XET - Friday, September 08, 2000, 5:54 PM
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Logged and Edited by Rogue. No animals were harmed in the making of this log
;P
[Opens in Central Park]

Rogue sits on one of the park benches, glancing back and forth as if
anxiously waiting for something. At least in this section of the park, she is
a little less likely to be noticed, or more accurately, people are less
likely to care.

Remy strolls down the path maybe ten minutes after he was supposed to show
up, sans duffel bag, hands in his pockets. He smiles as he gets closer to the
bench, nods in greeting, and takes a seat on the end opposite Rogue. First
thing he does is look at her hair.. is it still tied back?

Rouge's brown and white locks are free tonight, loosely fallen over her
shoulders and back. The girl is considerably relived to see the man and gives
him a lopsided grin, "It's impolight to make a girl wait ya know." She
playfully reprimands him.

Remy shakes his head and clicks his tongue. "You should keep dat tied up.."
Then he frowns, a look of utter hurt on his face. "Pardon, chere..." The
act's over as soon as it starts, and he chuckles. "I had t'take care o'
sometin'. But, you know how dat is.. manage t'stay outta trouble today?

Rogue's smile softens and she shrugs a little, "So fah so good." She runs a
hand through her hair, considering, "Ah couldn't keep it tied back like that,
it itched. 'Sides, from the way things look around here, folks've done worse
things than me, an' ain't none o'them wanting to bring th' police 'round."
She finally notices something is missing as she talks her companion. "You
left yer bag?" She asks as if the duffle were like an extra limb that
couldn't possibly be removed.

Remy shrugs. She wants to keep her hair obviously showing, fine.. he's not
going to press the issue. "Yah.. it's hard t'move around in crowds wit dat
t'ing. 'Sides, I workin' in de park, you know, jus' need props and a cup for
quarters."

Rogue perks with curiosity, "You work in the park? Doin' what?" She asks as
she sits up a little, folding one leg under her as she leans her elbow
against the back of the bench.

Remy leans so he can reach into his pocket and digs around, then holds up his
empty hand. He slides his fingers, and a few cards fan out. "Jus' tricks."

Rogue grins, obviously impressed. "Yer a magician. That's real good. That
what you came to the city here to do?"

Remy shakes head but smiles with obvious pride. "I jus' know a few slights..
Neh, but it helps me pay t'get places."

[Lt. Hugginston, Siemens and Lance arrive]

Siemens trots in on his chestnut mare.

Lt. Hugginston leads a squad of three lone police offers in from the north
side, firearms at the ready. He slowly steadies his ride. "NYPD! Freeze!"

Fabian motions to his compatriots concealed in the nearby foliage, but does
not yet give them the signal to proceed.

Siemens holds in his gloved hands an object that looks somewhat like a fire
extinguisher.

Remy head snaps up, and he squeezes the cards in his hand, pushing them back
into a stack. He hisses something in French, under his breath.

Peter creeps in from the south, camera in hand. He creeps near a bush and
kneels down, taking a picture of the two on the bench, and of the three
police officers who just arrived.

Rogue nods and glances skyward for a short moment as a dreamy like state
crosses over her features. But that look is suddenly stripped from the girl's
face, replaced by a pale color. She too snaps her head in the direction of
the policeman, emerald gaze wide with surprise and fear.

Caliban crouches behind Fabian and taps him gently on the shoulder to point
out the man with Rogue, and gives Fabian a significant, though scared, look.

Lt. Hugginston halts his steed, quickly dismounting as he stands by its side,
not moving his aim as he allows his other officers time to quickly dismount
as well. He looks over to Remy with a stern look. "Sir, get away from the
girl!"

Siemens remains mounted, incase anyone decides to run.

Remy stands up, glancing over at the nod but keeping his head towards
Hugginston. "'Course, officer. But what's de problem?"

Lance follows Hugginston's lead, dismounting his horse. He holds onto the
reigns tightly as he takes a step toward the Lieutenant, flanking him.

Rogue swallows hard as her heart begins to pound rapidly. She glances over to
Remy without barely moving her head. She doesn't want to see him get hurt
because of her, but she really doesn't want him to leave either. Her mind
becoming a whirl, she glances for a means of escape, but as of yet, isn't
seeing any. Especially not with the policeman still on horseback...horseback.
A slight glimpse in her eyes reveals a little sliver of hope.

Fabian readies a small cylindrical object in his hand, still well concealed a
dozen or so meters away in the foliage. Speaking to his group in minute
whispers, he says, "Let us see how these potentials handle an encounter with
what pitiful authority figures the...genetic throwbacks...have to offer."

Lt. Hugginston nods over to Lance, gesturing for him to escort Remy away.
"The girl is wanted in connection with robbery and assault to an officer." He
cuts the chatter short and slowly flanks around the other side of the bench.
"Put your hands where I can see them, miss." He trains the barrel of the gun
on Rogue's head.

Lance nods in return, and starts walking around toward Remy, firearm in hand.
"Sir, you need to come with me. The girl won't be harmed, but we need to take
her into custody."

Peter shakes his head, believe they should aim for a non-vital part of her
body, such as her leg. He reaches into his utility belt beneath his dress
pants and opens a small compartment, pulling out three small caplets. Shoving
them into his mouth, and then closing the compartment, he reaches behind him
and pulls a small plate from his belt, that which he fastens his camera to.
He sets it on the ground before pulling his gloves over his hands. Peter
takes his camera back and sets it on wide shot to get the whole scene before
snapping a few pictures.
All the while, a light rustling can be heard from his place in the bushes.

Remy takes a step back but doesn't look like he's ready to let anyone escort
him anywhere. He bows his head, but his eyes narrow, trained on the firearm.
"Well, I don' wanna get in de way, certainly.. But when I come wit you, where
you takin' me?"

Lance continues to move toward Remy. "I'll escort you away from here, in the
event you might try to interfere with us taking the girl into custody. Simple
precaution." He pauses for a brief moment, then adds, "It's for your own
good, too."

Siemens shifts in his saddle, like he's got a bad feeling.

Rogue's gloved arms lift, holding them up at chest level. She is watching
Hugginston, but her gaze shifts to the officer walking her way and then to
the animal left unattended. Softly, she bites down onto her lip, her body
tensed. It's too dangerous for her to go with the police, for them as much as
her, but she doesn't think they'd feel the same way. If she could only get to
the horse...

Fabian readies to give the object a toss, but pauses as one of his
compatriots speaks. "Sir," the man whispers softly, "what if the flash-bang
panics the policeman into discharging his weapon?" Fabian responds, "We dare
not wait longer. If the worst occurs, surely they would like nothing more
than to be martyrs for the mutant cause." With those words he gives the
cylinder a powerful lob towards the policeman mounted on horseback. The
grenade has not yet gone off, but is spiraling through the air..

Siemens's eyes widen as he recognizes the object in the air, and his hand
squeezes down reflexively on the handle of the object in his hand, which was
pointed at Rogue.

Lt. Hugginston doesn't note the object hurtling through the air, since his
back is to it. His attention is focused on Rogue, as he strafes around the
back of the park bench. "Miss, stand and put your arms fully up into the air.
Let's not have an incident here."

Peter raises his head in a slight bout of shock as his spider-sense gives him
a powerful warning. He looks around a moment before spotting the object. As
it looks somewhat like a grenade, he aims his camera where it would probably
land and shields the view piece, closing his other eye.

[Piotr has arrived.]

Rogue lifts her arms up into the air. She tries to explain as she stares up
at the mounted officer, but then her jaw drops as something comes flying his
way. "look out-" She tries to warm him...yeah that'll work.

Two of the Fabian's other compatriots, one a gaunt looking creature with bone
white skin and the other a young black woman in her late teens, look
positively nervous about what's going to happen, though they don't exchange
any look.

Piotr wanders into this part of the park. Holding a large thin book in one
hand, and few pencils in the other he glances at the surrounding area. His
attention is brought to those already here, and he tries to keep out of their
business as he continues to look around.

Remy takes another step back, and when people start looking up he looks up,
and then turns and dives for cover.

Lance sees something fly by in his peripheral vision, and glances toward it's
intended trajectory for a moment. His eyes widen slightly as he spots the
object heading toward Siemens, and his attention is momentarily pulled from
Remy.

Lt. Hugginston hears the commotion and jerks his head quickly to the side,
still keeping the gun trained on Rogue as he sees the object hit the ground...

The flash-bang goes off with multiple, well, flashes and bangs. So intense is
the staccato burst that those within ten or so meters are left as though
multiple flashbulbs had popped directly in their eyes. Hearing, too, is
highly distorted - as though someone had clamped seashells over both ears.
"Now, Friction," Fabian orders. "Their guns, as we practiced!"

Lt. Hugginston drops his pistol, instinctively covering his ears as he is
struck blind from looking directly at the flash-bang...(gun is currently
falling to the ground)

The young woman, apparently Friction, raises her hands slightly and squints
her eyes as though concentrating.

Siemens jerks, and accidentally triggers the economy-sized bottle of pepper
spray in his hand, hosing down Rogue and the Lt before the horse's rearing
causes it to flail around blindly.

Peter strafes slightly to the right, slowly regaining the slight loss of
hearing (no problem with sight as he covered his eyes) pointing his left
wrist at a tree. A quick white stream of adhesive shoots out, making a blob
on the tree. Peter takes his camera on the panel and secures it onto the
webbing. He then pulls from his pocket a remote control for the camera, sets
auto-shutter on fifty seconds before placing it into a compartment on his
utility belt. Following this, he removes his blazer, vest, shirt and pants,
revealing his costume. He pulls from the collar part of the costume his hood,
which he places over his head, the Mylar eyes reflecting a little bit of
light.
Peter pulls of his shoes and socks too of course.

Piotr is caught totally off guard by what has happened. Raising his arms up
to cover his eyes he drops his sketch book, and the pencils. A few words come
forth, though a garbled mess that doesn't sound very pleasant.(Russian curses
if anyone knows Russian)

The can of pepper spray slips from Siemens' hand. He tries to grab after it,
but fails and dedicates the freed hand to rubbing his eyes.

Remy shuts his eyes tight and his hands fly up to his ears, and the few
playing card's he'd been holding scatter on the grass. When the explosion
dies down, he squints to open his eyes, disoriented.. He gropes around for
the cards, trying to shake away the ringing in his ears.

Lance gives a cry of surprise as the flash grenade goes off, his hands flying
up to his ears and his eyes snapping closed from being blinded. He manages to
hold onto his gun though. At least for a brief moment. Suddenly and
inexplicably, the gun in his hand slides from his tight grip, as though it
had been covered in slick oil. He drops to his knees, groping for his firearm
as he tries to blink the light patterns that are blinding him from his eyes.

Rogue immediately drops to a crouch, covering her ears and shutting her eyes.
Luckily she only got a little of that in her eyes, but they're already
watering and she gets it in her mouth as well. Just to get away from the
spray, she has to move and although her vision is blurred both by the
blinding flash and the spray, she stumbles off toward Lance's dismounted
animal, which is probably as ready to bolt from the loud sound as Rogue
herself is.

Lt. Hugginston drops to his knees, screaming in both pain from the dousing in
pepper spray, the blindness in his eyes, and his lack of hearing. Which means
he neither sees nor hears his gun fire as it hits the pavement, the bullet
careening off into the bushes where it embeds itself in a tree trunk, mere
inches from the leg of one of the horses, spooking it even further (if that's
even possible).

Siemens has, by this time, rubbed away enough of the globules floating in his
vision to see (barely). Looking around for Rogue, he sees he heading towards
the horse. "Lance, she's going for your mount!"

Fabian stands from his concealed position and begins to stride forward
towards Rogue. Dressed in an outfit that seems to stress black leather, an
equally black cape flaps along in his wake. The otherwise sable outfit is
highlighted in areas with crimson, a crimson similar in hue to his hair.
Another red-haired man flanks him, dressed in equally dark colors of more
conservative attire - more one might see an NYPD SWAT officer dressed in,
except for the lack of gloves. A third...man(?) skimpers along behind Fabian,
his skin a pure alabaster. He...doesn't look right, somehow. "Friction, the
officers, if you please." The voice of total cool confidence. Nope, not a
thing could go wrong, Fabian has every angle played. Honest. "We have three
minutes."

Spider-Man, having been dashing through the foliage clambers up a tree, just
barely missing the bullet as it is fired from the fallen sidearm. He reaches
the top of the tree and hears Siemens' call, and also notices the girl
heading for the mount, as well as the tailing officers. Spidey ponders back a
moment to the previous evening. The odd woman braiding Rogue's hair, the man
with the red eyes, and a few others seemed to think she was innocent... Maybe
she is innocent...

Piotr tries to rub away the flash spots in his vision, and tries to
compensate for the ringing in his ears. Catching only a few words here, and
there while trying to make sense of the situation. His vision clears slowly,
and he tries to take in those who are around.

Rogue opens her eyes enough to make out the form of the rearing animal just a
few feet away. Desperately, she fights down the feeling of nausea caused by
the disorientation of her senses mixed with the swallowed amount of pepper
spray. She tries to snag the flailing reins, but seeing 3 of them doesn't
help. She clicks her tongue and tries to calm the animal, although her voice
is anything but calm.

Friction wears a leather jacket and seems to be wearing a black leotard on
her lower body. She just hopes nobody gets really hurt, but she does have her
orders. Her hands raise again, and the ground beneath the cops (or, as the
case may be, beneath the cops' mount) become so sticky it is almost
impossible to move from.

Siemens looks over at Friction, and calls out. "You forgot something, slick!"

Caliban tugs on Fabians cape as though he's almost afraid to mention this.
"More touched ones near. Caliban feel it."

Siemens quickly draws his previously holstered firearm, and snaps off a shot
at Friction.

Lance takes one step forward, still groping for his gun. His vision is just
starting to clear, allowing him to actually see now, and he tries to take
another step, to no effect. He looks down, and tries again. Again, to no
effect. "What the-? I can't move! It's like I'm standing on glue!" He tries
to reach down and pull his feet from the ground with the added force of his
arms.

Remy pulls himself to his feet, red eyes blinking rapidly. He peers through
the dancing splashy lights at Friction and Fabian. When the shot's fired, he
comes to his senses and dashes towards Rogue. "Come on! Follow me!"

Spidey looks up, his spider-sense warning him of something, towards the
direction of Caliban. He quirks a brow underneath his hood, wondering what
could be causing it. It flares one more time before settling down.

Lt. Hugginston is laying on his back at this point, unable to move much at
all. He gropes over across his belt, yanking the end of a taser free, as he
fumbles with the control dial to crank up the power, taking a few seconds to
even locate it with his searching fingers.

Piotr sees the motion of the man pulling his weapon, and firing at Friction.
The loud sound of the guns discharge making through the ringing in his ears.
He glances at the two groups, and how one seems to move in the direction of
Rogue. He is almost at a loss for what to do in the chaos.

Rogue is still fighting with the horse, but finally manages to get a firm
grip on the reins. She struggles, pulling the creature downward from it's
rear and attempting to block it's view of the commotion. She cups her boot
into the hold and swings upward to mount. This process takes her a few tries
as well and she looks to Remy as he approaches. But she doesn't stop until
she makes the mount, landing on the horses back. She gives a gentle kick to
the animal's flank, urging it to move off.

Friction's eyes widen in extreme panic as she sees the gun aimed at her. As
it goes off, she tries to twist and dodge, and in the moment of concentration
lapse the stickiness of the ground disappears. The bullet seems to catch her
somewhere in her torso as she reels back and falls on her side.

At the loss of the glue effect, Siemens' horse is suddenly capable of moving
it's legs, as it was so desperately trying to do earlier. Unfortunately, that
movement is now overcompensation, and all four feet fall out from under the
poor animal, falling over and pinning Siemens to the ground by the leg.

Lance gives a large, desperate yank on his frozen leg, just as Friction's
concentration lapses. He ends up pulling himself into the air, then falling
onto his back with a crash, the wind getting knocked out of him. He lies
there for several moments, waiting for the pain to leave his body.

Siemens shouts in pain. "AAAAAAaaarrrrrgggggh!!!!!"

Remy looks up at Rogue with a frustrated look, mindful of the panicked
horse's movements. He makes a grab for the reigns.

Rogue squeezes her thighs against the animal's belly, a sign for it to heel
and offers a hand down to Remy, meaning to help him up onto it as well.

The instant Friction's powers stop, Lt. Hugginston whirls his arm around with
the now primed phaser. Still unable to see anything (and probably never will
fully) he triggers the phaser, the leads shooting out in what he estimates is
Rogue's last known direction.

Fabian's gaze follows Friction to the ground, disbelief etched in every line
of his face. Then, quickly, anger. "You genetic filth would /dare/ raise
hands against your betters? So be it. There shall be no mercy." Siemens makes
an easy target, so pinned as he is. There is no sound of a gunshot, but less
than a second later, part of Siemen's skull separates from the rest in a
flash of wetness and bits of bone.

Caliban rushes towards where Friction fell and tries to grab her arm,
possibly to lift her away. He also wants to be looking away for what he knew
was coming. Unfortunately, he can't seem to get a good grip on her, his hands
slipping off her every time he tries.

Siemens's body suddenly goes slack, and his eyes glaze over as his brain
follows. While he was trying to struggle back out from under the horse, he
now slumps to the ground, quite dead.

Spider-Man drops from his tree without much sound, "Well, this must be the
most horrible police operation I have seen to date. Tell me something, do you
enjoy murdering your fellow officers?" With that, he aims his right wrist at
Fabian, and with a slight whoosh sound, a stream of super-sticky webbing
flies towards Fabian's legs, in Spidey's attempt to knock him to the ground.

Remy is trying to keep Rogue from running, not get into the saddle. He starts
to speak but when the cop falls lifeless, he scrambles to get onto the horse.

Piotr started to move towards the fallen girl, who was shot, and stops
suddenly at the sight of what just happened. His eyes move back and forth,
between Fabian and the slain officer. It only becomes even more confusing
when a man in tights leaps from the trees, and shoots something at Fabian.

Fabian doesn't notice the approaching trip line of web fluid, so focused he
is on the police officers. His feet get entangled, and he falls to the
ground. But where did the /other/ red-haired man go?

Rogue feels another wave of nausea and jerks her gaze from the now dead
officer. She helps pull Remy up to be seated behind her as she mutters, "Oh
mah God..." Over and over.

The taser leads continue on their journey, connecting with the flank of
Lance's horse. The electricity jolts through the wires, somehow ending up on
their highest setting, due to the Lt.'s fumbling blindly.

Piotr keeps a close eye on the downed Fabian, and moves towards the fallen
Friction. He tries to appear non-hostile, and moves in a very cautious manner.

Lance starts to get up from where he fell, his breathing returning to normal.
At least until he glances over to where what was formerly Siemens is lying.
His eyes widen, and he quickly looks away, squeezing his eyes shut, though he
can't escape the details. They are permanently burned into his mind's eye.
His breath already quickened in panic, he starts looking around for his
firearm wildly, spotting it a foot or two from where he is sitting. He dives
to grab it, then stands and snaps it up to eye level, directing it at the
nearest 'enemy', who happens to be Caliban. His hands shake as he takes aim.
"It's YOUR fault! We just wanted to take in the girl, and then you had to
step in... and now Siemens is... he's..." His voice is strained with fear and
anger.

An axe crescent kick comes flying out of seemingly nowhere, directed towards
the back of Spider-Man's head. Amazingly enough, it fails to trigger any sort
of warning.

Friction looks up towards Piotr. She seems conscious, but a bit weak and
seemingly a little afraid of Caliban, who's also trying to help her. Caliban,
the bone-white humanoid, looks up and Piotr with wide pleading eyes and says,
"Help Friction please?"
Spidey is sent flying about seven feet forward, "What the heck?" He hits the
ground, the wind knocked out of him. Spider-Man stumbles up, slightly dazed
from the blow, "Where did you come from?"

Caliban doesn't see Lance talking to him, his attention focused on Friction
and Piotr.

This only seems to drive Lance further over the edge, and he starts literally
screaming at Caliban, "Hey, I'm talking to you!!" He drops the aim of his
pistol somewhat, directing it in the area of Caliban's leg, and fires a
single shot.

Piotr hears the ranting man with the gun, and directs his gaze that way as he
slowly bends down to check the fallen girl. A cold sweat formed on his brow,
and his mind telling him to leave the area. Instead, he follows his instincts
to check the girl to make sure she can survive.

The animal that was just shot with the high voltage taser takes off like
lightning on thundering hooves. So spooked that there is no way Rogue can
control it and she clings to the reins, literally holding on for dear life.

Remy tightens his grip and struggles to hang on as the horse takes off with
him halfway into the saddle. He's never ridden before, he doesn't even have
his foot in the stirrup right. Desperately, he makes a grab for the other
side of the saddle and tries to pull himself up without knocking Rogue off.

[Rogue and Remy go riding off into the sunset. Anyone who has the missing
part of this log-what happened after we left-willing to submit it?]