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xp_logsX-Force makes its move - Marie-Ange deploys the distraction and van teams.
Somehow, despite sweaty hair and her crocheted robe askew, Marie-Ange managed an air of professionality. It wouldn't last, it couldn't last, her hair was full of dust, and she had just pushed her way through a crowd watching a woman dressed largely in feathers do aerial tricks inside a giant birdcage. She stood in the shadow of one of the wood and wire structures scattered throughout the festival and pulled a linen scarf off her face. "We’ll have a window, but not much of one. I give the panic Amanda and Wanda will start maybe ten minutes. Subline's people are going to have him evacuated if it goes any longer. Emma is ensconced in her private camp and ready for the signal." She looked up. 'Doug, Natasha and Jubilee are already on the move." She pointed at the flip phone clipped to Artie's shorts. "And will signal when ready. Amanda, you and Wanda keep up as much chaos as you can here. Maybe a little less fire." She pointed at Sarah. "Then you and I are on point to punch people while Artie activates the wipe."
"Finally," Sarah sighed, "A good reason for me to be stuck in this nightmare." She now understood why Mob folks usually only came to the desert to dump bodies. It was wildly uncomfortable, and the vibe came off more like a circus funhouse that was supposed to be cheerful and bright but really was just the perfect place for killer clowns to have a murder spree. "And then Artie and I go in to get everybody safely out."
Artie nodded. "I'll throw up a signal when I hear from Doug's team," he signed.
Pushing the oversized sunglasses up until they nestled in her hair, Wanda gave everyone in eyesight a lazy grin. "I have sand in everything I'm wearing -" Which wasn't much, with daisy duke shorts and a formerly white band shirt that had more rips than cloth in places. "- and in places I am not going to mention. I want to burn this entire thing to the ground."
She flipped the glasses back down and wandered further out, her gait suddenly taking on a slight wobble as she nabbed an empty beer bottle from nearby, to get into a better position.
Marie-Ange pulled her scarf back up, and her desert goggles back down. "In thirty minutes we meet back at the RV and set these clothes on fire. I want everyone in comfy PJs like we have been high and eating brownies all day." She reached out to bump fists with Sarah, and as she did, both hands were covered in metallic gauntlets matching the temporary tattoo she had applied earlier that day.
Amanda nodded and sauntered in the direction Wanda had taken, sandaled feet scuffing in the dust, her posture slouched and hands shoved into the pockets of her cotton pants. After a moment, she'd disappeared, blending in with the general crowds.
Amanda and Wanda set up the distraction and the fireworks begin.
The playa dust made it hard to spot her companions until they were nearly right up on top of the art exhibit that Marie-Ange had paused to contribute to. That camp's theme was on the collaborative nature of fashion, inviting burners to trade fabric and even clothes with each other, and she'd dropped by with a few t-shirts to cut up and finger-knit into a scarf. Jubilee had gotten the t-shirts from another camp, Marie-Ange wasn't asking how, and it had given her a perfect excuse to linger at the camp and watch the U-Clinic for quite some time. With assignments given and Artie and Sarah in place, it was time to play her own part. Heading in the direction Wanda and Amanda had gone, she spotted red lights long before she saw Wanda, the older woman's powers somehow clinging to her hair like some kind of LED tiara, and then George the werelight merrily cutting through the dust in the air as he rode on top of Amanda's head like a strange glowstick hair tie.
Wanda slipped through the crowd easily, heading for the spot they'd chosen for the distraction, as she chatted and called out to people she'd met and strangers alike. The flickering bits of chaos energy that flitted about and the general lighting caused shadows to grow and play around her as she moved. She seemed to be both part of the crowd but also apart even in the thick of things.
She took a sip from her water bottle - she couldn't see Marie-Ange in the crowd or Amanda but she knew they were there.
For her part, Amanda had worked her way through the crowd to the bonfire they'd chosen with comparative ease. She had sent George out ahead of her and he was acting as a beacon for the various drug-impacted burners. As they giggled and cooed and tried to grab the werelight, Amanda slipped past or around them, barely raising an eyebrow. She was just another stoner in Stoner Central. She didn't glance around for Wanda or Marie-Ange as she reached the target - she knew they'd be there. With a quick movement, she tossed the small package that contained an M-80 plus several small rockets and roman candles into the fire and stepped back.
It did not take long for the fireworks to crackle and then let off painfully loud bangs. Marie-Ange had just enough time to shove wax earplugs into her ears, and pull her scarf up over her mouth and nose, and her hood up over her hair. She took a deep breath, braced against the crowd, and then yelled "Fire! FIRE! The BAD KIND! RUN!" before sprinting crossways through the rush of people. "Oh my gawd, fire, somebody start knocking on doors and banging tents!" She kept repeating as she shoved through people. "Come on people, make it happen!" She smashed her fist on the door of an older RV. "Fire! Smoke! Somebody blew up an art car!" It didn't matter what she actually yelled, the rumors would fly through the crowd no matter what,, especially if different people heard different reasons to run.
Wanda smirked as the crowd scattered in at least three directions. Marie-Ange’s warnings, as varying as they were, rang out in the night. Someone ran up to Wanda and grabbed her arm, screamed ‘fire? Brah?’ and ran off.
Shaking her head in amusement, Wanda tossed her water bottle to the side and stepped forward. As she did, the red lights that she’d been keeping tame in her hair lit up into the sky in time with the fireworks. Entropy could be pretty but dangerous, but Wanda was in control and if she pointed it towards the explosions, well…
The night sky exploded in a plume of color and smoke, drawing both onlookers who now thought this was a show and also sending others running away, paying heed to Angie’s warnings.
Even though she'd been expecting something, the display impressed and startled Amanda as well as the crowd. "Bloody hell, Boss Lady..." she muttered to herself before she joined in on the chaos by banging on the sides of RVs and the plywood walls of tents, yelling "Fire!" at the top of her voice. If they ever wanted a new career, maybe pyrotechnics was it.
Marie-Ange's seemingly panicked path took her right to the door of the first U-Clinic trailer, and she pounded on the door with her fist. "Fire! Totally a fire, we need first aid people!" She waited for the door to open, and one of the staff to see the smoke, and then went wide-eyed. "Dudes, get out here, we need some help!" and then scurried off to another of the glam-camper set nearby.
As the crowd grew both larger, bigger, and more scattered at the same time, Wanda took the opportunity to slip unnoticed away from the ongoing explosions in the sky. She was scanning the crowd with careful eyes, looking for the perfect person. When she found them, she sent an apologetic smile towards their back.
Another firework burst into red and yellow above the crowd and a young woman screamed, startled, at how close it was. She pinwheeled back, her incredibly impractical heeled boots wobbling as she flailed, until one of the heels simply snapped off. The mark went down wailing, clutching her ankle, as people around her tried to help her up.
The cry for first aid echoed Angie's as a well intentioned but not particularly helpful group of party goers attempted to drag the poor woman over to a U-Clinic trailer.
"Fuck." Amanda noticed the group about the same time and changed her direction to intersect them. "Hey! Put her down! You'll make it worse!" she called out, switching accents to something bland and unremarkably American. She bustled up to the group, swatting at the hands trying to pull the woman up bodily. "I know first aid, I can help!" she continued, directing her words to the woman as much as her friends. She nodded, pale with pain, and Amanda had them set her on the ground, with one friend sitting behind her to support her back, sending another to get some water and another to get a first aid kit from the closest glam-camper. The last she pointed towards the U-Clinic trailer. "Go and bring back someone to help. I think it's broken so we should keep her still or bone fragments could stick into the muscle and tear things up." It was a broad exaggeration, but said with enough confidence, completely believable to a lay person. Fortunately, the party-goer was not a med student and she ran off as best she could. Hopefully she'd run into one of the U-Clinic people who were on their way before she got too far.
A pair of workers from the U-Clinic went out the door at a jog, both in scrubs, one with a first-aid kit over his shoulder. "Clear out!" The first one called, firmly moving people out of the way before kneeling at the young woman's side. Marie-Ange had peeled away from the door as they came out, but popped back up to yell "Got some chaos out here, maybe a few more injured!" before securing the door to the trailer open with a fabricated piece of plastic that Jubilee had melted into shape the night before.
She waited for another staff member to come out, and then wove her way through the crowd to Wanda. "All three nurses out of the clinic. Widow said she had scouted three on a shift. All that should be left is the technicians and perhaps Sublime's bodyguards. I imagine the guards will be very little of a problem for Emma. Widow reported they seemed most interested in keeping fans away than actual threats."
Somehow, despite sweaty hair and her crocheted robe askew, Marie-Ange managed an air of professionality. It wouldn't last, it couldn't last, her hair was full of dust, and she had just pushed her way through a crowd watching a woman dressed largely in feathers do aerial tricks inside a giant birdcage. She stood in the shadow of one of the wood and wire structures scattered throughout the festival and pulled a linen scarf off her face. "We’ll have a window, but not much of one. I give the panic Amanda and Wanda will start maybe ten minutes. Subline's people are going to have him evacuated if it goes any longer. Emma is ensconced in her private camp and ready for the signal." She looked up. 'Doug, Natasha and Jubilee are already on the move." She pointed at the flip phone clipped to Artie's shorts. "And will signal when ready. Amanda, you and Wanda keep up as much chaos as you can here. Maybe a little less fire." She pointed at Sarah. "Then you and I are on point to punch people while Artie activates the wipe."
"Finally," Sarah sighed, "A good reason for me to be stuck in this nightmare." She now understood why Mob folks usually only came to the desert to dump bodies. It was wildly uncomfortable, and the vibe came off more like a circus funhouse that was supposed to be cheerful and bright but really was just the perfect place for killer clowns to have a murder spree. "And then Artie and I go in to get everybody safely out."
Artie nodded. "I'll throw up a signal when I hear from Doug's team," he signed.
Pushing the oversized sunglasses up until they nestled in her hair, Wanda gave everyone in eyesight a lazy grin. "I have sand in everything I'm wearing -" Which wasn't much, with daisy duke shorts and a formerly white band shirt that had more rips than cloth in places. "- and in places I am not going to mention. I want to burn this entire thing to the ground."
She flipped the glasses back down and wandered further out, her gait suddenly taking on a slight wobble as she nabbed an empty beer bottle from nearby, to get into a better position.
Marie-Ange pulled her scarf back up, and her desert goggles back down. "In thirty minutes we meet back at the RV and set these clothes on fire. I want everyone in comfy PJs like we have been high and eating brownies all day." She reached out to bump fists with Sarah, and as she did, both hands were covered in metallic gauntlets matching the temporary tattoo she had applied earlier that day.
Amanda nodded and sauntered in the direction Wanda had taken, sandaled feet scuffing in the dust, her posture slouched and hands shoved into the pockets of her cotton pants. After a moment, she'd disappeared, blending in with the general crowds.
Amanda and Wanda set up the distraction and the fireworks begin.
The playa dust made it hard to spot her companions until they were nearly right up on top of the art exhibit that Marie-Ange had paused to contribute to. That camp's theme was on the collaborative nature of fashion, inviting burners to trade fabric and even clothes with each other, and she'd dropped by with a few t-shirts to cut up and finger-knit into a scarf. Jubilee had gotten the t-shirts from another camp, Marie-Ange wasn't asking how, and it had given her a perfect excuse to linger at the camp and watch the U-Clinic for quite some time. With assignments given and Artie and Sarah in place, it was time to play her own part. Heading in the direction Wanda and Amanda had gone, she spotted red lights long before she saw Wanda, the older woman's powers somehow clinging to her hair like some kind of LED tiara, and then George the werelight merrily cutting through the dust in the air as he rode on top of Amanda's head like a strange glowstick hair tie.
Wanda slipped through the crowd easily, heading for the spot they'd chosen for the distraction, as she chatted and called out to people she'd met and strangers alike. The flickering bits of chaos energy that flitted about and the general lighting caused shadows to grow and play around her as she moved. She seemed to be both part of the crowd but also apart even in the thick of things.
She took a sip from her water bottle - she couldn't see Marie-Ange in the crowd or Amanda but she knew they were there.
For her part, Amanda had worked her way through the crowd to the bonfire they'd chosen with comparative ease. She had sent George out ahead of her and he was acting as a beacon for the various drug-impacted burners. As they giggled and cooed and tried to grab the werelight, Amanda slipped past or around them, barely raising an eyebrow. She was just another stoner in Stoner Central. She didn't glance around for Wanda or Marie-Ange as she reached the target - she knew they'd be there. With a quick movement, she tossed the small package that contained an M-80 plus several small rockets and roman candles into the fire and stepped back.
It did not take long for the fireworks to crackle and then let off painfully loud bangs. Marie-Ange had just enough time to shove wax earplugs into her ears, and pull her scarf up over her mouth and nose, and her hood up over her hair. She took a deep breath, braced against the crowd, and then yelled "Fire! FIRE! The BAD KIND! RUN!" before sprinting crossways through the rush of people. "Oh my gawd, fire, somebody start knocking on doors and banging tents!" She kept repeating as she shoved through people. "Come on people, make it happen!" She smashed her fist on the door of an older RV. "Fire! Smoke! Somebody blew up an art car!" It didn't matter what she actually yelled, the rumors would fly through the crowd no matter what,, especially if different people heard different reasons to run.
Wanda smirked as the crowd scattered in at least three directions. Marie-Ange’s warnings, as varying as they were, rang out in the night. Someone ran up to Wanda and grabbed her arm, screamed ‘fire? Brah?’ and ran off.
Shaking her head in amusement, Wanda tossed her water bottle to the side and stepped forward. As she did, the red lights that she’d been keeping tame in her hair lit up into the sky in time with the fireworks. Entropy could be pretty but dangerous, but Wanda was in control and if she pointed it towards the explosions, well…
The night sky exploded in a plume of color and smoke, drawing both onlookers who now thought this was a show and also sending others running away, paying heed to Angie’s warnings.
Even though she'd been expecting something, the display impressed and startled Amanda as well as the crowd. "Bloody hell, Boss Lady..." she muttered to herself before she joined in on the chaos by banging on the sides of RVs and the plywood walls of tents, yelling "Fire!" at the top of her voice. If they ever wanted a new career, maybe pyrotechnics was it.
Marie-Ange's seemingly panicked path took her right to the door of the first U-Clinic trailer, and she pounded on the door with her fist. "Fire! Totally a fire, we need first aid people!" She waited for the door to open, and one of the staff to see the smoke, and then went wide-eyed. "Dudes, get out here, we need some help!" and then scurried off to another of the glam-camper set nearby.
As the crowd grew both larger, bigger, and more scattered at the same time, Wanda took the opportunity to slip unnoticed away from the ongoing explosions in the sky. She was scanning the crowd with careful eyes, looking for the perfect person. When she found them, she sent an apologetic smile towards their back.
Another firework burst into red and yellow above the crowd and a young woman screamed, startled, at how close it was. She pinwheeled back, her incredibly impractical heeled boots wobbling as she flailed, until one of the heels simply snapped off. The mark went down wailing, clutching her ankle, as people around her tried to help her up.
The cry for first aid echoed Angie's as a well intentioned but not particularly helpful group of party goers attempted to drag the poor woman over to a U-Clinic trailer.
"Fuck." Amanda noticed the group about the same time and changed her direction to intersect them. "Hey! Put her down! You'll make it worse!" she called out, switching accents to something bland and unremarkably American. She bustled up to the group, swatting at the hands trying to pull the woman up bodily. "I know first aid, I can help!" she continued, directing her words to the woman as much as her friends. She nodded, pale with pain, and Amanda had them set her on the ground, with one friend sitting behind her to support her back, sending another to get some water and another to get a first aid kit from the closest glam-camper. The last she pointed towards the U-Clinic trailer. "Go and bring back someone to help. I think it's broken so we should keep her still or bone fragments could stick into the muscle and tear things up." It was a broad exaggeration, but said with enough confidence, completely believable to a lay person. Fortunately, the party-goer was not a med student and she ran off as best she could. Hopefully she'd run into one of the U-Clinic people who were on their way before she got too far.
A pair of workers from the U-Clinic went out the door at a jog, both in scrubs, one with a first-aid kit over his shoulder. "Clear out!" The first one called, firmly moving people out of the way before kneeling at the young woman's side. Marie-Ange had peeled away from the door as they came out, but popped back up to yell "Got some chaos out here, maybe a few more injured!" before securing the door to the trailer open with a fabricated piece of plastic that Jubilee had melted into shape the night before.
She waited for another staff member to come out, and then wove her way through the crowd to Wanda. "All three nurses out of the clinic. Widow said she had scouted three on a shift. All that should be left is the technicians and perhaps Sublime's bodyguards. I imagine the guards will be very little of a problem for Emma. Widow reported they seemed most interested in keeping fans away than actual threats."
