[Plot] The Beat Is Always True

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

With even Tereza seeming a bit nervous or somehow out of sorts, her own nerves weren’t feeling great, but by the time they stepped on stage something came over Steph and she was all business. It was clear she’d spent a fair amount of time on stage in one capacity or another, but her wilder side was most certainly taking over as they took their spots on stage, her eyes yellowing, her form swelling slightly, her hair becoming more of a wild mane.

She really hit her stride with the opening riffs of their last set, and by that point was grinning, swaying, and tossing her head back and forth in time with the beat, and she joined Sam in her exuberant whoop that almost felt more like a howl.

As the stepped offstage, she was beaming, “That was the most fun I’ve had in months.”

[Samantha McManus]

"I know, right? Not bad for a first show, was it?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"You all did great," Tereza says, giving Stephanie a pat on the shoulder as she scoots past the group and makes for the backstage exit.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'll be right back," she says to Steph before going to follow Tereza.

[Will Stanton]

"Good show, Sam! Don't make it easy for me, why don't you?" Acoustic!Will laughed, calling after the departing Morrigan.

[Will Stanton]

After congratulating the various members of Bitchcraft on their performance, Will took the stage, waving to the audience.

"Good evening! Hello hello hello," he smiled, taking a seat on a stool in front of the microphone and retuning his guitar one last time.

"My name's Will Stanton; I'm closing out your mutant music block for the evening. Let's give them all one last hand, yeah? They're my family, after all," he said, pausing for the crowd to give one last round of applause to the other bands.

"Alright, now, we're going to take it down just a notch or two -- let it mellow out a bit and calm down. I'm so glad I get to be here with all you great folks tonight; that certainly wasn't a guarantee. I've moved around quite a bit through my life -- if I told you how much, either you wouldn't believe me and say I was crazy, or you would believe me, and I'd say you were crazy," he joked, to a smattering of laughter. "Move around as much as I have, and you everything sort of begins to blend together. Faces you loved coming in and out of your life, and you're just trying to keep your head above the current. This is a song about life on the road."

He began fingerpicking the intro, leading into his opening chorus.

Highways and dance halls; a good song takes you far
You write about the moon and you dream about the stars

Blues in old motel rooms, girls in daddy's car
You sing about the nights and you laugh about the scars.

Coffee in the morning, cocaine afternoons.
You talk about the weather, and you grin about the rooms

Phone calls long distance to tell have you've been
Forget about the losses, you exaggerate the wins

And when you stop to let 'em know you've got it down
It's just another town along the road...


The first personality trait anyone would associate with Will was goofiness, but on this one, he let the thread of melancholy that had run through him ever since he had fully regained his memories flow to the forefront of his performance, imbuing his performance with a sense of world weariness that can only really be tapped into from a sense of separation.

[Narrator]

It's definitely a mood whiplash compared to the high energy performance that came before, but it meshes well with the sun beginning to creep towards the horizon and soon lighters and bright phone-screens sway in time with the music above the sea of faces.

[Will Stanton]

Will waved a bit at the crowd.

"Thank you, thank you."

He cast his eyes out on the crowd, spotting Sam and Tereza in the crowd having a hard time. He frowned for just a moment, but continued.

"It's taken me quite some time to come to grips with my life, but I've found a bit of inner peace recently. It's a long path forward, but being up here sharing it with all of you certainly helps. I swear, no one tells you that one of the side-effects of a mutation is crippling self-doubt," he joked. "Seriously! You see some of those superstar mutants on the news, and they seem like they've figured everything out. Back home -- and even I'm not quite sure what I mean by back home -- that level of self-confidence is lacking. I suppose that's true for all of us, though, isn't it? We get lost in a sea of our own biggest flaws, and are just trying to muddle through the day.

This song is for some friends, who need to hear it. Some are here, some are back home, and some are way back home."

He began strumming again...

I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside your twisted and unkind
Please put down your hands, 'cause I see you.

I'll be your mirror...

This one was less melancholy than the one before, but no less heartfelt, as he thought about Miriam, about Tereza, about Robin and Sara, about everyone...

[Will Stanton]

"Thank you, thank you. One last song, and that'll be me for the day.

A lot of the pro-mutant propaganda you'll find out there emphasizes that we're not just a set of weird abilities, but full people; we're not defined by what we do. I'm here to tell you that that's not exactly true -- and it's not just a mutant thing, either. We're all defined by what we do, every one of us. Everyone up here on stage tonight is defined by being a musician. Everyone of you in the audience is defined by being a music fan. We're all a million things, struggling to find equilibrium. As for me, my gift is the ability to change my form -- but it comes with it's own price to pay. When you can change yourself to make other people happy, you sometimes feel that you should. But then, that's just not a me thing, is it? We're all just trying to live up to expectations, to work with and for one another. To make people's lives better because we were in them, no matter how briefly. We're all just trying to keep our customers satisfied..."

As Will talked, he subtly shifted his throat and vocal chords, creating a second pathway for air from his lungs -- nothing visible from the outside, but the sound of someone singing harmony with themselves was something else.

Gee but it's great to be back home
Home is where I want to be.
I've been on the road so long my friend,
And if you came along
I know you couldn't disagree.
It's the same old story, yeah

Everywhere I go,
I get slandered, libeled,
I hear words I never heard in the Bible
And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied,
Satisfied!

A high-energy performance to close out the set.

[Danielle DiScivolare]

As Will closes out his set he's met with cheers from the audience and a couple sharp whistles as well as the final band passing by onto the stage. A familiar face shakes her head at him as they do.

"You people are killing me. How are you so good?" she complains in passing before turning to her bandmates. "Okay, I know we talked about this but let me kick it off with my song first. We need something big and I can do it." The mumbled assent is too quiet for Will to make out in detail.

The young woman with a slight tan steps up to the mic as the rest of her band sets up behind her. She's wearing a snappy pin-stripe vest/skirt combo over a ruffled white shirt with a loose tie. It weirdly meshes with the stylistic clash of torn fishnet stocking and black Doc Martins, the other band members wearing a similar mish-mash of sleek and sloppy.

"Hey everybody!" she addresses the crowd, taking the mic off it's stand. "We're Poison Apple and we are super glad we get to be here tonight! Even if this have been a tough couple acts to follow, am I right?" she pauses to give the crowd a chance to cheer once more for Will and the previous bands. "Now I wish we coulda come up after Three-Armed Sally, huh?" she adds and the joke's a bit too mean-spirited to land proper, which she recognizes almost imemdiately.

"Ahem... anyway! Without further ado!" she moves on and points back at the rest of her band who launch into their first song with a couple strong chords before Danny brings the mic up to her mouth and starts to sing.

[Will Stanton]

"Don't bite off more than you can chew, Poison Apple," Will joked, as he walked past the band back into the backstage area.

[Conduit]

For as much as she thinks of herself, her voice does back up some of her attitude as she finishes up on a long note, past the point of the rest of the band finishing up the song.

And as the band is starting into their second song and the sun is hanging low on the horizon, a pair of vastly differently sized silhouettes leaps through the evening sky and lands on the Marble Arch across from the stage, the smaller one clinging to the back of the larger. The crowd doesn't notice, their attention focused on the performance, but the people backstage might catch a glimpse.

"You can't run away forever
But there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start
You want to shut out the night, you want to shut down the sun
You want to shut away the pieces of a broken heart

Think of how we'd lay down together
We'd be listening to the radio so loud and so strong
Every golden nugget coming like a gift of the gods
Someone must have blessed us when he gave us those songs!"


Danny is belting out on stage as the two figures step up to the edge of the Arch. The towering figure of a giant shark rises to his full height and lifts the barrel of what appears to be a large gun and on his shoulder a manically grinning girl is leaning out, holding on to the back of the Shark-Man's head as she points across the crowd. The band continues to play as the strange brackets suspended around the barrel of the gun begin to spin and blur...


"Once upon a time was a backbeat
Once upon a time all the chords came to Life
And the angels had guitars even before they had wings
If you hold onto a chorus you can get through the night
(Get you through the night)

I treasure your love, I never want to lose it
You've been through the fires of hell
And I know you've got the ashes to prove it
I treasure your love, I want to show you how to use it
You've been through a lot of pain in the dirt
And I know you've got the scars to prove it."

(Keep on believing, and you'll discover baby)
There's always something magic
There's always something new
And when you really really need it the most
That's when rock and roll dreams come trough!"


And as the song crests Conduit and Tresher fire their gun and it's like time slows to a crawl. All the X-Men backstage and the few scattered mutants throughout the crowd can feel it in their bones, a vibrating, pushing and pulling at their very core the moment the trigger is pulled and a narrow beam of bright light discharges from the gun. It looks almost more like someone took a scalpel to reality and carved a line out of the world it's so bright as it sweeps through the audience in a diagonal line from near the Arch towards the stage. Panic is about to break out but is swiftly replaced with fear and confusion when the beam passes, cuts out and the people hit are still standing there, moving, blinking, many patting down their body as if they can hardly believe they're still alive. It's only a couple moments later that all hell breaks loose. From the stage it's easier to see, though it's still pure chaos as the crowd begins to move without any clear consensus on which direction to go. But the people hit by the beam, now no longer in a neat line as people move, draw all the attention.


One person's torso opens up, cleanly, no blood, unspooling almost and engulfing the person unlucky enough to stand next to them, swallowing them whole as the original person takes on spiraling swirls across their body and clothes that match those of the one he just 'swallowed'. ♪You're still inside me...Let me fall apart without letting go...I will replace you...Disappeared to the back of my mind...♫

Another woman is staring up at the sky, her eyes gone and replaced with the erratic flickering of flame. ♪A candle burning in her eye...♫

A man is running, trying to push away a person in front of him and suddenly his leg is gone and he stumbles into the one in front of him who too almost goes down as he grows a third leg, the two trying to disentangle themselves in a confusing pile of swapping, transferring and stolen body-parts. ♪Let me be your eyes, a hand in your darkness... Baby drop them bones...♫

A woman somewhere in the back is screaming as flakes of ash peel away from her skin in billowing clouds, swirling around her trying to take shape as sections of wall, fence, sections of roof, existing only for moments before dispersing back into ash. And as her panic rises the clouds of ash begin to be dotted with sparks, threatening to burst into a blaze. ♪And I know you've got the ashes to prove it... let me fall apart without letting go... didn't want to escape from the bricks I laid down...♫

A man next to her is frozen in place in fear, the swirling ash cloud having ground away most of his left arm, but in it's place he's regrowing a limb that is slimy, almost a bit oily and trapping the ash particles, turning them into hardened flakes of armor. ♪What doesn't kill me makes me stronger... Downplay the losses and exaggerate the wins...♫

A person pops into existence in the middle of a group of people, twenty feet or so away his exact duplicate looks on in confusion, as does the new copy. Then the original disappears, bursting with a kinetic force that knocks the people around him to the ground. Then another copy appears and the one who'd existed for maybe a handful of seconds pops. And so he continues copying and disappearing throughout the crowd. ♪Jenny died of suicide... Where there's a will there's a way... One step ahead, two steps away...♫

A woman is flailing about, literally coming apart as arms, legs, torso unravel into flat, inch-wide ribbons that snap out at anything and anyone in reach. Where they grab a support strut of one of the stands the metal gives in and crumples. Where the tendrils wrap around people, screams erupt and blood wells. All the while the unravelling woman is nothing but a head on top of dozens and dozens of ribbons that are clearly out of her control. ♪Let me fall apart without letting go... Steel in her bones... Attack me with knives, cut me up in the night...♫

All around those chaotic manifestations of power are less catastrophic ones. Someone is turning into sounds and reconstituting themselves away from the mayhem.♪A good song takes you far...♫ Another fades from view as she mimics the world around her like a chameleon.♪When I wanna go to a place I can hide...I'll be your mirror, reflect what you are...♫ Somebody is distorting into geometric angles and waves that almost hurt to look at as she moves but seems relatively in control.♪One step ahead, two steps away...Burned away a blood into stone...♫ Another has fallen unconscious and is being carried inside of a translucent creature made of rainbow hues.♪Disappeared to the back of my mind...Dream about the stars...Till there's nothing left but the voice in my head...♫


In the Pandemonium it's easy to miss but where mutations are bursting forth they're accompanied by faint echoes and fragments of music that hang in the air like skipping records...

[Will Stanton]

"Isn't that..." is about as far as Acoustic!Will gets out before chaos falls over London.

Quickly, he ran back out on stage, pushing his way past the Poison Apple members, to look over the crowd and take stock. "Holy shit, it's a nightmare out here."


"And up there," Bass!Will agrees, pointing out Conduit and Thresher.

The two lock eyes for a moment and nod, and then leap from the stage into the crowd, swinging guitars at anyone who might get in their way as they try to cut a path towards the pair of supervillains.

[Shane Marsh]

Shane only stared at the horror in the crowd for a few seconds before springing into action, shifting his outfit into the likeness of an X-Men uniform as he ran to join the Wills in shoving through the crowd.

"Out of the way or you get cactus needles in the ass!" he shouted as he bulldozed through with wooden shields.

[Drake Martin]

"Who the hell are these psychos?!" Drake called out as he flew over the crowd. He circled around the villains before diving in to deliver a gout of suppressing fire while mindful of the giant rifle.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"...shit." Stephanie swore as her eyes widened in horror at what was going on. She had no idea what she was doing. Could she help? Would she be more harm than help?

Her eyes darted around the crowd from her position backstage, and she saw the horrifying transformations, the fear in everyone's eyes, and the near-glee in the attackers eyes and a rage boiled up within her. She could do something. She'd been having dates with Tosh in the Danger Room doing just this sort of thing since before they were even dating.

She ripped off her boots and slid her jeans down her legs, stepping out of them as she pulled off her shirt and felt the burning pain of her transformation start. She focused on the pain, fueling the anger and pushing harder as her bones cracked, fur sprouted across her body and her face contorted into a muzzle.

She let out a howl, still unseen, but hoping she might rally her bandmates...friends? pack? before she got to the attackers.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo had been nervous about the crowds but had come anyway. He eventually relaxed enough despite the stares and nervous glances to enjoy the public outing with Ainsley.

That was until the creepy little girl and her pet cybernetic monster lanced the crowd with... well, with whatever kind of energy beam that was. His protective instincts kicked in immediately and he pushed his boyfriend to the ground, covering Ainsley with his large frame. He was lucky to avoid getting hit himself

[Ainsley Green]

Leo was fairly lucky the forced dirt sandwich was for a good reason, and Ainsley laid incredibly still under the other boy, waiting for the next move from... anyone really.

[Narrator]

"And up there," Bass!Will agrees, pointing out Conduit and Thresher.

The two lock eyes for a moment and nod, and then leap from the stage into the crowd, swinging guitars at anyone who might get in their way as they try to cut a path towards the pair of supervillains.

Most of the crowd are only too happy to get out of the way, already in the process of trying to disperse from the square into the park. At least the relatively open nature of the area means people aren't likely to get crushed or trampled in the chaos but it's still taking a while for the crowd to thin. Especially since people try to keep their distance from the countless manifesting mutants. One of which stumbles into Will's path, if it can even be called that. A mere head with hundreds of thin tentacles extending out from the neck where a body is supposed to be, moving erratically as the tendrils latch on to anything in reach, which unfortunately mostly means people. A lot of the surrounding crowd was injured to varying degrees of severity before the newly minted mutant managed to aim most of herself at a nearby lamp-post that the tendrils are slowly crushing and folding into a tangled mess. But numerous ones still lash out at the general area and one catch Guitar!Will around the forearm, cutting into him like a steel-wire cinching around a piece of clay.

"Out of the way or you get cactus needles in the ass!" he shouted as he bulldozed through with wooden shields.

Shane too finds it relatively easy to make his way through, most people already trying to scramble away from the mutants except for a couple of people he dodges around who are frozen in place with a horrified expression on their face. Not entirely frozen, just terrified to move, apparently. Past them a person who is only barely humanoid anymore is rippling with geometric shapes almost like a bismuth crystal and around them spots in the air ripple with similar distortion. They're hard enough to see in the chaos that Shane runs right into one with his shield and is stopped dead in his tracks, the shield frozen in place as the ripples merge into a spot on his shield and seems to fix it in place.

"Who the hell are these psychos?!" Drake called out as he flew over the crowd. He circled around the villains before diving in to deliver a gout of suppressing fire while mindful of the giant rifle.

Drake makes it about halfway over the crowd when a sudden cloud of ash billows forth from somewhere beneath him. The coarse particles would have scraped the skin off of somebody not protected by scales as him, but they're still painfully abrasive and the flakes stick to him, building up until his wings become hard to beat enough to stay airborne and he begins falling from the sky. Behind him the column of ash catches on fire but manages to narrowly miss inciting him as well.

She let out a howl, still unseen, but hoping she might rally her bandmates...friends? pack? before she got to the attackers.

Steph's wolf eyes soon spots Sam and Tereza in the crowd, the later in the process of swelling in size and sprouting fur herself.

Leo had been nervous about the crowds but had come anyway. He eventually relaxed enough despite the stares and nervous glances to enjoy the public outing with Ainsley.

That was until the creepy little girl and her pet cybernetic monster lanced the crowd with... well, with whatever kind of energy beam that was. His protective instincts kicked in immediately and he pushed his boyfriend to the ground, covering Ainsley with his large frame. He was lucky to avoid getting hit himself

Through the crowd, a man stumbles towards them, having trouble staying balanced with one arm significantly larger than the other, jagged bits of ash and stone protruding from reddened skin. His face has a huge laceration running diagonally across it but instead of bleeding the wound is flapping open and growing teeth as skewed addition to his mouth. He is laughing and jabbering to himself as he stumbles towards Leo. "I'm invincible! Hahaha, fuck all of you, come on, hit me! Fuck me up, you monsters!"

[Conduit]

Above it all Conduit is grinning from ear to ear and her voice echoes from the speakers all around the plaza.

"Contextual testing a big success! I come bearing gifts!" she informs the crowd and the tugging hum in every mutant's bones starts up again like a distant tingle as the gun slowly begins to spin up again.

[Shane Marsh]

Shane too finds it relatively easy to make his way through, most people already trying to scramble away from the mutants except for a couple of people he dodges around who are frozen in place with a horrified expression on their face. Not entirely frozen, just terrified to move, apparently. Past them a person who is only barely humanoid anymore is rippling with geometric shapes almost like a bismuth crystal and around them spots in the air ripple with similar distortion. They're hard enough to see in the chaos that Shane runs right into one with his shield and is stopped dead in his tracks, the shield frozen in place as the ripples merge into a spot on his shield and seems to fix it in place.

He detached the shield and backed away from the bismuth person. He wanted to press forward but had to get those without detachable body parts away from the danger. But first, he put his hands to the ground and sent vines under the bismuth person, which sprung up to tether them with a multitude of clinging vines.

[Will Stanton]

Bass!Will ducked under the tentacles, continuing his assault on the center plinth and leaving Guitar!Will to fend for himself--someone had to stop Conduit, after all, and stopping wasn't an option.

As for Guitar!Will, he swore as his forearm was sliced off the...well, not bone, he was a clay guy, but lopped off without much effort. "Woah, there, fella," he said, through gritted teeth. "Take a deep breath and count backwards with me, alright? 100...99..."

[Drake Martin]

Drake makes it about halfway over the crowd when a sudden cloud of ash billows forth from somewhere beneath him. The coarse particles would have scraped the skin off of somebody not protected by scales as him, but they're still painfully abrasive and the flakes stick to him, building up until his wings become hard to beat enough to stay airborne and he begins falling from the sky. Behind him the column of ash catches on fire but manages to narrowly miss inciting him as well.

Drake furiously beat his wings in a final vain effort to stay aloft before he opened them up to glide as much as possible to reduce the impact of the impending crash. Just before hitting the ground, he tucked in his limbs to protect himself. He slammed into the ground and rolled to a dazed stop.

"Owww..." he groaned. He wasn't out of the action, but he would need a moment.

[Leo Eskandari]

Through the crowd, a man stumbles towards them, having trouble staying balanced with one arm significantly larger than the other, jagged bits of ash and stone protruding from reddened skin. His face has a huge laceration running diagonally across it but instead of bleeding the wound is flapping open and growing teeth as skewed addition to his mouth. He is laughing and jabbering to himself as he stumbles towards Leo. "I'm invincible! Hahaha, fuck all of you, come on, hit me! Fuck me up, you monsters!"

Leo got to his feet and faced the threat. Looking back to Ainsley, he said, "Get somewhere safe. I'll keep this one busy."

Macho protectiveness out of the way, he stared down Slashmouth. "You really want to test that idea?" he said with a hint of a deep growl. Paired with his height and general appearance, it was all really quite intimidating.

Maybe he could find a job as a bouncer?

[Narrator]

He detached the shield and backed away from the bismuth person. He wanted to press forward but had to get those without detachable body parts away from the danger. But first, he put his hands to the ground and sent vines under the bismuth person, which sprung up to tether them with a multitude of clinging vines.

The vines burst forth around the mutant's feet and entangle them. Until Shane can suddenly feel the vines distorting and rippling as the mutant moves forward less with a step and more of an unfolding spatial motion, geometric shapes rippling forward and passing through the vines that are left behind scrambled up into a similar pattern of squares and cubes, only identifiable as vines by color and material.

Bass!Will ducked under the tentacles, continuing his assault on the center plinth and leaving Guitar!Will to fend for himself--someone had to stop Conduit, after all, and stopping wasn't an option.

As for Guitar!Will, he swore as his forearm was sliced off the...well, not bone, he was a clay guy, but lopped off without much effort. "Woah, there, fella," he said, through gritted teeth. "Take a deep breath and count backwards with me, alright? 100...99..."

The tentacles continue snapping out at everything in range, including Bass!Will. He's fast and agile but not as quick as the tentacles lashing out and once one has stopped some of his momentum, a dozen more get a hold of him.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" the head that remains of the young woman stammers, trying to calm her breath but it hitches every time her tentacles lash out.

Macho protectiveness out of the way, he stared down Slashmouth. "You really want to test that idea?" he said with a hint of a deep growl. Paired with his height and general appearance, it was all really quite intimidating.

Maybe he could find a job as a bouncer?

"Oh you bet, mate!" Slashmouth *groan* says as he advances on Leo and swings at him with his oversized arm. The impact is weirdly jiggly as if the limb underneath the armor plates wasn't entirely sturdy, but that just places more of the abrasive armor scales in contact with Leo. They mostly just shred his fur where it hits but a couple scrapes get through to his skin.

Drake furiously beat his wings in a final vain effort to stay aloft before he opened them up to glide as much as possible to reduce the impact of the impending crash. Just before hitting the ground, he tucked in his limbs to protect himself. He slammed into the ground and rolled to a dazed stop.

"Owww..." he groaned. He wasn't out of the action, but he would need a moment.

From his vantage point of lieing on the ground, Drake gets a good look at a couple of feet that narrowly miss him (and a couple that don't) as people continue to flee.

[Will Stanton]

Bass!Will cried out as the tentacles twisted and tore at him, stretching, pulling, and deforming his clay as they twisted and turned.

"It's alright, its alright," Guitar!Will said, continuing to try to dodge. "Just stay here with me! C'mon, look at me, look at me. Deep breaths. Focus on my voice. 98! 97! 96!"

[Shane Marsh]

The vines burst forth around the mutant's feet and entangle them. Until Shane can suddenly feel the vines distorting and rippling as the mutant moves forward less with a step and more of an unfolding spatial motion, geometric shapes rippling forward and passing through the vines that are left behind scrambled up into a similar pattern of squares and cubes, only identifiable as vines by color and material.

Shane released his connection to the vines before the effect decided to advance to his main body.

He hurried to the frozen onlookers and produced an especially stinky flower. He waved the awful turd-blossom under their noses to snap them out of it and told each one to get to safety.

[Leo Eskandari]

"Oh you bet, mate!" Slashmouth *groan* says as he advances on Leo and swings at him with his oversized arm. The impact is weirdly jiggly as if the limb underneath the armor plates wasn't entirely sturdy, but that just places more of the abrasive armor scales in contact with Leo. They mostly just shred his fur where it hits but a couple scrapes get through to his skin.

Leo cried out as his skin was scraped up, but stood his ground and grabbed a hold of the arm and wrenched it with a low bestial rumble from deep in his chest. He brought his tail around, revealing the stinger right where the aggressive victim could see it.

"Stand down or I'll let you see the monster I can be," he said calmly, but underscored by another threatening rumble.

[Drake Martin]

From his vantage point of lieing on the ground, Drake gets a good look at a couple of feet that narrowly miss him (and a couple that don't) as people continue to flee.

He fought his way back to his feet, taking a few shoulder checks as he did before spitting a gout of warning flames into the sky. When he had space, he tested his stiffened and sore wings.

"Well shit... I'm definitely not flying anywhere," he said, before looking to where the ash came from.

[Narrator]

Bass!Will cried out as the tentacles twisted and tore at him, stretching, pulling, and deforming his clay as they twisted and turned.

"It's alright, its alright," Guitar!Will said, continuing to try to dodge. "Just stay here with me! C'mon, look at me, look at me. Deep breaths. Focus on my voice. 98! 97! 96!"

"R-r-right, y-yeah... okay..." the woman says, trying desperately not to look at the Will she's actively maiming. "N-n-ninety five..." she goes on. Her breaths are still shaky but at least they're regular.

Shane released his connection to the vines before the effect decided to advance to his main body.

He hurried to the frozen onlookers and produced an especially stinky flower. He waved the awful turd-blossom under their noses to snap them out of it and told each one to get to safety.

The person her runs to waves one hand at him, trying to get him to go away and twiting his head away from the disgusting smell. "Ugh, what, no, stop, I can't move!" he says and Shane can spot just below the shoulder of one of the man's arms is a geometric distortion that is fixed in space, small spots of blood seeping through the man's shirt at the edges of the effect where him moving slightly has caused some damage.

Leo cried out as his skin was scraped up, but stood his ground and grabbed a hold of the arm and wrenched it with a low bestial rumble from deep in his chest. He brought his tail around, revealing the stinger right where the aggressive victim could see it.

"Stand down or I'll let you see the monster I can be," he said calmly, but underscored by another threatening rumble.

The arm twists easily and Leo can feel like he could probably wrench it free entirely if he so chose. Until the man takes that decision away from him and jerks himself backwards, leaving Leo holding the floppy limb while the man grits his teeth and let's out short huffing breaths while sinews, muscles and bones regrow from his shoulder, rough armor scales now more neatly aligned and integrated into his arms. Wait, what? He's growing two arms in place of the previous one in some kind of adaptive mutation. Can't pin one arm if you have two. And the look he's giving Leo's stinger is far from fearful. "What's that? Poison? Come, don't be a pansy, aye?" he goads while his arms finish regrowing.

He fought his way back to his feet, taking a few shoulder checks as he did before spitting a gout of warning flames into the sky. When he had space, he tested his stiffened and sore wings.

"Well shit... I'm definitely not flying anywhere," he said, before looking to where the ash came from.

It's pretty easy to determine the where. There's chest-high pieces of wall made of grey ash (complete with lines imitating brick and mortar) that continuously crumble and reform to remain around the epicenter of the effect. The who is mostly obscured by the swirling clouds of ash.

[Will Stanton]

"Good, excellent," Guitar!WIll said, ignoring Bass!Will's complaints as he continued getting mangled and squished. "Ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety-two, deep breaths, you're doing well. You're in control..."

[Shane Marsh]

The person her runs to waves one hand at him, trying to get him to go away and twiting his head away from the disgusting smell. "Ugh, what, no, stop, I can't move!" he says and Shane can spot just below the shoulder of one of the man's arms is a geometric distortion that is fixed in space, small spots of blood seeping through the man's shirt at the edges of the effect where him moving slightly has caused some damage.

He got rid of the flower and surveyed the damage.

"Sorry. Just, uh, keep calm and stay still. I'm not equipped to fix this but we have people who are. It won't be long, I promise," he said calmly.

[Leo Eskandari]

The arm twists easily and Leo can feel like he could probably wrench it free entirely if he so chose. Until the man takes that decision away from him and jerks himself backwards, leaving Leo holding the floppy limb while the man grits his teeth and let's out short huffing breaths while sinews, muscles and bones regrow from his shoulder, rough armor scales now more neatly aligned and integrated into his arms. Wait, what? He's growing two arms in place of the previous one in some kind of adaptive mutation. Can't pin one arm if you have two. And the look he's giving Leo's stinger is far from fearful. "What's that? Poison? Come, don't be a pansy, aye?" he goads while his arms finish regrowing.

"If you're such a badass, why aren't you pickin' a fight with the big ugly cyborg?" he asked as he tossed aside the gross floppy limb. He took up a fighting stance but didn't want to have to fight the guy if it could be avoided.

[Drake Martin]

It's pretty easy to determine the where. There's chest-high pieces of wall made of grey ash (complete with lines imitating brick and mortar) that continuously crumble and reform to remain around the epicenter of the effect. The who is mostly obscured by the swirling clouds of ash.

Deciding there was nothing he could do about that, he made his way back towards the stage. He couldn't fight the villains like this but he could help with other things. To begin with, he called the university to let them know what's going on if they didn't already.

[Narrator]

"Good, excellent," Guitar!WIll said, ignoring Bass!Will's complaints as he continued getting mangled and squished. "Ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety-two, deep breaths, you're doing well. You're in control..."

The flailing tentacles settle down a little bit although those that had already found something to latch on to remain taut. Which is alright for those wrapped around a lamp-post that is slowly groaning and folding in where it's getting cinched but not great for Bass!Will. But at least he's not getting torn to and fro anymore and occasionally the tentacles briefly relax, even if they don't let go entirely.

"I... ninety-one... ninety... I'm so sorry for your brother..." the head sniffs between breaths.

He got rid of the flower and surveyed the damage.

"Sorry. Just, uh, keep calm and stay still. I'm not equipped to fix this but we have people who are. It won't be long, I promise," he said calmly.

"What the fuck is happening!?" the man says, not very calm at all. Around him others who are similarly afflicted are starting to shout and call out to Shane as well.
"Help!"
"Get me loose!"
"My foot, I can't move my foot!"
"Get me out of here!"

"If you're such a badass, why aren't you pickin' a fight with the big ugly cyborg?" he asked as he tossed aside the gross floppy limb. He took up a fighting stance but didn't want to have to fight the guy if it could be avoided.

"Cause he's up there and you're right here, so why not throw down with the big ugly... whatever the hell you are." he grins his unsettling grin and lunges, grabbing Leo's arm with his two new right hands and swinging a punch at his jaw with his left.

[Will Stanton]

"It's alright; Mikey likes it," Guitar!Will said, trying to inject some humor to lighten the mood. "He's always been a fan of modern art.

Eighty-nine, eighty-eight, eighty-seven, you're doing just fine. Keep breathing with me."



Bass!Will shouted something muffled that couldn't be heard clearly, but was probably not nice words of encouragement.

[Shane Marsh]

"What the fuck is happening!?" the man says, not very calm at all. Around him others who are similarly afflicted are starting to shout and call out to Shane as well.
"Help!"
"Get me loose!"
"My foot, I can't move my foot!"
"Get me out of here!"

"Everyone!" he said with a more commanding presence than before, "Help is on the way! Until then I will do everything I can to keep you safe!"

He demonstrated that by beginning to erect wooden barriers against Thresher's rifle. And like Drake, he called in to ensure help was indeed on the way.

After all that he set his eyes on the villainous duo and headed for them while the gun was charging.

[Leo Eskandari]

"Cause he's up there and you're right here, so why not throw down with the big ugly... whatever the hell you are." he grins his unsettling grin and lunges, grabbing Leo's arm with his two new right hands and swinging a punch at his jaw with his left.

The normal punch did hurt quite a bit, even drawing a little blood, but it only resulted in inflaming Leo's fight response. Seriously, who tries punching a lion in the face?

"I'm an X-Man", Leo growled. His tail quickly drove for the man's side and, at the same time, he grabbed the normal arm in one huge paw of a hand and pulled him into a head butt.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't one yet, but this guy didn't need to know that.

[Drake Martin]

With the call done, Drake climbed up on stage to better evaluate the current state of the situation.

[Narrator]

"It's alright; Mikey likes it," Guitar!Will said, trying to inject some humor to lighten the mood. "He's always been a fan of modern art.

Eighty-nine, eighty-eight, eighty-seven, you're doing just fine. Keep breathing with me."



Bass!Will shouted something muffled that couldn't be heard clearly, but was probably not nice words of encouragement.

The woman let's out a nervous hiccup-laugh and little bit little she manages to peel tentacles away from Bass!Will by snapping them to the lamp-post, which folds in on itself and gets slowly crushed into a post maybe 3 or 4 feet tall that most of the woman clings to now. She still seem more than a little tense but at least she's managed to focus it on something that's okay to mangle.

"Everyone!" he said with a more commanding presence than before, "Help is on the way! Until then I will do everything I can to keep you safe!"

He demonstrated that by beginning to erect wooden barriers against Thresher's rifle. And like Drake, he called in to ensure help was indeed on the way.

After all that he set his eyes on the villainous duo and headed for them while the gun was charging.

It's dubious how well wooden barrier would block the beam, it's some kind of metaphysical bullshit after all, but at least it keeps the people from getting bumped into by the panicked masses and they're relatively safe. The geometric=-bismuth mutant continues to aimlessly wander around though with most of the flow of people diverted by Shane's barricades at least the odds of them bumping into and affecting others is greatly diminished.

The normal punch did hurt quite a bit, even drawing a little blood, but it only resulted in inflaming Leo's fight response. Seriously, who tries punching a lion in the face?

"I'm an X-Man", Leo growled. His tail quickly drove for the man's side and, at the same time, he grabbed the normal arm in one huge paw of a hand and pulled him into a head butt.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't one yet, but this guy didn't need to know that.

The man stumbles back from the headbutt, only after she shakes off the daze noticing and clutching his side, swaying sluggishly for a moment before his head snaps up, hair falling out as his eye-sockets, brow and rest of his head grows some kind of chitinous carapace. And when he moves towards Leo again he's much faster, like he'd just been injected with a shot of straight adrenaline rather than Leo's sedative poison. He's too small compared to Leo to go for a headbutt so instead he just drives his now-armored head into his stomach.

With the call done, Drake climbed up on stage to better evaluate the current state of the situation.

He's most of the way onto the stage, enough to spot the lead-singer of the last band cowering behind the drum-set. Yet before he can say anything or turn around to survey the crowd Conduit's gun fires again, unbeknownst to him blasting Sam out of the sky before hitting him in the back and passing through to strike the cowering Danny. Flashes of images and sound, like fragments of half-remembered dreams. Something about dogs and the underworld? Whether it's him or something else, he suddenly feels a certain affinity. He's a dragon, hoarding secrets and protecting Genosha. Thoughts get muddled, whirled around in the chaos of whatever this beam is doing. A Greek goddess looms behind him. Snakes? No. Dogs, dogs guard. Scales and wings fall away and the ash still clinging to them ignites, covering him, sinking into his skin until it replaces it. Around him he can feel the flames dancing through the shapes of various animals, chief among them a three-headed dog, almost with a bit of a mind of it's own but obeying his thoughts.

Ahead of him Danny is writhing on the floor, everything from the waist down covered in scales and merging, swelling into the singular limb of a long snake's tail.