[Things Happening ITT] 15 minutes into XI history class...

[Haley Crusek]

So...I think I can sort of make like....a wall of TK....so...if shit goes really bad, maybe that'd be good... she thought to herself.

"God damnit, Regan," she whispered under her breath. "This is fucking stupid. We're all gonna get fucking shot."

[Roland Sackville]

And that flailing and whatnot is enough to draw the attention of the men on the boat, and some (inaccurate) gunfire shot off in Mercy's direction.

"Fucking SHIT girl, you're going to get yourselves killed," Roland snarled, unwrapping the brown parcel, revealing a sword. A very old sword, with diamonds, topaz, and jacinth embedded into the hilt. It shined with an unearthly glow for a moment when it was exposed to the light.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex, meanwhile, started gathering the steel from the barrels, drawing it in one barrel at a time like he had the other day with the I-beams. This wasn't going to be good, he had a feeling. Then again, he was steel, so he should be reasonably all right. Right?

[Regan Rourke]

Regan floats over to Roland, "Soooo....this is a fun field trip."

"By the way, if you get shot, I'm totally saying 'well, now you're history'. 'kay?"

[Mercy Wilkins]

They say you never hear the gunshot that hits you. You also don't hear the ones that land nearby you, until after the fact.

Mercy's reactions following the shots are driven by the sequence of sensations she experiences.

I need to calm down, I'm tearing up the roof with my Darkforce.

Wait, what's that booming sound?

There's a flash of light by that boa.... oh shit I'm being shot at.

There's a sort of terrible wet tearing sound. The people on the boat merely see the wings and legs and such vanish, and a swell of dangerous and cthullian-looking darkforce energy pouring off the roof.*

Another sound like something tearing or cracking accompanies Mercy's arrival behind Cal and Haley, she's huddled up, wings and bits of darkforce wrapped around her, whimpering in pain through gritted teeth.


* (The darkforce is not actually dangerous)

[Calvin Strong]

"No we aren't. They're all still on the boat and they don't have any clue we're here yet. Except Mercy I think. ANd Regan the idiot. I... holy shit!" Cal looked back at Mercy, then focused on the feed. "Okay, that... will probably shake them up some..."

[Roland Sackville]

"Miss Rourke, I've yet to meet something this could not cleave in twain. Do not fucking test me -- if you think you've seen hell now, just wait until I get through with you."

And with that, Roland...stood up. "Well, now that stealth is out of the equation..."

He yelled out a guttural scream, and charged towards the edge of the docks, followed by the two guys who were with him.

[Haley Crusek]

"H-holy shit. Mercy, are you okay? Did you get hit?" Haley asked in a hushed whisper, trying not to draw even more attention their way.

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy cracks an eye to look at Haley, pulling a wing away from her face a little. Haley can see striated red marks on Mercy's face, like sunburns or burns from hot water.

"I... don't think I got shot. I was just joking I didn't think... they were really doing some kind of drug deal." Tears well up from Mercy's eyes and pour down her cheeks.

[Regan Rourke]

Regan floats underneath the docks, coming back up to where the rest of the kids are hiding.

"Well. I'm not 100% on this, but I think it's pretty obvious. Fights with a sword. Bad accent. Dresses like an idiot."

"Our teacher is obviously a LARPer."

[Alex Carpenter]

"All right... guys? If you're going to get out of here? Now's the time!" Alex said, bracing himself for a moment. Then he drew in the last barrel and, hulked out with the extra mass, charged at the boat too! I love being a mutant!

[Haley Crusek]

"Did your powers do that to you? Are you okay? C'mon, get closer to us, hopefully we're sorta out of sigh--"

Haley was cut off by Alex announcing his charge. And the sound of said metal boy running.

"Oh holy shit what the fuck is he doing?!"

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy clings to Haley. "Wha... who's that? A-alex?"

[Calvin Strong]

"Being a giant metal distraction, looks like," Cal said. "All right... they don't really have a line of sight to... that end," he said, pointing the other way from where Alex had come. "So... we can sneak that way, but... hm." He looked at Haley. "Want to try something? If I tell you what's going on there, think you can find their brains and mess 'em up?"

[Haley Crusek]

"....I....I could try?"

[Regan Rourke]

"I'll continue providing moral support," Regan says, "Go team."

[Calvin Strong]

He took her hand, and notably... having an overhead view of all this, he wasn't particularly worried. At all. He hoped that helped. "Just relax... if you can do it, great, but if you can't? No big, at least we tried," he said, reassuringly. "All right..." he started describing to her where the gunmen were, compared to Roland and his little crew (and Alex, that idiot).

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy winces as she pulls herself into a better kneeling position, adrenaline overriding her pain for the moment.

"Just be careful Haley."

She frowns at Regan. "This whole thing is your fault!"

[Haley Crusek]

Haley closed her eyes and focused deeply on the scene Cal was describing, trying to take in everything that he said and everything that she had seen earlier to build a perfect mental map that she could place the gunmen on.

[Regan Rourke]

"Pretty much," Regan says.

"...I'm not sorry."

[Kay Haddock]

"We can point fingers later, okay?" she says, helping Mercy move over to the container so she can sit down and lean against it. She does throw a frown Regan's way though.

[Roland Sackville]

There were three men on the deck of the ship. Inside, there were...ten more? Give or take? Of course, some of those might be the charging Roland. Or Alex. But there was a larger number inside than there were outside.

They all seemed to be in something of a panic. At least, the people on the ship. One person -- Roland, presumably -- was a bit more... adrenaline fueled.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex charged at the boat... making a rather big target, he had to admit, but really... what was the worst that could happen?

...Well, he didn't know that. But he was hoping he had intimidation on his side. Besides, he had a good coating of steel over his also-steel body. That had to count for something.

He charged down the edge of the dock, both alarmed and relieved to find that yes, he could feel bullets pinging off him, and yes, he could refill the bullet-dents... but he could sense that he had less mass with each hit. It wasn't a LOT, but... it was something.

He got to the end of the dock, and JUMPED... and jumped about as well as you'd expect a giant steel guy to jump. He caught the edge of the boat, trying to hang on...and then fell into the water. Dammit...

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy is about to berate Regan some more but seeing Alex plunge she screams... "ALEX!"

Lungs, apparently not damaged by the teleportation.

[Calvin Strong]

"Quiet," Cal hissed. "God, why don't they put people's files where anyone can read them? Ever watch him in PC? DUde doesn't breathe when he's like that. He's fine."

"Now just relax, babe. It's all going to be good, just see what you can do..." he said, trying to keep Haley calm.

[Roland Sackville]

Roland had reached the boat. One of the men formerly INSIDE had made his way to the edge -- and was quickly slammed into by a large man carrying a large sword, as he didn't even seem to slow down before entering.

[Brigid Plunder]

"God dammit," Brigid muttered, running after Alex, dodging here and there.

[Regan Rourke]

Regan looks away from Kay, looking a little bit hurt by her friend's frown.

"I didn't force anyone to come here."

[Haley Crusek]

Haley focused on ones the seemed more panicked; her brow furrowed in concentration. Freeze....

She really had no idea what she was doing, but she hoped that those she was touching would simply do that: get locked in place and unable to move.

[Alex Carpenter]

Let's see... I could turn back and swim up, but... that won't help much. ANd they're shooting. Bad idea. I could walk back to shore, but that'll take too long... Oh. Yeah. Duh. He reached up and put his hand against the boat's hull. Ahhhh... aluminum? Weird alloy... no big deal. I wonder if I can- oh wait, if I can sense it I can sync with it. Now... He felt his hand syncing with the hull, and felt his body, extra mass and all, getting lighter as the shift spread down his body... well, most of the extra mass. He watched a good chunk of steel get left behind at the bottom, but what could you do? HIs hands sinking into the metal, resisting the urge to absorb it, he started hauling himself up through the hull into the ship!

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy looks around, and decides there's one small way she can help.

Darkforce rises up in a roundish shield next to the huddled group of kids, between them and the boat, though not too high in front of Cal, so it doesn't block his sight.

I wonder if it'll stop a bullet. It should slow it down at least..... I really hope I don't find out.

[Roland Sackville]

Haley was trying a skill she had never tried before!

It...didn't seem to be having too much effect, honestly. I mean, maybe a little? But this was her first time even attempting such a feat, soooooo yeah.

It would take Alex about a minute to fully get through the hull of the boat -- less than that to see, obviously, and maybe only 15 to 20 seconds to get his arms up enough to start doing things with the punching and the grabbing and the glaven. His crazy amazon girlfriend would follow, shortly thereafter.

What Alex would see, of course, might change his strategy slightly. The two men Roland had brought with him were down, clutching various bits of their anatomy. Roland, on the other hand, was up.

You know how in classic movies, the sword swings seem to just hit one another, totally missing the people in question? Yeah, Roland doesn't swing like the movies, and people were falling down rather quickly.

One guy who WASN"T falling down was right in front of Alex, aiming his pistol directly at Roland.

[Alex Carpenter]

Oh HELL no! Alex gathered the extra mass through his body, focusing it into his fist to slam at the guy's head. Wish I was still steel... oh well, an aluminum fist still has to hurt...

[Haley Crusek]

Haley opened her eyes and let out a grunt of frustration, "Ugh! I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing."

[Calvin Strong]

"Hey, it's all right," Cal said. "Worth a try. It's not like we're supposed to be doing shit like this, right? You just sit tight and get ready to give a blast if something comes at us. Looks like everyone's okay still." Everyone the camera can see, at least...

[Haley Crusek]

"Yeah...I guess. If you see something tell me and I will smash the shit out of it."

[Calvin Strong]

"Hm. And now that I think about it... time to start monitoring the police band. SHould I be calling them here, you think? Making sure they stay away?"

[Regan Rourke]

Regan waited less than a minute.

"Haley! Bogey on your six!" Regan shouts, "Blast it!"

There was absolutely nothing there.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley whipped around, gritting her teeth and flung her hand out towards her attacker, a surge of telekinetic energy distorting the air in front of her.

She realized a second too late that there was nothing behind her. Except for Roland's car that is. Roland's... now flying car.

[Mercy Wilkins]

Mercy screams in terror! It's beginning to look like she might have a promising career as an actress in B-rated horror movies.