First Time For Everything (Jorge/Hokee)

His first mission as an X-Trainee. Though it was a little silly to be calling him a trainee at his age, Jorge did not let it faze him. Jorge was never one to put too much emphasis in labels, after all, they were all out here to get a job done. The only chain of command that he needed to respect and remember was that the young woman, the blonde named Kealey, was his Team Leader. And he had absolutely no problem with that. He worked with her a couple of times before and he knew she definitely had some skills. So he was sure that she was going to be fine.

He only hoped that whatever situation they were getting into did have a ficus around. Heh, he would truly never forget that.

Dressed simply in a brown leather jacket, jeans and a dark shirt, the only insignia of the X-Men that he wore was a red belt buckle that gleamed from his belt. He wondered how long before he would get used to going out in an actual crime-fighting costume. The thought made him smirk.

A glance to the rearview mirror, and Jorge turned back to the road ahead.

The only issue he had at the moment was the kid sitting in the backseat. He knew him all too well. Mainly because he was the kid that had nearly killed his girlfriend Gemma Taylor and her son Chase due to a car accident. That alone should have been reason enough to throw the kid in lock-up, or at least earned Jorge five-minutes alone with the kid in an interrogation room with a pair of brass knuckles. But for whatever reason, Jorge found him now working with the X-men.

He still could not wrap his head around that one. Jorge was generally the type of person to believe that everyone had SOME type of good in them. With Hokee though, well, Jorge was not all that sure. He’d dealt with plenty of kids like him when he worked back in Miami. They rarely turned out better than their first impressions.

And right now…Jorge had a BAD[/b] first impression of the kid. Tends to happen when your love interest and her son is nearly killed.

Hopefully the boy would prove useful and simply stay out of his way.

Behind the wheel of the vehicle, since he was apparently the only one with a license, Jorge drove safely yet speedily to their destination. He weaved in and out of traffic, hoping that the rest of the boys in blue did not have too much to handle.

>> "Just remember. Play to your strengths, don't take unnecessary risks, and support the police in any way we can."

Heh, pep talk in the car? He glanced at Kealey out of the corner his eye and gave her a silent nod of understanding. The detective would remain silent and let Kealey run her plays on this job. He trusted her and hoped that they would walk out of whatever they were getting into in one piece.

"Empath in the car boys." Kealey said. There hadn't been any verbal sniping between the two, and Kealey didn't know any history, but the emotions of the two males were definitely less than optimal for two people who were probably going to be walking into a life threatening situation together. "If we could keep the angst to a minimum it would really be appreciated."

Sigh....teenagers. Sure, in recent months, Kealey really had gotten better at controlling her powers, but it was easy to forget just how angsty and willfully obstinate they could be. Still, training had to happen somehow, and maturity would come with time. The idea of dragging a kid around who was on crutches still seemed absolutely ridiculous to the blond, but if he got his other leg broke, maybe he'd learn something.

"And no. No McDonalds." Kealey hated the stuff.

They were approaching the scene of the disturbance when the police scanner on the dashboard crackled to life.

Three possible suspects, all in their mid-twenties. They seem to be rallying a large crowd that is quickly becoming violent. Riot police are en route, but the location of the rally and the crowded streets are hampering their approach. The suspects are in the middle of the crowd and the people surrounding them seem to be willing to protect them.

Kealey groaned a little. Of course. Of course her first mission as a team leader had to involve crowds...and maybe empaths.

"Right. So we're going to have trouble getting through the crowd. I'll see what I can do about the people who are in our way. You two keep them off me. Things might get a little intense when we get to the guys in the middle. If there's more than one of them, and they're strong enough to control a whole crowd like this, then I might really have my hands full. Jorge, you stay with me and help clear the path. Hokee, do you think that once we're close you can do your thing and get in behind them?" Heck. If he could, and did...maybe she'd rethink that whole McDonalds thing.

Someone was feeling a little catty in the front seat. With a roll of his eyes, Hokee continued to tap on the window with the crutch. "I need my mojo food." The police scanner in the front of the car was more annoying than anything. He hated those things, more then he hated Taylor...or close to it. Being a delinquent and getting stuck riding in the backseat with a police scanner on was not gaining either of the adults any points here, nope they were digging themselves a ditch for sure.

Moving the crutch off the window, he started to jab at the automatic windows. Maybe he could drown out the radio with a rush of air or something. Those things just didn't sit well with him in the slightest. Less angst. She wanted less angst, well how was he supposed to do that with being stuck in the backseat and hearing a stinking police scanner going off?

"Do my thing...." Hopefully there was a McDonalds right where they were going. Then he could hop his way in there get some apple pies and do his thing. Using the crutch to make the window go up and down, his eyes drifted out the back window of the car. If he was expected to hang on the side then drift in to do his thing, he needed to figure out what he could use. If it was a good six hour later in the day, then he would have prime time conditions but the afternoon. Joy.

The car's speed changed enough to catch Hokee off guard as his body nearly rocked out of the back seat of the car. Pulling himself back on the seat he couldn't help but curse under his breath. "Why don't you make a rainbow up in the sky or something instead of trying to kill us in traffic?" Man, the guy drove crazy. Sure he personally crashed a few cars but at least he didn't give others whiplash by just riding along. Groaning a bit, he started working on making himself comfortable in the back again. Looking out the window, he tried to get an idea of what kind of shadows me might have to work with. If he was going to be entering a crowd, he might be able to do that with other methods, but who knew for sure until they actually got there.

"You know how to get a crowd to disperse? Give them some nice hot McDonalds. Food shuts people up, free food...nice hot free french fries, hot apple pies......Double cheeseburger. Can't tell me I'm the only hungry one here." Poking the crutch at the window controls again, his head shifted to look through the back window again. Buildings, buildings, phone lines, electric lines, cars.....it was the city free runner's paradise. Now if only he hadn't broken his pelvis. Still, there was stuff he could do.

>> "Why don't you make a rainbow up in the sky or something instead of trying to kill us in traffic?"

More snarky comments. Jorge had half a mind to slam on the brakes and just send the kid reeling forward and smack his head into the back seat. A glance at the mirror proved that the boy was not buckled in. Maybe slamming his head into the seat would knock some sense into him? If not that then at least knock him unconscious long enough for him and Kealey to get this mission completed.

But Jorge was not that cruel.

Yet.

>> "You know how to get a crowd to disperse? Give them some nice hot McDonalds. Food shuts people up, free food...nice hot free french fries, hot apple pies......Double cheeseburger. Can't tell me I'm the only hungry one here."

…

He was sure the kid’s head was thick enough for a couple of smacks. But before the officer could finish his thought, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Kealey turning around to face the back seat. Apparently whatever he was doing to keep his emotions in check was not really working. Plus he doubted that the boy was going anything to sugar coat his own feelings as well.

>> "I hope you don't think this is a game, because If you don't, you're doing a good job of acting like it is. I can feel all the apathy and disgruntled emotional....stuff going on in your head. That isn't going to fly…The tension in here is thick enough to cut with a knife. I don't know what is going on with you two, but right now I don't care. I need a team with the right attitude."[/color]

Jorge arched a brow. She was really attempting to reprimand him? Jorge really thought that the idea was funny, especially considering the vast difference in their ages.

>> "I'm not putting any of us in there without knowing we can work together, follow directions and be a team..I'm not trying to sound like an angry soccer mom here, but I need to know before we get there if we can do this, or if I need to call in Shin and the other team." [/color]

But he did not outwardly laugh or mock her power pushing in anyway. After all, she did have a point. If they were going to be X-Men, they needed to work as a team. They could not afford to not afford to not trust one another or to turn their backs on one another. In many ways, it reminded him of his training at the police academy. In the force you worked as unit, a family. You learn to trust and rely on one another. Anyone who attempts to take on the world by themselves usually ended up hurt…or worse.

He nodded but he didn’t really say anything. Jorge decided that he would let Kealey pull her leader rank to get them to shape up. This was a new experience for Jorge as well. He never worked with partners, not since his Vice days. Maybe he did need the talking to.

Jorge opened his mouth to say something. He wanted to offer his apologies to Kealey and to assure he that he would do his best. But all that came out of his mouth was a curse that followed a bottle smashing into the windshield of the car. Foaming liquid and glass obstructed his view as Jorge turned and swirled, trying not to slam the vehicle into anyone.

“SH----!!” he yelled. And pressed down hard on the brakes. In doing so, he peered out through the clearing liquid and spied the mob of crazed people. He shook his head as he glanced to Kealey. “I think it may be a bit late for that.” he mutted.

(OOC: Hey guys. I hope that it's okay that I got us to the scene. If you need me to edit, let me know! I can fix it.)

Wow. Yeah. This wasn't going well at all. If anything, the mood in the car got worse during her pep talk, and if Kealey wasn't mistaken Jorge was amused by the whole thing.

Really? Was the guy just letting her play leader and humoring her so she'd be quiet? Kealey didn't even want to address the teenager in the back seat again. She might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all he'd listened to her spiel. Not even a nod of acknowledgement.

This was a disaster.

Frustrated tears, fueled by all the nerves, tense feelings, and animosity in the car sprung to the empath's eyes, but were quickly blinked away. Kealey needed to be calm. Calm and ready, or she needed to wash out of her first mission as a team leader. She didn't have time though, a bottle hit the windshield and Jorge slammed on the brakes.

A veritable wave of emotion smacked Kealey in the face and she sat in the passenger seat, stunned for a moment as she tried to regain her balance. Yeah. This was too much. They weren't ready. The blond was reaching for her X-Com when the back door to the car opened and then slammed shut.

"What the...." she exclaimed, shifting around a little frantically in the car to try and see where the teen had gone and caught sight of him just before he melted into the crowd.

"Oh nooooo." she groaned, hands over her face for a moment before she struck out and hit the dashboard.

There wasn't time for this. Their youngest team member had just ran off, on his own, into a mob where he was probably going to be subject to the same powers the people were under. It was go time. They'd deal with the blatant insubordination and inability to follow orders later.

Kealey turned to Jorge.

"Like I said before. We need to get to the center of the crowd. I'll try to keep the crowd in check, but I'd planned to have a little more time before we actually moved in. I'm going to be distracted. Can you make a barrier around us that will keep people back, but not hurt them? If so. Let's go."

OOC – Jorge, feel free to godmod us moving into the crowd...Kealey being uber distracted, but calming the people around them. I dunno if you can make a barrier like she asked, but if so, this might be cool. : )

The voices in the crowd brought about a wide range in chorus hatred towards one thing or another. It didn't honestly matter what was being said, the fact that there was a huge gathering of people just shouting and yelling about was wicked amazing. It would have been nice if he was at the center of this all, cooing the masses of society to his own causes in life. The power that he could have, the power that he should have, the power that he wanted. If there was some way to get in the middle of this and claim all the credit for himself. Beautiful sight that would be.

He had to get closer had to get to the middle of it all, had to reign in all this angst for himself. Pushing about a bit, he soon realized that trying to get to the center from where he was, well it wasn't going to be easy. He needed to do this from a different approach. The rantings and chants in the crowd continued to weave in and out of his thoughts making it harder to concentrate on what he was doing or should be doing. His own mouth continued to add to the noise as he fought his way around the crowd. It was purely frustrating that he couldn't get closer, he needed to get closer...but it seemed everyone else wanted the same thing. They didn't deserve it, he did!

The teens elbow soon went into another person's face and a minor sort of riot started to spin into action. Great. This was not what he wanted. Pushing other people out of his way, the teen managed to weave his way out of the thick of it to the skirts of the edge of the crowd again. Cursing to himself, his eyes sought out for where he ditched the crutches. Yeah he could walk on his own now, but he had a feeling that they would be more helpful then anything.

With a slight limp, mostly due to the jostling in the crowd, he made it back to the storefronts where he stashed the crutches in the nook. From afar his eyes searched about the scene. He needed to figure a way to get closer to the center and get right in the heat of things. With his blood boiling already, he couldn't believe there was actually a protest out there he could relate to. Anti government, need he say anything on the matter. This was why he loved the Reservation, the freedom away from the government. At least on the Rez he could drive a car without all the hassle he did outside of it.

Be it the mutants in the middle of the crowd, the car trip there or just his hatred to the whole world in general right now, but a chord was struck. Away from the crowd, his mind started to clear a bit from the heat of inside the group. It was during this he could see at the edge of the crowd a freak water spout spinning on the ground. It took a bit for it to sink in, but the realization that the water spout had to be Jorge and Kealey brought him back to the reason why he was there. What was it again he was supposed to do?

Watching the spinning water, his eyes looked about the area trying to figure out how he was going to do anything. Pushing his way through was going to be impossible, at least like how he was right now. He needed to do this from a different angle. Looking up to the sky he spotted telephone wires running from buildings to telephone posts. Climbing up one of them might get him high enough, but the drop down into the crowd might leave him with a few broken bones. That sucked. Running a hand through his long locks of hair, his mind was a muddled mess. Whatever he did, it had to be fast...he couldn't think clear near the crowd.

Looking about he tried to spot something that might do something helpful. Then he saw something...it was a long shot but it might work. One of the city clean up golf carts was off to the side where the owner seemed to be caught up with a phone call. With a cover top....that would be useful. Sidewalk hot dog stand...golf cart...hot dogs...there was something he could do. The edges of his mouth twisted in a curl upwards.

Jorge managed to swirl the water around him defensively. It spun fast enough to make anyone thing twice about trying to attack either himself or Kealey. But as in doing so, he found it slightly difficult to step forward. Jorge found that moving that much water to spin around two people in a shield, as well as following them wherever they walked without leaving a long trail of water behind him, was difficult enough. But there was something else that was giving him issue.

Deep in the back of his mind he could feel something clawing and digging at him. Something trying to make his blood boil and to increase the rage he already felt in his heart. But as much as it did so, Jorge was able to focus. Though he was quickly losing that war…

>> "Make sure the water's not moving fast enough to hurt anyone."[/color]

“Y-Yeah…” he groaned as he continued to swirl the watery shield around the pair of them. He trying to not lose his focus but the deeper into the throng of people he pushed them, the harder it was to keep focused.

>> "Jorge, I'm going to make sure you don't get caught up in the frenzy, okay? You let me know if you start to feel strange."

He nodded with a small smirk on his face.

“Much appreciated.” Jorge responded.

The water spun fast. Not a strong enough surge to actually break anyone’s arm, but enough so that if they tried to stick their hand it, it would be painfully knocked backwards. Normally keeping the water at such a delicate speed was difficult to the point that his lack of focus right now would have made it even harder. But, thankfully Kealey seemed to be having some sort of effect on him. He felt calmer. As a matter of fact many of the surrounding group seemed to be calming just fine.

Whatever Kealey was doing, it seemed to be having some kind of effect. He was indeed thankful for that.

>> "Keep going...and keep an eye out for Hokee...Also...when we get to the middle, you've got to distract them somehow Jorge. I don't know how long I can keep this up. Scanner said there were three...." [/color]

Jorge nodded.

“I’ll do what I can, Kealey,” he muttered as he tried to keep people from reaching into the shield of water. “I just wish I knew what we were dealing with besides just the rabble-rouser…”

Pushing closer to the epicenter of the screaming and ranting from the mob-maker, Jorge spied a large, distorted set of horns that peered out over the edge of the crowd of people. A few steps closer and he immediately spied another of the three that Kealey’s scanner had picked up. It was obvious that this other guy was indeed a mutant. Jorge could only shake his head in awe as he looked at the large, living minotaur that stormed and snorted in front of crowd, acting like a bodyguard to the younger man that was screaming for a riot.

“Well that’s two identified,” he mumbled. He had no idea what to expect for the third.