Mutant Town Mix-Up

Summary:
September 05, 2014: Mutant Town's getting a little ugly these days. (Violence)

Mutant Town, NYC

It's not a pretty side of town, but for many urban mutants it is home.


Characters

NPCs

  • SRD

Mood Music:
None


Friday night pick-up basketball games in the street. It's the time after Vigil at St. Patrick's and before he has to head home. For the kids that he plays with, it's a time when being a mutant is 'okay'. It's the kids that are -obvious- mutants that Kurt organizes and plays with; they are so few in comparison to the others, and they have a slightly more difficult time of it than most others.

There are a few mutants that do well in this case, and one of them is the fuzzy blue elf.

It's another game of 'mutant ball', and Kurt is on the sidelines this time, refereeing to be sure that nothing happens in excess that can't be handled easily.

A ball swishes into the net, and the moment it hits the ground, a young blonde boy untucks and walks away from the net. (Guess who just scored 2 points? He did!)

Down the street, away from view, patrols have been stepped up in M-Town, and not just of the local police department, though they do try to maintain a presence. It's the SRD that is coming in; the Special Response Division. The ones who -can- do something about mutants.

*

When well armed squads of humans start to invade Mutant Town, it doesn't go unnoticed. When the number of arrests made in Mutant Town starts to spike, it doesn't go unnoticed. When a group of SRD officers start to stack up in hiding next to a couple of mutant kids trying to enjoy their evening…

It doesn't go unnoticed.

Thin-slit yellow eyes glow faintly within the shadows, featureless and unblinking as they stare down upon the crew. The creature in possession of these eyes hangs from the side of a building, claiming an excellent vantage point over what's going to be their opposition. These men and women are well trained, armed with stun weapons, air concussion rifles, tasers, and special polycarbonate body armor which is meant to counteract mutant-born powers rather than bullets.

Mystique could royally screw with their heads if she wants to. The only things stopping her are a lack of time from when they move in on the youths playing and that they had the nerve to invade -mutant- territory in order to rack up their arrest count. Messing with their heads is much too good for them.

When they start to move the last one of the pack suddenly disappears from sight, a rubber-like length of material snapping around mouth, neck, and nose to haul him up off of his feet and into hiding. Sitting directly behind him, glowing yellow eyes narrow further.

"Shhh, it'll all be over soon, gene-trash."

*

It is like the happy, cavorting gazelles not knowing that the lions are coming in and circling, getting ready to move in for the kill. Another basket is made, and laughter rises from the streets even as streetlamps begin to blink on. At the count of 10 to 0, Kurt calls the game on lack of light, and he's ready to send them home to their mothers and fathers. Chorusses of 'awww' and 'that stinks' rise in the street, but the elf is adamant. "You've all had a long day. Go home, have dinner und I will see you Sunday at Mass, ja?"

Some actually make it, most don't. It is difficult, after all, to be an obvious mutant. It's hard enough in M-Town, much less the City proper.

Kurt bamfs up to the top of the net, and begins to break things down for the night when he notices a rather sizable collection of headlights. Instead of attending that which he was doing, he's gone off his 'perch' with another bamf! only to land upon the side of a building, holding in the shadows until he can work out exactly what is going on and why the marked SRD vehicles are around.

*

A group like this is going to be organized. They're going to have a mobile command vehicle. Now that one of the officers is out of the picture Mystique simply picks up the unconscious man's persona and Whump Gun then steps back out, as though nothing is amiss. Rather than falling into position where he's supposed to be, she closes in on the vehicle instead then ducks in through the rear hatch.

"Vickers? Why aren't you with the o-"

CRACK!

The stock of the concussion carbine catches the radio operator across the back of the head, busting an LCD monitor as it's immediately discarded. 'Vickers' grabs the metal tube cage overhead and lunges forward, ramming a massive combat boot into the commanding officer's face. By the time the assistant comms officer gets out of her seat Vickers' other foot comes around and catches her by the throat, slamming her back up against the wall and holding, squeezing her windpipe closed.

"I'm aborting the mission."

It's only been a moment of time, beginning to end. The kids are still dispersing outside, going their own ways as the metamorph steps out of the vehicle with carbine in hand. Nothing to see here, everyone act normal.

*

Kurt watches from the side of the building, his own glowing yellow eyes a touch wider than his mother's earlier slit-eye gaze. His tail flicks back and forth before he has to pull it in and have it wind 'round an ankle. Nothing is being done, per se… they're not rolling into the neighborhood quite yet. But, when someone exits a vehicle carrying a carbine? Kurt wants to move, he does. So very much. But they haven't yet done anything, and so his hand his stayed.

*

Maybe it's a simple patrol. Maybe they've got something else in mind. Mystique doesn't care one way or another. Humans, humans trained to -take down mutants,- in their home turf. For what reason? The good part is that the younger X-Genes are out of the way now, which means she can change up her plan. As appropriate as it would be to use their own tech against these guys, she doesn't need fancy hardware made by -humans- to deal with a small infestation. The carbine gets left behind.

Instead she trails behind the team leader, then simply becomes him. The changes are more subtle with the body armor and uniform involved, in the dark none would be the wiser. Though when the copy speaks out with a "What the blazes-?!" it's loud enough for them all to overhear.

Things go from quiet to ugly in a New York Second. Suddenly the others are coming in closer, every bit as confused as both of the CO's appear to be.

"Someone's copying me, get 'im!"

"Don't believe this freak, they're copying me!"

"Shut up, I'm the real one!"

"It's a damn shifter, zap 'em already!"

Would the real CO please stand up?

*

It isn't easy being a Crime Lord. For one, there's a surprisingly large amount of paperwork involved. They didn't tell him that before Jason Todd decided to become the Red Hood. He knew there was some, but these days, there's so much competition for good help that they demand a benefits package, health care, dental, and even vacation time.

In a bid to cut costs, Jason does a lot of the legwork himself. In fact, he enjoys it. Keeps him alive. You know, in spite of being dead… formerly. And it's brought him from Gotham to New York City. There's a new drug in town called Smooth. Somebody's muscling in on the Red Hood's turf and he doesn't know whether he wants to fight them, or force them to work for him.

Curious about the effects, he's made his way to mutant town, sitting high above on one of the many buildings, observing someone. The man he's been following took the Smooth a few hours ago, and is just about ready to go through withdrawal symptoms.

The man had been watching the baseball game from a bench, but then he clutches his ribs, yelling out in pain. He squints his eyes, his skin turns white, not the colour, but blood drains from him. He looks to be in a cold sweat, and his hands, oh, they seem to be changing. Little circular dots grow, becoming suction cups and his hair changes into what looks like tendrils.

The Red Hood was curious about the effects of the Smooth as he observed the man. He didn't need binoculars, not with his mask. It was built in. But then the shapeshifter catches his attention. "Looks like tonight's about to get a lot more interesting," he says to no one in particular.

*

Shapeshifter? Kurt looks down at the growing chaos, and curses softly under his breath. This… why is he being forced to aid those men who would knowingly take a mutant's life. Or arrest an innocent mutant. Or…

"I am not judge, jury und executioner. They have not done anything." Here. Now.

"Who ever you are, I hate you for forcing me to do this," comes quickly on its tails, and Nightcrawler disappears off the side of the building with a decided BAMF and appears on the ground; searching for the shapeshifter. Lost in the crowd, and there is no way he's going to remain on the ground while he's searching for the 'hot potato' once again.

An easy leap brings him onto the top of the APC and in a low crouch, Kurt waits for the shapeshifter to show himself once again.

*

Now why would there be a great reveal all of a sudden? Things are working out so well just as they are! With the whole team brought together around CO and CO, trying to make any amount of sense of the situation, one suddenly asks "When's my sister's birthday?"

"What..? What are you talking ab-"

Almost as one the other officers all point their various non-lethal (to mutants, more hazardous to humans!) weapons at the confused commander. "Stand down!"

"Look you rookie idiots, I don't -have- a sister!"

"Stand down, now!"

The one starts to step closer, hand outstretched. "Son, give me that taser before you hGGGK!"

One of the copies falls to the pavement, twitching, with two monofilament wires leading away from his torso as the taser keeps flicking his central nervous system with repeated shocks.

"Damn mutants," the one left standing says with a wry smirk.

Then his eyes flash to solid yellow.

"Just can't trust 'em."

For a man in his early forties he can really move it… Roundhouses, handstands, splits, leg hooks around necks, and enough strength to grab a fully armored man and throw him headlong into another. One by one the eight confused officers drop where they had all scrambled about, some of them inadvertently attacking their buddies because the shifter decided to become them. In the end only one remains. "Go home while you still have the chance, flatscans."

*

When you're coming down, the Smooth is anything but. It is jagged, violent, painful, and can even be excruciating. The poor fellow who took the drug staggers to his feet, crying out, but his lips seem to have changed to a beak, and the sounds are so different. He seems to be saying, "more, need more smooth," though between the beak, and the cries of pain, it's hard to tell.

Thinking aloud, "squid-like arms, a beak, tendrils for hair, looks like a hump back, I can see why this guy would want to try a cure, any cure he could find." He leans over on the roof of the building, looking for his rifle. He raises it up, taking aim. He hasn't decided whether or not to put the poor guy out of his misery, but he's thinking about it.

He takes a moment to watch the officers. Something's going on there, but from his vantage point, he can't make out too much beside the fact that one of them is unusually strong, athletic, and of course, limber.

With his finger hovering over the trigger, he looks through the scope. Ready to put a bullet in the man's heart, "friend, I hope your heart is in the right place," and he pulls the trigger. In an instant, the bullet strikes through the poor man's chest, only stopping when it smacks into the grass. The man falls onto it, face down, but at least he's no longer in any pain.

*

The *crack* of a rifle's bullet sounds sharply into the air, and from the top of the APV, Kurt teleports back up to the wall, and begins a flurry of disappearing and reappearing as he takes some distance.

A mutant… a lovely mutant lays bleeding out, and it takes the mutant some time to find him. Now, undoubtedly in Red Hood's sights, there is a vision of… well… it looks like a blue-furred demon in clothes. Glowing yellow featureless eyes, pointed teeth, pointed ears.. spade-tipped tail. Kurt turns around to look, to search where the bullet may have come from, and perhaps for a moment, those lit, empty yellow eyes may even unknowingly meet the shooter's.

So, is a mutant life worth more to him than humans? He hasn't picked up the phone to call 9-1-1 yet.

*

If this would have been anywhere other than the mutant's stomping ground within the city… Mystique wouldn't be showing anything resembling mercy. She wants nothing more than to end them all, here and now. It's almost a blessing in disguise that the other screaming finally pulls her out of her growing bloodlust, right in time for the cry to be silenced by a single shot in the dark.

-That- is a kill shot. That is what she's trying so very hard not to do with these inferior humans.

The remaining officer's expression turns into something extremely unfriendly, launching into a run so quickly that he drops to all fours, morphing before his hands can touch the ground. He becomes something different and new and virtually impossible to accurately describe as it leaps upward and scales the side of the wall with alarming ease, now more like a giant four-limbed insect than a person.

Jason's going to have company very soon. Mystique can enhance her senses when she wants to, and right now she's ..smelling sulfur upon the evening breeze..?

*

For the moment, Jason is alone. He pulled away from the edge of the building almost immediately after putting the poor mutant out of his misery, and is currently crouched down, packing up his rifle. If it weren't for Mystique and Nightcrawler, he would pack it up and calmly leave without another thought.

In his opinion, he did a good thing, saving the man pain and misery, both of the transformation, and of what his life must be like. If he was a drug user, one prepared to take the Smooth, he probably wasn't living much of an existence. He won't be missed.

But he has a teleporter and a special ops shapeshifter to deal with. That may be even more than he can handle, but, as he packs up the rifle, he'll soon find out.

*

Every soul is unique. The type of life the mutant had has nothing to do with anyone but his own tortured soul, the reasons for taking the drug hidden to all but himself.

Death is so final. It means there is no hope. No chance. And for this, alone, Kurt looks to the buildings, searching for the one who decided that a life, someone else's life, wasn't worth living.

Kurt is mad, and it shows in his expression. Taking a route that he believes should give him some contact, the elf teleports from the dead mutant's side, and begins a systematic search for the shooter. He's been hunted before; the prey becomes the predator.

"Wo bist du…"

*

Follow the sounds and the scents. Firearms are not subtle devices. Mystique is all too aware of this, she's been shot at by everything from flintlocks to laser rifles.

The xenomorph-like creature rounds the top edge of the building like a self-guided missile, modified claws gouging the brick and mortar as she lunges from the edge and makes a line straight for where the shooter is perched. The intent is clear: Drop him, pin him, and think of all the ways in which she can systematically disassemble him. So long as she gets a proper pin she won't even need to worry about disarming the guy. It all comes down to whether or not she can catch her prey.

"You -dare- kill a mutant?!" she hisses in a voice that sounds more like a collective hive mind than one creature alone, illuminated eyes now teamed with some very sharp looking fangs.

Nightcrawler shouldn't have any trouble finding the two by now! Subtle as a sledgehammer to the face.

*

Looking up from his rifle, which is by now neatly packed. There's no identifying marks on it, no fingerprints. It's custom built, nothing to track down. In other words, it's designed to be discarded in just such a situation. Red Hood regards the woman, raising two pistols, which he fires at her, "Mutants, humans, aliens, anyone who deserves it."

He's so casual, so cavalier about it. That man meant nothing to him. It was as easy to kill him as it would be to turn on a light. But, he's not here for Mystique, and would prefer to avoid entanglement, especially with a body nearby. He rolls to his side, rising to his feet, firing off a few more bullets.

Then he takes a step backwards, and does a dive below, landing on the fire escape, which he bounces off of thanks to vibranium boots, jumping from side to side, moving a building over. It would lose most people, but Mystique is not most people, and she has a teleporter friend.

*

It isn't hard to find, the altercation. The gunshots that are fired, and the movement upon the fire escape. Once again, Kurt has to make that decision; go after a murderer of mutants or the one that threatens to kill the murderer.

They are not judge, jury and executioner.

Once again, Nightcrawler breathes a curse to the sky in that his actions are forced. He doesn't want to do this. He wants the murderer in custody, but even if he does catch the killer, there's nothing keeping him safe from the wrath of the one whom he has now identified.

Mystique.

His mother.

BAMF!

Kurt appears on the roof, now interposing himself between her and the escaping Jason. "Mother, no! Do not. It would make us no better!" He knows what is in mind.

"Don't."

*

Jump, twist, roll, lunge, -hit.- One of the hastily fired bullets pegs Mystique in the shoulder mid-dodge, causing her to stumble and roll across the rooftop when the injured arm gives out beneath the demand she had been placing upon it. She isn't out of the fight yet, however. As Jason disappears over the edge he earns himself a moment of safety from physical harm. In its place comes a chilling sound which no human could make, both a demonic shriek and a gutteral snarl from the nightmarish abomination. It's about to leap from the rooftop to the side of the neighboring building when another set of glowing yellow eyes suddenly appear directly in front of it, the deep hued puff of sulfurous smoke rapidly dissipating around a shadowy blue figure.

(Kurt…)

In an instant the half demonic mutant is face to face with a faux demonic mutant, the softer features of the woman's face still lurking beneath the hideous visage she's chosen for her hunt. "Do not interfere, Kurt! He deserves to die for what he has done!"

She has stopped chasing Jason, though…

*

The Red Hood makes his getaway, or he would, except that his pursuer has stopped. When he feels that he's relatively safe, he stops to gather his thoughts. He didn't recognise the woman, or know why she suddenly stopped. But as the pair of mutants talk on that rooftop, a little clock ticks down on the side of the case. It's built in, not something lazily attached afterwards. What could it be?

Should it explode, the blast yield will be small, not even enough to take out the roof. Just enough to destroy the rifle, it's case, and leave a nasty wound to anyone standing too close. Try and disarm it as it goes off, and it could be fatal. Of course, the electronics aren't too complex. The bomb is a failsafe upon a failsafe. He could have left the rifle, but then a kid might have found it.

Coming to a halt on a nearby building, the Red Hood ducks behind the ledge, and tries to observe the pair. Will they try and follow, or could they hold some other interest. So far, they haven't even been worth a workout. Wanting to find out what they're saying, he taps some controls. The timer, if they haven't noticed it yet, adds an extra 10 minutes and begins transmitting sounds. Bruce trained him well…

*

Kurt is there on the rooftop, half obscured by the dark even as the brimstone stenched cloud begins to dissipate on the breeze. "It is not up to you, just as it wasn't up to him to decide who lives und who dies." In this, the elf is adamant. "He will pay for his crimes, but he will do so in front of the law. Und there… men will declare his guilt," or innocence. "We are not the law."

Now, of course, the murderer is getting away. "Und did it ever occur to you that those you attacked could have been the ones to help us tonight?" Damn you, mother! "Don't."

It's the next word that is almost lost in the air between them.

"Please."

Thing is, he doesn't trust her. How can he? Kurt leaps forward, rushing Mystique, and in the next heartbeat, the pair are gone, only to reappear a block down where the SRD had been attacked. The pair are back on a building's rooftop, and the moment they land, Kurt lets go of his quarry.

"We don't even know who he is." And he's blaming her? Well, yes. If he didn't feel that she'd kill the guy, he'd have been free to go after him…

Sigh.

Why exactly can't he act like everyone who sees him expects?

*

We are not the law… "Perhaps we should be," Mystique reviles in a low note of warning.

Then Kurt's going on about the SRD. Darting a hand out toward where she left those officers behind, she snaps "Those freaks had no business being in our territory and you know it!"

Then comes the plea. Then the bamf. It's not very far but it puts her at a clear disadvantage for trying to pursue the shooter. Within a second she's shifted back into her proper form, bedecked in sleek black material which leaves her blue arms and middle exposed. She's still looking most displeased.

"Congratulations, Kurt. You've allowed a murderer to walk free tonight." And this is not over between the two. Not the murder. Not her assault on the SRD. The unfortunate thing is this is a typical family reunion for the two, though if she doesn't calm herself down first then she'll likely take her anger out on her own son.

Again.

*

The Red Hood is a murderer and a bad guy, but that doesn't mean that he is a bad… guy. He had his reasons, and there are many who would agree with him, perhaps even the poor guy who put himself through the Smooth while trying to escape his life as a mutant.

Not that it matters, but the poor guy did have a gun in his coat pocket, and a suicide note in his other. Not even Red Hood knows that. He just saw a guy, living a horrible existence, who was willing to try some pretty horrible drugs, and played judge, jury, and executioner. He thought it was a mercy. He'd do it again, probably will, even to guys who didn't actually want to kill themselves.

With the two surviving mutants teleporting out of there, the case harmlessly explodes, going up in a minor puff of smoke. It darkens the rooftop, causing a bit of damage, but not enough to make it cave in. So the roof will only last another five years instead of ten, that's the super's problem. Jason, well, he makes his way back to Gotham, with much to consider on the issue of the Smooth coming into his city.


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