Rally Time

[Jack and Crystal]

"Good morning Los Angeles!"

Crystal's salutation sent up a storm of cheers and whistles from the mutant protesters, especially from the male segment. Jack may have been the empath, but Crystal had her own facilities for moving a crowd. Some celebrity writers had rather unkindly speculated that her stunts weren't the only things that defied gravity, but when asked if her beauty was genetically enhanced, she had famously answered, "Isn't everyone's?"

Her smile was downright celestial as she waved in appreciation of the raucous reception. "When Friends of Genetic Freedom contacted Jack and me and asked to stage a rally around our court case, our expectations were high. Well, let me tell you that you haven't just met our expectations - you've blown them away!"

That brought another roar from the audience. Jack stepped up beside Crystal and took over the microphone.

"Take a look around," he said. "You're going to see people of every race, class, and religion in the country. You're going to see non-mutants as well as mutants. Do you know what unites us? It's our humanity. We're here because we refuse to stand by while whole class of people is branded, cataloged and tracked like cattle. This isn't about hiding who we are. Crystal and I have never made that a secret. This is about--"

Jack's concentration wavered for a moment, and something flickered over his face. His eyes were drawn toward the edges of the rally, where a large group of mutants were murmuring uneasily over the arrival of the riot cops, and a few were trading insults with the anti-mutant protesters across the street.

Crystal looked up at Jack with concern and lightly touched his arm.

"This is about fair treatment under the law," Jack said, regaining his focus. "Criminals deserve registration. Sex offenders deserve registration. Innocent men and women, your friends, your family, your neighbors, do not deserve to be registered merely because of their genetic makeup!"

[The Tres Onces]

"What a damned freak show!"

Three tall, young men stalked their way though the crowd of mutants. One had a shaved head, one wore a green and black bandanna, one had a black ballcap turned backwards, and all of them had their arms bare and heavily tattooed. When they had first entered the crowd twenty minutes ago, they had been timid and withdrawn. One of them had even dumbly accepted a pamphlet from the preacher with the creepy placid smile. But once they realized they weren't being called out, mobbed, or blasted with mutant eye beams, they had begun to grow bolder.

"Look at the bitch with the tail, man! You'd hit that, wouldn't you?"

"Hell, no, asshole. I ain't a furry. I might go for the one with the wings. I'd make that bird sing."

A dark-skinned woman with snow-white hair turned and glared daggers at the swaggering trio. "Get out of here, assholes. Go join your friends across the street."

"Make us, bitch!" the ringleader crowed back.

"Yeah, one of those cops'll string a collar around your pretty little neck," another one sneered.

"Ha, get a load of cranberry jelly over here!" the third one howled, and he led the way toward the purple girl sitting on some kid's shoulders. "Hey, Crayola girl! You a Lakers fan?"

"Hey, take of your shirt! I want to see if you're purple all the way down!"

[Stern]

Stern opened his work phone and took in Hu's short text. "Well, won't this be fun?"

He returned her text: Not sure myself. Possibly someone working over my head. Stay sharp.

Gangs, the Brotherhood, general human stupidity--it was a lot to plan and predict to keep this rally peaceful. He had hoped he could use his officers to greatest effect as deterrence. Stern knew the value of a visible police car on the side of the road when it came to reckless driving. Surrounded as they were by police, he hoped it would be enough.

Now it seemed someone was taking his plan and stomping on it.

Shield was poised to protect the mutants. He needed to do more.

He pushed the button on his walkie. "Ghost, Hu, take a walk around the park. Talk to folks. See if they're all right. Maybe we can cut down some of this new intimidation with friendly faces and neighborly concern. We want them to know we're still here to protect."

[Cameron Bell]

Ripples of discomfort and agitation fanned throughout the immediate crowd, heads turned at the disturbance, Cameron's included, to locate its obnoxious epicenter. The troublemakers parted nervous clusters of protestors, the trademark swagger of the barrio warrior in their step, spitting venom with indiscriminate gusto into the mutant ranks. And when their poison was flung in Aimee's direction, causing her to go rigid on his shoulders, Cameron eased her onto the ground and put himself firmly between them. The encroaching agitators slowed to a stop with precious little regard for his personal space, but with the bite of fire in his muscles, he held his ground. The skinhead was the first to square up to him.

"Sup, hombre? Cat got your tongue?"

When there was no answer, he gave an amused snort and returned his attention to Aimee. Cameron obstructed the advance, bristling like a territorial wolf, but it didn't stop them from leering. One gave a low whistle.

"Shit, son, Barney the Dinosaur's a motherfuckin' playaaa!"

The skinhead's laughter was caught in his throat as he was plucked off his feet and shoved violently to the ground. His hunting pack were immediate in their response. The first punch was dodged on instinct, Cameron clutched his attacker's wrist, and with his other hand clamped against his head, he drove the thug into his friend with a dull crack of meeting skulls. They fell in an angry heap, and with the reality of the situation crashing down around him, he started to backpedal.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus watched the gang member and Cameron struggling and smirked. He had noticed his new anti-mutant gear on the newly arrived law enforcement officers and was eager to see how well his inventions worked in the field.

That was not why he was here. Today, he decided, was too good of an opportunity to pass up in acquiring new mutant samples for his study. He loved DNA. You could get it out of nearly any piece of a person. As such, he had been quietly taking small samples of various mutants' hairs throughout the day.

He now had at least twenty new samples, and he hoped it would all serve him very well. He had been on the verge of taking a sample off of Aimee when the confrontation broke out.

"Now now," he said, placing a hand on Cameron's back so he wouldn't run over anyone. "No need to panic. If you start to run or lose control of yourself, this whole crowd will fall to pieces in a moment. Then people start to run wild, loved ones get trampled, and the police close in and take everyone they can to jail. Mutants get registered against their will. Take a deep breath. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

Klaus needed time to get out of the crowd, and hopefully get more samples along the way. He couldn't trust his position as Administrator of the Jozua Clinic to keep him from being searched. He couldn't afford to lose all that precious DNA.

[Alex Kaine]

The brief scuffle shocked everyone in the Redencion group - not the least because of how sharply and decisively Cameron had taken control of it. Alex had pulled away from Lana to back him up, only to see the mutie-haters already in a heap on the ground.

He certainly wasn't prepared to see Heidegger step out of nowhere. One of the greatest individual oppressors of mutant rights in Los Angeles skulking around an anti-registration rally - it was a violation.

"You!" Alex snarled. "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here, Dr. Heidegger! This isn't your clinic, get out of here!"

[The Tres Onces]

"I'ma put you down, perro!"

The first of the Elevens to fall was already up and stalked the distance between himself and the silent kid. He retreated another step and cast an uncertain glance into the crowd, providing the skinhead with the perfect opening. He swung a clumsy right hook, and felt his knuckles glance off a forearm, brought up as a last minute defense. The kid stumbled and found himself suddenly speared by a violent tackle, his attacker's baseball cap tumbled to the ground alongside them, and the brawl renewed.

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee's heart was in her throat, as everything seemed to happen at once. The three goons who'd come after her were getting to their feet, eyes angry as they looked at Cameron who was starting to back up. Some other guy had come out of nowhere and was talking, and Alex was shouting at him.

Aimee stumbled backwards into the newcomer as the three mutant haters surged to their feet, having decided to climb the tree behind her but getting tangled up with the doctor or whoever he was in her panic. Noah was turning around, looking terrifyingly huge, as Cameron was shoved to the ground, and then Scott stepped up and punched one of the thugs right in the face.

[Shield]

"We've got an altercation in the east corner of the park, moving in to secure the area."

It was an unfamiliar voice that gave the report, and Duquesne turned to see a knot of anti-mutant riot cops break the line to wade into the crowd.

"What - no. No!"

He grabbed his radio. "You hold your positions, damn it, this is the MCU's jurisdiction--"

"Lieutenant Duquesne, you've been overruled. Brotherhood terrorists have been sighted. This is now a Vanguard operation."

Duke flinched as if he'd been struck, and then cold realization settled in. There was a reason they hadn't been consulted about the reinforcements in riot gear.

The reason was the riot cops weren't LAPD at all.

[Tess Abrahams]

Like sharks alerted to chum on the water, the crowd around the blow-up began to clamor with a volley of reactions - alarm and concern were heavy players but the overwhelming tide from those who'd been close enough to catch the drift of the current was one of outrage. A lanky young man in skinny jeans and a Ramones T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his hair a sharp forest of glistening silver spines, launched himself into the fray without hesitation and threw out a wide hook at one of the remaining Tres Onces.

Trying to hold ground amidst the suddenly shifting masses, Tess snapped her gaze around to get a mental count on who was where. Aimee was in the tree and Alex was with Lana, radiating hostility at a figure she didn't recognize but he obviously did, and Scott was watching with wide eyes beside her.

"We need to - " Tess started.

But before any instructions to stick together could escape, Scott jumped away to add his fists to the fight and Tess was sent crashing into Geryon as another rally-goer shoved by to put in her two cents, a ripple surging through the gathered crowd.

[Jane]

Jane's circuit of the rally had taken her fairly far away from where things were beginning to go sideways, but even on the opposite side of the park the mutants and mundane supporters of the anti-MRA movement were getting restless.

"What's going on?" a worried looking mother asked the people around her, two small children clinging to her knees and another in her arms. Jane crumpled her empty coffee cup and let it drop to the ground, seeing the line of riot cops beginning to move from their positions on the street separating the two opposing groups.

"Stay cool," Jane warned into her bluetooth. "We don't need to all end up in jail today." She turned towards the young woman, pushing her way to stand next to her as the crowd began to jostle each other. "You should get your kids out of here, miss."

The woman looked up at Jane, eyes wide, and then she nodded. "Okay. Yeah." She was wearing a t-shirt that said I love my kids no matter what their genes are, and she began gathering up her things, depositing the baby into a stroller and trying to buckle her in as quickly as she could. Jane put out a hand, stiff arming a guy who was about to run over one of the other kids, her eyes alert and watching the situation by Geryon as best she could from where she was.

[Vigilante]

A Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo rumbled up Broadway, the rider cutting through traffic onto Temple and following it to N. Hill Street. The sleek black motorcycle rolled up on the outer corner of the park in front of the Stanley-Mosk Courthouse, just past a barricade and onto the sidewalk. Ginny Hayes steadied her bike with one foot on the ground, taking off her helmet and shaking out her red hair. She was setting the kickstand when a guy decked out in riot gear headed toward her.

"Hey! You can't park there! Clear out!"

Her eyes tracked down to the slim metallic loops on the guy's belt, and then she shrugged, turning her head to look at a standard LAPD type officer that was standing nearby and also beginning to take an interest in her arrival. "Don't worry, I'm not staying long. He said it was okay," and she jerked her head toward the peroxide blonde officer.

The riot gear guy turned on the other officer, and Ginny walked briskly away, unzipping her slim black leather jacket as she went.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus smirked at Alex. "You mean I cannot support my fellow mutants by attending this rally?" he said into the young man's ear. "Yes, I am also a mutant. Why else would I run a clinic for mutants?"

The crowd around them by now seemed to have exploded into a confused heap of aimless, violent action. Klaus found Aimee suddenly flung against him. He caught her as easily as he could, though it took some effort to make sure she didn't pin him down.

"I shall see you on your next weekly visit to your sister, yes?"

He slipped into the crowd, angling towards the nearest edge to get clear. His people would be waiting to fish him out of the thronging crowd.

[Stern]

Stern heard it too. "You know, times like these I wonder why they bothered with us in the first place."

He was still in charge. He still had the MCU and they still needed to act. Were he not an officer, he would just have light-jumped into the fray to collar or cuff as many as he could. He didn't have the luxury of not being choosy. Vanguard did.

"Shield, see what you can do about containing that riot! Get Hu, Ghost, and anyone else we can to get people out of there!"

Stern got back on his walkie. "I want LAPD between the mutant and mundane crowds. Disperse the mundanes rapidly."

Now it was his turn to take some action. "I'm going in there to see what I can't do to break up that fight before Vanguard gets in there and turns everyone into vegetables."

Stern disappeared from the stage and stood in the center of the writhing group of people, flaring as brightly as he could without causing permanent blindness.

"LAPD! Everyone will step back now or face charges of assault and disturbing the peace!"

[Julian Davitt]

He'd been sleeping in his normal place when they'd left. The garage was nice and dark and just drafty enough to allow a breeze through that kept a canine quite cool enough if they were positioned right. Once everyone had left, he'd nosed his way back inside, and positioned himself in the living room on the floor, panting to regulate his body temperature.

At some point, the television had been turned on by somebody, he couldn't remember their name. The news was on.

"It appears that a fight has broken out at the rally, Paul," the correspondent was saying into the camera. "Police in riot gear are moving in to break up the disturbance."

Julian lifted his head to see the television more clearly. The picture was difficult to make out, but he could hear every word clearly, though the meanings of most of them went right over his head. He let a long murmur rumble down in his chest, expressing his curiosity. He looked back at the other person watching the rally with him, asking about what was going on with his eyes.

[Spectre]

"Things are going south already.."

Spectre took a last sip of her lemonade and regrettably tossed the still full cup in the proper receptacle. Let it not be said Spectre was not as fond of ecology as she was of evolution.

With a hand on Void's shoulder, she raised up on her tip-toes like a true spectator as a big-mouthed human took down the boy protecting the purple-skinned girl. Spectre's fingers clenched in a tight grip as she struggled to remain as she was, but she held her ground.

With some effort she dragged her gaze to the newest arrivals on scene, knowing exactly who they were and what they were capable of. She had dealt with their kind before. "Fucking Vanguard..", she growled in her partner's ear. "Come on, time to get a bit closer to the proverbial fan.."

First her attention went back to the group clustered around the gang members and the defensive mutants. It was not hard to pinpoint the exact mind she was looking for, she knew it well.

Heads up, hun. Vanguard is showing it's ugly face.

Recognizing the MCU boss man, Spectre acted out of instinct, grabbing Void by the back of the head and forcing his face into her neck. "Shut your eyes!!" The daylight alone was enough to put a hurting on her partner. The singular ability of this mutant would be devastating to Void.

"LAPD! Everyone will step back now or face charges of assault and disturbing the peace!"

[Shield]

There was one thing you could say for Captain Stern - you always saw him on the front lines. In fact, chances were you saw very little else. Duquesne didn't make the mistake of looking straight at the officer shining like a second sun in the middle of the disturbance. Instead, he looked around the perimeter and mostly saw people scrambling away from the epicenter.

Except for the damned Vanguard soldiers masquerading as riot cops - they kept on bulling forward, and the fleeing mutants bounced off them like pebbles before a landslide. And if that wasn't bad enough, their departure had left large gaps in the line that--

One of the anti-mutant protesters ran into the street and hurled a sealed water bottle into the crowd of mutants. Another followed suit with what looked like a can of beer.

"Stop!" Duquesne roared, and he threw out a hand, palm forward, the universal gesture of a man who had nothing but the voice of authority to back him up - except Duquesne had a lot more than that. A shimmering wall of blue light erupted from his hand. The flying can struck the force field and showered the pavement with beer.

With his abilities on full display, Shield pointed toward the two protesters who'd thrown debris. "Walters, Kranchik, arrest those men!"

Something that looked like red fireballs impacted the force field from the other side. Duquesne turned and sent a smaller psychic shield careening into the mutant miscreant, knocking him to the ground.

"We need real reinforcements, this is getting out of control!"

[Alex Kaine]

Alex stumbled away from the glowing mutant cop. He'd lost track of the other kids from Redencion, but when the spots cleared from his vision, he found himself looking down a corridor of open grass with a wall of cops in body armor advancing swiftly and silently toward him.

A panicked woman ran across his field of vision and collided with one of the cops. He grabbed her, twisted her around, and forced her to the ground with terrifying speed, and a black collar suddenly glistened around her neck.

Outrage bubbled up in Alex's chest, and before he even knew what he was doing, he rushed into the path of the cops. "That's brutality!" he shouted. "You don't have the right--"

"Out of the way!" one cop ordered, and he put a hand on his nightstick.

"I'm not moving unless you--"

The cop stepped forward and, with mutagen-enhanced strength, batted Alex aside like an insect. The mutant teen went sprawling to the ground, and another man leaned over him with a collar.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Anger and horror warred across her features as she stumbled back, grabbing Aimee's hand as the girl fell towards her, and away from the Doctor. Everything was happening so quickly she felt frozen in place, with no idea where to even try to help first.

The heavily armored soldiers caught here eye as they moved in vicious precision, cutting off the escape of many of the mutants trapped in the midst of the trouble. Instead of helping protect the mutants who were under assault, they waded in and started capturing them.

Throwing panicked and screaming people to the ground and collaring them as if they were animals.

There was no containing Lana's temper the second one of them hit Alex and sent him crumbling into a heap on the ground. She pushed Aimee back towards the tree and the spot where Tess stood as she raced forward. As if flipping a switch, pure golden energy enveloped her hands as they curled into fists and emanated from her eyes.

Before the bastard could collar Alex, Lana's right hand flung forward and let loose a glittering bolt of energy that slammed into the soldier's chest and flung him back several feet, sprawling at the feet of several of his fellows.

She hurled several choice Russian invectives at him as she came to Alex's side. Dropping to her knees, she steadied him as he sat up, fingers trembling with barely contained rage as she made sure he was alright.

[Antonio Fernandez]

Antonio was standing on the cooler that Kyle had brought, trying to give everyone a play-by-play of what was going on, but the LAPD officers that had been standing between the two opposing rallies had moved out of position and pro-MRA people were starting to come across the road. He looked down at his friends, mutants and non-mutants, the fun of just a few minutes ago fading from their faces and being replaced by worry. "Uh, we're pretty far back but I think we should maybe move further." He looked at Riley, and grinned brashly. "Purely precautionary, of course."

People were starting to push and shove around them, and Antonio fell off the cooler, stumbling past Jimmy and nearly running over a little kid on the grass. A tall woman with a hard look on her face hit him with a stiff arm, keeping him from trampling the boy, and Antonio tried to look apologetic as he rubbed his chest.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't see him there."