((OOC Mission thread here.))

July 25th, 2016.
10:37 AM

There were no lights on in the War Room. There was really no need. The screens at the head of the room cast a digital glow across the room. More than enough to see by. A satellite image of NYC dominated the largest monitor, covered in labelled circles, crosses, and arrows. The secondary screens showed police files, stills, and live news feeds. The one thing the news choppers tended to be useful for, though they were playing a dangerous game that close to a mutant riot.

Cafas stared into the main screen. The Team Leader's shadow fell in sharp contrast on the briefing table. Everything was as ready as it was getting, they had no more time to plan. in couple of button presses the annotation layers disappeared, leaving only the map. The view on one of the live feeds suddenly pitched up into the drizzly sky, danced dizzyingly, and cut to a technical difficulties banner.

Wish Kealey was here...

His X-com clicked as he opened the channel. "All X-men, report to the War Room immediately. I repeat; All X-men to the War Room immediately." They had to move fast. He'd already spent too long thinking about this. Tired eyes continued to survey the screen as he waited for the team to turn up. They had a hard day ahead of them.

The thermometer on screen climbed another degree into the 80s.

>>"All X-men, report to the War Room immediately. I repeat; All X-men to the War Room immediately."

Juliette blinked at the speaker system. That... Was her. That call out meant her now. It was almost like being paged, except that she had no idea what to expect. She stood up from her chair in the infirmary where she had been reading through research journals and walked down the hallway.

She had a vague idea of where the War Room was, but had never actually been. She followed the idea down the hallway and to a door, stepping inside.

Juliette wasn't sure exactly what she had expected, but she definitely wasn't expecting it to look so much like something out of a movie. The lighting certainly left something to be desired. All there was was the harsh digital light from the screens, cut directly down the middle by Cafas' shadow.

She walked in and stood in as much light as possible, staying far from the darkened corners. "What's going on?" She inquired slowly, glancing at both the screen and Cafas' look of exhaustion.

There was something to be said for Xs and priority-ish access to the Danger Room, especially on warm days. Like today. What Aiden had to say for it, today, was thanks.

Unfortunately, even his time slot came to an end, and the room quietly put away all of its snow and cold while Aiden woke up. He still hadn't recreated the Alaska incident, intentionally or accidentally, and so it was getting easier to push himself properly. He needed to get back in the condition he'd achieved, and the skill, and then keep improving on that.

He was barely into the hallway, still-frozen towel slung across the back of his neck, when his comm went off.

All?

And Cafas sounded tired. Aiden immediately turned around, no longer heading back to his room to shower. He was close enough to the War Room now. There was no point to detouring or delaying.

Juliette was already there; he nodded to her as well as Cafas as he slid into a chair and adjusted the starting-to-soften block of ice cube towel across his neck.

"Wh-"

Aiden started to speak, but shut his mouth mid-syllable when Juliette asked first. Same question, so no point in asking it twice. It'd get answered (or not) either way.

Normally Sam was awake at this time, normally but he was out late last night, not drinking but there was a fire in queens that called for his attention. Still covered in some soot Sam yawned and looked to his communicator as it went off. Compared to an alarm clock or a gun being loaded the communicator was far more efficient. As soon as he heard the buzzing he was on his feet to listen to the message. Without showering Sam ran down the stairs of the mansion only to slow for a cup of coffee.

When he made it to the war room he looked to see Juliette, Cafas and Aiden. ”This all of us?” Sam asked looking to Cafas one of the other team leaders and the man who had called the team together. It was a bit darker in the war room but the screens were illuminated showing why he was called.

”Riots again?” Sam asked with a slight grown. The last time there were riots he and Mirror stopped one robbery after another. No doubt there would be a high number of looters not to mention full out street brawls. Sam took a sip from his mug, which was alcohol free for the moment. The weight of the flask in his back pocket started to feel heavy.

Yes! Action! Go time! Not that she didn't enjoy sitting in as extra help for a preschool class, but sometimes Maya felt like a distraction as much as a help.

Maya high fived another of her son's classmates, the fourth or fifth after the announcement came over the PA system and knelt down for optimal Rowan hug depth. He obliged by running into her arms and giving her a near incorporealizing squeeze.

"This kind of hug is like a frog hug." He told her in all seriousness because squatting made her knees stick out.

"I'll be safe." He didn't seem old enough to understand that he should worry, but she offered her promises anyway. She had someone to come home to. And someone she wanted to come home, too.

Maya took a seat at the War Room table. She'd been here before. She would probably be here again. "Not everybody. Not yet."

Jude was not sure he was invited since he was only a trainee, but he wanted to help. He wanted to help more than last time and that meant being more organized than last time. That meant he had to go to the meeting and see what everyone else was up to.

He slipped into the back of the room and tried to be unobtrusive. Except. Everyone was being all creepy and sitting in the dark. The Frenchman hit the switch.

What? Did he ruin the drama or something?

Saphirus had been pulling up to the mansion in his beat up car when he got the call. He knew the protests were getting out of hand; he'd been heading this way to see what they were going to do about it.

The older mutant hobbled his way as quickly as he could through the mansion, and down the lift to the sub-levels. He wiped a away a bead of sweat as he went. He hadn't had a drink in a few days; his body wasn't super happy about that.

Gotta stop, though... no more.

It looked like he'd arrived behind a lot of the others. The grizzled vet stormed into the room, stopping to look around at all of the other gathered people... He gave a nod to Cafas, Sam, Maya, strange look to Aiden. Didn't he die?

Lots of trainees. That wasn't necessarily a new thing.

"I'm here. This about the protests? I was out there earlier... It was getting heated." He was already in his uniform, an covered in bumps and bruises like usual. To be honest, he looked like hell, but his eyes had a bit of a light behind them; one they hadn't had the past couple of years.

Sara's ears pinned back against the hair on the back of her head. She'd forgotten to check the volume on her communicator, that she'd only recently knocked the dust off of. As a matter of fact she had arrived on the mansion grounds unannounced so this situations had.... possibilities.... Yeah lets call it that and the imaginary consequences from the possibilities had her right ear twitching.

Sara hesitated just outside the doorway to the war room. Her nostrils flared taking in all of the different scents. She wasn't the first member of the team to arrive and there was already some conversation going on when she stepped through the doorway. No turning back now.

Her frame looked as though it was relaxed as she took a place to the right of the door making the predatory side of her mutation even more apparent when she leaned against the wall, but the end of her tail flicked in anticipation. If this was going to be anything like the last time.... "Heated is an understatement...." Sara nodded.

Cafas heaved a breath as the door opened behind him. With a final glance over the maps, live feeds, and police reports he turned to face the room. Juliette and Aiden first. Good to know their trainees hadn't yet grown complacent. He shook his head near imperceptibly at the question, and waved a hand at the seats around the table. "It'll just get repeated." A gravely edge crept into his voice, still strained from the day before.

Formal atmosphere. So their attention doesn't drift.

Sam and Maya arrived in close succession, the metal manipulator crossed them off his mental checklist, nodding once as Sam asked about the riots. They too were then waved to seats, though Cafas did manage the shadow of a smile for his girlfriend. The smile turned into a brief grimace as the fluorescent lights blinked on. "Thank you Jude," Which made everyone. Probably meant they'd be ignoring one mission...

>"I'm here. This about the protests? I was out there earlier... It was getting heated."

>"Heated is an understatement...."

Wait, did she steal my wallet once?

Cafas' eyes flicked between the pair entering with a mixture of surprise and relief. More numbers, and one back from a deep funk. He returned Saph's nod and indicated to a seat, a very real smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He may be sore, stressed, and tired, but Cafas was very happy to see the kinetic energy manipulator. The cat he was less sure about, but he seemed to recall seeing her on the roster, so she was fine.

Okay, cat should have a good nose, Sam's got some heat sense or something... That put's Saph with... Yeah that'll work.

"Alright, no time to waste. Police have called for our support, and god knows they need it, so listen up. We've got four situations in progress, and with our two surprise arrivals, eight X-men, so we'll be splitting into teams of two." Cafas hit a key and a red circle popped onto the map over Brooklyn.

"Team one, Jude and I. We've got a mutant riot in Brooklyn, surprise surprise. They broke police lines half an hour ago, and the cops have been running a retreating battle since." A red arrow joined the circle with another keypress. "The rioters seem to be cutting a path for Queens. We're to go in and try to reform the police line, and try to get this riot handled. With any luck, we can force their path here," A blue arrow deviated from the red, "To the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, where National Guard forces are waiting to hem them in and subdue them. Heads up, we've had reports of a girl with pink energy constructs. Suspect I don't need to tell anyone what that means." He looked around the room for confirmations, then moved on.

"Team two, Saph and Aiden. Human protest suddenly became a riot, overwhelming the police. They've armed and armoured themselves through looting, and they're headed our way." Another red circle, this time over Manhattan, an arrow travelling north from it. "Number one priority, they cannot be allowed to reach the Mansion. To that end, reform the police lines and buy the national guard some time to move in and contain them. Reports suggest this-" Cafas indicated to a zoomed in shot from a news broadcast on one of the secondary monitors, "-man was seen giving a speech to the crowd shortly before they turned violent." So quick of a turn suggests mutant. Detain or neutralise him if possible, preferably detain." Cafas' gaze lingered on Saph for a moment, gaze subtly pointed.

"Team three, Maya and Juliette." A new circle appeared a short distance behind the Brooklyn riot. "Several NYPD officers retreated into the B.o.A. branch here when their lines were broken. A group of the rioters have lain siege to the bank. The officers have several wounded, and their ammunition is running low." Two of the secondary screens shifted to show a photo each of the bank, the front, and the rear alley entrances. "We need you two to get in there and evacuate them. If you can, apprehend or drive off the rioters, and keep them from looting the bank. However, the safety of the officers and yourselves, takes priority. We don't have eyes on the situation, so once you're in, organise an evac point with the NYPD."

"Team four, Sam and... Sara is it?" He was pretty sure that's what the file had said. A red oval appeared directly behind the human riot in Manhattan. "You're on search and rescue in the wake of that human riot. Police forces are stretched too thin as it is to conduct this one. We know there's wounded, stranded, and trapped police and civilians alike back there. There are also looters and other sorts of opportunists. Of particular note..." Cafas brought up a shaky video of what looked like a winged woman flying between buildings. "Is this girl. She is the last thing one of the officers reported seeing before we lost contact with him. You're to find, protect, and evacuate any civilians and NYPD officers you can, and check on the three officers we've lost contact with in these locations." Three smaller red circles appeared on the map. "Secondary to that, try to prevent looting, and capture this girl for questioning."

"Some police resources are available to all of you, should you require them, riot gear mostly, and the national guard should be moving in within the hour. METAbots are out there, but we all know that's as much a liability as help."

Fingers crossed for the latter.

Cafas checked the clock on the screen and sighed. "Alright, that's it. You have your briefings. We should have two police choppers on the lawn in five. Manhattan teams on one, Brooklyn the other. Sam, I can feel that flask. Leave it behind, there's lives at stake."

The pink haired X-man looked around the room, tired eyes very serious. "All of you make sure your partners make it back. Any of you that die, you're fired. Suit up, grab what you need, and move out." Cafas nodded to dismiss them, mentally tracing each of their faces into his memory one last time, just in case.

((OOC. Go go go! Start threads as you can, and have fun with it. Be sure to alert your non-X-man thread participants, who can be found in the plot post. Please be sure to send me the links via PM so I can put them in the plot thread.))