Naomi felt the vehicle come to a complete stop, which was followed by a few metalic noises. The doors swung open, revieling the light of day, heavily armed gaurds, and a line of people. The guards told them to get out, but Naomi didn't want to. She would get out of the van after everyone else had, and she would only then get in line with her friends solemnly.

She didn't recognise anyone there at all. Even if she could have, she was too afraid to look up and look the armed men in the eyes. She stared at her feet, trying hard not to show emotion, not to cry.

Wehn she did dare to look up, she was glancing at the head of the line, where people where asked questioned and branded with a braclet. Mos people where taken out into the same room, but there were a few who were shoved into other rooms forcefully. Naomi stopped herself from thinking about why they had chosen those people, or what it was they would do with them. She she did, she knew she would break down. Drawing attension to herself was the last thing she wanted to do here.

Deathstar layed her head back against the van, listening as the others spoke out in fear. “Deathstar, could you check on Raina, make sure she’s going to be ok?” michael said. Breathing heavily she gazes around the van once more noticing Raina in seious pain, since she was the only one not cuffed she drag herself using her arms toward raina. "Raina!, Raina! are you alright?" She spoke softly like a whisper. As the van came to a complete stop Deathstar eyes shifted to the the door, outside the door she heard crowds chanting and cries from people.

The door opened instantly and Deathstar thought she can make a run for it, she stood on her weak legs and heading for the door but was abruptly stopped by a gunpoint to the head by a metallic robot. Deathstar raised her hands above her head and surrendered, Deathstar walked along the lines waiting to get registered as she watched the others exit out the van.

Michael squinted when the light suddenly flooded into the van’s interior. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the new sight he saw Deathstar make a run for it. Roughly making it to his feet he tried to intercept her, but one of the men slammed him in the stomach. While it didn’t hurt, it did knock him on his butt.

One of the robots stopped Deathstar and herded her into line. “Stay close,” Michael said to the others as he stepped out of the van and walked over to the line. Reaching Deathstar he slipped in front of her saying, “Best I go first. I can take anything they do to us better than you can.” Except electricity. He pushed that thought from his mind as he shuffled along with the queue.

The darkness didn't last for long when Raina was shoved to her feet. She was barley concious and as she opened her mouth to speak she was gagged. With her hands behind her back she couldn't do anything about it.

"This one uses her mouth, Froze about 20,000$ worth of bots back at the school. Got to keep her quiet." the person behind Raina gave her a shove and she started to wake up unwillingly. Everything hurt so much, but Raina welcomed it. She'd rather focus on the physicial pain right now then think about who'd she'd let down- nonetheless Rupert.

As bots and soldiers started ushering them out of the van, Raina was shoved into a different line than the others. She didn't pay attention and didn't realise she was away from the others. A faceless figure shoved her through a second set of metal doors.

She stood there aware that the humans around her were making a point of net letting her see who they were. She wondered if Rupert was among them but pushed the thought away.

"So what about this one?"

"I'm not sure, we might stick her with the wolf and bird."

"That dangerous?"

"...maybe not, but I've got wicked frost bite and I'm pissed."

Raina barely registered what was being said as she was led into a dark room where something tight was snapped around her neck.

"I'm going to take this gag out.. but don't bother talking or trying to use your power. The second you do, this collar will shock the hell out of you." a gun was pointed into her shoulders as the gag was removed and Raina spit up blood.

"Can't have you walking around with hair that changes colour either" came a woman's voice that Raina recognised hearing at the mansion. "It goes green and blue." said the woman cutrly to the man behind Raina.

"Nope, can't have that."

Raina zoned in and out while she was pushed around. She didn't register her hair being buzzed off, and when she was shoved into the room with the others she was barely recognizable with little hair and a bruised face.

She saw Ted across the room and her eyes were full of fear. She didn't open her mouth.

ooc: sorry guys. is thanksgiving weekend here!

Ted looked up as another poor soul was forced into the room. She looked badly beaten, and in a lot of pain. Seeing as how none of the others seemed to particularly care, he gave Natalie a reasurring rub on the shoulder, and then got up and made his way to the new girl. He thought she looked faintly familar, and then with a jolt he recognised who it was. "Raina! What are you doing here? What happened?" He resisted the urge to hug her, as from the looks of things a hug would only cause a lot of pain. Especially one from him. "Bloody hell, come and sit down over here." He ushered her towards where the still sobbing Natalie was sat, and sat down between them. "What happened?"

ooc: haha might as well keep going, I dont know when I'll get on again.

Ic:
Raina stood still for a moment and then fell into Ted hanging on to him despite the pain. Tears gushed down her face and her body trembled as she sobbed. The slight noise from her throat cause the collar to buzz threateningly. She sat next to Ted and looked around the room at the others. She was devistated seeing their faces.

She looked at Ted questioningly wanting to know what was going on, why they were all here, who everyone was... but she could make no noise. She leaned against the wall. She was so tired, and everything was spinning again

Deathstar stood with her hands above her as the others exited off the van, the robot behind deathstar poked her with the gun as if it was saying proceed to the line. ,“Best I go first. I can take anything they do to us better than you can.” Michael said and that did not sit well with Deathstar. "don't do anything stupid, these bots don't have emotion and you willput us all in danger" she looked around the area before spoke again not wanting to be heard. "Ok!, lets just go in and do what they say with no problem , I'm pretty sure the x-men will come for us" when she finish talking she began to think how the other X-men were going to get them out of this one.

“Don’t worry,” Michael assured Deathstar, “I won’t do anything stupid. I have every intention of doing exactly what they say.” He shuffled forward in the line, turning to see Raina be taken to a separate area. She had displayed an incredible amount of power at the mansion in destroying the robot, so it was no wonder she was being dealt with separately.

Turning he gave the others a reassuring smile, not that it would be of much use. The atmosphere in this place was so oppressive that he could almost feel it pressing down on him. He didn’t know what was coming, but he was in no hurry to find out.

(OOC: I’m assuming it is daylight now, though not specifying what time exactly. Please let me know if I’m wrong. I also left the end open if anyone wants to be the 'next mutant in line'.)

After leaving his friend Killjoy behind, the man made his way quickly and silently to another vehicle, a van, dumped Neena in the back, and left the scene as quickly as possible. Had she been awake she probably would have made some quip about deja vu.

After driving in circles for nearly an hour, he pulled the vehicle over. Assured he was not being followed in any way, he shifted into park, letting the engine idle. He reached back in and pulled out a small black bag, then moved into the back, kneeling next to the unconscious woman. From the bag’s depths he extracted a small bottle of clear liquid, and a thin syringe. He measured out a small quantity of the liquid into the needle. Next came an alcohol-treated cotton swab, with which he sterilized a section of Neena’s arm, just below the bend in her elbow. The injection followed, releasing a long-lasting sedative into the woman’s system. Without a counteracting dose, she would be out for twenty-four hours, at least.

Emotionlessly he cleaned and returned all items and returned them to the bag, and the bag to the floor of the vehicle. Pushed to one side of the cargo area was what looked like a stack of boxes. He lifted the nearest box, and the entire stack lifted as well, revealing a hollow underside. He hauled Neena over roughly and dropped the cover over her, concealing her from sight, then tossed a tarp over the boxes. Finally, he climbed back into the front seat, turned off the engine, reclined the seat, and promptly fell asleep. If anyone were to stop and inspect the vehicle, they would simply find a delivery man, pausing to take a nap before continuing his cross-country trip.

----------------------------------

The next day he arrived at the Registration office, with Neena handcuffed and slung over his shoulder like a flour sack, not long after the vans with the Mansion residents had unloaded; some of them were still in the lines. He dropped his burden roughly by the side of the end desk.

”Here’s another one for you. From the Mansion. Not sure of her mutation, so be careful. Just gave her a wake up shot. She should be up in a few minutes.” Then he turned and vanished into the crowd.

The registrar glanced down at the thirty-year-old with a look of distaste; had Neena been awake she would have guessed he was prejudiced, not just against mutants, but also dark-skinned people, and possibly women in general. He motioned toward one of the nearby guards.

”Put on a bracelet and move it out of the way until it wakes up.” Then he turned to the next mutant in line, without looking up. ”State your name and mutation.”

As a men stepped up next to them and began to lead Raina away, Naomi couldn't help herself. She cried out, trying to grab Raina's hand ,but two more gaurds stepped in the way, and took hold of her.

"No! No, you can't take her away! Please! What are you going to do with her!"

Naomi didn't know what had come over her. She really didn't know Raina all that well, but she still didn't want an inocent person haule doff. Especially someone who had already suffered so much.

Her outburst was quickly snuffed out, as a stalker bot phased into existance behind her, and seemingly stabing her on the back of the neck with a sedative. Naomi went limp, and felt herself struggling to remain concious. It was nearly impossible for her to focus on things, and her vision was blurry.

"This ones powers come from her mind. One of the more dangerous ones. All they have to do is think about it and they can kill someone. Creepy little bitch. Take her aside and if she looks like any more trouble than she already is, toss her in with the other freaks."

The stalker bot faded out of sight again, and the two gaurds would bring her over to and empty booth, search her, and give her a counter injection while attaching a bracelet about her neck.

The drugs brought her back around slightely so that she could answer their questions, but they made sure to scare her befor they started asking anything.

"That little necklace can monitor your brain, got it?"

She gasped as something that felt like a needle inserted itself into the spine of her neck.

"You think about doing anything special, your whole body goes 'Banzia'. You understand me Ching Chong?"

She didn't even have the foce of will to grimance at his sickening racism. She just sat, and stared at the ground obediantly, her will all but crushed bat this point. They asked her simple questions, found out that she could make things lighter or heavier, and also found out that she was an immigrant from china. Her passport gave her away instantly.

"Jeez, a mutant, AND and immigrant? Your must be real eager to get kicked out of the country huh?"

She didn't respond. She sat there, feeling unimaginably dead inside, possitive at this point that her life was most likely at an end.

"Put her in the camping group. Too much work to ship her back to where she came from, and she doesn't look like she'll take up much space there."

She was manhandled once again, and and tossed into the same room with Raina, and Ted. She stood near the door, and scanned with dead eyes over the sad faces of the people in the room. Half-stumbling, she made her way over to where Raina and Ted where, and sat down against the wall on the far side of Natalie. She leaned against the crying girl as tears welled up in her eyes as well. She put her arm around the girl and joined her in her despair. What was going to happen to her now...

Nika had been asleep the whole time in the van. Apparently the tranquilizer the Stalker used on her was strong enough to KO an elephant. They definatley weren't taking any chances with the mutants when they were capturing them.

The van stopped and Michael, Deathstar and others were taken out and placed into their respective lines. One of the cops gave Nika a big whiff of smelling salts and the cat girl rolled away from the aweful smell and sat up. She was still very groggy as a couple cops grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the van.

They carried her to the same line Michael and Deathstar were in. Nika fought to regain her senses as she shook the cob webs from her mind. Looking around she saw lots of police in full tactical gear as well as soldiers and a few robots strategically placed as well. They had guns on their sides and they were pointing at the mutants in line.

Then for a moment Nika thought she saw Tricity. Was it really her or was she still not seeing things right? Nika moved closer to Michael and Deathstar.

"Hey is that Tricity over there?"

No sooner had she spoke than she was dropped to her knees as a soldier used the butt of his weapon to hit the back of the cat girl's knee.

"No talking freak. Not unless you wan to be made an example for these other mutants."

Nika clenched her fists and her ears layed back as she glared at the rude man. She wanted to make an example of him to let the other humans know not to mess with her or her friends.

Michael looked over where Nika was pointing, and sure enough there was Tricity with a group of younger children. Knowing that Nika had good hearing he kept his voice low, so the guards couldn’t hear him. “It looks like. Seems she gave herself up along with the younger ones, probably to stop them getting hurt in the raid.”

He was denied the chance to say more as he reached the front of the queue. All he could do was watch as he saw Naomi taken away and Neena brought in. He hated this, this feeling of being powerless to do anything to help. He was asked his name and mutation. “Michael Chase, and I’m invincible.”

The woman behind the desk laughed. “Invincible? You should be so lucky. I’ll ask you again, what is your mutation?”

“No really,” Michael insisted, “I am invincible.”

“If your invincible then you wont mind be doing this,” growled a guard as he free his baton and smashed Michael in the face with it. His head moved with the blow, but he brought it back quickly to look at the woman again.

“Satisfied?” he asked her, “Or does he need to hit me again?”

Rather than get an answer Michael was shoved off to one side. After a series of questions his hands were unbound and he was asked to hold his arm out by a man holding a large needle.

“That won’t work,” Michael began when a guard grabbed his arm and slammed it down onto the table. The man with the needle stabbed it at his arm, but the tip broke.

“Turn it off,” the man ordered.

“I can’t,” Michael replied. The guard’s response was to smash his head onto the table. “I’m telling you, I can’t turn it off. I’ve tried.”

“Can your hair be cut?” the man asked, tossing aside the broken needle.

“Yes,” Michael answered, and before he could do anything else the guards pinned his head to the table and the man cut a chunk of his hair out.

“This will have to suffice,” said the man and Michael was hauled to his feet. He was taken over and had a bracelet attached.

“This one’s invincible,” the guard explained.

“So will the bracelets work?” another asked.

“Don’t know, but we’ll be able to track him at least.” With a shrug Michael was shoved into the room with the others who were headed for the camp. He quickly caught sight of Ted with two people, but didn’t recognise one of them until he got close.

“Raina!” he immediately went to her side and hugged her, trying to comfort her.

Raina leaned into Shield. Her face was black and blue and she looked like a shell of who she was with her hair buzzed and the collar around her neck. There was dried blood all over her and her clothing was wet from the mansion still. Her hands were still cuffed though this time infront of her.

She couldn't speak. She knew the humans knew her ability had to do with her voice- so they made sure her collar could sense the virbations in her throat. Still she sobbed a bit and felt the shocks through her throat. She was shaking now and looked completley broken.

The others might think it was the situation, but more than anything Raina was hurt by Rupert

Raina didn't talk at all, and Ted could here the bracelet at her neck. He remembered how her powers worked, "Oh crap, does that thing shock you if you even speak? What's wrong with these sick bastards!?" Ted smacked his head against the wall, and was about to do it again when he felt his instincts sensing the chance to take over again. Come on Ted, keep yourself under control, you'll only make things worse...

Ted looked up as someone else was shoved in. Wait, she looks familiar... wasn't she one of the guys at the X-Men tryouts? Oh God, how many had been taken from the mansion? Surely not that many, they should be safe in there. The new girl sat next to Natalie, and the two of them started crying together. Ted was numb. He just couldn't cope...

Then yet another young mutant was pushed in. This kid looked about twelve, and gasped as he recognised someone across the room. He cried "Uncle Pinky!" and ran over to a man at the back of the room. They were getting children? Ted started to loose all hope for everyone. A few minutes later, the door again, and someone was pushed in. Ted's eyes lit up. "Michael!" He was about to get up and hug the guy, when Michael reached Raina first. Fair enough, she needed more help than him. "Michael, how many are there? From the mansion, I mean. There seem to be a lot of us, how did this happen? I thought mutants were safe at the mansion." There was absolutly no way the police would have just taken them from the mansion. They must have been picked off of the streets, life himself. Surely they must have.

Ted’s explanation of what the collar was doing to Raina caused Michael to freeze. Electric shocks. The very thought of it petrified him. They would shock him, and he knew that he would submit to them for it. He had no tolerance to pain and mild shocks could well wear away his convictions.

Finally he snapped out of his broodings to listen to Ted. “They came for us at the mansion,” he explained, “We were all getting together to come looking for those who had gone missing, like you, when they attacked. They didn’t just send men, they sent robots. Those machines were more than a match for any mutant, and there were dozens. We didn’t stand a chance.”

“Some got away though, like Ruby, Emerald, Nicki and a few others.” He could cling to the fact that Emerald was free, safe. Comforted by that knowledge he could attempt to steel himself for what was to come. “However, lots of us were caught. To spare the little ones from attack Tricity has surrendered with them, she’s outside now.”

Having brought Ted up to speed he turned his attention back to Raina. He was one of the few who knew what had really gotten to her. Rupert. Not only had Rupert been a part of the attack, but he had been the one to shoot Raina. He’d seen it happen moments before trying to escape with Emerald and Ruby. Knowing that words of comfort would mean little at a time like this he just help Raina. There was nothing else he could do.