THE WHEELS OF STEEL ARE TURNING

[capemods]

WHO: These lucky contestants
WHERE: Various boroughs of the City, and the demon dimension.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 21st, 11:54 am and onward.
WARNINGS: This post may contain graphic depictions of violence, psychological horror, and adult themes; it will definitely contain adult language. Viewer discretion advised.
SUMMARY: Vulcanus tries to blow up a collection of buses around the City in order to incite anti-imPort rioting; Lachesis mixes things up again. see here for details.
FORMAT: Go crazy, kids.

---

Each bus will have a labeled thread in the comments. To recap:

Bus W will explode. Lachesis will teleport these ImPorts to a location near the bus just after it explodes. Those who are assigned to this bus, you must be the heroes that the City demands. The damage will carve a hole in the street, and civilians are at risk for debris/fires/etc.

Bus X will yank imPorts inside of it and induce a week-long power switch. From 8/21 at 12 PM to the following Tuesday, 8/28 at 12 PM, characters will have their powers switched with another ImPort passenger. All characters on this bus have their new powers assigned.
Correction: this bus is located in Brooklyn.

Bus Y will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then transport its imPorts to the demon dimension until midnight. Envision Dante's Inferno as the setting, but with the twist that ANYTHING CHARACTERS IMAGINE WILL MANIFEST IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE.

Bus Z will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then with a LOUD SCREECHING NOISE, it will infect imPort minds with radio signals, songs, dialogue, AND IMPORTANT PLOT-RELATED INFORMATION THAT VULCANUS DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW for the rest of that day. There is no way to turn this off for the entire day. ImPorts will be returned to their prior locations at the end of one minute. All characters on this bus have their unique mental broadcasts assigned.

Comments

[motherfucked]

Oh, right.

[She didn't want to come here, she didn't understand how she had gotten here. But she wasn't going to let people die. This… this teenage girl seems to know what she's doing, so okay. She ran over in Kate's direction, growing more sure with each step that it was the right thing to do.]

Okay, okay— what do you need me for?

[Jessica doesn't stop to think about how Kate knows her name.]

[recurve]

This-- thing.

[She struggles to lift the piece of debris, only managing to lift it slightly. It's enough to get the person trapped beneath to gasp in relief, but there's no way Kate would be able to remove the piece on her own. With a life on the line, pride doesn't rear its head.]

I can't move it.

[motherfucked]

Duh.

[She mumbles, mostly to herself, mostly out of frustration with her own obliviousness. But she can lift the big fucking rock. It's hard, even for her, but after thirty seconds, she's got it off the guy.]

[recurve]

[With the rock out of the way, Kate is able to muster the strength necessary to move the guy out of the way. Her back aches. Her arms ache. The smoke is stinging her lungs and her eyes. But she has to keep moving, she cannot stop now. Kate isn't a big girl, but she's strong enough and full of enough adrenaline to hoist the man up into a fireman's carry and stagger away from the immediate danger.

One life saved-- hopefully not temporarily. There are dozens more in grave danger, and as soon as she's gotten the man a seemingly safe distance away, she's running back to Jessica and the action.]

We have to help those people!

[motherfucked]

Yeah, alright. Alright, let's do this thing.

[She follows Kate into the fray, spotting some kids who are trapped in a ring of debris, too afraid to move.]

[recurve]

[Kate heads for the kids and starts trying to climb over the debris to get to them. She calls to them between coughs.]

Come on, guys. It'll be okay, just reach for us.

[motherfucked]

I'm gonna try to move this rock, okay?

[It wasn't so much a rock as a concrete slab. But she didn't want to scare the kids when it started moving, and she didn't want Kate to fall off. She started pushing it, and it budged inch by inch.]

[recurve]

[Kate nods and hops over to the children, shielding the kids away from Jessica and the rock. She starts pushing it too, hoping to help Jessica in whatever way she can.]

[motherfucked]

It'll— it'll be alright. [She says, halfway to the kids, halfway to herself. She's still pushing the thing, acknowledging Kate's help with a nod.]

[recurve]

[Kate pushes until her arms ache, but she can't stop now. Not when there are people counting on her to not give up. Not when she's counting on herself. Slowly the rock begins to budge, creating just enough room for the children to squeak through the gap toward Jessica.]

Run! Get away from here, don't stop!

[motherfucked]

I think they got it.

[Kids were good at running away from things, usually. And sure enough, these ones didn't need to be told twice.

It had been a long time since Jessica had done this kind of thing. Had gone out and helped people. Even on accident. She'd forgotten how good it could feel.]

[recurve]

[Yeah, they got it. And away they go, leaving their rescuers alone and in the midst of the fire and the smoke. Kate finally glances down at her hands, red and black and raw where her gloves didn't cover, probably burnt from her ill advised attempt to lift the first piece of debris. She'll need to clean and bandage them, but it just doesn't seem like a priority now. She turns back to Jessica, coughing sharply.]

You okay?

[motherfucked]

Yeah, yeah. I'm good. [She takes a moment to breathe, dusting some of the dust off her jeans.]

Hey. How did you know my name?

[Please God, let it not be some weird internet thing.]

[recurve]

[Kate's face contorts as she stares at Jessica. At first she thinks maybe it's the smoke and crap in the air messing with her vision, making Jessica look younger than she really is. But on second thought, it's totally within the realms of possibility and reason to think that maybe Jessica really is younger than she is back in Kate's time and place.

That possibility hurts. It stings, and it's almost worse than the pain radiating from her hands.]

We're... [She pauses. What are they? Friends? Associates? Something else entirely?] You're kind of, I don't know, like a mentor-type-confidante thing to me and my friends. Or you were. Or will be, maybe. Timelines, what are they.

[motherfucked]

Oh. Shit, I'm— [And she catches herself, she doesn't mean to cuss infront of, well, not a kid, but maybe someone who looked up to her once. Will look up to her someday. Whatever.]

I don't know what I am. But I hate time travel.

[recurve]

Yeah. Me too.

[This is the second time she's had to deal with this stuff. And it probably won't be the last, knowing how the Porter operates.]

I'm Kate. Hawkeye. [She spares a quick glance at her hands.] I'd shake but I think I should clean up first.