A experiment in the open (Open to all)

Sinister smiled as he walked along Fifth avenue, enjoying the sun and the buzz around him. Naturally, the once man known as Mister Sinister, could not show himself in public, but thanks to a quick shape-shifting, it wasn't the criminal doctor who was strolling along the avenue, but Mike Milbury, an ordinary businessman. In truth, he wasn't here to enjoy the view or meet new people. No, he was here because he was about to perform an experiment, and all the 'innocent' bystanders were his test subjects.

Nathaniel smirked as he recalled the events that had inspired him to perform this exact experiment. He had been reading in one of his updated journals regarding one of his earlier test subjects, a young boy with extraordinary powers. Sinister had concluded years ago that his earlier theory about the evolution of humankind was correct, but reading about all the super powered beings currently active, it made Nathaniel wonder. How many were there exactly? And which super powered individuals were present in this city alone? Thus he had prepared his experiment and traveled to Manhattan to watch the experiment unfold at first hand.

As if on cue, a purple light shimmered in the air, six feet above the ground. The light then expanded to form a portal, and soon, twenty individuals, all around ten feet tall, four dot five across the shoulders, their whole body muscular and fit, stood on the street as the portal closed. Their skin was a concrete gray, their eyes green and their nether part of the body built like an action-figure, no genitalia at all. Suddenly one of them roared, grabbing a nearby taxi, flinging it into the nearest building with ease. As people started to panic and the laboratory-made combat clones spread out, spreading chaos as they were designed for, Nathaniel smirked before he played his part in the great play he had made as an terrified citizen. All was ready, now all he needed to do, was to wait and see what would happen.

"No, no, you have to do better than that. If you can't give me a better price, I'm going to find another supplier. That's just how it is." A tall, blonde man with a cell phone bustled his way through the New York streets, cell phone to his ear. Just another walking, shouting Manhattanite. "No. No! It has to be Galliano to put in the signature drink! That's why this is a big deal. Because it's the Yellowjacket cocktail from the Yellojacket bar, dumbass! Yellow! Kind of a of a big deal here!"

The argument turned onto Fifth Avenue, heading south. "You're gouging me on Galliano and don't expect me to call you on it? I know you can get yellow Chartreuse, that's not the point! It won't taste the same! Get me Galliano or get yourself a new client, that's really the -"

Taxis aren't mean to be airborne.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to call you back." Hank Pym put the phone away and beheld the scene in front of him. Maybe two dozen big.. naked.. statues? Whatever they were, they were raising hell and the police were nowhere to be seen. It was chaos, cars flying and people screaming. It was time for a great man to stand up and do great deeds. Emphasis on the great, as if you needed to be told.

Pym cracked his knuckles - which were now the size of baseballs. "Fellas." The twenty food tall man boomed. Hank stepped over the busy streets, reaching down and grabbing one of the clones in his massive hand. "Get out of here!" He said before pitching it like a baseball straight at a second one.

Helena wandered down the street, scanning the various faces of the mundane humans scurrying around like rats caught in a cage. God, how she despised the city. Yet, she knew she had no choice but to be there. Her latest target was last seen there, and he was a hard target to find. She had never seen a man so elusive.

"Excuse me," a man said as he jostled her, making Helena narrow her eyes as she looked down, hiding her face, and the glare, with her brown hair.

"Eets okay," she answered softly, French accent thick as she spoke.

The image of a shy, French immigrant put itself in his mind as she touched him briefly. She concealed her smirk as she continued strolling through the crowded streets. She needed to find a way to lure him out. Lure him, and then capture him. It was an easy enough plan, but the man was a hard person to find, and an even harder person to kill. Hell, the man was around her age and more powerful.

Maybe she could seduce him. It was not like she had not used her body to lure people to her in the past. The promises of sex, followed by torture, were unexpected and most men followed her when she propositioned them. That was, until the torture. Then the fun started. She enjoyed the screams, like the screams of fear she heard now.

Wait. Helena froze. She looked around, seeing the large, naked...things, for lack of a better term. They seemed to be androgynous, or maybe sexless. They were wreaking havoc on the streets, sending people and objects spiralling through the air. Helena was so distracted that she did not notice the one behind her until she was sent flying five feet and almost into a wall.

In a heap, Helena looked up. She looked at the creature, green eyes blazing with anger as she unsheathed a dagger, throwing it at the creature. She then liquified herself, still human-sized but liquid. She was ready for the fight.

"You underestimate me, Mister Wilson." Worthington stated between lips pressed seriously into flat lines.

"You're not your father, Warren." Wilson offered back with some distaste. It was clear that the two didn't get along.

Warren's blue eyes zeroed in on the older man as he leaned back in the chair his father had once sat in. He had always known that there were those still within his father's company who resented that he had come to rain on their proverbial parades. Without a Worthington in charge of Worthington Industries, this was just another Fortune 500 company like any other. For years the revenue of the pharmaceutical division had been on the decline, profits dwindling even when sales were at an all time high. There had to be a reason for it and he had his suspicions. Whether embezzlement or too many trips reported for business, Warren was of the mind to consider it the same thing. When you scheduled a trip for yourself and four guests for ten days to Honolulu when for a one hour meeting that could have been scheduled via technology via video conference it was theft in Warren's eyes.

"I'm not my father. That is obvious." he looked away for a brief moment before standing and looking down upon the man, locking him in his gaze before smiling, "And I'm the only one who can point that out." Behind the smile and the play at laughter there was a hint of darkness, of the man who would have rather chosen a different kind of reaction altogether. The playboy pushed back his chair, "Meeting adjourned. I'll have my people call your people. We'll reschedule for....next....Tuesday."

"We need you to sign the contract for the merger," Wilson complained, knowing that the contract would expire at midnight that night.

Warren knew this too. Sometimes inaction was the best choice of action. He smiled and motioned to his assistant, "Has Miss Swanepoel confirmed our date this evening?"

"Of course, sir."

"Great," he answered back as he pushed through the board room door and made his way to the elevator. On the roof he climbed aboard the waiting helicopter and spent the three minutes that it took in the air answering two final emails before disembarking the copter and moving inside his penthouse. He bypassed his bedroom and waived off his maid, "Just a sandwich, something quick." She was blind but her mutation allowed her to sense the world around her to the extent that she could perform her duties perfectly, if not always be able to discern what he was wearing or the face of his occasional guests. Inside his bathroom, at the back of his closet he entered the combination in the keypad and the door slid open to reveal a what appeared to be an open elevator shaft.

She brought him the sandwich and he thanked her, dismissed her while undressing. Removing the harness was always uncomfortable. Grabbing the sandwich he took a bite and slipped into the darkness, free falling casually until he'd counted to ten and spread his wings. Open, they caught the draft of air and he glided down to a platform and entered another combination in the keypad there. Inside there was a collection of gadgets, weapons and a series of combat suits. Donning one quickly he geared up and left the half uneaten sandwich on the surface that was both a desk and a console of sorts. A moment later the masked Avenging Angel was flying down the tunnel beneath the city toward the opening that would bring him out in a secluded area of Central Park. He surfaced to daylight and the sounds of a police radio in his ear.

Beneath the mask he smiled, knowing that this was going to be fun. Not every day giants appeared out of nowhere. At seventy five miles an hour it didn't take him long to join in the chaos. Aiming his guns, he began to rain what was rumored to be holy fire down upon one of the gray skinned creatures. It wasn't holy fire but instead a collection of combustive chemicals that were ignited when the bullet left the chamber of the gun. Looked kind of cool and did the job of taking ordinary bullets look extraordinary. They didn't function any differently and the gel only burned for about thirty seconds.

No sooner had be fired then one of the giants came flying through the air toward him. He managed to dodge with some fancy flying, taking note of the hulking Babe Ruth wannabe at the other end of the block, "Nice aim. Next time take out a school bus why don't you."

((OOC: Intro Post. It's long, please don't try to match. My regular posts are more in line with what has come before.))

David Xavier

"Fifth and Main. Fifth and Main. Ah, here we are!"

The high pitched voice of the adolescent boy muttered anxiously to himself as he looked at the flyer he held in his hands. It was an ad for a gaming shop that had just recently opened up in the area and he wanted to check it out, using some of the change he had scrounged up from the depths of the numerous couch cushions within the lounging areas of the Institute. He normally never left the safety and comfort of his home, but he wanted to have some fun today and felt he had pestered the X-Men enough as of lately. Though, he had been sure to leave a note behind on his bedroom door to let anyone searching for him know where he had gone and that he would be back within three hours, tops. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Wearing just some beige shorts and a blue t-shirt, his blonde hair unkempt, he looked like any regular kid with no way of standing out from the norm, other than being adorable. Unlike many of his friends in the Institute who were very obviously mutants from looks alone or uncontrolled flares of their power, he had no visible mutations and his powers would likely not manifest until his maturity in several years, or at least that was what he had been told by everyone every day that he asked.

Skipping happily with each step, he headed across the cross walk once the traffic signal permitted, heading toward the store that was on the opposite side of the street. Unfortunately, he would only get half way before all hell broke loose. A seeming vortex of swirling doom opening up in the sky that would suck them all inward to their surely demise withing the chaotic fires of the heavens, would release monstrous heathens falling forth that would crush all opposition in their grip, strangling the gods themselves and grinding hopes into the dirt beneath their feet. Or at least, that was the scenario that played out in David's overactive imagination. At first, he even snickered at his own idea of what would happen, but that quickly vanished among wide eyes of terror and his mouth falling agape in disbelief as it seemed to come true. The creatures picked up a car and hurled it as if it were nothing, then all the rest seemed to jump in, adding to the chaos all around. Cars all stopped, swerved and crashed or drove past as quickly as possible. With each screech of tires and loud bang of metal meeting metal from the traffic alone, let along the buildings being destroyed by varying projectiles and the horde of people scattering in every direction, things only seemed to get worse by the second.

Not seeing anywhere to run, and never having been in a situation like this without knowing it was just a scenario created by the Danger Room as his fathers means of teaching him the dangers of entering it without supervision, David panicked. He was a brave, courageous and optimistic kid, more than most, but he also knew that running out there and trying to help would not serve much purpose other than getting him killed. Especially so when he weighed as much as a big dog and had the same strength as one, lacking any mutant gifts to aid him. Why could chaos not just wait for a few more years?! As his knees shook, his fights tightening as his teeth clenched, wanting to buckle down in fear and wait for it to end, it was not something he would allow himself to do. He was an X-Men, or at least he thought of himself as one and tried to live by their code of conduct anyway, and he had to prove to the world that he could do it. Not to mention, it would look pretty sweet on his resume whenever his powers did finally kick in.

Taking a deep breath, so much so that his chest nearly touched his chin, he nodded to himself before he turned around and leaped over the hood of the car that had been crashed into multiple times, forcing it to remain where it was, thus the driver had long since abandoned it. Running forward into the midst of the madness, seeing a young girl huddled up close to the action, crying for her mother, he pinpointed her as his first rescue target. Trying his best to ignore the fact that he had soiled his own britches in terror as ran under the flying giants and the hailstorm of glowing bullets from the angel above, his face remained as confident and determined as he could force it to be, finally diving forward to grab the little girls hand. Tugging on her arm, he tried to rush to the side, demanding she run away with him so he could get her to safety, or at least somewhere more safe than the middle of the road where all the creatures were.

"Come on! I will protect you or die trying!"

David yelled at her, yanking on her arm so hard that it would force her to follow whether she wanted to or not, even if her body was paralyzed in fear. He was an X-Men and they saved people no matter what! But on a less delusional note: "Where the hell are you, Cyclops?! Where's all that getting of my back you promised?!"

OOC: Well people. I've been dead busy and this thread needs to move along. So, everyone can post, in order please, and move on with the thread without me. Also, take a look at Sinister's Monstropedia for info on the beasts that attacks the city.

"Hey! I'm not the one using napalm!" Hank had a hard time keeping his volume to socially acceptable levels when he was big like this, for fairly obvious reasons. To him, he was talking fairly normally. To everyone else...

It was weird to say, but Hank actually found this a lot of fun. Despite all the panicked people and the winged, spandex-wearing war criminal, this was.. satisfying. As he grabbed one of the gargoyles that was looming over a frightened civilian and plastered him against the sidewalk, the mega-dose of adrenaline gave him a thrill he couldn't imagine anything else quite equalling. He didn't have a costume like the winged guy, not yet at least, and was just doing this in a T-shirt and jeans (which thankfully had scaled with him) but he'd have to see about getting a costume together if he was going to get serious about this. But he supposed if you were going to get a special outfit for something, you were having too much fun with it.

"Don't worry, New York! Hank Pym, the Giant Man, is here to save you, with the help of his trusty sidekick, Angel Boy!"

Waaaaay too much fun.

"By the way, Angel Boy, who's your tailor? Got to get me some of those duds!" While Hank was decidely amateur in his superheroics, this guy seemed legit - weird gadgets, a suit - and Hank was frankly taking mental notes.

The bullets didn't seem to have the effect he'd been going for and the huge gray, sexless thing swatted at Angel. He managed to dodge the creature and fly around 'him.' He would have to adopt a different tactic now. If firepower wouldn't work then his blades might not either. It was time for plan B. Warren began scanning the crowd as part of that process. He noticed the child, a boy who couldn't be more than ten or eleven by his best guess. A child like that had no reason being out in this mess. He could be injured or even killed.

As he circled back around, Angel dropped down seeing that the boy was trying to help a friend, or perhaps a stranger. He smiled because he was seeing something of himself in the gesture. He was about to dive down and scoop the two children up when he noticed that one of the ten foot behemoths had turned toward them and was about to pound them. Warren pulled his wings in against his body and dropped, falling feet first to the ground. He landed between the two kids and the giant, "I don't think so." He reached behind his back and drew the twin blades.

"Come on! I will protect you or die trying!"

"You won't die if I have anything to say about it," he called back to the kid and his companion. Turning back to the encroaching beast, Warren brandished the blades with the expertise of a man who'd been trained in swordplay since he had been younger than the boy behind him. He was glad to see that the razor sharp weapons proved to be effective. He made a mental note that their skin must be impervious to blunt trauma, like bullets, but vulnerable to blades. At least that was the case with this one.
"Kid, get that girl out of here. Be careful. I'm going to try to take this thing down." One way or another.

"Don't worry, New York! Hank Pym, the Giant Man, is here to save you, with the help of his trusty sidekick, Angel Boy!"

Sidekick? Was this guy serious? Thinking to himself, Warren thought, This is why I work alone. Warren gave one of the huge gray thugs a swipe with on of his wings. The creature had been stepping over a car and the impact of the wing, while it didn't appear to crush any bones like it would have in an ordinary human, it did knock the giant off his feet. All in time for the true giant here, Hank Pym, to shout down at him again.

"By the way, Angel Boy, who's your tailor? Got to get me some of those duds!"

"It's Avenging Angel." he answered, flapping his wings to climb higher in the air. He was distracted by the other hero and it cost him. A gray hand wrapped around his calf and tightened down on his leg. Warren felt something sharp enter his muscles and he cried out in pain. The nails of the creature had pierced his leather and kevlar pants without any difficulty it seemed. Before he could turn on the creature attacking him with his claws there was a flash of light and the creature was gone. Clutching his leg, hovering in the air, Warren muttered, "What the...?"

"GAH-!"

David yelled out suddenly as one of the beasts came down just a short distance away from him, sure that it was about to smash him into oblivion, hunching forward to use himself as a shield around the body of the smaller girl. Sacrifice in the name of being a hero; an X-Man! Wait for it. Wait for it. Okay, taking longer than expected... David then learned that seconds felt like eternities when waiting for your inevitable squishing below monster boots. Though, he was shaken out of his thought of death when he heard a voice behind him say that he would prevent them from suffering such an unfortunate fate. Opening his eyes, David turned around to see the large wings of a man who was now taking on the creatures all swordsman style. David blinked as he watched in awe, or at least he was until the man demanded that he take the girl to safety as he protected them. Gulping nervously, David nodded frantically and turned back around, tugging the girls arm as he started running again, forcing her to sprint along beside him. He would leave before seeing the creature vanish, not having seen the strange event unfold.


"In here!"

He told the girl as he soon reached a building packed with civilians who were hiding out inside, as the walls were at least slightly more protection than standing out in the open. He pulled the girl in there with him and turned back around to watch the chaos, standing in front of her like a guard. Okay, she was safe. One down, a few hundred thousand to go. How hard could this be? Figuring that he was on a good string of luck from having survived the first time, David realized that the only logical response would be to save even more civilians. Looking around for a new target, he saw a male that looked to be in his late twenties, his leg pinned under a car about one hundred meters from the main section of mutant-robotic thugs. Taking a deep breath as he waited for what seemed like as good of a time as any, he sprinted with all of his might across the open street toward the man that needed rescuing. Of course, he failed to think about the fact that he would be vulnerable for a good thirty seconds, and that he would not be able to move the car anyway once he finally got there. Ah well. What was the worst that could happen?

[[OOC: Sorry for the delay folks, my net went down and I'm catching up on posts. In the event of a similar leave of absence, feel free to skip me]]

Actually, it's Avenging Angel came a small voice in Hanks ears as he picked a stone man up in one hand.

"Really? Angel Boy sounds waaay better. You should change it." Hank barely noticed it when the stone man placed a palm down on his hand and produced a strange pinching sensation, plucking a skin sample from him - one of the advantages of being so huge so that his skin and muscle tissue was much thicker and denser, meaning he was tougher to inflict serious damage on. To him, the sampling felt like nothing more than a slight prick, though when he heard Angel let out a pained cry, he realised something was going on with the creatures. He closed his fingers firmly and crushed the creature in his fist, but when he opened his hands, there was nothing there but some weird fluid which he wiped off on the side of a building. "Where the hell did it go?" he asked most of downtown New York.

Scanning the street for the next Heroic Act to take, he noticed a small boy trying to pull a pinned man from under a car. The giant Hank lumbered over and knelt to get a better view. Plucking the car up in one hand, he held out a giant palm for the two smaller people. "Here, let me carry you to safety." By this point, sirens were approaching as first responders came on the scene, in terms of police, fire engines and paramedics, and between the efforts of the two superheroes - and their tendency to mysteriously vanish - the numbers of the monsters was thinning out dramatically. This wouldn't be going for much longer.