ng_independent (ng_independent) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2010-04-06 00:01:00

Entry tags:

inactive - harry reynolds, inactive - julian gallo, inactive - lisa graves, team - x-factor

May the Universe grant us health; we can steal the rest (X-Factor)
After she had seen them on television, she'd gone into her bedroom for a long heart to heart with Daddy. He was so happy, so proud. They'd laid down the ground rules -- lots and lots of rules, or it wouldn't be any good, after all.

Now for the opening move. She had a meeting with some of the Foundation for a Finer Life's best and brigh--- well, they were good boys, anyway. Nice boys. They tried hard; and that's all Phoebe was asking for.

Starting that night and continuing throughout the week, there was a surge in break-ins, burglaries, and vandalism in the area of town surrounding X-Factor's new home/studio.
Three churches -- all coincidentally connected by their contributions to such things as 'sexuality rehabilitation' centers -- ransacked with 'Glass Houses!' spray-painted in bright yellow on the inner walls. Numerous stores robbed only of their entire supply of cigarettes, with 'Nasty Habit!' painted across the empty storage display cases in the same bright shade.
Scores of cars stolen from a parking lot that had been made just a few months before by paving over greenspace, with 'Ride a Bike!' in yellow.

Every single security camera anywhere near any scene of the crime had been taken as well.

By the end of the week, letter with no fingerprints or return address will be delivered to the plaza which reads simply,
'Welcome to the neighborhood. And nobody hurt yet. Ain't we sweet?'

(Post a new comment)

	hellfireprince 2010-04-06 03:39 am UTC (link)
	Julian couldn't put together. The vandalism, the damage, all at places so near the new X-Factor Plaza, yet none of the damage to the actually plaza itself. The strange messages, and now this letter. "What the hell?" is all Julian can say as he reads it over and over. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-06 03:45 am UTC (link)
	Pauline got on tiptoe behind and to the left of Julian to see the letter. "Are we being stalked by the most innocuous gang ever?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-04-06 03:52 am UTC (link)
	He offers Pauline a smile, and hands her the letter. "Your assumption is correct. It's like they're trying to get our attention...while staying anonymous. So these people want something." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-06 03:55 am UTC (link)
	Pauline looks at the letter. "'Yet'? 'Yet' can't be good." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-04-06 03:58 am UTC (link)
	"No, it's not. And that worries me. This place was built to attract a lot of people, and if they decide to use that..." Julian doesn't finish the sentence. "We need to know who we're dealing with before they make another move." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-06 04:02 am UTC (link)
	Pauline bites her lip. "I could maybe get a feel for what they're like if I went down to the latest place they were at and focused for a few verses." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-04-06 04:05 am UTC (link)
	"If you think you can do it, sure. I want you to take DJ and Harry with you, at the least." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dinosaur_jr 2010-04-06 07:45 am UTC (link)
	DJ wanders in to catch just the last bit of that. "If Pauline is going, I'm in. But what am I being volunteered for?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-06 07:58 am UTC (link)
	Pauline half-walks-half-skips over to DJ. "Going to look where the latest robbery was and see if I can pick up some sort of montage of it." She hands DJ the note. "It kinda sounds like the Hippie Mafia or whatever is interested in us." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dinosaur_jr
2010-04-06 08:04 am UTC (link)

He reads the note, looking over the list and all.
"Huh, I'm... kind of torn here. I mean, its a team thing, and you're in, so I'll help and all. But is this really the best use of our time? Yes, ok, its high profile...and obnoxious, but these guys kind of have a point. And surely there's more serious criminals we could be pursuing?"

Yeah, his punk sensibilities clash a little on this one.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-06 08:23 am UTC (link)
	"Well, just speaking personally, I don't wanna beat them up or anything, but since it's happening in our neighborhood, it probably wouldn't hurt to know a little more." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dinosaur_jr 2010-04-06 08:39 am UTC (link)
	As usual, Pauline is able to speak his language pretty well. "Ok, fair enough. A little investigation I can handle." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	your_talents 2010-04-06 11:56 am UTC (link)
	Lisa saunters in, reading over a newspaper article on the vandalism spree. She's positively bubbly, giggling to herself delightedly. "Have you guys followed up on all this?" She holds up the headline page. "This is hilarious." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	clothesline 2010-04-06 03:37 pm UTC (link)
	"It's more ugly than hilarious," Jason commented as he walked in. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-06 05:53 pm UTC (link)
	“I can’t understand why someone would be doing this,” Harry says when he comes in and joins the conversation. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dinosaur_jr 2010-04-06 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	"I can. Have you seen the 'protest' laws? There's almost no legitimate forum to actually protest this stuff, especially if its in a commercial zone. Doubly so if the place makes enough money or looks churchy enough to please the city fathers. Its not funny, its sad." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hellfireprince
2010-04-07 01:03 am UTC (link)

Julian nodded to everyone as they came in, working the situation out in his mind. Someone wanted attention, but more so, they wanted X-Factor's attention.

"So...if we investigate these goings-on, we give them the attention they want by dint of trying to find them. If we don't investigate, we still give them attention, as well as reason to try something bigger and louder to get us to notice them next time." Julian reasons.

"So, what does everyone think? It seems like we're damned if we do and damned if we don't."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

your_talents
2010-04-07 01:07 am UTC (link)

Lisa drapes herself over one of the couches, gears turning in her head.

"I say we try to bring them on board with us, if they're a mutant. Get some good PR with the left wing crowd for the sentiment they're broadcasting, and give ourselves cred with the other side for the 'social justice' end of things, bringing a misguided individual lashing out at the world under our caring and selfless wing." She puts a hand to her chest at the last bit, letting her voice flutter a bit.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dinosaur_jr 2010-04-07 01:11 am UTC (link)
	"We don't know them, we don't know if they're mutants, we don't know if we could work with them... though I might be able to, who knows. I doubt they want to be recruited... they have a cause, and they want attention. I say we don't make any decisions now. Let's investigate, quietly, bring back what we find out, and decide then?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-07 01:16 am UTC (link)
	Pauline looks up and nods rather intently after DJ speaks. "I still just want to go down and look and that's all for now." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-07 01:32 am UTC (link)
	“I’m not sure that there is much that I could do to help in investigating but whatever I can do to help just let me know,” Harry said earnestly. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-04-07 01:41 am UTC (link)
	"DJ's got the right of it, for the moment. We figure out who these people are, and then decide how to deal with them. I have think that if they wanted to be part of the team, and they were mutants, they might have asked directly. It's not like we're hard to find." he says. "You three find out what you can, and the rest of us will keep on business as usual." Julian offers. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	indie_minor 2010-04-08 02:41 am UTC (link)
	Later, at the empty parking lot, no one else around but them at the moment, Pauline looks around, singing solfage to herself, trying to see the place through the eyes of those who'd left a psychic impression. The tune she was singing, as she pushes her powers, rapidly changes to...'Whistle While You Work.' (Reply to this)(Thread)

	dinosaur_jr 2010-04-08 02:59 am UTC (link)
	DJ gives Pauline her space to work, trying not to crowd her perceptions, but not too much, keeping a close eye on her from about twenty feet away, sipping at a cup of coffee and trying to look casual. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-08 03:07 am UTC (link)
	While Harry didn’t have any skills that would help in searching another pair of eyes wouldn’t hurt. For now Harry was standing near DJ keeping an eye on the area around them. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

indie_minor
2010-04-08 03:14 am UTC (link)

After a few minutes of ubercheerful humming, Pauline finally turns and walks back to them.

"It was true, I'm dead certain, that nobody's been hurt yet," she says quietly and pleasantly. "They were real careful about waiting until they had it clear, really efficient about disabling the cameras and getting it all done fast -- whoever was prying the doors open and whoever was hotwiring them were either mutants or had something else up their sleeve, hard to tell. There's this...really strong impression of teamwork. It's kinda cute, really."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dinosaur_jr
2010-04-08 03:22 am UTC (link)

"Hmmm, ok, so that means they've had some chances to run through some of this stuff in simulation. They're probably either mutants of some sort, have a big budget, or they're west coast. Some of the greeners out there get pretty elaborate and have more space and organization. There's no pamphleting or tags... less likely to be New York."

Yeah, he doesn't know his activist terrorism at all.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-08 03:25 am UTC (link)
	“That is pretty impressive work, doing all of that would require a lot of planning even with powers to get the timing right,” Harry said, “and I do like that they aren’t hurting anybody but we need to stop them before that does happen.” (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-08 03:31 am UTC (link)
	Pauline listens. "If it's a good chance they're out-of-towners or bicoastal or something, that makes their acting so...locally even weirder, doesn't it?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dinosaur_jr
2010-04-08 03:37 am UTC (link)

"Not really... most of the activist manpower is west coast, most of the money is east coast. The people who do a lot of, say, the animal lab hits bus people in and out... harder to trace than flying, and the cops usually don't look for out of towners. And if they're quick enough, they're over state borders. The odd things is using the same people, which they have to be if they were all equally well organized and planned, for three different hits. Usually they'd space them out more to reduce risk of getting someone caught... unless they want to get someone caught to make a statement and have a spokesman in reporter reach once they've gotten enough attention. As professional as they're being, they're unlikely to risk hurting anyone - all these crimes are the kind that stir up sentiment. They want a specific kind of attention."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-08 03:43 am UTC (link)
	“Yeah that makes sense,” Harry said. He didn’t know a lot about that kind of thing and was will to take DJ word on this type of thing and he was glad these guys weren’t like that last ones. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	indie_minor 2010-04-08 03:51 am UTC (link)
	Pauline listens and nods. "Here's hoping getting somebody caught's the most out-there they might want to go. Guess there's nothing much to worry about for now but keeping a general eye out in the neighborhood, huh?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dinosaur_jr
2010-04-08 04:21 am UTC (link)

"Kind of depends. If they're this good because of organization and professionalism, then yeah, we have almost nothing to worry about other than making sure we don't become a target. If they're this good because of mutant powers... then its a total wildcard. This looks like an east-west job, but if its a mutant, all bets are off and they could be as prone to unintended consequences as anyone. If the next three or four hits are like this... because whoever it is wants attention - we can assume this - there will be more - then we have nothing to worry about either. If they start to escalate, we have issues - and much better chance of this being talented amateurs."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harryreynolds 2010-04-08 04:56 pm UTC (link)
	“Keeping an eye on the area definitely sounds like a good idea and maybe a little research might give up a better idea of who exactly they are.” (Reply to this)(Parent)

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