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Geryon nodded uncertainly at Tess. "They're around," he said. "Just watchin' out for trouble."
She looked back with guarded skepticism, which was somehow worse than outright disdain. "Look, I'm just here to help watch the kids. Besides..." He nodded down Hill Street to where a sleek, black limousine was gliding toward the rally. "I'm a fan."
There was a crescendo from both sides of the street as the stretch limousine approached - cheers and whoops from one side, invectives from the other, but the limo was on the mutant side of the police barrier that ran down Hill Street. A white-gloved footman hurried out of the passenger-side door and down to the passenger cabin.
From the podium, Iverson took the microphone one more time to make his voice heard above the roar: "Ladies and gentlemen, Jack and Crystal!"
Crystal's legs preceded the rest of her, and that was enough to launch dozens of camera flashes as the footman assisted her out of the cabin. She waved to the cheering crowd and smiled like a sphinx as Jack climbed out after her. He was in a stately pin-striped suit, she in a shapely black dress with a gray jacket, and they may have been attending a premier from the raucous reception of the mutant crowd.
With two lumbering, Ray Bans-wearing bodyguards in tow, the mutant movie stars walked around the rope barriers and began wading through the congregated mutants, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries and apologizing that there were to be no autographs today.
On second thought, this mutant rally gig sucked balls. Chris was alone in his thoughts, and pretty much everything else, as he stood guard of... the peace. The sun was already leap-frogging over the tallest buildings, spearing him with a heat usually reserved for the hottest parts of hell, and it wasn't anywhere near midday yet. He wiped at his pasty, and decidedly un-Californian, brow and looked on with envy at the parade of protestors in various states of undress. It was an orgy of slick golden skin and Paris Hilton shades. On one side of the fence at least.
The other crowd were a more colourful bunch. There was golden skin, of course, but of the bullion variety, and on top of that there were glossy green scales, marshmallow feathers, and dreadlocks wrought from iron. It was a discount store hodgepodge of humanity; the black sheep, penned in, bleating banners of sociopolitical humanist outrage. Oh, if only Professor Bertrand could hear him now.
But how far removed he was from his school days, both in terms of distance and in just about every other metaphorical capacity. He was The Fuzz. Mrs. Wilde was telling no porkies when she said her boy looked good in a uniform. Of course, that was his school debut, he was five years old, and pissed his pants that day, but the point still stood. Fast forward fifteen years and he was still in a uniform, still pissing his pants in fact - but that, emphatically, was the result of a goldfish bowl/irish car bomb double-whammy - and he was alright with it. He was not a rock star, or a superhero, or running his own rent-a-ghost business, as was the plan, but in the starchy rub of his smart police blues, he felt a sense of purpose.
That purpose, however, was not reflected in his current actions, to loiter the streets of Los Angeles like a law-enforcing ornament. A bauble of justice. He was sure of that, which was why he took umbrage to standing around, counting the number of times he shifted the weight from impeccable shoe to impeccable shoe, and being forced to smile at the good citizens and the backdrop of GOD HATES FREAKS placards. It was, as the old phrase goes, a waste of police time. But then again, the likelihood that, if left to their own devices, these two opposing groups wouldn't eat each other was so slim that there was nothing else he and his fellow officers could do but stand, and wait.
Anna put a hand on Tess' shoulder, feeling the tension there as the younger woman looked at Noah, and caught her eye. Something unspoken passed between them, and Tess relaxed slowly, ignoring the big Samoan as the teens they'd brought with them all jostled and clamored to try to catch sight of the movie stars who'd just arrived.
Jamie hopped up and down a bit (next to Ronnie, who was having considerably more success than she), then Noah reached down and picked her up, settling the ten year old easily on his shoulders. Anna laughed at the expression on her foster daughter's face, and handed her their small digital camera so she could take pictures. "Be careful!" she warned her, smiling gratefully at Noah.
Their area under the tree was getting cramped as the stars climbed the stage, waving at the crowd of supporters. Anna looked across the street, toward the other rally, reading some of their signs with distaste. Only a true moron would believe that God hated mutants.
Stern nodded at Shield.
"I remember reading his profile. As I understand it, there are usually two others that are often seen around him. Let's put Ghost on it. Have him wander a bit and see if he can't spot out Geryon's usual partners in crime."
Stern tugged at his neckline. It was seriously hot.
"Wish I could do it myself. As it is, I've got enough to do watching the stage."
The ice-cold kiss against the back of his neck made Void twist sharply – but the frown creasing his brow smoothed a fraction when he saw the culprit standing behind him. The corners of his mouth turned upward just a little into a smile that sat uncomfortably on his face. Aside from the peculiar colouring of his eyes, there was nothing about Void's mutation that physically marked him out as a mutant – but his mannerisms and expressions, or rather lack thereof, gave him an air of the inhuman. Accepting the cup from Spectre, he nodded sideways.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spectre
“I've just spotted Geryon across the street.” The big mutant was hard to miss; he stood a head taller than most of the crowd.
“Nothing interesting so far,” he added, taking long and much needed sip of lemonade, “But it can't be long before the fireworks start.”
"Yes, the big guy does stand out doesn't he. If we're lucky the attention will be on him while he stands there like an advertisement."
Of course with the new recruits to the LAPD, they had bigger concerns than the local police rabble. Other mutants, barely a step away from being traitors to their genes, were now working with the humans. It was they who posed the bigger problem. Until she had more information on them from the inside, Spectre was only going to make use of her abilities if she had no other recourse. Her part in the events today was not to engage the enemy. Others were in place for that.
"He's not the only familiar face. ", Spectre cautioned nodding in the direction of a few other acquaintances better left in the past for today.
The pure mass of beings gathered outside the courthouse was amazingly intense. Even exhilirating, she thought, slender fingers pushing stylish sunglasses back into place. The sun was, in its usual LA fashion, blazing hot even at the early hour that is was.
A mutation like hers was impossible to conceal, or to write off as a clever contraption or costume for very long. Riley had registered at the behest of her bank when she bought her apartment, in part because there was a tax bonus to doing so, but it also made the powers-that-be at the zoo very happy when she volunteered on her own to do so, as it took the onus off of those employees who could hide what they were and preferred to do so.
She'd been apprehensive at first, and in reality, still was. Riley didn't trust the wording of the new law, and neither did her brothers, both of whom were far more intuitive about things than she was. Thankfully they were shielded by military secrecy provisions, otherwise, they might have lost everything.
Fingers absently tugged at her cropped white tube top, settling it just so, before doing the same with her sleek white shorts...an ensemble both her parents and brothers would never let her out of the house in. While skimpy, it highlighted the graceful strength of her wings, the normally tawny feathers having been temporarily dyed to UCLA blue and gold. The inches of height her sandals granted her didn't help much as she couldn't see much through the throngs - but it was enough to find the others in UCLA colors who happily made space for her where she wouldn't be too much in the way of those behind them.
She spotted Taya off in the distance, her press credentials from the Bruin granting her much better access through the cordons. Hard to miss her roommate, really, whether you noticed her enthusiasm or her appearance first. Riley grinned and shook her head, turning her head with all of the others to cheer the arrival of Jack and Crystal and watch them work the crowd.
Antonio was wandering the crowded park, trying to find some friends from school that had given him a ride to the courthouse and then promptly gotten lost. He was certainly not lost, he knew exactly where he was, there were just way too many people crammed into not enough space.
And all the signs! He batted away a plasterboard sign that nearly took out his face, and then caught sight of a pair of blue and gold wings that could only belong to one person. And then there was the rest of the UCLA group, some already trying to surreptitiously drink the beers they'd snuck in to the park. Antonio walked up behind Riley Grace and tweaked the feathers on one of her wings. "Hope I'm not too late, traffic was a bitch."
He smiled at her, and then caught sight of his traitorous friends, Jimmy and Kyle, giving them a crazy-eyed glare. "I can't believe you guys ditched me."
"Us?!" Kyle placed his hand delicately against his own chest and looked around as though Tonio must have been speaking to someone else. "You were the one that wandered off, dude, chasing that piece of tail. Literally."
Antonio grinned, remembering the girl with a prehensile tail peeking out from her mini skirt, and turned back to Riley. "I don't know what he's talking about."
She grinned as she felt a hand tweaking one of her feathers, turning to find a familiar handsome face behind her. "Nope! Not late...I just got here, in fact. And we all know that the party just doesn't start 'til then."
Shifting, Riley made space for him beside her and arched a delicate brow at Kyle. She was hard-pressed to not laugh, and indeed failed as she snickered. She shook her head, bright copper locks tumbling around her shoulders as she reached up to pat Antonio's cheek.
"Of course you don't...you're pure and innocent. We all know this." she managed with a straight face, while Jimmy choked on his sip of water behind Kyle.
Taya Robbins, of course, was here on business. She'd arrived close to seven-thirty, and she was surprised to learn there were people who'd already been in the park for two hours, and not just the people who were there to set up the podium and the sound system and the rope cordons. This was the mutant community energized and at work. It was exciting, and for all her efforts to remain an objective observer, it was difficult not to get swept up in it.
The digital recorder clipped to her belt had been busy. Taya had interviewed as many of the mutant protesters as had been willing to talk to her and gotten a whole gamut of responses, from concerned citizens to demagogues who were decidedly on the fringe of mutant advocacy. She'd also interviewed three people from the other side of the road in an effort to be balanced. Two of them had been gracious and articulate in their support of registration. One of them, bafflingly, had told her that she was disgusting and that she should be ashamed of herself.
Now she was jockeying with over a dozen other reporters on the path from the sidewalk to the podium as Jack and Crystal approached. There were some decided advantages to looking like a human-shaped cat - when you wanted to be noticed, you generally were.
"Excuse me, Mr. Covington, Ms. Villanueva!" She was only one of a crowd of voices, but she stood on the tips of her toes, which, when you had digitigrade feet added about four inches, and waved her padded paw to the two movie stars until they looked her way.
"Taya Robbins, The Daily Bruin. What's your reaction to the turnout this morning?"
Jack Covington took a moment to process what he was seeing, which was long enough to commit him to answering now that the microphone was in his face. He smiled and said, "We're absolutely thrilled. I can't tell you how much it means to have the support of the mutant community behind us."
Taya decided to chance another one. "What are your expectations for the courtroom today?"
"Oh, we'll tell you all about that in a moment," Jack replied, nodding toward the podium.
"Thank you very much!" And that was her cue to bow out and join the other reporters for the celebrities' address, but she'd made contact, and that was the important thing.
The feline mutant scurried off to find herself a prime location before they all disappeared, but she found herself sidetracked by the man in dress shirts and slacks handing out little pamphlets like they were going out of style. Now, how had she missed him before?
Lana did her best to listen as Alex pointed out the various factions who had staked out territory for the rally, waving everything from signs to banners and flags. It was like nothing else she'd ever seen before. The sheer mass of mutants in all of their feathered, scaled, shimmering, rainbow-hued glory...the teenager was in absolute awe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Kaine
"Aleksanderr...this is...amazing. I've never...never seen anything like this. Nothing in Saint Petersburg has ever equaled...this...gathering..." her voice trailed off, losing its bright animated tone as her eyes caught sight of one of the myriad of hate groups arrayed along one side of the cordon. She swallowed hard, blinking as she took in the signs they held, the hateful vitriol they spewed making her cling all the more tightly to Alex.
"They really hate us...so much...I..." Lana whispered mostly to herself as her free hand rose to clasp tightly over her silver pendant. "...n-never knew."
She fell silent afterwards, letting Alex lead her where he would as she absorbed a lifetime's worth of hatred toward her kind.
Almost unconsciously, Alex wrapped an arm around Lana's waist and pulled her against his side. The hostility of the mundane protesters was something he almost took for granted these days, but seeing it through Lana's eyes was like reopening an old wound.
"It's always been like this," he said. "Not everybody, but... definitely the loud ones."
He moved his hand up to her bare arm and rubbed it. "It'll change some day, Lana. Everything does. They'll either learn to accept us, or they'll wake up one day and realize they've become the missing links."
"Okay," Anna said, as the movie stars began their ascent up the stage to a roaring ovation from the gathered protestors. "Tiempo para ir a almorzar, Jamie." She reached her hands up as though she'd catch the girl, but Noah carefully helped the ten year old down, setting her gently on the ground and playfully tweaking her ballcap.
"Have fun but be careful," Anna said to the Redencion House teens, Scott the only one who seemed to pay any attention. She looked at Tess, then at Noah, and then back to Tess. "We'll meet you at the van in two hours, but call if you're done sooner okay? Come on, Jamie."
She grinned at her foster daughter, who was flipping through the pictures she'd taken, eyes glued to the little digital screen on the back of the camera. "Get any good ones?" They threaded their way through the crowd toward the back of the rally, avoiding the other side of the park where the pro-MRA groups were gathered, and headed to meet Paolo, her brother who was in town on business.
Duquesne was positioned between Stern and Wilde at the center of the cordon line where both protest groups were the thickest. Given his talents, it made sense to keep him where he could protect the maximum number of people. Stern just needed to be visible. When you could travel at the speed of light, you didn't really worry about response time.
The radio on his belt was busy with assignment details, officers checking in from their stations, reports from around the perimeter. All good so far. It was a familiar soundtrack to patrol duty, a constant reminder that someone had your back.
"Dispatch to all units. We have confirmed sighting of Brotherhood of Mutants personnel in the park. Additional reinforcements are en route."
Duke frowned and glanced over toward Stern. "Additional - which units?"
He got his answer when a trio of police SUVs rolled onto Hill Street in front of the protesters and dumped out a dozen additional officers. They were wearing body armor, and hanging from their belts were the specialized tranq pistols supplied by Jericho and the new razor-thin carbon-coated suppression collars.
"Aw, hell. Captain?" He shot an urgent look toward Stern. "I thought we said no anti-mutant gear unless we called for it!"
The riot cops spaced themselves evenly among the rest of the officers. Both groups of protesters had noticed, and the mutants were getting more restless by the minute.
Whatever had passed between Anna and Tess had done it's duty. Though she wasn't thrilled with the idea of associating with anyone who had loyalist ties to Saladin's propaganda-ridden manifesto, enough tension loosed itself for Tess to focus on the bigger picture. With a wary reluctance, she cast her eyes over the milling crowd. Even with the vitriolic spewing from the MRA supporters, there was a remarkable energy in the air. Charged with a resolute determination, it rippled through the congregated protesters with an intoxicating strength.
"See you, Anna," Tess waved, tugging playfully on Jamie's hair as the little girl passed and watched as they disappeared through the sea of bodies.
"Oh my god, she's so hot."
Completely oblivious to anything other than Crystal Villaneuva slowly mounting the podium steps, Scott stood on tiptoe to try and get a better view. Balance compromised, he reached out a hand to brace it on Tess's shoulder.
She snorted and pulled away. "Yeah, that's what's important."
"Hey, just a supportive observation."
"Uh-huh. Do you - "
It was Noah straightening up that made Tess pause. A guy his size wasn't exactly subtle, it was impossible to ignore the way he stiffened like a brick wall. Tess twisted to look over her shoulder and her face froze when she caught sight of a grim-faced, armoured police officer edging up to the perimeter. Well now. This was...
Her eyes narrowed. Were those collars?
"Oh, that's fantastic," Tess muttered. "Looks like this is a real rally, now."
"We did. This is not going to look good for us. Either someone went over my head, or there was a big misunderstanding. Then again, maybe someone at dispatch thought they would be better off playing Better Safe Than Sorry."
Stern's eyes narrowed behind his goggles as he considered what would happen next. The mundane side of the crowd was getting restless, but in a confident way. It seemed a lot of the mutants were getting restless in a cat-in-a-corner kind of way.
"As long as everyone stays peaceful, we do not have to worry. I want you to focus on defending the mutants. I realize it may be a lot to ask, but it's our job first and foremost to keep them safe. We're here to protect their rights."
Stern got on his walkie. "I need all units to hear me on this, no excuses. There will be no lethal force used here. Any incarcerated mutants will be taken to the precinct and I will deal with them all personally. If anyone acts without my order I will see them suspended or discharged from service if it's the last thing I do."
Stern looked at Shield and voiced his next thought. "I really hope they listen. I'm tired of having our unit treated like decoration."
Antonio grinned unapologetically at Riley, but was quickly distracted as it appeared the speech making was about to start. A ripple of something indistinct was going through the crowd, but the UCLA group was far enough back that it was hard to tell what was going on.
He fingered the steel washer in his pocket, and looked at Jimmy. "Something's feeling weird, man."
His non-mutant friend shrugged, tipping back a beer. "It's probably Crystal using her mojo on us."
Kyle laughed loudly. "You wish she was, perv."
Antonio rolled his eyes, "It's Jack who has the mojo, not Crystal, you morons. Shut up so I can hear them."
"Fuck." No one could hear Veronica mutter a single4 letter word over the general din of the crowd. She stared hard at the pack of SUVs, her mind taking in the angles for all of the new additions. They weren't set up to protect the human crowd at all. She pulled out her contract cell phone, the one that was in Stern's card file.
"New forces set up for assault, not protection. WTF? -VH" She typed, and pressed send. Stern would probably be pissed, since according to the briefing he was the one pulling the strings.She didn't recognize any of the newcomers. They weren't subtle, but they were positioned well. Veronica could see the sudden change in posture from many of the mutants, and some out and and changed locations within their side of the crowd.
Anyone paying attention knew something had changed.
"What's going on?" Aimee was straining to see the stage, even from their prime location. At five foot nothing the crowd around her was doing a fair job of totally blocking her view.
Cameron poked her, then pointed at his shoulders with a smile on his face, and she giggled. But it only took a few moments for her to get on his shoulders, and he carried her weight easily. Her flip flops fell off to the grass and she wiggled her toes, his hands on her knees to steady her as she got her first good look at the park and the rest of the rally.