New Mutants | Friday night

[x-mandelbrot.livejournal.com]

The kids, minus Sooraya, go out to Salem to see a movie about real life superheroes, only things go a bit sideways when they find some guys breaking windows on Meggan's car.

The kids from Xavier's trickled out of the movie theatre in twos and threes, making their way out into the cool evening. Salem foot traffic was heavier on the week ends now with people out shopping for Christmas and the people pouring out onto the sidewalk from the theatre didn't help. Maybe it was the mutant menace itself that had made the documentary on ordinary people dressing up like comic book superheroes and trying to make a difference so popular. Funny, then, that it was a group of mutant teenagers that held the single most enthusiastic viewer from the audience hands down.

Molly burst out of the doors of the theater, almost running circles around the group. "Dude!" she squeed as she threw up her hands.

"That was so cool, doncha think? Cause....y'know! Costumes and masks and punching bad guys!," she said, giving some invisible beast a left hook. "With your FIST."

Walking out behind Molly, Sarah caught hold of one of the doors her pint sized peer had thrown open, catching it as it closed and holding it open for the people behind her.

"It was pretty cool, I've got to say." She smiled as Molly punched the air in front of her. "I don't know about all of the fighting, but I liked some of the costumes, they were kinda cute." Dressing up wasn't exactly on the top of her to-do list either after Hallowe'en but a cool superhero costume was still a cool superhero costume regardless.

"It was boring," Matt said with a yawn as he exited, hand on Artie's shoulder, "The audio description on it sucked," he supposed that they assumed that blind people wouldn't care about the movie that much so they hadn't seemed to put a lot of effort in to it, "Molly was much more entertaining with her reactions," which was saying a lot since he couldn't see the costumes.

Artie shrugged and pulled his phone out, typing quickly. "Yeah, yeah, whatevs. You could have asked one of us for help. And their costumes were so much lamer than the X-Men's."

Maddie rolled her eyes, tapping out a message on her own phone as they walked. "Yeah, it was cool," she said nonchalantly. She thought those people were stupid, but hey live and let live, right? Until they accidentally hurt someone, if they hadn't already. Just because you put on a costume doesn't mean you're actually fit to fight crime. But hey, Molly liked it, and that was enough to keep Maddie from voicing her true opinions.

“They were homemade costumes, though,” Meggan offered as she left the theater with the rest. She couldn’t help but smile at Molly’s reaction to the documentary. “I don’t think they could help the way they looked.” So what if the stitching wasn’t perfect, and a couple of the costumes were a little baggy? They were trying. Meggan had been more worried that the long purple cape on that one guy might get easily yanked by a criminal, or tripped over, or caught on a fence. Outside of that, she had honestly believed it was great viewing. “I liked it, too, Molly.”

Korvus nodded and thanked Sarah as she held the door. "The Sikh religion requires every able person to carry a kirpan so that they are prepared to intervene in the face of injustice. I find it interesting that, in America, justice is considered the providence of only a few."

"I bet we could make better costumes!" Molly said as she swung around one of the no-parking signs, ran ahead a little of everyone, then stopped to let them catch up, then ran ahead again as they walked.

"So they can use their kirpan to fight bad guys?" she said, suddenly tilting her head with interest.

"What's a kirpan? Is it like a giant hammer?" The hammer of justice! It made sense!

"It is a small sword or a dagger." Korvus clarified. "To defend people against injustice, yes. The religion requires it."

And he lived with this guy? "We don't need costumes!" Matt laughed, unsure just how to take what Korvus was saying, but then he didn't know Korvus to really joke around, "I think I want to know more about this religion, Kor," he added. He was Catholic and nothing would change that, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to learn about other religions. Especially ones with daggers.

"Maybe regular people should stick to the Occupy movement, and other non-violent ways of fighting injustice, and leave the physical fighting to the X-men," Pixie added, not speaking to anyone directly but looking to Sarah. She wasn't really following the new thread of conversation about religion. "But as long as they are... why not have costumes to identify themselves? It's like a uniform. Well, more like a dress code." She realized she'd left out the police, but then she didn't consider them very effective at fighting injustice and keeping the peace. Obviously the costumed heroes in the documentary felt the same way.

"Well, it'd depend on the costumes, I guess." There were good ones and there were bad ones, to be sure. Sarah looked over at Korvus while they talked about his religion. "Wait, so your religion means you have to stab people?" She really wasn't getting the concept.

Layla, who had remained quiet and on the edge of the group thus far, gave Korvus a questioning look. She turned the same look on Sarah a beat later. "Uh, You're probably oversimplifying. 'Cause, you know, requiring you to stab people and requiring you to intervene when there's injustice are sorta not the same thing, dude. 'Cause I'm pretty sure most religions are like anti-murder and shit. Unless they're batshit crazy, then they don't count because they're probably a fucking cult anyway."

"I am not religious." Korvus clarified, looking over the group fully now as they seemed to all be shocked by the idea. He offered more in his own defense. "It is a religion common in the Punjab. The kirpan is carried because one must be courageous enough to defend the rights of the oppressed. It does not encourage violence but it also does not leave the defense of others in so few hands. The superhero movement is not so shocking within that cultural context. I was only trying to share."

"Right. We've exhausted the topic of religion and stabby things," Maddie interjected, finally slipping her phone into her pocket. "Anyone want to get some hot chocolate? We have awhile before we have to be back at school."

Molly shrugged, slipping her hands in her pockets. She fell silent for a few moments before she slowly looked up. "We could do it! We have powers and stuff...and...most people don't and...when bad guys do stuff they just get away with it cause there's not superpeople around. And those people in the costumes don't have powers and we do and...like Pixie said...X-People do the fighting and stuff and we're a team too! And got trained and we know how to hurt people we'll just leave 'em for the police since the police can't be everywhere and stuff....y'know? It'd be SO COOL!" she said.

"But we wouldn't get paid," Artie offered, projecting a speech bubble. "I'm not sure I like the idea of it if we weren't getting paid for getting the crud kicked out of us or someone else." He followed it with a quickly typed "no pay = bad" into his synthesizer for Matt.

"Dudes! Meg's car!" He pointed down the road and then projected an image of three teenagers smashing the windows on Meggan's car.

Meggan looked up in surprise in the direction he was indicating. “My car? Oh, no, they’re hurting my car!” She had promised to take care of it. She watched in stunned silence as one of the three managed to take out the back window with one swipe—trying not to wince at the sound of tinkling glass hitting the pavement. Would they steal it, too, when they were done? Or would they just leave it wrecked, for her to explain? There wasn't anything pricey to take from it. “Stop breaking my car, you jerks, that car was a present,” she shouted indignantly. Telling them that wouldn't help matters or make them stop, she realized moments after saying it.

Realizing what was happening, Matt let go of Artie's shoulder, "C'mon, dude," he offered, speeding up and not worrying about looking like he was blind or whatever, using his powers. "Cut it out!" he yelled, using his cane as a staff like he had been working on with Wade and Kyle as he ran towards the guys at the car.

Artie took off after him at a run after a moment's stunned amazement. Seriously, Matt was going to try to take on three guys ...and their two friends on his own? Oh, crap. "BACK OFF. LEAVE THE CAR ALONE" he said, projecting the image in front of the guys.

And, you know, in hindsight, that was maybe a bad move. One of them said something he didn't catch to the others and they turned to face the kids. Yep, that was a bad move. Artie skidded to a halt in some shadows next to a wall and looked at it for a moment, learning where the light and shadows fell before layering the illusion of that over himself. It wasn't invisibility but it was ...less visible, something he'd been working on with Marie-Ange. Covered, he stopped to pick up a bottle, lobbing it at the guys.

Korvus was left with little choice and he sprinted to catch up, able to close the distance so he arrived in time with Matt. One of the vandals raised his bat, less than impressed with the two much younger boys attempting to intervene. Negotiation seemed off the table, at least for the moment, and instead Korvus used his velocity by jumping toward the armed man with his knee raised for a strike to his chest.

"The blind kid's gonna get himself fucking laid out," Layla muttered and shook her head. If those guys figured out Matt was blind they would take advantage of it and that stupid sonar thing he had was only going to help so much if three of the guys fucking ganged up on him. She hadn't learned a ton with Kyle or in self-defense, but Layla was used to improvising so she took off at a jog to follow the guys, all the while thinking what a bad idea this was. "Hey, someone wanna call the cops?"

The blonde managed to pull up just as one of the guys was trying to go after Korvus from behind to help his buddy. He gave Layla nothing more that a passing glance. She needed to distract him at least and take him out of the equation at worst. If she did the wrong thing Korvus would get cracked over the head with the crow bar in that guy's hand, or she would. But if she did it just right... She could see the domino effect and she didn't even question whether or not it would actually work.

Without second guessing herself, Layla reached down and found a broken bottle. She swiped at the guy's face, cutting a line across his cheek. When he turned, angry and swinging the crowbar at her, Layla ducked at just the right moment to avoid the blow. She swept under it, caught it at just the right angle to knock it from his hand and swiped it from his grasp. She was no less surprised that had worked than he was.

Sarah just nodded as Layla mentioned calling the cops. Things seemed to be happening way too quickly and she was afraid they'd get even further out of hand. Her hand was already in her pocket holding onto her cell so she used her powers to dial 911 as she watched Layla and the others moving into action. Giving the operator their location and the situation as quickly as possible, she didn't know what else she could do. Help was on the way but it would take some time to get there. In hopes of making the punks scatter, she reached out and touched another parked car nearby, hoping it had an anti-theft feature in it and trying to activate it with her abilities to maybe scare the punks off.

It all happened at once. And it kinda really surprised Molly, making her just blink at the situation at first before she clenched her fists and took off toward the third guy as he got ready to swing something heavy at Matt. A violet glow spread across her eyes, the darkness making the light brighter than it normally should've been.

"HEY bad guy!" she said. The guy seemed skeptical and even dared to laugh, but his eyes turned as wide as silver dollars as he stumbled backward from a punch to the face and hit the wall. His nose spewed bright red, but she'd made sure not to punch him TOO hard cause Monet would be unhappy.

"Stop being bad!"

Using his cane like a bat, Matt worked one guy over hard, getting him solidly in the stomach with it, the cane cracking in half under the impact. It was not designed for that sort of thing. Matt wasn't hindered by the lack of cane though as his fist connected with the guy's nose. He was still the son of Batlin' Jack Murdock after all. "You heard the girl," he agreed, fists clenched. His glasses had fallen off in the ruckus and he had no idea where they were now. "Stop. I've been arrested and in juvie," he added conversationally, grabbing the guy as he tried to run off and twisting his arm how Wade had taught him in self defense, "it's no fun. But there are consequences to actions."

Korvus but a hand on Matt's shoulder from behind as he spoke, "They have been defeated and the police will arrive shortly. We must stay for the reports but I do not believe they will tolerate us, as mutants, if we have inflicted unnecessary harm upon these men."

There were no more bottles within Artie's reach but there was a half brick. He picked it up and hurled it, too. It connected with the guy Matt hadn't been fighting. He was dimly aware of the general appalling morality of hiding and lobbing bricks at people but the alternative involved getting beaten to a pulp by guys a foot taller and 60 pounds heavier than he was.

"Hey guys, Korvus is right," Megan squeaked after she finally broke out of her frozen panic. "Don't beat them to pulp or this will get nasty for us." She looked around nervously as if expecting the cops to show up right then, just when it looked the worst for the mutant kids. She darted between the boys and retreated to the back of the group again with frantically buzzing wings. "Should I dust them?" she asked Sarah uncertainly. "I could dust everyone so they're too distracted to fight."

Sarah was still pretty freaked out by how quickly things had escalated and worried about what might happen. She turned to face Megan as the other girl spoke, then nodded. "Yeah, maybe- maybe that'll help calm things down a little." Things really did seem to be getting bad, and wasn't that a brick she just saw flying through the air? Oh man.

"Yeah but if we get dusted that could be all bad. Mutie kids who're trippin'? With at least one with a juvie record? No offense, Matt." Layla looked everyone over, then reached out and tugged Sarah a little closer. Mostly because she looked a little frazzled around the edges and Layla could at least drag her off if she needed to or get in the way if someone else popped out and came at them. Assholes always had more friends.

Artie winced as he heard the sound of rapidly approaching sirens. He dropped the illusion hiding himself and flashed up a large, blinking sign saying "Police!" Memories of his own night in the lockup were still fresh in his mind and he knew how this would look to the Salem police: a dozen mutants beating up a few poor, innocent town kids. "We have to go. NOW."

Things were just spiraling rapidly downhill, it seemed and Meggan nodded in agreement. Artie was right, this wouldn’t look good. Not one bit in their favor. She dug her keys from her pocket, taking in the damage in silence for an instant as she unlocked the doors, feet crunching on the bits of shattered window that littered the pavement. “Okay. Right. Everyone get in the car now—it’s faster than running, even without a back window!” She used her foot to brush out the bits of glass that had fallen across the seats in the back, so nobody would cut themselves, before she bounced over to the driver’s seat.

Ten people, one car. There was no way they were all actually going to fit in there. "Hey, Megs, pop the trunk," Layla called and headed for the back of the car. Everyone else could figure out who was on whose lap and who was stuck in the middle, she was going to skip it and take one for the team and just get in the trunk, because it was the only way they'd all fit. What she hadn't realized was she was still holding Sarah's hand so the brunette came along with her. She let go long enough to crawl into the trunk, then looked down at the space left over and looked at Sarah. "You can fit if you wanna. Or just close the trunk on me, kay?"

There was no way that they could all fit into the seats of the car, what with there being so many of them, so at least one of them had to get in the trunk. There was room for her in there too, and Sarah figured that they'd still need someone else to get in there, so why not her, right? They should really be on their way now too, so she just nodded and started to get in next to Layla. "I'm coming, I'll get the trunk." She reached up as she got in to pull it down closed over them, figuring she'd be able to pop it open herself with her abilities if need be.

Meggan had been thinking it could work better with people sitting in each other’s laps, but there wasn’t time to argue. “Okay. If you’re sure it’s not too tight of a squeeze,” she called back as she quickly peered over her shoulder to be certain the trunk was completely closed...and not about to pop up unexpectedly and fling the two into the street as they made their exit. She had started the engine, just waiting for everyone to be tucked safely inside before she pulled out.

Megan was squished in the back. She had almost summoned her dust, and now she was concentrating very hard on not releasing it. They were escaping, unharmed, but it still didn't feel right.