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Theatre Foyer - Broadway Majestic Theatre
The foyer of the Broadway Majestic Theatre is grand and beautiful. The staircase sweeps upward stops at a landing before splitting into two and wrapping around the room to meet at the second floor balcony. The ceiling is decorated with ornate chandeliers and hanging lights, which cast reflections upon the glimmering mirrored walls. The entrance is made up of glass doors with various advertisements upon them.
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The room has been set up for a press conference. A few chairs have been set up at the base of the staircase, and there is a small podium on the first landing of the staircase. Behind the podium are two small columns with potted plants atop them. Along the edges of the room are a few tables with punch and a few small orderves which Hildegarde has paid for personally. She is currently on the second floor balcony, speaking with a few men in suits and occasionally glancing down at the growing crowd. She looks up at an ornate clock hanging on the wall and frowns. She will have to begin soon. She smiles at the men near her and begins down the staircase toward the podium.
The crowd consists mainly of reporters and a few photographers. Many of them are shuffling papers or checking video equipment currently, a few seem a bit anxious. A couple of stations have been set up for quite some time and are currently interviewing a group of protestors located near the west side of the room. Security had attempted to remove the protestors earlier, but Miss VonReginleif had come down personally to announce that she would like them to be present. She had stated that they were entitled to their opinions, and that hopefully if they were present she may be able to change a few of their minds.
This seems not to have done much so far, as none of the protestors have yet put down their signs calling for Hilde to leave the country or be removed from the show. When asked why he feels that Hilde should leave the United States, one protestor answers, "I believe that Miss VonReginleif has deceived the American people by keeping her powers hidden. Why does she feel she needs to hide? She claims she is not dangerous, but that tape tells me otherwise." The protestors behind the boy give a collective cheer, receiving a few frowns from the east side of the room, where a few non-protestors have collected.
In the east, there is a group standing around and discussing quietly amongst themselves. Most seem disinterested with the protestors, while a few glance over occasionally and offer a frown or two. Among the group is a boy of about 15. He is wearing a black hoodie and a pair of tattered jeans. His shoulder-length curly hair seems a bit unkempt, and pokes out from under his hood. He is currently drinking a cup of punch, his golden eyes glinting menacingly at the protestors across the room, though no one seems to have noticed quite yet.
Right outside of the entrance are several news vans. A few armed police officers are also present, though Hilde was displeased to hear of their presence earlier. After reading up on a few other public events involving mutant issues, the owner of the theatre had decided that the extra security might be a good idea.
Wesley slips in, looking about the room for a moment before heading towards the less rowdy looking east side, though he keeps a careful eye on the west end of the room as he does so. He looks much like he always does, hair combed a little neater as it sticks up above the crowd, turning this way and that as he somewhat nervously checks out the other attendee's state of dress, comparing it to his own. This stops once he spots the kid in the hoodie, sighing with relief that at least he's not the only one before heading towards the snack table.
Hildegarde is wearing a black dress and metal heels currently, her hair tied back in a double bun. She steps up to the podium and clears her throat, waiting for the crowd to quiet down before starting off. Her voice is distinctly German, and deeper than one might expect from the woman. "Hello friends. Thank you for coming this evening. I have called this press conference for two reasons. The first is to clear up any misconception that I am ashamed of or attempting to hide my status as a mutant. Many of my friends and family are aware of my mutation and are perfectly fine with it. I did not announce it to the general public because I feel that it is not something that I need to announce. It is not something that should define me as an individual, and so there was no reason to make unnecessary commotion about it." She pauses for a moment to look out over the crowd. "The second reason I have called this conference is to answer any questions anyone may have, or to clarify anything that I have said which may be unclear to the anyone." She nods to the crowd. "I will take questions now, if anyone has any."
A few hands and microphones shoot up immediately. Hilde points to a dark haired woman in a red suit who asks "Do you have any idea where that tape came from? And if so, do you intend to take legal action against the individual who released it?"
The protestors quiet down for a few moments as Hilde speaks, afterward, one of them shouts out at the woman "You WERE hiding it! Quit deceiving the public!" Quite a few of them nod in agreement, though their numbers seem not that large. There are about a half-dozen of them present currently, and they all appear to be of college age. The shouting garners a few warning glances from the news crowd, a few cameras turning their way.
The boy in the hoodie is also frowning at the group...still. Why must they always do this? Always interfering with things they dont understand. He crushes his empty punch cup and drops it on the floor, turning back to the giant woman to see her reaction.
Wesley listens to Hilde speak, nodding in approval, shooting a quick glance towards the protestors, rolling his eyes at them before turning back to Hilde.
Hilde shakes her head as the question is asked. "Hilde knows exactly where that tape came from. I suspect that it was mine sister Elke, since it was Elkes car...I...was..." She slows down and looks at the protestors as they begin to shout. She sighs and holds out a hand to them. "If you wish to ask a question, please wait your turn. I will try to answer as many questions as I can, but things will go much easier if you are patient, mine kinder." She shakes her head. "Hilde already has explained why Hilde did not announce her mutation if you would like further clarification, please wait." She looks back to the news reporter and smiles. "I am sorry. I do not intend to take legal action against family, but I will need to be discussing this thing with her soon, I think." She seems to slip in and out of her speech patterns, as though a few answers were rehearsed.
Hilde points to the next hand, this time it is a man in a blue suit. "Miss Voneginleif, what are your thoughts on being possibly removed from the book of records as the tallest woman? There is word that you may be added as simply the tallest mutant. A few are saying that this classifies mutants as a separate species than humans, your thoughts?"
A few of the protestors seem taken aback by Hildes response to them. Apparently they werent actually expecting her to respond to them. "Kinder? You think you can just brush us off because were younger than you? And yes, you SHOULD be taken out of the book. You are, after all, NOT human."
The boy in the black hoodie grins smugly at Hildes response to the protestors, but his grim visage is again returned to him as they begin to yell once more. They shout that she is not human and the boy appears visable enraged. Clearly someone should take them out of the room. He looks back to Hilde, as if pleading with her to do something about them.
One of the guards has taken notice of the protesters and moves toward the group.
Wesley rolls his eyes again, this time at the use of kinder, but frowns over towards the protestors at that 'not human' line. "Oi!" he calls out, New York accent shining through. "She said wait your turn! Raise your hand or something, didn't you ever go to school?" Bravado only being worth so much, he crouches a little after the shout, trying to hide amongst the shorter individuals, edging towards one of the taller reporters.
Hilde stops speaking for a moment and clutches the podium before her. She breathes heavily a couple times, appearing moderately upset at what the protestors are yelling. She spots the guard heading toward them and holds up her hand to stop him. "No, they have just as much right to be here as anyone." She hears the voice of Wesley ring out and scans the crowd, spotting the familiar face and smiling, offering a nod of appreciation. The woman holds up a finger and looks toward the protestors once more. "But I must tell you once more that I will not tolerate you yelling out over the other guests of this hall." She shakes her head. "And Hilde would like for you to know that this comment is hurtful. Hilde did not ask to be this way, and Hilde would prefer that you keep your harsh thoughts to yourself." She looks back to the crowd and takes a few breaths to calm herself. The crowd is mostly quiet, looking over at the protestors. Hilde speaks tentatively. "Hilde has no opinion on this matter. If Hilde is to be removed from the book, so be it. It makes little difference to me. As for the status of mutants and humans within the book..." She shakes her head. "That is not a matter in which I am an expert. I should certainly hope that I am not classified as non-human, but that is not for me to decide." She points out to the crowd..."You."
The reporters look to the left as Hilde points. She is pointing to one of the protestors who has just raised her hand. A girl of about twenty in an orange t-shirt and jeans. "If you, yourself admit to not knowing whether or not you should be classified as human, then why do you feel that you should have the same rights as us?" The girl holds up her hand. "That might have come out wrong...What I mean is why didn't you register as a mutant when you first came to this country. Your...um...disorder seems to me like it could be dangerous. Don't you think that it is your responsibility to tell the government what you can do?"
The boy in the hoodie glares at the girl, catching her attempt to play off her insults as miscommunications. He starts toward the girl with a look of rage on his face, his golden eyes glinting slightly. His left hand appears to be glowing slightly, though no one seems yet to have noticed. this is probably because he is behind the majority of the crowd, and everyone is focusing intently on Hilde and the protestors.
Wesley frowns as well, looking for all the world like he's about to shoot off another remark, but seems to think better of it, just sitting in his spot near the back of the reporters, listening to see how Hilde responds.
Hilde frowns at the girl, having expected an insulting and redundant question, but she wanted to show them that she was willing to listen to them if they at least attempted to act like civilized individuals. She sighs and leans down slightly. "Hilde did not feel it necessary because Hilde does not use her gift inappropriately. Also, Hilde is not an American citizen, and as such have a certain amount of autonomy when it comes to such laws. Also, if Hilde is not mistaken, this law of registering powers is not official yet, correct? It is more something that...is..." From Hildes vantage point above the rest of the room, something catches her eye. There is a poorly dressed boy with a glowing hand walking determinedly toward the girl in the orange shirt. Hildes face is one of complete confusion before she realizes that this is probably very bad. "Hey, you...Stop where you are." She points at the boy in black, but he seems to ignore her.
The reporters are looking back and forth between Hilde and the group of protestors. A few of them seem quite relieved for some reason. Perhaps in the past they had been in similar situations which may not have ended so well. And then Hilde calls their attention to the boy in the back, the room turns and looks around, only a few close enough to actually see the boy as he glances quickly at Hilde and continues on his way.
The protestors seem a little edgy, theyre not used to people being so civilised toward them when they are so outwardly rude. They frown and whisper amongst themselves until Hilde calls out, then they too look in the direction of the boy, noting the glowing and backing up slightly. They hadn't expected someone from the crowd to retaliate poorly.
The boy ignores Hilde for a while but looks up quickly as she continues to call out to him. He calls back to her. "You don't know what youre talkin about lady. These kids aren't going to listen to you unless you give them a REASON to listen. With that he holds up his left arm and takes aim at the girl in orange, who look a bit frightened at this point. "It is NOT a disorder...it is a GIFT!" And with that he unleashes a beam of golden light at the crowd of protestors. A few begin to jump out of the way, but the others are likely to be hit with a concussive force equal to that of being hit with a fifty pound object.
A couple more cops entered the room when Hilde yelled out, but they are too far from the kid and a few of them are still looking around trying to figure out what exactly is going on.
Wesley turns, spotting the boy, eyes wide, then he blasts the crowd and he curses loudly, crouching down and darting across the room towards him. Reaching out in an attempt to catch him by the back of the pants. "And you're a bully," he calls out, hoping nobody's getting a clear look at his face.
Hildegarde's eyes go wide as the child unleashes an energy blast into the crowd. She yells and points, though few are likely to understand her since she has defaulted into German. One or two people in the crowd turn to look at her as she screams incoherently in an enraged manner. Anyone who could understand her would hear "What are you DOING! This is NOT the way to solve anything. you will only make things worse!" And then a few select curses.
The news cameras turn to the scene unfolding as the child blasts into the protestors. Most of the cameras are too slow and just catch the end of the scene. Most of the news crews scatter, a few of them scream. They have seen this before and arent about to stick around to see how things are going to turn out.
The blast glances the shoulder of the girl in orange, knocking her back against one of the walls. It should have hit her full on, what had happened? She looks around a bit dazed as a couple of her fellow protestors run to her aid.
The boy unleashes his blast at the group and then staggers slightly. Someone has grabbed a hold of his pant-leg. He turns slightly as he trips, his blast going slightly to the left and hitting about half of the glass dorrs and a part of one of the mirrored walls. The glass shatters and elicits a few more screams, though no one seems to be in the general vicinity of any of the glass-fall. The boy turns and glares down at Wesley. "What are you doin' ya little vermin!" Little? Wesley must be at least a good foot taller than this boy. The boy's hand begins to glow faintly as he glares at Wes.
Wesley chuckles once. "Cute," he says, one hand reaching out to grip the boy by the wrist, his surprisingly strong arm (and he looks pretty strong to start with) retching it up towards the ceiling as his other hand goes to jerk the boy's hood down over his face. "People like you give mutants a bad name, you know that?"
Hilde yells out and covers her face as the glass falls, even though she is probably the farthest person from any of the destruction. She looks down and sees Wesley lifting up the boy and decides that maybe it is time for her to take things into her own hands. She straightens herself up and pushes the podium out of her way. She starts down the stairs into the panicking crowd. "Everyone please, become calm." She strolls toward the two boys, but seems a bit hindered by the crowd. Her tall form can be seen wading trough them slowly toward the two.
Many of the news crews are beginning to spill our into the street, running through where the doors used to be. A few of them on the far end of the room stick around to continue filming. One or two crews are trying to collect busted cameras that were damaged when the crowd began to surge backward.
The protestors seem to have decided that it is time to leave and begin edging around behind the two boys. The girl in orange seems to have recovered slightly, though she is still clutching her shoulder and appears to have cut her forehead when the glass broke.
The boy makes a grunting noise as he is lifted upward and is beginning to say something nasty to Wesley as his hoodie is pulled down. His hand unleashes another blast upward, though it isnt nearly as strong as the first. It manages to his a chandelier and causes it to spin slightly, though nothing appears to break or fall. The boy begins kicking. "Put me down!"
One of the officers nearby looks between the crowd and the boys. What should he do? He pulls out a gun and points it in the general direction of the two. Aiming at the boy in the hoodie and shaking slightly.
Wesley turns to the girl in orange. "Hey, you okay?" he asks with obvious concern, only to be distracted when a none-too-steady cop starts pointing a gun towards him. "Hey! What are you doing?" he asks. "Don't you have a taser or something?" He looks to the boy. "Stop acting like a jackass and I might, and stop shooting up, are you stupid? You bring a chandelier down, I'm blocking with you, just so you know."
"Achtung!" Hilde is yelling something and waving her arms, but the second blast has sent the crowd reeling. She is looking between the cop with the gun and Wesley. The cop looks as though he's going to shoot, but there is no way Hilde will be able to reach either party in time. She looks around quickly and spies another small podium next to her. She frowns and looks back to the scene. She grabs the podium and hefts it above her head, spilling papers all over the floor. A few people still near the woman yell out in surprise and alarm as she does this, ducking down. Hilde holds the podium with one arm and throws it as one may toss a football, right at the cop with the gun. As she does so, she yells out "DUCK!" Which everyone already was doing. Hilde intends not to actually hit the cop, but hopefully the commotion will distract him enough that he will stop pointing his gun at the boys.
The media personnel continue to leave the theatre, though a few are deterred by the gun. Some begin running into the performance hall through a few doorways at the base of the stairs. The remainder duck as Hilde throws furniture too near them. One of them yells out as his camera is knocked to the ground by the careening podium.
The girl in orange is the last of the protesters out of the room. She looks back to Wesley and offers him a weak smile. "Thanks." She manages to croak out before she, too notices the gun. She turns and runs out the open door.
The boy continues to kick and yell. "Stupid jerk! You dont know what you're doing. She totally deserved it!" He stops kicking for a moment. "Use me to block what?" He cant see currently, and is unaware of the gun.
The cop looks a bit nervous and fumbles with something on his belt. Yes, he did have a tazer, but he doesn't think he wants to get close enough to the boys to use it. As he hears another collective crowd scream he looks up and notices that Hilde has tossed something at him. He attempts to sidestep but miscalculates and puts himself further into the path of the furniature, getting hit in the left side and falling backward.
Wesley winces as the cop goes down, turning to look over at Hilde. "Hey, chill!" he says. He raises his voice. "Alright, everyone just /calm down!/" He turns to the boy in his hands, lifting him farther off the ground. "Yes I do. I'm stopping you from doing something stupid." He turns back to the cop. "You alright?" he asks, glancing back and forth between the boy occupying his hands and the fallen officer.
Hilde brings her hands to her mouth as the cop goes down. "Oh my! I am sorry!" She really hadn't intended to knock the cop down, just startle him a bit. She looks back to Wesley and hurries over to him. "I am sorry, but Hilde is not going to stand by and let her friends get shot." She turns and walks over to the downed officer, moving aside the podium and leaning down, picking him up and brushing him off. "Hilde is sorry. Hilde did not mean to hit you. Are you ok?" She looks at him with concern.
The remaining crowd, which is rather small, seems to stop running around and screaming now. Everything seems to have calmed for the moment. A few of them point their cameras at Hilde as she picks up the officer.
The boy makes an "Erf" noise as he is lifted higher. "What the hell? Put me down, you freak!" He shakes his head and manages to regain his vision by flinging back his hoodie. He looks a bit surprised to see that most everyone has gone, and grins a bit smugly at the spot where the protestors were. "Hope I got her good."
The downed officer shakes his head a bit as the giant woman lifts him up. He just looks at her as she stares at him and then he looks down at himself. nothing seems broken but he'll have a few nasty bruises in the morning. The other officers run over and look from Hilde to the boy in the hoodie, as if trying to decide what to do. The struck officer shakes his head and says "I'm fine. Go get that kid and...Um...Handcuff him I guess." Handcuffs might not be the best choice, but it's all he can think of at the moment. A couple officers approach the two boys as the others stay around Hilde. She has since crouched down to further check to make sure that she has not crushed the officer.
"She walked out of here, you stupid idiot. I know that's probably a new trick for you, but you had those kids leaving here feeling perfectly justified in everything they ever thought bad about mutants," Wesley says through gritted teeth. "And freak is an /ugly/ word." He sets the boy down, turning to the officers. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't take my name or anything like that, and, unless that chandelier's tougher than it looks, I think his powers take a bit to charge," he explains, hand the boy off.
Hilde stands to her full height again and looks back toward the crowd, beckoning to a man in a black suit who some may recognise from the news as her agent. She turns back to the officers and nods down at them. "I again apologize and did not intend to hit you. I simply feared that you were perhaps not fully in control of your weapon." As her agent approaches Hilde turns to him. "I need you to contact major news stations. I do not care what they say about me..." She points at Wesley. "Make sure he does not show up on news, yes?" She turns back to Wesley. "Thank you, mine friend. You may have prevented something terrible from happening." She looks past him at the boy and puts her hands on her hips, tapping a metal heel in annoyance. "And YOU! What do you think you were doing? Why do you do these things? Thuis gives reason for people to protest us. Do you not know this?"
The news crews are recollecting their bits of equipment. It would appear that few cameras have actually survived the ordeal, and Hilde's agent is currently talking with a few of the camera owners now.
The boy just glares at Wesley, his golden eyes gleaming. "What do you know? You don't know what it's like." He struggles slightly as he is handcuffed, but he does not release any further energies. Apparently he really does need to recharge his powers before he can use them again. He glares at Hilde. "Geez, not even a thank you, figures."
One of the officer near Wesley nods. "Don't worry, we saw it all. Although we'd appreciate some sort of contact information in case we need to pull him into trial..." The officer shakes his head. "Never mind, I think we have enough witnesses, actually." A couple of the officers take the boy away to a car outside. The others stand around Hilde. "Im afraid we're going to have to ask you to...Come downtown." They look up at her as she stands again. Handcuffs will probably be less useful on her than on the boy.
Wesley frowns at the boy. "I could have torn you in half. I know exactly what it's like. I just don't let my powers do the thinking," he says sternly. At the officer's request of Hilde, he looks between the two. He reaches up, patting Hilde's upper arm solemnly. "I should get home," he says, glancing to the boy. "And you're lucky I didn't hang you from that chandelier by the back of your pants, because if /anyone/ deserves the wedgie from hell right now, it's you, dummy."
Hilde smiles down at Wesley. "Thank you again, friend. If you need anything please see John." She nods up toward her agent, who seems to be writing a few checks currently. "I will probably be busy for a while, but Hilde is not hard to find. Please come see Hilde sometime?" She turns back to the officers and frowns down at one of them who seems to be fumbling with handcuffs. She holds up a hand. "Hilde assures you that will not be necessary. Also, I do not think they will fit on Hilde." She nods and follows one of the officers outside, explaining as she goes that she cannot exactly fit inside of a normal police car.
The remaining officers scatter into the crowd to take information and statements from a few of the remaining media personnel.
Hilde's agent spots Hilde as she exits the hall and runs to catch up to her, stopping near Wesley and quickly handing him a card. "Thank you my boy, and I can assure you that you do not have to worry about showing up on the news any time soon. If you need anything just call that number." He darts off out the door.
The foyer of the Broadway Majestic Theatre is grand and beautiful. The staircase sweeps upward stops at a landing before splitting into two and wrapping around the room to meet at the second floor balcony. The ceiling is decorated with ornate chandeliers and hanging lights, which cast reflections upon the glimmering mirrored walls. The entrance is made up of glass doors with various advertisements upon them.
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The room has been set up for a press conference. A few chairs have been set up at the base of the staircase, and there is a small podium on the first landing of the staircase. Behind the podium are two small columns with potted plants atop them. Along the edges of the room are a few tables with punch and a few small orderves which Hildegarde has paid for personally. She is currently on the second floor balcony, speaking with a few men in suits and occasionally glancing down at the growing crowd. She looks up at an ornate clock hanging on the wall and frowns. She will have to begin soon. She smiles at the men near her and begins down the staircase toward the podium.
The crowd consists mainly of reporters and a few photographers. Many of them are shuffling papers or checking video equipment currently, a few seem a bit anxious. A couple of stations have been set up for quite some time and are currently interviewing a group of protestors located near the west side of the room. Security had attempted to remove the protestors earlier, but Miss VonReginleif had come down personally to announce that she would like them to be present. She had stated that they were entitled to their opinions, and that hopefully if they were present she may be able to change a few of their minds.
This seems not to have done much so far, as none of the protestors have yet put down their signs calling for Hilde to leave the country or be removed from the show. When asked why he feels that Hilde should leave the United States, one protestor answers, "I believe that Miss VonReginleif has deceived the American people by keeping her powers hidden. Why does she feel she needs to hide? She claims she is not dangerous, but that tape tells me otherwise." The protestors behind the boy give a collective cheer, receiving a few frowns from the east side of the room, where a few non-protestors have collected.
In the east, there is a group standing around and discussing quietly amongst themselves. Most seem disinterested with the protestors, while a few glance over occasionally and offer a frown or two. Among the group is a boy of about 15. He is wearing a black hoodie and a pair of tattered jeans. His shoulder-length curly hair seems a bit unkempt, and pokes out from under his hood. He is currently drinking a cup of punch, his golden eyes glinting menacingly at the protestors across the room, though no one seems to have noticed quite yet.
Right outside of the entrance are several news vans. A few armed police officers are also present, though Hilde was displeased to hear of their presence earlier. After reading up on a few other public events involving mutant issues, the owner of the theatre had decided that the extra security might be a good idea.
Wesley slips in, looking about the room for a moment before heading towards the less rowdy looking east side, though he keeps a careful eye on the west end of the room as he does so. He looks much like he always does, hair combed a little neater as it sticks up above the crowd, turning this way and that as he somewhat nervously checks out the other attendee's state of dress, comparing it to his own. This stops once he spots the kid in the hoodie, sighing with relief that at least he's not the only one before heading towards the snack table.
Hildegarde is wearing a black dress and metal heels currently, her hair tied back in a double bun. She steps up to the podium and clears her throat, waiting for the crowd to quiet down before starting off. Her voice is distinctly German, and deeper than one might expect from the woman. "Hello friends. Thank you for coming this evening. I have called this press conference for two reasons. The first is to clear up any misconception that I am ashamed of or attempting to hide my status as a mutant. Many of my friends and family are aware of my mutation and are perfectly fine with it. I did not announce it to the general public because I feel that it is not something that I need to announce. It is not something that should define me as an individual, and so there was no reason to make unnecessary commotion about it." She pauses for a moment to look out over the crowd. "The second reason I have called this conference is to answer any questions anyone may have, or to clarify anything that I have said which may be unclear to the anyone." She nods to the crowd. "I will take questions now, if anyone has any."
A few hands and microphones shoot up immediately. Hilde points to a dark haired woman in a red suit who asks "Do you have any idea where that tape came from? And if so, do you intend to take legal action against the individual who released it?"
The protestors quiet down for a few moments as Hilde speaks, afterward, one of them shouts out at the woman "You WERE hiding it! Quit deceiving the public!" Quite a few of them nod in agreement, though their numbers seem not that large. There are about a half-dozen of them present currently, and they all appear to be of college age. The shouting garners a few warning glances from the news crowd, a few cameras turning their way.
The boy in the hoodie is also frowning at the group...still. Why must they always do this? Always interfering with things they dont understand. He crushes his empty punch cup and drops it on the floor, turning back to the giant woman to see her reaction.
Wesley listens to Hilde speak, nodding in approval, shooting a quick glance towards the protestors, rolling his eyes at them before turning back to Hilde.
Hilde shakes her head as the question is asked. "Hilde knows exactly where that tape came from. I suspect that it was mine sister Elke, since it was Elkes car...I...was..." She slows down and looks at the protestors as they begin to shout. She sighs and holds out a hand to them. "If you wish to ask a question, please wait your turn. I will try to answer as many questions as I can, but things will go much easier if you are patient, mine kinder." She shakes her head. "Hilde already has explained why Hilde did not announce her mutation if you would like further clarification, please wait." She looks back to the news reporter and smiles. "I am sorry. I do not intend to take legal action against family, but I will need to be discussing this thing with her soon, I think." She seems to slip in and out of her speech patterns, as though a few answers were rehearsed.
Hilde points to the next hand, this time it is a man in a blue suit. "Miss Voneginleif, what are your thoughts on being possibly removed from the book of records as the tallest woman? There is word that you may be added as simply the tallest mutant. A few are saying that this classifies mutants as a separate species than humans, your thoughts?"
A few of the protestors seem taken aback by Hildes response to them. Apparently they werent actually expecting her to respond to them. "Kinder? You think you can just brush us off because were younger than you? And yes, you SHOULD be taken out of the book. You are, after all, NOT human."
The boy in the black hoodie grins smugly at Hildes response to the protestors, but his grim visage is again returned to him as they begin to yell once more. They shout that she is not human and the boy appears visable enraged. Clearly someone should take them out of the room. He looks back to Hilde, as if pleading with her to do something about them.
One of the guards has taken notice of the protesters and moves toward the group.
Wesley rolls his eyes again, this time at the use of kinder, but frowns over towards the protestors at that 'not human' line. "Oi!" he calls out, New York accent shining through. "She said wait your turn! Raise your hand or something, didn't you ever go to school?" Bravado only being worth so much, he crouches a little after the shout, trying to hide amongst the shorter individuals, edging towards one of the taller reporters.
Hilde stops speaking for a moment and clutches the podium before her. She breathes heavily a couple times, appearing moderately upset at what the protestors are yelling. She spots the guard heading toward them and holds up her hand to stop him. "No, they have just as much right to be here as anyone." She hears the voice of Wesley ring out and scans the crowd, spotting the familiar face and smiling, offering a nod of appreciation. The woman holds up a finger and looks toward the protestors once more. "But I must tell you once more that I will not tolerate you yelling out over the other guests of this hall." She shakes her head. "And Hilde would like for you to know that this comment is hurtful. Hilde did not ask to be this way, and Hilde would prefer that you keep your harsh thoughts to yourself." She looks back to the crowd and takes a few breaths to calm herself. The crowd is mostly quiet, looking over at the protestors. Hilde speaks tentatively. "Hilde has no opinion on this matter. If Hilde is to be removed from the book, so be it. It makes little difference to me. As for the status of mutants and humans within the book..." She shakes her head. "That is not a matter in which I am an expert. I should certainly hope that I am not classified as non-human, but that is not for me to decide." She points out to the crowd..."You."
The reporters look to the left as Hilde points. She is pointing to one of the protestors who has just raised her hand. A girl of about twenty in an orange t-shirt and jeans. "If you, yourself admit to not knowing whether or not you should be classified as human, then why do you feel that you should have the same rights as us?" The girl holds up her hand. "That might have come out wrong...What I mean is why didn't you register as a mutant when you first came to this country. Your...um...disorder seems to me like it could be dangerous. Don't you think that it is your responsibility to tell the government what you can do?"
The boy in the hoodie glares at the girl, catching her attempt to play off her insults as miscommunications. He starts toward the girl with a look of rage on his face, his golden eyes glinting slightly. His left hand appears to be glowing slightly, though no one seems yet to have noticed. this is probably because he is behind the majority of the crowd, and everyone is focusing intently on Hilde and the protestors.
Wesley frowns as well, looking for all the world like he's about to shoot off another remark, but seems to think better of it, just sitting in his spot near the back of the reporters, listening to see how Hilde responds.
Hilde frowns at the girl, having expected an insulting and redundant question, but she wanted to show them that she was willing to listen to them if they at least attempted to act like civilized individuals. She sighs and leans down slightly. "Hilde did not feel it necessary because Hilde does not use her gift inappropriately. Also, Hilde is not an American citizen, and as such have a certain amount of autonomy when it comes to such laws. Also, if Hilde is not mistaken, this law of registering powers is not official yet, correct? It is more something that...is..." From Hildes vantage point above the rest of the room, something catches her eye. There is a poorly dressed boy with a glowing hand walking determinedly toward the girl in the orange shirt. Hildes face is one of complete confusion before she realizes that this is probably very bad. "Hey, you...Stop where you are." She points at the boy in black, but he seems to ignore her.
The reporters are looking back and forth between Hilde and the group of protestors. A few of them seem quite relieved for some reason. Perhaps in the past they had been in similar situations which may not have ended so well. And then Hilde calls their attention to the boy in the back, the room turns and looks around, only a few close enough to actually see the boy as he glances quickly at Hilde and continues on his way.
The protestors seem a little edgy, theyre not used to people being so civilised toward them when they are so outwardly rude. They frown and whisper amongst themselves until Hilde calls out, then they too look in the direction of the boy, noting the glowing and backing up slightly. They hadn't expected someone from the crowd to retaliate poorly.
The boy ignores Hilde for a while but looks up quickly as she continues to call out to him. He calls back to her. "You don't know what youre talkin about lady. These kids aren't going to listen to you unless you give them a REASON to listen. With that he holds up his left arm and takes aim at the girl in orange, who look a bit frightened at this point. "It is NOT a disorder...it is a GIFT!" And with that he unleashes a beam of golden light at the crowd of protestors. A few begin to jump out of the way, but the others are likely to be hit with a concussive force equal to that of being hit with a fifty pound object.
A couple more cops entered the room when Hilde yelled out, but they are too far from the kid and a few of them are still looking around trying to figure out what exactly is going on.
Wesley turns, spotting the boy, eyes wide, then he blasts the crowd and he curses loudly, crouching down and darting across the room towards him. Reaching out in an attempt to catch him by the back of the pants. "And you're a bully," he calls out, hoping nobody's getting a clear look at his face.
Hildegarde's eyes go wide as the child unleashes an energy blast into the crowd. She yells and points, though few are likely to understand her since she has defaulted into German. One or two people in the crowd turn to look at her as she screams incoherently in an enraged manner. Anyone who could understand her would hear "What are you DOING! This is NOT the way to solve anything. you will only make things worse!" And then a few select curses.
The news cameras turn to the scene unfolding as the child blasts into the protestors. Most of the cameras are too slow and just catch the end of the scene. Most of the news crews scatter, a few of them scream. They have seen this before and arent about to stick around to see how things are going to turn out.
The blast glances the shoulder of the girl in orange, knocking her back against one of the walls. It should have hit her full on, what had happened? She looks around a bit dazed as a couple of her fellow protestors run to her aid.
The boy unleashes his blast at the group and then staggers slightly. Someone has grabbed a hold of his pant-leg. He turns slightly as he trips, his blast going slightly to the left and hitting about half of the glass dorrs and a part of one of the mirrored walls. The glass shatters and elicits a few more screams, though no one seems to be in the general vicinity of any of the glass-fall. The boy turns and glares down at Wesley. "What are you doin' ya little vermin!" Little? Wesley must be at least a good foot taller than this boy. The boy's hand begins to glow faintly as he glares at Wes.
Wesley chuckles once. "Cute," he says, one hand reaching out to grip the boy by the wrist, his surprisingly strong arm (and he looks pretty strong to start with) retching it up towards the ceiling as his other hand goes to jerk the boy's hood down over his face. "People like you give mutants a bad name, you know that?"
Hilde yells out and covers her face as the glass falls, even though she is probably the farthest person from any of the destruction. She looks down and sees Wesley lifting up the boy and decides that maybe it is time for her to take things into her own hands. She straightens herself up and pushes the podium out of her way. She starts down the stairs into the panicking crowd. "Everyone please, become calm." She strolls toward the two boys, but seems a bit hindered by the crowd. Her tall form can be seen wading trough them slowly toward the two.
Many of the news crews are beginning to spill our into the street, running through where the doors used to be. A few of them on the far end of the room stick around to continue filming. One or two crews are trying to collect busted cameras that were damaged when the crowd began to surge backward.
The protestors seem to have decided that it is time to leave and begin edging around behind the two boys. The girl in orange seems to have recovered slightly, though she is still clutching her shoulder and appears to have cut her forehead when the glass broke.
The boy makes a grunting noise as he is lifted upward and is beginning to say something nasty to Wesley as his hoodie is pulled down. His hand unleashes another blast upward, though it isnt nearly as strong as the first. It manages to his a chandelier and causes it to spin slightly, though nothing appears to break or fall. The boy begins kicking. "Put me down!"
One of the officers nearby looks between the crowd and the boys. What should he do? He pulls out a gun and points it in the general direction of the two. Aiming at the boy in the hoodie and shaking slightly.
Wesley turns to the girl in orange. "Hey, you okay?" he asks with obvious concern, only to be distracted when a none-too-steady cop starts pointing a gun towards him. "Hey! What are you doing?" he asks. "Don't you have a taser or something?" He looks to the boy. "Stop acting like a jackass and I might, and stop shooting up, are you stupid? You bring a chandelier down, I'm blocking with you, just so you know."
"Achtung!" Hilde is yelling something and waving her arms, but the second blast has sent the crowd reeling. She is looking between the cop with the gun and Wesley. The cop looks as though he's going to shoot, but there is no way Hilde will be able to reach either party in time. She looks around quickly and spies another small podium next to her. She frowns and looks back to the scene. She grabs the podium and hefts it above her head, spilling papers all over the floor. A few people still near the woman yell out in surprise and alarm as she does this, ducking down. Hilde holds the podium with one arm and throws it as one may toss a football, right at the cop with the gun. As she does so, she yells out "DUCK!" Which everyone already was doing. Hilde intends not to actually hit the cop, but hopefully the commotion will distract him enough that he will stop pointing his gun at the boys.
The media personnel continue to leave the theatre, though a few are deterred by the gun. Some begin running into the performance hall through a few doorways at the base of the stairs. The remainder duck as Hilde throws furniture too near them. One of them yells out as his camera is knocked to the ground by the careening podium.
The girl in orange is the last of the protesters out of the room. She looks back to Wesley and offers him a weak smile. "Thanks." She manages to croak out before she, too notices the gun. She turns and runs out the open door.
The boy continues to kick and yell. "Stupid jerk! You dont know what you're doing. She totally deserved it!" He stops kicking for a moment. "Use me to block what?" He cant see currently, and is unaware of the gun.
The cop looks a bit nervous and fumbles with something on his belt. Yes, he did have a tazer, but he doesn't think he wants to get close enough to the boys to use it. As he hears another collective crowd scream he looks up and notices that Hilde has tossed something at him. He attempts to sidestep but miscalculates and puts himself further into the path of the furniature, getting hit in the left side and falling backward.
Wesley winces as the cop goes down, turning to look over at Hilde. "Hey, chill!" he says. He raises his voice. "Alright, everyone just /calm down!/" He turns to the boy in his hands, lifting him farther off the ground. "Yes I do. I'm stopping you from doing something stupid." He turns back to the cop. "You alright?" he asks, glancing back and forth between the boy occupying his hands and the fallen officer.
Hilde brings her hands to her mouth as the cop goes down. "Oh my! I am sorry!" She really hadn't intended to knock the cop down, just startle him a bit. She looks back to Wesley and hurries over to him. "I am sorry, but Hilde is not going to stand by and let her friends get shot." She turns and walks over to the downed officer, moving aside the podium and leaning down, picking him up and brushing him off. "Hilde is sorry. Hilde did not mean to hit you. Are you ok?" She looks at him with concern.
The remaining crowd, which is rather small, seems to stop running around and screaming now. Everything seems to have calmed for the moment. A few of them point their cameras at Hilde as she picks up the officer.
The boy makes an "Erf" noise as he is lifted higher. "What the hell? Put me down, you freak!" He shakes his head and manages to regain his vision by flinging back his hoodie. He looks a bit surprised to see that most everyone has gone, and grins a bit smugly at the spot where the protestors were. "Hope I got her good."
The downed officer shakes his head a bit as the giant woman lifts him up. He just looks at her as she stares at him and then he looks down at himself. nothing seems broken but he'll have a few nasty bruises in the morning. The other officers run over and look from Hilde to the boy in the hoodie, as if trying to decide what to do. The struck officer shakes his head and says "I'm fine. Go get that kid and...Um...Handcuff him I guess." Handcuffs might not be the best choice, but it's all he can think of at the moment. A couple officers approach the two boys as the others stay around Hilde. She has since crouched down to further check to make sure that she has not crushed the officer.
"She walked out of here, you stupid idiot. I know that's probably a new trick for you, but you had those kids leaving here feeling perfectly justified in everything they ever thought bad about mutants," Wesley says through gritted teeth. "And freak is an /ugly/ word." He sets the boy down, turning to the officers. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't take my name or anything like that, and, unless that chandelier's tougher than it looks, I think his powers take a bit to charge," he explains, hand the boy off.
Hilde stands to her full height again and looks back toward the crowd, beckoning to a man in a black suit who some may recognise from the news as her agent. She turns back to the officers and nods down at them. "I again apologize and did not intend to hit you. I simply feared that you were perhaps not fully in control of your weapon." As her agent approaches Hilde turns to him. "I need you to contact major news stations. I do not care what they say about me..." She points at Wesley. "Make sure he does not show up on news, yes?" She turns back to Wesley. "Thank you, mine friend. You may have prevented something terrible from happening." She looks past him at the boy and puts her hands on her hips, tapping a metal heel in annoyance. "And YOU! What do you think you were doing? Why do you do these things? Thuis gives reason for people to protest us. Do you not know this?"
The news crews are recollecting their bits of equipment. It would appear that few cameras have actually survived the ordeal, and Hilde's agent is currently talking with a few of the camera owners now.
The boy just glares at Wesley, his golden eyes gleaming. "What do you know? You don't know what it's like." He struggles slightly as he is handcuffed, but he does not release any further energies. Apparently he really does need to recharge his powers before he can use them again. He glares at Hilde. "Geez, not even a thank you, figures."
One of the officer near Wesley nods. "Don't worry, we saw it all. Although we'd appreciate some sort of contact information in case we need to pull him into trial..." The officer shakes his head. "Never mind, I think we have enough witnesses, actually." A couple of the officers take the boy away to a car outside. The others stand around Hilde. "Im afraid we're going to have to ask you to...Come downtown." They look up at her as she stands again. Handcuffs will probably be less useful on her than on the boy.
Wesley frowns at the boy. "I could have torn you in half. I know exactly what it's like. I just don't let my powers do the thinking," he says sternly. At the officer's request of Hilde, he looks between the two. He reaches up, patting Hilde's upper arm solemnly. "I should get home," he says, glancing to the boy. "And you're lucky I didn't hang you from that chandelier by the back of your pants, because if /anyone/ deserves the wedgie from hell right now, it's you, dummy."
Hilde smiles down at Wesley. "Thank you again, friend. If you need anything please see John." She nods up toward her agent, who seems to be writing a few checks currently. "I will probably be busy for a while, but Hilde is not hard to find. Please come see Hilde sometime?" She turns back to the officers and frowns down at one of them who seems to be fumbling with handcuffs. She holds up a hand. "Hilde assures you that will not be necessary. Also, I do not think they will fit on Hilde." She nods and follows one of the officers outside, explaining as she goes that she cannot exactly fit inside of a normal police car.
The remaining officers scatter into the crowd to take information and statements from a few of the remaining media personnel.
Hilde's agent spots Hilde as she exits the hall and runs to catch up to her, stopping near Wesley and quickly handing him a card. "Thank you my boy, and I can assure you that you do not have to worry about showing up on the news any time soon. If you need anything just call that number." He darts off out the door.
stressed