Museum of Natural History, prt 2

[Veronica Devereux]

> “Veronica, are you blind? The roof… is… collapsing!” At hearing the comment, the blonde's eyes widened as she passed a single finger in front of her eyes. Clicking her tonuge, she glanced over at Josh."Nope, Joshie, still got my eyesight. Why, would you like me to be blind?" she retorted, making her way over to a group of bystanders.

>“Get the rest of the kids out of here!” Rolling her eyes, she made a shooing motion with her hands, causing a slight breeze to plow through the group of people, effectively giving them a headstart."Nothin' to see people, just some weird people fighting giant skeletons, you know, everyday stuff." she explained, watching as the crowd slowly but steadily made their way out of the museum. Grunting, she turned back to face the chaotic scene in front of her. Josh was busy holding up part of the ceiling, boring. On the other side of the room, the wolf man was pretending(or so she hoped) to eat another person, and then drag him across the floor.

At the sight of the ceiling crashing to the ground, Veronica jumped and let out a small squeal, followed by a quick movement toward Josh and the roof. Seeing smaller chunks come falling down, she flung her arm forward quickly, causing the chunk to fly into a nearby salad bar, sending peices of carrots, lettuce, and glops of ranch dressing everywhere. People seemingly screamed at the site of flying food, oh the horror!"People, get a grip, it's salad for cripes sake!" she bellowed at them, a small vein in her neck throbbing. Once she was sure that Josh was as steady as he could be, she did a sweep of the court.

Directly across her, she noticed Danny yelling at the boy she had seen earlier in the other part of the museum, Hector, she believed his name was. Pointing a single pink nail at a water fountain near them, the contraption began to shake before the spout flew off, followed by a thin stream of murky water. Making a disgusted face, the water made its way over to Hector, and wound itself tightly around his ankles before freezing."You, boy, fix this now, or I promise you you'll be in here if this place collapses!" she warned, the water slowly making its way up his legs. After a few minutes, the water would have reached up to his knees, and be sufficiently frozen.

[Tempero]

> "…will you let him do it? I promise I’ll explain everything after we get out of here.”

Danny looks around, trying to figure out how the mutation works. The strings on the dinosaur skeletons are enveloped in the same color as Hector is, but they are fainter. Were they more intense when I first looked at them?

He turns around and comes down so that he and Hector are seeing eye-to-eye. Thinking how height is not always practical, he smiles one of those nonchalant, relaxed smiles he knows so well-- they make people relax.

"All right, Hector, look. One of the things I can do is see other people's mutations...kind of like...flags. As if every mutant were wearing a flag that told me their power by being a certain color. There's a color I see on you, but I've never seen one like it before, so I have no idea what it does. Now, I think that you somehow made the skeletons come to life." he glances over as the skeleton that was so handily disabled by Jack (who is apparently trying to persuade people that he's feasting on a colleague) twitch helplessly.

"What I need to know, is if you can feel anything...oh...weird...strange...different, like having some control over something, like puppets or something like that. Even like an extra appendage. Anything weird that happened between our talk and the skeletons...er...living?"

His eyes fall down to the water around the boy's ankles. Shit.

He glares at Veronica, but can't help but feel guilty-- his initial approach was only lightly less intimidating due to the fact that his power cannot directly harm.

"Hector, don't worry about the ice, we'll deal with that soon enough. Can you control the skeletons or the energy they are imbued with?" Danny repeats the question, hoping that the disarming smile he has on and the calm voice will help for a coherent answer. If Hector falls into hysterics, and it turns out he can control them...well, Toni will have to worry about something more than just Charlie.

While not showing it on his face, he is sending a mental glare at Veronica. Sop that right now, and go help minimize damage with the skeletons! We're dealing with this!

[Hector Vidal]

Hector doesn’t ordinarily think of himself as a slow or stupid kid, but he’s simply not accustomed to the level of chaos going on all around him, and it’s definitely interfering with his ability to process. And, admittedly, being pummeled with chunks of ceiling hasn’t helped either.

Danny, it turns out, managed to dodge and block most of the ceiling chunks, and doesn’t seem phased by it… does he do this sort of thing all the time?. That thought almost makes Hector feel confident… but on the other hand, Danny isn’t answering his questions and is glaring at him as if he’d done something wrong by asking, which tends to push him in the other direction.

Hector tries to avoid Danny’s grab but fails; stumbles dazed in the direction Danny is pulling him, tries to get his thoughts together.

> " We’re the X-Men. We run a school. I was taking the kids on a field trip… walking away and letting the roof fall in on everyone seemed like a bad idea. "

X-Men? Hector has heard about them, some kind of mutant government anti-terrorist group if he remembers right. Since when do government agents babysit teenagers on museum trips? Run a school? What the hell?

> " Danny seems to think you have a latent mutation that’s causing this. Can you stop it? "

"No!" Hector isn’t entirely sure which “this” Josh has in mind – the dinosaurs? The werewolf? The collapsing ceiling? Doesn’t matter, really, the same answer applies for all of it. "You got the wrong guy, man… I didn’t do any of this! I’m just a kid!" Later he’ll be embarrassed by the sheer panic in his voice, but right now all he hopes is that these crazy people listen to him.

He takes a shuddering breath and tries again, a little more controlled, "Look, I’d like to help, but I honestly have no idea what – OH MY GOD!" Hector looks on, paralyzed by shock, as the werewolf pounces from the disabled dinosaur onto a frail-looking old man. "That THING just KILLED that guy!!!"

> " Oh my god… what is he doing? "

What shreds self-control Hector has managed to recover fall apart around him, especially when Josh seems to treat the event as some kind of embarrassing faux pas rather than a monster attack. Danny doesn’t even give it a second glance. These people are crazy! He struggles ineffectually against Danny’s grip on his arm. Not to mention strong…

> " Hector, just relax, we're trying to sort this out... "

" Are you kidding me? ‘Relax’?!? What the hell is – aaaack! " His admittedly uninspired question is cut off by sudden shock as Danny starts glowing, and Hector realizes his own body is glowing the same unnatural shade of green. Fear galvanizes him; he pulls out of the boy’s grip and takes two running steps away, tripping over the dented chair and almost falling.

Josh is still talking… something about Danny’s power and blanket mutations.

> " …will you let him do it? I promise I’ll explain everything after we get out of here.”"

The promise of an explanation, tempting as it might be under other circumstances, doesn’t even begin to stand up to the threat of mysterious Technicolor radiation and homophagic lycanthropes. "He.. what? No! Get away from me, all of you!" He gets his feet under him again, tries to bolt for the exit with the other tourists, trips again as he’s tangled up in a what the hell? tentacle of is that water? coming from Miss Pink she is a mutant! across the room.

> " You, boy, fix this now, or I promise you you'll be in here if this place collapses! "

He’d wanted her to notice him, granted, but not like this. The watery-tentacle thing she seems to be controlling how is that even possible? is creeping up his legs as he frantically tries to extricate himself, knowing there’s no point to it; there’s already three of them attacking him and more on the way, there’s no way he can defend himself. "Why me???!" he wails, not really expecting an answer.

Danny crouches down next to him, smiling nonchalantly, as if everything were perfectly normal, and starts explaining in a calm voice as Hector continues to struggle with his bonds.

> " What I need to know, is if you can feel anything...oh...weird...strange...different, like having some control over something, like puppets or something like that. Even like an extra appendage. Anything weird that happened between our talk and the skeletons...er...living? "

The calm questioning helps Hector focus, though the primary goal of this new focus remains trying to get away from these maniacs. Still, they seem to have stopped attacking him and settled for pinning him down; maybe he can talk his way out of this.

Worth a shot, anyway… I sure don’t seem to be able to run away. “Look, I keep telling you: you’ve got the wrong guy. I can’t fly or glow in the dark or throw furniture around with a wave of my hand or anything like that. I’ve got nothing to do with those dinosaurs, or that werewolf, or the metal lady, or any of the rest of that shit; I’m just a kid. My class is here on a field trip, that’s it!" He considers telling Danny about the previous times he’s seen inanimate objects go nuts, but decides not to – the way these guys think, they’d probably consider that evidence against him.
"And, no, no extra appendages, no puppet-mastery, nothing like that. A little tired, maybe, but that’s just ‘cuz I haven’t been getting much sleep lately, that’s all. I wish I could help, dude, but those things ain’t got nothing to do with me, you get me?"

He finally gives up on trying to break out of Veronica’s shackles, and tries not to let Danny see how scared he is. "Look, man, you seem like a decent guy… and I promise I won’t tell anybody anything, far as I’m concerned you guys weren’t even here… look, I just wanna go home, OK? Please?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> "You got the wrong guy, man… I didn’t do any of this! I’m just a kid!"

It’s pretty obvious that Hector is terrified. Damn it… this is happening just like before. Letting people in on our powers is not a good idea during stressful situations. But what was I supposed to do? Let the ceiling drop in on us? Even if I would say that everyone else didn’t matter… our kids were still here.

> "That THING just KILLED that guy!!!"

“He didn’t. Jack is trying to get everyone out of danger by scaring them. Arthur is in on it - though probably not thrilled about it.” Josh’s voice is somewhat calm, but there’s an edge of strain to it. His headache is getting worse, which means he’s tiring mentally.

> " Are you kidding me? ‘Relax’?!? What the hell is – aaaack! "

Josh resists the urge to roll his eyes up into his head. He was too intimately connected to the Institute and the X-Men to ever be able to take an outsider’s view again… but everyone else was way too nonchalant about lighting up like Christmas trees and throwing lightning and mauling people. That kind of thing scared normal people. He was lucky his mutation was mostly invisible to the average person.

> " You, boy, fix this now, or I promise you you'll be in here if this place collapses! "

Then, if everything hadn’t already gone to hell and they were losing any chance of getting through to - Hector, Danny called him Hector - Veronica had to butt herself into the problem. Josh’s jaw sets as Veronica entangles Hector’s ankles with fountain water. He’d had enough. Everyone had gone off the deep end.

“That’s it.” His voice is angry. “Veronica, what do you think you’re doing? You don’t use your powers to threaten the innocent. You’re… you’re grounded! And you have detention! Get the hell out of here, or so help me, I will make an exit for you! I don’t need to be worrying about you right now!” As if to punctuate his words, more chunks rain from the ceiling.

> "And, no, no extra appendages, no puppet-mastery, nothing like that. A little tired, maybe, but that’s just ‘cuz I haven’t been getting much sleep lately, that’s all. I wish I could help, dude, but those things ain’t got nothing to do with me, you get me?"

“Sorry about her. She thinks she’s, I dunno, Miss Thang.” Josh resists the urge to add quotation marks to Veronica’s nickname. “Okay, so, this happened to me when my telekinesis started surfacing - the lack of control. It’s bad at first, but you’ll eventually get the hang of it.” It was obvious to Josh, at least, even to his pain-fogged mind, that Hector had no idea what he was capable of. He seemed to be at the typical age for the onset of phenotypic effects for his mutation, as well. “If I’m right - which I am - give me a chance later to explain all of this so you don’t think we’re insane, alright?”

Most unwillingly, he looks at Danny. He wasn’t a fan of the younger boy’s cutoff ability, but it did have practical uses. “Alright - he’s obviously manifesting for the first time. Dampen his effects so we can get out of here.” Across the atrium, the allosaurus suddenly spies them and takes interest in the light being emitted by Danny and Hector.

“And Danny - hurry. It’s starting to feel like my brain is splitting in half.” Josh winces and shifts a few pieces above them.

[Veronica Devereux]

>“Veronica, what do you think you’re doing? You don’t use your powers to threaten the innocent. You’re… you’re grounded! And you have detention! Get the hell out of here, or so help me, I will make an exit for you! I don’t need to be worrying about you right now!” Hearing Josh's threat, Veronica practically bursted out laughing."You aren't my father, you cant ground me!" she bellowed back, this time raising a finger at the man. She was so tempted to hit him in the gut with a blast of dirty water, but she had to resist. If she were to hit him, the ceiling would most likely collapse, and kill them ALL.

Crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, she spread her legs apart slightly, showing she wasn't going to move."I'm not going anywhere, and you can't make--" the sounds of footsteps, more like stomps, echoed through the room as the allosaurus began to make its way over to Hector and Danny."Oh dear..." she muttered to herself.Turning back to look at Josh real quick, she grimaced at him."I'll deal with you later, mister." she said as she turned and ran toward the skeleton. Jumping into the air as high as she could, she used the air to give her an extra boost, propelling her voer the dinosaur, and causing her to land on its backbone.

Crouching down, she grabbed onto the bone as the dinosaur continued its rampage to the two glowsticks near Josh."Oh no you dont." she grunted, forming a gust of wind around her and the skeleton's backbone. throwing herself to the side, she hit an imaginary wall with enough force to cause the allosaurus to stubmle ever so slightly, causing it to tumble into a cluster of chairs and tables. Ramming her shoulder into the wall once more, she felt the figure shake before tumbling on its side, just as she melted away the wind.

Feeling herself being lifted up, she skittered across the floor, before running into the newly fallen tables. Rolling over, she felt a cold luqid seap into her shirt as she sat up. Looking down, she noticed a large brown spot on the middle of her shirt. Raising the fabric to her nose, she took one sniff before frowning. The liquid was soda, Coke to be precise, and it had ultimately ruined her shirt. Hoisting herself up, she allowed the ice around Hector's ankles to melt, afterwhich they darted over to the skeleton's back leg, freezing it to the ground. As the dino tried to continue to trample on, it let out a loud roar as it stopped just feet short of reaching Hector and Danny, who were still glowing.

"Anytime now guys." the blonde yelled over to them, sending another small amount of water under the skeleton, and freezing it, causing the giant bag of bones to slip and slide, just like a novice ice skater."Humph!" was all she could muster up as she darted up behind the allosaurus, trying to get udnerneath of it. As she maneuvered her way across the ice, she failed to notice it's tail, its bony tail, heading in her direction. Pausing for a moment, she turned just in time to feel the tail slam into her torso, sending her flying to the other side of the cafeteria.

Wiht a loud, sickening "thud" her body collided with one of the walls, leaving behind an oddly shaped dent as she slide to the floor. Grabbing her head with one hand, she felt her temples throb with pain, as a small trail of blood trickled from the side of her head, and running down her shoulder. Standing up slowly, she placed a single hand on the wall as she tried to steady herself and keep from fainting. When she had herself in check, she slowly trudged over under the dinosaur, raisn g her hands as she did. Wind began to gather around her and the dinosaur, and suddenly began to swirl slowly. The speed was not enough to cause a tornado or twister, but it was enough to frighten the dinosaur into standing still, parts of it's bones shaking uncontrollabley.

[Jack Russell]

Jack is pacing.

Oh shit. Oh God.. The terror in him is enough to alert Arthur, who is sitting propped against a counter, blotting at a trickle of blood sliding down his forearm. He really had fainted when Jack pinned him, but he had come to a few moments later in a sharp gasp of discomfort.

"I am alright," Arthur reassures, looking pale but sound,"Go. Help Joshua, I will be fine. It's only a scratch."

Jack had been stunned when he first tasted the meek iron in Arthur's blood; he hadn't been gripping that hard. He had been as gentle as he could. But there's a crisis far bigger at hand, and Jack turns tail, assessing what had been happening without him.

Veronica is unleashing her wrath on an exhibit, manipulating the air into a vortex around it. The dinosaur is frightened by unknown elements, and Jack wouldn't have ever imagined it could display such feelings. Danny is occupied with a boy that seethes with fear, but Josh is having the most trouble, and Jack bounds to the nearest column. He presses against it, the muscles in his back popping and straining taut.

The civilians, at least, are gone now, but it's probably only a matter of time before someone alerts the police--or worse, animal control--that there are exhibits and a vicious furry creature attacking people. That was the stupidest idea ever! Jack hisses to himself, and he knows he can't go back in time and fix it all. What will happen now? Will Arthur be like him? Would he be affected at all?

Above, the column gives a groan, and a shower of plaster falls on him. Jack shakes his head, refocusing his intentions.

[Toni Craft]

Considering the size of the extinct stegosaurus, it’s not very fast. It’s trying to run for the exit, but really it’s not going any faster than a quick jogging pace for most humans. Toni, with Charlie the tortoise in hand, catches up to the skeleton without too much effort. Reaching out, she grasps the end of its tail and heaves backward, planning on outright stopping the fleeing menace.

Crun-thwack

Toni’s plan comes to a screeching halt, rather than the dinosaur. “Well...that’s no good, is it, Super Charlie?” In her hand is the boney end of the stegosaurus’ tail, having come loose with a snapping of wires and splintering rock. The skeleton is still making it’s way to the human-choked doorway. “The museum folks aren’t gonna be to happy with me…”

Pushing her legs hard and fast, Toni runs to catch up with the dinosaur again, this time coming up alongside its massive shoulder. Grasping a thick rib for support, she vaults herself and her newly acquired sidekick up onto the back of the rampaging stegosaurus.

“Go Charlie! Save the day with your mighty tortoise-y strength!” The reptile, terrified out of his wits and hiding in his shell, finds himself staring at the wires connecting each vertebrae in the dinosaur’s neck. “Uh...Charlie?” Toni taps the top of his shell with an iron finger. “You in there?” She picks up the shell and peers into the spot where the tortoise’s head receded, finding a wide eye staring back. “Oh I get it! This mighty task is below you! Your reptile prowess should be better spent on a more challenging task. Fear not, for I understand and shall take this lowly task into my own hands!”

The stegosaurus, alarmed by the sudden heavy weight on its back and the strange woman’s inane squawking, begins to buck and thrash in its attempt to disengage the pest. “Yeeehaaaaw!” With one hand on a shoulder blade for support and another holding Charlie in the air, Toni grins and rides the jerking skeleton like a flailing bronco.

Legs and what remains of its tail slash through the air as the dinosaur tries to rid itself of the iron woman on his back. Tables and chairs and other items in the cafeteria are smashed and destroyed under its weight, but its effort to reach the door and trample the escaping patrons is briefly forgotten.

Toni is laughing happily as the stegosaurus continues to toss to and fro, but stops when a large chunk of plaster and cement collides with her forehead. Dazed by the impact, she topples off the back of dinosaur and hits the ground with a hard thump. “Owie…” Rubbing the spot on her head, she shoots a disdainful look at the ceiling. “Oh...that can’t be good.” Cracks spread across the roof like spider webs and dust clogs the air as more plaster falls to the ground. She looks down at Charlie, who can’t be bothered to poke his nose out of his shell. “What d’you say I dump you off somewhere while I go save the day, hmm?” There’s no response from the tortoise. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Pushing to her feet, Toni runs after the stegosaurus again, but pauses long enough to shove Charlie into the hands of Veronica. “Ron, take care of Super Charlie, will you? He likes lettuce and peace and quiet and lots of lesbian porn.”

She runs after the stegosaurus, this time not bothering to stop and have some fun with the fact that a skeleton has somehow been reanimated. “Yo! Stompy McStomp Stomper!” The dinosaur turns its head to stare at the approaching menace and tries to pick up speed. Unfortunately for it, Toni catches up and uses both arms to grab it by the neck. “Nighty night, Steggie.” With a firm push in her arms, the stegosaurus’ feet come off the ground and go flying over its head as Toni flips it over onto its back. The skeleton roars as it lands roughly on a series of cafeteria tables, its legs thrashing in the air helplessly.

“When I tell the grandkids about me and the evil evil dinosaur, I bet one of them is going to ask “Gee grandma Toni, what was the last thing that went through that evil evil dino’s head?” And you know what I’m going to say? My foot!” With more strength than is necessary, Toni stomps down onto the skull of the stegosaurus and watches as it shatters. The rest of the skeleton continues to buck and flail for a few more seconds before finally going limp.

Stepping away from the pile of bones, Toni wipes her hands gleefully. “Evolution for the win!” Her celebration is cut short when another piece of ceiling collides with her head, this one large enough to flatten her against the tiled floor. “Oh...right...that.”

[Hector Vidal]

> " Jack is trying to get everyone out of danger by scaring them. Arthur is in on it - though probably not thrilled about it. "

It takes Hector a bewildered moment to figure out that “Jack” is probably the werewolf. Which would make “Arthur” the old guy the werewolf was eating. Er… pretending to eat. According to the, um… guy holding up the ceiling by waving his hands. Who seems to be in charge of this madhouse.

> " You aren't my father, you cant ground me! I'm not going anywhere, and you can't make-- "

Or, well… thinks he’s in charge, anyway.

> Sorry about her. She thinks she’s, I dunno, Miss Thang.

Hector nods, not so much because he agrees or even understands, but because it seems the thing to do. He continues nodding during Josh’s explanation, though his attention is powerfully distracted by Veronica and Toni’s impromptu dinosaur-skeleton rodeo. Which, he’s horrified to realize, actually kinda looks like fun.

> …you don’t think we’re insane, alright?

The questioning inflection grabs Hector’s attention for a moment, and he tries to remember what Josh was saying while he was watching the prehistoric bronco-busting. Something about getting the hang of controlling telekinesis. It takes him a few moments to make the obvious, though utterly implausible, connection: Josh thinks Hector himself is a mutant.

"Wait, wait… I’m not -- " his protest is cut off when Veronica is thrown off her, um, mount and smashed across the room by a flailing tail. "Omigod, is she --" and he’s distracted again by Toni’s triumphant shout of victory as she stomps the stegosaurus into bits, and the realization that he’s alone in the cafeteria with these maniacs.

It’s all just too much, and he looks back at Josh with haunted, fearful eyes. "I’ll do whatever you want, just please make this stop!!!"

[Tempero]

So, he is supposed to help. Yay, right? Not yay, because he is supposed to do so as the world decides to collapse around him. No pressure, right? Just save everyone from becoming part of the exhibit. Even though it is only an off chance that canceling Hector would cancel the dinosaurs.

Deciding to go for it as he sees Veronica doing...stuff that Toni should be doing, Danny focuses back on Hector, and lets the world drain away as his eyesight becomes black save for the dusty colors of the boy's mutation. Sound clears off, and he can feel his mind wrapping around the genes. He can feel them as something warm, a good thing, a thing similar to him.

It is not mine...I am borrowing it, and it wants to go back...

He lets the mutation go for a while, and all the dusty color drains from his hands, where he can see it, and now he feels it as nothing more than just a stranger in a sea of unfamiliarity. He lets his own mutation, something he could only feel and never see, wrap around the boy's, and then he becomes aggressive.

His mutation coils around Hector's, and begins stifling it. It fights back, but uselessly. Slowly, he can feel it draining away, becoming small, insignificant, and then finally disappearing, going dormant.

Danny keeps a portion of his mind focused on reducing Hector's mutation, and then tunes back into the real world, to see if the effect has succeeded.

The world is still in turmoil. The dinosaurs are not a bit less pissed off than they were before he faded Hector into a human.

Shit...

The realization hits him, and he has to act quickly. He counts subconsciously a total of three dinosaurs, an allosaurus, triceratops, and a stegosaurus.

Deciding that Hector's mutation had a sort of release effect, Danny decides against letting it run free again, for fear of more of the same stuff being let out into the museum. He sees the mutation lines clearly around the wires of the skeletons, and a shiver runs down his spine at the very thought of what he has to do. Closing his eyes, the 18-year old forces the world to go out like a light and leave him alone with the four clouds of dust, one already neutralized.

His mutation stretches over to one of the skeletons, and envelops its mutation, and then goes to the other, and then has to do a double-take on the third. It is all just the way it feels to Danny, but it is not pleasant nonetheless. Even that is straining him.

He focuses harder, and begins to clench tighter and tighter around the other three, keeping the same amount of force on Hector's mutation as before. Slowly, he feels the mutations on the dinosaurs extinguish-- they do not just fade into dormancy like Hector's, but actually start to disappear.

Thank god... he barely squeezes out through a hellish river dance of a migraine, thinking that it would be horrid if the dinosaurs' mutations also went dormant and went active at a later time.

He feels the strain increase, and inwardly curses Hector for making such powerful imprints on the bones. They even have instincts, at some basic level, for crying out loud!

Finally, his mutation over comes the four others, and clenches tightly around all of them, waiting for the three dinosaur ones to disappear once and for all.

They do, finally, and he immediately pulls out, for fear of imploding from the pressure it has built up in his head. He opens his eyes, and first he sees blurs and bright colors, and then they clear out into dinosaur bones that settle down slowly, and something warm trickles down his lip.

Unaware of the extremely bright red glow he emitted while quenching the three mutations, Danny reaches up to find a nosebleed. Never had that happen befo-

A cloud of blackness overwhelms him before he even gets to the conclusion that he's passing out, and he's comatose within seconds, his body letting itself go into the clutches of gravity.

[Hector Vidal]

As he waits for a reply from Josh, who still seems to be his best shot for a resolution to this situation that doesn’t involve glowing, water-bondage, or having parts of his anatomy forcibly severed from the rest of him, Hector becomes aware of two things.

First, Danny is no longer glowing green. Instead, he’s glowing red. Somehow, Hector doubts that this represents an improvement on the situation.

Second, Hector is tired. Not vastly tired, not verge-of-unconsciousness tired, not need-to-sleep-now tired, not even yawn-and-stretch tired… but tired. Which should not be a particularly noteworthy thing, he realizes, and it wouldn’t be, except it dawns on him that he hasn’t been this tired in months, except for brief flashes.

That ain’t natural, he acknowledges slowly. It’s admittedly difficult to place being alert and energetic in the same category as throwing furniture around from a distance and making water dance and whatever the hell it is Danny is doing, but it provides another bit of evidence in a bucket he’s been scrupulously ignoring for months.

Maybe they’re right? The thought forms with difficulty, only partly due to his exhaustion. Maybe I really am a mutant, after all…

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

As Jack slides into place next to the column and begins bracing it, Josh feels an intense burst of gratitude. Everyone had been startlingly blasé about the fact that the ceiling would kill them if he ran out of strength or if someone sufficiently interrupted his concentration. Jack is strong, too, and this frees him to use part of his remaining mental reserves on other things. “Thanks, Jack…” His voice is hard to hear over the commotion. Josh double-taps the silver x-logo affixed to the collar of his jacket. It shines for a second, and then fades. One step closer to getting out of here.

> "I’ll do whatever you want, just please make this stop!!!"

Josh frowns slightly. He hadn’t wanted to freak Hector out so badly - but he had to admit, all of this was getting ridiculously out of hand. Veronica’s little stunt hadn’t helped, especially since Hector had seemed somewhat cooperative before she’d make him panic so much. Well, he’s listening now, I guess. He could have done without the eye-popping panic, though.

Danny’s powers do their thing, and as usual, affect the target like they’ve knocked the wind out of them. Josh winces as Danny hits the floor, hard, and Hector wobbles in place. How are we going to get out of here…? Fortunately, the power cutoff makes the remaining skeletons quiver in midair for a second before dropping to the ground. The piles of bones seem strangely incongruous when considering the damage they’d just caused.

“Okay, everyone. We have to get out of here… and preferably, in a way that doesn’t involve the NYPD that is no doubt waiting outside." He looks around the room, gauging distances. Must be. His homing beacon was designed to bring the Blackbird as close to his location as was physically possible. Josh concentrates for a second, and throws a hand out at the nearby plate glass window, which overlooks the city. It shatters, and he winces slightly. They didn’t have a lot of choice - and the building was going to require extensive renovation anyway. He taps the logo on his jacket collar again. The Blackbird decloaks, the ramp hovering just off of the edge of the building.

“I’ve gotta stay here until everyone is on. Make it snappy, people.” We ought to do a head count after everyone is on… Hector wobbles dangerously, and Josh puts an arm around the boy to steady him. “You okay? Don’t worry, we’re gonna get you out of here.”

"Can someone pick up Danny? I can make sure Hector gets on." There were only a few of them left, but a couple people had been injured. Warren had shot him a message shortly after the chaos had begun, telling him that he'd gotten the remaining students out the front doors and onto the street.

[Jack Russell]

Thanks, Jack...

For a moment, Jack tries to work his jaw around a reply, barely able to make out Josh's gratitude over the chaos. Thank me later, he grunts, his ears pinning to his school as he digs his hind feet into the floor. As Josh encourages the rest of them to vacate, Jack tries to wrap his mind around the situation. He scans the room, startled to see Arthur hurriedly making his way through the center of the food court.

Must be the energy in this room he tells himself, although Arthur wouldn't even be here if Jack hadn't used him to scare everyone else out.

Across the room, Arthur tries his best to help, fumbling and stumbling across rubble as his abilities become confused with the constantly changing environment. "I will help," he affirms in a shaky voice, sounded certain despite himself but still white and trembling. In the heat of the moment it sounds like a good idea, but Arthur struggles with Danny's weight, clearly unable to manage the boy even with the heightened adrenaline pulsing in the room.

Shit.. what is he doing? Jack tries to get Arthur's attention, but he gets no reply. He doesn't understand Arthur's powers enough to do anything else then tries again with Josh. If he could just damned speak! <Hank needs to look at him ASAP! He can't handle Danny by himself!>

[Hector Vidal]

Oddly, Hector’s sudden fatigue makes everything suddenly simpler.

He notices the werewolf holding up a pillar with only a vague sense of incredulous fear; more like an event in a dream than something actually happening. The beast’s supposed victim dragging Danny across the room towards a private jet hovering outside the broken window doesn’t even register as odd. He just lets himself be guided by Josh, only vaguely aware of the residual chaos going on around him.

Eventually, he’s strapped into a surprisingly comfortable seat with restraints that resemble a roller-coaster ride. It occurs to him that he should ask where he’s going, or at least try to get a message to one of his class chaperones… they’ll be freaking out wondering where he’s disappeared to, after all… but it seems like too much effort. Instead he lets his head loll back onto the seat cushions and is snoring gently within moments.

((OOC: …and, I’m out! Hector will wake normally on landing and be available for medlab thread when it starts.))

[Veronica Devereux]

>“Ron, take care of Super Charlie, will you? He likes lettuce and peace and quiet and lots of lesbian porn.” Veronica opened her mouth to reject the idea, but watched as Toni ran to kick the stegosaurus in the head. Looking down at the turtle in her hands, she brought Charlie to eye level with her, and gave a small laugh."My friend, you and I have three of those four things in common." she explained, letting out another laugh."Can you guess which one we don't?" she asked the amphibious creature, as if expecting some sort of answer.

"Ya know, you are quite the com--" she voice was cut off by glass shattering. Looking up, the blonde noticed a giant black jet hovering above her. Her eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face. Glancing down at Charlie, she squealed."ROLLER COASTER TIME! WOOHOO!" she screamed, causing the small creature to retreat in its shell. Ignoring the frightened reptilian, she ran over to Josh, and poked him with one hand as she rested the turtle shell on her shirt, using her cleavage to hold it up."Need any help, there, Joshie m'boy?" she queried, after which she looked up and saw him straining to keep the ceiling up.

"Guess not.." she thought to herself as she took off toward the jet. Making her way on to the black aircraft, she strapped herself in next to Hector.Seeing the boy fall asleep instantly, she rolled her eyes."Boys!" she snorted, picking up Charlie off of her chest."you aren't like that, are ya, Charlie?" she asked, peering into the shell. Seeing no movement, she guessed that he was asleep, which thoroughly pissed her off. Jamming her finger into the entrance, she wiggled it around, only to be welcomed by a hard pinch on the tip of her index finger. Shivering, she pulled her finger from the hole and looked at the bitten piece of flesh.

"Charlie bit me! It hurts and it's still hurting!" she exclaimed, wagging her finger in the air. Small droplets of blood flew through the air as she showed no one her wounded finger. Sighing, she reached over and gently wiped her finger on Hector's shirt, leaving behind a smeared red trial of blood. Leaning back in her seat, she waited for Charlie to return to the real world. Once he had, she adjusted him so he could see the smeared blood."See that? You did that Bad Charlie, bad bad bad!" she scolded, tapping the shell with a single nail.

[Toni Craft]

Soooo...personal sit-rep….

A quick but thorough body pat confirms that Toni’s still whole and completely unbitten, which is expected but still quite wonderful. Rodeo-ing around the cafeteria on the back of a rampaging stegosaurus skeleton hasn’t left any permanent marks, nor any temporary ones, but a glance across the room shows that not everyone is as sturdily built as she is.

Josh is holding up a ceiling. Wolf-Jack is trying to do the same thing. Veronica is...cursing at Toni’s beloved new pet, Charlie (she’ll deal with that later). Arthur is trying to help get Danny out of the cafeteria and onto the Blackbird (yeah, good luck there).

Deciding that her superior strength won’t really be much use in stabilizing the ceiling, since it seems to be determined to come down no matter who holds it up, Toni scrambles over rubble in Arthur’s direction.

“I wanted to take the kiddies and go paintballing, but noooo, that’s ‘too dangerous and parent’s wouldn’t approve of it as a field trip.’” She grumbles, pulling Danny from Arthur’s slightly less capable grasp and casually throws the unconscious student over her shoulder. “Next time I’m picking where the education budget is getting spent, and I promise there won’t be any attractions that try to eat our flavourful and fleshy though entirely fetching mutant fannies. I'm thinking that male strip joint in town. What-d'you think, Artie? Great way to study male anatomy, me thinks.”

Carrying the student like a deflated potato sack, Toni wanders (with less haste than was probably appropriate) toward the jet, stopping momentarily to haul a stunned, bruised and (literally) green student from under a partially collapsed table.

“So, considering that I’m the only unboobooed adult here, I hereby declare myself pilot of this fine vessel. This task will require the utmost concentration and it will require me to call on all of the thirty minutes I spent in the flight simulator — which is the most awesomest gizmo ever because you can crash this thing and it explodes! It’s so realistic that there are even little burning bodies that fly out of it! I totally crashed it like twenty times!”

Most of the students are too busy tending to their wounds or the wounds of their friends to really be paying attention to her rambling, but those that do are left with terrified expressions.

“Burning...bodies?” Asks one meekly, pulling the emergency blanket tighter over his shoulders.

“Oh yeah, totally. It’s wicked!” Toni looks around the crowded cabin, scratching her head when she can’t find her brother. “Hey, anyone here seen Matty?”