xp_logs | BoH: Protecting the Herd

With the Professor down, Angelo and Hank move to protect Professor Xavier, but aren’t alone. The two find themselves facing off against a group of Purifiers, but the Xavier’s may have a secret weapon helping them out.

Within seconds of the Professor collapsing, Hank was already by his elder's side checking for a pulse and assessing if the man he'd known most of his life needed CPR. Thankfully, he was still breathing, although it was shallowly. "He's alive, but sedated," the blue doctor threw his hat on the ground and looked around, spotting Angelo a few feet away. "Help me get his-" then the enemy were upon them, having arrived quicker than Hank had expected. "Protect the Professor!" he shouted, as he plowed his over-sized fist into the jaw of a one of the zealots.

"Protect him how, exactly?" Natalie Gleason inquired, mischevious smile on her face as she paused in front of Hank to take in the chaos around her. "You're badly outnumbered. And to think I got all these people in here right under your nose." She chuckled to herself, clearly pleased.
"You little bitch", Angelo spat at her, taking his place next to Hank, standing over the prone Xavier. "This is how you pay your brother back for trustin' you? For wantin' to help you?"

They're not as outnumbered as you think, Jan thought. Thanks to being able to shrink to the size of insect, Jan hadn't had any problem at all making her way to Xavier even though she had been seated in the audience rather than on-stage. The scene at the graduation was chaotic, but the tiny girl winged her way towards the headmaster. While everyone in the audience might be in danger, it was clear that he was a target and needed to be protected. Seeing Angelo and Hank standing near the professor, it was clear that she wasn't the only one with this idea. Jan wished she had a comm so the two men could hear her, but she was sure she could get their attention another way if needed.

Hank plucked the small dart from the professor's neck, its resivoir already drained into the school's headmaster. "Why are you doing this Miss Gleason? This isn't who you are- I've seen you with your brother," Hank nodded to where Nick and Julian were taking on Donald Pierce himself. For a moment, he considered running off to help them, but he was surrounded and there was no hope of making a clean break. "You're a good person, why are you mixed up with these monsters?"

Natalie simply crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I am a good person. That's why I'm doing this." Leaning back, she felt the Purifiers behind her, making sure that she still had her back-up. "When are you going to realize that you're the villains in this whole mess." A smirk on her face, she began playing with the small silver locket around her neck. "But I guess I should be thankful that you say that. It means that this thing worked better than even Pierce anticipated."

It seemed that it was more chatting time than fighting time. In bad-villain fashion, as was done in movies and TV, Natalie was revealing things, even if they were totally messed-up reasons. What did these assholes say to you? Jan wondered. It must have been something pretty convincing for her to let a bunch of strangers turn her against the brother she grew up with. Jan's thoughts strayed to her father and how he had finally tired of having a mutant daughter. Still, as far as she knew, he had never tried to hurt her or any other mutants. It was time to focus on the present, though. The professor might need to go to a hospital, and who knew who else was going to get hurt all around them? This was not the way graduation was supposed to go. Tiny wings dipped to the side as Jan flew close to her blue-furred teammate, halting her movement to hover right next to his left ear.

"Hey! Dr. McCoy! It's Jan! I'm here!" She knew he'd be able to hear the sound of her wings so she spoke quickly before he would have the chance to slap at her, thinking she was a bug. Not that she'd really get squashed if he did that; she'd feared getting swatted for awhile, but thanks to being way stronger than her small size would indicate, she'd later realized that it would take a lot more effort than a simple swat to hurt her. It was just kind of annoying and inconvenient to be hit, and generally not too pleasant for the person who'd done the hitting as they'd meet with a lot more resistance than expected.

"Just stay calm, there's no need for violence," the blue doctor said to both Natalie and Jan. This was, of course, juxtaposed by the whirling chaos of violence and gunfire around them, but if there was a chance of resolving this peacefully, Hank wanted to take it. "You've been corrupted by a man who doesn't really care for you, Miss Gleason. Just put down your gun and tell your men to walk away and it doesn't have to end badly for you or them."

Natalie let out a loud scoff. "Please, he's the only one that does care about me." As she popped her hips to the side, she held her hands up towards the two armed men beside her, letting out a sarcastic tone. "And I would say that we could avoid violence. But my friends here? They're not so forgiving."

"See, the thing is?" Angelo told her flatly. "My friends here are good people, and they wouldn't risk you. But me? I'm only interested in protectin' my own, and the way I see it you caused this." Without warning, he snapped out the skin of his hands and dragged her to his side, holding her fast. "Let's see if your friends care when you're a hostage."

"Be ready," Hank mumbled to seemingly no one in particular as the Purifier's guns turned toward Angelo. "Put your weapons down, now!"
Put the guns down they did, or rather the guns were suddenly and forcefully wrenched from their hands. "Didn't anyone tell you not to play with guns?" Jan chided them, speaking quickly during the brief moment she was full sized. She grew to full height and shrank almost immediately, grabbing the two Purifiers' at the same time, one in each hand, allowing the force of her size-changing to pull them from their unsuspecting hands. She kicked them over to where Hank and Angelo stood and sat on top of the pile in tiny-size to guard them, ready to unleash a barrage of zapping should anyone dare try to reach for them.

After seeing the sudden random girl, Natalie couldn't help but think, Did I really just see a random, naked girl. "Filthy beasts..." came out in a whisper. But they were the beast with the guns now as she slowly put her hands in the air. "Let's not do anything rash here." A small smirk appeared on her lips. "You don't want any violence... remember?"

Hank nodded, "What assurances do we have that if we let you go you won't come after us again tomorrow?" The doctor crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the captive Gleason girl.

"I've been inches away from all of you, and have done nothing." The girl was in desperation now as she began to try to find any form of escape. But nothing was there.

"Well, I can make sure her buddies don't try to come after us again right now," Jan commented to herself. She zipped up into the air, regained full-size when she was standing behind the men who had been flanking Nick's sister, and tapped each of them. Of course, each light touch came with Jan's special bioelectricity. "All fall down," she said in a sing-song voice before quickly shrinking again. She really needed to find some clothes; people got arrested for this sort of thing.

"You've done nothin'", Angelo agreed, "because you know you couldn't beat any of us in a fight. But you brought these people in here, and you could do it again. Beast, what d'you think - let her go or turn her in?"

Hank thought it over for a moment then grabbed an pressurized hypodermic from his utility belt, cleverly concealed beneath his robes- just in case. "Let her go, Skin, I have a better idea. Wasp, be ready just in case." As they assumed their positions, the doctor grabbed Natalie's wrist and brought the injector down on the girl's forearm before letting go. "I just put a tracking device under your skin. We're letting you go because I think you can find some redemption out there. But if you come close to us, if you harm any mutant, anywhere, we will find you- and next time," he flared his teeth in a bestial expression of dominance. "We won't be as merciful."

The girl quailed for a moment before heading for the nearest exit. Hank sighed and turned to Angelo and Jan, "Well that went well, don't you think?"