2013.05.18 - The Zoo

Everything is at the ready. The venue is prepared, ready to receive honoured guests. The docks are set up with armed henchment in suits; most of the slips for boats still open. There are a few that have already arrived to the warm clime of the South Florida Keys.

On a small island, tucked away from the main flow of boat traffic, is a temporary spot set up for just such a display. There is a 'big top', a big, red and blue tent, and seats set for engagement speakers, a dias up front so all can see, and a sound system so all will be able to hear the speeches from the various groups. There is a long buffet table in the back, with cold food. Waiters and waitresses have already begun to walk around, bite-sized hors d'oevres and champagne flutes in the offering.

Then, there is the building.. the concrete bunker, as it were, left over from the Cold War Era, built by a wealthy businessman who wanted to be sure there was a place to go 'just in case'. Now, that 'just in case' could very well have been anything from 'If the Soviets dropped the bomb' to 'If the Chinese invaded' to 'If the mutants took over after being voted equal'.

That last bit is exactly how and why the building is being used.

It is set up in 'penitentiary style', that is, single corridors off a central hub. There are only a couple of the 'spokes' being used at the moment, mind. This is as much a 'zoo' as a plea for more funding from those visiting. After all, who wouldn't want to see an example of 'services rendered' for their money?

Concrete is throughout, and the mutants have been moved from their accomodations to something more temporary for being shown off. The more exotic are set at the end, as the 'finale', as it were.

There has apparently been some money coming in, as there has been a quick redesign of one of the spokes. There's a variant of 'electronic dog fence' on some of the cells.. cages.. that keep those within, thanks to a subcutaneous implant. The effects would be electric shocks at the base of the spine, causing temporary paralysis to the legs. Nothing permanant, mind. (Those affected can decide if they want it or not on their character! Or if they know about it or not!)

After all, who would want their displays broken? Not when there's a chance for more funding!

There are all sorts to view, too.. from the winged to the scaled, and everything in between. Wings have been clipped, and some of the more 'sinister' and 'dangerous' have been carefully kept drugged, though this evening? There is a different mixture to the drugs, and most of the exhibits are able to talk, though some, perhaps not as coherently as others.

All have shackles made of extruded, strong plastic/resin.. and both hands and feet are held, though more like a chain gang that is forced to shuffle rather than tight cuffs. Wings are clipped.. and all are dressed (or undressed, though some modesty almost remains) to show off their particular non-humanness to the fullest extent.

All throughout, there are, of course, guards. Armed guards with various weapons on the chance where if one weapon fails, another will work quite handily. Very much the 'torches for some and rakes for others' mentality.

---

The guests are in evening-wear, their dates on their arms dripping in jewels and oozing in sophistication- or at least trying desperately. There are a few from some of the more 'upstanding' organizations, though no names are broadcasted with a 'Hi, My Name Is' tag. Everyone seems to know everyone else. So not a 'mixer'!

First comes the speeches, and the chairs are slowly being filled with bodyguards positioned in the back.. armed.

--

To discover the date and location of the 'zoo' has taken the resources of more than a few "agencies"...

When Kurt didn't show up for their dinner date the night before, Amanda got worried. Too recently, Mystique put a hit out on the Fuzzy Blue Bamfer, so... yes. It doesn't take much to get the magic user's spidey-sense (so to speak) tingling. She checked all the usual places for him -- his new boat, his usual haunts, until she finally wound up at the Institute, looking for him there. It was entirely possible he'd forgotten. Possible, but unlikely.

So, when she didn't find him there? She went to his room in the Mansion and broke out her scrying crystal. Bright side? He's still on Earth. Not so bright side? He's at the opposite end of the freakin' country, and there's no good reason why he would be.

So, armed with that knowledge and a gut feeling that said Something Is Seriously Wrong, she persuaded one of the X-Teeps to do a sweep with Cerebro. Only to find that -- surprise! surprise! -- the fuzzy blue elf (and a few others) was in trouble.

So, it was off to the Blackbird with Bobby and Meggan in tow (and perhaps someone else as well). They pinpointed the location to off the Florida Keys. As they got closer, the big top could be seen. That didn't bode well. Not at all. Though, if anyone knows circuses, it's Amanda Sefton. "Set us down outside the range of their guards," she suggests to Bobby, making a scan of the area. "I can cloak us with illusions until we get inside." Or longer.

Iceman had been working on dealing with his power-problems when Amanda came calling. And once she explained the situation, he was getting into uniform as quick as he possibly could. Making sure back up would be sent if things went a little too far south, Iceman set out with Amanda and Meggan. At the controls of the Blackbird, he's fully iced up right now. "You got it. Please fasten your seatbelts ladies and return all trays and seats to their upright position," he jokes as he brings the stealthy craft in for a cafeful landing.

Josie was exploring the pipes of the X-mansion when she overheard, through one of the drains, Amanda recruiting Bobby and Meggan to the rescue mission. Of course, her favourite teacher in trouble, there's no way that Josie's staying behind. Slipping into the Blackbird behind the rushing X-Men, she finds a storage compartment and, turning into water, flows into it to hide out for the flight.

Meggan's reaction to hearing of Kurt's distress was almost comically horrified. (Secretly, she could not deny that not having to do advanced multiplication exercises in favor of getting into some sort of super-scuffle was appealing, too.)

She had pulled out her super-compressed dark-green one piece, and has been sitting nervously in a seat, watching out a window. The flight was too fast for too much dithering. She pauses, and her 'nervous' look slowly and visibly changes into an 'irate' look at the sight of the circus tent.

At Iceman's prompting she reaches up to fasten her seatbelt (it is already fastened). "B- Iceman," she says, "are you sure they won't notice the plane somehow...?"

From cell to cage in the concrete bunker. It's a position that Kurt's woken up to, and in a bleary-eyed moment, or rather, several, it begins to register exactly where he is. Not where, where, but.. where. Cage. And dressed, okay.. not quite dressed..

He's lethargic, his movements heavy.. and there's nothing that is even vaguely clear. He's seeing in double, and should he move, triple and dizziness is almost overwhelming.

Kurt rolls, ever so slowly, his tail thrashing as he tries to find some position where he doesn't feel as if the world is spinning. "Mein Gott.." is murmured.

Oh, if Domino only realized where in the world they all were... It wouldn't help matters any but it would sure throw her for a serious loop. The problem with being stuck in a cell is that it's only a matter of time before the occupant becomes bored stupid. It's already been a number of hours that she's been stuck in polymer cuffs and surrounded in steel and concrete, but at least everyone here is still getting fed.

She's finding ways to pass the time where possible. The doors are solid and have at least some bars on them, bars which she has latched onto for stability to do pull-ups off of. Yeah, yeah, real 'come with me if you want to live' stuff. Doctor Silverman called in sick today, lucky bastard. The physical strain not only gives Dom something to do but it clears out some of her pent up aggression.

It also feels like the adrenaline is helping to clear the drugs out of her system.

''Guards in rotation are accounted for. Average distance between footsteps places the main exit at approximately thirty feet away. No more than a dozen of us present. And that damned French guy, he'll be caught up with the crowd. Now then..which one of you kids has my key? Also there's that guy in cell three... Wonder if he's up for a drink later.''

Longshot had been experimented on, had been tested, maybe even dissected he wasn't entirely sure about that. All he could remember right now was the Spineless Ones... they held him and dissected him because he was different... because he was special.

"Please not again! I can't go back anymore! It's too much, I want to be with Felicia. No more sequels. Just leave me alone now! I want to live my life."

He was stripped down to just a set of leather pants and pulled at the shackles on his hands and feet, but the fight was out of him, he was expecting this, for so long he was expecting this, even if he didn't realize it., "I don't want to be part of this anymore," he muttered to himself. He obviously thought he was somewhere else, somewhere he didn't even realize he knew about. Every one of those rich fat-cats looked to him as bolted, yellow skinned spineless people walking about on spider-like devices, "Just no more... no more..."

The guards don't happen to notice a giant, black aircraft simply because it does have some rather ingenious cloaking devices of its own. This is a pretty stripped down gathering as those that are in charge fully believed in their ability to keep things under the radar, as it were. Close group of like-minded people- who would try and make things difficult? After all.. everyone here had a stake in the future. Their future where muties didn't have such sway.

As a result, when they do land quietly, they are unseen and, oddly enough, unheard (thanks to the magic of comic books!).

Just beyond, the big top, where the first speaker is coming to the dias. There is polite applause, and the greetings to the event begin.

"Thank you all for attending. I assure you that this evening will be a night you will remember. Under one location are a sample of the strangest, oddest .. things that you may ever have seen. Feel free, during the course of your stay here, to go and look. But, be on your guard," and here comes a touch of the showmanship in the Master of Ceremonies, "You can never truly know what these creatures are capable of!"

Yes, the magic of comic books, which allows things like, oh, I don't know... how about a white noise generator? Or, you know, one of those funky superscience sound machines you sometimes see on late night Discovery Channel programs that registers the offending noise about it and sends out a fully opposite sound wave to cancel it out. Absolute silence. Sure. That sounds good. Why not?

In any case, the Blackbird is very much the latest in stealth technology, so Amanda flashes Meggan a tight smile. "Trust me. They won't hear a thing." Nor will they see anything -- between the 'Bird's cloak and Amanda's illusion, not even a rippling blade of grass will be seen.

As the Bird touches down and the disembarkment ramp is lowered, the sorceress glances at her companions. "Stay close to me. The illusion will be easier to maintain if I don't have to stretch it more than a few feet." Her blue eyes scan the big top and its guards. "Options:" she says to them. "A) We walk in looking like we own the place, in high society wear. Or, B), we sneak in through the loading zone over there." Opposite entry points, just as many obstacles in the way. "Preferences?"

"Because we've got magic and the most advanced tech Beast and the Professor can buy and cook up here on this jet," Bobby replies to Meggan. He makes sure he's the last of the trio off the plane, making sure it's set for a remote call and a quick escape. He adjusts his bandana a bit and nods. "Let's go sneaky. We'll make noise when we have to. Until then we should find out where they have Nightcrawler and the others." As soon as she's heard the others walk by her compartment, Undine flows out and starts flowing after them. For the moment, she stays water, just a puddle of water coincidentally floating after the others almost but not quite silently, the slight sound of trickling water there.

Meggan imagines, briefly, Desperate Dan catching the Blackbird and gently setting it down. (She's dreadfully fond of him.)

She gives Amanda a deep, rather grave nod as she rises upwards, only briefly deterred by the seatbelt, before answering Bobby rather sheepishly, "I'm just not terribly used to all of this..." She lingers on the ramp for a moment, glancing over her shoulder, but proceeds downwards after Amanda, not wanting to be too far separated, after all. One hand is raised up to shade her eyes as she peers towards the two locales.

She doesn't notice the puddle.

"I don't think I could act posh for terribly long," she says. After a moment, feeling the balmy air, she asks Amanda, "Do they have snakes around here? The big kind, I mean."

Below, in the cages area, there are who are now thought of 'regular' guards, including one that has a bandage across his nose. Now, they watch everything, the night one of no little importance for them.

As the guests trickle through, a pair stop before Longshot's cage, and the woman stares at him for a long moment before purring softly and putting her arm through her escort's. "He's cute.."

"Dear, he's a mutie," comes in reply, though her escort, too, stares at the man for a little longer than perhaps is needed.

Another small group of men is further down, coming to the 'exotics', stopping in front of Domino's cage, though a couple continue their path.. slowly. "I've never seen something quite like it.. do you think," and the man speaking looks to the other two, ".. it's mother was a dalmation?"

The other two, however, are filtering down, and their breaths are pulled in a hiss to see the blue, spade tailed creature with glowing yellow eyes. The immediate response is to take a step back, the sound of fear and loathing rising, even as bile comes to sit in their throats. "What is that thing?"

Kurt blinks his eyes, trying to will his brain to take a little more in, but there simply isn't anything there that'll help him focus. The sound of voices, however.. they seem so very distant, so very elusive. But that tone.. he's heard it a thousand times. The fear, the revulsion.. and he'll use it. He'll take what he can get.

''Sigh. The attractive ones are always crazy or taken. Or both.''

"Hey, number three! Shut up, wouldya? The only thing being dissected here is my patience!" Domino calls out while hanging from her door, muscles and perspiration detailing battle-scarred alabaster skin. "Like we don't have enough problems without having to listen to that guy wailing like a banshee," she mutters under her breath.

The bars are released, dropping the albino woman back to her bare feet upon the chilled floor. "Hey, generic guard number four-sixteen. You might wanna bring your boy around or he's gonna scare off all of your big wigs. Well, either that or drive the rest of us into killing ourselves with our own thongs."

''C'mon, girl. -Variables.- Data, numbers, odds, give me -something- to work with, here! Think..thinkthink... Okay..judging by the humidity in the air there's either a ..thirty-two percent chance of rain or a sixty-eight percent chance that we're somewhere near an ocean. Yeah. Real good, Domino.''

"Still twice the mother yours ever was, jerk. Cripes, would it kill you idiots to give us a TV around here?"

Longshot looked at his shackles, "These chain's I'm not the first to wear them. First there was a poor girl who only grew had cephalopod limbs, and then they were on the a boy with the wax body... he was called Herman, They are gone, and I'm here... what does that mean!?" his psychometric power seemed unaffected by the drugs he was given,"But no! That doesn't make sense! I won't go on stage again!"

Longshot jumped to his feet and charged the front of his cell his four fingers and toes on full display as he's yanked back by his shackles, "No more time in the spotlight! No more Longshot! Get Gaveedra-Seven! He's been better at this since the thing you call the ninties! You didn't need me back then! Why do you need me now!!!"

He curled up and muttered a single phrase, "C'mon, girl. -Variables.-"

"... rate, we're seeing almost exponential growth as the muties begin to breed..." is coming from the Master of Ceremonies in earnest as he leans against the podium, his hands lightly holding the sides. The waiters and waitresses gather in the back, their trays mostly untouched this round.

Along the water, there are more boats coming in.. motor-boat skiffs from larger boats that have a little more difficulty mooring at the small, out of the way island.

Guards wander now, only a couple at the docks. All's quiet so far, as far as they can see.. and while their guard won't be completely dropped, they are finding that they can relax, if only a little. Their guests are well protected, and there isn't any chatter that they can hear on their radios.

Amanda gives Bobby a nod and Meggan another tight smile. "Back door it is," she agrees. She starts directing them toward the waterfront. "It's Florida, Meggan," she tells other woman. "There's more than just snakes." Snakes don't scare her. Though, truthfully, she's not crazy about the Keys, regardless. Too much nature. Not enough urban.

Ah well. What can you do.

She glances behind her through force of habit -- 360' awareness drilled into her in the Danger Room how many times? There's a rolling puddle.

"Iceman... are you leaking?"

"Don't worry though. They won't come this way," Bobby quickly assures Meggan. He doesn't want her being worried about snakes in the middle of a mission. "Reptiles like the heat and you're with the coolest guy around," he adds. As they reach the waterfront, Iceman makes a mental note of all the boats and plans a little parting gift. He notices the puddle at about the same time as Amanda. "Sorry, babe. You're hot but not melting me yet," he says, unable to resisit the joke. "That...is someone who's going to be in detention for the next month if it's who I think it is," he says, eyes narrowing. No, he does not sound happy.

Undine stops moving the instant Amanda spots her, but it's too late. A moment after Bobby's said those words, the water rises up, retaking human shape and changing back, a guilty look on her face but immediately saying in her own defence, "You might need me. I can go places and do things nobody else can."

Meggan considers the implications of there being more than just snakes. Nonetheless, she reasons, a snake is going to work much better than a bull alligator, at least immediately. That said, a snake can't cover ground nearly as readily, she decides in further internal monologue, which at least is keeping her from drifting off.

Then she finally notices Undine. "Oh!" she says, with surprise. Then, with a glance towards Bobby, "Well, it might be, I can't really say." She does tilt her head towards Undine, adding chidingly, "Still, you shouldn't be a sneak. It makes it hard to trust you." A pause. "I mean you shouldn't go around people's - but that's what we're d - Oh, you get what I mean."

With that she turns and steps forwards, into the tall grass. She sort of falls forwards without fanfare, and a hefty reptile moves forwards, through the tall grass. Then her earlier question may gain context as a boa constrictor wriggles its way into a slightly ill-fitted vent cover.

The couple that stopped in front of Longshot's cage take a collective gasp, and rocks back at the assault of the bars. It doesn't hurt that they also notice the .. thing's hands. The woman's hand rises to her mouth to cover a squeaked noise, and the man is ready to walk on. "Best that he's behind bars.." though as they do begin to pass, he's looking back at the caged mutant, reluctantly leaving it behind.

Domino's outburst is greeted by the bandaged Carl, thumping on the cage with that short stick as he approaches. "Get the hell down from there.." and his eyes narrow. "You're first on the list for another dose.." and he turns around to do just that. "Damned Dr. Silverman.. sticking us with the idiot orderly today.." is murmured.

The one man that lingers in front of Domino's cage stares at the woman for a couple more long moments. "Too bad there's no fur. Would be a wonderful coat."

Speaking of coat, however, as he catches the reaction of his two compatriots, he speeds up to look into the next cage. He catches his breath, and keeps his distance, though he looks to his friends and puts a hand on their elbow. "This," he murmurs, "is more than enough..". He'll be writing that check to keep things like the blue demon behind bars!

As for Kurt, well.. he's trying, he really is. He can hear a familiar voice in his head.. the sound of Domino. Domino? Dom.. and there is a subtle, weak rise of lips to a smile that doesn't quite show fang, but the intent is there. Instead, that tail whips up.. and thumps.

What Kurt can't register, but his body does, is that gentle whiff of magic that is in the air.

Long distance to Domino: Nightcrawler is thumping his tail in order to be able to focus on something.. an aching tail.

''Hey wait. That wasn't inside of your head.''

Domino's next breath catches slightly as she -stares- across the hall to ol' 'Number Three.' Longshot. The crazy dude that somehow just -repeated some of her thoughts.-

Okay, that's kinda creepy.

Then there's happy-fun Carl getting in her face again. "Just couldn't stay away, could ya?" she challenges with total sarcasm, watching as the guard walks away.

Is she clear again..? Good. Pale blue eyes sweep back to the remains of her last meal. Just how lucky is she feeling, here? One good way to find out. With the soft shuffling of plastic cables she grabs a small hunk of bread from the plate, balling it up into a smaller, more densely packed morsel.

Back to the door she goes. One palm is opened flat. One breadball is placed square upon her palm. One set of fingers curl, tense, and position themselves behind the breadball. A moment of concentration passes across her face as she tries to line up the shot on Number Three.

Flick!

Hell, if this goes alright she might have to send another one after Dalmatian Fan.

Still curled up and scared Longshot kept repeating as he rocked, "C'mon girl. -Variables.- "

Then he stopped. Suddenly and unexpectedly. It was a long moment before Longshot lifted his head out of his knees and revealed that his left eye was glowing white, the Luck Force was with him, his heart was pure.

He would save everyone of them, everyone captured. His face was cold, none of the jovial nature he was know for was expressed in his current expression, "Today, this once, everyone lives!"

He just held his hand out and caught the piece of bread that Domino was shooting at him. He whispered as he looked at the wad of bread, "Everybody lives."

He jumped up to his feet and looked at the wad of bread, and considers for a second. He then pressed it into his hands making it a bit harder, and threw it out of his cell, trusting in Luck Force, and in Dom's own luck to make it go exactly where it would need to go.

While the teachers deal with the recalcitrant child, Meggan squirms on in.. and finding a that generic 'air duct', she can follow it down.. and down.. and down. The bunker is buried, though thanks to the water table, not too deeply. There are a few guards walking the row of mutants that are on display, and a few that are walking the row of mutants that are still caged for one reason or another.

From her vantage point, in the ducts, it looks like it may be a little difficult to open the thing from where she is, behind the grate.. but with a soft *whap*, there is a latch that is struck, and the grate shifts such that the latch is now subtly.. broken, allowing some shimmied entrance. Tight fit, sure, but it's there.

And above, there is some polite applause as the Master of Ceremonies turns over the microphone to a man from Stryker.. a company that fronts Medical Supply subsidiaries.

"Give me time, Frosty," Amanda quips playfully back at Bobby, though her expression changes completely as the word 'detention' is heard. She fixes the watery young mutant with a hard look. Hellvua first meeting, since she's not formally met the kid, yet -- though she's heard a thing or two from Kurt. "You sure about that?" she asks the girl as Meggan does her shapeshifting thing. Her gesture indicates the shifter, whose tail is disappearing through that grate.

Her lips thin into a tight line. She weighs the variables. Leaving the kid back at the Blackbird seems like the most sensible plan, to be sure. It's simply not the most reliable plan. No young x-er she's ever met understands the words 'stay here'. None of them. At all. It's like all they here is "blahblahblah blahblahblah blahblah..." Charlie Brown style.

Finally, she sighs. It's not a defeated sound. It's an irritated one. Detention. Oh, yes. The girl might die of old age in detention.

"We don't have time to argue," the magicienne says, now, her thoughts returning to Kurt and the others. "Stay close," she instructs the girl. "Do not go off on your own. Understand?" Then, she glances to Bobby. "C'mon. We've got to catch up with Meggan."

She turns, now, and moves a little more swiftly toward an entry point better suited to their adult forms, illusion wrapped tightly around them to maintain their invisibility. *Sneak-squeeze-flip-slide* They're inside and moving fast to stop any silence alarms before they're sounded and circumvent obstacles before they get in the way.

Iceman gives Amanda a quick smirk and then nods. Undine gets a hard look from him and the icy mutant nods. "You stick close and you follow everything we tell you to do, got it?" he says. He's going to make sure the detention is unpleasant but right now, rescue mission. "Ladies first," he gestues for Amanda to slip into the entrance first. He squeezes his way in, keeping watch for cameras and alarms to take out before they can become a problem. "I'm giving these guys such a wicked case of frostbite," he mutters.

Undine nods a little to Amanda's question if she's sure. "I am. All I need is a tiny crack." Still, she looks nervous, looking between the two adults, and then nods quickly with a relieved expression as they say she can come along. "Swear it," she answers to the orders to stay close and do as she's told. And she follows quickly. Undine has partially disconnected. After nudging the grate open, Meggan realizes, squinting out through serpentine eyes, that she might draw some attention being a big ol' snake. As such, she - changes again; thankfully, out of view.

A spider crawls out of the vent, moving for something sufficiently heavy to be hidden behind. Hopefully nobody will look directly at it, as Media Contamination mean it is in a tasteful red-and-blue-with-black-webbing pattern.

It may actually surprise Amanda that there aren't any alarms sounding. Not with Amanda's illusion wrapped about her, about them. There are cameras, of course, but they are incapable of breaking through the obfuscating spells.

What the Xers will see when they hit the ground, of course, is that main spoke, just a little out, and the length of corridors breaking away from that center. The observation desk has small screens, each looking down the halls, and a couple centered on specific cells.

Wave hello, Domino!

---

The only person who might have seen Domino's actions has already passed, pausing at the blue demon.. thing's cage. Turning about now to make their way from the place, and back upstairs to rejoin the larger group.

Longshot's actions, too, are missed, and it's his launching of the bread ball that begins to bring everything into play. The beginning of the end, as it were, only those above don't know.

Kurt, too, is blissfully left alone for a moment, and his tail thumps again.. and again.. and again.. the sound muffled by the fact that it's a concrete floor. Heavy eyelids are forced open, the glowing yellow eyes hazy, and still not truly focusing, his head still dizzy. But there is something to focus on.

The guards, now, are staying at the front of the spoke, with Carl muttering that he's got to get the orderly. Damned muties.. why couldn't anyone work out the right dosage before? Because like any project, there are deadlines that no one could humanly make, and the show has to go on for the money.

Meggan's entrance is near the front of the spoke, but in the caged mutant's spot. The spider skitters down and behind an lit exit sign. While the guards may not see the spider at the moment, there are a couple of bugs that decide that perhaps it's time to move out of the neighborhood!

''Thank god he's finally snapped out of it. Kinda. ..Okay, maybe not.''

"Great, we've got a Doctor Who fan down here," Domino replies to Longshot. "Don't suppose you remembered to bring your TARDIS along?"

Damn that guy's weird.

Then the breadball is gone. Off to who knows where. "Yeah, that's..really helping us out here, buddy. Thanks." Hey, she doesn't know!

Then there comes a thumping, thumping upon the cellar floor. That's gotta be where Kurt's holed up, right? Good to hear that he's stirring. Sounds like a slow start, but a start nonetheless.

Dom's eyes fall closed, forehead coming to rest against the metal door with a tiny, muted *thunk.* "Soooo booored..."

Yeah, because that's the biggest of her problems today.

Longshot trusted in the Luck Force, he trusted in what he had done with that piece of bread. He stood up and said, "Listen to me, brother and sisters!" Longshot almost sounded like he was giving the speech at the third act of a movie, "We do not need to be like this, these shackles and chains!"

His eye was glowing white as he gave his speech,the Luck Force reacting, probably even helping Domino's own abilities, "We will fight! We will not be the tools of the Spineless Ones! We will achieve what we will must always achieve! We will achieve... Freedom!"

Longshot took his role, as a leader, that what he was designed to do, yet things were not going his way as of yet, he would sacrifice everything if it meant to get at least one of his throwing blades back.

The guards are on the move again. Carl is escorting, or more, haranguing the orderly towards the cages, nodding his head at a couple that are just coming down for a brief walk-through of the 'zoo'. This.. this has to get to Domino before--

Oh, damn.

"Hey, Henry.. knock it off," Carl growls. Missing the Dr. Who reference, it sounds a lot like Henry V before their last battle! (Okay, Tom Baker did do the same Henry speech, but that's before most people's recollection nowadays!)

That glowing eyespot that Longshot, however, is something that is noticed, but before Carl can actually react, the orderly bumps into the larger guard, and inadvertantly stabs him with the syringe.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.."

Carl, for his part, turns around with a "God dammit! What in the he--" and begins to fall. When dealing with muties, it's always good to have a strong sedative...? He'll be cursing Dr. Silverman for quite some time.

Amanda can't be sure there aren't alarms blaring in some small security booth somewhere. But, she's hoping luck is with them. (They *are* going to rescue Domino, as well, after all... and she doesn't know about Longshot.) She pauses briefly by the security console, to see the mutants held there. Domino. She recognizes her. The invisibility illusion holding, she looks at what guards may be there and whispers a soft, deep sleep spell that should keep them out for a goodly period of time.

Then, to Bobby and Undine, she says, "That way," and points down the main corridor.

Moving swiftly, they round the corner, all unseen, in time to watch poor Carl go down. A grin splits Amanda's face. She raises her hands and *ZAT* violet magic bolts manifest out of seeming nowhere to knock the other guards flying. Steal her friends, will ya?

It's clobberin' time.

Iceman waits for Amanda to take down the guard, sending a wave if ice and snow at the orderly to take him out as well. "Check them for keys," he suggests, heading over to do just that on the now sleepy guard. Keys tend to be helpful when busting people out of cells after all. This piece of shelter isn't optimal, Meggan thinks, frowning. Her head swivels, and she shifts into something with better eyes while hidden from easy sight - and then gasps.

Both because Amanda and Bobby (and, she presumes, Undine) have just stormed the beaches, and because she can see the suffering form of Kurt! The spider becomes a flying squirrel, and then leaps through the bars, landing on the ground and washing its nose on pure reflex before becoming, once more, Meggan.

Who has to roll her neck to make up for all of those sudden adjustments. After the chiropractic-grade pop, she hastens over, saying in a quiet voice that may now be utterly unnecessary, "Kurt!" Hopefully nobody else had eyes on that cage. "Kurt, are you--?? Can you hear me, please, say something!!"

Undine keeps up with Iceman and Amanda easily as they make their way in, even maintaining her human form. As soon as Amanda's magical bolts start flying, however, she's water. Unlike usual, she doesn't bother pretending to be a puddle, but maintains a general human shape in her water form, making her a walking (if quite small) water elemental. She follows but hangs back as they search for keys, not wanting to risk further trouble by acting without being told to. At least, not until she has an idea how to be more useful anyway. Well, more useful than the 360 degree view her water form gives her, anyway.

"God, is he -really- preaching..?" Domino groans with Longshot's sudden outburst for freedom and victory and all that jazz. "Be a lot less like this once--"

..Huh. One guard just knocked out another guard with that injection. "I, uh..don't honestly know if I can take credit for that one," she mutters with a shifting of resin bonds, watching the scene unfold from behind her door. That's one down, anyway! Now about the rest. And the shackles. And the doors. The odds are only 1 in 32,6--

''Hey, it's coming back! Crap, pokerface, girl.''

That's not everything. "Heeey, fancy meeting you kids out this way! Mind doing me a solid and getting me the hell outta here?"

Who's bored now? Fun how that all works out in the end. Also, some girl made entirely out of water just walked on by. There's apparently a flying squirrel on the loose, too.

"Hey. I don't mean to alarm any of you guys, but I think there might be some mutants down here."

Longshot looked as his shackles as they fell off, "That is your freedom, Mojo."

He had no idea how that all happened or how it save everyone, but he cared not, "My friends, we are given freedom! Let us take it and destroy to spineless ones! For our own freedom!"

His eye continued to glow white. And he walked out of his cell, "For the freedom of all of us!."

*ZAT!*

In true cinematic fashion, the guards do go flying back.. and the surprised exclamations are just enough that the censors won't allow them to be added for a PG-13 rating. They're blown off their feet, and even the orderly takes a fall.

The sound of the bolt, and some of the exclamations of alarm brings others around from the other blocks, and finally, that klaxon comes on, blaring.. complete with the red light! Josie will be able to see that there are a grand total of about 8 on their way.

Oh look! However, there aren't a lot of them.. just.. they're armed, and more than willing to start taking pot shots. After all? Who're they going to hit? Just muties, or mutie lovers.. or..

Their cash cows.

Or worse yet? A couple of the doors. There you go, Dom.

But they'll think of that later. On the unemployment line.

---

Kurt's tail is thumping, and it's turning into something of a bloody mess. But it's something! Really.. and he's intentionally doing it, though it might not seem like it.

He's been hearing voices, some that seem to go in and out of his hallucinations. Now, however, there's another.. a voice that comes out of his past, and he lifts a heavy head to blink those all-yellow eyes in an attempt to focus once again.

Kurt starts the roll again to get to all-fours before pushing himself up to a crouch, his dizziness hitting him again, and he has to use that tail to steady him. "The world.. ist turning.."

And there.. his door is hit, and it creaks open.. as do a couple others.

Amanda drops the invisibility illusion, now. There's little point in maintaining it. "Don't let yourself get hit," she tells Undine, "but see if you can help get people out of the cells." People. Not Things. Mutants are not Things.

She stretches out her hands, again, this time wrapping magical shields around the zatted guards' weapons and pulling them toward her. She twists, then, and flashes Domino a dark smile as the doors to the cells open -- through luck or other means. "Here," she tells the mercenary, releasing the shields to flip the weapons toward her. "Best I can do."

Incomming guards taking shots, never a good sign! Especially not with alarms going off. Iceman curses and the temperature drops. Frigid beams lance out to create some icy cover from bullets for his team. "You heard her! Start getting doors open and people out. We'll hold the putty patrol here off," what? He's been watching Power Rangers.

Undine almost changes back to her human form to let them know about the incoming guards, but they start shooting so quickly it's kind of pointless. Her watery head nodding, moving quickly to the cages and starts working on opening any doors that aren't already open. She doesn't say anything, of course, not having any vocal chords or even lungs as water, but she works as fast as she can.

Kurt's bleeding!! How horrid, Meggan thinks, sliding forwards, putting one hand over his cheek. "Shhh," she soothes, doing her best to radiate calm into him even as she reaches over with her OTHER arm, which is swelling with steel cables of muscle that stand out peculiarly beneath the dark green of her outfit.

She pulls things, and pops others, all towards the goal of getting free. "B- Iceman, A- u - Oh bother it, all of you, Kurt's hurt his tail somehow! I think he's having a reaction!"

Then, with astonishment, "Are they firing guns??"

There Domino stands, and her shackles up and hit the floor. Yet again it has that twisted hallmark of something that might wind up happening with her, except that this time it didn't happen -because- of her.

There's a twitching, nagging worry in the back of her shoulders... Familiarity returns that much further. She's starting to get her probability field back online.

Quick, run some numbers! Odds of a snowstorm in Arizona next month: 1 in 794,131. Odds of Tom Cruise and Vanna White getting hitched: 1 in 992,800. Odds of getting hit on by Bobby while wearing a bikini: Sucker bet. Better!

A stray shot pulverizes the lock on her door. That feels a bit more like me, anyway. Then one of the guards slips on the spent shell casing and falls flat on his back. Okay, that one's definitely mine.

She's still not up to par. Her muscles feel heavy and sluggish. Her luck's still on the fritz. But, she doesn't have to do this alone. The cell door flies open and out steps a woman with so much sheet-white skin on display that it might be painful to look at directly. "Mutants, assemble!"

..A puddle of water is opening cell doors. This is new!

The weapons offered by Amanda are quickly caught out of the air, the hair trigger on one of them getting jostled -just- enough for the weapon to discharge at random. Three ricochets later, another guard coming to investigate gets smacked across the side of the head and drops like a sack of potatoes.

"Whoops." Right. Kurt's here, and not doing well. "I'm with cover duty, do whatever you kids need to do!"

Why yes, Meggs, they are firing guns! And Bobby's ice shield is keeping bullets of various forms from hitting the team. And lo and behold, Dom's beginning to fire back! And the albino in a bikini is doing so with the guns so lately held by said guards.

Seeing as they are suddenly unarmed, they do the smart thing and back up, and turn around to run. Those that are still mobile, at least. The klaxons are loud, and the pair of potential shareholders that were going to take a stroll think better of it, and make a dash upstairs.

Those above, well.. it's time to bug out. Completely. Runs are made for their private boats, and soon enough, there will be the sound of motors.

---

And those corridors now are a little more heavily populated by mutants as the doors begin to open. And it's just in this area, too. There are the other spokes, the other cells that still need to be freed.

They're lethargic, trying desperately to move as they aught, but.. it's like swimming through molasses. But now, at the very least, they've got a chance.

---

Kurt is crouching, his head down, and again, his tail thumps hard on the concrete floor, though now it leaves marks. Shaking his head again, he puts a hand out so he doesn't fall over.

The freeing of his hands, however, brings deep breaths to fill his lungs. The breaking of the shackles off his feet, well.. that brings a rather harsh smile to his face. He's still fighting the effects, but now that the extra drugs are coming over due? Kurt can feel..

And damn, that tail is going to be painful for the next couple of days, but..

Rising, Kurt takes the unsteady steps towards the now open door. Freedom! Almost.

As Amanda turns around, her eyes alight on Longshot for a moment. And, in that moment, he distracts her. Glowing eye notwithstanding... ''Holy crap! Who's the looker?'' Yes. Definite distraction. And for the distraction, a piece of ice -- chipped off by a bullet -- whizzes by her ear. Lucky it wasn't any closer. But, it's the next best thing to a cold shower. And that brings her snapping back to the present.

She hears the commotion upstairs and is tempted to see if there's some way to stop the Ringmaster from escaping, but her priority is with the mutants. The bastard can be hunted soon enough. But, there's got to be a faster way out of here, nonetheless. If the others were here, they'd open walls... Or, of course, she could just open a portal.

Levitating herself above the mutants that crowd the corridor, she sweeps forward, muttering a spell as she does. Throwing magic against a wall, the cinder blocks disappear in a violet mist that, when it clears to reveal a round mystical portal, proves to lead someplace much healthier. "This way!" she shouts, using a touch of magic to be heard over the battle. "Freedom's this way!"

Hot girl in a bikini? Cue one distracted Bobby Drake. Longshot in leather pants? Double distracted! Amanda's call for freedom snaps Bobby out of it though and Iceman thickens up his armor. "We've got more doors to open, guys. Let's not linger," he says. There's a pause as Bobby gets an idea. "Okay, this is crazy so feel free to yell at me later but I'm going to try something," he says, concentrating. Icy armor shakes off Bobby's body buy there's not flesh and blood underneath. No, he's changing himself to ice. Sure he has trouble turning it off but turning it on? Not a problem. Once he's fully ice, he starts making himslf a thicker suit of frigid armor. Ending up looking like a mini ice version of the Juggernaut, Iceman takes off running towards the guards. A little sheet of ice on the ground to build up speed and he's sending himself sliding at them like a human cannonball. Except not the one named Sam. "NOTHING STOPS THE JUGGERNAUT!" Iceman does his best impression of Cain too.

Screw keys. Undine hurries up by moving just to using jets of water, stretching herself out to unlock two cages at a time (or, well, close enough together to be almost at once), by pushing water into the locks and pushing the pins into place to turn them herself. She's not as distracted as the others by Longshot's looks, but probably a bit of her attention is on him as she works. Meggan helps Kurt as best she can, offering shoulder and worried fretting. These may cancel each other out to some extent. Of course, she is palpably distracted the moment she comes within eyeshot of Longshot, eyes widening, squeezing shut, and widening again.

But she is nowhere near dropping Kurt. (If he was just limping a little, maybe. Maybe. But he's worse than that.) "My GOODNESS," she breathes, before straightening up, stiffening her upper lip and moving in the direction of Amanda's exit route. "Come on now Kurt, we'll just have to go for a ride in Charles' airplane and then they'll have a look at you, we're going to be quite sure to find whatever awful person is behind this --"

Dom's back in her element, mostly. "Carl! Where ya hiding, Sniffles?" BLAM! "You still owe me a dance!" Eh--was..that..a Juggernaut on ice that just went flying past? "Disney's starting to get desperate." Right, Iceman's got this hall covered. Now where -did- that guy with the glowing eye and the tight pants disappear to? She's had crazier.

Though not by much.

Turns out Amanda can fly, too. The retreating albino slides and rolls across the floor beneath the magic-user, guns trained on their retreat to the portal. Get the others through, unconscious and injured first!

"We're not just gonna walk out of here without finishing this, are we?" she asks Amanda, a mixture of surprise and barely restrained vengeance lurking within her momentary stare. "I'm together enough, I can end this with one bullet." Crap, there's kids around. "To the leg."

Darnit if she can't pursue her mark before Kurt and the others make it out to safety first. She's just -itching- for a confrontation with the guy responsible for this!

"Where the heck are we, anyway?"

In this pause that was Longshot he was pulling at the cage, what was her pulling, shards of jagged metal. Why? Because that was his best option, outside of finding a jet pack somewhere, We will die free! he shouts as he charges out out, a set of blades in his hands. In his mind he must kill his captors, That's what an action hero would do, that is what Longshot would do,

He however looked at what everyone else had one so far and relaxed for a moment. Perhaps, he was supporting cast in this movie.

Amanda's opening of the portal in the wall certainly does gain attention. The freed mutants in the row begin to leap through in something of a leap of faith. Who knows what's on the other side, but it's got to be a damned sight better than what is on this side. Right?

There are a couple of guards that are left, though now with the fact that those disarmed guards are running for the hills, it's more like.. salmon swimming upstream. Difficult, timeconsuming.. and once the journey is done, the chances are good that they're going to be .. yes. And when Bobby comes at them, fully iced, and screaming?

Good bye! Hello unemployment!

Josie is making quick work of the locks, and with every door that opens, there is a mutant within in various stages of ability to move/walk/etc. Every one of them is thankful, however, even if they need a few moments to actually get moving.

Sadly, Carl is down, thanks to a bit of luck. The orderly that was carrying the syringe for Domino was plunged into the man's back, putting him down. The dosage was big enough to put a moose down for the count, and so the guard in white-gauze bandage around the nose is on the ground, passed out.

Is everyone but Kurt looking at Longshot? Even if the elf was more of himself, he's not of that inclination.. in the least. And the man yelling something from Braveheart? That won't end well... particularly as the trick is to not die!

Kurt's got his arm around Meggs now, and she's giving him something of support there as he moves slowly out, now truly feeling that prickling sensation that screams 'magic'.

Where Meggs leads now, however, towards Amanda's portal, Kurt puts on the brakes. There's still too much going on, and now.. he should help. Somehow.

"Nein.. I can't go.. not yet.." Not that the blue bamfer is in any shape to truly help. But he is a teleporter! "Help the others in the blocks.." and his voice lowers, "Please.."

"Florida Keys," Amanda tells Domino. "Our priority is getting the wounded and non-combatants to safety, first." She glances around to get a baring on the situation. There goes Bobby... Well, alrighty then. That works. Then, she sees Meggan and Kurt... broken and with a bloody tail. "Nightcrawler!" Oh, Kurt... Her eyes narrow and she inhales a steadying breath. Pity she has to be so even-keeled, sometimes. "Then, we find the ones responsible and..." Yeah. There are kids here. And Kurt. "...Bring them to justice."

After a fashion. There are worse things than death. And a pissed off sorceress might possibly be one of them.

Iceman ends up crashing into a wall as he plows through guards, cracking some of his icy armor. "Keep opening doors, Undine," Iceman orders, starting to help open doors as well. "Hey, shirtless dude! Help out getting the doors open," he calls to Longshot. "Once we have everyone free and outta here, we'll put the bastard behind it all on ice."

Undine nods her watery head, a weird thing since her head doesn't maintain a shape as she does, but she doesn't stop. Quickly moving from one pair of cages to the next, she opens them as fast as possible. There's no footsteps as she moves along, more gliding across the floor, losing focus on maintaining a humanoid shape as she concentrates on opening locks as fast as possible.

"Kurt - Kurt don't strain yourself, I'll be glad to go get them!" Meggan assures the black-and-blue-and-blue wonder, glancing up at Amanda and tilting him towards her. She then turns back towards the entrance and - flies.

She could do that all along, it would seem! Her hair seems to trail behind her as she smashes inwards, raising her voice to send out in a sing song, "HEL~LO call out if you're a prisoner and we shall have you out IMMEDIATELY, do NOT be shy, please!" She strives as she does to radiate /some/ sort of positive feeling - not quite hope, not quite joy, but perhaps enough to burst through induced anxiety if anyone lingering is feeling too buried in their drugged despair to speak up.

It may do Bobby and Undine some good too.

Hopefully not the people they're having a fight with, Meggan thinks a moment too late, frowning.

"Oh yeah..." Carl's kinda been turned into a throw rug. How quickly she forgets when she's anxious to go get her murder on!

Then the answer lands. The Keys. They're in..the Florida..Keys. That's... Oh, god. If Domino could be any more pale, now would be one of those moments. Instead she sets her jaw, her expression going grim as she holds the line and fires upon anything that moves and isn't one of theirs.

The friggin' -Keys.- She would have been better off not knowing. Not that she could have handled not knowing. For a lingering moment she debates falling through the portal along with everyone else.

Then, she remembers herself. "Everyone, pull back to extraction point! We're on the clock!"

''Time to make a decision, Domino. Stay, or go? Jerks still have my guns somewhere around this place. Besides, my odds of running into an Outside Situation at this point are astronomical, even for me.''

While the others are evacuating out of the portal, Dom's switching out to bigger, nastier, more loaded weapons and pushing toward the surface. Alone. That girl and her hidden agendas...

Not that Carl isn't spared getting smacked with the butt end of a rifle stock as she passes him by.

With every cell door opening, more mutants file out. And they aren't the normal 'you'd never know they were a mutant by looking at them' sort. They're the strange, the exotic. The blue, green, feathered, tentacled things that the zookeeper had promised.

The corridors are emptying out quickly, with some of the mutants making that leap of faith up, while others are beginning their foray up. They have the same idea as Amanda and Domino. Vengeance.. and they'll see it by their hands, or die trying.

Kurt is able to stand on his own now, though he's a bit wobbly. He's still dizzy, but he's swallowing back the bile so at least he doesn't lose his lunch to the vertigo. "Danke, leibchen," is murmured to Meggan, partially for that encouragement that he'll be okay, and partially to simply.. thank her, and send her off to help those still in need. "Get them off und safe."

Now here, he turns to see Amanda, and her expression. He knows that look, and it's one that needs to be tempered with compassion.. and in this state? Amanda's a tough nut to crack! Domino would be eas-- no. Not even. Kurt gives his nearest and dearest a nod; he's got this. Really!

He moves forward again before he catches Bobby's skidding, and Kurt stares before, "Ice.. did you bring the 'Bird?" He knows the answer to that question already! "They'll need your help. I'll meet you home," and his tones are sounding a little stronger. "I promise."

Meggan's aid, well.. they've been friends for a few years, at the very least. Her reluctance to leave his side is touching, and it's something that he feels dearly. He nods at her, and smiles, reaching out to touch her arm before she's gone to do that which truly needs to be done.

After all, their primary responsibility is to mutants that aren't able to defend themselves. And they have quite a few now as Amanda's portal does drop the rescued off into the middle of Central Park. Might be an idea to give the Mansion a call and have a few people act as a welcoming committee. While everyone may not be a candidate, perhaps one or two might join their ranks one day?

All in all, time to clean up and go home. It'll be easy now.

Stepping forward, he reaches out for Domino. He knew the look on Amanda's face, and in a way, perhaps he was keeping her from doing something she may regret later. That he'd regret her doing later. Now, however, the weapon they have that truly revels in such is in the form of that albino.

Oddly enough, it seems as if Domino has the same idea at the same time... and as he moves, she does as well. She doesn't get a couple steps before he's there, and then the two disappear in a ...

*bamf*