Sept 2 - Mutant Town becomes Copper Town

[Narrator]

The morning in Mutant Town sees a lot of police walking beats they rarely walk. There are pairs of policemen on every block, and small patrols walking the streets and alley ways.

The residents of Mutant Town aren't any more excited to have their borough filled with police than they were to have it filled with thugs. The police are getting lots of angry stares, and the odd rude gesture here and there.

By midmorning, the police have responded by cracking down on any small crime they see. Loitering, jaywalking, and public nuisance laws are suddenly being enforced where residents had trouble getting a single officer in to investigate a burglary before.

[Narrator]

By lunch time, the Mutant Town locals have had enough. They've taken to moving in groups, large, unfriendly looking groups. Most of the 'regular folks' mutants are off the streets, leaving those that gravitated to the borough not just because it's full of mutants but also because the rough nature and lax enforcement of the district appealed to them.

The cops quickly find themselves in a situation where they are clumping together more as well, but cannot really call for backup because nothing has happened... yet.

[Narrator]

By late afternoon, the situation has only gotten worse. Groups of mutants facing off across streets against groups of police, with the mutants shouting insults. Only a small percentage of the borough residents are in these gangs, the rest are simply trying to go about their business, but things are looking bad.

Reporters from all the major news services are on the scene, and editorial pieces are going on the air, some of them calling for a police crackdown, some for the police to pull out of a situation that is seen by some as police-created.

[Will Stanton]

Will, attempting to get away from the protests and chaos surrounding the campus, ends up getting off a bus in Mutant Town in the late afternoon, only to find himself in a powder keg. The sheer number of police, reporters, and the like, make him think that SOMETHING's going on, and he decides to take a closer look. He walks forward.

[Narrator]

Will arrives in time to see mutants yelling at the police, who are forming a stalwart line on the other side of a street. Meanwhile, shop-keepers on both sides of the street are yelling at both police and mutants, for blocking their stores. Everyone seems frustrated and unhappy, people are jostling each other as they pass on the sidewalk, it's just a bad day for the whole of Mutant Town.

[Will Stanton]

Damn it, I just want to see the bloody memorial

Will attempts to push his way through some of the crowd, intent on not wasting his trip out here--bus fare is expensive, after all.

[Narrator]

There seem to be just pockets of trouble here, so once Will gets past the worst of it, he can walk to Genova Memorial Park just fine.

Once at the park, however, he can see that there are some tough looking fellows, both mutant and otherwise, hanging about the place. Between the mutant gangers and the human ones, regular mutants have decided to give the park a rest today.

Plenty of space on the green, assuming one wants to stand in that uncomfortable spot between two small groups of people who obviously loathe one another.

[Will Stanton]

Yeesh, nothing like this in Buffalo, that's for sure. I feel like I'm going to get jumped just standing here--mutant, norm, whichever, these guys just look like bad news. I'm almost positive I don't want to be pancaked between the two here--SOMETHING bad's gonna happen, and I'm not QUITE ready to make the evening news.


...shit, I hope they don't have a telepath; saying they look mean may not be the best idea...perhaps just turning and walking away slowly might be the best idea here...

Will turns and begins to walk away, but, deciding not to waste the trip entirely, pulls out his smartphone and takes a picture of the green.

[Narrator]

An older woman touches Will lightly on the arm right after he finishes taking the picture. Depending on how good he is at guessing ages, he may or may not correctly think her to be in her early 70s. She's wearing a twill overcoat, shabby but warm looking.

"Excuse me, young man. You're from that new University that just opened, aren't you?"

[Will Stanton]

Ahh! Oh, just an old woman. Phew. I'm getting jumpy

''Yes, ma'am, I am. Just moved into the country a couple days ago.''

[Narrator]

"Well you tell the folks at that University to get us some help. These police certainly aren't doing anything but making things worse. I'm doing what I can, but I'm getting tired a lot more quickly these days. Can't keep putting out the fires."

[Will Stanton]

''Well, I suppose I could ask, but I'm not entirely sure what they'd be able to do. I mean, as far as I know, campus police and the like don't exactly have jurisdiction out here.

You say you've been putting out fires-tensions are definitley high, but has anything actually happened? I've been kind of paying more attention to the mobs outside my window than the ones halfway across town.''

[Narrator]

"Don't sass me young man. You just run along and tell them what I said. I've been suppressing fights all day, but if the police don't leave, or we don't get some other help, there's going to be a war on here."

[Will Stanton]

And I'm sure that the god-damned X-whatevers charging in here would certainly REDUCE tensions

''Again, I guess I can pass it along, but I can't make any promises. I'm sorry, Mrs...''

[Merle McClintock]

Merle shows up right as the groups begin to form. He sighs...couldn't he have gone to school in Ireland? Or somewhere else where his DNA wasn't a political statement?

He seeks out the chief of police, offering to help make the mutants back down.
"Sir, I'm a Briton for as long as I've drawn breath. And I figure that I'll be a Briton after I'm dead, too. I didn't ask to be a Brit, and I didn't ask to be born a mutant, but I figure as long as I'm both, the two shouldn't be ripping eachother up in the streets."

He smiles. "Does that make sense? It sounded kind of good in my head."

[Harold Marks]

Harold wandered into Mutant Town, after seeing the post on the school network. "Fuck me." he said, seeing the rapidly escalating tensions as well as feeling them telepathically. He starts looking for a familiar face or two.

[Narrator]

And I'm sure that the god-damned X-whatevers charging in here would certainly REDUCE tensions

''Again, I guess I can pass it along, but I can't make any promises. I'm sorry, Mrs...''

"Mrs Chesterton. Now run along. I'd talk to that nice Mr. Xavier, but I think he's asleep."

[Narrator]

Merle shows up right as the groups begin to form. He sighs...couldn't he have gone to school in Ireland? Or somewhere else where his DNA wasn't a political statement?

He seeks out the chief of police, offering to help make the mutants back down.
"Sir, I'm a Briton for as long as I've drawn breath. And I figure that I'll be a Briton after I'm dead, too. I didn't ask to be a Brit, and I didn't ask to be born a mutant, but I figure as long as I'm both, the two shouldn't be ripping eachother up in the streets."

He smiles. "Does that make sense? It sounded kind of good in my head."

Merle can't quite find the chief of police, as he's not on the scene, but he is able to locate an officer who seems to have a lot of authority.

The man listens to Merle soberly, then shakes his head. "Look son, there's not much we can do in this situation. We've orders to be here. But between you and me lad, this won't last too long. I think we'll either have to crack down, or we'll be moving on soon."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Jesus. You go out to get some smokes, and this is what you find? I should've just gone to the gas station.

Ryan rolled down the street on his spyder, his wings clamped down tight under his jacket in a harness that his father had gotten made for him.

He glanced to the side, although the helmet kept him from actually seeing Rachel behind him. "Well, this was a lovely idea, wasn't it?"

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Delightful." Rachel said, getting off the back of the bike. Spotting Merle she said "Lets go and see if there is anything we can do."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan took her helmet and put it with his on the bike, then tossed his jacket and the harness with them, his wings unfurling with an audible whoosh once they were freed from the harness. "Damn, that felt good," he muttered as he followed after her.

[Juma Ngomo]

Juma is prowling around the area as well. It doesn't take him long to spot Ryan's white wings unfurling and he makes his way over to his familiar figure. His own features are somewhat attenuated; his teeth are more prominent fangs and his eyes have a subtle but noticable slit to them. Mostly that is a side effect of him using enhanced senses, but the tips of claws slip in and out of the skin between each of his fingers and thumbs. "Ryan. Things do not look good here."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"I... holy shit, hi, Juma," Ryan said, knowing that right now was not a good time to get reacquainted with the boy. "No, it doesn't look good. And I don't know what side we should be backing up."

[Rachel O'Brien]

"I'm on the side of no rioting." Rachel replied "I need to find a place to sit down."

[Juma Ngomo]

"I have seen too much oppression by police to have many doubts. There is nothing here to warrant such a show of force." He glances over Rachel with a tense but friendly nod.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Well, they don't seem to be trying to start trouble... so as long as everyone just keeps on this side of calm, things might not be too bad," Ryan said uncertainly, looking around and walking with Rachel over to a nearby bench.

[Harold Marks]

Harold spots the wings and heads over. "Anything resembling a plan here?"

[Juma Ngomo]

"That is not going to happen. This is like setting up a herd for a stampede. Somewhere there is a hunter getting ready to spook everyone. Maybe we can find the hunter.."

[Rick Ferguson]

Rick walked onto the scene, with Marcus right beside him.

"-well, I figured we wouldn't have to travel far to see this, and.....damn." He grew quiet, seeing the situation of things.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"I'm going to try to calm down everyone's adrenal system, but I'm only good for about two blocks." Rachel said to Harold as she headed for the bench "I'll need a bodyguard."

[Marcus Kingston]

Marcus sighed, his arms folded over his chest. "It's has bad as I thought. Some guy on XUN was talking about how nuts things were down here. I was kinda hoping they were lying."

[Juma Ngomo]

Juma nods to Rachel, a soft growl escaping his lips as he walks the line between instinct and reason. When Rachel starts using her power, she may notice that some of Juma's autonomic systems are not quite human, having partially shifted into a more feline design.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan nodded, then looked around. "Harold, right? You get to make up for that stunt with the guy's pants now." he pointed to Rachel. "Anything touches her, your ass is mine, got it?"

He looked at Juma. "I'll scout from the sky, you scout on the ground?"

[Rick Ferguson]

"And now I'm warned. Suppose I should've gotten online first." He stayed cautiously to the edge of things for the moment, looking around. "So someone from the university was here? I wonder if anyone is now."

[Rachel O'Brien]

Rachel was aware of slight variations coming from a number of people in the crowd, not just Juma, but nothing so different that she wouldn't be able to calm it. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." she muttered to herself, as she sat down on the bench. She breathed deeply and went into a trance, concentrating on slowing the rush of adrenaline that was triggering the fight or flight responses in the people around her.

[Juma Ngomo]

He nods to Ryan, "I will stay close in case of greater trouble and check the area."

[Marcus Kingston]

"Yeah..sorry. I really didn't think it'd be so bad that we'd not be able to see the memorial." He walked a bit further in and spotted the others. He ran over towards them.

"Shit's worse than I thought.."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan nodded. "Amen to that. See if you can keep people around her calmed down... I'm going to get topside and see if I can find where the big problem is probably going to start." With that, he took two quick steps forward and flapped his wings, taking to the sky. When he cleared the top of the closest building, he lit up brightly, suddenly flying quite a bit faster.

He got himself up to an altituted where he could sweep the area, high enough to be able to take in a decent area, and low enough that he wasn't going to miss anything important because of distance. He scanned the area, looking for anyone trying to spark conflict, or a conflict about to break out that he might be able to stop.

[Merle McClintock]

Merle addresses the influx of students. He tries to get them to huddle up.

"Alright, squad. The police are only going to react. That means we have to disperse from the mutant sides. If there are any bottles thrown at the bobbies, I -need- someone to interpose.

If someone wants to find the chief agitator, that'd be fine. We do this calmly, we get a lot of good PR for the school...something we need after that protest. The city could go either way, so let's be smart about this."

He smiles. "Break!"

[Harold Marks]

Harold nodded to Ryan. "Works for me." He gets a few feet in the air for a better view, ready to drop a TK shield if needed.