2012-10-11 META: Resistance

It's a crisp, sunny fall day and Central Park looks like a small Occupy Wall Street force has migrated to the shores of the Lake. There are street performers, food vendors, a little tent city, a first aid and water station, and face painting tables, it's all very organized if eclectic. There is a significant police presence but that's to be expected with at least one mayor making an appearance.

The stage where the speakers will be featured is backed by huge video screens. Right now what's playing is a popular Korean pop tune with a pro-mutant message. It seems to be quite popular with a cluster of little kids dancing around in the open grassy area right in front.

The human-led We Are All Related--questionably shortened to WAAR--is leading the event. WAAR members in their green and black T-shirts with the "Same DNA" logo on the back are scattered through the crowd, some with megaphones. There's a very good turn out but this is New York--different is what they're all about.

It's a rare occassion where Sebastian Shaw is in attendance but not spending his time nog-nobbing with the powerful. Oh, he put in his appearance up there, let people take pictures, spoke with the mayor and his supporters... but now he's wandering the crowd, and while the extremely well-tailored white suit and its burgandy cravat don't exactly make him part of the crowd... well, as usual, noone is harassing the large man. More than once, briefly, anyway. Shaw has a Way about him.

On the whole, he's rather pleased with the whole affair. Surprising how many people in this city have wht he'd refer to as an 'evolved sensibility'... though the WAAR signage amuses him-- moreso when the people holding them misinterpret the smile. The same DNA? Demonstrably not actually the case, but it's a cute slogan.

Hmm. Rain seems to have bad luck with proests these days. But she is at least coming out to observe and quietly offer support. For now, she's in more peaceful clothes, a long coat over her shirt and jeans as compromise. She smiles a little, hearing the pop tune and the kids. Regardless, she meanders quietly, perhaps feeling a little overwhelmed and overloaded by all the sensory input. She blinks, seeing someone like Sebastian Shaw wandering and getting pictures taken in a tailored suit. Wow. She'll quietly gawk and linger. Thankfully, no pigeons have shown up just yet. In amongst the crowd sporting the 'Same DNA' shirts is Jack Kincaid, though she isn't actually a member of WAAR. Nope. Just liked the shirt and ponied up at one of the tables. She's prowling along the edge of the crowd up near the stage, hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket while she keeps an eye out for anything... fishy. The way gatherings like this have been going lately, she's not expecting a calm and happy afternoon.

If there's one part of New York City where one can find the female Hawkeye, it's Central Park. And while that archer isn't over there with the protesters, she does agree with them, and every now and then does appear close enough to them that she can at least check on them and make sure they aren't getting hassled by any of the usual low life's that spend time in the park, or worse. After all, while out of costume, Kate Bishop herself saw just how well organized and armed certain anti-mutant groups can be, and she has little doubt that the same, or at least similar groups would love to do something about protests like this.

Okay... So maybe the archer in purple is staying a bit closer than she intended to this demonstration. But she's not letting it interfere too much with what she usually does in this park! At least not yet.

Colossus is there and even though he's not there officially, he's in the same costume he uses for his JLA work. It makes a statement, after all. And just in case that statement isn't clear, he's also wearing an armband with the same green and black as the WAAR t-shirts. Hanging out near the stage, he's just letting himself be scene though he's more than willing to chat with anyone who approaches him which he's currently doing witht he girl who's probably a college student.

Hopping off her bike with a grin, Senri takes in the assembled gathering with a practiced eye. She quickly spots a conveniently placed bike rack and walks over to it briskly, locking her bike to it securely, but double-checking the lock with a wiggle and sharp tug to be sure. "(There! That's done. Now I can look around.)" Suiting action to thoughts, she plunges herself into the crowd, stopping here and there at booths that catch her eye. Soon she's wearing a button that reads "Mutants are people too" and enjoying cotton candy.

The mood in the crowd shifts when limousines come across the lawn and the mostly-human VIPs start getting out. There's the Mayor of New York City and, of all people, the Mayor of Metropolis. Three major soap opera stars all looking well-preserved, four reality show stars, a former Disney child star sporting a pair of imp wings and a short tail that look to be real, and popular talk show host Maury Povitch, an outspoken pro-tolerance advocate notorious for shaming anti-mutants on his famous paternity test reveal shows.

There's a lot of shuffling and talking, voices raised as people find their places and the Chief of Police steps up to thank Alexis Vale, director of WAAR, and to introduce the Mayor of New York, Mark Gruenwald.

Gruenwald takes the podium with Franke Berkowitz, Mayor of Metropolis, beside him.

"Good afternoon, New Yorkers," Gruenwald says cheerily. "I was having lunch with Frank here and he decided to stick around to experience how we do tolerance here in New York City. Let's try and impress him, okay?" That gets a cheer from the crowd. "I can't tell you how proud I am to see everyone here today. This is an important point in time for our city and our society. I'm here to tell you that I, personally and as the Mayor of this great city, oppose the proposed Registration Act with all my heart. I do not believe any of us should be discriminated against and, as written, the proposal is discriminatory. I want each of us to take a moment to look at those around us and remember that we are in this thing together. That we must look after each other's rights or lose everything. New Yorkers have always taken care of each other, and I want that to continue through what may be a trying political time."

Gruenwald pauses for more applause and to shake the hands of the stars and other politicians on the stage with him.

Sebastian must be in a good mood. He's even stopped here and there to chat with some bright-eyed young activist sorts that both recognized him and struck up enough courage to approach him. Once the show gets going, though, he begs his leave and... well, he doesn't shove his way to a comfortable spot near the podium. He listens with sort of half of a bored ear and takes a larger interest in watching the crowd while the speech drones on. It is, after all, precisely what one would expect Gruenwald to say.

Rain so far, doesn't really have the courage to approach anyone who looks terribly high class. After all, well, she's a bit below most of that. As the mood in the crowd shifts and VIPs start pouring out, her eyes widen a bit and she tilts her head. She seems a bit surprised at the line up. Still, it's nice to see folks genuinely showing support - even if it sometimes involves folding chairs, paternity tests and some of the whackiest victory dances one could cobble up. She takes a place in the audience to listen. She smiles faintly, as others applaud. But for now, she's sort of watching both the mayor and the crowd. Fidget.

Jack is listening to what's being said up on the stage, but it's not where her eyes are focused. She's looking everywhere /else/ as she wanders along the edge of the gathering -- the street, nearby rooftops, even the sky itself. She may be focused on keeping an eye out for trouble, but that doesn't mean the mayor's words don't earn a small, satisfied smile out of her. It's always nice to know that he's not gonna be sending mooks to her house anytime soon.

And as the latest round of celebs and politicians arrives, Hawkeye is back in sight of the protest. In fact, she's even close enough to hear the speech as The Mayor speaks up. Only she doesn't look at him. Instead, she just scans the crowd, looking for familiar faces, or at least recognizable ones. No she's not looking for more celebs, but instead, she's just trying to get an idea of how many powered individuals and/or costumed heroes are here. After all, the more of them there are, the less she has to worry about this demonstration. Right?

In fact, as she /thinks/ she spots Colossus, the female archer appears to almost relax a little. After all, a member of The League here...?

Colossus might not officially be on duty but really, when is he ever off duty? Superheroes, like cops, never get to say 'It's not my problem'. When the VIPs show up, he's not looking at them but at everywhere but them. This is, after all, a great time for more terrorist attacks.

Senri 's eyes widen slightly as she catches a glimpse of the lineup of VIPs. By now, she's already made her rounds through the gathering, unobtrusively scoping out routes of entry and exit, potential cover and concealment, and the police force deployment. It always payed to know your surroundings, and where your friends were. Now she stood a short distance from the stage as the mayor began his speech, and a grin returned to her lips as she listened. "(I really like this guy.)" With the rest, she clapped and cheered as the speech came to a close, her spirits lifted considerably.

Present...but off duty and staying low key about it...Marissa Sometimes. Nice jean,s denim jacket, and a blue T-shirt with a DNA strand on it and the slogan 'Think this is all that matters?' The mayor is being awesome. And Marissa has...a small clearing around her. Yup. Recognized again...with people turning to look at the young mutant. She might make an obvious target for anyone who wants to disrupt this. Then again, she might not. She looks small, young and very definitely harmless. And a very sympathetic figure to those who know her family story. Her dad's crazy, and all.

Gruenwald is about to speak again when the screens behind him crackle, lose their images, and turn to static. The sound system likewise wails with feedback and goes dead. Every cop in the place is suddenly in motion, security staff in plainclothes storm the stage. It all looks like an overreaction the ground shakes and starts to split in the middle of the crowd.

Something is crawling out of it, something huge and ugly, back full of spines, wings unfurling. This is every nightmare dinosaur with wide, wide wings. The ground shakes again and a wave of dizziness washes over the area. People are fleeing and falling, terrified.

The sound and video come back up in time for a strange looking black-clad figure to appear in front of the podium. The screens flash "We Are Not You" "We Are The Future" "We Are Tomorrow". The black figure, glossy black and lean but human, reaches forward to take the mic.

"We will not be contained. We will not be patronized. We want no tolerance, give no tolerance." With that, he's gone.

There are no obvious sources for the translucent green beast still gaining size and solidity as it crawls out of the ground, or for the shaking of the earth. There is only a slender man in a good suit walking calmly away from the stage, remarkable only in that he alone is not running. He is joined by a tall, broad woman and they make their way toward the trees.

Not quite alone in that he is not running. Because Sebastian, equally well-dressed, isn't either. Though he isn't walking, actually. Instead he stands, watching the commotion, and lets the crowd bounce and jostle him, a (large) rock in the stream. Curiously, while there are plenty of impacts, they don't actually move him, nor do the people running into him bounce backward so much as impact and slide away. He tilts his head back to watch the monster take shape overhead. "Delightful," he muses, as a construction worker's shoulder impacts his side, and Shaw tilts his head first left, and then right, with quiet popping noises.

It's moments like these that Rain really wishes that Avada Kedavra worked for realsies. She blinks, as people are walking away...? And not running? Okay, well, walking away from a super creepy thing calmly is vastly less important than dealing with the potentially omnicidal whomever or whatever it is that just popped up. "Um, please leave now! This is bad!" Rain's likely going to try to make sure no one gets squished or anything. She might get jostled or something, but she's loathe to out herself and her broomstick in the middle of a crowd just yet. "Hey, hey, minus 10 points - no elbows." Ow. Either way, she's watching for someone getting pushed or knocked over.

The wave of dizziness nearly takes Jack off of her feet, but she's able to catch herself after a brief stumble. Ugggh. That was... unpleasant. Narrowing her eyes, she spares a brief look towards the stage before her eyes are, again, everywhere else -- and in amongst the sea of panic, she spots the two calm people making their way towards the trees.

Jackpot.

Trusting the authorities and costumes to handle the mayor and other VIPs, Jack starts booking it for the pair walking away from the growing ruckus, deliberately ignoring the /dragon monster rising from the earth/ in favor of her chosen quarry: a slender man in a suit and the woman he is with. The costumes can handle the symptoms. She's after the disease, and she is after them with great purpose in her step and a determined scowl on her face.

And this is why it's probably a good thing that Hawkeye is away from the crowd. For while the archer clad in purple does stumble as the ground shakes, she quickly catches herself, and has her jaw drop as she looks up at that beast that burst from the ground as it just appears to get larger and larger.

"Damn." is all Kate can say as she draws not only her bow, but one of her 'trick arrows'. To be more exact, a taser arrow. One where it's suppose to let out enough of an electrical jolt when it makes contact to knock out a grown man. Said arrow is aimed at that 'beast', before she lets it fly.

All while she fights off a feeling that what she's doing might just be useless at best. At least in regards to something like this.

Colossus glances around quickly to see if he can spot the one who just disappeared but he's not going to take the time to go looking. There's a monster to fight. "Get everyone far away." he tells a passing cop who's ushering VIPs quickly out of the area then moves over to the dinosaur thing. Leaning forward slightly, he reaches out to tap it. Yup, solid. Never can be certain, you know. Grabbing a limb, he yanks it toward him, trying to keep it grounded and unmoving. At the sudden failure of screens and sound system, Senri looks about quizzically and not a little bit suspiciously. "(Agh! What the heck!)" She staggers from the dual assault of quaking earth and dizziness, dancing about queasily as she tries to keep her balance and find the source of the disruption at the same time. It doesn't take long to find it. "(What the heck is a freaking -demon- doing here for?)" followed swiftly by "(And where does that guy think he's going?)" Bringing her stubborness to bear, she fights her way through the dizziness until it passes and begins to follow the man "(And a woman now, too. Where'd she come from?") as unobtrusively as possible. She staggers seemingly at random, blending in with the crowd of onlookers, but moving steadily behind the pair as swiftly as she dares.

Crap. If she fights in civs, Nightwing will kill her. If she tries to find somewhere to change in this, one of the supervillains will probably *actually* kill her, and then she'll be worrying about waking up in the morgue. Nightwing's scarier, but... She was already close to the platform and she makes her move towards it, positioning herself between bad guys and departing VIPs. "What the heck...these people are on OUR side." No. Wait. Nasty thought...well. What can they do to her? Oh, wait. Kill her. Again. "Or at least on mine." Recognizable, public mutant...really, sooner or later, she's GOING to blow her cover and piss Nightwing off. Well, Kory will be first on that. He'll just have to deal.

The monster looks like a frightened child's rendition of a dragon--heavy, ugly head bristling with teeth, heavy limbs, two pairs of wings, spiked tail and spine. Solid now, it's green and scaly. Opening its mouth, it roars instead of breathing fire, a ripple not of sound waves but of telepathic noise. On the heels of the roaring in the skull comes another wash of disorientation. It tries to shake Piotr loose, Kate's arrow makes its skin shudder but the shock does nothing at all.

A police officer draws on the calm pair, shouting at them to stop. The figure in black is behind him all of a sudden and, just as swiftly, twists the officer's head violently. The officer collapses and the figure is gone again. Bullets from another officer's gun streak uselessly through the space where the killer just stood.

The crowd is not dealing well with the ground shaking, the dizziness, or the giant monster roaring in their heads. Panic breaks out entirely, some people begin attacking anyone they think might be the source of the problem, anyone who stands out. Those who look different, obviously different, are outnumbered here nearly twenty to one. A few people out themselves by shifting into animal shape or spreading wings and leaping skyward.

Someone throws a punch at Rain, shouting incoherently. Senri is jostled by a pair of men pushing past her to get at the former TV star with the imp wings. The young man sees them coming and trips over his own feet trying to get away. The wings are nothing but a nuisance, from the look of them, and he's still struggling to get up when one of the men kicks him in the ribs and sends him flying. A security guard, unaware of who Mend is or mistaking her for someone else, grabs her arm. "Miss, you have to get out here!"

Oh wow. Last time Rain saw something like that, she had way too many tacos and soda. She looks worried - but she turns to see something falling out of the corner of her eyes only to be - Donk! Rain gets brained. The universe is out to cause her some brain damage. She needs a helmet or something. She reels for a moment, her vision going double for a split second. She doesn't fall over, though she does weeble and wobble a bit. "H-hey! You jerk!" She decides not to curse just yet. At the man shouting incoherently though, she seems confused, backing away. Is it the incoherence of rage...? Maybe something else? Either way, it's time to break out the Hobo Style Fightin'. Wait for an opening, then tip him over and RUN to help someone!

"OFFICER DOWN!" Jack bellows -- but it isn't the man who killed the officer that she's after. He's too slippery, he's teleporting all over the place. No. /She's/ going for the woman she has decided is his accomplice, putting on an extra burst of speed and throwing out her arms as she comes in for a super-powered tackle.

And gets caught. Jack was not anticipating this. She was also not anticipating the way the woman slams fists into her hard enough for her to /feel/, and she /definitely/ wasn't expecting the huge energy wave that ripples outward from her target, sweeping past her and into the crowd behind her. Jack hangs on as long as she can before she lets out a frustrated shout and goes /WHIPPING/ backwards from the force of the wave, snapping through several trees like they aren't even there before her body puts a hole in a building across the street.

A moment later, Jack comes staggering out of the hole, covered in dust and branches. Slowly, her lips curve into a very predatory smile, and she goes running full-tilt right back the way she came. This is gonna be FUN.

Well... Crap. Sure Hawkeye knew that her arrow was a longshot. But still... There has to be some chink in the 'armor' so to speak... Some weakness she can exploit... Some way she can help with this.

Hence another arrow is grabbed. This one is a trick arrow as well, but just barely. It's longer, and thinner than a typical arrow, with a very long, very thin point at the front. In other words, it's meant to penetrate a target more easily, especially if its an armored target. But against something like this 'dinosaur' it still might not be enough.

And yet, even as she aims, and fires off that arrow, part of Kate herself is starting to have doubts. Doubts about if she even should be doing this, instead of rushing over to help the others who are running and shouting frantically. The psychic dizziness and the shaking work to get Colossus to release his hold and he flies a few feet to crash into the lumber that used to be the stage. Climbing back to his feet, he dusts himself off more out of habit as he thinks than to tidy up. Where's Wolverine when you want to fastball special him? Running toward the dragon, he leaps for its back, intending on climbing up toward the thing's head.

"(Ow, ow, ow, ow! Get out of my head!)" With her eyes narrowed from pain and concentration, Senri is witness to the death of the officer at the hands of the mysterious man, but only gets out a small cry of protest. A pair of men jostle her to get at the former TV star and proceed to attack him. Through the (intense) discomfort, she manages to shout, "Hey!" and charge the offenders (awkwardly) with as menacing an expression as she can manage. "Get away from him!"

Shaw's talents tend to not lie within the realm of telepathic threats. So he's skeptical about the likelihood that the dragon is what could be called his kind of fight. When Jack goes sailing past, then in a few seconds is prepared to charge right back the way she came, he makes up his mind, shaking the disorientation off as best he can. No, the dragon-- it it actually is a dragon-- is probably not where his efforts are best used.

Truth to tell, Sebastian really doesn't have to get involved. He counts himself as a realist more than a hero, and the tableau unfolding here would suit his own goals just fine, even if it is not at all the kind of subtly stylish approach he would have taken himself. Still... Shaw's been itching for a decent fight. He hasn't been able to get his hands dirty in a while, and the situation affords him an opportunity to do so without ruining the public image he's so carefully maintained. To wit-- it's a perfect chance to cut loose and take out some irritation. The big man stumps off in the same direction as Jack, not really running or even waliing so much as 'advancing'. Something tells him his kind of fight is somewhere over *here*. Surely the knight in shining armor with the accent can handle something as straightforward as a dragon.

Okay. Speedster...would kill her in five seconds. The other one...being engaged by somebody tough. The dragon...is that actually a guy in armor? So...Mend is going to keep doing what she's doing...helping the VIPs get clear. Besides, this way, nobody's going to guess she's a superhero. She's known to be a mutant, and her actions wouldn't be at all surprising. As she does so, though, she keeps thinking. Speedster...or teleporter...or something. Net. What she needs is a freaking *net*. But, of course, she has absolutely no gear with her. She has nothing except, possibly, that surprise which comes when people underestimate you. If she's lucky. She hurries another of the celebrities into cover, then turns back to face the...riot. Crap. This is going to do major damage to their cause. And she is sure, certain, that is the intent. Instead of worrying about it, though, she moves towards a fight between a cat girl and a couple of guys who were, a moment before, cheering for mutant rights. "Break it up," she snarls, getting a scratch for her pains.

Police cars are roaring into the park, someone is trying to force the mayor to leave, shouting at his driver. Gruenwald has opened the sun roof and, with a SWAT helmet on his head and a vest on, is watching the chaos, shouting at his people to help some terrified victims of random assaults.

A father running with a child sporting feathers for hair literally launches the little boy up to the mayor as a few wild-eyed citizens break past the security detail and one of them throws a metal coffee mug at him, another grabs the back of his shirt.

Staff pile on to protect the man and the mayor, SWAT officers descend like avenging angels to shut things down. Gruenwald looks at the child with disbelief, then disappears down into the limo. A moment later, it peels out of the area. Photo ops are one thing, but Gruenwald is practical enough to get out of Dodge when it's time.

There's plenty of people for Rain to help, most noticeably a young mother with a baby in a backpack... not that motherhood is keeping her from throwing down with a woman and a man who are screaming at her. The baby in the backpack is probably the cutest baby in the universe. Like Hello Kitty and the Gerber Baby merged into one. She has teeny kitten ears and tiny kitten teeth that she's gnashing at the people threatening her mother.

Jack's return does not go unnoticed by the police officers who, unfortunately, assume that her confident stride makes her one of the bad guys. "Miss! Stop where you are! Hands behind your head!" Yes, they've drawn on her. Three guns pointed her way and itchy trigger fingets twitching.

Hawkeye's arrow sinks in deep, deeper, and is gone entirely... only for a moment because it comes firing back out at her, head first. It's flying faster than if it came off her bow and is headed right at her as though it knows who she is and where she means to move to escape its strike.

Colossus manages to grab a horn arching out of the dragon's head--for a moment there it was still, then it moves again. The massive head shakes and the dragon roars again, out loud this time. The dragon smashes its own head against its side in an attempt to scrape the nuisance off.

One of the men turns on Senri. "You one of them?! You a mutie?!" he bellows as he pulls a canister out of his pocket and aims it at her. "We got us another one! Mutie!" He fires and bright orange dye fountains toward her.

The young man with the imp wings gets to his knees after another kick, his skin darkening and bubbling. "Don't make me do this!" When the next kick comes, he grabs the man's leg before the kick hits. Long, black claws pierce the attacker's calf and the imp-boy yanks him to the ground.

As Shaw advances, the man in the good suit turns and takes him in. The graceful little Asian fellow steps aside to allow his powerful companion, the woman who just sent Jack flying, a free shot at Shaw. She's -fast- and comes at him like a train, hands out for a seismic strike.

As Marissa is breaking up the fight, her opponents freeze, looking past her. One of the men who was fighting the cat girl, and the cat girl herself, throw matching punches past Marissa's head at something behind her. The black figure appears in front of her instead and reaches for Mend again. "Ooh, pretty," he rasps.

Shaw does precisely nothing-- apparent-- to defend from the massive seismic blow the woman fires his way. Of course, he doesn't have to. It's like punching a mattress. She connects right enough, and the blow lands effectively, and the energy shockwave that sent Jack flying is completely in evidence. It just... loses all momentum the second it actually impacts Shaw. He reacts minutely-- the blow rocks him back approximately a full inch before the kinect energy is sapped at the hit simply comes to a stop against him.

Shaw offers the no-doubt surprised woman a pleasant smile. "It's okay. We all have performance trouble sometimes," he notes mildly, then hauls a tasteful three-hundred-dollar loafer back and punts her as if absently kicking a pebble.

Aw, geez. Hello Kitty baby. D'aw. Poor kiddo. She looks sympathetic, and tries to look brave. Ish. Rain's courage is most certainly not her strong point. Deep breath. Right! Think of something brave to say. Either way, she's got to wade in to help the young mother and the kitty kid. "You know, picking on moms and babies is pretty awful. I guess you couldn't find anyone else to fight. Also, it's kinda lousy to pick on people just because they're different. Seri-- no, that's not very good. Um. Have at you!" Right then. Time to summon her broom and brain one of the two combatants bothering mom over the head. It's like wizard hockey, but maybe without Canadians today. Swing!

It's probably a good thing that Jack stops when the officers tell her to. It means there's some distance between her and Shaw when the woman takes a shot at him, letting any energy that leaks out around him hit nothing but empty air instead of Jack, in the face, again. "I'm on your side!" she calls towards the cops, before pointing back towards the beginnings of a riot. "Let me help deal with these clowns while you handle the rioters. Okay? Play to our strengths?"

Jack's going to move forward regardless. She's pretty close to bulletproof when it comes to standard police sidearms and she made her obligatory attempt at playing nice. That done, she goes tromping on to... assist Sebastian Shaw. Huh. Strange day, man.

And again.... Crap.

As that arrow comes flying towards Hawkeye she has what... A second, maybe two to react? And that's if she's insanely lucky. At least on the upside, since she's away from the crowd a bit, the odds of someone else being hit by that arrow are /hopefully/ slim.

Then again, as the female archer jumps to the side, she tries to fire off another arrow at the 'dinosaur'. Nothing fancy this time. Just... An arrow.

But her jump isn't exactly enough. For as she moves, that armor piecing arrow comes flying back towards her, and mostly due to luck, it hits her bow, snapping it in half, before continuing on for her leg, where it pierces her costume and grazes the leg. There is a wound there, and it bleeds like heck so it's hard to tell how deep it is, and it hurts like heck, but it could be a lot worse. After all, that arrow could of pierced her leg, or her head, or her heart... Which as was said, makes Kate very lucky right now.

Ride em cowboy. Colossus isn't letting go this time no matter what and no one - no dragon - is going to make him! Which means he gets squashed between its head and side but that barely counts as an impact. "My turn." he says once he has the room to wind up and brings a fist down solidly on the side of the beast.

"(Threat!)" Senri's reactions shrill as one of the men draws an object from his pocket. This, combined with obvious intent on his part, combine to send her into a roll before he quite finishes the motion and her brain has caught up. The dye sprays harmlessly where she was only moments before. She comes up behind and to the man's right and drives her foot out at the back of the man's knees in a vicious mule kick, following it up with a rigid spear hand jabbed into his spine. Sparing a brief glance at the beleagured star, she smiles minutely. "(Not entirely helpless, then. Good.)" Sizing up her own assailant cooly, she thinks, "(I feel kinda bad. I think he was just an onlooker. Can't be helped, though.)"

Okay...he tries to grab her. Marissa twists to the side and tries to kick the guy in the groin. Likely she'll miss, but hey, she has to make the effort. She'll look like a better fighter than she really should, but she can't let him get her...she can't help anyone if she's out cold. At least the cat and the demonstrator are now sort of looking sheepishly at each other. It DID break up.

The woman with the immense physical power simply... soars. She inscribes an arc to match Jack's, in the other direction. Her slight companion seems to be, briefly, out of sight. Out of sight, but not out of the fight. He's right there just out of Shaw's peripheral vision, rolling to his feet from a tidy tumble, and taking Shaw's hand.

Oh, New York. Where else would a witch and a hipster mother (complete with baby in trendy backpack) be getting the better of what's now three attackers? The mother--Cat, ironically enough--has obviously been taking her Take Back The Night classes seriously.

"I said NO!" Cat bellows and palmstrikes a man to the chin. He goes down like a sack of stones and the baby--Beatrice--squeals in delight, then flattens her wee ears and hisses fiercely.

Jack gets a hail of bullets as she keeps moving. Granted it's only from one gun, a rookie's, as his hands clench convulsively on his gun when the wave hits him. The other men stumble and right themselves--Jack's given them a moment's pause. It's so hard to tell who's who these days.

Kate's second arrow gets deflected and soars off to strike something, or someone, in the crowd. Before Kate's face, for a moment, the ghost of a laughing ghoul face mocking her. Then it's gone.

Colossus' fist sinks in and, briefly, the beast's shoulder shimmers and fades. Then the head whips again, smashing into the ground, passing *into* the ground as though it were momentarily incorporeal. Colossus, on the other hand, is very much corporeal and headed for a very bad date with the ground of Central Park.

Senri takes out the man attempting to spray her with dye, he's writhing on the ground now. The young imp man is defending himself. Possibly a little too well, and not from the right people. His eyes are glowing red, his wings are expanding, and he turns to see Senri standing there. His black tongue flickers out and he launches himself at her a moment later.

The cat woman takes another swipe at the man in black as he reflexively teleports out of Marissa's range and right into hers. Her claws are -fierce-. She opens up the man's back--he is human under there--from shoulder to hip. As he howls and teleports away, she looks horrified at what she's done.

The touch on his hand surprises Shaw, but not quite so much as it's effect-- he can feel his powers failing to work at the little man's touch, and the strength gain from the woman's blow fade. How.... irritating. Shaw gives him a look reserved for something an errant dog has left for one's shoe to step into. Super-strength or no, Sebastian is a very large man, and his assailant is not. Shaw does the first thing that pops into his mind: he yanks the guy towards him with the hand the man has touched, and drives his fist into the guy's face with the other.

Being raised by a bunch of adamant wiccans, Rain is all over this. "No means no!" THWACK! One of the offending gentlemen bothering the mom and the kitten baby is going to get nailed with the broomstick handle again. Seems to be a mighty durable magic broom (but it doesn't rattle). It's hard not to d'aw at the baby though. What a cutie. Otherwise, she looks apologetically to the woman. "Is there um, anyway I can help? I can fly out but -" Well, she doesn't want to be condescending, overly familiar or rude. Man, socializing. It's like minesweeper, except if the timer runs out or you do it wrong, you'll get nailed by something. Sometimes literally depending on if you fight Home Depot man.

Jack ignores the bullets impacting her side and dropping to the grass at her feet. Her jacket's already trashed, there's nothing to really be sussed over. "It's cool, five-oh," she calls towards the rookie, arms apread to help her keep her balance as she approaches the fray. "No hard feelings!"

Now, Jack /does/ have a bone to pick with the people Shaw's rumbling with. She watches the woman go sailing off with a laugh before she rounds on the man with Shaw. /She/ hasn't had /her/ powers sapped, so when she reaches out to haul the guy off of Sebastian and takes a turn launching her /own/ fist full bore into his face, it is considerably closer to being hit by a speeding truck than anything else.

"Sorry to cut in," Jack asides to Shaw. "Hope you don't mind."

Does it even need to be said again? Crap.

Hawkeye doesn't even get a chance to see where her arrow ends up. All though odds are if it hits someone in the crowd, especially an innocent, she'll find out about it later, and will unfortunately end up dealing with the repercussions then.

For now though, it takes almost, if not all of Kate's willpower to not only stay standing, but to actually start moving as she tosses her bow to the ground. That ghoul face on top of that almost freaks her out, but causes her to focus more on moving. While she does have other 'tools' she can use, they probably will be just as 'helpful' as her arrows have been. And since she's now without a bow anyways...

Well, what can Kate do? Aside from running away that is. Hence she finally starts rushing towards all the chaos head on. What the female archer (who is now without a bow) can do is unclear, especially in all of this chaos, but she at least will try to do something. Anything. That is as long as the 'dinosaur' doesn't press an attack on her now that she's unarmed.

When ground and Colossus meet, Colossus wins. At first, anyway. Eventually the ground wins but not before a big hole opens in it. Levering himself up, he climbs out of the hole. "The dragon isn't real!" he calls. To... whomever. It might be solid but it can't be real. He's had enough experience with psychics and magic to suspect that much. "Find the one in black who spoke!" Which doesn't mean he can just ignore the dragon. Someone needs to keep it busy so it doesn't hurt anyone.

"(Gah! Time to go!)" Without a second thought, Senri turns on her heels and runs flat out. Panic fuels her descent into the flow, and oddly enough, the psychic static drops off gradually to a faint, if insistent, pounding on the edge of her awareness. She barely notices, though, as her mind calls her attention once again to the cover and routes of escape she scouted out so recently. As this familiar state of mind asserts itself, she relaxes and her pace steadies into an easy, ground-devouring lope. Her eyes dart around as she runs, taking in snapshots of the various confrontations. Then, from the corner of her eye, she spots the mysterious man, and grins fiercely as he gets -nailed- by a cat woman. Questing about for his new location, she spots him some ways away and steers herself in his direction. "(Lucky! I'm behind him!)" She speeds up, fully intending to bowl him over, going faster...faster, and faster still. A brief flicker of surprise crackles through her, but is shoved aside by exultation. She was going to get him!

"Don't worry. He deserved it...and I'm betting he has a good healer." Marissa reassuring the cat woman before glancing around...to see where else she might be able to put a fist to good use, that being all she has to bear on the matter. She's bleeding a little herself, but it's no big deal. Scars, after all, are not something she has to worry about...for any length of time, anyway.

The woman who disappeared into the distance never does return. The slight man who just got ploughed by Shaw and then Jack goes soaring off into the bushes somewhere over by the lake.

The young mother, Cat, gives Rain a brilliant smile. "If we could get a lift, that would be great. Just off to where we can give a statement to the police?" Baby Beatrice gurgles excitedly at Rain and waves her paw-fists around excitedly. She's still ready to fight, apparently.

A young woman in EMT gear ducks out from behind a tree and gestures frantically at Kate. "Miss, this way!" She checks both ways, drops her bag, and sprints out to help Kate out of danger.

The dragon pulls its head back out of the ground, roars again--out loud and in people's heads--and then plunges down at Colossus as though to swallow him whole. For a moment, the mouth does cover him, then the dragon dissolves into green mist that rolls back into the broken earth.

The man in black is shouting at--someone. Someone absent. "Leave him! He failed! Damn you!" He grabs his head with both hands, then disappears again as Senri is on top of him.

The young catwoman shakes her head and tries to wipe the blood off of her hands. One of the men she'd been fighting with offers her a bottle of water that lies abandoned on the ground. "Sorry," he mutters sheepishly.

The police are swarming the park in force now, citizens--some of them--are attempting to stop the assaults on those who look different. There are still scuffles going on and then one last terrible wave of disorientation washes over everyone. In the wake of it, things begin to fall still.

Shaw straightens, and dusts his jacket. "I don't mind at all, Ms. Kincaid," he replies smoothly. Of course he knows who she is. Mercenaries are very useful for people like him. "But you may have hit him a little far. I daresay they seem to be cutting their losses," he notes.

Aww. Such a fierce baby. Such teeny, adorably angry fists. Rain smiles at the two. She will either help them to a taxi or offer them a broomstick ride - granted, she would give them her goggles and jacket - and whatever is chosen, she'll pay the fare or make sure they get to the police safely. Rain does her best not to get into any larger fights or anything over her power level. Actually, she's probably going to stay gone for now, likely avoiding the cops and causing any problems.

"Took 'em long enough," Jack replies cheerfully, flashing Shaw a quick smile when he refers to her by name. Then she turns to start stumping off towards the bushes she launched the poor dolt who attacked Shaw into. Rummage, rummage... aha. /There/ he is.

With nary a batted eyelash, Jack hauls the unconscious, bloodied form of the man up over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'm gonna make sure this guy wakes up somewhere friendly," she says in an innocent voice, beaming at Shaw as she turns to start hoofing it further into the park. "Ask him a thing or two, you know. Things. You're welcome to tag along if you like. You look like a persuasive kind'a guy."

Cra...

Wait. For once Kate doesn't have to say 'Crap'. That 'dinosaur' is gone!

And yet there's still chaos. Or at least fighting. hence why, as the police (and others) try to restore order, Hawkeye is there trying to break up fights, and helping in any other way she can. That is without giving away her civilian ID. Colossus is about to punch the dragon's face in when it turns to mist and is gone. Always good to know he guessed right. Turning, he looks around at the chaos and starts moving to break up fights, help people up, call medics over, etc.

Senri's eyes widen in surprise as her target disappears right before impact, and she overbalances. "Iya!" Once more, she finds herself going into a roll, one that takes her through no less than ten revolutions before she comes to her feet. Right into a tree. "Ittai~!" She lands solidly on her backside, rubbing furiously at her head with a wince, stopping abruptly when her hand encounters dampness.

"Aw, man! Not -another- doctor visit! I'll be lucky if this is only a concussion." She shakes her head slightly and winces again as stars spangle her vision. Dazedly, she wonders, "Just what -was- that just now, anyway? That's faster than I've ever gone even on my bike!" Her mind helpfully brings the memory of her altercation with the man with the dye sprayer. "Mutie!" rang and circled in her head. "Well... dang."

And as the fighting dies down, Marissa moves through the crowd...she actually had to knock a couple of people out and is hoping nobody grasped that she was using martial arts skills slightly better than a sheltered Governor's Daughter should really possess. Ahem. But her course is towards Senri, who doesn't look good...not that there aren't other people hurt, but she did see the speed running. Now that's a nice power. Of course, she doesn't look that good herself, not with the claw marks in her arm...her jacket's a dead loss. "Need more clothes money," she murmurs as she approaches the injured Senri.

Ambulances are yowling back and forth across the once-lovely grass of Central Park, SWAT vehicles are roaring around like bears on a rampage. A police captain is booking it over to Colossus, calling for his attention. Law enforcement needs a sit rep and a report from the big shiny guy.

The fellow Jack is carrying might be leaking some brains. As much as she might want to take him elsewhere, he *really* needs some medical attention right now. He's limp and his breathing is unsteady. He's physically quite mundane.

Cat is a nimble young hipster mom and handles Rain's broomstick ride easily. She reaches back and tugs up the hood of Bea's backpack. It comes over like a dome, making Bea squeal in protest but only until they're in the air. Once they're flying, Bea is talking baby talk with great excitement. Apparently, this is the coolest thing ever for catbabies.

Hawkeye has good luck settling things between dazed combatants, not so much luck evading the persistent EMT who wants her to stop and get her leg tended to. "Miss! You are probably in shock!" The EMT has resorted to waving in semaphore.

Marissa and Senri are left to their own devices. The people who had been fighting around them are slowly apologizing to each other and helping each other out, speaking to police, and picking up debris.

The sound and video system comes back online entirely and that catchy Korean pop song starts to play again.

Shaw considers Jack's suggestion, and after a few moments, smiles in an unfriendly sort of way, like a predator with lunch. "Quite. I suggest medical attention, so he is in a position to answer them. I know of a secure facility I believe I can get access to," he muses, pulling a phone out of his jacket.

Rain could just melt. At least neither the wee one or Cat got hurt. She smiles and seems happy as Bea seems to enjoy the ride. It's a nice tamper to the sadness that someone would sabatoge this sort of event. She wishes she could be surprised but... for now, at least things wound down and the trio arrive at the police station safely, so Cat can give her statement in safety.

Jack makes a curious noise at Shaw, pausing mid-step so she can haul the limp body over her shoulder out in front of herself to get a better look. She tilts her head to one side, then the other. Hm. Hmmmmmm. She gives him a very light, careful shake to see what, if anything, happens.

"...yeah, you're probably right," Jack tells Shaw, hauling the body over her shoulder again. "I guess he wasn't as sturdy as his ladyfriend. Honest mistake. You know any mind-readers?" she asks lightly, strolling off into the park with Sebastian with a bloody body over her shoulder and bullet holes in her clothes as casually as a woman out for an afternoon stroll with a friend. "I might have broken his face a bit too much for speech."

"What...?" Hawkeye manages to say as that EMT flags her down. That is before she looks down at her leg and says just a single word.

"Crap."

Then, she motions at the others nearby. "I'll get it looked at. But don't worry about me. Help them."

Yeah. Don't mind the vigilante. She'll get her leg checked out. Right?

Colossus was a bit preoccupied with the dragon but he's willing to give the officer as much detail of what happened as he can.

All at once, Senri's legs give out and she flops (carefully) onto her back, watching the world spin. Muzzily, she thinks, "(Tha's funny. Ev'thing's going clockwise. Should be coun'r-clockwise. Whee~!)" From the ground, she watches as a pair of legs approach her from out of the chaos. Now finding it difficult to put together the words in English out loud, she asks in a blurred voice, "E? Soko ni dare da? Tasukete kuremasu ka?"

Marissa Sometimes drops to one knee. "Okay...where are the medics? I think this woman's got a concussion." And she's going with her...just in case. She DID see power use, so it's important to make sure she doesn't end up in bad hands, but the collapse and the language switch has Mend worried. If only there was a healer around.

Now the news helicopters come. The press, briefly run off by the chaos, return. The NYPD orders more crime scene tape because this is a really big crime scene. The Chief of Police peers down into the hole in the earth and mutters, "Someone get me a seismologist."