Justice Avengers: Dawn over New York

The first shot zipped past her left ear, causing her to flinch away from it. She twisted her body, anticipating a second shot being sent at her, and was rewarded by the shot missing. The third time, however, she was not so lucky, and the shot impacted her directly in the center of her back and sending her facefirst into the grass. To anyone who happened to be in the yard looking,, it would probably appear that the agent had just gunned down a fleeing mutant teenager in cold blood.

Paige actually sat down in shock. The Joker Riots had been both a lively topic of conversation and one of the building blocks of fear in their hometown, especially since their neighbors assumed that most if not all costumed people were mutants. The reports and footage of the destruction and death that resulted from the Riots had been endlessly replayed.

She would be the first to admit that her own attitudes towards people in costumes had taken a negative turn that day, and most residents of Buttontown had been adamant that people with powers ("Freaks!") were not welcome. Their later hostility toward and ostracism of their family had stemmed in no small part from that incident, and she'd only told her parents when she left because she truly hadn't been sure what some of the townspeople might have done if news of her mutancy had spread any wider. To learn that some of the folks she'd just met, including her brother, had been there....

She likewise spun at the noise-being from a hunting family, she was familiar with gunshots. Paige glanced around at the assembled teenagers with concern. "Was that one of your training things?"

edited 25th Apr '16 7:23:50 AM by Booky

Rogue, Visiting Power Girl

"Well, we weren't sure," Rogue said cautiously to Power Girl. "We, or well, Access brought ya to Xavier's because it was the best choice at the time."

"I'm still glad you're alive, though!" Rogue said happily to the superheroine. "And you're healin' up just amazingly given what happened!"

"You don't have to do... that on my account" said Ivan somewhat surprised "I was merely noting the change, you should look however you like." He said "and as far of JA business... Hold on" He heard Access' message his face looks bewildered, and then gleeful. He brings out the recording device. "Name where and when, I'll be there with a friend" He said into the comms device. Hellfire club, oh he'd been looking for an in since he began operating on grounds of other suspicions he had about it but to have a rich people society like that influence things like the Mutant Registration Act fit their MO as far as he'd seen... And now he had a real in. He looked up at Wes "Yeah, it is indeed lets wrap up here and head out." He said finishing his cobbler and tea.

Xavier's

Darwin raised up an arm and then pointed in the direction of the shot. He seemed pretty serious now and started making his way toward the gunshot.

"It'd be a mighty fine hypocritical for me to y'all to stand back," He'd say, his southern accent resurfacing. "And if yer a thing like me, well, ya wouldn't."

Whether or not the X-Factor kids followed him, Darwin made a line out the cafeteria and out towards the front door. If weren't on the first floor, he'd jump out a window instead, he didn't care.

He'd get over the front law to find the scene, what looked like a gunman and a gunned down teen. There was also a car? He didn't care.

"Oh, son of a bitch." Not really afraid of bullets, he'd book right for the girl, interpose himself between she and the gunman and crouch down to check her pulse.

The Streets of- OK, I'll drop it

Access breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Question respond to his call- something he, to be honest, never expected to do; the man creeped him out most of the time. "I'm close to the Hellfire Club's Mansion, it's in upstate Manhattan, I'm sure you can find it. I can wait for you, or I can go pick you up now if you prefer."

Wait, did he say he was bringing someone else? Wonder who that could be...

"I should think not," said Karma. The rest of the crew stood to attention at the gunshot sound, and together with Darwin headed to see what was going on. No sooner than they stepped outside did they see the car and the prone girl several yards away. After the obligatory gasps of horror, the New Mutants immediately went on high alert. Sunspot shifted into his pitch-black super-strong form, while Magma was suddenly coated in a layer of lava, with a furious look on her brow.

Before anyone could do anything, however, the SHIELD agent hopped out of the car, hands in the air. "Everyone remain calm," he called, "The teenager was considered armed and dangerous, and has been tranquillised. There is nothing to see here."

"What the hell is going on?!" Mister Summers rushed to the door, with the rest of the faculty not far behind. "Queen, if this is the 'fed' you were talking about-"

The Studio

"Now see, Ms. Bishop," Godfrey said out loud from his spot behind the desk bearing the logo of show, as a squad of (oddly dead-eyed) makeup crew went over his face one last time. "When your grandchildren ask you when were you when the future was saved, you can tell them about today."

His smile was so smug, it had a smug smile of his own. "In fact, I think your father might be interested in supporting my run for Congress. I think it's time this country's wealthy show certain billionaires that you can save the world without wearing a nuclear reactor and endangering civilians every day," He pointed at the chair besides his desk, as a squad of makeover people got to work on Kate's face. "Wouldn't you say?"

The Prison

"Oh, don't worry." Raze said to both the agent and the phone. "I'll escape from this place. Nothing in this world is gonna keep me down. You pawns at SHIELD might think you're protecting the future, but you're just putting it behind lock and key because it scares you. Trust me," He crushed the phone in his hands, grinning. "You'll be the first one to go when I bust out of here."

Healing Up

"Now that you're back up, I think some people would like to see you again. I'm pretty sure Mr. Stark has been holding back a sigh of relief ever since we brought you here." Megan said, being way too obvious about the implications behind her comment. "I'm not saying you should go out and make a speech, just... staying underground can be very tiring, right?"

edited 30th Apr '16 3:20:12 PM by Stratofarius

"Armed and dangerous, huh?" Darwin replied sarcastically, looking over the girl. He knew this girl could actually shoot lasers out of her eyes or something, lookit where he was, but he also knew he plain didn't like kids getting shot on this place's front lawn. That set a bad precedent.

Studio

"Of course," Kate said before she entirely realized what she was saying. She sat down in the chair across from Godfrey and placed her cello case on the side hidden from the camera.

"That is to say, I can't make any promises, but I think he'd be more than willing to support your campaign." Why was it so easy for Godfrey to get her to agree with him? Yes, Kate was partially faking it, but Godfrey was so transparently slimy that even faking it would be harder than this.

The makeup people got to work on her, and Kate kept her expression cool. Everything was going fine, and she might not even have to call for backup. No need for her to get freaked out. Godfrey was just a TV pundit; what was there to worry about?

Paige had hurried out front with the other students, but the sight of the blood, the downed girl and the shouting gunman made her stop in place. It all seemed very surreal-while she'd been pretty sure that some of her neighbors back home had been willing to harass and bully any mutants they might come across, and possibly cause physical violence, there was quite a difference between knowing it and seeing it firsthand.

Before she quite knew what she was doing, Paige had run over the hood of the car (leaving little dents in the metal). She shoved the gunman into the side of his car, then grabbed him by the front of his jacket with one hand and grabbed the man's nose with the other. If he made any kind of threatening movement, Paige was going to squeeze it hard enough to let the man know that she meant business.

The Studio

After the makeup people were done, they disappeared into the backstage almost as quickly as they had appeared, leaving one of the producers to yell out four minutes left on break. Godfrey adjusted his tie, leaning over his desk as he stared Kate right in her eyes. It was, at this moment, that Kate would feel more than just the general uneasiness any reasonable person felt around Godfrey.

"Of course, there's also the matter of last night's events," The pundit began, his voice gaining a sudden echo as everything around him got darker and darker. "You were very... afraid, weren't you? That those terrorists would hurt you." Kate would feel her head pounding with every emphasis, as if a hammer was literally hitting her with all its might, each mention of the word 'terrorists' enough to make anyone grit their teeth in rage.

"Why, those mutants could have killed you. And that would be just terrifying. You ask me, we should have harsher laws." Godfrey adjusted his tie, looked at his watch and then smiled again. "Don't you agree?" With that last phrase, a pleasant feeling immediately scoured its way through Kate's mind, relieving her of the thumping pain as everything went back to normal, the producer started counting down one minute before the cameras went on.

edited 3rd May '16 8:07:17 PM by Stratofarius

Rooftop

Booster seemed to listen to Tony's words and his body language slowly relaxed. His visor and mask obscured most of his face and the thoughts bubbling behind the gold.

"Thank you, Tony," Booster finally said. Then without warning, he raised up one of his palms and fired. "Thank you so much for picking option two." He'd been waiting to kick Tony Stark's ass for weeks.

Studio

As much as Kate hated to admit it, Godfrey was right. If there were more regulatory laws, maybe last night wouldn't have happened. Maybe Power Girl wouldn't have gotten hurt so badly.

Wasn't that why she became Hawkeye in the first place? To stop things like that from happening?

She nodded.

Rogue, X-Mansion

"Yeah, if you're feelin' well enough, ya oughta send a message to the people that Power Girl is okay," Anna Marie nodded in agreement with Megan, but frowned as she knew why Rocket was here now. "Rocket wants to do a test on you... I told him that he needed your permission first before doing his test."

Anna Marie bit her lip as she glanced at Rocket... She was not quite sure this was the best time for Rocket to test to see if Karen was native to Earth, but Karen looked to be in a good enough state for one and Rocket was already here.

—Cafe—

Wesleigh downed her coffee. There was a brief feeling of warmth in her throat, it disappeared almost instantly. She felt neither quenched nor thirsty. But hey, she'd had something to drink, so clearly she still could.
She shrugged on her jacket and nodded to Ivan.
"Anytime you want to know more, just ask. He's... not a god by the way. It's complicated."
She listened to Access' reply on the communicator.
"Hey, he's only a cab-ride away from us, I don't know where the Prowler is. Him picking us up seems... kind of lazy?"

X-Man Exterior

"Okay, I dunno first aid, which is something I should fix, now that I think about it, but she seems fine," Darwin said outloud, lifting his arm and waving. "She ain't breathin' funny, I can hear her heart beat, what looks like a buncha little scratches except without the scratches and I found where the bullet hit her too. S'no hole, just like a wicked looking paintball and some blue veins tracing out from the impact."

X-Mansion Outside

"Kid!" Green Arrow shouted as he saw what had happened to "Laura X." He ran over to the SHIELD agent responsible for guarding her and grabbed his shirt.

"What did you do?" he spat at the guard.

"I think she's just unconscious!" Darwin yelled up again, kneeling over her. "There's, like, blood, but not anywhere near where this big black spot is. If she got shot, wouldn't there be buckets of the stuff?"

The Cafe

Ivan raised his brows "As fascinating as any inquires might be... right now I think we should focus in more earthly matters won't you agree?" he said with a slight smile. He finished his tea and stood up. "Lazy? no... I'd say more... Undignified" He continued, gesticulating as he walked with purpose "Besides I have to suit up. I have a cache stashed nearby here... shouldn't take long in any case. Oh and your car should still be back at the manor"

—Cafe—

Wesleigh nodded and stuck her hands in her pockets. The manor, she'd forgotten about the manor. She frowned and tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Did Iron... did Tony help me trick it out? Might be able to guide it to me if..."
She looked at her hands.
"Oh right. That would probably be in the suit. The suit I can't find."
She looked up at Ivan and approximated a smile.
"Lead the way."

The Studio

Godfrey just smiled back at Kate, adjusting his watch once more and turning to the camera, just as the producer finished counting down. "Welcome back to the G. Gordon Godfrey Show. I'm happy to welcome to the show one Ms. Kate Bishop, who was present herself in last night's 'superhero' ball." He said, making sure to put the air quotes were necessary. "Thank you for coming, Ms. Bishop."

"First of all," Godfrey leaned forward, tapping the table as he spoke. "Would it be fair for me to assume the vigilantes that tried to help last night were, in fact, completely useless?"

Studio

Completely useless.

Kate balled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She hadn't been useless, she had helped to the best of her ability.

But had she really accomplished anything beyond getting someone hurt, maybe even killed, the destruction of a chandelier, and losing an archery contest?

Godfrey was looking at her expectantly; Kate had frozen up. Was he taking her silence as confirmation?

"One of them saved my life," she offered limply. This was not going as she expected.

The agent had half a mind to give try and give Paige serious injury when she leapt over the car and restrained him, never mind the fact that she was halfway made of metal right now. His temperament did not improve when Green Arrow jumped down his throat too. "She was making a run for it! I immobilised her with the minimum required force, and furthermore if you'd listened to my suggestion-"

Mr Summers caught up with Ollie. "Mr Queen, this is unacceptable-"

"-wouldn't be having this conversation-"

Cannonball weighed in, "Oh, big man, shootin' down a-"

"-off our property this instant-"

"-following proper protocol-"

"-not 'xactly helpin' SHIELD's rep-"

The fierce debate was at its height, with everyone involved clustered around the area delivering various simultaneous points with ever increasing volume. Around the time when it became impossible to hear what anyone was saying, Cannonball turned to rally the New Mutants, and it was here that he noticed Karma, who was staring at the sky open mouthed. Cannonball looked up too, and became similarly transfixed. One by one, the arguers turned their attention skyward, and the hubbub slowly died down.

There, high above, a speeding object heading straight for the school had just slowed down, and was making a steady descent. The closer it came, the more it looked like a man with arms folded, drifting downwards as easily as riding an elevator. His red cape billowed in the morning breeze.

"...hokay, now I know this here's a dream," said Sam.

Green Arrow let go of Agent Douche and stood back, watching the descending figure with a gaping mouth. He got his bow out but left his hands off the quiver. Superman was clean, as far as he could tell but there was just something about the immense power that he had that made Ollie mistrust him - just a tad. Besides, it wasn't as if his arrows could do anything anyways.

"What brings you up here?" he called up to the man.