Going All In

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The Heist

On their second night in Las Vegas, the team makes the (fortunate or unfortunate) decision to spend some time in the Bellagio's renowned casino. Games of chance are being played, drinks are flowing, and it seems like they should have an entertaining night ahead of them until the electricity suddenly goes out and the space is plunged into darkness. Gasps of shock and anxious murmurings go up from the crowd around them, but within moments the emergency lights come on, casting everything in a dim orange glow.

The renewed light, however, also brings the arrival of a dozen or more figures that swarm the casino floor. Armed and wearing rubber cat masks (...maybe whoever's in charge here is a Taylor Swift fan?), the would-be robbers take up position around the casino. One fires a shot into the ceiling and orders everyone to get down. According to him, the security systems have been disabled, the doors are locked, cell phones are blocked, and nobody is coming to save them, so they'd better just do what he says. This is a heist! As people scream and scatter and drop to the floor, the would-be robbers fan out and begin gathering up cash, chips, and valuables.

...At least, until the X-Men jump into action! While this is a delicate situation with a number of armed attackers and dozens of vulnerable civilians, this is also the sort of situation they've trained for and they're quickly able to take control and neutralize the threat. As they bring down the would-be robbers, however, they start to realize that they're all acting... strange. Their voices are monotone. They're inexplicably calm even as the tides starts to turn against them. Their thoughts and emotions are clouded and difficult to access. They seem to be under some form of mind control! The team restrains the manipulated robbers and tries to talk to them, but those that remain conscious are too disoriented to shed any light on what happened to them even as the influence over them starts to wane. There's some hope, though.

The employees tell them that everyone being unmasked also works for the Bellagio. Security. Maintenance. Hospitality. Cleaners. Between them, they'd have access to every part of the hotel.

Additionally, Bobby Drake forms something of a rapport with one of the attempted robbers. With their guidance, the man is able to focus enough to recall meeting a strange man (a green man?) on the 30th floor before everything went hazy. He remembers the man staring into his eyes...then nothing. And now he's here. Much to Scott Summer's dismay, it seems like Vincent Kline might be behind this.

Armed with this information and a master key handed over by the staff, the team heads upstairs to search for the mastermind behind the heist.

The Chase

Still only lit by the emergency lights, the halls of the 30th floor are dim and strangely quiet when the team arrives (...via the stairs; the elevators aren't operational just yet). Searching the rooms eventually leads them to two figures. One is the green-skinned Vincent Kline. The other is a petite and unfamiliar brunette that stares at them with wild, frightened eyes as they come through the door. She shrieks for them to get away from her, calling them 'damned robots' and insisting that she and her brother haven't done anything wrong. Before they can try to reason with her, she manifests a towering exoskeleton of crackling energy and lunges to attack them. It seems that the woman is a mutant and sees them as sentinels, here to collect her and her "brother". It also seems that she is a state of deep, illusion-fueled mind control.

As the fight breaks out, Vincent escapes into the hall and makes a run for it. The team splits up, half pursuing him and half staying behind to attempt to contain the terrified mutant. As they chase the man, he steals glances back at them, attempting to lock eyes with them and inflicting their minds with powerful illusions. [Character B] is sent chasing a copy of the man that only they can see. Jean Grey is suddenly convinced that the building is on fire around them. In the end, though, Emma Frost is able to tackle Vincent as he heads into the stairwell. Overpowered and unable to lock eyes with them to make use of his powers, he seems to be out of tricks and gives up. He does, however, try to convince Emma to let him go. He's never done anything like this and he never will again. He just wanted to get back at them and get the hell out of this miserable city. Don't they understand what it's like? Isn't looking like this punishment enough?

Eventually, the team regroups and returns to the lower levels with Vincent and the mutant woman (now unconscious after her conflict with the team). They're greeted by a chaotic scene. Law enforcement has arrived and is trying to sort out the mess, paramedics are tending to the injured and carting the worst cases off to the hospital, and the paparazzi is out en force. Kurt Wagner gives a brief statement to the press as the team delivers the Vincent to the authorities and the unconscious woman to the paramedics. Then they slip away.

They can hear the press already tossing around sinister monikers for the newest mutant villain, the most prominent of which seems to be Mesmero. Hopefully that doesn't stick. That'd just be embarrassing.

BEFORE THE HEIST ⮾ DURING THE HEIST ⮾ AFTER THE HEIST ⮾ THE CHASE ⮾ AFTERMATH ⮾ OOC

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BEFORE THE HEIST

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What is your character up to before everything goes sideways? Any pre-heist scenes can go here.

BEFORE THE HEIST: Kitty, the Slot Machines & Open

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty can see why people listen to the siren song of slot machines. There's the promise that if you just sit for hours, insert a few coins, press the cute little touchscreens and listen to the soothing music, eventually all the correct images will line up for a jackpot. But after about five full minutes the novelty's gone, the little cartoon money bags and safes feel like they're mocking her, and the music is as grating as all the facts in her head about this pasttime. She leans back in her chair and narrows her eyes at the friend nearest to her.

"Did you know that there might be a one in 34 million chance I win the top prize on this? It's between one in 5000 and one in 34 million in Vegas, and the Bellagio has some of the lowest returns on slots. It would actually be so much more ethical for me to grab all the dollars out of the machine and just hand them back to everyone that way."

BEFORE THE HEIST: Kitty, the Slot Machines & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma is not playing the slots - she is leaning against the side of the machine Kitty is at, getting talked up by some guy that she only has passing interest in. She takes the drink he hands to her and, right before Kitty opens her mouth (because she knows she's about to open her mouth), she flicks her wrist a little for flair and the man leaves with a light touch of good old mental suggestion.

"Stealing is ethical now?" she asks curiously, sipping at her drink as she turns to her companion.

BEFORE THE HEIST: Kurt at the Bar & OPEN

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt's not much for gambling, but the nearby bar lets him keep an eye on his team while also enjoying delicious, overpriced cocktails. He's been making small talk with curious strangers for most of the evening, and hasn't had to pay for his own drink yet. It turns out that people will happily spend twenty-ish dollars to briefly get the attention of a curiosity like him.

He feels a bit like an animal on display, though. So with the seat next to him briefly open and one of his friends is passing by, he's quick to call them over. "Have a drink with me!"

BEFORE THE HEIST: Kurt at the Bar & Scott

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Scott has his head down and his baseball cap pulled low, his usual mode when he doesn't want people to recognize him. At the sound of Kurt's voice, Scott's spine straightens and he heads right over, like a soldier following an order.

"I'm not drinking today," he says, as though he isn't usually painfully sober during social outings. Something softens in his expression as he looks Kurt over. "You're having a good time."

BEFORE THE HEIST: Bobby tries Texas Hold 'Em & Open

[hotfrosty bobby drake ❄️ has a perfect attendance rate.]

"I'm gonna bankrupt Emma," declares The Worst Poker Face in the West. And the East. And the North, and the South, and the Hemisphere, and the Planet, and the Solar System.

BEFORE THE HEIST: Scott & Jean

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

When Scott gets recognized out in the wild, it's usually one of three things: 1) the visor and brightly-colored superhero costume, 2) the dark red sunglasses which he wears even indoors, or 3) being in the company of a beautiful redhead. He's miraculously gotten away without being noticed this trip, but the double-hit of #2 and #3 finally nails him. Scott's fault entirely for tailing Jean around the casino as she downs drinks and has fun.

"Hey! Are you Cyclops?" calls out someone in a group of bachelorette partiers.

He pulls down the brim of his hat. "Uh, no."

"Are you sure? You look like him." One of the women taps on her phone, possibly to look up pictures of the X-Men. Or take a photo. Oh god. Scott awkwardly tries to get around the group and catch up with Jean.

BEFORE THE HEIST: Scott & Manuel

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Scott knows the rules of poker and once watched a Texas Hold 'Em tournament on TV, and never, ever allowed himself to delve further than that. He knows how he can get around games of strategy. He has an obsessive personality, and learned to direct it towards useful things like battle tactics and security protocols instead.

But Manny wanted to play, so they're playing. Several rounds in, he's aware that Manny must be weaving some kind of complex emotional web between everyone at the table, but Scott is entirely focused on his own cards. Three of a kind. Nines. Decent, but not impressive. He expects Manny is doing better, but looking at him now across the table, Scott has no idea. He's terrible at reading at people.

Well. He's been playing conservatively so far, but the faster he runs through Emma's money, the sooner they can be done. "I raise," Scott says as he pushes forward $600 worth of chips.

DURING THE HEIST

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How does your character help to take down the would-be robbers? Explain your character's tactics and contributions to the fight here. If you want to play out a specific part of the heist, put it here!

DURING THE HEIST: Scott

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

The second people start screaming, Scott's swapped his sunglasses for his visor. He logged over 100 hours into Danger Room scenarios for neutralizing mind-controlled people, and wastes no time in disarming the attackers and tying them up so they don't hurt themselves or anyone else. He happens to have a dozen medium-duty cable ties in his jacket. Normal behavior for Scott Summers.

He quickly connects the mind-controlled robbers' story to the man he encountered yesterday, and seems frustrated that he hadn't acted earlier to avoid this. (The fact that there was nothing he could've done at the time will not stop Scott from beating himself up for this.)

DURING THE HEIST: Kurt

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Civilian safety. That's Kurt's goal. The room is littered with plumes of purple smoke as Kurt quickly moves people to safety, so fast that he even feels his own stomach start to turn. He'd have been fine if he were sober. What a responsible leader he is.

Crouched down with an old man he just hid behind a slot machine, Kurt takes two deep breaths. He makes eye contact with the man before vanishing again.

DURING THE HEIST: Manuel

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

When the warning shot is fired, Manuel immediately ducks down with everyone else, subtly slips on a pair of sunglasses to obscure his eyes, and reaches out with his empathic sense. He has every intention of shutting the robbers down before this mess can even get underway. Unfortunately, while their minds are simple to find...they're not right. Their emotions are muted. Smothered almost beyond recognition by something outside of themselves, making his manipulations of their brain chemistry completely ineffective.

Well, fuck.

He turns his focus from them to the terrified droves of civilians instead, forcefully dialing back the rising panic of as many as he can so nobody will act out and make the situation worse. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes glow a vibrant violet with the effort. He'll just have to give the team time to handle this and wait for an opportunity to get the drop on one of the gunmen. If he times it right, he should be able to knock one out or at least disarm them.

DURING THE HEIST: Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma is pissed. This is their vacation! They're supposed to be having a good time! Much like Manuel she's on the ground, playing the civilian as she mentally reaches out to the armed robbers. And, much like Manny, she quickly realizes they're under a thrall. With the other X-men in action, Emma focuses on dropping anyone that isn't about to be taken out by one of her teammates, mentally spiking them and trying to dismiss the mental control they're under.

She also reaches out, searching for the perpetrator, but Vincent is too far away for her to catch much of a read.

DURING THE HEIST: Kitty

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty moves as a dervish, favoring the tactic of sneaking up on robbers and grabbing guns through their newly incorporeal bodies. This is a shock move that creates a little less shock than usual. Odd. She gets all removed weaponry out of the picture and a floor down so that this is one less piece of chaos to contend with. She removes civilians the same way, phasing them through the walls and to safety. Her next goal would be to get the security system back up and operating so they can use the cameras to pin down Vincent, but there's very little time for that.

DURING THE HEIST: Jean

[totalities marvel girl]

When she gets hit with the illusion of fire, Jean momentarily makes everything much worse by voiding the building of oxygen with her telekinesis in attempts to extinguish the flames. She does eventually figure out that this isn't helping, but not before suffocating everyone in the area for a minute or two.

AFTER THE HEIST

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What is your character doing immediately after the heist? The would-be robbers are restrained, but there are still questions to be answered... Any post-heist scenes can go here.

AFTER THE HEIST: Bobby & Robbie, A Snippet

[hotfrosty bobby drake ❄️ has a perfect attendance rate.]

Robbie didn't seem real last night when he was words on a phone with a tiny little hot-guy photo attached. Robbie didn't seem real an hour ago when he was glassy-eyed and robbing an entire friggin' casino, either. Robbie seems real now.

Bobby stares at the guy sitting against the wall beside him then back at his hands where he's forming a perfect snowball.

He pulls at the top until it has cat ears like the KP robbers' masks. "When I said Ocean's Eleven was one of my favourite movies–"

"I know."

"I wasn't suggesting you should do a–"

"I know."

For once, Bobby's mind goes blank.

He breaks the awkward silence with "You look like your pics," which finally makes the sorta-but-also-not-entirely-a-criminal turn his green eyes back on the X-Man, an eyebrow raised, so he clarifies: "It's a good thing!"

"You don't." (Bobby doesn't like the sound of that.) "You're wearing a... no, three shirts. I didn't think you were the type."

Robbie shoots him a smile and Bobby—when the joke lands—might blush, so he chucks the snowball at Kitty's back as a little retribution for choosing his SuperLike bio's all-shirtless gallery and wipes his hands off on his tuxedo pants. "Wanna get that drink after all? I bet they'll comp my tab since we saved the day. Like, not you, you tried to rob them, but they can't say no to me, one of their saviours, who totally deserves a parade and maybe a statutory holiday."

THE CHASE

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After getting some clues from the mind-controlled robbers, the team heads off to search for the mastermind on the 30th floor of the hotel. Explain your character's tactics and contributions to the pursuit here. If you want to play out a specific part of the chase, put it here!

AFTERMATH

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The situation is handled! More or less. Any other scenes can go here.

AFTERMATH: Kurt slips away

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Back when guns were drawn and bullets were flying, Kurt teleported a woman to safety, shielding her behind the bar. Now the two of them are spotted speaking, standing suspiciously close as Kurt holds her hand in his. His shirt is torn and slightly singed from his standoff upstairs, and she carefully touches the ragged edge of the fabric.

To the rest of the team it's very clear what's going on.

GROUP CHAT: Don't worry about me! I've been invited out to a late dinner! 😊💙

SCOTT: MGM Grand, 1215, Myla Wallace

OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

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You know the drill. ♥

VOLUNTEER

[367 367]

Grab a volunteer slot if you want to!

NPC INTERACTIONS

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Prompt a response from an NPC if you want one! The mod will respond to any comment here at least once.

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Heist heist heist ♥ tyyyyy Kasey!!!

Also Emma is wearing this today. She did pop on her image inducer while they made their way up the stairs~

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[hotfrosty bobby drake ❄️ has a perfect attendance rate.]

after the heist bobby and robbie are drinking too much and then getting married by the grim reaper

they'll get annulled when they remember to

everyone is invited

thank u