xp_logs | These Earthly Things: Ambush

Professor Lee visits the centre, then Miguel and Alejandra walk him to his car. None of them make it inside.

Professor Christopher Lee was very nearly vibrating with pleasure as he was shown around the Center. He certainly wasn't acting like an esteemed professor in his early fifties, frequently darting from this or to that with an overabundance of energy. Everything about him radiated a never ending cycle of motion, from his long limbs to the shock of black, wiry hair that stuck out in an endless wave of cowlicks.

"Marvelous, simply wonderful," he said, beaming over his shoulder. "My hat is off to you Alejandra, you lot have done such an excellent job since I was last here."

The girl tried to shrug the praise off, seemingly uncaring, but a certain hint of pink around her cheeks betrayed her pleasure. "Ain't nothin'," she drawled. "The money you've been raisin's helped. Plus the publicity - everyone's tryin' to prove how nice they are, helpin' out the mutie street kids."

He waved a hand around for a moment, chuckling. "No, no, raising the money is the easy part, to be honest. I get to sit back and guilt wealthy donors into…oohh, now that is a lovely fresco!" And he was off once more, bounding across the hall, completely enchanted by the painting some of the local members had done up. Lee peered closely at it, making appreciative noises as he bounced on the balls of his feet. He blinked and then turned back to Alejandra, picking up as if he hadn't stopped the initial line of thought. "Giving me their donations. Tax breaks, the filthy rich love them."

The man was completely loco, Alejandra had decided. Or maybe he had that hyperactive thing, like some of the kids back in L.A. used as an excuse to get out of homework. The ones without the cojones to just not do it, that was. "Some of the kids did it - better than them taggin' trains an' gettin' caught," she explained. The Center itself was starting to empty out, Dr. Lee having stayed long beyond the allocated publicity time, to 'enjoy things properly' as he'd put it. "Now if we can just get that fuckin' Church of Humanity off the doorstep..."

Lee tugged at a strand of hair in frustration and the end result was a rather mutated cow lick. "Ignorance breeding ignorance," he said sadly. "Gender, skin color and now mutation. Humanity will always seem to find a new way of hating their fellow man. Or, in your case, woman." He gave her a small smile. "But thankfully, history has shown us that we, eventually, rise above petty behavior. Most, anyway." Giving the wall a fond pat, his smile grew. "And with your help and everyone else here, this place will be a stepping stone for that. Moronic intrusions on our doorstep notwithstanding."

"Back when I was in L.A., before I manifested, I hated mutants. I was in a gang that went after them. But we never brought God into it." Alejandra cast a sneer at the front doors, where the muffled sounds of protest could be heard. "Seems dishonest, ya know?"

He was actually a staunch atheist but he could grasp the concept that Alejandra was talking about. "Yes and, really, in the end they're just deluding themselves. Hiding their self-hate deep within hating someone else so they do not have to deal with their own problems." Lee grinned wildly. "Either that or they're complete morons and considering the group outside right now? I'm leaning towards the latter, myself, wouldn't you agree?"

"That they're morons? I think you might have somethin' there, Doc." Alejandra looked up as the front door opened, admitting Miguel. "Funny you should mention morons... Doc, this is my brother, Miguel. He likes to think he takes care of me."

Lee turned at once to the younger man, both hands outstretched to vigorously shake Miguel's hand in his. "Pleasure to meet you, really," he announced loudly. "Your sister has been quite the tour guide today, showing me how much work has been done in here. The community pulling together, fantastic. Reminds me a little of the old church raisings they used to have – entire group gathering around, doing the work for the greater good, potentially some food afterwards. Marvelous."

Miguel's fingers twitched lightly as he extended his hand to the professor. This wasn't his sort of thing, shaking hands and socializing, getting pictures taken and all that. He'd been content to let Alejandra do all the publicity mierda, which had left him free to keep an eye on the Church of Humanity cabrones protesting outside. "Encantado, Professor," he said.

After a moment, the professor let Miguel's hand go and stood back, hands back in his pockets, arms slightly akimbo. "The amount of work you young people have put into this place has been extraordinary. Now, if I could only bottle and pass on that drive to my students I would be getting somewhere."

Alejandra shrugged. "It's not so much. Just makin' sure people like me have a place to go, ya know?"

"Precisely." He blinked and then suddenly dug through a jacket pocket, after a moment pulling out a golden pocket watch. "I hate having to run but I have a dinner date with my wife this evening. And I am probably detaining the two of you as well." Lee cast one more glance around the community center, a satisfied smile on his face. "Would you care to walk out with me? There are a few things we could probably discuss before we go our separate ways."

"Sure," Alejandra replied immediately, shooting a look at her brother as if daring him to contradict her.

Miguel grunted at Alejandra's daring look, but did not say anything. He walked quickly to the door to arrive first, stepping outside and looking around before Alejandra and Professor Lee exited. Most of the protesters seemed to have left, given the late hour, but enough were still across the street to make him uneasy.

Seemingly completely unaware of any potential danger from the protesters, Lee kept up a fast past conversation with Alejandra as they headed towards his car. Despite knowing the odds stacked up against the center, he was eternally optimistic about its success rate. After all, they had done very well in such a short amount of time. And even the negative aspects, such as the protests, were sometimes turning into silver linings – media presence, after all. "Alejandra, I would be interested in hearing any of your ideas for this old place," he said, absently starting to pat around his pockets for his car keys.

Leaning back against the car, Alejandra tried to cover any enthusiasm with a bored-sounding: "Well, there's a coupla things I've been thinkin' about." But before she could finish, she looked around, pushing herself up off the car. "What was that?"

'That' was the crunch of footsteps on gravel as a group of hard-faced people came around the corner, walking directly at them. "Mierda," Miguel hissed as he took in the baseball bats and tire irons on prominent display. He'd been so concentrated on the protesters that he hadn't considered they might not be the only ones. And they didn't look like they were just out for a bit of property damage this time. "Get in the car and get out of here," he instructed Alejandra and Professor Lee quietly. The distinctive quiet 'snick' of the switchblade in his hand could be heard, and he stepped forward, the knife held loosely in his hand.

At the sight of the blade, Lee froze, his normally agile mind grinding to a sudden and complete stop. The last time he'd been in a physical confrontation, he'd been thirteen and defending his sister's 'honor' from a few of the local bullies. They'd broken his nose quite impressively, actually. He swallowed heavily and started backing towards the car, numb hands frantically finding the keys and his cell phone to call the police. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it, swallowed again and tried to get the doors open.

Alejandra didn't recognise any of the faces as those that had been camped on the Center's doorstep all week, but that didn't mean a thing - it wouldn't make sense to use the identifiable ones, after all. She concentrated and glowing energy appeared around her hands as she went to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Miguel. Her powers weren't exactly stable, even after this long off the Kick, but she wasn't about to turn tail and run from a bunch of cowards like the Church of Humanity. "Get in the car, Doc," she said, without looking at the stricken professor.

"I meant you too, Alejandra," Miguel muttered darkly as the mob spread out to come at them from all different directions.

She barely had time to tell him in Spanish what he could do with his orders, before the mob came at them. Flashes of light erupted from her hands as she blasted a man charging her, only to have him replaced by two others. A tireiron came at her head and she ducked, swearing a blue streak.

Right as the professor got the key into the door, cursing under his breath his decision not to get power locks, he suddenly realized there were figures circling around from the other side of the car. He yelped as one of them jumped onto the hood of the car and in his scurried attempts to get away, he dropped both the keys and the cell phone. "Dammit," he swore, wondering how fast he could make it from where they were to the front of the building.

The likelihood of that dropped to almost zero as the pack of people closed a large circle around the car and their three targets. Any attempt to break free of the circle would have to go through at least several of the assailants. Miguel cursed loudly and continually in Spanish as he lashed out at anyone who tried to close within arm's reach of him and Alejandra. He fought with the desperation of a cornered animal, knowing that even with Alejandra's mutant power on their side, they were almost certain to be eventually swarmed under by sheer numbers. He determined to make it as expensive as possible for their attackers, though.

Unable to do much, Lee cowered next to the front of the car, using the side for some kind of protection. Most of the aggression was targeted at the siblings as they fought back, Alejandra lashing out next to Miguel's strikes. He hadn't been completely forgotten, however, and two members of the group were essentially harassing him, taunting. He managed to avoid a hit to the head but couldn't dodge the blow to his ribs, a kick aimed low and heavy. Try as he might to gain his feet, he couldn't make himself do more than cover his head and attempt to dodge blows.

There was a cry as a flung bottle caught Alejandra upside the head, causing her to stumble and the energy blast she'd been about to fire skittering off the road at her feet. It was an opening - a bat glanced off her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. Booted feet immediately went to work, and she curled into a ball, already half-dazed from the blow to the head.

Without Alejandra to cover him with her blasts, Miguel was quickly outnumbered. His knife cut into several arms and legs before his wrist was smashed with a tire iron. Several more had chunks taken out of them by Miguel's teeth and fingernails as the mob closed in like sharks scenting blood. At least one received a vicious knee to the groin as they struggled to wrestle the Latino to the ground. Then someone finally clubbed him in the back of the head and the pack surrounded him to take their licks at him.