Going All In

[367]

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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Comments

Re: VOLUNTEER

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt can be E unless someone else wants to force their character to talk to the cameras

Re: VOLUNTEER

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

can background bobby do a :D 👍👍 to the cameras

Re: VOLUNTEER

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

of course

It wouldn't be the same without a Bobby appearance

Re: VOLUNTEER

[367 367]

Added! ♥

(Without specific mention of Bobby, but we all know he's there.)