Making A Big Noise (Backdated Scene)

June 24, 2016:

The X-Men make a big noise hitting one of The Sections nerve centres trying to flush out where they're hiding Gabrielle Trent. (the events in this scene run at the same time as Qoy Qoyi)

Diplomatic Quarters - New York


NPCs: None.



Mood Music: None.

Fade In…

The call had gone out to the X-Men. X-Red were planning on taking action against The Section and they would appreciate all the help they could get. Full details on why had been given, of course, but there was little time to talk about it. Gabrielle Trent, Brins friend and Jericho Trent's sister, had been kidnapped by The Section and was being held to ensure that the demontainted Hacker would back off his pursuit of them. This is the same agency that had orchestrated an assassination attempt on a high profile mutant rights activist.

It had been agreed with the hacker that X-Red and whoever they could muster would hit The Sections local nerve centre, located in New Yorks diplomatic district. Doing so would cause The Section to react and allow the demontainted hacker to find his sister. All the X-Men and their allies had to do was go in loud and strong.

Melinda May had arranged for a quinjet to transport the X-Men in. She'd also been working with Brin to smooth the way with local Law Enforcement - this was a sanctioned hit. This part of The Section, at least, was going down.

The quinjet is just moving in towards a building in the diplomatic area. It is, for the most part, a standard government building - entry hall with guards on the lower floor and offices filling the other floors.

Brins dressed in her X-Red uniform, along with adjustable armour - a gift from Pepper Potts. As likely the squishiest of the team, she'll provide distance cover but she's a bad habit of getting shot. Looking to Berto just as the Quinjet puts down, the brunette takes a deep breath in. "I know this looks like a standard Government building, but trust me. These people utilise merc groups. The ones we're really going to have to watch out for are Sigma - they're augmented similar to Jericho, but much stronger." Berto can attest to that.

"How do you want to handle this, Berto?" Brins mind works so much on business and people - field ops, she leaves to the experts.

"Hit them hard and keep it simple," Roberto da Costa answers with a smile. Over his skintight X-Men leggings, he's wearing an augmented version of his usual armor: the boots, gauntlets, and chestplate are chunkier and provide more coverage than the sleek, revealing, PR-friendly version of his outfit. They also have at least one feature that's going to be particularly useful on this night raid: as he snaps his broad gauntlet into place, the system activates, and interior sunlamps switch on, the spill lighting from their recessed sockets giving his dark features a slightly unearthly cast. "Frost plays tank; Mana's support; Psylocke and I are damage dealers." He glances around the Quinjet interior with a smirk. "Is that acceptable to everyone?"

"I wouldn't call Miss Frost a tank if you're inclined to retain your faculties," Betsy tells Berto, a bit primly. As they draw near, she tugs a facemask over her lower mouth and nose, her purple hair tied into a tight, thick ponytail at the base of her skull. In a rare nod to the serious threat, Betsy's wearing armor, too, but it's fast and lightweight stuff that doesn't seem to remotely hinder her movement.

She adjusts the sword strapped to her back and without a second thought, leaps off the Quinjet and falls to the rooftop, landing in a low crouch.

~Linking in,~ Betsy announces psychically, her thoughts entangling everyone into a higher tactical gestalt of awareness.

"If that is a crack about my figure, DaCosta, I'll buy and sell you." That's Emma's response to his crack about her playing tank. "I am forced to wonder, however, why I should take diamond form. Wouldn't it be simpler to just telepathically blot out their senses or shut off their minds?" The White Queen can't help herself; she's a creature of elegance and sophistication, and pure diamond-hard fistcuffs is all just so … droll. The woman in white glances at the others curiously. Her own usual outfit - namely, thousand-dollar women's businesswear - has been exchanged for some sort of bodyarmor that Betsy thought would be best. Emma just rolled her eyes and aquiesced rather than argue. Armor is not remotely her forte. But since she's also not the nimble martial artist that Betsy is, Emma's outfit is much heavier and more solid.

Betsy jumps out, and Emma leaps out to follow, thudding heavily beside the purple-haired Brit ninja, as her own thoughts transmit. ~// Oh, look. The children are coming out to play. Apparently a quinjet on their front lawn got their attention. //~ Meanwhile, Emma reaches out, finding all of those approaching minds … and disappearing her team from their consciousness. Because that's how the non-existent Black team rolls.

"It what we wanted, non? We came 'ere to play, too." This was said on the vocal and mental transmissions - not like Remy has control in either. With a stretch Gambit unfurls his long body as the others leap to action. No fancy armor for him just the typical body suit and trench. That staff unclasped and extended in his palms while he dives out after the others graceful like the roguish 'churl' he is.

A SHIELD quinjet landing in front of Government building certainly does bring the children out to play. It's SHIELD visiting and those that respond initially appear to be regular security guards.

The Section is, after all, a legitimate agency.

Of course, Emma's pyschic control causes the security guards to blink a bit at the jet.

"Absolutely." Brin agrees with Remy, the words transmitted through her communicator "We have to make a noise, upset them. We want them to know we are here. Make them panic so they try to move to Gabby." she nods to the other two as her bow appears in her hand. "Let's go…"

Betsy and Emma easily find access to the building through a door on the roof. Making their way down from the roof through the roof, they soon come across a security patrol.

Sunspot is the last one down from the jet, and comes up from his crouch with palms out in a defensive gesture. "Purely a tactical suggestion, Diamante," he reassures the woman. Then, as he watches her force the guards to entirely miss their presence, he hums thoughtfully to himself.

"Certo — you have a very good point, there," he amends. "Your plan is better, Rainha. I'll take their attention and the brunt of the attack, Gambit and Psylocke can flank quietly and strike hard, and you can screw with their heads to your heart's content. Mana, keep an eye on us and stage a rescue if we get into trouble."

As soon as the interior security patrol comes into view, the Brazilian grins and transforms, flame-ringed shadow eclipsing his body. "Time to make some noise," he says as he sprints toward his targets, perfect futebol form unhindered by his heavy armor. By the time they notice him — if they ever do — it's too late to stop him from slamming into them like the world's largest bowling ball. A millisecond burst of solar power in all directions scatters the group as Sunspot lifts one guard in each hand and keeps running, slamming them through office walls like paper.

Emma's incommunicado while in her diamondium form, so Betsy stays close to the elegant blonde, a whisper of shadow next to her pristine appearance. She spots the first guard coming around the corner and flings her thoughts out ahead of the two of them in a series of sharp, balanced spears of psionic energy— their surprise gives her the half beat longer than normal the technique requires to employ, and she emphasizes the 'reality' of her psionic attack with an imperious flicker of her hand as she lances out her raw psionic power at anyone that Berto doesn't knock out thoroughly and Emma doesn't lash out at psychically. They move in perfect balance and synchronicity, as if Emma and Betsy have practiced this maneuver many times.

Because they have.

A clash with government types? Always sketchy. The daredevil side of Remy loves this, the rest of him…well… also loves this but he understands the need for secrecy, that is just part of his nature. Gambit adopts the shadow approach while center stage is lit up by Berto. Hanging back and lingering often makes him look like a coward but that is not at all the case, he is just an opportunist.
he'll find a niche and work it and right now that niche is overwatch where he can safely take out stragglers and operate where the team needs it. He prefers to make an appearance when hes least expected, ace up the sleeve sort of thing and all.

Cutting off from the others he drops back, out of direct visual and starts to look over the area, rescue mission, yeah? We have details on where shes located or are we winging it?

They want attention? Very well. Emma nods, responding back. ~// Very well. Attention you want. Attention you shall have. //~ Roberto asked, and the White Queen shall not refuse him. In the next moment, she has judiciously removed him from her telepathic wave of invisibility, so that everyone can see him clearly. And in the next moment, every accessible mind in the entire complex is convinced that they are hearing the klaxxons of a full security breach alert.

They're not, of course. It's all in their minds. But it's amazing how people will rationalize and act in accordance with a single impetus. One of the security watch commanders notices that the alert he is hearing is not on the digital boards, and he slaps the alert button on his own, convinced something is wrong with the system. Then commands start being shouted.

They wanted attention? Now they have it.

Meanwhile, Emma clods along in her armored outfit, letting Elizabeth and the Cajun dash this way and that as they see fit. ~// Will that do? //~ she inquires.

Beto's full on assault has the desired effect. Nice and noisy and designed to draw attention. He's soon confronted by a figure with orange traces, glowing through his clothing. Not the one he faced before, but he knows what they are.

Appearing in front of Psylock and Emma are two more figures, a man and a woman, traces glowing bright orange as they peer towards to the cloaked two. Seems they might have a degree of psychic resistance, although the X-Men women can be sure they've not been seen yet.

Behind the SIGMA agent facing Berto, a half dozen men and women clad in fatigues appear, raise weapons and start to fire. They certainly don't expect Sunsport to be alone.

Seems there's a lot been invited to this party. Jericho did say this was the New York nerve centre for the operation and this is the type of response the X-Men expected.

"Leave Gabby's extraction to Jericho. We don't know where she is, this assault will cause them to move her and let him get her out." Brin responds to Gambit as a glowing green and gold arrow arcs through the air, hitting one of the 'ordinary' mercs in the knee. "Sunspot, ask about her. That should scare them."

Brins arrow causes two of the mercs to focus their fire in her direction and the small brunette is forced to duck behind a pillar for protection.

Switching over to the psychic link with ease, Sunspot answers, Not a rescue, Gambit — that's for another team. This is a smash and grab — we're hitting their secure comms hub. If we knock it out, they'll panic and have to switch to channels we can compromise. Plus, no collateral damage to worry about. Win-win-win.

As he suddenly becomes the centerpiece of a building-wide security alert, bullets chatter off of Roberto's shining armor, and he grins a balrog smile. Perfeito, Emma. Dropping into a defensive crouch and extending a translucent shield from one gauntlet — this suit is full of surprises — he drinks in the substitute sunlight, then throws his arms wide and unleashes a concussive wave of solar fire to send the grunts flying.

"Didn't expect that to faze you," he says to the shielded agent. "Just wanted a moment to chat privately. Think you might know a lady friend of mine — Gabby?"

Betsy flickers behind Berto, moving like a shadow and clutching psionic force in one hand and a shard of black steel in her other. She stays low, almost scraping the ground, toes digging into the steel underfoot for perfect leverage and nigh-instantanous response to her any movement.

She primes one hand to fling the tiny throwing knife, tassle coiled in her palm, and freezes when 'Berto starts to address the women. Her eyes narrow in thought and she moves to where she'll get a clean line of attack on the first one to flinch too violently, relying on Emma's instincts to aim her at the other if needed.

Remy might find it in himself to question this at some point but then again Jericho Trent helped the X-Men fend off a terrorist assault on the Institute over a year ago. Maybe this is the payback. Plus, well X-Men are heroes and he's a thief, whats he to question when it comes down to what they do and don't, right?

"Gambit kicks up off a wall and swings that staff down in a crack on to one of the distracted men's shoulders, "Batter up." WHACK.
"No saving any damsels today. Got it." A low chuckle escaping the Cajun. "We make for an amazingly stylish distraction anyway. We should get a Christmas bonus or at least a new merit badge for our sashes."

Two targets, staring towards them unfocused and confused despite the psionic 'no see me' field Emma is projecting for herself and Elizabeth. She frowns in concern, and starts exploring those minds in particular. Doing so while maintaining that blanket projection is not easy, but Emma is very, very good. She specializes in doing the things others don't think can be done. And once that highly precise probe finds a weakness, she exploits it, causing one glowing goon to forget the other is there. It won't last long, but given their heightened state, it should be enough to cause the one to lash out at the other as a security threat. That will be the opening for her ninja ally. ~// What more do we need, here? //~

Gambit knocks his victim out, causing him to crumple in a heap on the floor. That focusses the attention of two more on his area, he's going to be busy for the next few minutes.

Of the two in polymorpher suits in front of Betsy and Emma, the woman flinches and Betsy's psionic powered thrown dagger bites through the glowing fields. The woman just smirks. "Over there…" Which is when Emma's next strategy takes effect - giving Betsy an edge to attack.

Berto's wave of concussive sunlight, sends three of the remaining mercs flying, but the traced figure only rocks back. Berto's question earns a sneer "Gabby Trent? We've found a use for her already." he reaches out to grab the X-Red by the throat and lift bodily in the air.

Betsy tucks and rolls, moving with an inhuman, striking swiftness that's endless discpline far augmented by her psionic talents. She doesn't quite have time to palm another throwing dagger, so she summons raw, coruscating psionic energy around her left fist and hardens it into a endlessly sharp 'blade' of raw power.

She lunges under a potential path of counterattack and snaps the psionic blade at the wrist of 'Berto's attacker, trying to overload the nerves into paralysis.

Roberto's amusement filters cleanly through the psychic link as the glowing hand clenched around his armored neck goes slack under Betsy's attack. ~Certo, Remy, I almost forgot. If we take down the group assassinating activists and kidnapping family members for leverage, there will be bonuses for everyone. You know I'm super rich, right?~

But it's not all fun and games. He does have to deal with the guy who tried to choke him out a second ago. It's going to take hours for one of his underlings to hammer out the finger-shaped dents. He winds up and punches, aiming to send the guy flying before he can figure out what quasi-invisible ninja just hit him. The Brazilian leaps right after him, his motion assisted by a jet of solar thrust, and as he lands, he converts a pile of solar energy to heat and flame, aiming to bathe the Sigma lieutenant in a few seconds of napalm.

He's not so busy that Emma's strategic question doesn't register. ~Our main objective is the comms equipment. Emma, Betsy — if you can scrape the locations of critical systems from their minds, our smashing will be a lot more efficient.~

Donatello level staff fighting skills coupled with near Batroc competition Savate has Gambit engaged rather enthusiastically with the men and women of The Section that feel like taking him on. "Step right up, follow the spinnin' staff, keep your eyes on it for a grand prize… "
"You pay your team? De Prof is holdin' out on rest of us." Not that he can speak much for the rest of these independently wealthy sorts that compromise the various X-Teams. DeCosta, Frost, Braddock… they could probably by a small country together if they were so inclined.
A charged card sails through the air and hits a fourth individual with enough kinetic force to crack a cinder block. "We have a winner. Je vous en prie, I'll be here all night… " Not really. Remy's on a timer here. He has a hot date and several starving cats in his boathouse that need their Meow Mix. Lucifer gets fiesty if he isn't fed on time.

~// I'll work on that. Elizabeth is a tad busy, it seems. //~ Not that Emma isn't busy, but her busy is largely minute tactical efforts with her telepathy, while keeping herself and Elizabeth hidden from the perceptions of the warriors. That's the safest thing she can do. When the one glowing-runed goon turns on his ally, it offers an opening … and then Elizabeth is too busy to use it. Damnit.

When the goon fires on his ally, Emma focuses enough to drive another spike into the mind of the goon being fired upon, causing a frotz as the mind just goes blank, unable to push power and energy into the armor, prepare or brace for the incoming attack. It's the best opening she has. Then she can pull back her active efforts and start parsing through their minds and those of the lesser security personnel, gathering information on the facility's internal workings and its secure communications network.

Isn't this fun? Playing with telepathy. It's all fun and games until someone's bleeding from the eyes and ears.

The attack on the Sigma lieutenant is somewhat successful. Those who have seen Jericho fight traced out, know that he's strong. What most don't know is that his traces are operating at reduced power. This polymorpher is at full power and they're well trained. The traced out agent rolls out of the way, getting caught on the edge of Berto's blast, before rising to his feet and coming at the Warm Twin again, swinging a power assisted fist at him.

Thanks to Gambit and another set of arrows from Brin, the more 'normal' mercenaries are being dealt with, slowly falling to the combined assault. At least the pair are keeping their attention.

The remaining two Sigma agents are caught battling each other - in a way. They'll be otherwise occupied for a moment … but Emma can feel them fighting the compulsion. They have amazing psychic resistance training.

Emma and Betsy are able to get the location of the comms equipment. It's a room at the back of this floor. The two women will be able to get there, if Emma can keep them cloaked. Once in there, they just have to compromise it.

Betsy eyes one of the downed elite fighters, checking its pulse, then puts a palm on the fellow's brow. Her eyes flash, then go out of focus as she starts sending flickering psionic currents through his brain. It's a dangerously two pronged attack, combining her significant psychic skills with the comparatively immense brute force of psionic energies reinforcing her commands. She scours his mind quite thoroughly, looking up to make eye contact with Emma and establishing a link as she shuttles that information back to the blonde.

Roberto executes a deceptive shuffle step, starting with a leftward move but actually throwing himself to the right. It's a feint he practiced to get around persistent halfbacks, but it works for laser punches, too. The agent whiffs it and Sunspot dives in the moment his guard is down, throwing an uppercut with the potential to send the guy several floors up, through the floors in question. In his last fight with these augments, he noticed that for all their armor and strength, they didn't weigh any more than normal people, so sending them flying was still effective.

~My team are independent corporate consultants,~ the Brazilian answers Gambit, his smirk broadcasting so strongly over the telepathic channel that the others might briefly find themselves inclined to adopt the expression themselves. ~They don't just get paid, they get paid ''well''.~ Of course, this is a personal job rather than a contract — strictly volunteer work. That doesn't mean he doesn't consider it a point of personal pride to reimburse them for their trouble out of pocket.

"Noted mon ami." Gambit responds to Sunspot while hes taken to watching their backs more actively, "Going to circle around… maybe find something to poke at." Curious like that. "You all got dis covered." Maybe he'll make something explode or maybe some things will just disappear its all entirely based off of his mood. Mercurial, its a thing and it fits. A sly smile and the thief disappears to cause some of his own mischief since these Section sorts have been designated adversary they're open game.
"Adieu, lovelies."

~// Alright. We need to disappear. Gambit, Mana, I strongly advise you watch Roberto's back. This is going to get challenging, I am afraid. ~ That said, Emma pulls back her offensive telepathic efforts, knowing the Sigma agents will recover from attacking one another within seconds, and reaches out to slam one hand on Betsy's shoulder. ~ Time to go, dear. //~ And with that … they disappear.

Scary thing is, Emma has the range. If not using her telepathy for anything else, she can cover the entire building. So even the guards in the security rooms watching the monitors see nothing. The cameras will record their presence - but not their faces. But no one in this building will perceive them.

Emma is a woman of class and demeanor. She loathes running. But given the circumstances, running is precisely what she is doing, striving to keep up with the long-limbed British ninja as they sprint through the ground floor level, heading towards the back. Emma's awareness of all of the minds she is projecting to allows her to help steer them around surprises. Hopefully it will help her to be sure there's no one above that communications center … when they set off the explosives to decimate it.

Roberto wanted a bang. Now he's going to get it.

Betsy flickers her eyes up to Emma and stands next to the woman, brushing her hands. ~Agreed. Let's be off." She palms another throwing dagger and breaks into a quick step, long legs flickering to keep pace with Emma as the telepath shields them from all sight and mind alike. Betsy has that poison-tipped dagger in one hand— ready to kill anyone who miraculously sees through Emma's redoutable defenses. Her other hand reaches back to grip Emma's fingers, offering her reassurance and a physical aid as the more athletic ninja tugs her friend along as best she's able.

Sending Sigma agents is definitely possible, when you can land the hit. Berto's solar assisted attack certainly does that and the agent is thrown - breaking through the ceiling and the next one and the next one.

Betsy and Emma make the comms room easily, no one can see them after all. It doesn't take them long to set the charges and get back out.

Rather than a big boom, the explosion is a little disappointing. It's a localised EMP that fritzes all of the equipment in the room and then some. Not visually or audibly spectacular, but more than efficient.

Still, thanks to Emma's precautions, no one is near or above the room when they do.

~Let's go~ Brins be quiet for most of the fight, she generally doesn't engage in witty repartee.

"Certo. Two at a time, then?" Roberto rocks his head back and forth to pop some joints in his neck. "I won't pretend I haven't had nights like these." He rears and slams his fists together, extending both gauntlet shields to create a protective corner before him. They're durable and cleverly angled to deflect incoming fire, but under concentrated assault from two Sigma augments, they won't last long.

He doesn't intend to force them to. His incredible strength allows him to surge forward at a sprit, tackling both agents in the style of the bastard abomination Americans refer to as 'football.' Every time he has done this — including just a moment ago — the Sigmites relished the grappling, exercising their tremendous strength to rip through his armor and their unearthly durability to soak whatever punishment he could throw at them.

Instead of bothering with that whole rigamarole, he lifts them both, parts them like an angry red sea, and rotates the shield gauntlets to slam them down on either side of him. He retracts the shields to give them nothing to grip, then leaps away with a quickness. Not without leaving a parting gift, though: small devices, one glowing red, one glowing blue, have been attached to the agents. Almost immediately, the red one engulfs its carrier in flame, the blue one in electricity.

It's an experiment! See: Roberto can do science!

Once the EMP charge goes off, though, he doesn't need any more convincing to leave the augments where they lie. ~You heard the ladies, Remy. Let's get out of here.~

To be honest, Emma is disappointed. Not broken-hearted, but genuinely disappointed. She really wanted a huge concussive blast of fire and force, tearing apart the building. She is sick and tired of groups like this thinking they can use and manipulate mutants into toys and living weapons. They need to be punished. Permanently. Forcefully.

But Emma takes the win, the accomplished goals, and she sprints for the exit, keeping them covered as they head for the quinjet. Time to leave.

The team might be disappointed the charges weren't explosive but this is a building in the middle of New Yorks diplomatic quarter - and X-Red did get NYPD's agreement to make this hit. Better to work with the authorities, right?

As Berto slams the last two agents down, engulfing one in flames and the other in electricity they cry out. The one in flames rolls himself to put them out … he's still alive and those traces are still working. The electricity causes the womans traces to dim momentarily before glowing brightly again - she'll be covered in burns as well but alive.

Rising painfully to their feet, they move quickly away - there'll be no sign of them when clean up goes through.

The teams job here is done, though. They created a distraction, disrupted the comms network and hopefully Jericho's got his sister out.
