ArchivedLogs:The Rainbow Connection

The Rainbow Connection
Dramatis Personae Jackson, Hank, Karolina
In Absentia	2013-07-01 Jackson and Hank catch up with Karolina Dean - a young runaway mutant who ends up on television, and caught in a trap, of sorts.
Location Near the Arkansas Border
"Dispatch, this is P340 requesting permission to fire," comes a buzz over the police radio, which a high-tech vehicle like the Blackbird could no doubt pick up. "Dispatch to P340. Permission is granted to fire on the suspect." About ten minutes later, a little past the Arkansas/Texas border... 11:34pm. "God, Frank - she looks almost younger than my daughter - are you sure about this?" says a man to the other. The man who spoke was a police officer - his form illuminated by the swirling lights of the patrol car that was parked next to him. A native of Arkansas by the patches on his uniform, and his accent, he was an older man, perhaps in his fourties, with a thick mustache and dark hair that was beginning to show signs of grey. The person he was speaking to? 'Frank', an animal control officer, who shakes his head at the other. "Look, John -" says Frank, his voice bearing a little more backwoods than the other. "I don't know why those boys in Texas wanted us to catch her so bad - but, lucky for us she was flyin' so low. Don't think we coulda tazed her, otherwise," he asks, "What was it she were doin', anyways? Disturbin' the peace? Is that what we're gonna say?" he says, to John looking grim in response. Next to the patrol car was the animal control van. But it was the back of the patrol car that was lit up with a dazzling display of colors - a certain glow emanating from the backseat. Wherein Karolina - breathless, was handcuffed in the backseat, her skin and clothes bearing a constantly shifting nimbus of color, the young woman looking quite a bit frightened overall, her backpack set on the hood of the car. It was a quick flight from New York in the X-Jet. Hank, in the pilot's seat, flicks the controls back to manual, and eases the yoke forward with his big blue hands. He nods at the intercepted radio transmission, taking visible effort to remain calm. "Good lord, Jackson. They're shooting at the girl..." Hank looks truly disgusted. "We're about 2 minutes out. I'm thinking a little distraction would be in order? I'll park us right over the car. You keep them busy, and I'll find the girl. Sound good?" "Yessir. I'm good for distraction," Jackson agrees in his heavy Southern drawl; beside Hank he is mostly watching the other man thoughtfully with a musing, "-- I really should learn to fly this thing." He's not really /dressed/ like an X-Man, shiny purple (non-leather!) Doc Martens and silvery jeans, though his jacket is (soooort of) uniform-style. Except it's fake!leather, too, and the smiley sunshine of Funshine Bear's tummy symbol has been beadazzled onto its back. His fingers drum against his knee, more /restless/ than nervous, a constant surplus of energy that summer's long days have only aggravated. He's also eating! A -- candy bar? Power bar? It seems to be made of little beside shredded coconut held together by a whole lot of syrup. Munchmunch. "Reports said she was glowing," there's a /tension/ in his voice that is testament enough to his unhappiness with the idea of shooting at her, but his expression is much as it often is, neutral-calm. "-- Glowing means fire at will, right?" The photokinetic sounds a liiiittle wry, "I mean, y'never know, she could be a /bomb/." Parking over the car wouldn't be so bad. It was the side of a mountain road - a handful of meters from where the car was parked was a steep hilly dropoff that kinda dipped into a valley, about thirty or so feet deep - probably not even really worthy of being called a mountain road, overall. On the other end of the four-lane road was a steep ascent, the whole area rocky, with the occasional tree thrown in. Only occasionally did another car come through, scooting over to the far lane - and sometimes slowing down to gawk at the police car. But, perhaps unbeknownest to the two X-Men... Frank (from Animal Control), mentions to John (the police officer), "What do you think she /does/? I mean, shoot fire from her eyes, or somethin'? You know, the pastor said that this whole thing was happenin' because America was fallin' into sin and all," a statement to which John rolls his eyes, "Jesus, Frank - he said that when your boy was getting into that emo stuff, and started dressing all weird. He says a lot of things he don't mean. We just gotta get this one to the doctors or something, see if they can help her out." With a sigh, he brings a hand to his shoulder radio, the voice heard over the Blackbird's radio. "P340 to Dispatch - I think the suspect is neutralized. She's not blowin' up or nothing back here. Wanna send an armored van or something, just in case, or can I bring her over in the cruiser?" "Dispatch to P340. Recommend wait for the van - use whatever means necessary to keep it under control." "Guess we're waiting," says John. "Well Jackson," Hank says wryly. "We don't know that she /isn't/ a bomb." Oh Scientific Method. You so crazy. "But that doesn't mean we don't save her if we can. However, we need to be careful. Be prepared to defend yourself from /her/ as well. I'm sure this has been a terrifying night for her, and she has no reason to trust us." Hank takes a deep breath, making the material of his proper X-Man uniform creak where it's tight around his chest. Then Hank cocks his head to one side, That Look spreading across his face. "Jackson, do you remember when you did that 'Men in Black' costume for halloween?" Hank doesn't wait for Jackson's reply, probably because they're almost on top of the mountain. He picks up the radio, flips some switches, and manages to cut off the squad car's communication with the outside world. And then Hank puts on the most ridiculous, reedy southern drawl. "Ah, that is a negatory on the pick up, P340, we just got off the horn with the /Governor's/ office. Apparently-" Hank then wiggles a dial, cutting himself off with a squawk of radio noise before putting it back again, "Get off this channel, you back water morons." Hank says, in a far more officious voice than before. "Unit P340, Blackbird seven-seven-niner is en route to your position and will arrive in 60 seconds. Have the package ready for pickup. Out." With a roar of vectored thrust engines, Hank brings the jet to a swift halt well above the squad car and directs the thrusters straight down, resulting in a nice hover about 20 feet up. The noise outside is almost deafening when Hank opens the drop door in the floor of the fuselage. The Beast hits the quick release on his safety harness, and stands. "/Agent/ Holland?" he asks, inviting Jackson to accompany him. "Oh, I got practice enough with bombs, too," Jackson says this lightly, though it comes with a thoughtful furrow of brow, a brief hot /glow/ lighting in his hands. It thankfully does not explode! Just fades back away to nothingness as a quick grin spreads across his face. "Man, and I already even got the sunglasses for it." Even if that's more to hide his eyes than to do a good MiB impression. By the time he undoes his harness, too, and they are descending from the jet, he looks much changed. All his tattoos and piercings vanished, trim short-cut brown hair to cover his (also tattooed) bare skull, a crisp neat suit in place of his jeans and beadazzled jacket. It's a suit to match the one Hank has found himself in -- /his/ transformation has been much more remarkable, a tall stern-faced gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair and a severe trimmed beard in place of the furry blue doctor. "I hope," this far from home, for once his Southern accent doesn't sound out of place as it does in New York, "that everything's in order?" He's addressing the officers straightaway once they're on the ground, with a tap-tap-tap of knuckles on their car window, an /expectant/ look on his face. He barely even glances to the glowing car. With a long breath out, Officer John Roth leans against his squad car, ducking inside to reach for the thermos that he had stored in the cup holder, casting a glance back towards Karolina as he does so, his expression unreadable. Karolina's glance back to him was as was probably expected, though - Karolina was scared, breathing heavily, nervously shifting in her seat as she watches the other. "Uhm, sir? Can I..." she begins to say, when she was cut off by the squawk of radio chatter. Officer Roth straightens up then, lifting his thermos to his lips to take a sip of the drink. All in all, he looked calm by the new turn of events, but the observant could see the way the corners of his eyes and his lips pinch. "Frank? You hear this?" he calls back to the animal control person, Frank pushing his cap higher unto his head as he looks back to Officer Roth. With a little bit of violence, Officer Roth presses onto his shoulder radio again. "P340 to... Blackbird 77-niner," he says. "You better hope like hell you guys have identification, or some kinda warrant. I'm not givin' an American citizen to any one of you..." he lets the radio cycle off a moment, so he can grumble without being heard over the waves, "Damn city... government... someone's daughter..." Breathing out a sigh, he cycles the radio back on. "Federal agents without that. I don't care what the guvner says," he says, frowning back to Frank. But he wasn't quite expecting the Blackbird. Neither did he move to really free Karolina from the car. When the Blackbird comes though? Talk about shock and awe - lifting up a hand against the backwash, he stumbles back - moving more towards the animal control van than the patrol car. When he finally recovers - Frank had hidden behind the vehicle proper, and he was on his cell phone, trying to reach /someone/ but they had probably blocked those signals too - Officer Roth blinks his eyes to see two federal agents before him, his expression grim. "Depends? You all got my paper I need to see?" he asks. In the car, however, Karolina likewise recovers from the noise, and looks out to see the two 'Men in Black', and she immeadiately begins to respond - throwing herself onto her back, in the back seat, and kicking her legs out against the passenger window of the car. Yeah, it had fencing on it, but she was driving her heels into it anyways. "Show him our papers, Agent." Hank steps to one side, holding his poker face in spite of the girl completely freaking out at their appearance. As the cop steps forward to see what Jax might have for him, Hank pounces on the man, picking him up in an impossibly strong sleeper hold, feet dangling in front of Hank's shins. He glances over his shoulders at Frank making a run for it and just nods. "It's fine, let him go. She's losing it in there, my friend. See if you can help her." It'll be just a few more seconds before the struggling police officer will lose circulation, and go unconscious. "Ah --" This short sound is all that Jackson makes, reaching for the inside pocket of his fake suit jacket but then dropping his hand to his side. "-- Right," /he's/ stepping forward to pat at the officer for /keys/ before turning to go open the car door, sleeve pulled down around his hands. "Hey -- hey," he says, door held open /just/ a tiny crack as he stands in front of it. "Hi, Look, we're not police, we just come to get you out of here," he says to Karolina in a quiet voice; one hand is held up in a typical look-no-weapons placating gesture -- except that hand is starting to /glow/, the air around it shimmering with prismatic sparkles. "I know you must be terrified right now but we can get you somewhere safe." Officer Roth turns his attention towards Jackson when Hank says what he does, his hand going up to rest upon the handle of his pistol - he was turning his intimidating look on him. When he was grabbed from behind by that far, far too strong for normal grip. "Grrrk! Hnh!" he cries out - and his first instinct is to try to drive an elbow back into Hank's ribs. Grimacing violently, his hand darts back to his pistol, his teeth gritting as the other 'agent' comes nearer to him. He was already starting to fade as he unlatches his pistol - and Jackson or Hank would probably do something to halt this impulse anyways - so essentially, as the Officer falls into unconciousness, his pistol clatters uselessly to the ground. Jackson might have to suffer a kick or two if he doesn't wait for the Officer to go unconcious, first. Frank, for his part, was leaping into his animal control van, fumbling with the keys a minute as he looks back to the 'agents'. Fearful of being shot, or otherwise, he hunkers down in his seat, stepping on the gas to a squeal of tires. "It's the guvmint death squads!" he cries out fearfully, as his van - swaying from side to side, flies down the road. But then there was Karolina. When Jackson opens the door, Karolina would flick her head back, and a wall of shimmering energy would essentially 'fill in' the space of the door, the young woman's eyes wide as she stares out at the man, her jaw clenched tight, and something akin to tears budding at the corners of her eyes... until she sees the hand start to glow. The fear on her face turns to surprise - wide mouth and equally wide eyes - and then her lips purse and her brow furrows in thought. "Who are you guys then?" she asks, the barrier that she had erected fading with a handful of sparkles. Pushing against the door instead of the window - the window now had a crack in it - 'Lina moves to sit up in her seat, in preparation for getting out, it seems. "...and how do you know me?" she asks then, her expression hardening. Hank uses his free hand to tear the gun from John's fingers and fling it into the bushes when the man scrabbles it. When you're as strong as the Beast, it doesn't take much to hold onto one man. Hank woofs softly when he takes the elbow in the gut, but that too, is not enough the shake him off. When the man goes limp, Hank lowers him with surprising gentleness, and lays him down off to the side where he won't get run over. "Jackson, maybe it's best if we drop the disguise?" He suggests this softly, and keeps his distance so the big hairy monster won't be the first thing Karolina sees. Jackson /does/ drop the illusion, once one officer is unconscious and the other driving away; once there is noone around to see the suits and new faces melt away. Beneath, Jackson's smile is quick and warm, if small; the beadazzling on his jacket goes well with his glittery blue nails, shimmery silver many-times-pierced lips. He still has the sunglasses, though. "We kinda keep an eye on the news for folks runnin' into -- problems," he gestures towards the handcuffs. "The news mentioned a kind spotted. Glowy. I --" The prismatic shimmer spreads, glow glittering its way up his arm to surround him in a soft halo. "-- Can relate. But we got a place you'll be safe. Maybe even learn to control it an' try to get back to normal life. A school. For kids like you. Um," he adds with a soft blush, dangling the keys as he steps back further to let the door open more, "you want I should get those cuffs off you? M'Jax, by the way." Karolina does start with surprise as the illusion drops - her eyes casting up and down the man briefly. A beat, her eyes settling on his face, and a little smile tugs at the corners of her lips. "You guys are mutants," she says, "Like me... I..." Karolina pauses a moment, running her tongue over her lips as her smile falls away again, a slightly guarded look touching her eyes. Although it was hard to remain guarded when Jackson shows off the glitter, 'lina's smile nudging at the corners of her lips. Seemingly coming to a decision, she moves to step out of the car. Karolina was dressed comfortably, and perhaps oddly for summer, warmly, with a pullover, snow pants over jeans, sneakers, and goggles on top of her head, of all things. The color of these items would be hard to tell - although the pullover looked to be advertising a band of some kind. The /reason/ it was hard to tell, was that she was covered with a rainbow sort of aura - the colors washing over her and flickering like a rainbow grenade just went off near her. And this aura extended to her clothing and hair. Even the handcuffs, as she turns about to kinda present those to him. "Please do," she says, glancing to the /other/ agent - and kinda starting a bit when she sees the true form of the Beast. But after that momentary surprise, that little smile touches her lips - and this time, it manages to spread even wider. "But, you guys are probably going to tell me the catch in this... jet of yours, right?" she asks. "There is no 'catch', Ms. Dean. Only the rules of the house, common to any boarding school, plus the admonition to careful with one's abilities." Hank steps up and puts a friendly hand on Jax's shoulder. "I'm Dr. McCoy. And while normally I would strongly advise against getting into a jet with two strange men, I think in this case we should make an exception." He smiles broadly, somehow making the toothy gesture a friendly one. "Yeah, I think the folks comin' if we wait around here too long /will/ actually be cops," Jackson says with a wrinkle of his nose. "Ain't no catch," he backs up Hank. "-- Well, my boys would say there is one. In that y'gotta do homework and follow curfew and some'a the teachers give you detention for cursing." He reaches forward to unlock the cuffs, and looks back upwards to the jet overhead. "But other'n that? S'a school. For folks like us. An' when I was a kid who couldn't stop glowing in the Deep South, it saved my life." He gestures with one hand to the rope ladder dangling from the jet, in invitation. Karolina's eyes flicker towards Hank over her shoulder, until the cuffs can get unlocked, Karolina swinging her hands forward to kinda rub her wrists. "Yeah - I think that two mutants are much better than two policemen," says Karolina, glancing between them both, before her eyes settle on Hank. "Dr. McCoy, I'm Karoli..." she begins to say, before pausing, glancing to him curiously. "You know my name already?" she says then. "...did my parents send you?" she asks then, her tone of voice growing guarded once more. Taking a moment to snatch up her backpack from the hood of the car - the pieces that hug or touch her body likewise taking on a rainbow glow, and Karolina starts stepping forward again towards the jet. Biting her lower lip, her attention was fully on Jax as he explains. Slipping her pack on fully over her shoulders, she nods her head slowly. "You... used to glow like me too?" she asks, a little bit of hope touching her tone. A beat, and she runs her tongue over her lips thoughtfully, stepping forward to skip off of the ground - it would easily look like she was jumping up to grasp the ladder, her hands reaching out to grab the rungs, and slipping her feet onto a lower one. But gravity didn't tend to wait until people had a good grip before exerting its force on people, but for Karolina, it did seem to. "Where did you guys get this jet? Is it part of the school thing?" she asks, starting to climb the ladder. If there wasn't much fuss, she would climb all the way up, and clear the entrance. "We keep our eyes and ears out for stories about mutants, and you caught our eye, so we had to do a little research." Beast watches Karolina ascend, waits for her to be safely inside the jet, and then leaps 10 feet straight into the air, catching the ladder, and hoisting himself quickly the rest of the way up. He moves to get settled into the pilot's seat. "So no, we weren't sent by your parents. Our school is just outside of New York City, actually." "No -- did they take you from your parents?" Jackson climbs up the ladder after Hank and Karolina, his ascent much more mundane than the others. There's a worried frown on his face as he settles in. "I mean, do you need help findin' 'em? We didn't think about -- I mean, our first priority was to get you out of /here/ safe. We can talk about your options once we're off in New York." With Karolina here now, he seats himself in the back, buckling himself in, too. "I used to glow a lot, yeah. Couldn't really control it. Got worse with some moods. The school helps -- learn to control your abilities. We try an' make sure kids have as much chance as possible for livin' safely in the world. S'hard when the world kinda spits on you for --" His cheeks flush slightly, hand scuffing over his now-bald head. "Well, you'd know." Karolina kinda lingers, standing there, until directed - although Karolina's features kinda pinch. Directed or no, she finds an unoccupied seat after both the men sit down, moving to sling her backpack beneath it (or in another convenient storage area), before glancing up to the cockpit. "I... no, no. It was a little bit of a trick, I guess, I'm, um... sorry about that," says the rainbow girl, bringing up a hand to brush her fingers over her face. Overall, she was a bit dirty, (although the multicolor effect would make it hard to tell without staring, as there would only be a texture difference), and there was a jagged gash in her backpack. "They, well... aren't around, I guess," she says quietly, her eyes glancing earthwards. Karolina breathes a heavy sigh, and her words come easier as the topic changes, her eyes glancing back up, although her smile was guarded. Looking back to Jax as he talks though? That smile comes just a little bit easier, her shoulders relaxing a bit. Just a bit. It would be a lie to say the young woman wasn't tense still. "I... this place sounds really good. You know I kinda want to say too good to be true, but I'd like to believe in it for now," she says, her smile kinda quirking. "And yeah, it's... kinda hard to hide what I am. People are just scared, though, I think. And they act in different ways because of this?" "People act all kindsa weird when they're scared. An' get all kindsa scared of stuff they don't understand. I guess it's part of why we spend so much time teaching kids how to live safely -- can go out in the world and teach people, then. Show people. That they don't /have/ to just be scared." Jax rests his hands on his knees, slumping back in his seat and letting glittery nails tap against the silvery denim of his jeans. "I thought it was too good to be true when I first heard, too. But then I went there an' realized," Jax's lips curl up into an easier smile, "-- s'just as much work as high school back home was. You been out here long?" This comes with a small, worried frown. "Might want to get some rest if you can, s'a bit of a flight, an' m'sure you're tired." /He's/ leaning forward for a bag of his own -- taking out a water bottle from it! And a chocolate-coconut Luna bar. He offers these to Karolina. "Sorry, I know /I/ get wicked sugar cravings after I -- sparkle too much." Karolina brings a hand up, running her fingertips over a bracelet she wore - a charm bracelet, by the look of it, her fingertips lingering upon an Ankh. Casting a glance towards the back of the pilot's head, she returns her attention back to Jax, a little smile touching her lips. "Yeah," she says, seeming to relax just a step more. "You guys had me so scared, yourself. The whole men in black thing - were those you guys, back in California, too? If so, I'm sorry for running then," she says, glancing up towards him. "But I was afraid of being, you know. Disappearing somewhere and never being seen again. Jail is not so bad as that," says 'lina, biting on her lower lip a little bit. "But, I mean, no offense to you guys, but I don't think I could fall asleep... just now. My heart is still pounding so hard," she says, bringing up a hand to kinda demonstrate that her heart was thudding. "God, I'm starving - I'd love that Luna bar if I could have it," she says, reaching out a hand for it when it was offered, looking back up to him. "Is this one of the vegan flavors?" she asks, turning it over in her hand a bit, reaching out a hand to take the water too. "You're an angel, thanks," she says then. Even if it wasn't a vegan flavor, one might get the impression that Karolina no longer really cared, with the way she was tearing the wrapper open with violence. "I... can't really turn it off, ever. If I fly too much, that's... something different," she says, glancing up towards him then. "But thank you so much again," she says, trying to pace the bar a little bit - nibbling just on the end for now. "No," Jackson's brow furrows, expression slightly more concerned. "-- That wasn't us. An' there's some pretty terrible places that people take -- um. I'm just glad those guys didn't tak you." His expression brightens at the question about the bar: "You're vegan?" His smile is wide. "I mean, yes. It's vegan. /I'm/ vegan. But that's safe. You -- can have more if you're hungry. We'll get you /real/ food back in New York but I pretty much metabolize like a hummingbird so I'm always sorta -- stocked." He pulls out a /pair/ of vanilla almond Luna bars, offering her one while he unwraps the other to eat it himself. "Fly. /Man/. That must be incredible. I got a couple friends who do but. /I/ ain't no angel. I think angels can fly." Karolina's smile falls from her face when he says that about the men, and there was a discomfited look to her features, then, the young woman bringing up her pack to kinda squeeze it to herself. "Yeah. Me too then. I just... had a bad feeling about it, and yeah," she says, bringing up a hand to brush a multicolored strand of her hair out of her face. But she gets a lopsided little smile, and looks back to him. "I would... like another one. If that's okay," she says then, her eyes kinda going to the pack that he got the first one out of - and realizing how that must have looked, she gets a sheepish look on her face as she looks back to his own. Although... "No way! You too?" she says then, her voice brightening. "I mean, I've not been good about it recently - I've kinda been eating whatever I can, and when I found a shelter who would let me sleep under their roof, I didn't really argue about the food, but I ate it, and I was sick for like /days/ after having some chicken pot pie..." she says, but clears her throat some. "And I wouldn't want to barf in this cool airplane of yours, is all. That would be an awful first impression," she says, before grinning. Taking the other one, she grins so wide her nose crinkles when he takes the other. When he mentions that angels fly, her smile grows a bit low, and sweet, her eyes glancing down, the young woman saying shyly, kinda rolling the second Luna bar in her hands. "It is the most... joyful thing I know of. To fly. I feel so... energized, so happy, so free, when I do it," she says, kinda looking back up again. "Okay, okay, you're not an angel, then. But you are really really nice, and a lifesaver with all these Luna bars," she says. "I'll take really really nice," Jackson says with a quiet laugh. "An' yeah. For -- 'bout four years now. Vegetarian for about six before that. Can be /rough/ when you're stuck places that --" His nose crinkles. "But yeah, I come fully stocked with plenty'a veg-friendly glucose. Even a little protein mixed in." "Yooou wouldn't be the first who's puked in it, though," this gets another laugh, his head shaking. "I mean, sometimes you pick up kids who've just been through chaos /and/ get motion sick and thaaaat ain't a good combination of stress. Guess you're more'n used to flying, though." "I've been vegan for like, since as far as I remember. My parents were kinda into it, as well. They were..." Karolina pauses, "Really good about wanting to not... well, they..." Karolina fumbles a little bit with her words. "They seemed to really want to save the Earth, and help out, and so I picked up on a lot of stuff, this vegan stuff too, from them," she says. "And if you swoop in on everyone like you swooped in on me," she says to Jax, giving him a little grin then, "I can see why everyone would be so scared. Have you heard your jet? It's /loud/," she says. "I really really believed you were the Men in Black, coming to take me away or something," she says, a little smirk touching her lips. "I guess... I just have a little more practice with chaos and stress," she says then. Glancing back to Hank. Although, with food in her belly, and feeling a little comfy, overall? Her eyes were starting to droop a bit, and she does lean back in her seat. "You know... I think I might be okay with that nap, after all," she says, neatly folding the wrapper back onto that vanilla almond bar - and tucking it away into her pullover somewhere.