02/01 - Tyrannosaurus Rx
I told you the Holodecks always go wrong. I told you.









With the movie soundtrack from 'The Great Escape' playing in the background, Cassy masses her forces. The telekinetic teen is dressed in a mixture of knifeproof clothing and cameo pattern combats, with a backpack filled with tools and other suspicious things. "Okay everyone, listen up. The teachers aren't doing /anything/ to save our friends, so it's up to us to go look for them!"

Tobias is standing towards the back, wearing significantly less tactical clothing in a football jersey and jeans. He watches on half interested as he peels a lemon to snack on during the rousing speech. He has a strong feeling this is doomed to failure, but what the hell, he can at least have some fun and maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to do some good with what he can do.

"Okay, everyone you should have your squad assignments?" Cassy asks, waving a pixie stick around like an insane general. "Your maps should have your search areas marked in glitter and marker pen." Canary yellow marker pen no less. "And there are cell numbers and stuff along with times you have to call in."

A quiet bit of laughter comes from Tobias. The ridiculousness of the image in front of him is just too much. The smirk is hidden with a sharp bite into his lemon. Wiping a bit of the juice from his lip, he looks at the people around. "Aye, mon capitan," he says with a short laugh.

Maybe it has something to do with the sudden, suspicious lack of people in the school's lower levels, but Walter's gone exploring the school. He's up on the third floor when he hears sounds coming from the attic. He climbs up, peeking in, blinking once at Cassy's attire. "What are you doing?" he wonders, looking at the assembled crowd.

Cassy takes a little bow. "Planning an armed rebellion," she informs earnestly. "We're off to liberate the J's."

Tobias looks over and offers a shrug to Walter. "I'm just here for the hell of it, to be honest," he half lies. "Want in? May be pizza in it later." He pretty much whole lies.

Walter looks at Cassy, then at the assembly. "You realize this is really dangerous, and probably won't work, right?" he asks Cassy. "If the teacher's haven't already found them..." he remains in the doorway, holding the frame.

"They're old, slow and lazy," Cassy declares, biting the end off the pixie stick wrapper. "Besides, if it wasn't for them everyone would have been safe. They only got captured because the school went public and now they're hiding in the basement doing /nothing/." Poor Tobias, if he takes the time to read the mission plan he'll soon spot the field command updates are all to be held in pizza places.

"I really don't think that's why it happened, Cassy," Walter says, squinting a little at the girl. "This kind of thing's happened before, /well/ before they went public," he reminds. "It's really not the teacher's fault Jubilee and the others went missing."

"Ayuh, it's dangerous," Tobias answers with a grin, looking at the kid blocking the doorway. "That's half the fun, ain't it?" he adds with a grin. The angular teen saunters towards Walter, still grinning.

Cassy shrugs. "Anyway the plan is in motion already," she informs. "It's too late to stop us now. Yah know how the saying goes, Alea iacta est."

"Come on, Wally," Tobias says in a bit of a sing song. "Clear on out, or come on with." He sticks his hands in his pockets and leans on his heels. "Besides, don't you want to do some good with what you got? I mean, rather than cheat at sports?"

Walter looks at the crowd assembled. "You realize Cassy's track record for this sort of thing, right?" He points toward Cassy. "And she probably made that last bit up!" At Tobias's comment, he sighs. "Okay, what's this plan?" he wonders, looking around for whoever'll answer.

Cassy gasps in shock. "My track record is /flawless/ and that's totally a real saying, it's what the guy who made the salad said when he invaded someplace."

Tobias looks over to Cassy a moment and just shakes his head slowly. "Walk around and look, far as I know," Tobias says, taking another bite of his lemon. "Cassy?" he asks, mouth full of citrus pulp.

"The guy who made the salad?" Walter asks, squinting at Cassy. "You mean Caesar?" he wonders, an eyebrow climbing up his forehead. "You know he didn't actually make that salad, right?" He turns to Tobias. "Because the teacher's clearly haven't thought of that yet?"

"I've made up packs," Cassy informs solemnly. "Each one has pictures, search patterns for the whole city along with bus timetables and stuff." She holds up a pack for inspection. "Each team is big enough to not be an easy target, so we shouldn't be at risk of capture. If anyone gets a hint of something suspicious we phone it in, gather and do a more intensive search."

"See, she's got it all planned," Tobias says, nodding towards Cassy. "And course the teacher's thought of that. So did cops, and I bet a bunch of other folks. Doesn't mean we can just sit around, right? Thumbs up our asses on a Friday night."

Walter doesn't move from the door, holding out a hand to the nearest person. "Let me see these packs."

The pack is remarkably well thought out, containing plenty of details although the amount of glitter and bright colours is a little out of place. "Then we have the /packs/," Cassy declares cheerfully. "With everything we need to protect ourselves if they do come after us."

Tobias crosses his arms as he just watches the exchange. "Besides, you actually think you're going to stop us standing there if we really want to get out? Just getting that out there."

Walter flips through the pack, raising an eyebrow at how colorful it all is. "And you're getting out to the school how?" the boy wonders. He looks over at Tobias, standing up a little straighter. "I might be able to," he says, trying his best to sound intimidating.

"Walter, we can go out via the roof," Cassy points out with a sigh. "We're going to split up and take every way out at once, at least one or two groups will get through and the rest can make attempt two while they're chasing after the first groups."

Walter glances towards the exit through the roof. "How big are these groups?" he asks, scanning the crowd for familiar faces.

Tobias laughs, rolling his eyes to the roof. "Glad you got all the bases covered, Wally,"

"They're based on the group members skills, ranging from three to five," Cassy says with a grin. "We have at least four groups, plus the people who are going to help cause a distraction."

Tobias looks over towards Cassy and grins. "So what group we adding Walter too?" he asks, not really caring about Walter's opinion on the matter it would seem.

"It's Wal/ter/," the boy belonging to the name corrects. "Or just Walt." He looks around, asking the assembled, "Who's in what group?" Some people start pointing at each other. The boy raises an eyebrow at that before turning to the ringleader. "Are you taking panic buttons in case things go really badly?"

"Duh, of course we are," Cassy replies, rolling her eyes. "If you're tagging along then you can join me and Tobias's group. We're one short because Mira has to wash her hair."

Tobias shakes his head with a roll of his eyes. "Duh," he repeats. "And no 'ifs', he coming, "Aren't you, Wal/ter/.""

Walter mouths "Wash her hair?" Before glancing towards Tobias. "Not exactly sneaky," he points out to Cassy.

Cassy sticks her tongue out at Walter. "Is too," she informs. "Look the plan is foolproof, we cover the whole city and we'll find something. Once we get a lead we bring in the teachers for backup. Then while we wait, we keep watch and if we have to we'll cause some chaos."

"Speak for yourself," Tobias retorts to Walter with a laugh as he fades from view into a low hanging fog.

"What's in these packs if things go crazy?" Walter wonders, stepping closer to Cassy. He looks over at Tobias. "Compared to a girl that can make us all silent?" he asks the fog.

"Mira was detection," Cassy points out with a sigh. "Details on how to disable vehicles, numbers for most major news stations and some science projects I got off the internet!" The so called science projects include some very very unpleasant stink bombs and a chili sauce so hot it could work as pepper spray.

The fog rolls around and behind Walter before reforming. "Aren't there camera's around here anyways?" he asks, wiping his glasses on his shirt. "Sound don't help with that. Not to mention, we run into any doors along the way."

Walter considers this for a moment, looking over the pack. "You realize there's probably no way you're getting off the grounds?"

"The risk of getting caught is documented," Cassy says cheerfully. "But if we all take a different route /someone/ will get free." Springing up to stand on an old wooden box she adds "And what's more important? Peoples lives or getting in trouble with a teacher? Our friends /need/ us."

Tobias looks around Walter's shoulder to Cassy. "You know, never thought that phrase would ever be literal," he mutters to himself. "She's got a point though."

Walter pinches at the bridge of his nose. "If I knew this would make a difference, I'd be all for it. I'm just as tired of sitting here doing nothing as the rest of you, and I admit, the plan looks good, but something /always/ goes wrong with Cassy's plans," he points out to the group. He's not really swaying many opinions. Not needing the box to match Cassy's height, he calls out over the group. "How many of you know why there's a crack in the baseball court? Think about that for a moment. If THEY can't find them, what makes you think we can?"

Tobias shrugs, one of the many not convinced by Walter's argument. "Alright, then just come get a slice," he suggests with a grin.

"There are more of us, we have powers they don't but most of all they're /old/," Cassy answers, springing up onto the side of an old couch. "We'll find them because we'll search longer, harder and faster. So what if they have a jet hidden away, when was the last time they used it huh? How often do they play hero? Not enough that's for sure, not enough to keep our friends safe."

"I'm not leaving the school for /pizza/!" Walter snaps at Tobias. "Hell, at least Cassy is doing this to try and /help/," he says to the other boy. "And they're not /that/ old," he says to Cassy. "Look, how many people have been here for a couple years?" Few hands go up. "Who remembers how Cassy and I came to the school? They were there then. Who remembers with Bobby and Nisa went missing, in a situation a /lot/ like this? The teachers helped then. Do any of you /really/ think that they just stopped trying?"

"Just because I'm doing something good doesn't mean I can't get something out of it in turn," Tobias says with a shrug. "And yeah, maybe I haven't been around as long as you guys, and I haven't known these guys as long. They aren't really my friends, but what do you know, /I'm/ actually trying to do something, unlike some people."

"Who doesn't want pizza?" Mira asks, voice muffled by the motions of a towel scrubbing at her damp hair. The wet look aside, she's all but prepared to leave with jacket and gloves at the ready. "It's like a bonus, I mean."

"Oh! You actually /washed/ your hair?" Cassy exclaims, somewhat shocked. "I thought you meant you had... well a date or something."

Walter turns at Mira's entrance, seemingly just as surprised as Cassy that Mira was actually washing her hair. The 'date' comment has his attention jerking back over towards Cassy before focusing on Tobias. "Yes, /now/. Now you decide to do something. I've spent hours and hours trying to find /anything/ and found /nothing. I'm sick of feeling useless to," he says to the crowd. "I /really/ want to do what you're all planning on, and going out to look for them, but this is not the way to do it." He looks at Cassy. "Look, Cassy, your plan actually looks good. Why don't you try actually taking it to the teachers?"

Tobias rolls his eyes, leaning against the nearest wall and looking to Mira, raising an eyebrow as he's surprised again with the second truth to popular phrase of the night. "Yeah, you want to, you really want to," he says, mocking tone to his voice. "But what do you know? You ain't doing a damn thing. I may be being a bit of a scum bag here, but you, you're just being chicken, and giving up without playing the whole game through."

Mira loops the towel around her shoulders and eyes Cassy with something like a frown. "I'm not saving the world with dirty hair," she explains with a haughty lift of her chin. She rounds on Walter, still managing to look down her nose. "It's pretty simple. 'Cause they wouldn't let us, that's why. If you wanna tell me the chances of us finding anything are slim, go ahead. But I'm gonna try it anyway."

"Well, that's good then because our group totally needs you to be our radar girl," Cassy says cheerfully, jumping to land on the couch. "They don't want us to 'get hurt' which is just stupid, because going to this school puts us at constant risk of accidents and attacks. We're /used/ to danger, but they still try hide it away from us. Well yah know what, it's time they treated us like adults!"

"Said the girl who made tactical plans with glitter paint," Walter says under his breath, for all the good it'll do with Mira so close.

Tobias settles his hands behind his head, looking to the room of kids and their commander of sorts. "So, we doing this, or what?"

"Seriously," Mira agrees, balling a fist and looking intense. "We have to. Nobody else is better equipped than us. We've basically got superpowers. It's time we showed a little responsibility." Her chocolate brown eyes flick to Walter at this paraphrased sentiment.

Walter looks Mira in the eyes, sighing heavily. "Fine, hand me one of those packs. I reserve the right to rat out Cassy the moment we get caught, however."

"Now then people, are you with me?" Cassy yells, jumping up and heading towards the roof top access. "Time to blow this popsicle stand."

"Pure stealth, Cassy," Tobias says dryly. "Pure, unadulterated stealth."

Mira jerks a thumb behind her, toward the attic stairs down instead of the roof. "Alternate route this way, guys. If you don't like the flying squirrel approach to the treehouse."

Walter heads for the stairs. "Don't know about you guys, but I'm going to try something a little less suspicious than a Rocky impression."

"But the treehouse is so much more stylish!" Cassy protests, hopping down and grabbing her backpack. "No point saving the world unless you're going to look cool doing it."

"Five bucks on she takes a digger off the roof," Tobias calls to the others before turning towards the stairs down.

Aloft and around a corner of the roof, one Jean Grey sits, who knows all about looking cool while saving the world. A cigarette is being smoked, and although her brain is suffering the lack of mental shielding gifted to her by another morning visit to Cerebro, this has accrued some useful benefits. It's not really mental eavesdropping when you can't -not- overhear, right? As Cassy and a couple other students make for the roof, she deliberately stubs out the cigarette, narrows her eyes, and waits.

Mira pokes her head back up the stairs leading to the roof. "And don't forget where we're meeting up," she begins, until her eyes fall on a disgruntled doctor. "... you guys..." she finishes into trailing silence and lowered eyes.

Walter is already mostly down the stairs when Mira's voice suddenly goes quiet, he turns, glancing over his shoulder, coming to a stop on the third floor, looking up.

"Scramble! Plan B, plan b!" Cassy yells, trying in vain to make a break for a leap onto the treehouse roof.

Tobias is a few stairs beyond Walter, looking around the other teen's shoulder again. "So, back to the rooms? We were never here?" he suggests easily.

Plan A, B, C or D may be somewhat difficult to put in effect when your teacher is a telepath. A cranky telepath, in fact. Jean's eyes are narrow, her glare remarkable. And, worryingly, her voice is very, very soft as she first projects a broadcast out to her fellow teachers of << Some of the students are having a very bad idea. On Duty staff to the perimeter, please? >> and then sighs, reaches out, and simply stops Cassy at the height of her jump. And cocks her head to one side. "An explanation, Ms. Villeneuve?"

Walter looks at Tobias. Frowning, he drops the pack, and heads back /up/ the stairs. "I told you we wouldn't get far," he calls out towards the roof. "And for the record, I tried to talk them out of it!" Maybe he'll get a lighter sentence for not making them work to hard to catch him in the act. Or perhaps being a stoolie will help. He's willing to give both a try.

"Escape while you can!" Cassy orders, hovering rather sullenly over a very large drop. "We're going to look for our friends. Because it's the right thing to do, rules be damned."

"-Happily-," Jean answers with a heavy layering of irony, and her words echo in the minds of those out of range for hearing them. "We've already found them, and are going to go get them tomorrow. So we are spared having to find you, too. But," she notes, lifting a hand and reeling Cassy back in to hover over terra, or at least roof-a, firma. "I admit I am -very- interested in knowing just what your plans were once you'd cleared the school."

Tobias crosses his arms, shaking his head slowly as he stares up towards Walter. "You really are a douchebag," he says flatly, for once the look of smirking amusement gone from his face.

"Jean," Mira begins in a tone simply overflowing with sweetness and light. She's even gone so far as to fold her hands behind her back and look innocently ashamed. "We were just organizing a search party." Notably absent, however, is a golden halo.

Walter steps up onto the roof, looking over at Jean. "You found them?" he says, eyes wide. "I told you they would," he says to Cassy, smiling. Then context catches up, and he sighs. "Look... we've all been feeling kind of useless recently," he explains to Jean. "And... we just wanted our friends back." He slips his hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels, looking towards Jean's feet. "Her plan wasn't actually that bad. None of us would have been alone."

Cassy sighs, loudly. "Like what on earth is the point of my heroic sacrifice if you're going to stand around and get caught too?" she yells. "We were going to do a radial search of the city, in teams of three or above. If we found anything we'd hit the panic buttons, surround the place and wait for backup. Happy now? I could talk you through the plans if you /really/ wanted."

"I believe I -do- want," Jean answers, eyes on Cassy, but an eyebrow lifting at the others words. "And while you wouldn't have been alone, I see two main flaws with your plan. The first is that a blanket radial search of the Five Boroughs would consume so much of your time that the only purpose it would serve would be to make you feel like you were doing something." She pauses a moment, narrows her eyes again, and notes that "The second would be that if you found anything, we'd come get you, and then have potentially double the number of hostages to deal with. If you wanted updates on progress, or to take part in the search, I have to say my voicemail, my in-box, and my after-class time has been -conspicuously- free of students offering to help."

Tobias is represented by just his head poking through the door up. "Can you drop her?" he asks Jean, "I got five bucks riding on it." It's a bad joke in horrible taste, but he is honestly just trying to lighten the mood. "And I'll still spring for pizza for everyone."

Walter scratches behind his ear. "I tried checking online like you suggested," he shares. "Nothing." "If I'd known you'd have actually let me help..." he just lets the thought die, looking between the two girls, ignoring Tobias. "At least we meant well?" he asks, forcing a smile.

Mira's shoulders sag. She lifts a hand to gesture feebly. "We were just tryin' to help. There's nothing else we could do, but... yeah. We had to do something." Her eyes flick from Jean to Cassy, then to the roof, somewhat pointedly. "You really found them already? Then why are you here?"

"Yeah right, like you'd let us help. You've already lost one student it's not like you could risk more," Cassy snaps sullenly, crossing her arms. "To you we're just kids, but you're wrong. Because of you and the Professor taking the school public we're all targets, we know the risks and we don't care. Our friends come first."

"If you're unhappy with the school's public state, I can arrange a transfer..." The words are just as soft as before, and Jean clasps her hands in front of her as she makes the offer. "You didn't get a vote. That's been made abundantly clear. I can't change the past, 'nor would I have made a different decision, so either get over it or get out. As for the rest of you..." With Cassy still left hovering to mull that over, Jean turns her back on the younger redheaded telekine. "And Cassy too, should she deign to get over her indignation, follow me to the elevator. We'll see how good a plan you had."

Tobias drums his fingers on the rooftop, wondering if he could still make a break for it at this point. "Seriously, I really was just getting pizza," he says, opting to stick it out with the others.

Walter blinks, looking over at Mira, a questioning look on his face before he turns to follow Jean. "Are they alright?" the boy asks, catching up to the teacher. "Jeremy and the others." He turns to Tobias. "Which is a /really/ stupid reason to sneak out," he snaps over his shoulder.

Mira flicks a fingernail sharply against the back of Tobias' ear. "Shut up, man," she hisses and makes a slashing motion across her throat with the same finger. With a grimace, she looks after Jean before the rest of her can decide that the best plan is to be quiet and follow, which she does.

Cassy pouts. "You haven't even read the plan," she points out, although neither have most of the other people caught in the act for that matter. "And after I found glitter which matches canary yellow too."

"So is that a yes or a no, on transferring?" is what Jean offers in response to Cassy, with a bare look over her shoulder before she turns to the others. "From what I can tell, Jeremy is the best off physically, although obviously there's going to be some serious mental badness for him to work through. Jamie Madrox has had it the roughest... the bastards decided he'd make a great lab rat, thanks to the duplicates." For all Jean's tone is level and calm, the bad language, delivered very precisely, is more than a little telling. "Jackson seems to have had it the worst as a single individual. But as soon as we've had a night's rest to cut the risk of being sleep-stupid, we're breaking them out."

Tobias rolls his eyes at Walter. "You don't know a damn," but he's cut off by the flick to his head. "Oh come on!" he snaps. "You guys can't tell me you thought this would work? You know what was going to happen? A bunch of kids take a walk around the city, find nothing, and end up having some pizza. Then, all go home feeling like at least they fucking tried." Tobias is decidedly bitter as he goes on. "Really, a group of kids finding some kidnapped folks when the cops and no one else could? Well, not counting now. It's stupid. But if I could do something to, well, to do something, even if it's just cause I can buy that much pizza, I'll do it." He looks down. "Just tired of being useless."

"I know it's... well, /way/ too late, but... if there's anything I can do..." Walter says, voice soft, Jean very good at being intimidating. He runs alongside for a few more steps. "Where are we going?" he wonders, voice a little less hushed. "Yeah, yeah. Friends are doomed, but at least you have chicken," Walter bites over his shoulder. "True friend, really," he says giving a little sneer.

"Getting beaten up for being a mutant and being forced to take Methylphenidate? I'll pass on that thanks," Cassy replies, smiling sweetly. "If I wanted to leave I'd have gone without saying a word. Or does being a student here mean we're not allowed to have our own opinions?"

"I said," repeats Mira to Tobias, though now through her teeth, "Shut up. You're not helping." The set of her jaw remains tight afterwards and she flicks a similar look in Walter's direction. She stuffs her hands in her jacket pockets, squeezing fistfuls of gloves she had yet to put on.

"Cassy, now is -not- the time to be cute with me." Jean's eyes flare, her voice grits, and for half a breath the air inside Cassy's bubble feels compressed, thick and sluggish, before Jean catches hold of herself. "You're not having opinions, you're being a mouthy child trying to prove she's grown up by flinging yet more shit at teacher-shaped targets. Now, we're all going to go downstairs -- you too, pizza boy -- and we're going to run a little sim in the Danger Room. The others can fill you in on that, Tobias."

Walter decides he doesn't want to be next to Jean anymore, dropping back, following along silently, head bowed.

Tobias drops down below, ignoring the second shot to his head as he disappears. "It's called morale, Wally," he adds under his breath in the motion.

"You guys are idiots," Mira mutters darkly, stalking past the two boys in the lead and down towards the elevator. She folds her arms tightly across her stomach, the sound of something like crackling static rising up from around her.

"Can I stand on the ground now?" Cassy wonders, looking down at the floor. "Because if you have found them you should be saving your energy for the rescue."

"At this point, Cassy, expending a little energy to keep you floating is keeping me from expending it in less-constructive ways." And with that, Jean starts forward to descend the stairs after her gaggle of students, Cassy in her invisible hamster ball trundling along behind.

Walter flinches as Mira walks by, watching the back of her head for a few steps before turning his attention to the ground, which receives a frown. He follows humbly and, more importantly, silently along, hands in his pockets and shoulders slumped.

=XS= Danger Room - Lv B3 - Xavier's School

When not composed of digital dreaming, whether made to be an alley way or forest, this room is nothing more than a large dome-like structure made of nickel-titanium. Electromechanical security doors as well as localized force fields operate the only doors into and out of the danger room itself, although there are more outside in the Ready Room that lead up to the Observation Deck. Panels lining the walls, floor and ceiling give away to training dangers such as lasers, projectiles, and sophisticated robots built for combat. Centered high in the right corner of the arena rests the control area where spectators can monitor training events and operate the holograms. Automated doors and the intercom system are located directly below this glass-walled bubble, showing the exits to this 'Danger Room'.

Stairs are obviously more of a punishment than the elevator. Noise follows Mira on her prisoner's walk, mere hints of sound snapping like boiling water for a few feet all around her. Wherever taken, she goes there cooperatively if not willingly, closed posture and facial expression still saying plenty in her silence.

Tobias follows along. Right now, he just wants to get whatever is about to be thrust upon him over with. No point in arguing, just shut up and do the work as it's given.

Through the course of the trip to the danger room Cassy has been busy. Busy attempting to shift so she's upside down that is, after all if you're going to get in trouble you might as well enjoy what little perks there are. She hasn't been entirely idle however, the contents of the backpack of doom have been double checked and moved around so they're ready to hand out to the gang.

Currently, the room is nothing special. It is large. It is grey. It is empty. And it is lit with a few white sunken lights shining down from approximately twenty feet up. Behind the intrepid quartet, the heavy hydraulic door hisses shut and clicks once, locked. Without a word, Jean leaves the students to their fate, enters through another door to the control room, and, as an afterthought, notes that "I'm dropping you now, Cassy." in a crackle over a loudspeaker and in good enough time to allow for reorienting before the telekinesis winks out. "So, first off, tell me what area of the city you expected to find them in."

Walter looks at the others, then up at Jean. "I don't know... where did you find the others last time?" he calls up towards the bubble, giving another glance towards the others.

Mira continues to demonstrate her deep understanding of her Miranda rights, maintaining a silence that does not further incriminate but also does nothing to endear or redeem herself.

Cassy sighs, shuffling so she lands neatly on the ground. "Either the docks or the more industrial parts of the city," she informs, handing out the bundles to people. "Places where people don't generally visit." Everyone except Mira gets some ear protection, while her audiokinetic roomie gets a bag of fireworks. Tobias and Walter are both offered a selection of pepper spray substitutes and things to hit people with.

Jean doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer in words. But abruptly the room is not a room any more. The light is not dim. Instead, the four students find themselves in the midst of a dingy industrial area, with the scent of a chemical plant to tingle their noses, and the chuff and crash of freight engines sounding somewhere off to the west. A thin grey rime of snow is added, trying depressingly to grace the midwinter ground. The temperature drops, adjusting itself to the weather outside. And all around them are people at work, in long squat factories or warehouses, milling around docking platforms.

Tobias is keeping quiet as well. He is looking around the danger room. He takes the offered earplugs and presses them in before picking out a handful of batteries and going to work taking off a shoe for a sock to put them in. Tying the end of the impromptu blackjack, Tobias is nothing but serious about his punishment.

Walter looks at the selection of goodies, going ahead and slipping the earplugs in, moving his head around a bit to make sure they're not going to fall out. He holds the other items in his hands, looking for places to store them, slipping the pepper spray substitute in his cargo pants; the blunt instrument he's content to carry, though he at least has the sense to hide it in his sleeve.

For something as amazing as the sudden materialization of an entire industrial cityscape complete with population, Mira unfolds her arms and huffs out a breath as if she'd just rather not bother now, taking the remainder of the fireworks from the new year. "So now what do we do?" she asks in a voice louder than necessary to be asking her partners in crime, directed instead at wherever Jean might be able to hear her from.

"Just like we talked about Meerkat," Cassy says with a smile. "Listen in, check for anything suspicious. We stick together, move slowly and stay well away from anything risky."

Tobias swallows hard, the homemade sap being secreted away into his trousers pocket. "Just keep your eyes open. Call me pessimistic, but I think this is going south on us no matter what," he mutters, not particularly caring who can actually hear him or not.

"Like what?" Mira grouses at Tobias. She pulls back strands of still damp hair behind her ears and zips up the front of the hooded sweatshirt underneath her jacket. "Dinosaurs?"

"Hey, Eddie," calls one of the workers, noticing the four strangers to this area of the industrial zone. "Whaddya think of that? We got fuckin' -kids- here, man." He seems more amused than irate at the moment, addressing his remarks to his fellow worker as they work at loading up a flatbed truck with a collection of random lumber. "Huh. No shit," reflects his compatriot, before he raises his voice to shout at the teens. "Yo! You get outta here, restricted area, see?" Indeed, the teens appear to be within a three-sided fence with several signs proclaiming 'No Trespassing'.

Cassy smiles sweetly, digs around in her bag and pulls out a box. "I'm sorry to bother you gentlemen," she says with a smile. "But our school is selling cookies to help raise funds for war veterans." Sure enough the box is what the telekinetic terror claims. Someone has planned ahead it seems!

Walter looks up at the workers as they look to them, reaching into his ear to pull out an earplug. "What?" he asks loudly, now that he can hear properly out of at least one ear, his hand cupped at an odd angle to keep his weapon from slipping from his sleeve.

Tobias looks around, stopping is rubbernecking to focus his attention on the men that showed up. "Just figured guys doing work out here would be a little hungry is all," he adds to Cassy's explanation.

There is silence from the workers, thin lipped and narrow-eyed with suspicion, as befits New Yorkers looking for the catch. "What school's that?" is what's finally ventured, as Jean clatters away at a keyboard up in the control room, picking out new things to add in, and old things to modify. In the narrow street the loading bay lane backs onto, an unmarked white van drives slowly past.

The other girl appears to have been staring into space for several long moments. When she blinks, it's with the sudden realization that people are talking to her. Or at her. "Huh?" Mira meanders into the flow of conversation. "Veterans, yeah," she agrees. "Plus we get a school trip if we sell enough, so buy one already, huh?"

"Public School 126," Walter responds. "In Queens," he adds, pulling number and location out of thin air, giving a little smile.

"Berkeley Carroll School," Cassy replies earnestly, holding the cookies up for inspection. "They're very good, if I do say so myself." She slaps Walter on the back. "Man that joke wasn't funny the first three times you said it!" She beams at the workmen.

Tobias just nods, looking over towards Cassy and remaining as casual as possible while staying shut up. He already has a noticeable Bostonian accent, and the Patriots football jersey he's wearing really doesn't help his 'fitting in' status.

"...yeeeeah." says the first workman. The second is more succinct. "Fuck off or I call the cops," he offers with -stunning- good cheer, and jerks a thumb towards the roadway out. The white van is now long out of line of sight, and the dingy and narrow street is empty, for the moment, once more.

Mira snorts and folds her arms, turning her head back the way the group presumably must have come. "And they say chivalry's dead." She casts about to catch the eyes of one of the other students, a delicate shrug her nonverbal report.

Walter gives a little grin towards Cassy. "I thought it was funny," he says, trying to play it off as an abysmal failure of a joke, rather than the abysmal lie it was. "Guess they don't want any cookies," he says to the others, staring to back towards the exit. "We're leaving," he says to the men, turning his head, 'scratching' his ear as he slips the earplug back in.

Cassy gasps. "You wouldn't? Not when I'm /all/ out of donuts to sell," she jokes, nodding towards the street. Then, with a shrug, she sets off walking. "We'll stop disturbing you before you get in trouble with the boss."

Tobias nods in parting while he steps backwards a few feet before turning around to head off in the presumed direction they had come in. Just playing this off as normal as he can and staying quiet.

The street reveals more warehouses and factories. Some have signs to identify them, and some do not. One offers Storage While U Wait, whatever that means. Another appears to be old and broken down, a few windows shattered and a sturdy chain across the front doors. The windows of the places in use seem to follow a general trend of 'small' and 'scarce', and there are no people walking along the remains of a sidewalk.

"Jeez, what a dick," mutters Mira, stuffing her hands in her pockets and glaring back in the hopes that she could make the workman's head explode if she just wants it bad enough. "I bet Summers helped. So, fine, I couldn't hear anything in there anyway." She slows to a stop and leans her shoulder against a street sign. "So now what? She's testin' us. Do we go back or just keep moving?"

Walter looks between the others. "Not sure. Maybe she's just trying to show us that we wouldn't have found anything anyway?" he wonders. "It'd help if we'd actually come here on our own so we knew how to get out," he remarks, looking about, trying to find something familiar. "Maybe that's the lesson?"

"Stick together, keep walking straight," Tobias says as he looks left and right repeatedly. "Cassy, do you still have one of those maps? If we keep going, we'll eventually hit water, or some sort of landmark on the map. Even a road sign'll help."

"Lets just stop a moment," Cassy decides. "Have a cigarette and let Mira skim the area." She pulls out a little box and offers it around. Her habit is much nicer than the good Doctors however, she has chocolate cigarettes. "And yeah I have a map, here take a look see."

The background surroundings persist much as they have been before. Up in the control room, with the students no longer actively being irritating, Jean is calm and settled enough to be fatigued. Her hands scrub at her face, and then dance across her keyboard, skimming over a long list of options for random encounters.

Mira holds the chocolate cigarette with familiarity, between index and middle finger, pressing it to her lips and inhaling with a 'hmm' sound. She leans over the map, trailing a fingernail around it. "First, we prove we aren't stupid. We figure out where we are. There's train tracks that way, I could hear 'em." The girl waves a hand generally to the west.

"Don't look at me, I don't know the city all that well," Walter says, turning to look at Cassy. "You lived in the city longer. Any ideas where we are?"

Tobias takes the map and looks it over carefully. "Mira, head to the tracks, it'll make it a bit easier to find ourselves." Humming to himself as he studies, he adds, "Walt, does no good to guess. Unless she's damned sure, we stick with the map, Mira's ears, and our heads."

The tracks there are, and the tracks have a train on them. Or on one set of them, at least, and nicely stopped to await loading with little plastic pellets courtesy of a hopper and a boom that belong to one company that proudly proclaims itself to be PlasTec New Solutions. There are more people on the outside here, more workers working. In the unseen control room, Jean considers a moment more, before nodding once to herself and typing in a string of numbers, accidentally transposing two of them without noticing before setting whatever-it-is to appear in five minutes.

Cassy nods in agreement, skipping along with the group. "We're probably meant to blunder into the broken down place," she informs. "Which is stupid because a run down place with lots of people coming and going would attract attention."

"Well, I think last time it was actually some abandoned parking garage or something," Walter shares. He looks to Tobias. "You can see as the fog, right? Think you can play recon?"

Hands on her hips, Mira straightens with the chocolate cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth. "What's that 'sposed to accomplish?" she mumbles around it to Tobias. "This might not even be a real place, an' if so it wouldn't be on a map. I'm with Cassy. She put us down *here* for a reason." Mira stills, the chocolate cigarette drooping lower with a frown. "Or there could be nothin' and she wants to see us give up."

"Why are you thinking about what she could be planning?" Tobias asks with a slow shake of his head. "She's psychic, remember she can mess with our expectations no matter how we try to play her. So let's just go and see what happens." Looking over to Walt, he adds, "What's got your eye? I'll check it out"

Walter gestures towards the big abandoned building. "It's kinda cliché, but... well, you could check it out without putting anyone in danger." He looks to the others. "Look, she's doing this because she wants to show us how our plan could go wrong, let's try and show her that it could actually /work/. Anyone got a spare panic button? Since I wasn't in on this originally, I don't have one." He looks to Mira. "Can you... make it so people around us can't hear?" he wonders.

"We don't use the panic buttons or else they'll go off and bring everyone storming in," Cassy points out, looking around cautiously. "Tobias, if anything goes wrong mist form and run right? Being a hero means calling in backup, not getting your ass kicked too."

Off to one side, down an alley way filled with scrap metal coils from a tinsmith's shop, something stirs. There is a chuffing sound, as if of something large breathing.

"Ayuh," Tobias says, looking at the building for an open or broken window. "You guys book it first though. I'm a little harder to hit, you know?" Deciding on a good cracked window, he fades into a fog that rolls towards the opening.

"Uhh... no?" Mira shoots back at Walter as if he's trying her patience, like duh. "That's not my thing. I've been listening for people's voices. Their color. But it's... hard." She exhales fussily through her nose and folds her arms again. "Yeah, Toby, you go inside, I'll listen," she points to the run-down building, "And everyone else is on lookout, 'kay?" She rises on tiptoe to peer in through the windows before deciding she needs something to stand on if she wants to look, much less get in.

Inside, the building proves not to be as abandoned as the locks on the front door suggest. In one back corner, away from as many drafts as possible, a collection of rags, tarp, cardboard boxes and other repurposed street detritus form a solitary squatter's nest. A pair of feet in disreputable shoes are poking out from one end. One twitches idly.

Cassy smiles at Mira, then nods and falls in to take watch. One of the fake charity cookie boxes gets opened and offered around.

"I'm probably faster than him," Walter comments, glancing towards Tobias for confirmation. "And I could probably carry one of you, though it'd slow me down," he remarks, looking between the two girls. "Wasn't the plan though to hit the panic button and wait for backup? How are we supposed to do that without the panic button?" he wonders. "I was thinking maybe instead of hanging around, we hit the button, throw it somewhere inconspicuous, and run." He looks to Mira, and nods, taking up a position on the opposite side of her from Cassy, scanning around, trying to look bored. Just a teenager, loitering, nothing to see here.

The sound in the alleyway repeats itself, sharper this time, as the something takes the air and tests it. There's a rattle of metal as steps are taken, dislodging some of the coiled waste tin.

"Because we're still inside the mansion, idiot!" Mira turns to snap, then turns back to the windows. "We can't use the panic buttons for real."

Helpfully, a panic button made of whatever illusions shape the rest of the Danger Room materializes on top of Mira's foot.

"I /know/ that," Walter hisses. "Just pointing out that the sim isn't all that fair, if it's not letting us actually go with our real plan." He notices no materialization, still looking around, facing towards that alleyway.

Tobias or a fog he makes up, rolls over itself to reform the teen near the boxes. He stays quiet as he can before fading back away to make good on his escape with the recon proving fruitless.

"Whassat?" says the figure in the boxes. "Who'ssere? I know you--- you're not takin' me too, bastads!"

"Toby's coming back," Mira hisses urgently, waving her hand to the others in the unlikely event they could help in some way. She leans to press the side of her face against the largest unbroken window, or at least the one with the fewest sharp edges, to peer back into the room. "Uh-oh..."

Still more whuffing, snuffling noises come from the alley, this time along with a rattle and a thump as something makes contact with a dumpster. Snarfling noises are added to the mix, as the whatever it is finds something worth nosing at in the trash, and tests to see if it's anything worth eating, too.

"What's uh-oh? Tobias in trouble?" Walter asks before freezing. "Um... did you guys hear that?" he asks, squinting towards the alley. He takes a few cautious steps forward, arms spread out, ready to drop into a fighting stance at a moment's notice. He allows his 'weapon' to slide out of his sleeve and into his hand, another hand reaching down to retrieve the 'pepper spray.'

"Of course I heard it," Mira says, shielding her eyes on the top so she can see inside the building. "I can see it, too. There's somebody in there already. And would you stop eating the cookies, Cass? God, close your mouth when you chew."

Tobias forms again outside the window, wiping his glasses off. "Just a hobo," he says quietly. "Nothing else, unless you want to dig through his trash."

Out of the dumpster something leaps, judging by the solid whump and clatter of tin scraps as it lands. No footfalls sound in the dingy grey snow, but the chuff of breath sounds again. Closer, this time, as it approaches the corner of the alley and stops to scent the air again.

"Um... guys?" Walter says, hesitating just beside the alley, not entirely sure he wants to go any farther. "Tobias... go mist and check it out?" he asks over his shoulder.

"... guys?" asks Mira uncertainly, shifting away from the window and dislodging the helpfully given Danger Room panic button. Underneath her sneaker, magical computer physics carefully calculate how a panic button would fare underneath a Vans skate shoe and a hundred and forty pounds (give or take) of Mira. There's a crack of plastic. "Shit."

Tobias nods at Walt's suggestion and walks towards the alley, vaporizing as he goes. As a fog, he crawls around the corner to go do the spy game and make out what this thing is

There's a blur of movement as Tobias mists in. Whatever it is, it's big, it's fast, and it snaps at the mysterious fog as if seeing whether it is threat, food, or possibly a toy. And then it moves on, with a vocalization that might resemble a parrot-call, were parrots six feet tall and possessed of bad attitudes. Out into the main alley and towards the street it steps, movements an oddly fluid bobbing. Velociraptor mongoliensis. Alas, not the small and feathered model favoured by modern paleontologists. This one, it seems has come straight from Jurassic Park. Cold reptilian eyes orient on Cassy. The creature calls again.

"HOLY SHIT!" Walter yells, chucking the chili powder at the beastie, trying to hit it somewhere near the eyes as he turns to run very quickly towards Cassy, trying to get her /out/ of the way.

Tobias coagulates into himself again, looking decidedly wide eyed as he stares through his condensation covered glasses. "Run, run, run," he calls to the others, getting louder with each repetition as he digs for the batteries in his pocket.

Mira stares. "Ahhhh..." she starts to make a word, but it only comes out as a noise, and even then not much of one. Really, what else is there to do? There is covering the lower half of her face with both hands, which doesn't accomplish much but feels good. "Gotta be kidding."

The Velociraptor snarls, confusion apparent in the sound as the computer calculates that this is not on the 'normal' list of settings for this particular construct. Above and over the intercom, Jean snarls too, a mostly-incomprehensible string of sotto-voce swearing before the velociraptor, the alley, the industrial district and all wink out into nothingness and the room's lights come up again. "God -damn- it," she finishes. "I -hate- computer glitches. Sorry, kids -- you all right?"

Walter was in the middle of chanting "Less talk more running" at Tobias and Mira both when everything disappears. He looks up at the bubble, eyes wide and shaking a little, Cassy still gripped tightly to his shoulder, until she kicks him and he comes down to Earth, setting her down. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?"

Mira totters back on her heels, having suddenly lost a large deal of appropriate perspective and a god damned dinosaur in the same move. She falls, but keeps looking at where the raptor had been. "That wasn't FAIR!" she immediately accuses, like any teenager should.

"That was -supposed-," says the Jean on the intercom with a pained sigh, "To have been a security guard."

Tobias stands with the sock full of batteries in hand, ready to rifle at the back of the dinosaur's head before it disappears. "The fuck?" he asks loudly.

"Some security guard," Walter remarks, eyes still wide as the adrenaline slowly leaks from his system.

Jerking herself to her feet, Mira scans the ground for the destroyed panic button. "Security guard for freakin' Jurassic Park..." She presses two fingers to the side of her throat, just out of curiosity. Some of the more energetic venom is gone from her voice, but there is still definite resentment. "Can we go now?"

Another sigh escapes, and Jean steps out of the control room as the door to the hallway hisses open again. "In any case, it's getting close to quiet hours for you, and I have the rescue in the morning. We'll have to do this again some time when I've gotten Kitty to take the dinosaurs out of it."

Jean looks mildly defeated beneath the fatigue. Why, oh, why, must there be dinosaurs in her object lessons?

Walter blinks at Jean. "We're doing this /again?/" he asks. "I'm pretty certain that's unconstitutional."







An attempted breakout is foiled and an object lesson about not annoying your teachers is learned.