Fireworks for Protestors

April 21, 2019:

Anti-Mutant Protestors are marching en masse through Mutant Town! Katsumi tries to understand what's happening. Jubilee does a thing.

Mutant Town - New york

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

It's a cool day in New York, but things are heating up in Mutant Town. Near the edge of the District, a demonstration has coalesced. Groups of outraged, xenophobic citizens have banded together into one large wave of bodies marching further inwards. Amidst the small sea of people, signs decrying mutantkind are held aloft, as well as an assortment of knives, machetes, and the occasional taser, sending sharp *CRACKLE-SNAP*s into the air. Most residents of the district are clearing the way to avoid the blind wrath, but some have lingered behind to attempt to hide in the buildings, hoping they'll pass by.

Katsumi Oshiro, spunky-punky professional wrestler of some repute, is presently in Mutant Town. She's been given such odd looks from the locals as she's made her way down the street, wearing her usual chic fishnet-and-short-shorts combo. An excessively woolly feline trots along behind her to keep pace. The girl, however, is incredibly uncomfortable. She's had her own misgivings on mutants, but Caitlin Fairchild insisted they're not all terrorists. So she's trying to have an open mind. Trying. That isn't why she's here, though. Her otherworldly 'advisor' has caught wind of mutant mistreatment, and insisted Katsumi take a closer look. So here she is - doing just that. Boots clopping against the sidewalk, arms looped defensively around her midsection, and shoulders tucked forward to minimize her presence.

Yet she comes to an abrupt halt at the sight of the massive protest - which seems on the verge of a riot. "Holy s@#^…" There, before her, the crowd seems to have blocked off a couple buildings, having found some mutants inside and trying to force them out. Katsumi trots closer, her face written in a mixture of concern and trepidation.

*

Jubilee is a high school student, and trusted enough that she can manage to get into the city on her own and do things. Coming byMutant Town, she sees trouble starting. That's not good. Adjusting her yellow trenchcoat, she starts to circle around the group, sizing up how bad this is going to get.

*

Katsumi Oshiro catches sight of the girl in the yellow trenchcoat, mostly because it's broad daylight and she's wearing bright yellow. Talk about a fashion sense! But she looks young! Getting close to this group? Probably not the best idea. Katsumi starts to divert, moving more towards the girl's side. "Hey! Are you a- a part of this?," she asks, motioning towards the demonstrators in question.

The woolly feline trots close to heel.

*

Jubilee turns around when addressed. Consdiering Katsumi, she folds her arms, and shakes her head "Me? I'm not protesting the mutants, get out of here!" She looks the crowd again. "In fact, I'm wondering what should be done about this, before it gets bad."

*

Katsumi Oshiro comes to a stop before her, getting a really good look at her. She was right. The girl has to be young. That she'd be this close to something so bizarre, something that seems so volatile, is scary enough!

The sound of a bottle being thrown through a window snatches her attention, and she quickly looks over to the group. "Before it gets bad!?," she asks as she looks back to her. "This isn't bad!? Why're they doing this!? What happened!?"

Protests and riots in Japan are kind of a rarity, and tend to attract a ton of attention. Seeing something like this, so early since she'd even arrived in America, is mindboggling. Something had to have sparked it. Something must have been in the news. Right?

Alas, no. Political leaders and certain loud voices are stoking anti-mutant sentiments among the people, and what were fairly common mutant protests have gotten more out of hand and more frequent of late. This is just another such example.

*

Jubilee looks around again, arms still folded, pursing her lips. "That's not good. They're mad at mutants for some reason. And they're trying to hurt people for no good reason. So the question is, how do we stop it?" She turns to face the crowd, as she stands behind it, across the street. "This could get really, really bad, and calling the cops isn't going to be enough."

*

Katsumi Oshiro looks again to the protestors - then right back to the girl beside her, eyes wide. "Stop it!? That's real inspiring and all? But you're you, and I'm me, and there's like SO MANY PEOPLE there! Two girls aren't gonna stop that crowd!" Especially if it's a crowd set up for a good, but mysterious reason. Then again, it's awfully darn hard to justify the indiscriminate smashing of property. Katsumi's more inclined to believe this group is way overstepping.

However, it's the middle of the day. She has no powers to speak of.

"Yeek!," Katsumi suddenly squeaks as the large feline springs to grab onto her bare shoulder. His backlegs kick a second before he catches the netting of her top, then pushes himself to perch - carefully - atop her frame. "Don't do that!"

The calico gives Katsumi a flat look, then regards Jubilee inquisitively.

*

Jubilee has decided she's the only one who can stop this then. Glancing over to Katsumi, and her cat, then back to the crowd, then around near her. Climbing on top of a car, pretty easily, she gets onto the roof. And looking across the street, she puts out a hand, and starts firing off streams of fireworks, which burst over the heads of the crowd with loud pops and sprays of light, in all different colors.

*

Katsumi Oshiro's eyes widen as the girl abruptly leaves to climb a car. "Are you insane!?," she balks.

The answer seems to come in the form of fireworks. Katsumi immediately ducks away to hide herself inside a building, tucking against the interior corner beside a window. The cat, once inside, hops off her shoulder, annoyed.

Not nearly as annoyed as the anti-mutant demonstrators. The loud noises and flashy lights serve very nicely as a distraction, giving the mutants inside the building a better window to escape unnoticed. But it does have a rather terrible cost.

"THE MUTANTS ARE ATTACKING!," shouts one voice.

"DEFEND YOURSELVES!," shouts another.

"CALL SOMEONE!," shouts a third. But by this point, the distinct voices are being lost in a typhoon of outrage and anger. Suddenly, Jubilee is the target of thrown bottles, the veritable horde with their fury (and in some cases, weapons) rushes the car to attempt tipping it over. The ultimate goal is to grab the girl.

*

Jubilee did not expect them to look across the street. This is what happens when you don't plan. Well, she looks around, and as they surround the car, she makes a leap from the car, to a window beside. Grunting, she just barely makes it and climbs her way up and into the window. "Go ahead, call the police," she shouts out the window. Then seeing the nice old lady inside the apartment she just burst into she smiles weakly. "Sorry, excuse me," running out, and heading to the roof.

*

As the car rolls over, a raucous cheer rises from the swarm. But those closest the vehicle know better. Tipping the car didn't catch their aggressor. It didn't dole out 'justice' upon the one who attacked them. "LOOK! WINDOW!," one voice shouts. Another adds, "INSIDE!"

And just like that, multiple furious demonstrators advance to rush into the building. But the lead puts up a hand to stop those just behind him. "NO! BURN IT OUT!"

It takes very little time before some unfinished glass bottles of alcohol are fashioned into molotov cocktails. They're lobbed high, and most smash against the side of the building. A few, however, make it inside. Drapes and soft goods begin to catch fire.

In her time as a professional wrestler, Katsumi has learned at least one extremely valuable lesson: know when to tap out. And at this point, she's positively slapping the mat. The girl backs from her hidey-corner and turns to dash to the opposite end of the building to escape and put all of this in the proverbial rearview mirror. The calico wastes no time in following.

*

Jubilee Gets to the roof of the building, and seeing what they're doing, she calls 911. "There's a riot, and they're setting an aprtment building on fire. People inside too. Send help fast." Then giving an address, she hangs up. One hand firing fireworks at the crowd, to try to back them off, she takes her phone and calls another number. "I need some help. I walked into an anti-mutant riot, and I'm trapped on the roof of a building being set on fire. If Hank or somebody can bring a helicopter, that'd be awesome."

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