Mall rat beware, the exterminators are here --OPEN

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby stands down from combat stance, tries to get himself under control... the cat-guy is FAST, and that's a bad thing, but he isn't attacking, and that's a good thing.

Talking. Talking is good.

"Dude, are you SERIOUSLY complaining about the lack of godamn LEGAL protection while chomping at the bit to MURDER these guys? Killin' them makes MORE people just as vengeance-crazy as YOU, makes it HARDER to pass the laws you say you want."

Yeah. Way to talk down the psychopath. Maybe there's a dumber way to do it than arguing the relative merits of genocidal race war, but I'd have to look damned hard for it...

He can't seem to let it go, though. His breath grows shallow as adrenalin pulses through his system, he feels himself about to fly off the handle again and forces even breaths.

"Oh, hell... why do I even bother? You can't SERIOUSLY believe you're gonna end hatred against mutants by killing all the mutant-haters... NOBODY's that dumb. It's like these assholes thinking they're standing up for human rights by harassing teenage girls in malls... it's bullshit. You're just pissed at whoever killed your folks and goin' after everyone like 'em. Hell, I might do the same thing in your shoes."

He wonders about that, though. Lots of people's parents get killed. Hell, Jubes' parents got killed, and she ain't going around killing anybody. Hell, Xavier was like a father to a bunch of us and Jean killed him... so killing Jean made things better? Bullshit. It's an excuse to start a war, and that's all it is. It isn't mutants and humans, it's killers and nonkillers, and I knows what side of that line I'm on. And so does cat-boy. And no amount of talking is going to change that.

"So, OK... you're a killer. I get that. And I ain't gonna talk you outta that, and I get that too. And if you've gotta pretend you're standing up for mutant rights when you're ACTUALLY making our lives WORSE, so you can sleep at night... well, hell, I ain't gonna talk you outta that either.
But get this: I'm NOT. I'm not gonna kill you, or kill these assholes, or stand by and let anybody else do either.
So, bottom line: you walk away, and I get out of your way and owe you one for helping Jubilee out of a jam. Or you try killing six tied-up assholes on my watch and we fight about it. Your call."

[Sherridan Kaine]

"No, I am not complaining, I am telling you the reasons of my deciding for which path I am going to take. I don't want those laws anymore, because I know that they will never exist. If you look a little back, there are still people who hate African Americans just because they're different, and that dispute ended a long time ago. The situation is even worse with mutants, because in this scenario, it's not one race divided over color and battling itself, but one race trying to erase the other. And just to prevent you from taking up on a single sentence like that, I used the African Americans just as an example, nothing more." he replies, relaxing a bit, but still fully prepared to fight or react if the need be.

Once more his adversary hits near, but not entirely at the point. "No, you wouldn't do the same thing. Because if you would, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now. And I am not going out killing everyone like the murderers of my parents- that would be just plain insane and would probably end up in a quest to destroy more than half the human race. No, I take my revenge on just enough people so that the rest of them will get the point. And sure, maybe it won't work, but it will still deliver the message and put it in peoples' minds, a thing to think about in those long hours in the middle of the night." he explains, and then relaxes almost completely, which is the closest to relaxed he has ever been since that horrible night.

He waves a hand idly in the air. "Fine, forget about the assholes on the ground, just don't say anything to me or about me when they come back hunting your friends down. Now..." he looks at Jubilee. "To what extent does your wine connoisseurship go?" he asks the icicle, his voice now assuming a completely different tone. He seems to be a completely different person now.

He is no longer Ferus, but is Sherridan Kaine, an immensely rich gentleman who is very educated and versed in all the "high society" stuff rich people do. There is no reason for making enemies in mutants, and so he decides to invite these two to lunch. The girl seems to need something to cool her down. "I will be right back, if you will excuse me." he says and goes into a shop where a few terrified salespeople are still hiding behind all the clothes. He picks out a suit and a pair of shoes, and leaves the amount of money these clothes cost, which is quite a formidable sum, and changes into it in the dressing room.

Out of the shop comes a gentleman, who you can tell is a mutant only by the fur on his hands, since he is no longer bare-footed, and his tail is wrapped invisibly around his waist, and his face is completely hair-free, since he shaved only this morning. "Now we can continue our conversation." he says merrily. The prior wild nature of Ferus seems to never have existed.

[theonavarro]

Jubilee watched the two of them, Bobby had changed, he wasn't;t his usual self, he was cold now (ha ha, iceman, cold, irony). She stared at him, and suddenly realised, was she any different, what she had done back in the bathroom, the thoughts that ran through her head the other morning, the way she had felt in the training room on her last late night expedition... Was it that not only the school had changed, but the people inside it too? Was this oncoming war turning them into martyrs and heroes, shouldn't;t they have a choice. She spun round, and saw a few security guards run in their direction. She looked back at the the cat-guy and then at the guards, the mutant would kill them, no question there, she stunned them with a few strobe flashes, hoping to buy them some time.

She grabbed Bobby's arm, it was so cold it hurt her, but she didn't have time to care. "Bobby, we need to get this guy out of here!" she said between gritted teeth, "He's gonna end up hurting innocent people!" She signaled to the people below, most of them running in fear, having had a glimpse of the mutants in action. She saw that some of the agents were getting up, she looked back and the security guards were following suit, "Bobby, you handle the moody pussy cat, I'll try and keep these guys busy" she said. She eyed the man carefully, he had went into a store to change, weird considering he was just about to gut the agents. She didn't have time to ponder this though, she ran straight at the mall security, hoping to deal with them quickly.

She ducked under one guard's clumsy grab and sent him flying with a firework up his ass, she turned to the others and did a clumsy back flip, she still needed more training, she stumbled but soon recovered. The guards had surrounded her and their weapons had been let free from their leather holsters, she froze, she had been at gunpoint twice in the last few minutes, hardly very good for her health. She made fireworks appear in the guards' hands, they recoiled with pain and she picked them off one by one with blasts of energy. That would keep them down for at least twenty minutes, she ran towards the exterminators now, she was starting to get tired, but ignored the lead in her feet and fire in her lungs, she landed a kick in the square jaw of an exterminator who was just getting up, he went down like a pile of bricks.

Another exterminator lunged at her, but went flying with her signature firework sound. She was kicking another one in the stomach when she was wrestled to the ground, she sent fireworks in all directions, but most were smothered between her and the ground, the guy's grip was tight, it could have been the guy who had first grabbed her, she wasn't sure, she just wanted him off her, he was heavy! "Bobby!" she shouted, "Help me!"

[rileyfletcher]

It had been a really long a boring day at the mansion. Riley was continuously wandering around the place, trying to find something to do, but it only lasted for some long. She soon sat down on the grass outside, and began to think of what she could do, or maybe go some where. Oh my god!! I have never been this bored before. I really need to think of something soon or I might actually die of boredom!

After what had seemed like forever, but it was only actually ten minutes, she soon got an idea. She decided to go to the mall for a bit. She didn't have any money to buy anything, but she could still try on some clothes and look at a bunch of things to keep her busy. So Riley got up and headed for the mall, wearing her usual ripped jeans and black tank top.

Soon Riley was outside the mall. Everything seemed the same, people coming in and out of it, with the things that they had bought, but for some reason, there seemed more people coming out, then there was going in. It didn't really bother her, so she went straight into the mall. Then that was when, she noticed that there was definatly something wrong. Everyone was running away, in different directions, but tried to stay away from one place.

So of course, Riley went straight for where everyone was running from and could hear a whole lot of commotion. As she got closer, she could see a bunch of lights all over the place. Riley recontized that power was Jubilee's and wondered what could of made her do this. After pushing so many people out of her way to get to Jubilee, she noticed Bobby and another mutant. What the Hell is going on here?

Riley looked around and noticed Jubilee on the ground with another guy ontop of her, and she was yelling for help. Without thinking, Riley ran towards the guy and kicked him hard into his side, causing him to fly a bit from Jubilee. She didn't have any super strength or anything, it's just that she was very use to fighting, and was very good in street fights, cause of her past. Riley then put out her hand to Jubilee to help her up. "Are you alright?" she asked her. She then noticed the blood on her face. "Do you want me to quickly fix that for you?" she asked Jubilee. Riley knew she had to always ask a person, if they wanted to be healed, cause it would be just weird if someone had put their hand on your face, or where ever you were hurt, just to heal them.

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby really wants to reply that the history of institutionalized prejudice against African Americans is a perfect example of the kind of improvement that's possible... he wrote a term paper about that semester before last and still has most of the facts at hand... and sorta wants to point out that killing "just enough people" doesn't really make cat-boy any less a ripshit-crazy psychopath... but the guy isn't trying to kill anybody at the moment, which is something, and he decides to leave well enough alone.

In fact, it's like he's talking to a whole different guy all of a sudden. Wine? Fancy suit? Weird... but definitely an improvement over the Psycho Kitten persona. He relaxes as things seem to be coming under control.

So of course that's when everything goes to pieces. Somehow three Exterminators are out of their bonds and attacking again, Bobby isn't sure how, and Jubes is a fighting machine, taking down three security guards and two Exterminators before Bobby can even move, and then Riley's there all of a sudden and taking out the last of them.

Well, so much for getting out of there without a fight... or having the Exterminators arrested. No way is mall security going to listen to anything they have to say after that little exhibition. But at least nobody got killed. Thank God for small favors.

He looks around incredulously at the pile of unconscious bodies, then looks back at cat-guy, who doesn't even look like a cat-guy anymore, more like something out of GQ... well, except for the fuzzy palms, anyway. He bites back the obvious comment, which honestly had gotten old long before he'd stopped using it on Hank, and just nods. "Yeah... continuing the conversation somewhere less crazy than the mall sounds like a fine plan... maybe a war zone somewhere?" He would laugh, except actually it isn't funny.

"Riley, you can carry Jubes with those wings of yours, right? McCavity here seems plenty fast enough to keep up. Make tracks, get out of here before these guys wake up again, call my cell when you find someplace safe, I'll meet up with you wherever you end up. I'll distract the rest of the rent-a-cops." With that he's speedskating away across the mall, hoping to distract further attention by mall security before the situation gets even stupider.

One quick circuit around the mall and he's up in the vent shafts, slipsliding through them on a coating of slippery ice. A minute later and he's in the food court men's room again, fortunately empty, and (miracle of miracles!) nobody's stolen his clothing. A quick change and Bobby Drake, champion of the ordinary and not-likely-to-be-bugged-by-security-guards, is back in action. Or, well, inaction. Something like that.

He turns his cell-phone back on and heads out of the men's room, towards the OTHER mall exit, and waits for a call.

[Sherridan Kaine]

Before he moves, several things happen, which Sherrdian decides just to watch. Clearly everything is under control, so why ruin a perfect, brand new, extremely expensive suit? He observes with some interest, never letting the icicle get out of his peripheral sight- he is a force to be reckoned with, and their first meeting hadn't started off quite well.

Relaxing as he hears what icicle says, Sherridan gives a quick nod and smile, just to show that he noticed the words and found the joke somewhat amusing. He looked at the person called Riley. "Perhaps you should follow me, since I know both a place where we can blend in, and a really fine restaurant. It's not too far away. I suppose you can fly at about 60 mph, and I do hope you will not go faster, since I can only do that much." he finishes with modesty in his voice and then runs quickly back into the dressing room of the shop and comes back out bare-footed, and in dark jeans and a black tank top, with a black chain around his neck. There is a shopping bag held in his tail.

He smiles a smile that means that he is quite happy for having the opportunity to run at full speed. "Shall we?" not a single drop of his previous manners is dropped with his repeated style change. With those last words, he starts running. At first only using his legs, but then quickly gets to all fours. He speeds up and soon enough he is out of the mall, still in mid-air from a pounce off one of the walls. His tail is still holding the shopping bag as he leads the way through deserted alleys towards the safe place to blend in- why, the carnival of course!

[rileyfletcher]

Riley looked over at Bobby as he spoke and was giving some instructions, so they could find some other place to talk. She nodded her head understanding what to do. Soon Bobby quickly left and the cat guy began to talk to her. He was telling her that he knew a resturant that they could go to, and that he hoped that she couldn't fly to fast for him. She knew that she could fly, pretty fast, but since she would be carrying Jubilee, she would be a bit more slower.

"Alright I'll follow you, and don't worry I wont go to fast." she told him, and noticed him quickly getting changed and began to run. Riley looked back at Jubilee and picked her up. "You might want to hold on tight and duck your head." she told her.

Riley let her wings out from her back, and with out any effort, she was off of the ground and heading up. Since she couldn't fit through the mall doors with her wings, their only way out was through the glass ceiling, that was in different parts of the mall. Before crashing through it, Riley ducked her head and covered Jubilee's head a bit too. As they went through the glass, several peices fell down to the ground, right where the fight had taken place.

Once they were out of the mall, Riley looked around to see where that cat guy had gone too. She soon spotted him going through a couple of alleys and followed him hight up in the sky. She remembered that they needed to call Bobby on his cell, but thought to wait until they had landed first before phoning him and then she could heal the cut that Jubilee had on her forehead.

[theonavarro]

Jubilee was in awe, she had never flown before, she took out her own cell phone, "Don't worry Riley, I'll call Popsicle." with that she began to dial the number, boy were they going to be in trouble when they got back to the mansion. Bobby's cell phone rang three times before he picked it up, she didn't wait for him to say anything, "Bobby, were headed for the carnival, hurry, people are starting to stare, get help and meet us there, fast!"

Jubilee watched the people below, most of them looking up, either confused or scared, this was NOT a very good day for the X-students.

Jubilee had no choice but to just hang there as Riley flew on, she giggled silently, flying really was an amazing feeling...

[Bobby Drake]

Carnival? People staring? Get help? He'd told Riley to find somewhere safe to go to ground... what did they need more help for? He tries to get a word in edgewise but the call ends. Signal lost? Or did Jubes just hang up?

He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration, then dials the Institute. "Storm, Logan, um..." for a moment he can't remember the new guy's name, which is embarassing, then it comes to him, "Shepard, we've got a bit of a situation at the mall. Anti-mutant goons calling themselves the Exterminators and a new mutant, a cat-guy, fast and a little crazy. Jubes and me and Riley got involved. We're OK, but some damage control at the mall isn't a bad idea... there was a firefight, some guards got injured, maybe some innocent bystanders too, not sure. I'm rondezvouing with the others at the carnival, I'll report back in ten minutes." He hangs up as he gets to his rented Zipcar and tosses his bags into the back.

Well. There's only one carnival he knows of anywhere near here. Why Riley and Jubes would pick there to go to ground, he has no idea, but he trusts them. Mostly. He puts the car in gear and drives towards the rondezvous point.

[rileyfletcher]

As Riley was flying through the air, she noticed the expresstion on Jubilee's face and smiled to herself. Soon she heard her say that she was going to phone Bobby. "Alright. Once we land, I will heal that cut you have on your forehead." she told her. Riley wasn't a type of person, that lets people walk around hurt, even if it is just a small cut.

While she was flying above the buildings and following the cat-guy, she noticed a lot of people looking up at her, both a bit scared and amazed at her, but she really didn't care at the moment, just as long as they get far away from the mall. She watched the cat-guy as he continued on moving between a bunch of buildings, and was begining to wonder how much further it is, until she could land and they can talk.

Riley then began to think what the others would think about them. She had a feeling that Storm and Logan would be mad at them for what they had done. And to make things worse, with Riley flying in full view of everyone on the ground, which could endanger them, by having people following them to where ever they go, but she didn't stop flying and stayed at the same height.

[theonavarro]

Jubilee looked up and sighed, "Hurry up Riley, land. I'm starting to feel dizzy and were attracting too much attention." She looked down and grimaced as she saw people taking pictures and staring... Today just sucked.

((sorry its short, but not much i can do while being carried through the air))

[Sherridan Kaine]

A single look shot upwards and then around told Ferus all that he needed to know. People were staring. Nothing he can do about that now, is there? But taking pictures is out of the question. Sure, Ferus doesn't give a damn about people seeing him, but he also knows how secrecy seems to be important to the X-morons, so whenever he sees someone raising a camera, that same camera is destroyed in but a second of time, one single moment where no one can see him.

He knows that cats can easily be seen at their full speed, but he is better than a cheetah about 1.5 times, and also is unexpected- every-one's looking up, not down. So OK, no pictures are taken and the carnival is right...

There! He takes an abrupt, 90 degree turn, and then stops in a random tent. Well, not completely random. The name on the tent in one of the temporary circus camps that always follow carnivals like flies says "The Incredible Animal-people!", a place where either hairy people, or animal mutants find some place where they actually are on the edge of fitting with people.

He exits the tent dressed in his expensive suit from the mall once again, and his hair is perfectly in order, which is odd considering how long he has been running. Ferus walks idly to a clearing where no one is around, and gives a slight sign to the winged chick. No one knows that it's a sign except for those who are looking for something to be a sign.

His hand reaches in his pocket and he pulls out a wallet, and inspects it. OK, so there's about $1000 cash, and three of the numerous credit cards. Excellent, it would take an entire army to exhaust this amount of money for one lunch. His eyes now scan the surroundings and quickly find one of the finest restaurants in town. OK, he'll take the X-morons there. Even though he is making a slightly friendly attempt at conversation, he thinks no more or less of them.

The iceman and young kid will probably be surprised at the change of styles, since they first saw him as looking like nothing more than a homeless bum, and didn't get enough time to see him in the suit.

[rileyfletcher]

While flying through the air and following the cat guy, Riley noticed that she was really drawing attention, and there was a few people that were taking pictures or were about to take pictures. She smiled, glad that the cat guy distroyed a few cameras, while going by the people. She could of gone higher in the sky, but people would still be able to see her no matter what. When she gets back to the mansion, she had a feeling that she would be in some trouble, but then she wasn't a student there, so she wouldn't be in a lot of trouble.

As they were getting closer to the carnival, Riley began to slow down a bit. She watched the cat guy turned and then ran into a tent. Not to long after entering the tent, the cat guy came back out of it. She watched him as he went to a clearing where no one was around and gave her a signal to land. She slowly went down to the ground, feet first, and soon landed. Once she was on the ground she set Jubilee down, on her feet. Then Riley let her wings back into her back.

Riley stretched her arms a bit, since she was carrying Jubilee for a while. Then she turned her attention back onto Jubilee's cut. "Ok Jubilee. If you don't mind, I'm just going to quickly heal that cut." she said to her. She then placed her hand on Jubilee's cut on her forhead. Her hand began to glow, and was a bit warm and had a tingly feeling to it. After a few seconds, Riley removed her hand from Jubilee's forhead, and the cut was gone. Riley's hand was still glowing a bit, but not a lot.

"So what are we going to do once Bobby gets here?" she asked them. Riley looked around to see if she could see Bobby coming. She then remembered what the cat guy had done, while she was flying. "Oh and by the way, thank you for destroying a few cameras." she told him with a smile.

[theonavarro]

"Thanks Riley," said Jubilee, she watched the big-bad-puddy-tat from afar, she wasn't sure if this guy was safe to be around. She was worried for the civilians, this guy had it in for humans. She looked at Riley and signalled to the cat guy, "We should tail him, I don't trust him... he could be trouble."

Jubilee began to walk throughthe crowd, they would hide her well enough... She hoped that the teachers would get here soon, she wasn't sure just how much Riley and her could do if the guy went crazy and started hurting the humans. She scowled as she thought about what he had said to her, as if he was the only mutant to ever be discriminated against, as if he was the only one who had suffered for his gifts. Jubilee motioned to Riley, she knew that Riley was new here, but she didn't have anyone else to help her.

Jubilee then stopped and began to giggle, she was thinking like a genuine X-Man... The Professor would have been proud. She thought back to all the times since the Alcatraz incident that she had doubted not only herself, but the ethics code that came with being a student at Xavier's. She thought about all the times she had considered becoming a Brotherhood member. How dreadfully cliche of her, the troubled teenager considering a career as an anarchist, how very The Young And The Restless. She shook her head and continued to tail the cat guy, who was very nearly out of sight now, she didn't have time for a sitcom-style internal monologue right now.

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby takes the opportunity to cool down a bit as he drives to the carnival.

He has no idea how they're going to deal with the fallout from that fiasco (especially if anyone was injured by the falling glass shards, which he really hopes nobody was), but at least they're away from the innocent bystanders and the trigger-happy cops.

He still feels nauseous about it, though. It's bad enough John's little tribe of terrorists is running around convincing everybody that mutants are nothing but superpowered criminals and murderers (and this new guy, Thomas O'Malley the Alleycat or whatever his real name is, seems like the same kind of headcase), but that's not what Xavier's is supposed to be about.

Well. At least nobody died... that's something.

He still can't believe Jubilee burned the guards like that instead of blinding them, but he reminds himself that she's still young, and she was scared... she just spooked, is all. He can't blame her... the situation was freaky. She just needs more training, is all.

And hell, I just stood there like a lump while she took out all five of them... I'm in no position to talk. He still can't get over that little exhibition, actually... he had no idea Jubes could move like that.

Riley's being more obvious about her flight-plan than he'd expected, but what the hell, it's a carnival... folks will probably think it's some kind of publicity stunt. And it makes it easy for him to find the clearing when she lands, which is something

He considers icing up again, but changes his mind... it just increases the chances that this will turn into a fight. He parks and walks casually over to join the other three as he calls the Institute again, letting them know they've rondezvoused successfully at the carnival and that the situation seems under control.