2012-11-28 YAL: Becoming Allies 1

For a little while now, there have been rumors...

Rumors about kids... Young teenagers really, who have been going missing all over New York City. More so than usual. There have also been a few minor rumors of it happening in Metropolis too.

No one know how. Or why.

But there has been one place where these rumors have been especially strong. Like the kids have been vanishing from this place more than any other.

That place, is Central Park.

But despite what ever the rumors might have said, right now the park is quiet, as the dark, but clear sky of the winter night hovers overhead. There's little sign of trouble. That is aside from possibly the usual little things. And on top of that, despite these rumors, there are still some teenagers hanging around the park at night. But even then, they're staying together in little groups.

Maybe, just maybe, they're staying together for protection as well as hanging out?

Well there's something or someone kidnapping teens at Central Park. In Ben's mind there's only one surefire way to figure out all the how's and why's, and that is making himself the bait. Dressed in the blue hoodie with the hood up, a black knit cap that's holding the mask in place that would take one simple tug to bring down, a grey thermal shirt underneath the long sleeve shirt, loose jeans held on with a belt, and vans. If the hoodie and shoes didn't come out of this alive, their sacrifice would be worth the answers as the Scarlet Spider suit lingers underneath the clothes. Slung over his shoulder is an old backpack that holds some books, but the smaller pockets are several web cartridges. The impact webbing is going to be out tonight.

Wandering about, Ben looks about trying to figure out what's going. He nods to a few groups then just looks over the city. Under his breathe he whispers, "Jubes, if I get hurt from this I'm sorry I didn't send up the Jubilee signal." They talked about helping each other in costume earlier today when they could, but he isn't about to sacrifice his girlfriend to whoever/whatever is behind the disappearances.

"I don't suppose one of /you/ has anything to tell me," Xavin sardonically mutters to the trees she's carefully winding through. Opportunities to visit New York have been few and far between for the alien of late, and contrary to earlier assurances, she's actually done her best to avoid the Park on the occasions she /has/ been around; it's easier, she figures, to just avoid having to answer any more awkward questions with even more awkward lies about the joys of life as a walking plant.

It's cowardly, sure, but it /works/--until, that is, the rumours of innocent kids visiting the Park and never leaving prove too unsettling to avoid the place any longer. While she was trained for war rather than forensics, she should - she hopes - be able to recognize certain key pieces of evidence, should she find them: signs of a struggle, for instance, or the remnants of energy emanations. For now, she's doing her best to skirt the edges of the park's more central areas; now and again - when it seems safe - her head might briefly pop out from the top branches of a tree or the midst of some bushes to allow her a closer look some group of teens or another, but she tries to pick her spots.

The /last/ thing any of these kids need tonight is a glimpse of her terribly distended neck as it sways to and fro at the edges of their gatherings.'

His decision still makes him nervous; investigating the missing kids is way important, but after actually thinking it over, Robbie Baldwin is going in plainclothes into Central Park at night. He might walk and chat it up with people he knows, and the jacket he's wearing is warmer than his costume. That, and he makes less noise than he would moving around in his superhero persona. But in that sense he feels almost naked, and not in the fun way. Despite the coat, his hands rub up and down against his upper arms as he lounges against a tree. He's at least trying to look casual and pretend he's taking a break from all that tiring walking. Still, his eyes go abck and forth, as if expecting kidnappers with large burlap sacks for the kiddies are going to pop out at any moment. He feels like a liability like this...more so than usual, anyways.

It is a typical night for Wiccan. He is on patrol looking for the typical, muggings, robbery, and random attacks by supernatural creatures. Tonight, he has taken a slightly different tactic for his patrol as he comes to Central Park. At the moment he is dressed in some of his old clothes, a ripped pair of jeans a fadded black t-shirt and a dark red hoodie. "I probably stick out like a sore thumb." He mutters to himself keeping an eye out and listening for anything interesting going on. "Should probably have talked to Eddie before choosing to do this." At least for him if bad things (TM) start to happen he is only a few words away from being in costume, or another part of the city entierly if it is too much for him to handle. "Now, if I were a secret cabal of people kidnapping teens...who would I target?"

Stealth in a wooded setting is almost a required skillset when your mentor really, really wishes he were Robin Hood. And so, that is where Speedy is, hidden amongst branches and leaves, and watching the area through a small set of high-tech nightvision binoculars- something the Merry Men most definitely did not have, but are certainly proving useful to her. Every so often, she takes out her cell phone to text Hawkeye with status updates. Which, so far, have consisted mainly of 'Nothing yet.' She's really hoping her next stakeout results in less tree sap on her costume.

And as others move through the park, possibly searching, and possibly investigating, there's yet another making her way about. Only this girl is sticking to the shadows, especially those near the tree line. And yet, as this person sticks to the shadows, they keep their bow and arrows ready. And yes, before you ask, Kate Bishop a.k.a. Hawkeye is using her 'night vision sunglasses', thus she can take any shots she needs more easily.

And yes, she's here investigating those rumors as well. heck, as she gets that text message from Speedy, she frowns slightly at it.

And yet, Kate is not close enough to see as a /school bus/ pulls into a section of the park. One not too far from where Robbie, Xavin, Wiccan, and Mia are. And the very fact that a /school bus/ pulls into the park at night might be a bit odd, but this is New York City after all.

Then again as a group of... A half dozen people dressed from head to foot in black, armed with guns pile out of the bus, lead by what looks like a teenager in an almost parody of a boy scout uniform, who has a domino mask on as well, things might be getting a bit stranger.

"The mission is simple boys. Grab who you can, as fast as you can. If you're not back on the bus in 10 minutes or less, you'll be left behind. If you come back empty handed, you'll face the old ladies wrath. Got it? Good. Move out!"

Seeing a bus move up Ben tries to slip in furhter trying to look appealing, but not quite an easy target. Some people like the prey factor. Breathing out hard he whispers going a little deeper, "Show time," he breathes out low then looks about.

After all the stuff they talked about over the weekend, Robbie is pretty much kicking himself for not calling his buddies to see if they wanted to congregate about this. Here. Where Robbie doesn't yet notice the other young heroes around and is feeling quite isolated at the present. The sound of the motor captures Baldwin's attention, and he just stares as a bus pulls up, disgorging mooks in black with their...scoutmaster? His eyes widen, and the blond boy moves away from the tree, backing up slowly...

Ten, maybe fifteen feet away from Hawkeye, Xavin snakes one impossibly thin leg from the top of a tall tree all the way down to the ground; her other leg, followed by her ribbon-like body and sinuous arms wind their way down in short order, and only once both feet are on the ground does her distended body begin to compact back into more recognizably human proportions.

She is still undergoing this process when the bus pulls up, and she takes the opportunity to snake her head out around a trunk for a closer look, displeasure etched on her features, which, at the moment, match the colour of the tree beside her; grimacing, she grabs her head in both hands and gingerly tries to help it - and by extension, the rest of her body - reform properly so that she can /do/ something about the soldiers in black. Even after her head is properly seated upon her shoulders, she keeps her hands up to massage her neck as she takes a brisk look around--and spots a flash of purple in the trees. After studying it for a few moments, she hazards to lean her head and shoulders out into the open and offer a cautious wave to try and draw the archer's attention.

Assuming, anyway, that stretching out of the trees like a rubberband didn't do the job for her.

For a second, Speedy is convinced she's about to be eaten by Slender Man. Then he reforms into a young woman, and she's reminded of that shapeshifter girl she met in the park a little while back. Okay. Right. Her pulse should return to normal any second now.

Of more concern is the schoolbus full of stealthy-looking thugs... or, would-be stealthy-thugs, seeing as they piled out of a school bus, of all things. Mia doesn't bother texting Kate about this- she's pretty sure she saw it just as well as she did. She starts creeping closer to the edge of the woods, and keeps the black-armoured guys in her sights, arrow nocked and ready.

That 'scoutmaster' as Robbie put it, is 16 at most. And yet as he moves, despite his 'care free' nature, it's as if there's something 'off' about him. Something 'not right'. Something...

Well, something that will probably be clear soon enough.

Of course this group doesn't notice most of the costumed 'heroes' here just yet, the 'scoutmaster' continues to shout.

"Or better yet, if you come back empty handed, it's a pit fight for you! Now go, grab those kids! Metas and mutants preferred!"

And with that, the group scatters, moving away from the bus, while the 'scoutmaster' remains.

Hawkeye though does finally glance towards that bus, and frowns at what she hears. And yet, as she /thinks/ she notices.. A tree? Something else? Waving at her, she makes a fist, and then punches an empty hand, before jerking her head towards the bus, and more importantly the thugs moving away from it.

Looking about Ben tries to go toward the bus. His intention is to get captured. Looking toward one of the "Scouts" leaving the Bus, Ben waves at one. "Ummm...What are you doing?" he lets his eighteen year old voice carry and the bits of his teenage face show. Again the point is to get on the bus somehow and not shot at. With his bookbag Ben just tries waving at the guy desperate to get someone's eye. "You guys should park in the right spot...Something!"

"Perfect," Xavin crisply states, flexing and unflexing her fingers. Her eyes flit between the squad as it scatters, and she draws in a deep breath. She has, since that chance gathering in Central Park, given some consideration to what might happen if she were ever forced to defend herself while they were around--how she might best preserve her lie while still protecting her potential allies.

So when Ben starts making a target of himself, the Skrull skulks through the trees, trying to maneuver herself behind the first soldier who looks as though they might webspinner's invitation; her eyes narrow, her arms thrust through the bushes, and her fingers elongate into ten lashing, leafy vines that seek to coil around the thug's body and pull him out of the fight.

And in the background a boom can be heard echoing through the park. But that has nothing to do with this.

Seeing the other teen step up, who Robbie doesn't know, the younger kid stops in his tracks. The words from the 'scoutmaster' resonate with something he heard a rumor about. Metahuman pit fights? Oh...crap. What if...but what about... And it's too late to make a cel call to the guys now. What...what would Billy and/or Eddie do if they were in my place? Chewing on his lower lip, Robbie swings out an arm, his fist connecting with the nearest tree trunk. *SProing!!* The impact activates Speedball's kinetic field, along with his costume, and he leaps forward, using the trees to rebound off of and build up momentum...along with trying to get the thugs' attention so no innocent kids are snagged.

"You know," he says, his voice with that hollow, from-inside-a-metal-drum-barrel sound to it. "It's a little late for a field trip. I'm gonna have to see your permission slips. Signed."

Wiccan just facepalms as he sees someone call out and ask to get shot, or kidnapped. Ok, so getting taken was one of his possible choices but there are ways to do it without being pegged as an obvious trouble maker that they are going to watch and possibly hit repeatedly. He sighs and gets ready to get involved when he sees Speedball jump in. Thats enough to make him decidem he will fight and they can interogate anyone still standing when they are done. Before just jumping into the fray though he starts with a bit of magic. "Maketheirgunsjame, Maketheirgunsjam, Maketheirgunsjam!" He chants gesturing twords the largest concentration of thugs intending to make thier guns useless for anything except maybe using as clubs before he makes his enterance. He starts to run from where he is so that he ends up next to Speedball. "Iwantmycostume, Iwantmycostume, Iwantmycostume!" As he ends up next too Speedball there is a flash of light, and a loud crack of lightning and instead of a random teenager in a red hoodie running he becomes, Wiccan the teenaged hero and mage!

Speedy has targets of her own- and they are presently not moving. THUNK! THUNK! One by one, her arrows pierce each of the school bus tires on the side of the vehicle facing her. She finally comes out of the trees, behind the group of civilian teenagers. "Now would be a good time to run," she tells them. With this many friendlies in the field, there aren't many clear shots for her. So, when a black-clad thug starts running her way, she simply knocks him upside the head with her bow, rather than risk skewering her newfound allies.

And of course as The Scarlet Spider makes himself a target, those thugs are more than happy to oblige as they all turn (possibly even in unison) and start to open fire in his direction, regardless of how far away from the actual bus they are.

Of course some of them don't even get a chance to fire for long. Not as 'vines' coil around their bodies.

Then again a thug or two is distracted by that extra bouncing hero, and starts to turn their heads towards him, but they keep firing in the direction of the bus strangely enough. Or at least they try to as their guns up and suddenly jam in unison.

Of course as those teenagers hear Speedy, they blink, and nod, before they turn and run. All except for a single red headed girl, who runs towards the bus.

"This is awesome!" is even shouted by said girl as she watches Speedy clunk that guy and he falls.

Yeah, that girl might not be right in the head.

Speaking of not right in the head, the 'Scoutmaster' is shouting at his thugs, even as the tires go out on the bus. Strangely enough he pulls out a radio and starts speaking into it, "Harm, this is Kid Karnevil. Looks like I'm gonna win tonight! We got a possible mutie here!"

yeah, on top of everything that 'scoutmaster' doesn't appear too worried about what's going on around him.

Meanwhile, and without even a word, Hawkeye has moved into the shadows, and fires a pair of arrows. Only she aims for the open door of the bus. As the arrows hit, if they hit, they fill the bus with something. A smoke, or some form of thick gas. One that starts to seep out the windows and the open door she fired into.

"Not the best idea!" he thinks as guns bark into he moves a little too fast than a normal human should to avoid some gunfire. Seeing one person taken by taken out by arrows, a bouncing person taking care of another, arrows lots of arrows whiz by, and all of the other chaos just makes Ben smile. Pushing off with both legs Ben leaps from his spot to the bus.

The original plan was to send himself through the bus like a giant weight, but seeing some type of smoke seep out the bus midjump gives the teen a different idea. "Thunk," his weight dents the bus roof but nothing to create a salvation for the group. "Thnk," escapes one wrist and a ball hits the bottom of the doorway creating a sea of webbing that covers the door. Running across the roof Ben jumps letting another "Thnk," leave the other wrist. Another ball collides into the emergency exit creating no way out. Windows would create ventilation but the smoke would create staying conscious a bit of problem.

Pulling down his mask from under the helmet ben tosses aside the hat, unzips the hoodie then tears through the rest of his clothes as his book bag drops revealing the red and black costume.

One of the guards seeing some type of Spider-Man wannabe is here turns their attention, and gun, toward the red and black spider. "Thwp," sounds through the air as a stream of webbing lances out, caresses the gun and with a tug Ben pulls the weapon away. "Yoink," he says with amusement before bending the barrel of the weapon and then dropping it.

Seeing this sight the black clad gunner tries to run before a second "Thwp," sounds off. Another stream of web connects to its target, the back of the gunner's shirt. Another tug sends the person back towards Ben.

Landing at Ben's feet the teen gives a turning kick to the gunner's chest creating a lot of pain, if they aren't knocked out. "New plan," he mutters to himself, "Protect the bus. Keeping people on the bus means interrogation targets. Just in case Ben tears off the liscence plate then slips it into the backpack he dropped long ago before slinging it back over his shoulder.

Xavin's--vines--drag the thug further and further out of sight until it's just the two of them hidden in the trees, locked in a constricting embrace. A few seconds - and a sharp, rock-fisted blow - later, and the shapeshifter is stepping out into the open with a tight, almost feral smile on her bark-skinned lips. When she notes the arrows in the tires, she casts a glance and an approving nod towards Hawkeye's hiding place--and then sees Speedy bashing thugs with her bow, does a quick double take, and then just shrugs a shoulder.

With the soldiers mostly - and rather suddenly - deprived of their weaponry and Kid Karnevil seemingly too focused on his impending victory to worry about securing it, the alien sets about trying to work her way behind the scout, hoping to remove him as efficiently as she did his henchman.

If she manages to make it within a few feet of him, the process - extremities lengthening into rough vines to capture a (hopefully) unsuspecting target - will be mostly the same, save for one variation: rather than try to drag the lad out of sight, she'll be trying to keep him contained for the benefit of her allies.

And in the background, off in the distance, it's as if there's a light rising into the sky a little bit, before there's an almost lightining like flash.

"Nope, still not signed," Speedball says as the guns go off. Guny usually don't worry him, since his kinetic field can bounce bullets. But that also means bullets can bounce into other people, and he's not having that. He bounces off another tree just as the lightning strikes, revealing another teen hero! "Wiccan! Outstanding!" he shouts, as he's not answered because Billy is busy jamming the guns. Robbie finds his target; one of the thugs. Said thug is in a position there Robbie can bounce into him, off of the tree opposite the thug, back into the aforementioned thug, then back into the tree...and so on. "This!" *Sproing!* "Is what!" *Sproing!* "You get!" *Sproing!* "For messing!" *Sproing!* "Around!" *Sproing!* "With yakuzas!" And the thug's out. What does Robbie mother lewt him /watch,/ anyway.

Wiccan's eyes glow as he floats up a few inches off the ground. The arrows taking out the tires, and the ones that are fillig the buss with smoke of some kind do not go on unnoticed, at least by him. Billy decides its a good idea to keep attention focused on him and Robbie to keep the still hidden, as far as he can tell, girl or of he is lucky girls with bows and arrows. He points his short staff at the guy in the scout uniform and calls out, "Hey Skippy! Don't you know that patriorical paramilitary groups with out dated gender and sociopolitical ideals are so last decade?" Electricity dances up and down the teen mage's staff as he does his best dramatic pose to keep every bit of attention he can on him hoping that Hawkeye or Speedy or which ever one of them in the darkness out there moves to take out the guy in charge fast. "You have two choices Skippy, you can surrender now, or you can surrender later. It's your choice either way, but only one of them leaves you without a lot of bruises." The last is said wiht a tilt of the head twords Speedball as he pinball bounces the one thug. "Speedball, Yakuza? Really?!?"

"Oh, for the love of-" Speedy grumbles, scrambling for higher ground to start tazer-arrowing anyone who gets close to grabbing the redheaded girl. "Can someone get her OUT of here?!" she shouts to the rest of the young heroes taking on the scouts. She's got too many of the scouts clamouring towards her to try to follow the girl. More bow-swinging time. Clunk. Clunk.

And as Ben deals with 'The Bus', something... Odd happens. Namely Kid Karnevil stops, and points at Xavin... Directly at Xavin and says, "Stop right there. I may have been kicked out of hell because I frightened the management, but I sure as hell am not unobservant." Then he offers Wiccan an odd smile, "Besides, the longer I keep idiots like you busy, the more the others can do what needs to be done. And I wouldn't say I represent any group like that. Id say more that I'm trying to mock a beloved american group by using their uniform as I kill and kidnap." And with that said, he waves that radio around that he was talking into earlier.

Oh yeah? 'Not unobservant'? Tell that to the thugs as Speedball bounces off of some of them, keeping them down.

Heck, even other thugs fall as Hawkeye makes herself known as she steps out of the trees, firing arrows at the legs of a thug or two.

Or tell that to Speedy as she takes out some thugs as well with her arrows!

Seeing that the 'Scoutmaster' is making his move with pointing and comments Ben sees an opportunity. "Thnk," "Thnk," both web shooters lauch two balls straight for the man. Never has he tried two web-impact balls toward the same target. The idea is simple, hit the guy with one target the hope the others would help out the others or charge up their hardest attacks. He just couldn't anounce the plan because the balls could be avoided.

"Ah," Xavin utters, finger-vines hanging eerily in the space between she and the Kid. "In that case: I find your use of the word 'mutie' to be offensive--on sheer principle."

To /fully/ demonstrate her offense, the alien coils her distended fingers together into a dense, tangled /knot/ of retextured flesh and lunges forward with an overhanded swing of her leafy cudgel. "Search the bus!" she shouts, taking another swipe at the Kid, trying to land a solid blow on the demented scout. "Keep them disoriented and--"


 * Thnk!*

A ball of webbing comes zooming in before Xavin can go for another swing, and the surprised alien jerks away rather than risk finding out what the strange projectile might do to her; the dense ball o' vines comes undone as she yanks her arms up and away from Karnevil, leaving the stretched extremities splayed out across the ground like spent streamers.

After a quick look down, the alien murmurs something absolutely filthy in her native tongue.

Pete Wisdom enters from: Upper Manhattan.

Pete Wisdom enters the Argus's flight deck.

Once Speedball passes Wiccan in mid-bounce, he calls out. "That's it! Next movie night? I choose!" He smirks towards the masked leader of the assailants, and while he tries to keep a pinball-esque pattern to keep knocking them on their rears, he decides to go with what he's good at; ticking people off. "Looks like someone's not getting their 'evil lackey' merit badge tonight, /loser./" he says.

He'll keep going. He heard that radio call. "Kid Karnevil? Well, you're definitely a clown. And besides, I beat that game when I was a kid. Weak sauce."

Wiccan shrugs, "Sorry Skippy, no one is getting that. You just look like a dork." He hears the command to get the red haired girl out of there and sighs. Civilians, some of them just don't know when to get out of the area...not that he likely would have before he was a hero but he would have at least found a safe place to take pictures from instead of running out into the middle of things. "Iwantersomeplacesafe, Iwanthersomeplacesafe, Iwanthersomeplace safe!" Wiccan chants moving his hands in vuagly mysterious and mystical patterns before a bolt of bluish white light flys from his hands twords hte red head with all the self preservation instincts of a lemming intending to teleport her somewhere safe and away from the potintial violence. That done he casts his eyes around to see if there are any goons that are still standing or starting to get up that Speedball does not look like he has taken out or about to go for yet and pulls lightning out of the sky to take down any of them left.

And that redheaded girl is dealt with, between the combined actions of Wiccan and Mia. And yet, strangely enough, as she starts to fade away, something else happens. Kid Karnevil pulls out a small object which he breaks in half, which causes him to start to fade away with the same teleportation effect as that civilian?!?

And of course his teleporting means that the web bursts from been just pass through where he use to be, and he can't respond to Speedball.

Of course as he vanishes the radio he had on him isn't teleported strangely enough and lands on the ground with a bit of a thud, before a voice can be heard coming from it. A female voice.

"Guys, this is Persuader. Looks like Karnevil and Harm will be our pit fighters next time. Executioner and I got our kids!"

Meanwhile as the 'smoke' clears from the bus, Hawkeye starts to move towards it, before nodding once at Xavin, as if agreeing to his idea. All though as she, and anyone else gets on board, and past Bens webbing from earlier, they'll have an interesting sight. One that looks very much like what people may see if they remove the masks of the downed thugs. That being that the thugs are kids as well. Teenagers really. All under the age of 18. It's just the ones on the bus don't have their masks on. Well, there's also a dozen or so kids not in the black outfits on the bus as well. And thankfully they're all unconscious for some reason. Not dead.

Xavin makes sure to wrap the radio up in one of her vines as she drags the gradually retracting things behind her to the bus. "Cowards," she hisses as she waits her turn to climb aboard. "Smirking, childish, ridiculous--"

A foot is carefully braced on a metal step when it's her turn, she steps up inside, and the next words die on her lips.

A few seconds later, when she finally spins around to disembark and her hands have just about retaken their natural(by human standards, anyway) shape, she tightly murmurs, "I don't know if 'bad cop' is entirely fair," gesturing behind herself to the bus full of uniformed and un-uniformed kids "As much as I would prefer otherwise."

"Oh man," Speedball says, as he finally comes to a stop. He fidgets a little, lest his kinetic field come to a stop and leave him as Robbie again. The bad guy has teleported away, but he did see something drop to the ground and make noise. "Uh..." He looks at his gloved hand, then the radio, and picks it up. No fingerprints on his part, thank you. "Okay, so there was...Kid Karnevil. Harm. Persuader, who's a woman, and someone else named Executioner." He gets an idea. "Wiccan, can you ring Axiom? He seems to know a ton of names, and...well, my phone is in my regular clothes." And his current outfit has no pockets. It's a little embarassing. He holds the radio away from him, as if it were alive and squishy with multiple legs.

"Is anyone else wondering how these guys have the budget for a teleporter, but came here in a schoolbus?" Speedy asks, pulling open the emergency door to let the smoke clear out so they can start pulling out the unconscious teenagers. "And I'm getting the feeling the words To Be Continued are scrolling underneath us. This is majorly messed up, and is giving us more questions than answers about these kidnappings."

Wiccan starts flying forward at speed when he sees Karnevil starting to fade. "Don'tlethimescape, Dontlethimescape, Don'tlethim..." Before he can get the spell off the kid is gone and the radio falling to the ground. "...Escape." He really wishes he was not rasied to be as polite as he is, that way he could just yell a couple of really filthy things at failing to catch the bad guy. He starts to reach for the radio when it gets picked up in the vines. "I...that is strange." As Ben yells out commands he nods because they are pretty smart ones to try. "Bindthefallen, Bindthefallen, Bindthefallen!" He chants waving his hands a bit meaning to make ropes, plastic zip ties, and what ever else he can conjur up appear and bind the hands and feet of all of the downed badguys. He steps up too Speedball nodding, "I can but I know as many names as he does. First three nothing off the top of my head although Karnevil is twigging something. I know the name Executioner, but can't be the same one cause way not his style. The one I know of is Asgardian and tends to the hunting motiffs and GBH not using kids to kidnap other kids." Wiccan shakes his head at Speedy, "Teleports are easy if you got someone with the powers, but the busses and look at everyone no one old enough to drink. Its a theme thing I think, and that is seriously giving me the wiggens."

And from that radio that Speedball tried to take from Xavin, a voice that some may find familiar can be heard.

"Speedball? This is Axiom..."

And yet as that happens, ropes do appear, and bind all the fallen thugs, both on and off the bus.

Kate, if she hears that voice doesn't respond. Not even as she glances at Ben.

"Sorry, computers aren't really my thing." is said, even as she does wonder about the point Speedy brought up in regards to a teleporter.

Sighing, "I pulled off the plate. We can trace the numbers to wherever it was stored and if we're lucky get a security feed. Most public places will have some type of camera in place. As for our paramilitary friends, we need to figure out who will crack and hopefully get some tasty information," Ben says looking over the group before looking to the paramilitary group. He gives a shrug, "I suppose I can dangle somebody off a building ledge for a long time...see how muc they spill," the words are said like no big deal.

Wiccan shrugs. "I know a litte but...magic and sensative electronics don't mix well" As the voice sounds he blinks and then moves over to the person with the radio, "Speak of the devil, here let me have that I know him." He holds out his hand and hopes that Xavin is willing to give over the radio so he can speak. If he can he takes a second to see how it works before replying. "Axiom? It's Wiccan. We're in the middle of the park just fought off a bunch of goons in masks...that are apparently teenagers. The guys in charge ported out, tell me you have the other radio cause you managed to catch someone."

Speedy gives Ben an odd look. "Dude. These are kids. We can't treat them like typical goons. I mean... teenagers going missing, who turn out to be kidnapped by other teenagers? I smell brain washing. But, if you wanna try..." she says, taking a step back.

"The bouncing boy is here," Xavin says as the radio settles into her hand. "Also here: a large number of what I understand to be disturbingly young soldiers."

Xavin, of course, was being taught to field strip plasma rifles while she was still in the hatchery, but--different cultures. Different circumstances; when on Tarnax VI, do as the Tarnax VI-ers do, as they often said back home.

"We are, I suppose, going to interrogate them." With that, she tosses the radio Wiccan's way to let him say his piece and glances towards Ben.

"If you are really - /really/ - committed to this plan: please, allow me to try. I... think that I may be able to find some common ground with them," she lowly offers.

"You're not hanging them from anything. Period." is said to Ben as Hawkeye levels her gaze at him. Then, there's a nod at SPeedy, showing her agreement with her fellow archer. Then there's a.... Glance at Xavin, as if asking him to continue down the road with that offer.

All though what Wiccan says into the radio does bring a response.

"Wiccan? Xavin? Um...n-no. We're in Central Park and just fought a bunch of them too but one dropped the radio when he went all...smoke screen." Pause. "...We have the s-s-same situation here. Oh man..."

Wiccan sighs as he shakes his head. "You know there are other ways besides threats. We can ask nice, and if they don't want to talk...." He takes a breath in the middle of talking to the others while waiting for a response. "I hate doing it but I am pretty sure I can make it so they can't lie without having to do lasting psychological harm." He says hoping people will see reason and not do bad things. Into the radio he replies, "Sounds like it. Our baddies faded out, but sounded like they are going to be in trouble with thier boss. We need to meet and compare notes."

Ben is not the nicest of people when it came to finding out information. He had to dig deep in the past to find out informoation, "If you," Ben says gesturing to Xavin then he nods to Wiccan, "Or you want to work your magic, go for it. As unethical as it might be digging deep for information with one person could save tens maybe hundreds more. The kidnapping rumor have hit other places according to web forums. Plus there's all those that have been missing a while now. Add in the other factoid that Scoutmaster's source or whatever named off four people. Law of averages say ten a head, that's twenty since two completed. Plus all the times all four were successful. Add in two successful rounds plus today that's a hundred," Ben shrugs at the group, "Just saying." Yeah it's the hard things to do, but the needs of the many over the needs of the few. He didn't disagree with nicer options. Some nicer options take time and who knew how often the magical appearing school bus did its thing.

Granted, a few of Xavin's present ideas involve hanging; the alien vagrant begrudgingly strikes them from her mental list as she tenuously suggests, "I could... talk to them." A glance towards Ben, and then with a wrinkling nose, she adds, "Nicely...?" and her eyes slide back towards Kate, almost as if seeking some kind of confirmation. "I--will be the good cop. I guess."

Speedy looks at Scarlet Spider. "You know. You're kind of a douche."

Thinking deep down about it Ben tries to think what would Spider-Man would do. Sharing the same face as Peter didn't mean he was Peter. Except deep down Ben wants to be like Peter. Hearing Speedy's words causes the clone to look toward her then down, "I'll be around if you guys need me." A stream of webbing hits his bookbag which by the bus. Once it's in his hand he leaps off then swings away. He needed time to clear his head.

And from that radio comes Axiom once more.

"Wiccan do you think you c-could teleport some of these guys for use. They need to get to a hospital."

Before Persuader speaks up.

"Please tell us which hospital too, suckers."

Xavin's attention snaps towards the new voice on the radio, and after grabbing hold of Wiccan's wrist to turn the radio towards herself she transmits, "I would /much/ rather tell you where we are right /now/, so that you can face us /yourself/ instead of forcing children to fight your battles for you." Her voice starts out moderately even, but by the end, she is /seething/; she even throws out a harsh, "Coward," to cap it off.

Wiccan nods at Xavin. "Yes, nicely. They say you can catch more flies with honey after all." He shrugs as he looks for a thug that is awake or looks like he will be soon. "Now ..." He stops as he hears other voices on the radio. With almost a growl his arm is grabbed and Xavin replies for him. Wiccan hands the radio over to Xavin to let her keep using it. "Find someone that looks like they may be capable of talking, I am going to go teleport those that need it to the hospital." He reaches into a pocket and fishes around till he pulls out...a round stone with a hole in the center on a string. "Makewhoeverwearsyouspeaktruth, Makewhoeverwearsyouspeaktruth, Makewhoeverwearsyouspeaktruth!" He hands the new necklace over too Xavin as well. "Here, the spell won't last long, sunrise at best, but anyone that wears it should be compelled to tell the truth only...if thier will power is not too much." That said he steps back and starts to chant to himself to teleport to go help the injured.

And it's Axiom again from the radio.

"I w-was hoping you were still listening," he says. "We'll b-be kicking your butt soon enough, jerk."