Frank stayed silent and still, thoughts chasing each other in his head. It's interesting that only the freak-shows in the room wanted to go fight other freak-shows in the city. It's too bad that Morri is one of them. She doesn't seem able to fully predict the consequences of actions. The other two don't have excuses that I know of. Getting in a televised brawl between killers and cops legally endangers the school and would certainly lead to expulsion. That Warren kid is waaay messed up. Seriously disgusting, Jesus Christ. What the fuck kind of mutation is that?

Cold rage ran through Morri's body. It wasn't that Ren was mocking her. Morri didn't mind words; they didn't hurt. Or they hadn't hurt, until today, when they were used to deride what she knew she must do. Why would he be so mean about her doing what she'd said she must do? What right did he have to tell her no?

Then Revenant fixed all that with a simple touch. Morri wasn't sure what he'd done, but was willing to trust that he wanted the same goal that she did. Morri's eyes widened at what Warren had become, but his appearance didn't bother her so much as the transformation itself. She hadn't seen that before, and was surprised by it.

She didn't really expect anyone else to go, so when Kazuo stood up and announced his intentions to go, Morri flashed him a smile. It was the closest thing that any of them at seen to a real smile from her; for her part, if was spontaneous. She'd been really happy that her roommate had offered to come, and it showed - until Ren took it away again.

With a growl that seemed at least half-animal, she glanced at Frank, remembering him from the cafeteria. When he didn't move or join them, her look changed to disdain. "Do nothing, kill people with lazy fear. Now, die guilty," she hissed to those staying behind. Turning, she looked at Revenant, waiting for him to make this happen.

Frank was surprised at Morri's glance and chastisement. His initial reaction was that she was being overly simplistic, overly judgmental and continually unthinking. But, her statement reminded him of Azimov's Three Laws, the first of which was that a robot may not, by action or inaction, allow a human to be harmed. Now, we aren't robots, and that isn't a great analogy to this situation, but there is a relevance in the moral obligation to help other people if you can. No, the analogy is not very good. The risks are high here, and self-preservation was a relatively low priority for robots compared to people. It is okay to not help people if your own life is at risk.

The news was back on, thanks to Ren. So much destruction and killing, but not very sophisticated. Gross assaults by the mutants, authorities shooting towards the obvious threats. News helicopters provided helpful footage of the streets from the air. Some of the more frequent civilian casualties were due to trampling as the mobs try to evacuate. Injured people who can't get away. Helpless victims of other people's drives for self-preservation. That's more like what I'm doing. And I am not such a weak person anymore that my survival could not be assured without neglecting others. I am stronger now than the members of the trampling mobs. There are large sections of streets absent of combat, but still residence to people needing help. There are opportunities for me to do something useful without endangering my life or the school. And I look normal. I think I would be alright. Frank repeated that thought to himself a few more times.

He stood up hesitantly. "I would go, but not to fight, just to help people get to safety." He gestured towards the television, then addressed Warren. "Do you have a plan besides 'Go there and fight'? It would be best to arrive discreetly."

The ghoulish teen looked to Frank and smirked. "Course I got a plan. Those guys are Ragnorok, I recognize the big guy. They're street mutants, like me. I can probably talk em' down. This'll be easy."

With a bit of a strain Warren closed his eyes and focused on their destination. Jamie, although still learning her power, was vastly superior in her skill with it over the soul thief vagrant. She could have already had the portal open where Warren had to call on a bit more focus.

There was a purple crackle of energy a few steps from him and then the space in front of him suddenly yawned open with a deathly shriek that sounded as if he'd opened the gates of Avernus. The opposite side of the portal was blank, no one could see, upon stepping through, where it would take them.

On the television screen, under the massive big screen in Times Square a portal yawned open and the three remaining mutant trouble makers turned to see what was going on.

Warren stepped through the portal and appeared on the other side, his form wavered and shifted and he returned to his normal self...

"That is the opposite of discreet," Frank muttered as he watched Warren appear on the television. Frank only hesitated a second, though, trying to hold on to the momentum of his decision to help out. He didn't want to chicken out all of a sudden. His skin blackened, and his body diffused a little, like fresh ink on wet paper. He jumped through the portal after Warren.

Darkness silently exploded from behind Warren, as if there were such a thing as the opposite of a flash grenade. Everything was obscured within an area that reached halfway towards the NASDAQ, Europa Cafe, and recruitment center. Particularly keen observers might have noticed a dark figure diving under a car on Broadway before the darkness dissipated.

"Shit", muttered Kazuo as he watched Warren appear on the news and realized that was going to be him in a few seconds. Yeah, this was a fantastic way to stay hidden from the Genyosha; appear on national freakin' television. Someone probably should've suggested to Warren that opening the portal right into the middle of all that mess was maybe not the best idea ever, but then again, that someone probably should've been him.

Kazuo sucked on his teeth pensively as Frank stepped through the portal ahead of him as if reconsidering his decision, but then he just shrugged, stuffed his hands into his jacket, and carefully stepped through the freaky-looking portal. Once on the other side he spent a moment rubbing his eyes and assuring himself that Frank's "explosion" of darkness hadn't actually blinded him, and then - once reassured - he took his place casually enough next to Warren.

Morri followed her roommate, wondering what that word he'd said meant. It seemed like a reminder of what they stood for, like his native word for 'courage' or 'bravery'. It had a nice sound to it, and was short enough to be said easily. As Morri entered the eerie portal, she mouthed the word. It helped her to overcome her instincts, which were screaming at her that the hole in the air was dangerous. But the others had done it, even if she didn't connect their presence on the TV with their disappearance and she wasn't going to abandon them.

Once on the other side, she saw Kazuo take his spot, and she did the same on the other side of Warren. Facing the other mutants made her blood rush through her veins with anxiety. But she took her place without hesitation, a warning growl rumbling in her chest.

It was pure anarchy on the opposite end of the portal. The police went abuzz on their radios as everyone thought more mutants had come to join the chaos in Times Square. The intersection was lit up like the day at noon between the lights from the big scree, the choppers, and the vehicle spotlights. In the very wide perimeter around the scene the officers were hunched behind their squad cars, fire arms pointed to fire at a moments notice. The crowd should have been evacuated in the scenario like this one but there were just too many people for the police force to keep away and the national guard sure as hell was taking it's time.

There were three left, the officers had managed to subdue or kill the rest of the mutants who were taking part in the riot but those that remained appeared to be the alphas.

Sumnyr hovered several feet off the ground. His eyes glowed an eerie green and his face was twisted into a visage of malice directed at all the humans around him. He was handsome and well dressed, or was at one point this night before the events had dirtied his immaculate khakis and pressed polo. His short, slightly spiked hair, manicured fingernails and perfectly plucked eyebrows told Kazuo one thing... 'metrosexual'. "Ahh, new comers to our little protest." He chuckled arrogantly. His voice sounded as high-class and expensive as his Italian leather shoes. "Pick a portion of the crowd and begin Brothers! The fools just stand there, their mouths agape in awe at the Gods who've come to replace them as masters of this world!"

The second, Ox, was a face and name that everyone knew rather well, he was the mutants responsible for the death of Director Drumm's wife and daughter a few years ago. Anyone who'd been at the school longer than a week had heard the tale by now. He was nearly eight feet tall of pure muscle. We looked like a Hulk, minus the green. He appeared to be of mixed black/white heritage, had a large platinum chain that had to of cost hundreds of thousands of dollars because the massive medalion that declared him as 'OX' was diamond encrusted. Apparently his days as a rapper hadn't kicked off yet, but at least he had the gear. "Lookidat shit. Makin doors n' all kinds of fancy entrances." He chuckled slightly. "Grab a car toss, they just stand there like idiots!" He picked up a car and proceeded to crush it, grind, bend it and collapse it in on itself with little to know effort at all into a large ball of steel and parts.

Lastly was Nereid, a mutant who seemed to had caught the negative side of the genetic lottery. All of her mutations were obvious for the entire world to see; tiny scales covered her body so fine that they were nearly invisible unless one rubbed their hand across them in the wrong direction. This gave her 'skin' a steel blue hue like that of some marine life. Her eyes were solid black orbs, her hair was long and deep green. A legless and sleeveless black wetsuit preserved her modesty and permitted the spines folded down along her calves and fore arms to not get unnecessarily snagged. She said nothing, her attractive features simply looked upon the arrivals with neutral suspicion.

"Party's over asshats." Revenant started negotiations rather well. "You've had your fun, now blow."

The three alphas turned their attention fully on the new comers now. A battle was in the air and they could all smell it. "And if we want to stay?" Asked Sumnyr, softly and with a measure of confidence.

Revenant grinned. "Then we kick your collective asses."

Sumnyr opened a fist at his side and a green anima shown briefly before Revenant was thrown backward and slammed into a parked squad car. It slid sideways leaving a pair of black skids in the pavement and the door was crushed and folded by the impact. Revenant staggered out from the niche he just created for himself... "Hope Oneca doesn't watch the news. That was embarassin'..."

A nimbus of energy grew around Warren's own hands now as the students each took a more aggressive posture. The alphas were not going to come quietly and the students had no way back home except through them and the angry mob... if there was one thing Warren excelled at, it was getting people into loads of trouble.

Kazuo blinked and belatedly turned to watch as Warren was sent hurtling into a car. As the shaken teen hauled himself out of the Warren-shaped dent in the car's door Kazuo glanced back at the 'Ragnarockettes' and then turned back to Revenant.

"Yeah, hey, I don't think 'talking them down' is working, dude", said Kazuo with dripping sarcasm. Then, very matter-of-factly, he added, "I think I'm gonna try punchin' the big guy's face in. See if that does the trick. Ok?"

With that Kazuo turned and launched himself at Ox in a high, arcing leap that seemed to take him through the air much faster than it should have. The leap carried him pretty much right into Ox's face, whereupon the scarred Nipponese teen laid into the hulking mutant like a Tasmanian Devil high on Speed and adrenaline.

"It pains me to destroy my fellow brothers and sisters," Sumnyr cried out into the Manhattan night. He swooped up, his body spiraling like a cork screw several times until he halted several stories up in the air. The air around him rippled and began to glow greenish. His powers seemed to 'charge' the molecules in the areas around him and then his body body drew it in close to him, collecting it. The more he collected, the brighter and larger his anima became. "But these humans bore me and I will do what I must to anyone who who stands in my way. Nothing personal!"

From his vantage point more and more green energy collected into his body...

On the ground Ox found himself temporarily overwhelmed by the swift onslaught from Kazuo. He staggered as he tried to dodge the blows but everywhere the Goliath went Kazuo's fist or foot was there to meet him. The almost fell with the sweep attack, doing a rather embarrassing little dance in an attempt to keep his balance and in the end was left with both feet planted firmly on the ground but not before dropping the balled up with a loud crunching 'thump' onto the pavement.

"Hey!" Ox bellowed. "Knock that shit off! Ya wanna bounce about with all that chop-suey crap? I'll bounce ya off the walls... c'mere!" With a grunt he lumbered back into the fray, eyes set on Kazuo.