xp_logs | Genosha: For Free Trade: -Splits the-

Black smoke fills the air around the embassy.

The protest was now a full throated roar, as the additional security
stationing themselves by the doors of the embassy offered a target for
the chants and slogans. It was still well controlled, and the police
remained impassive as the volume grew, save for the odd motioning back
of a protester, which mostly took no more than a warning. It looked
like things were going to go without incident.

The blast tore through the noise, tearing apart the sounds of the
crowd with a single, thunderous clap. Black smoke belched into the sky
from the side of the Genoshan Embassy grounds, next to the far edge of
the protest.

At the sound of the explosion Sarah's head snapped in the same
direction. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the smoke plumes racing
up from the blast site, confirming that the loud noise hadn't just
been some large vehicle back firing or something equally innocuous.
"Ohmygosh you guys, I think that was an explosion!" She might have
been stating the obvious but holy crap, something had exploded.

Jean-Paul was at the protest out of personal interest rather than
anything to do with the mansion, which placed him a good ways away
from the students and chaperones. He was lucky he hadn't been closer
to the explosion when it went off - just near enough for his shirt to
show signs of soot and smoke when he landed next to Adrienne. "This is
not safe," he said, gesturing toward the children. "People will begin
to panic." The crowd's shock was already beginning to wear off.

"Gee, you fuckin' think so?!" was Adrienne's barked reaction to
Jean-Paul's comment about it not being safe. That was the only panic
she allowed herself, however, as she clenched her hands into fists and
focused on the task at hand. "Xaviers students!" she added to the
chaotic level of noise. "Back to the bus! No stopping! We'll see
what's going on and how we can help after we make sure we're all
okay!" Probably pretty fruitless as the kids were no doubt going to be
panicking and running around like mad, but hey, a girl could dream.
"Does someone have Matt? Matt, where are you?" she shouted, looking
around.

Matt had frozen, the noise disorienting him as the world lit up in his
head in mass confusion. That was the biggest problem with his sonar,
he couldn't always understand it. The sound of the blast hurt his ears
too and he stood with his hands over them as if that could block the
sound. Hearing his name, he turned in that direction, literally blind
as he was overwhelmed with the noise.

Angelo, like everyone else, had turned towards the blast site in the
first moments of shock, and then as the realization spread of what had
happened, people started to run in all directions. Unlike most of
them, he started trying to move towards it, thinking of
potential wounded survivors and keeping an eye out for anyone at risk
of being trampled along the way.

Amara's first instinct - quickly quashed - was to shift into her flame
form, to protect herself from any flying debris. Instead she shifted
her attention immediately towards the blast site, and, like Angelo,
immediately began to move towards it. People would need help, and
she'd do whatever she could to provide it.

The explosion shook Cammie up a bit. She had been coming here
expecting a fight to break out, not expecting the entire place to
explode. Instead of running away though, she started pushing through
the crowd of people heading towards whatever was going on, swearing
the whole time. Fist fights were one thing; but bombs often killed
people who didn't have it coming.

None of them had more than a few seconds to react before another blast
shook the ground. The cacophony of shouting, running, crying, and
police barking orders grew louder, and in that, only a spare few
noticed the air sizzle blue. The shimmer lifted, leaving gaps in the
crowd in it's wake that were quickly consumed by the press of the
fleeing crowd.