Another Titanic? (Arielle, Calley, Leila)

Leila felt her stomach aching already. She wasn't that used to jogging, especially along side Sam. He was fast, and she still really wasn't used to jogging in slushy snow like this. She had sweat pants, sneakers and a hoodie, her hair was tied back in a silky pony tail, and she wore her favorite white headband, to keep her side bangs from getting in the way. Plus, she had eaten a large breakfast, meaning she felt rather bloated, not good when you had to run. She was about to ask her boyfriend for a break, when his phone rang, oh no, mission time.

She always hated when he left for missions, never really knowing if he'd make it back in one piece. She gave him a quick hug as he kissed her lightly on the cheek, and then watched him walk away, looking rather serious. What had happened this time? "You better!" she yelled back with a grin, as he told her he'd make it up. She raced back to the Mansion, finishing up her jog alone. "I hate when he leaves like that." she muttered to herself, watching as two kids ran by with spring clothes to play outdoors.

Without really realizing it, she started walking towards the elevator leading to the X-Jet. She'd never been in there before, nor has she ever seen the Blackbird. "Hopefully he won't mind me coming to say goodbye." she thought, as the elevator brought her towards the room where this jet was kept in. "Woah, this is nice!" she whispered, looking around as she tried to find Sam.

"You didn't." These two words were spoken with the utmost of calm, born of sheer disbelief. The Rottweiler gave an apathetic yawn that set the white scrap of paper caught on his muzzle to fluttering. "You just... no." The Italian teenager's hands were still wet from getting washed; his pants were a little wet, too, from his loose attempts to dry them. Towels were for the weak. So was doing your geometry homework ahead of time. It was okay, though: he'd woken up early, and he'd done it all in time for class, like a responsible young deadline pusher. His papers had been on the library floor when he'd left to run to the bathroom, on the carpet he'd been laying on as he worked.

"You just... I didn't know dogs actually did that. I... no."

Now Bruce was on the carpet. And his papers? Ha.

Ha. Oh, wow. He should have just slept in. This was the one excuse that you could never actually use. Bruce gave another yawn, and lay his head down on top of his paws.

A muscle on Calley's forehead twitched. Just... no. He hadn't even gotten breakfast, because he knew that would be pushing it. Now it was ten minutes to class. And the Rottweiler had eaten his homework.

...No.

Bzzzzzz.

And then the Rottweiler began to vibrate. A moment later, the vibration turned into the insistent beeping of his X-Men communicator. Calley started shaking his head, slowly but steadily. "You didn't. You couldn't. I mean, in one piece? How is that even possible?"

Fortunately, the Rott took that moment to scratch idly at one ear. Under his belly, Calley spied the remains of his backpack. A shift dodge and a mighty tug of war against the dog's impassively watching weight resulted in Calley tipping over, backpack clutched in his victorious grasp. Minus Geometry homework. He dug in the front pocket, and fished the communicator out. Grin.

Need an excuse to get an assignment extension? Join the X-Men!

And he was off, with one final head shake to the mammoth dog, towards door number three. The X-Jet hanger. Which he simply walked into.

...Huh. That was way easier than the last time he'd been here. Pffft. Not nearly as cool, though.

Inside the door, the X-Jet was already humming. He skittered. If he happened to pass the dolphin lady his 'brother' had tried dating, he didn't really notice.

He entered onto the Blackbird at a run, his school back pack still grasped in one hand, and his communicator in the other.

"Woah," he blinked, taking in the scene. "Umm... ah... This is the lift to the sinking ship, right?" He asked, his eyes shifting between Sam and the girl in bondage. He'd heard Sam was a lady's man, but... "Ah," Calley helpfully volunteered, with a weak smile towards the young woman's face. She looked about his age. She looked less confident in herself than him. That actually took effort. Effort that she had clearly invested. "They keep spare uniforms in the back of this thing. Just so you know." Speaking of which: he supposed he should get changed, himself.

Personally, Calley was dressed in a loose white hoodie and blue plaid flannel pants. All the better for rolling out of bed with. Not so good for rolling in the hay.

...Seriously, this was the right jet, right? He kept up his awkward smile as he waited for that confirmation.

Now that everyone was in the jet Sam hit the button that closed up the X-jet. “Leila?” Sam asked as he heard her voice, “We are going on a mission… Just sit down and buckle up.” He flipped a few more switches and the Jet started to give a lurch as the jet started to move foreword. “Calley you better change once we are in the air, or hurry up because I can’t wait any longer!” Lift off was always a weird feeling for him in this jet it was like your stomach didn’t know if it should drop or float.

Once in the air he felt his stomach decided that it should drop slightly as he shot the throttle forward which cause the jet to take off. He was never one for subtleties and on a mission such as this time was everything. In a serious tone Sam asked mainly Calley and Arielle, “Do you two know the situation of the mission?” he waited for a second then said, “A ways off in the middle of the Atlantic ocean a cruise liner hit an iceberg, as far as we were informed the hull was pierced, our job is to prevent the ship from sinking as long as we can not to mention saving as many people as possible who either fell over board or were pushed off, once the coast guard arrives we need to make sure everyone gets away safely,” Pausing for a second he added, “Think of the movie the Titanic, only smaller and in real life.”

Punching the throttle to its max Sam felt another lurch as he felt his stomach being forced back once again. “Timing is everything and I want to save as many people as possible. It’s one of my first missions leading and I want to have no casualties.” As the ship came up on the radar Sam looked to Leila and said, “Since you're here is there anyway you can go dolphin and help out?” he wasn’t exactly sure the extent of her fish communicating abilities so he didn’t bring it up yet. Looking to Calley he said, “I am going to need you all over the place but first I would like it if you and Leila could find the spot where the hull was pierced.

Sam wasn’t sure if he was going about this team leader thing the right way but he assumed it just involved giving out orders. He wasn’t big on following orders or giving him so he wouldn’t be surprised if he met some resistance from one if not all of the people that the team consisted of.

The ship was getting closer on the radar, which meant it was now time to dish out his and Arielle’s job. Looking over to Arielle his jaw dropped slightly, “What the hell you wearing?” Sam asked as he looked back at the radar, “After you change into the actual suit you and me are going to play rescue till the other two find the hole, after that you and me are going to switch with Calley and Leila, we are going to try and fix the hole and drain the water while the other two will play rescue until we patch the hole.” He paused taking a breath then added, “After we go back to helping with the rescue, and try to hold out till the coast guard arrives which should be,” looking at his watch as he set the stop watch, “Anywhere from forty five minutes to an hour.”

They were nearly upon the ship with the radar, which meant it was still a few minutes off, looking back to the team and Leila, Sam asked, “Any questions?”

The briefing began. In this way did Calley know he was in the right place. He settled into a seat behind and to the right of the pilot's, nodding as their team leader spoke. Calley had pretty much been born to be a lackey; to run missions, and take orders. He loved missions. He didn't mind orders. He just liked the option of saying 'no', and didn't want the specifics of the situation to be micromanaged from above. That's where he and his former employer had clashed. That's why he currently had a deeply ingrained unease around pillows and why he had the sudden urge to just wear his pajamas on this mission. He'd just been ordered to change? Seriously? What he was wearing was way more appropriate than Breastzilla over there--

Ah. She got ordered to change, too.

Well then. That was fair. After the briefing was over, Calley skittered to the rear of the ship and dug through the spare uniforms until he found the least flashy one. He was more about the blending in, not so much about the flashing. He changed in the Blackbird's bathroom, and came back to his seat dress modestly in a pair of black pants and black T-shirt. He'd grabbed a black leather half-length coat, too, that swung just above his knees. There was an X stitched with understated dignity over the left shoulder of the jacket. The color scheme was unusually monochrome, but Calley would have fit in fairly easily on a New York street. There was one other change: around his shoulders was draped a black kitten. In its heart worm laden chest was where the multi-shifter's consciousness truly lay. He kinda liked the coat. This way, if he had to shift away from his human form, it wouldn't get its seams ripped: the kitten would be the focal point of the shift, not his human body.

"So," the brown haired teenager recapped, settling back into the seat, "Miss Leila and I are on hole-finding duty; when we find it, we tag out with you and Miss... err," Calley blinked to Arielle, "I don't think I actually caught your--urk." Woah. That was a glare. "--name," he finished. With a nervous half-smile, he turned his own gaze back to their leader. "...And after that, we switch to rescue detail?"

"What's our main objective--finding the hole, or herding folks out as we try to find the hole?" With that, the blue eyed boy was really asking, Should we let ourselves get distracted by the hysterical masses, or should we twine past them? It was a pretty big distinction, that. He was pretty sure that the former was the X's answer. Honestly, though, this was the first time he'd been tapped for a mission from the light side of the force. The kitten on his shoulders was sitting on claw tips, eyes dilated and ears perked: yeah, he was a little excited.

He turned to Leila, and offered a hand. "I'm Calley," he introduced himself. "Multi-shifter. I've got rather a few animal forms. I can splinter myself off into different forms at the same time, as well," he made a gesture to the kitten, "but that part gets complicated. Let's just say I'll try to stick to one form, mostly." The fact that he was clearly in more than one form right now was part of the 'it gets complicated'; he didn't think she really wanted to hear the explanation on why, or on how skin contact between his forms was so important. Suffice it to say that at the moment, his splintering was more weaknesses than strengths.

"What are your abilities?" He asked back, with uncharacteristic calmness. This was a mission. Missions required more than his usual twitching, or pain might follow. ...Or at least, with Hunter, it would have. Huh. He couldn't picture Cold Steel torturing him any time soon. Heh.

He was liking these X-Missions already.

>> "Yes I do actually. About why the hell everyone is hating on my outfit. You know what, screw it."

The kitten flicked an ear at that. A tail tip twitched as the woman came back, golden cat eyes turning to watch the girl return even though the Italian teenager did not.

>> "Happy?! And you know you liked it."

"Not really," Calley admitted simply, turning his gaze back on her now that her boycott of pants had ended. The issue wasn't that Calley had a girlfriend: that was actually a matter up for debate, at the moment. It was more that with or without a girlfriend, Calley didn't go for girls like Arielle.

"What are your abilities?" He asked her. Good information to know, in case they ended up working together on this, or in the future. Which... hopefully, he didn't. The glaring and snapping gave him the distinct impression that she didn't exactly like him. Personally, the multi-shifter didn't really have an opinion about her: just a list of observations. That's kind of what he did. When he wasn't being an upstanding X-Trainee, that is.

The kitten rasped a pink tongue over the back of one paw, and rubbed it behind one ear. An entirely innocent motion.

Arielle continued sitting back in her seat her eyes shut not really giving her direct attention to anyone. They had said enough to earn the silent treatment from her, but it seemed that the animal guy had curiosity towards her abilities. Curiosity while he was in a cat form. Guess it didn't kill them after all.

"Just call me a water goddess..." Arielle replied to Calley. "I can shift my body into a water form. Seems kind of lame, until you remember that water can be a deadly force. Enough water pressure and I could crush a kitten like a tin can of cut through a kitty like cake, or just drown a kitty..." she trailed off opening and eye and then turned towards Calley with a warm smile. "But I would never do that to you. No, no. Perhaps we should get to know each other better before I form an opinion of you being a snobbish jack ass, you start to believe I dress skimpy because I'm an attention whore. It's not good to judge a book by it's cover..." Arielle trailed off on her words as she saw Leila's new form. Her jaw dropped and her eyes blinking.at the Were...Dolphin? That's a new one.

"Are you the long lost cousin of the Street Sharks or what?" Arielle chuckled.

>> "So, do you know Slate?"

Calley gave an unashamed nod. "Yep! He's my brother." And this, he suspected, was the Leila that said 'brother' had once taken on a date. He couldn't actually remember the date, now that they'd splintered into different bodies--Slate had those memories with him. But he remembered the arguments. Back when they'd only had the one human form... Calley had not been thrilled with the idea of Slate taking it on a date joyride.

He watched her shifting demonstration curiously. Interesting. He couldn't actually do dolphin. Or rather, he could... but that would require learning to swim, to make it useful. Just like he'd had to learn to fly in his bird forms, he needed to learn to fly in his aquatic forms. That would be easier if he knew how to swim in his regular ol' human form.

...Huh. He should probably mention that to the rest of the team: the 'I can't swim'. Seemed like it might be an important fact. Just then, though, Arielle began to unsubtly threaten the kitten form on his shoulder, and then some.

>> "...But I would never do that to you. No, no. Perhaps we should get to know each other better before I form an opinion of you being a snobbish jack ass, you start to believe I dress skimpy because I'm an attention whore. It's not good to judge a book by it's cover..."

He was apparently a snobbish jack ass, and she was putting words into his mouth. Had he said any of that? Nope. Had he thought it? Not in so many words. He'd just observed that she was wearing less clothes than would be considered decent in most gentlemen's clubs, and that she took huffing offense at the idea that this was somehow improper. Silly him, for thinking this mission was about saving lives, rather than giving her the compliments she rather seemed to be fishing for. He was apparently a snobbish jackass, but she was the one who'd brought up the label of 'attention whore'. Well, if the wrinkly black leather panties fit...

>> "Are you the long lost cousin of the Street Sharks or what?"

He snort-chuckled. Involuntarily, and he immediately tried to cover it with a cough. Okay. That had been a little funny. And he'd liked that show as a kid.

And then the jet was hovering over the water. Ah... right. What had he been thinking, that there was a landing strip around here? Or that they'd use cool slip ropes, like army men? Nope. Nope, they were on the 'jump out of the hovering plane, fall twenty feet, and land in freezing waters' plan of attack.

Yeeeeeeah... let's not.

As their team leader dove into his icy water rescues below, Calley kissed his coat goodbye. Remaining clothed: it had been a nice thought, while it lasted. A small red hawk shook its way free from his deflated shirt color; both kitten and teenager were gone. The hawk hopped up to a perch on the back of the seat, to blink avian eyes over at the were-dolphin. "I presume you can swim. Shall we meet on the deck of the ship? I'll scout the exterior while you swim, and see if I can spot this lovely hole of ours."

After waiting for her response, the hawk was off--with a flash of feathers, it was out the open doorway and gliding across the golem-laden scene towards the ship. A flap and a banking of wings sent it into a spiral above the chaos; sharp eyes pointed downwards. All those people were rather distracting, to eyes and a mind geared to latch onto motion.

The hole, wherever it was, was under the water line. There was scuffing damage and splintered wood along the starboard side that wasn't matched on the port. Presumably, then, that's where their iceberg had ground past.

The red hawk banked again, its spiral tightening down towards the deck of the ship, its sharp eyes looking for an unnatural flash of blue tail on a human form.

Putting all hostilities aside, Arielle snapped to attention as soon as Sam had rushed into action, diving below into the cold Atlantic waters...like the temperature would really bother him considering he was literally the mortal version of Jack Frost. The Calley kid went fowl and took flight, while Leila took a dive into the sea as well. They were all assigned their duties for the mission and Arielle's objective was to assist Sam in rescuing the passengers of the Titanic 2.0. Arielle stood at the door of the Jet wondering how on earth she could assist passengers. It's not like her abilities were all that awesome for this kind of rescue situation. No ice powers, no animal shifting abilities...this was a tough. She watched as Sam created a shelf of ice and then his golems as they assisted him in rescuing those who were sinking below the ocean's surface. Of course there were far too many people for them to care for alone and she needed to get into action now before they would lose somebody. She didn't want to have death on her first rescue mission.

Immediately she dove in to the ocean, and transformed into her transmute liquid body. She increased the water pressure of her body so that her hands would be firm enough to grasp passengers without them slipping through her grip.

"Alright, calm down and don't be afraid. We're here to help. Don't worry..." she said to a woman, screaming her lungs out, which was annoying to Ari, but she thought about their situation. If she was a human drowning at sea and had a person made of water grab her,. maybe she would panic as well. The water elemental sighed turning her arms into whips of water and grabbing onto the woman and then grabbing a teenage boy with her other arm while turning her legs into a super pressured stream so that she could propel herself faster through the water and get the humans to the safety of Sam's ice shelf. Though it's not as effective as summoning 3 ice monsters with great strength to carry several people, Arielle used her speed as much as possible to save those she could while Calley and Leila continued their search for the ship's hole.