, Xavier notices the young woman in the area, and senses her determination. But he hesitates from contacting her, for fear of drawing attention to her.

J'onn isn't aware anyone tried to flip a pickup truck. He's definitely aware of Nate's power, though. And what the leader says. "I think, Professor, it might be time to vacate the area." Unless they can block his flight. Which they might be able to. Red eyes narrow slightly, senses extending to work out what is going on here. Either she missed or it's ineffective. Oh well. Hard to say, Lunair goes with it and pauses at the raised hand. Um... Well, okay, since they might be doing something now, Lunair glances around. What is going on? Time to find some cover then wub. But she doesn't seem malevolent. More drawn to fighting, it seems. She's aiming, and waiting. She's not fool enough to respark the fight.

"Well it's is like this Professor we're here because we are ushering in a new age, a new kingdom." He grins, "The kingdom of the Shadow King."

Charles replies to J'onn, "I'll take care of that, that's something I can do at least." He then begins to send his mind out to the members of the public giving them mental commands to everyone in the area to evacuate.

"You do remember the Shadow King don't you professor? You were the one who foiled his plans back in Cairo."

J'onn is NOT aware of the Shadow King, but there's tension through him...most detectable mentally. Full shields have not gone up yet, but they're definitely powered and prepped. Shadow King. He doesn't like that name and if it's something another telepath beat once, it's probably something he needs to be ready for on the astral side. Insane in the astral plane? Sounds like a pain in the astral realm. And then Lunair hears - hmm. Is something strange going on? It totally is. Nevertheless, Lunair is going to be taking pot shots at the goons, not the main man (because he's talking to two gentlemen) with the dubstep gun. It's an unholy cacophony of WUBWUBWUBWUB, Skrillex being attacked by bees while using DJ equipment and mayhem.

Strange fizzles into existence with full Sorcerer Supreme garments, wrapped within his black, voluminous cloak of Levitation, he hovers above the scene in his Astral form, sensing something... Strange ... To be exact with no pun intended. The older man seems to deem it wise observing for the time being.

In response to Lunair's firing, the thugs begin shooting again. Thankfully Charles had already cleared the surrounding area. A number of men are taken down by the shots, and one of the trucks blows up. The leader takes cover behind a truck, and calls out,

"Xavier! I would really suggest you make her stop firing, don't forget we've still got four hostages." He then begins firing back as well.

Xavier sends a message out to the young woman <>

Nate frowns. Telekinesis-resistant trucks? Now, that is new and strange. Xavier's message, as well as his apparent inability to stop a bunch of thugs means there is much more than it looks going on. He shifts his perceptions to the mental plane for a few instants, checking the thugs mental shields. << Someone is protecting them... uh, very well >> definitely someone rather skilled to be able to shield a group so large from someone like Xavier. Good thing that with the Manhunter, Lunair and himself there this is not necessarily a mental thing. He steps forward, clenching is fists. "Shadow King you say? That name rings a bell." Except he wasn't a king in Nate's home Earth. "Shadow Thief," he growls.

And quick thoughts to Professor X and X-Man, from the Martian. << I would appreciate a quick fill-in on this entity. >> And, other than that avenue of communication? The shields go up. He can't match Xavier, but one has to wonder what could match these three working together...four, if you count Strange, but he's not (yet) included. << The Shadow Thief was some kind of bodiless thing that served Apocalypse in my home Earth >> explains Nate, still advancing on the thugs. He is going to shield the hostages telekinetically, so he can then disable the thugs physically. << It murdered most of the other telepaths, or led teams of hunters to them. Nasty bastard.>>

Apparently they are immune to dancing. Sadface. Lunair pauses. Someone is in her BRAIN! It's b-mail. She looks startled, and then stops. Friendly guy in the wheelchair! Okay. Pause. He might notice she has a hard time worrying about that, but she's thoughtful enough to stop and go with it. She will quietly observe for now.

The Sorcerer Supreme reveals his amulet when he notices mental abilities being used with no effect, that intruiges the Protector and probes with his incantation. "Eye of Aggamoto, Pierce the Vale with your eternal sight." Even as his astral form fades and his true body appears floating sixty feet above the scene, he frowns. "Winds of Watoomb! Give earths warriors clearity!" in hopes that the combatants will see the aura of Shadow's protection.

With the Sorcerer Supreme's magic taking affect a phantom image begins to appear. But it quickly disappears. Terrified looks appear on each of the thugs faces. They look at each other and then to their leader who looks just as panicked as they do. Clearly something has wrong for them.

Professor Charles Xavier notices that the terror of the thugs, and begins to once again reach out with his mind. The mental shields have gone, they have been abandoned.

"The great Shadow King has fled, and has abandoned his so called people. You are vulnerable." Xavier chuckles to himself. "It is time for this to be over." With that he releases a psionic attack on the thugs, knocking them all out. He then turns to his allies, however temporary the situation might be, "It seems that the Shadow King is making a return, but is not quite ready for whatever he is planning. This is not the time for pleasantries, and it is certainly not the time for us restrain ourselves. These men chose their side in what might be an upcoming psionic and astral battle, they chose wrong and had to face the consequences. However, they will live."

"Have they committed any crimes we can hand them over to the police for?" J'onn asks, pulling his cloak around himself. Strange? Gets a nod. An unsurprised one...he'd already sensed the astral disturbances. "It seems as if they might even be...safer."

The figurative Eye in the Sky notices J'onn's acknowledgement and gives him a silent one in return, his mind was elsewhere, now that the Shadow King was gone, the Doctor wanted to know exactly where, and why, and if he would return again. The Sorcerer fades from view to leave only an Astral projection of himself, allowing part of his conscious mind to remain behind.

Lunair is puzzled. But she stays quietly where she is. Her eyes go wide as Charles does his thing. And there's a SORCERER here too (If Doctor Strange is visible!). Lunair is starting to feel out of her element. Although, once his spell does its thing, her eyes just stare. Widely. "Whoa." Um. Yikes. That's a bit frightening. But she'll think up a thank you and quietly depart. Not that she can really project her thoughts, but it's the ... thought that counts.

The thugs are unconscious, so he has little to do here. "Okay, fine. I am going back downtown. Let me know if you need me to track this guy or something," he says to Xavier. But yeah, like Xavier would need him. He nods to the Martian... remembering him from his first day in this Earth. Er... did he ever apologize for punching him? Can't remember now. "See yah around," he adds before flying away.