I am the law!

[husk]

Paige felt the anger rise in her chest, tightening her breathing. When Bobby lifted his hands and protested, a hurt look crossed her face. She hated to see him on the defensive. Where did they get off?

"You know ya coulda just called him in to the station like you woulda some high budget politician," she began in an accent so thick she could no longer conceal her Kentucky roots. "But no, you gotta make a show for that prick up in Washington don't ya? Bobby honey but your hands down."

She tossed a bit of blonde hair over one shoulder. "No need ta play along with these assholes. You don't owe them a GOD damned thing."

Somehow, that little rant didn't make her feel any better at all. She held her breath and glared daggers at Smith and Jones. Better that than crying.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt stood in the shadows at the top of the stairs, looking down on the procedings with concern. It was as though the entire government had shown up at their front door, apparently all to take Bobby into custody.

Things were not looking good. Bobby was looking frantic, Candice was shouting at the agents, one of the new students was swearing - Kurt rubbed the bridge of his nose at how out-of-hand things were getting. Ororo was in the Danger Room training after the trouble from the last battle, and he didn't have his communicator, so he couldn't contact her... and he'd learned the hard way not to just teleport into the Danger Room when you didn't know what was going on.

Thankfully, Forge was keeping a level head. He was proving to be more and more useful. They desperately needed to make it apparent to the government that they were peaceful, and shouting wasn't going to do the trick. Scratching his neck nervously, Kurt did the only thing he could think of to do in the situation: he walked down the stairs.

Small beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. It was the first time he'd been so exposed to the view of a normal human when he'd had control of himself. Still, he walked up next to Bobby and placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Herr Drake, you represent us all. Stand tall, knowing that we stand with you, and show the world that mutants are just people too."

[Skin]

Angelo was about to respond to Jubilee's words with a few choice phrases of his own, but her exclamation caught him off guard and he turned around, briefly seeing Sybil flip off into the treeline. His eyes widened slightly and he hurriedly pulled his hood up again, stepping quickly to the trees on one side of the porch and leaning out of view on the other side of a particularly thick trunk.

If there was one thing he'd learned from his gang days, it was that when the authorities showed up, you didn't. You made sure your nose couldn't be seen, and if it was visible it had better be squeaky clean. Less than a month ago, he'd been involved in a horrible gang shootout and had faked his own death to get away.

His nose was, to put it lightly, less than sparkly.

Slowly stretching his arms above his head, he wrapped them around a branch high in the tree and raised himself up, ignoring the pain in his arms and head, and sat on a branch, watching as the Feds filed into the mansion. What had he gotten himself into?

[chamber]

Stepping out the backdoor, Jonothan had made his way around the side of the mansion with steps as easy-going as he could manage. He hadn't been able to find Remy and maybe, with the men in black around, that was a good thing.

Stepping up along the side of the house, his chest and throat burned bright as molten gold but he stuck his hands in his pockets, looking relaxed.

Meeting the eyes of a man holding a rather intimidating looking fun, Jono nodded. He didn't mean any harm... not unless they did.

Watching the boys at the door talk to whoever was inside, Chamber just waited.

[phase]

Hannah watched Mr. Kurt step down the stairs, then put his hand on Bobby's shoulder. That blonde lady sure was angry, and Bobby had is hands in the air.

She could feel the growing tension rise from the bottom floor and it made her a little dizzy. The men at the door were calm but hard; she could sense it beneath the surface.

Unsure what was going on, she hardly knew better not to ask. Her little voice echoed over the stairway railing.

"Bobby?"

[forge]

Forge passed Paige a warning glance, not that he had any idea how to possibly control her if she got all dirty on these guys… still, the best possible idea right now was to perfectly calm, and approach this from the angle that Bobby was an innocent victim in this – which he was. After all, he was.

He nodded when Nightcrawler said the words of comfort to Bobby – it was exactly what the nervous young man needed.

“He’s right, Bobby. You need to cooperate perfectly with them, it’s just a process, okay? Just an inconvenience – you’ll have to talk to them, possibly go to trial. But you’re NOT going to get convicted okay? Just relax, we’ll work with these guys – they’re just doing their job.”

This was completely true. Granted, Forge didn’t agree with the big fiasco – but what would he have done? Considering the amount of fire-power in this school, it didn’t seem TOO unreasonable to him to bring an army.

He looked at the Agent.

“Let me know when you’re willing to talk about this, we have some information the government may be unaware of.”

When Hannah’s little voice floated over the assembled, he squeezed his eyes closed.

Oh no…

[Iceman]

"Herr Drake, you represent us all. Stand tall, knowing that we stand with you, and show the world that mutants are just people too."

“He’s right, Bobby. You need to cooperate perfectly with them, it’s just a process, okay? Just an inconvenience – you’ll have to talk to them, possibly go to trial. But you’re NOT going to get convicted okay? Just relax, we’ll work with these guys – they’re just doing their job.”

Bobby listened to their strong words of encouragement, eternally grateful that they were there for him. He was still anxious, and scared, but if he focused on what they were saying, and believed that they were going to be right, he could relax a little. He started let his hands fall when Paige urged him to, and they slowly lowered until they hung at his sides again.

When Paige whipped out the G-D on the Agents, Bobby had enough control over his own emotions that he moved forward to intervene before Paige got herself arrested along with him. Though it would have been comforting. Not that murderers and those who interfered with arrests shared cells. He put his hands on Paige's shoulders and drew her back toward him, saying quietly in her ear, "Shhh, no, let it go. I don't want you in trouble too."

"Bobby?"

Suddenly, the resolve he had had was not so strong. He shut his eyes, his mouth setting in a line as he steeled himself to turn around. When he did, he managed to give Phase a weak smile. "Hey, Hannie," he said in a gentle tone, using the nickname he'd given her in the bedtime story he'd made for her just nights before.

He didn't move toward her, as everyone talking at once around him was probably already putting the officers on their last nerves, but addressed her from where he stood. Most of those crowding around fell quiet, and looked between the two, some people understanding more than others how hard this was for both the little girl and the young man who had come to be an older brother figure to her.

"Hun, I'm going away for a while, okay? I'm going to be back, though, and everything's going to be okay." Bobby tried fiercely to calm himself down, knowing Hannah could sense his emotions.

[Trask]

The men stoically ignored the abusive blonde and agent Jones continued through the door to stand in front of Bobby. When the young man turned to look at the girl on the stairs he clapped one of the cuffs around the boys wrist and drew his hands together.

A second click announced the sealing of the cuffs.

"A representative will be sent to take any and all statements you wish to give in Mr. Drakes defence. Do not concern yourself, he will be treated with the fair trial that all citizens deserve." Agent Smith said, addressing Forge.

He turned his attention to the now cuffed Bobby Drake as he said his piece to the little girl.

"Come along now young man, it's time to go."

[phase]

"But I don't want you to go away!" She suddenly said, the volume of a six year old far higher than an adult in the same situation. Hannah stepped clumsily down the stairs, trying to take as many steps at a go as her small legs could.

She felt the surge of upset from Bobby's friends and became afraid. Why did they put things around his wrists? He wasn't going on vacation. They made him prisoner!

"No!!" She shoved between two adults, trying to get to Bobby.

[husk]

"Jesus Mary and Joseph," she said weakly, finding herself in the wrong environment to rail on the officers. It hadn't even dawned on her she was in a room full of mutants and that ticking off the FBI was going to do more than land her in County for the afternoon.

That she could deal with. Seeing Bobby hauled away? Not so much.

Before they could drag him off she dodged in and kissed him on the cheek. "You're gonna be just fine Bobby Drake, hang in there."

And then the little girl started screaming. It stabbed at her heart, and she resolved to make sure Hannah was taken care of while Bobby was gone.

Keeping her eyes on him, she did her best to give him a confident smile.

[candice]

Candice moved to intercept Hannah, knowing immediately the delicacy of the situation. The poor girl probably did not understand a thing about the police, this situation, or why it was important not to cause a scene here.

So, steeling herself, she did her best to try and calm Hannah down – herself too.

“It really is going to be okay, sweetie, it really is. He’s just going to be gone for a little while. It’s all right, though, he’ll be back very soon. Very soon.”

[forge]

Forge knew one thing: He hated telepaths.

(ooc - okay, ran out of time this morning for a response, so you guys feel free to wrap this up since it's almost done. Unless shots are fired, or something otherwise would demand Forge's direct interference)

[Jubilee]

Jubilee was managing to keep herself quiet. When the older X-Men arrived, she expected that they would handle things. But they were just letting Bobby go, and what pissed Jubes off more than anything was that she knew that they had to. Her fists were down by her sides, clenched so hard that her nails were digging into her palms and her skin was turning white from the pressure.

More than anything, she wanted to be right beside the new blonde chick, giving the two agents her two cents. But she knew that doing that could easily escalate the situation into something very ugly. The hordes of polizia outside weren’t there to fake them out. They were prepared to fight back.

But Jubilee couldn’t keep herself from letting the agents know that if they did start using force, or put one toe over the line from arresting Bobby to raiding the school or taking anyone else, that there’d be hell to pay. Some people would answer their doors holding onto the collars of vicious dogs. She would let her unwanted guests know that they were not welcome. She lifted her hands, palms to the ceiling and fingers curving upward, as she glared at the officers beneath lowered eyelids. To someone who didn’t know her powers, it would be a curious gesture. To someone who knew her powers, it would be an alert that she was toying with dangerous ideas.

After a second, she turned her eyes from the agent behind the dark glasses to her hands, a faint shadow of confusion clouding her features. Her fingers involuntarily straightened before relaxing, even as she remembered.

‘Smart-ass move, Jubes,’ she kicked herself as her hands made fists and lowered, her glare once again on the agents, now tripled in spite, as though it was their fault. If any of the people around her had seen her—and the movement had been obvious…Jubes didn’t finish the thought. She couldn’t think about it at a time like this. Her powers were gone, but she’d have traded them to keep Bobby home anyways.

(ooc: If someone would like their character to have noticed this, it’d make for an interesting conversation later!)

[Iceman]

Bobby felt a stab of annoyance at the agent--Couldn't he have waited until it could be explained to Hannah before he put the cuffs on him? “It’s okay, Hannah—Don’t worry—“

His eyes flickered around the group, moving from face to face. His thoughts were painfully evident—would he ever see them again? Like a slap in the face, he thought of his parents. They’d just patched up their family—Would they be able to keep that now that he was a suspected murderer? Just when things were looking up, everything had fallen apart.

He locked eyes with Warren as he started to take steps backwards, toward the door, the agent pulling him. Bobby knew not to struggle against the agent, he didn’t want them to be able to say he resisted arrest; but he had to tell his friend something. “Tell my parents. Call them. Tell them—I didn’t do it.”

Throwing what he knew was grim but hoped was also a brave smile at Kitty, then Paige, then finally Hannah, Bobby turned and let the agents take him to the door, his head dropping some as he stared at the floor.

[phase]

Hannah, stopped by Candice in her determination to grab at Bobby, let out a sad scream that belied something far more frightened and anguished than seeing her friend carted off by scary men in black suits.

The whirling emotion was just too much. Somewhere in her young memory echoes of other lost friends came rushing back, too big and hurtful for her to handle.

Screaming his name as Miss Candice's arms wrapped around her, Hannah's little fingers stretched out on a thin arm towards Bobby.

[Trask]

Agents Smith and Jones had been carefully selected for the task of arresting Bobby Drake for a number of reasons. They were cool, calm and collected. They managed well under pressure, stoic in the face of abuse and utterly without prejudice in any way, shape or form. The process of selection had been long and arduous. Trask had insisted that the men chosen for the task be absolutely the best or the best.

There was to be no mistakes, no possible cause for error or grievance.

Smith and Jones fit the bill.

They had stood unflinching against the red faced tirade of the little secretary woman. Born the barefaced contempt of the girl with no fashion sense and even shrugged off the blatant insults of the back-country bimbo.

They had come, perfectly legitimately, with the correct paperwork and without giving offense to arrest a murderer.

So when the mutant with the loud jacket started waving her hands around in a hokey fashion, it came as no surprise that their iron hard facade cracked ever so slightly.

This was a school for mutants. As far as they knew she was a mutant. She could have just done anything imaginable. Their mothers could now be dead in their homes. Everybody they ever knew could just have been wiped from existence. Their electronic accounts could have just wired all of their savings to random bank accounts.

Both agents visibly tensed up, Jones actually grabbing the butt of his pistol as he dragged Bobby backward out of the house.

"Cover us!"

Agent Smith barked into his collar microphone as he reversed swiftly down the drive.

He hoped that the police at their back were still their allies. If the mutant girl had just done something to them, they would be dead very, very soon.

[Shadowcat]

Kitty's fingers curled around the handles of Forge's wheelchair until her knuckles turned white and a thin vein stood to the surface on the back of her hand, bringing back a twinge of calculator carpal tunnel.

Not crying, not crying, not crying... okay, maybe a little.

Her face twisted tightly and a harsh, staccato gasp sucked into her chest, almost of its own accord, but she still wasn't really crying , just sort of... leaking. The lump in her throat throbbed and her chest constricted, making it difficult to breathe in anything other than little bursts.

Not good. Not good at all. Bobby was going in cuffs, oh G-d, and Jubes was yelling and and...

Kitty saw the twist-around of the two officers for their pistols in a strangely precise tunnel vision. Every detail, even stupid ones like the number of buttons on their military-issue jackets and the way the bright sunshine created a blinding glare off Hannah's pale head.

There are kids out there, you stupid sick body doubles.

Instead of voicing that, though, Kitty made a strangled noise and one of her hands, half-phased in a split second of panic, slipped through Forge's handle.

"They wouldn't shoot a kid, would they?" Kitty whispered instead, unable rather than unwilling to raise her voice to full volume.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt watched Jubilee curiously as she made a cautionary gesture to the agents, but he didn't react, since she wasn't actually sparking. Instead, he stood still, watching her, and then his eyes drifted to the two men dressed all in black...

... and he saw panic.

Suddenly the agents were shouting and moving, and one of them had his hand on his gun, and the other one was shouting for cover. The officers in the drive were all shifting, drawing weapons, taking aim.

Kurt moved without thinking, jolting the foot and a half to where Jubilee was standing, and grabbed her arm, spinning her around behind him and shielding her from whatever was going to happen. He looked around frantically at the students gathered around. If the police opened fire, it would be a massacre.

Praying silently, Kurt focused and teleported barely forward and to one side, appearing outside but staying far enough away from the agents in an effort to appear less threatening - or so he hoped. He waved his arms, trying to draw the attention of the police away from the students. "Please! Please, stay calm!"

[chamber]

Chamber's eyes scanned the officers as guns were drawns and aimed in the direction of the door. Standing so near, a few were smart enough to train their weapons on the flaming mutant only a few feet from it.

As an agent looked as if he might stumble with Bobby's weight dragged along, he reached out a hand as if to right them.

This was looking worse by the second. Looking in the doorway, he caught Nightcrawler's yellow eyes.

For once he was relieved to see the pacifist lizard taking charge of a situation. If anyone could keep them calm, captain bland would do the job.

Nodding, he kept his free hand up to let them know he was peaceful.

[Jubilee]

Jubes very nearly rolled her eyes at the reaction of the agents, but the gesture didn't even begin to convey her contempt. She unclenched her fists, not holding her hands up, but slowly moving them out a bit from her sides, palms out to show that she wasn't doing anything. Even as the agents started yelling and dragging Bobby out the door, and everyone else started talking at once, Jubes yelled spitefully, "Oh, come on! I didn't even do anything!"

She felt a hand on her arm, and found herself whirled in a circle. When she got her balance, she saw Kurt for a moment before he bamfed away. She wished now that she hadn't tried to use her powers, but the thought was quickly drowned in the mass of other angry thoughts. 'Like, maybe the fact that I don't even HAVE any powers to begin with?! No Weapons of Mass Destruction here, either, assholes'.

Then she looked out the doors and saw that a good number of those guns were pointed at her. And Jubilation Lee was a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid. She didn't move a muscle, though anger coarsed through her like lava, and as soon as that door shut, she was going to let loose a volley of threats and curse words that would put all rappers to shame.