Leighton took in her surroundings. Did she stumble on some homeless city underground? She hadn't meant to, but then again what was the illusion for? Perhaps it was a mutant community? That would make more sense then. Either way, she needed to get away. She was damn sure the police were looking for her. They may have her face, but not her name. And then she remembered, Luke knew her name. Once he was unfrozen he would surely rat her out. Dammit!
Before she could turn to get away, one of the people came over to her. She felt a few more eyes on her. She hadn't expected to be greeted, and not as nice. The boy was kind of cute, in a super dorky kind of way. The type of boy she'd ask to do her homework for her and would maybe flirt with if her then-boyfriend was being a dick. But she stared at his hand. She didn't want another ice situation.
"Sorry, germaphobe. Umm, mind if I ask where are we? I sort of found this place on accident and the sooner I can get away, the better."
Anastasia Reinhardt
Location: Hellfire HQ Skills N/A
Anastasia took the burner phone and put it away without a second glance. "Thank you, I will take your advice. I look forward to working with you." She gave the woman a low curtsy before she exited. The plan was simple enough. Exciting even. Definitely what she expected to find when she came to Washington.
She would need to do some clothes shopping and she wouldn't mind talking to this Sage person. Extra tech could be beneficial, but she didn't want too much. After all, her plan was to appear homeless and destitute. Those typically didn't carry much technology on them. She looked around, snagging someone passing by. "Excuse me, I am looking for Sage? Mind telling me where they are?"
@FantasyChic: "Sage is in the observation room," the passerby explained. Anastasia would have access to that area. It wouldn't be difficult to find, either. Once there, she would note it was essentially an observation deck looking over where the Hellfire Club trained. A woman with short black hair was standing at a console, her eyes rapidly moving across the screen without blinking. There was a tablet in her hand that she was typing furiously away at. "What do you need?" the woman asked, her tone a bit robotic and cold. This, of course, was Sage.
@Nallore: "What, you think the only thing I'm good at is being God's gift to mutant women everywhere?" Havok asked Spark Plug, chuckling a bit and shaking his head. Colossus had stepped outside of the room to call those at the Underground, figuring it would be impolite to call at Callie's hospital bedside.
The nurse ran back into the room, her face pale. "Okay, so we don't have any suitable donors but we do have her blood type so..." She then took what seemed to be a taser and poured the blood into a sterile container. Taking the taser, Caitlin tried her best to charge the blood. However, it wasn't working. The blood was just remaining as blood. Caitlin bit her lip, wishing that she had paid attention more in second semester physics in college.
"...Alright, we'll just have to hope your body doesn't reject this outright," Caitlin said, before giving Spark Plug a standard blood transfusion. Her eyes were darting around frantically, but luckily enough, Spark Plug's body took the transfusion just fine.
"Is she going to be okay?" Havok asked, worried.
"She's going to be fine."
Veil
Location: MCU Truck Skills: N/A
"Sapphire, stop talking," Veil muttered. She knew that her friend was freaked out, but Sapphire had claimed to have expertise with these sort of situations and right now, it was as if Sapphire was trying to get them both killed. The collars were preventing them from using their powers and these cops would have no issue with killing the both of them if they had to. The only way to survive was to lose some pride and dignity, to be quiet.
As much as Veil wanted to scream and fight back, she knew that they couldn't. She had learned her lesson - it was why she had the scar on her arm.
The police officers weren't having too much of a positive response to Sapphire's comments, as to be expected. One of them picked her up and hoisted her to her feet, while another began repeatedly punching her in the mouth. "There, that ought to shut ya up," one of them muttered, while the other threw Sapphire back down. Her mouth was badly bruised and bleeding.
"Now, next wise ass comment results in a bullet between the eyes, got it?!"
The truck soon came to a stop. The back door opened and armed guards motioned for Veil and Sapphire to get out. They were at what looked like a police station. They were roughly led in through the back and Veil was trying to figure out where exactly in D.C. they were, but she couldn't tell. The two girls were then tossed into a holding cell, collars still on.
Sunshine
Location: the Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
To let you guys get an idea of what this place looks like better than I could describe it
Most people would have been concerned when Jack yelped in pain - but Sunshine just smirked slightly. He was certainly entertaining and she couldn't help but wonder how far he could stretch. Would she be able to make a tight rope out of this man? And wasn't he basically a rip off version of that really smart guy with the Fantastic Four? However, she started to giggle as he turned into Captain America.
"I don't like you either," Sunshine told Jack with a smile.
Glow was smiling at Max, listening to him with genuine interest. "That sounds really cool - I'd love to play it some time, though I'm not the best at learning games... The rules kinda go over my head," she admitted.
Over at the generators, Erg nodded as he glanced at James and then the newcomer. "She is not part of our community - but she is a mutant," he added, noting the ice that was forming wherever Leighton stepped. He walked on over to her, picking up a gun as he went. Looking at the girl, Erg made snap judgments about her and her character, but his face didn't reveal it.
"You have stumbled upon the Morlock Community of Washington D.C.," Erg explained to her. "If you wish to leave, Blink can take you wherever you want to go. However, you are welcome to stay. We have food and shelter here. The only requirement to join our community is that you take the mark."
Max turned to look at Erg with a dumbfounded face. "Not cool. You can't open with assimilation, at least work on a warmer greeting. Sorry about that. I'm new here as well, and although I wouldn't call myself a germaphobe, I do understand where you're coming from. Here." Max pulled out the white gloves from his messenger bag and handed them to Leighton, giving her a welcoming smile. "These should help some while you're down here. They're clean and freshly made, it's one of my many talents. Watch." Max flipped to a page of his magazine with a lovely plaid trenchcoat and white pants. His eyes became over taken with the cosmic energy as it the pages of the magazine began to flip around and landed on a scarlet red evening gown before it became wrapped up in the mutants power and flowed freely off the page. Moments later there lay that exact same dress across his held out arms before the power subsided. "Uh, that's not what I meant to do. But, um, I suppose I'll take it? Thanks cosmos for just throwing me a curveball." He appeared to say up towards the sky to no one in particular. "May need a new outfit if you're on the run. You know, to change the physical description a bit. So uh...here, its Vogue."
Max began to make his way towards Erg, who was for whatever reason holding a gun. He whispered to him "Seriously, chill. She looks lost and scared and I dont think a gun will win anyone any favors. This is a mutant underground isnt it? I dont think anyone would be stupid enough to enter alone and be surrounded. Besides, like you said, Blink can toss her anywhere if she is a turncoat for some reason." Max placed his hand on Ergs shoulder patting it twice before turning back to face Leighton. "Chilis over there, if you're vegetarian I have some protein bars to help as a meal supplement. Now, Erg, what's the deal with the generators and stuff. I'm no electrical engineer but if we need a supplies run I'm more than happy to lend a hand. I do have some combat training if it gets to it, and making garments is surprisingly a good non lethal combat power. Just ask Sunshine and James over there. Man he really needs a new name huh?"
Welp, that hurt, but she was perfectly fine with the pain, it was distracting her from just about every other sort of problem on her mind, and she gave Veil a slight smile. Sure, her friend meant well, and maybe Sapphire had a bit of a death wish at this rate, but that didn't matter to her at all. They were already in a pretty bad situation, so she was trying to get past that sort of thing with a few snarky comments, not caring if she got injured. This was honestly nothing compared to a few things that have happened to her in the past.
Sapphire was not thrilled with getting put into a cell, or more of thrown into one, but there wasn't much else she could do about it. Glancing over at Veil, she laughed slightly, "Well, this is a fun situation to be in, but honestly, this is much nicer than other places I've been in, not going to lie. I'll give this place 3 stars on being a decent holding facility, not too bad of treatment compared to OMEN, I will say that much," she said with a shrug.
Jack Theriot
Location: The Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
"Nice Erg, you really need to know how to be nice and introduce yourself to a woman properly," Jack said, walking over to the group and giving Leighton a smile, before he bowed slightly to her, "A pleasure to meet you my lady, my name is Jack Theriot, and you'll have to excuse Erg for the moment, he is not the best when it comes to interacting with those he does not know. As he said before though, welcome to the Morlock Tunnels, and Blink should be able to help you get to wherever you wish to go, that is if you choose to leave here, the choice is entirely up to you."
He also totally understood the whole being a bit of a germaphobe thing and not wanting to touch anyone. Some people were like that, and everyone had some sort of phobia or fear. It didn't help that they were essentially in the sewers, so he figured Leighton wouldn't want to touch just about anything there. He saw the dress that Max had made, and shook his head slightly. "It is a beautiful dress, I will give you that, but I don't know if that sort of style would be good for being on the run or living down here."
"One of these days a woman will probably end up chopping off your twig and berries with her powers." Callie said jokingly as she watched Colossus walking out of the room to call the others. She closed her eyes as she tried to relax a little bit more, and then a few seconds later Caitlin came back into the room. She was a bit worried that they didn't have her specific blood type or close to it when it came to her powers. She let the nurse do her job simply, Callie couldn't really do much right now as the blood transfusion went on ahead and started and so far she felt fine.
"It's going to take more than a bullet to the chest, and you wanting to bed every mutant woman you see to kill me." Callie said with a slight laugh, as she looked over towards Caitlin. She wasn't sure how long she would be in the clinic for, and also she was a bit worried how much it's all going to cost. "So whats the next step doc?"
“This escalated quickly.” James muttered as Erg brought a firearm into the mix. Sure, things are dangerous and defending yourself is high on the list of critical survival skills but really? The girl had been there for five seconds and suddenly she’s considered more of a threat than the three of them. Max made actual fire and Erg hadn’t pulled a gun on him. He stood, casually making his way to Erg so he could stand in the line of fire if necessary and sent Max a look at his last comment.
“Didn’t really think about aliases until Erg and Blink found us. Not really necessary upside.” James shrugged, wracking his brain for something. How could he disassemble a car but he couldn’t think of a name on the spot. “Uh, Caduceus maybe? You know, the medicine symbol? Not the right one but memorable at least. That work for you, Tome?” Though speaking of work…
“With how careful you guys are, what’s the plan for tomorrow? Since you already know a spot, you guys have a procedure or something?” James asked. Stealing made him kind of nervous but they didn’t really have a choice. They’d be in and out with little trouble. Hopefully.
@FantasyChic: will update here once Anastasia is posted for.
@Nallore: "Not every mutant woman, damn it, I've got a niece!" Havok said, chuckling. "You'd like her - her name's Sara, she's up at Xavier's. She's just a teenager and is already raising hell." As Colossus came back into the room, his face fell a bit, hearing Havok talk about his niece. Sara was just a few years younger than his sister, Illyana. Colossus still hadn't been able to find her, after all of this time. He wished Illyana could have been up at Xavier's where it was safe.
"Remind me to send Sara birthday card," Colossus told Havok. "I almost forgot."
"Yeah, sure thing," Havok told him. "I was going to ask Veil about heading up there this weekend but..." he fell silent, knowing that the odds were slim that they would see their fearless leader any time soon. And Veil had indicated that Spark Plug would be her replacement.
Caitlin, meanwhile, was considering how to diplomatically answer Spark Plug's question. "Normally, I would want to keep you here for observation for a few days... but this isn't the first time someone from the Mutant Underground has gotten hurt, so I know that you'll be wanting to leave. Give the clinic a call if you feel weird at all, but otherwise, I'm going to give you some oxycodone for the pain and you can go." Caitlin then handed Spark Plug a bag with a few weeks supply. "This is a controlled substance, so don't abuse it."
Veil
Location: Jail Skills: N/A
Veil looked at her friend. She doubted that the officers would come for them any time soon. Places like this, they usually wanted to drive those they captured out of their minds a little bit before interrogating them. It was all about getting inside the criminal's heads - and they couldn't risk the safety of the Mutant Underground.
"When you were at O.M.E.N.... How did you know you could trust Freddie?" Veil asked. She had heard Sapphire talk about him before and she knew a little bit about the ex-O.M.E.N. agent. The last she had heard of him, he had joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D. A bit better of an organization, but one that couldn't protect mutants no matter how hard they tried. She knew that Sapphire wasn't exactly going to open up about everything - she still didn't even know the name of everyone at X-Factor that the ice queen had worked with and Veil was her best friend.
"He was one of the people experimenting on you, right?"
Sunshine
Location: the Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
To let you guys get an idea of what this place looks like better than I could describe it
Erg turned and stared at Max for a moment, a bit surprised to hear those words come from his mouth. Most mutants knew how dire the situation was for the survival of their people and now, looking at Max, all he saw was a naive young boy. "Perhaps I should have opened with some sort of... jingle, a fun and catchy tune?" Erg suggested. His tone was anything but friendly. Just as he had been glaring at Jack earlier, now he was glaring at Max. "Or maybe I should have offered her an evening gown, as if this were some sort of department store? You are right. Please, lead the Morlocks. Protect this community. You are clearly qualified to do so."
He then sighed slightly, looking at them. These people were so clueless as to the ways of the world, it made him pity them - and wonder how they had survived this long. "Do you want to know why I brought this gun over? In New York City, there was an incident involving the agents of a man called Sinister. They went into the tunnels and found the Morlocks living there - and since they were welcomed with open arms and no questions were asked, they were slaughtered. The sewer ran red with their blood - the blood of Morlock brothers and sisters. I will not make the same mistakes. I am here to protect my people - and only my people. If you think my methods are cruel or harsh, then leave."
"This is not a refugee camp or a way station - we are not fighting the war on the Surface," Erg finished up sternly. He was still holding his gun.
Blink had made her way over and she put a hand on Erg's gun, lowering it gently. "They're just kids," she told him. "They don't know any better. We're safe. They aren't going to bring people to kill us," she said firmly.
Sunshine, meanwhile, was a bit annoyed that the attention had shifted away from her and was going over to the pretty girl she had seen earlier in the nail salon. Huffing a bit, she found a loose rock and she started kicking it around. It reminded her a bit of how she first found what she thought of as her minor power - her enhanced accuracy. She had been kicking a rock around like this when one of the older kids on the streets started to call her names.
She had kicked the rock straight into his left eye. She smirked a bit, remembering the way he had screamed in pain - but more importantly, that no one ever messed with her again. She glanced over at the others around Leighton, noticing that the conversation seemed to be pretty tense and Sunshine decided to wander. She eventually found a crate of board games and she dug through, eventually finding Chutes and Ladders.
"Jackpot!" she shouted, opening it up and setting up. She was about to take her turn when she remembered that she needed other people to play with and she looked around, before her face fell. Everyone else was busy doing other things. She was alone still.
Callie winced slightly as she sat up and held her chest a little bit and looked over at Havok when he mentioned having a niece. "Okay, relatives and young girls are off the table for you then." She said jokingly as she sighed a little bit feeling a bit better now, as she gently pulled the needle away from the blood transfusion. She looked towards both Colossus, as well as Havok, and nodded a bit knowing that Veil wanted her to be the next head in case a situation like this happened. "Once we get Veil and Sapphire back, you can go and visit your niece, and we will find your sister as well Colossus." Callie said.
She then turned her attention back over towards Kaitlin and gave her a slight smile and nod, gratful that she wouldn't have to be cooped up in the clinic for awhile. "Thank you." She said, and accepted the bag of drugs, she certainly wasn't going to abuse it Callie then turned around and quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and started to write down her cellphone number. "If you need any help, or have any leads feel free to call me." Callie said, as she slowly got out of the bed groaning slightly. "We should make our way back home now."
Sapphire was not too thrilled at the whole, being thrown in a jail cell thing, but she knew that it likely couldn't be helped. They were going to be there for a while, at least overnight it would seem at the least. The best that she could hope for would be the ability to get a call out while they were in the prison, see if her friend over at SHIELD could come by and lend her a hand. Speaking of him, Veil decided that now was the time to bring up that whole ordeal, while they were sitting in a jail cell. Glancing over at her friend, she thought about what could be the best way to answer that question.
"Freddie, well... He's not exactly no scientist, I will tell you that for a fact. He's literally the muscle, and honestly his arms I swear are the size of a person's head. They are that big, and how did I know I could trust him? I don't really know how to answer that, he was kind of nice to me, and actually seemed to care about how the other guards treated me, so we just kind of started talking. Still though, the guy definitely works out..." she said, thinking about how Flynn looked as a person.
Jack Theriot
Location: The Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
This conversation was getting really really bad, and now he didn't even wait for Leighton to respond to what he had said. He leaned his head over to Max and James, dropping his voice low enough so that they were the only ones who could really hear him. "Look... It might seem like I joke around, and I'll admit, I do that, a lot, even cracking the occasional joke about Erg while standing next to him, but I'm going to give you a bit of advice, be very careful with your word choice. Everyone here knows what I do, that I make people laugh, and stuff like that, but still... I've also been here for a while now, so they know that I'm good to my word, just, until people know that they can trust you, be very very careful..."
He straightened himself back up, and looked around at the others, "As for supply runs, those I generally like to help out with, since who knows what sort of problems we could get into and helps if you can look like any person you really want to," he said with a smile, before Jack noticed Sunshine off by herself, glancing back at the others, he gave a smile at Leighton again, "I apologize for the slight delay to making your acquaintance, but I must excuse myself for the moment."
After he said that, Jack wandered over to Sunshine and stood by her. "So, looks like you could use another player, mind if I join you?"
Leighton was hit with sensory overload as multiple people came by her. She was used to being the center of attention, but not like this. She backed away a bit, especially as one of them was visibly armed. Then the nerdy-looking boy offered her a dress he seemingly materialized and another (who was rather handsome) came and formally introduced himself. She was starting to panic. These were surely mutants. Ice powers be damned, she was not part of this!
"I don't...I'm not like you! I am not a mutant, I can't be! Whatever happened was an accident. This is all too much. I don't know what fight you guys are a part of but I am not looking to enlist or whatever. This is too much. I want to go home and pretend this didn't happen, but the police are surely looking for me and I don't want to go to jail! I'm not a mutant..." Tears began to form and she felt on the verge of a breakdown.
"Can I just go home?"
Anastasia Reinhardt
Location: Hellfire HQ Skills N/A
Anastasia followed the directions without so much as a thank you. Why bother really? She entered and found Sage there. "Hello, yes I was told to come see you about tech. I was assigned a mission to infiltrate the Underground and destroy them all. I'd like something, but I will be going undercover as a runaway, so something techy without appearing flashy would suffice please."
Sage looked over to her, rummaged in a nearby drawer, and tossed a flip phone at her. "There you go." Quick and businesslike, it worked. A runaway girl would not have the latest iPhone. She pocketed it and went on her way. Their business concluded.
She exited the building and made her way over to a nearby shopping area. She had some clothes to buy. She hoped to find a thrift store, but anything would do with some creative liberties. She had to admit, this was all starting to be fun.
Max's head hung low as he heard about what happened in New York. How could anyone do such a thing? From what he could tell, the Morlocks weren't harming anyone. They just wanted to live. His gaze shifted away from Erg and Blink, not wanting to look either of them in the eye as he shifted away from the pair. "You're right, I dont know these things Erg. I dont know a lot of things. I was raised in a household that wouldnt allow mutant news to air, they weren't a healthy subject to discuss. My own parents turned Purifiers against me and I've been running ever sense. I thought maybe with the Brotherhood gone, we wouldnt have such devastating mutant on mutant attacks. I meant no disrespect, I just know what it feels like to be recently chased only find the barrel of a gun." His voice was low and full of pain for those slaughtered over a senseless fight.
His gaze finally wavered up as he noticed Jack and Sunshine sitting around a board game. Max made his way over, sitting next to Jack's right, and accidentally having his hand placed ontop of Stretchs. He leaned in close to him and whispered "Thank you, for what you said. It means a lot to me, really. I've got Sunshine covered if you dont mind. It appears the new arrival is freaking out at all this new information and the gun and squabble must not of helped any. Now, I'm no scientist, but I do know that any news, good or bad, is always more well received when it comes from a handsome guys." With that Max gave a gentle nudge with his elbow against Jack's arm as he looked at Sunshine with a smile. "I've never actually played this game, mind showing me how its done?"
James was properly horrified at the story but there were a ton of questions unanswered and the biggest one was why didn't he put a gun to the rest of us under the same premise. Sure he'd found them wandering the sewers but if he was really concerned about this security issue, shouldn't he have spent some time looking into them more than just a few minutes of conversation and them bam secret hideout. Lots of trusting them at their word and that was evidently not the man's style James was tempted to bring the point of up but he guessed it wouldn't go over very well and he had repairs to do. The longer James listened to Erg, the more it seemed like he was a spite the face kind of guy.
James watched as the new girl started tearing up. He could sympathize. Being torn away from everything you knew and everyone you loved, it wasn't easy. He could feel his heartbeat in his head and his breathing started growing tighter but he he took a moment to collect himself and shove that down again. He ran through the repairs he planned to do and the parts he needed twice before he avoided those issues. Nope, not the time. Not right now. He smile apologetically to Erg.
“You're right. We shouldn't have questioned how you run things. I'm sorry for him we spoke to you.” James apologized sincerely. Although he wasn't really on board with the gun, Erg took his position seriously and he deserved the respect that came along with the the stress. “If you don't mind, I'm going to see what we can do to calm her down. We don't need a stressed super powered person. I can't imagine that'd work out for anyone.” James turned and approached the new girl carefully, keeping his appearance as friendly as possible.
“Hey, I'm James. Want to come sit down and talk about everything? I know it's a lot but having someone to vent to might help and maybe we can figure something out that way.” James suggested. “We can use that dress as a seat cover if you'd like?”
@FantasyChic: As if the universe heard Anastasia's request for a thrift store, it won't be long until she stumbles across THE LARGEST GOODWILL SHE HAS EVER SEEN! Seriously, this place has two stories! Who knew a store that got inventory from donations could even afford to have a two story shop in Washington D.C.? Were they secretly a front for the mob or something? Who knows?! At any rate, just about anything she could possibly dream of wanting to get was likely inside. The Hellfire Club had given her some cash too, so she'd be able to afford it all as well. She could go popping tags all day if she wanted!
@Nallore: Caitlin nodded, taking the phone number from her and tucking it into her pocket. "Mom, I need you!" came from down the hallway and Caitlin looked at them. "Sorry, I think my son needs help with his homework," she explained, before she left the room and was out of sight. Havok and Colossus, of course, were both trying to figure out if Spark Plug was really in good enough shape to move. The bag of drugs was hardly encouraging. "Let us go," Colossus then said, before he shifted out of his steel form and into his fleshy human form.
"We can probably take the metro most of the way back," Havok estimated. It was early evening in Washington D.C., meaning that the stations would be crowded. Purifiers wouldn't be able to follow them too easily and cameras would have a hard time picking them out. "I can reach out to Lorna, see if she can get Thunderbird to come up here and help us track down Veil and Sapphire. I doubt they're holding them anywhere convenient for us," he admitted with a grimace.
Veil
Location: Jail Skills: N/A
Veil couldn't help but grin and giggle a little bit as Sapphire described her friend Freddie. She was clearly in love with the guy, or at least, she was in love with his muscles. The way she was going on about them, Veil had to imagine that they were one of the perks of being held in captivity by the future president of the United States. Yeah, even though she herself likely wasn't going to be able to vote, since she was on the run, Veil kept up with politics. Jakobsen's poll numbers were pretty high. "So basically, his muscles distracted you from torture?" Veil asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sure, it wasn't a healthy crush for Sapphire to have by any means. But it wasn't like there were amazing guys hanging around at the Mutant Underground and she knew Sapphire was as straight as an arrow. She imagined for a moment Sapphire trying to get with Havok, Sunspot, Colossus, or Cannonball... and she couldn't help but start laughing a bit. "Sorry, I'm just picturing you trying to date some of the guys at the Underground - no wonder you started crushing on an O.M.E.N. agent." Still though, talking about Sapphire's past from did give Veil a bit of an idea.
"Do you think Serval Industries would be willing to bail you out?" she asked. Sapphire had worked for them as a part of X-Factor. Sure, Serval wasn't as well known or powerful as say Stark Industries or Pym Technologies, but they had money and power all the same. Maybe even enough to keep them from being sent to Mutant Super-Max.
Sunshine
Location: the Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
To let you guys get an idea of what this place looks like better than I could describe it
Sunshine glanced up at the stretchy man, sizing him up once more. He seemed to be really friendly, funny, and sweet - three qualities that rubbed Sunshine a bit the wrong way. Stretch struck her as an annoying little puppy. Sure, puppies were cute but she wasn't a very nice person herself, so it didn't make any sense for a puppy to come over to bother her. She tilted her head slightly, trying to hear what Max was whispering but she couldn't quite make it out.
Instead, now another person was wanting to play her game. The smile on his face was annoying her too. "There's not enough room for more players, sorry," she told Jack and Max, maintaining eye contact. This place seemed amazing, but she wasn't stupid. The last people she had gotten close to ended up in Mutant Super Max - a place there was no returning from. "You guys can have it after I'm done though - I'm sure it's a great game for a first date."
They probably wanted something from her anyways.
Meanwhile, over with Erg another one of the Morlocks came on over - a teenage girl, probably about 14 years old by the looks of it, with a face that looked like a fish. Her skin was blue, whereas her eyes and hair were both pink. She glanced at Erg for a moment and he nodded a bit, as if they had had a nonverbal conversation. "Thank you, Grimlock," he said with a nod. The young girl nodded back at him, her eyes lighting up and then Erg laughed, as if she had said something funny. "Grimlock has the gift of telepathy - she informed me you were wondering how we knew we could trust you when I found you in the tunnels," Erg told James.
Grimlock then waved a bit at him, before she turned to look at Leighton. While with Sunshine, James, and Max the Morlocks had known they were in the tunnels and chose when to reveal themselves, allowing Grimlock time to telepathically scan them and let Erg know they were safe, Leighton had stumbled into their hideout. Grimlock hadn't had a chance yet to examine her. And thus, there was the need for the gun.
"Drama queen, just spit it out," Blink chastised, rolling her eyes at Erg. "Grimmy says you're good." Erg then nodded in agreement, going and setting the gun back down where he had taken it from.
Blink then turned her attention to Leighton. The girl reminded her of some of the kids in foster care who used to bully her, but Blink had come out a stronger person for it. Aside from Stretch, she was one of the more helpful Morlocks, willing to reach out rather than hide in the sewers. "I can take you home. Tell me where you need to go," Blink asked. She'd try to get Leighton as close as she could. It was harder to portal to somewhere she hadn't been before.
"Hey, you never know until you meet the guy, he's seriously works out," Sapphire said with a laugh, smiling at Veil slightly. She probably sounded ridiculous about things, but it was kind of hard to describe Flynn without mentioning his muscles, it just was a fact and it couldn't be helped! Not her fault that was the way things were. Hearing Veil's other comment, she just rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, no way in hell would you catch me dead dating one of them, those guys are honestly a bunch of idiots if you ask me."
The other thing she said was something she hadn't thought about too much, but she didn't think they likely would. She had left X-Factor a few years ago, she doubted that they'd help her at all now, wouldn't surprise her if some of them had completely forgotten who she was. "I don't think they would, it's been a while since I've been with X-Factor, doubt they'd help me out now..." she said, shaking her head slight at that.
Jack Theriot
Location: The Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
Jack gave a slight smile to Max, not sure what to say to him, before he turned to address Sunshine, "No need to be rude there, I can take a hint, just thought you'd get a little lonely over here by yourself, but alright, talk to you later then," he said as he walked away from her and Max. He headed back towards the other group, figuring that he might want to see about helping out over there. He was kind of the one normal looking person among the Morlocks, aside from the Newbies who showed up, so he might as well see about talking with Leighton to try and calm the situation.
Seeing that Leighton was freaking out a bit, and it wasn't like he could blame her. Most people probably would be freaking out in her shoes. "Alright, how about you take a deep breath, alright? I get that this whole thing is super scary, that you are freaking out over it, but if you don't try and relax a little, things might start feeling hopeless, and trust me that is not a situation you want to find yourself in. You are still the same person that you were before, your powers don't take who you are away from you. You are safe here, but if you don't want to stay here in the tunnels, you are welcome to crash at my place. It's not much, I don't spend too many nights there anyway, but you are welcome to stay there until you get control over you powers, the world isn't exactly safe for people like us right now..." he said softly to her. Jack knew that this sort of thing could be pretty freaky for anyone who wasn't used to it. He'd grown up knowing a fair bit about the world and how most people viewed mutants, but some people weren't used to that sort of thing.
Callie gave Caitlin a friendly smile and nodded towards her. "Stay safe, and thank you for the help as well." She said, as she stuffed the bag of drugs into her jacket pocket and made sure that it was zipped up as well. Callie looked down at her bloodied tshirt and realized that if they were going to be taking public transit someone would give her a look. And seeing as her blood was a bit fresh as well Callie started to slowly zip it up, wincing slightly and let out another groan in pain. She took a moment to lean herself up against the counter, she was still in a lot of pain.
Callie then opened her pocket again and grabbed two of the pills she had been given and popped them into her mouth, and quickly just dry swallowed them down. Her eyes then turned towards Havok when he mentioned about Lorna, and see if they could bring in Thunderbird, which was probably a good idea. "Pull whatever strings you need to, finding them wont be easy at all." Callie said, as she slowly started to walk out of the room, and eventually left the clinic. She was really cautious as to where if there were any police still and any Purifiers were still in the area as well.
Max waited till after the Jack of hearts was far enough away from ear shot before turning to face Sunshine. "Pfff I wish. He is kinda dreamy isnt he?" He propped his head onto his hand as he watched Stretch walk away for a second. "You know...the worst part about being on the run for a year...its being so alone. No one to really talk to, hang with, it's just you, what's on your back and a box of protein bars to keep up the strength. Now, I dont know if I'm staying long enough to get branded but...its nice. The idea of a community, a place to belong to. Growing up it felt like I was just climbing up a big ladder until, well, until my powers awoke and although I love them, it opened up one big chute for me and I've been falling for a year now. I just wish I could do more, be more, like the X-men. They're out there doing good, fighting the fight that must be fought and I'm...just here, running from the law and my past. Anyways, good talk Sunshine. Ket me know when you're done playing." Max stood up and was beginning to walk over towards James, heels tapping against the sewer floors.
There stood Jack, James, and the new mutant, Blink was at her distance but still interacting with the group. Adding another person to the mix may make matters worse, stress her out more. He began to wander the compound a bit, trying to grasp a glimpse at their way of living. How they kept warm, housing, clothing, bathing, all the things he thought may be crucial. Just because he didnt join the community didnt mean he couldnt help them acquire items likes soap, food, and other necessities. It was the right thing to do, and he believed it's what the X-men would do.
Leighton wiped her tears away, a small worry that she would freeze them, until he came along. Though the others tried to console her, she knew it was probably empty. He made it seem like nothing at all. And he had a point. If she were to believe she was a fre....a mutant, then she could not go back to her old life. Or rather, she could not go back yet. The police were probably still looking for her and she found this place by accident. It may be in her best interest to stay.
"Yeah, you're right. Plus, ice powers are pretty cool." She grinned and looked around her. It was not a 5 star hotel, but she could make it work. "So where do I sleep? What's there to eat? I imagine this is more like a camping scenario. I suppose I'll make do with what you have. Also for training, how early? I need my beauty sleep after all."
Yes, she was feeling much better.
Anastasia Reinhardt
Location: Hellfire HQ -> Goodwill Skills N/A
Luck appeared to be on her side as she exited Hellfire HQ and made her way to the shopping area. There she found a two-storied Goodwill, the likes of which she had never seen. But it proved to be a boon because she was sure she'd find exactly what she needed there. She stepped in and ignored the happy salespeople running around, asking if she needed anything. She toured the racks of clothing, picking up bits and pieces now and then. If she wanted to look the part, she needed the best.
She opted on black ripped jeans, black converse sneakers that looked a little worse for wear, and a white tank top with the anarchy symbol on it. It may be bold, but it gave off a vibe. Even the cashier looked at her like she was insane, but she didn't care and it wasn't like it was her money.
She entered the changing room again after her purchase and changed. On the way, she would dirty herself up and fix her hair, but the outfit was on point. She exited the building, leaving her old clothes behind. She was sure they would find new owners quickly.
James liked to pride himself on rolling with the punches. He thought of himself as pretty chill, adaptable, flexible. He could handle most things well in his opinion and just avoided things he didn't care for instead of making a big deal out of it. But a spike of irritation flushed through him as Erg spoke and while he was a bit startled at the reaction, he felt he was at least owe that much.
If someone doesn't voice a question, there's probably a damn reason. If they'd already cleared them as non-threats, why dive back into his head? He can't criticize them for scanning them the first time, especially after his story about New York, but going into their heads again? At that point it was just rude. But he shouldn't think that. He didn't want to cause ripples but how did he keep his thoughts shut up? He couldn't deny the uncomfortable prickles crawling over his skin. He didn't really have anything to hide but they had effectively taken his last place of privacy from him. If they mentioned they were doing it or going to do it, he probably wouldn't of cared but now he just wanted out. He'd stay long enough to repair their lighting issues, he couldn't just leave them with what passed as a light rig, but that was the extend of his involvement with them. He'd figure out what to do from there but he felt even less safe here. Up there, he could recover from a few gun shots. It wouldn't be the first time.
James took a deep breath and let himself relax. This is how they did things and it wasn’t his place to get upset about that. He had a plan somewhat and he’d just work it. For now, he needed to say something before words were put in his mouth.
“It wasn’t particularly important I know that. I didn’t ask for a reason but thanks, I guess.” James shrugged. “I should probably put together some sort of plan for the repairs so I know exactly how much we need. Let me know when it's time for us to roll tomorrow.” James stepped away from the group, taking is time to look over the wiring around the place again.
Just to recap, the Mutant Underground's D.C. station is located in an abandoned warehouse. Those who have been there for a while get to sleep on ruined and cat pee stained couches - those who are new huddle together on the ground, using blankets to try to keep the chill of the concrete from seeping into their bones. When Colossus, Havok, and Spark Plug returned, the mood was grim when they realized Sapphire and Veil were gone.
"What the hell are we doing, just sitting around here?!" Sunspot snapped, his fist glowing red hot for a moment. They were in the middle of breakfast. "We need to go find them now, damn it!"
"Yeah, we do, but just racing off to try and find them isn't going to help us Sunspot, just might cause us to get caught or something." Cannonball looked at his best friend for a moment, hoping that he would cool off a bit - both literally and figuratively.
"Not to be a bitch about this... But we can't just bust them out of prison," Negasonic pointed out, looking away from her phone for a rare moment. "We aren't criminals - this isn't the Brotherhood."
Havok had been uncharacteristically silent. They had tried getting the Atlanta Station to send over Thunderbird, one of their trackers, but apparently he wasn't available. There was some rushed explanation about how his girlfriend had left him recently and he was taking it pretty hard. Havok could relate to that - he and Polaris broke up so often and it never got any easier.
"There is man - Morlock - who I hired to find Illyana," Colossus said, breaking the silence. "He is called Stretch. He is good man - maybe he can help us with police problem."
"Great, so we are relying on mythical sewer dwellers to handle our legal matters?" Negasonic scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Homeless Shelter - Mutant Friendly:
Anastasia's night would have been less comfortable than she was used to. She had managed to get a place to stay at one of the few mutant friendly homeless shelters. The outside of the building was tagged with slurs along the lines of MUTIE SCUM! and IT'S ADAM AND EVE, NOT MUTIE AND EVE! - not all of the insults were the most creative. Most of the people that spent the night in the shelter kept to themselves, but potentially one of them will be able to get her into contact with the Mutant Underground.
Veil
Location: Jail Skills: N/A
Veil had been gone for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality it hadn't been much more than eleven hours. While Sapphire had been allowed to sleep in a cell, they had interrogated the leader of the Washington D.C. branch of the Mutant Underground overnight. The collars that the police had forced onto the two girls repressed and inhibited their powers, preventing them from fighting back. It was morning when the door to Sapphire's cell was opened and Veil stumbled her way inside.
"Veil? Are you okay?" Sapphire asked instantly, going over to help her to her to sit down on a bed.
She had two black eyes. Her lip was bloodied and bruised. Veil's already wild and untamed hair was matted in several locations, as if someone had pulled on it and forced her head around. "All things considered, I am," Veil said softly. As much pain as she was in, she was beyond exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. There was blood on her arm. She had already had a scar in the shape of an M before this, but Sapphire would be able to see that someone had decided to reinforce the scar while they "interrogated" her.
"You should probably get some sleep while you can..." she said, concerned about her friend right now. This also was a way to distract her from the fact that they were currently sitting in prison. Sapphire internally was trying not to panic at this thought, but it didn't really matter. She just wanted to make sure that Veil was okay.
Veil nodded slightly, though her neck was stiff so even that wasn't too comfortable a motion to make. "They'll probably come for you next... Don't give them anything, okay?" Veil mumbled.
"Wasn't planning on it, and don't remind me... This isn't exactly my first rodeo with this sort of crowd..." she muttered.
"Maybe, but your boyfriend isn't here this time." There was then a sharp knock at the door and the cell opened. "Clarke, come with us," the guard ordered stiffly.
"He's not my boyfriend exactly, and might be able to call him to bail us out..." she whispered with a slight smile, but she wasn't too thrilled when the guard showed up, and her mind started racing as she was beginning to majorly panic.
Sunshine
Location: the Morlock Tunnels Skills: N/A
To let you guys get an idea of what this place looks like better than I could describe it
The generators had been turned back on before they all went to sleep that night. Even though they weren't powering lights, they were powering essentially small space heaters, helping to keep all of the Morlocks warm. There were a few open tents and inside of them, there were plenty of blankets and pillows. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in the sewers, it essentially would have felt nothing different from going camping.
During the night, some slept better than others however. Blink and Grimlock were sharing a tent together, since they had a sibling like bond. Erg was alone, with the exception of his guns of course. Poor Leighton, she froze her tent over during the night! It essentially looked like an attempt to recreate Elsa's ice palace. Fortunately, the ice didn't spread far and no one got hurt.
Sunshine had woken up early. She had an antsy feeling in her stomach - her brain telling her that it was time to run, that she had been in one place too long. However, as she looked up at the faded yellow of her tent flaps and heard the quiet giggles of little kids running around in the background, she couldn't help but grin a bit. This place was amazing. And the cost of admission was getting a cool scar on her face? She could live with that.
"Good morning, Sunshine," Erg told her with a smile, seeing the teenager rocking some major bedhead as she went to the food line. They had Froot Loops, milk, and coffee available that morning for breakfast. A few of the Morlocks went to an old woman, grabbing what seemed to be medication and taking it.
"Morning, Buttface," Sunshine told Erg with a smirk.
Erg stared at her for a moment, chuckling and shaking his head. "Have you decided to stay with us, little one?" he then asked.
"Yeah. Duh. Thought that was obvious - only a freaking moron would say otherwise."
The Black Queen
Reeva Payge, better known as the Black Queen, was not a woman to be trifled with. She had clawed her way to where she was today, with the goal of creating a mutant homeland. Separate and equal is inherently unequal - and she wanted the humans to suffer from it. Any obstacle in her way would be removed no matter the sacrifice. Her hands closed around the warmth of her soy latte, her shades blocking the rays of the sun as she sat on the patio outside of a cafe.
Her phone rang and she set the cup down without hesitation, picking it up and putting it to her ear. "What?" she asked sharply, not in the mood for excuses or delays. There had already been too many, requiring for her to bring another recruit into the fold. The more people her plan required, the more room there was for betrayal and loss of secrecy - something she would not allow to stand. "Mr. Ryan, I am afraid you do not understand the position you are in."
"We had an agreement." Her fingers clicked on the glass of the table, her lips curled with distaste as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. "I don't care how it happens - promise him something and ensure that it is done. This needs to happen for our plans, understood? You have until tomorrow at midnight - or I will have to find someone else to be America's sweetheart."
Max had woken up fairly early, completely by habit. Feeling the familiar softness of his coat, coupled with the stiffness of his bag beneath it. Smacking his lips a few times as his wrists rubbed any sleepies from his eyes. Right, he was in the Morclock Sewers. Max sat up, criss cross, each hand lay atop a knee with pointer and thumb touching as he began to meditate. A long, deep exhalation rushed passed his lips as he closed his eyes. Breathe in. His eyes shot wide open, gagging at the scent he hadnt noticed before. The sewers were after all, sewers. He closed his eyes again, this time opting to breathe in through his mouth. Breathe in, and then coughing. Great, now he could taste it. How was anyone supposed to meditate down here? He stood up, rather annoyed, and flipped through his catalogue, searching for adequate clothing. If theres one thing these sewers were good for, it was soiling his clothes. He unwrapped his coat from the messenger bag, placing it on the cleanest looking surface while turning the coat inside out and putting it on the ground and then standing on it. He slipped off his shoes, then his pants, standing there in only boxers and a shirt. "Aus Atnemitsev Ogniffe!" The cosmic energy began to flow and wrap around him once more, his eyes glowing with the familiar swirls of blacks, purples, pinks, and blues, as a new pair of pants and coat wrapped around him, co touring perfectly to his body. Satisfied, he placed his shoes back on and kicked the dirty clothes into a corner before grabbing his bag and cane.
Max made his way out into the open, seeing Erg and Sunshine having a chummy chat. Well, at least she seems to be enjoying her stay down here. Breakfast would be the smart thing to do, but the mornings air was disagreeing with him, his stomach both grumbling in hunger and churning at the scent. Max began to take another walk through the tent city, seemingly enjoying the view while actually searching for Blink. If there was anyone he felt comfortable asking this, it was her. Erg just seemed too...hardened. After some time, he managed to find her in a tent with Grimlock, braiding her hair. There was no sense in asking the young telepath to give them privacy, after all she seemed to be capable of reading minds from a great distance. "Hey...Blink, can I speak with you?" He moved into the tent, opting to stand to ensure his new clothes wouldnt get sullied either. "Its not that I dont appreciate your hospitality here, or what you are doing, but... I was wondering, are there other groups like this? More, proactive ones? The X-Men, well, they arent here, and we cant expect them to be everywhere at once, so there must be other groups like them, fighting the good fight...right?"
