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Leighton mentally patted herself on the back with her display of controlling her powers. She knew Jack would be impressed. "I'll tell you my name when you deserve it. We did just meet in a secret hideaway under the streets of Washington D.C. Can't expect me to trust you. As for a nickname, how about Ice Queen? Been called that before and now it seems fitting."

She had to admit, Max's display impressed her. Granted, he picked the dorkiest outfit to wear. "Could use more pink and glitter, but it'll do. You go on then and find him. I'll keep Jack company." As Max left to go find Jack and anyone else who wished to come, she moved closer to Jack. "Sorry to hear about your brother. We'll find him." She patted his hand comfortingly. She was eager to prove herself, figure out her powers, and impress Jack. Wouldn't be too hard, right?

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Anastasia found the dive bar easily enough. God the signs themselves were gaudy. She was definitely not old enough to get in and she had no fake to speak of. She hadn't figured she would need one. It didn't matter too much. If the bouncer checked, she would just alter his morality. Make him believe he is doing the right thing. Just doing his job.

Didn't matter in the end, the bouncer was an idiot. Took one look at her (too long in her opinion. Creep). And waved her through. She could have been 12. She shook it off though, she had a job. And she saw her instantly singing some boppy song. The pink hair was a dead giveaway. She settled into a nearby table to watch. She wouldn't approach, just yet. For all she knew, the girl didn't know where the Underground was. It was best to tail her for now. If she proved difficult, she would be handled.

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Homeless Shelter - Mutant Friendly:

Havok rolled his eyes at Spark Plug. "The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma," he told her with a wink, quoting the legendary Patrick Star from Spongebob. He was mostly talk when it came to things like this, only ever really showing genuine feelings for the daughter of Magneto, Lorna Dane. Sometimes he got a bit jealous of the guy she liked to hang around with the light powers - Eclipse - but the two of them were more or less solid. They were constantly on and off again, but never really pursued anyone else but each other. Maybe if they were at the same Underground cell, things would be different.

He shrugged a bit. "I think so - but it doesn't really matter what I think," he told her. "Everyone is going to have different ideas on how to lead - hell, look at my brother. Cyclops is literally the worst but when he led the X-Men, they still managed to save the day. So does that mean he's a bad leader? I don't know... I think just follow your heart and your gut, Spark Plug. That's all anyone can really expect of you."

They then arrived at the same homeless shelter Anastasia had been at a little under half an hour ago now. There were some trucks parked out front and the door to the main entrance had been propped open.

The Surface - Sidewalk Outside the National Zoo:

Using powers out in the open in an area hostile to mutants, such as Washington D.C., is never the best idea. Max, Leighton, and Jack had been lucky that no one had spotted them just yet - but as Max turned himself into a regular Sherlock Holmes, a pair of dads taking their families to the zoo spotted him using his powers. Now, most people would think this wouldn't be a problem - it was just a wardrobe change, right? But to these people, they just saw a mutant near the zoo, the zoo where their children were about to spend the day and that was unacceptable.

Their wives called the police, ushering their children to "safety" inside of the zoo and telling the officer on the line that Max had threatened them. The men started running in the direction of Jack and Leighton, attempting to catch Max and figure out where exactly he went.

The Sewers - Location Unknown...:

"You're going the wrong way," a voice whispered in his mind. He'd never heard this voice before, but Max (henceforth called STITCH :P ) would be able to figure out that it was most likely Grimlock, the non-verbal girl he had met before. And then, as if a file transfer was being completed, he would suddenly have a little mental map of how to get back to the Morlock tunnels in his head. It wouldn't be permanent and would fade away after about thirty minutes, but that is more than enough time to find his way back to the others.

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"Speak for yourself, Saph, I am a spring chicken," Veil said jokingly, despite the fact that Sapphire was a year her younger. She giggled a bit at her friend's comment and the way Sapphire was reacting, even though it hurt to breathe after the thorough beating the police had given her. She knew that it easily could have been worse if they were running one of the Underground cells further south - she dreaded to imagine her odds of being alive if they had been in Alabama and not D.C. Of course, she hadn't taken this job because she wanted it to be easy - she was here to help mutants in need in a way that the X-Men never could.

She smirked a little bit, not needing telepathy or anything to take a guess at the thoughts running through Sapphire's mind. She had never seen the Ice Queen blush this much before in her life - though it was also a bit weird to see her as a brunette. It was as if Sapphire had decided to become the personification of caramel in Veil's mind. "Go on," Veil prompted her. "Would you rather sleep with Iron Man or Freddie Flynn?" She was a bit curious to see if Sapphire would actually fess up there. No matter which way she answered, though, Veil was going to have a giggling fit. Either she chose to marry Freddie Flynn in this little game or she would chose to have relations with him.

There were some footsteps outside of their cell, but they quickly passed. Sapphire's daring knight of a potential boyfriend wasn't there to rescue them yet. Veil mostly just hoped that Spark Plug was okay - that she and the others had made it back to base. Hopefully none of them would do anything stupid in a rescue attempt, since that would just draw more attention to the Underground - an organization that operated best when it wasn't out in the open.

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Erg gave James a nod, quickly considering what he had said - they would need two people to assist him. Blink would be holding the portal open, meaning that she wouldn't be able to really help with the physical movement of items. And as much as he hated Jack, Jack's ability to morph his features was useful for supply runs if anything went wrong. "You, Blink, Stretch, and Sunshine," he considered, before looking at the girl and deciding that even though she was feisty, they might want some more muscle on the job. "See if you can persuade one or two others to come with you as well - but no more than two more. A large group can prove challenging."

"Once Stretch returns from fraternizing with surface dwellers, you should head out," Erg said, his voice making clear exactly how he felt about Jack's double life. To him, the Morlocks were meant to be separate with no ties to the world above. Their supply runs were the main time when they ventured into the city, though there wasn't a thing that went on in Washington D.C. that Erg didn't know about. Jack was different - he continued to work as a private investigator, having his life above and his life below. Once of these days, he would have to choose - and Erg hoped that the day would come sooner rather than later.

"That's why you hate him then? You think he's a risk," Sunshine observed, looking at Erg. Although most people underestimated her, she had a knack for reading people. She didn't need to know Erg's life story to see that to him, Jack was jeopardizing everything the Morlocks had by refusing to pick a side. Jack reminded her a bit of protagonists in novels like that, trapped between two worlds and trying to have it all. She had watched the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on a computer in a library where some idiot hadn't logged out of their Netflix and this seemed to be the same sort of thing - the Path of Light v the Path of Night, only here it was the Morlocks or the Surface.

"That is neither here nor there, Little One," Erg warned her, his patience with Sunshine seemingly finally wearing thin.

Sunshine just sort of shrugged. "I'm almost an adult - so not really a little one. Also, you saying that makes me more convinced that it's true. I bet you don't like the X-Men or anything either," she told him matter of factly. It didn't matter too much to her though what Erg's opinions were on the so called mutant question. The Morlock community was safe and had everything she needed to survive - and although she would never admit it, she had the chance to belong to something again. She hadn't belonged anywhere since the Purifiers torched her apartment building, sending the people she chose as her family to Mutant Super Max and her to juvenile detention.

"But what do I know?" she said rhetorically.

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Casper did a little bit of a twirl as he entered the Sephora, breathing in the perfumes and letting out a happy sigh. This was the place where dreams came true. People came inside, wanting to let their inner beauty shine through with the help of some cosmetics and as if a magic wand was waved, their wildest dreams came true. He used to beg his mother to take him to Sephora for his birthdays and even though she was raised in an old fashioned, strict household, she figured that wanting to wear make up wasn't the worst thing her son could be up to. He then chuckled a bit, remembering how angry she had gotten when someone questioned why Casper was there - she had beaten them up and gotten him this sparkly pink eyeshadow he had his eye on.

"Casper, you don't have any money," Ben reminded him, really hoping that he wasn't going to shoplift.

"You don't need that here," Casper reminded his friend, looking around for a moment. He had never had a job in his life and he managed to get plenty of drugs. Sure, his trust fund paid for rehab but his father didn't let him touch it otherwise, convinced that Casper needed to "get clean!" and "contribute to society!" All he needed to do was sell someone an experience and he would walk out with... his eyes kept on wandering, until he saw some particularly dashing purple lip gloss. Yes, he would end up with that before the hour was up.

"Watch and learn, Benjamin," he told his friend.

"You're going to get arrested..." Ben sighed. "Why do I even bother trying to help you?"

"Because you have nothing else better to do?" Casper pointed out.

There were a fair amount of customers in the store and Casper spotted an old white woman looking a little bit lost. Her purse only snapped shut in the middle, something that Casper took as a win. Old ladies always carried cash on them and he walked in that direction, making like he was heading over to get some mascara and he bumped into her, knocking the purse to the ground. "Oh dear, I am so sorry!" Casper exclaimed, picking up the purse and handing it to her.

"Watch where you're going!" the old woman snapped, taking her purse and walking off in a huff.

"Thank you, Mrs. Crabby Pants," Casper whispered to himself. He had managed to grab four twenties out of her purse and he grinned, quickly folding up the cash and he walked on over to the lipsticks. Grabbing the purple shade he had been admiring, he took the tube up to the counter and paid for it.

"You literally stole from an old lady..." Ben sighed. "Really. That's up there with taking candy from babies!"

"Babies don't eat candy - they can't, they don't have teeth yet," Casper reminded his friend. "So honestly, I would probably do that - consider it a public service."

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"...How about I prefer not to answer the rest of the questions? Honestly, with how much you are giggling Veil you'd think we were high schoolers!" she said with a slight laugh at her friend. The fact that they were making light of the sort of situation they were in was kind of fun. Sure, things were pretty bad for them and could get worse at any moment, but right now she wasn't finding it too hard to put all of that aside and talk with Veil. Not like they could usually do stuff like this around the others, especially with Havok around.

"Besides, I was not that type of person back in school anyway! I never really played those silly sort of games... Then again didn't really have much of a high school life. But that's beside the point, I don't feel the need to answer your question!" she said, though she was still thoroughly blushing. She knew that she was, but it wasn't like she could just stop herself from blushing. It was a little annoying.

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Jack chuckled slightly, seeing Max's entire get up. That wasn't exactly the best outfit to be wearing, especially out in public, and especially when basically doing a job that you wanted to be more of unseen for. "Usually the only thing that makes people like me special is that we don't sleep much and we live on coffee 24/7, spending most of the waking hours working or something," Jack said with a shrug as Max took off back down into the tunnels. "As to where Casper is, I know what store he went to... Shouldn't be too hard to find him hopefully..." Though Jack's now slightly lightened mood was dampened pretty quickly.

Anyone who has had to deal with being on the run or helping out people who kind of were on the run knew better than to use their powers in public. That probably was the biggest mistake anyone could make, and hearing the chaos around him, it didn't give him much time to think about what to do. Luckily he did know some of the area that they were in, generally walking by all the time, and he could only think of one place nearby. Without thinking much of it, he instantly grabbed Leighton's arm and dragged her with him as he took off, using the crowd to their advantage, he managed to get them to the Coldstones Ice Cream shop, and he slowed down as they approached, before leading her inside. "Well, that could have gone better..."

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Callie stared at Havok making a fucking SpongeBob reference which was a show that she really and truly hated so much, no matter how old she got that laugh made her want to gouge out her own ears. "You are so asking to be tasered right now." Callie said with a slight laugh as they started to get closer, following the directions given by the GPS. She turned her attention towards Havok again as he started to speak more about being a leader. "Yeah, I kind of remember your older bro being a bit of an ass." Callie said, remembering her time at the mansion while growing up. Then she left and got a job as a mechanic then being offered a job in the Underground DC cell, she gave him a slight nod. "I just get the feeling Sunspot thinks differently though." Callie said.

As soon as they were at the location she noticed the trucks outside as well as the door prepped open, which wasn't really a good sign as she backed her car up. And eventually she drove it into the nearest alleyway she just hoped that they wouldn't be able to see her car pulling up. "Alright, so some trucks are here and the front door is open. Should we go through the back?" Callie asked him as she pulled out the car keys and looked at him. "And stick close, i'd rather not get shot again."

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Max looked around for a moment, searching for the source of the voice. Upon noticing that no one was near, he came to the conclusion this was either a trap, or most likely Grimlock. "Oh thank you! Here I thought I was doomed to roam the tunnels for eternity, never to see the light of day. You're a saviour Grimlock. Wait? Should I be saying this outloud? 'Or should I be thinking this?!' Mere moments later, a mental blueprint of the sewers appeared into his minds eye, showing him how to get passed the wardings that protected the Morlocks from outsiders. With a new found spring in his step, Max began to lightly jog towards his destination. Following the images his mind portrayed, turning through sections that shouldnt be and eventually making his way back into the Morlock society.

"Phew. You guys do not make it easy on a kid huh?" he said to no one in particular. When it appeared that none had paid him any mind save a few odd glances, he quickly made his way towards James, who was currently surrounded by Sunshine and Erg. His light jog slowed to a brisk walk and then finally a halt with his hands on his hips. "Why do I get the feeling I'm interrupting something? Anyways, Sunshine, James, I'm here to potentially recruit you two for a mission if you so wish to join. Now I'm aware that we have the generators to deal with but I fear this may be a more pressing matter. No offense to you or your community Erg. It seems that two mutants have been captured and are being detained in, potentially, a mutant supermax. I was hoping we could all band together and help free them...Jack has a lot on his plate, and though it's not my story to tell, I feel like I cant quite let him do it all alone. He needs help."

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James nodded at Erg’s demand. One or two more people should be easy enough to find. Sunshine’s prodding at Erg made James chuckle to himself. Seeing some normalcy was nice, no guns or powers or threats or anything. That much confrontation made James a little queasy fi he was being honest. It made him feel a little better about everything going on; right up until the greeting died on his tongue as Max nonchalantly dropped a bombshell of a request and, just the cherry on the cake, in front of Erg. James couldn’t help a snort at the absurdity of it slip out.

“Slow down there dude. Let’s take a second and wade through that mess you just made.” He laughed in disbelief. Who in their right mind made a request to put the group housing them’s needs behind two random people in a supermax in front of the guy leading said group? How was this kid still alive. “Lets just go down the list here. First, have you lost your fu-” He looked at Sunshine and around at the rest of the community, noting children running about, quickly reconsidering his wondering. “Mind? The group who helped you need your help and you want to move on just like that? Kinda a poor move there dude. Second, you’ve just met Jack and you already want to break into a-and correct me if I heard this wrong but I think I heard you loud and clear-supermax with him? Thirdly, the supply run will take an hour tops since we ignore travel time. If, and this is probably a no, someone agreed to that insane request, it would take months of planning. They aren’t called supermaxes for nothing dude.” James pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“How about instead of figuring out how to help two people you don’t know and Jack-someone you’ve known for less than 24 hours I may add!-, you help us with this run and then you figure out your next step from here?” James suggested.

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Homeless Shelter - Mutant Friendly:

"You taser me, I hula hoop you," Havok replied with a smirk. He always referred to his powers that way - as just him hula hooping. It was easier to explain than the actual process of energy being converted, amplified, and sent off in what seemed to be chaotic disks. And although he never thought too much about it, he knew that Xavier had told him he had the potential to be stronger than his older brother, Cyclops. He mostly just tried not to care about comparing himself to Cyclops, wanting to be his own person with his own life. He'd go mad trying to live up to the legacy of Xavier's golden boy.

"Going through the back seems fine to me," Havok said, trying to see if there was anyone coming out that way but he couldn't really see anything. With their luck, once they rounded the corner and found a back entrance, they'd come face to face with a legion of purifiers. The police wasn't going to be of any help anyways - they'd turn a blind eye to what the purifiers did and blame it on the mutants at the shelter.

Havok got out of the car, sticking close to Spark Plug as they went around the corner. He kicked down the back door and it opened effortlessly, revealing a bunch of mutant kids hiding back there. One of them was using their powers, moving more and more pieces of furniture against the door that led to the rest of the house. Instantly, one of the kids there started to vibrate their hands rapidly, as if they were about to phase through Havok and Spark Plug to attack them.

"Hey, calm down, we're the good guys - we're with the Underground," Havok said softly, holding his hands up.

Moonwalker will begin here as well - having been told by Colossus to go and provide back up to Havok and Spark Plug here at the homeless shelter. Moonwalker will be able to spot the pair heading into the shelter through the back entrance.

The Surface - ColdStones Near the National Zoo:

A few people in the store seem to be a bit on edge, but there's no telling if that's because they figured you were mutants or if they were just stressed out. People on the East Coast tend to be a bit uptight anyways! Wonder if they'll give Leighton a discount on the ice cream if she chills it for them?

The Mutant Underground - Washington D.C. Station:

Glimpse will have been given directions to the Mutant Underground. Not much to look at really, this Mutant Underground Station was located in an abandoned warehouse. Chain link fences separated it from the surrounding areas and weeds were growing out of the cracks in the pavement. The windows were covered in pieces of fabric, in an attempt to keep the cold out during the winter months. Glimpse will have been told to get in contact with Veil, the mutant running this station. She'll have a general description of her as well - wild curly hair, a sharp wit, powers over invisibility, and blue grey eyes.

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"Is that really such a bad thing - acting like high schoolers?" Veil pointed out to her friend. She had attended Xavier's Institute for high school, only to be told that she lacked the temperament to be a member of the X-Men. She had changed a lot since her high school days, that much was for sure. But she didn't want that life - the life of living in safety up in upstate New York, isolated from the problems mutants were facing. The X-Men couldn't be everywhere at once and while they did help mutants, they also spent a lot of time and energy on issues that went beyond that call. That was why Veil agreed to run a portion of the Mutant Underground - it was an organization dedicated to helping mutants in their every day lives, not just when some colossal problem like the Dark Phoenix occurred.

"Besides, you are blushing so much it is obvious that you have the hots for Freddie!" Veil exclaimed, giggling like a madwoman. There were two sharp bangs on the door, followed by a gruff order to keep quiet. Veil bit her lip slightly and instantly regretted it. She was more durable than most people, but she was still in a lot of pain - but the pain didn't stop the smile from tugging at the corners of her lips. "When you get married, are you going to be Mrs. Flynn or will he be Mr. Sapphire?" she asked, knowing that Sapphire never used her human name. She didn't blame her. It had been ages since anyone called Veil by her birth name - Valery.

In fact, she was fairly certain the last person had been Xavier himself - though he always referred to her as Ms. Simmons. She always felt a bit like she was in trouble whenever he called her that, as if Xavier was scolding her like a child. For a brief moment, she wondered how her parents were doing up in Nova Scotia. It had been years since she spoke with them. However, she didn't let her mind wander too much. Keeping Sapphire from freaking out and having a PTSD episode was one of her primary goals at the moment - as was teasing her about her love life.

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"You think too much," Grimlock whispered into Max's mind. There was then a subtle decrease in pressure, as if he had just gone to a new elevation, but in reality it was just Grimlock withdrawing from his thoughts. Older telepaths were able to withdraw without that slight change in pressure, but she was young and needed to get more experience, so it wasn't too surprising. Erg was about to say something to Sunshine, probably due to her callous comments, but he was cut off as Max jogged on over.

Sunshine's eyes widened slightly as he mentioned people detained in a mutant Super Max. That had been what had happened to her friends. She would have done anything back then in order to break them out - but she knew that escape was practically impossible from those facilities. No one who went into a mutant Super Max came out alive. "As much as I would love to get myself killed for strangers... I don't love that," she told Max bluntly.

Erg's expression had hardened - somehow that was possible! "Language," he warned James, though he was relieved to see that the man caught himself in time. Erg wasn't certain how old Sunshine was, but with a name like Sunshine he was pegging her as being around 15 or 16 at the oldest. There were also plenty of young kids down here and they didn't need to hear that sort of talk. He waited to give Max a piece of his mind until James had finished speaking. At least James had some sense about him. "If you are going to break into a mutant Super Max, when you leave these tunnels, you will not be welcomed back," Erg told him bluntly.

"The same goes for Stretch," he concluded. Erg and Stretch had an incredibly tense relationship to begin with.

Blink then came over to them, looking a bit worried. "We've got police and purifiers crawling around near the tunnel entrances on the surface," she told Erg. Erg just nodded grimly, grabbing his gun. The odds of people finding the Morlocks were slim but he was going to be damned if he wasn't going to prepare to defend his home.

"...The other two are still up there," Sunshine said, noticing that Stretch and Leighton weren't anywhere to be seen in the tunnels. Stretch was annoying but he was nice - and he seemed like someone she could trick if she needed to into getting her things she wanted. Leighton irritated her, purely because she had the life that Sunshine wished she had - she was able to afford to get her nails done, to sleep in a real bed, to not go hungry. "Are you gonna help them?"

Erg nodded. "Stretch may be an idiot, but he is a part of my community."

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Casper was enjoying himself splendidly, leaving the Sephora and walking down the street. He passed a bank on his way and similar to what happened to Leighton, the alarms were triggered, detecting the presence of his X-gene. He groaned slightly, hating the obnoxious sound of the alarms and Casper waved his hands around. "I'm not even trying to go into the bank! I'm just walking!" he complained. "Seriously, do you pick the most ANNOYING sound on PURPOSE?!"

"Dude, you might want to get out of here... Those alarms are probably programmed to call the police..." Ben pointed out, shaking his head slightly. Once more, he had to wonder how he was the dead one and Casper was still alive. With everything Casper did, he should have died a long time ago. The only explanation that Ben could come up with was that he was either too dumb or too stubborn to die.

"I didn't even steal from them! I stole from the old lady!" Casper shouted, a bit mad and Ben sighed, unable to believe that his friend could be this clueless at times. Apparently he hadn't inherited his father's brains. "Ugh, fine, whatever, this strip mall is dumb anyways..." he complained, walking off calmly away from the alarm. Police hadn't shown up yet, so it seemed that he had a minor stroke of luck. His mind had started to wander a bit though and he glanced at the remaining money he had on him.

It was time to go and score, Casper decided.

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"Lightening is faster then an energy hula hoop you know." Callie said with a slight smirk as she got out of her car, she wasn't to thrilled with the idea of having to deal with a bunch of Purifiers, but she knew that these kids needed their help as soon as possible. So far they seemed to not have noticed them which was a good thing. Callie then followed behind Havok and made their way to the back of the homeless shelter, as Havok kicked down the door she looked towards him. "Real subtle my friend." Callie said sarcastically as she turned to look at one of the kids noticing his hands vibrating, some kind of speedster by the looks of it, and she'd rather keep all of her organs within her body as well.

"Yeah i'd rather keep my organs within my body and not outside of it, and quickly follow us you will be safe." Callie said as she noticed the fortifications that they were making, she couldn't imagine living in a homeless shelter and having it suddenly being invaded by a bunch of mutant hating freaks. "If you have to, use your abilities just try and not kill them. If you cant find any, try and find a route that the Purifiers don't have blocked off." Callie said as she held the door open for the and looked towards Havok. "Find a car that can fit all of us, mine isn't to big i'll watch over them." Callie told him she just hoped none of the Purifers would sneak up behind the back either.

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Leighton hadn't thought much of the outfit change (hey, she WAS growing as a person). Knowing she was now one of them, she had to get over that previous disdain for them. However, she had not planned on the others around her. Of course, she remembered how the employees and customers in the boutique treated her. And those in Target.

Before she could do anything though, Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her away into the crowd. She didn't even get to enjoy his touch on her arm before she was whisked into a Coldstone Creamery of all places. Inside, it seems things were quiet. "So, now what? If they aren't looking for us then they are surely looking for Max. We can't just leave him alone. Or the others in the tunnels. They may be in danger now."

And she took a curious glance at the display of ice cream flavors and mix-ins. "Though I wouldn't say no to a cup of ice cream. My specialty IS ice, after all."

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“I’ll join you, Erg. If something does happen, I can get people back on their feet faster than some bandages and I can take some nasty hits without needing attention myself.” James offered. Hopefully, nothing would happen but it's nice to have a walking medpack when there was a chance for injury. Plus, they needed Jack for the supply run and James really needed those supplies sooner rather than later. “And hey I’m a handy meat shield if things get really desperate.” He joked.

“Did you see anything while you were surface side, Max? Any reason why there would suddenly be a larger police presence?” James asked. Although the DC police were definitely a bit paranoid about mutants, James couldn’t imagine they had the spare resources to send police buzzing to every area that may lead to the tunnels.

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"Eh, probably not all too bad, though I didn't really have much of a high school life at all," Sapphire said, giggling slightly still. When she heard the banging on the door, she just more of rolled her eyes. Sure, they were essentially stuck in prison or whatever, but why did that mean that they have to stay quiet? The nerve of some people, it was completely ridiculous. She smiled at her friend, not sure really what to say to her.

Then the second part of what she had said hit her, and she rolled her eyes. "I do not have a thing for him! He's just a friend Veil, nothing more than that at all! Seriously why are you trying to make things not at all what they seem! I mean really, that is a little ridiculous!" Sapphire said with an eye roll, but she was still blushing and wasn't able to stop it. This was getting really really annoying, and she knew that her friend was enjoying teasing her. If the roles were reversed she knew that she'd be doing the same thing.

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"Keep it down would you? You do not mention the tunnels in public, and you certainly do not mention anything about us having to do with the chaos outside since most people are not dumb enough to not know the meaning of police and Purifier activity got it? Do you not have a sense for freaking survival?" Jack hissed at her, keeping his voice down somewhat all things considering. This was not something you start talking about in a freaking public space, and now he'd likely have to go back and warn Erg about Leighton basically being kind of dumb and talking about the tunnels in a public area!

He straightened up fully and looked at her, "Now's not the time for ice cream, my brother is out there wandering around in that chaos, maybe... I have no idea, since the guy kind of drives me crazy and knowing my luck is going to get run over since he doesn't pay attention to anything really... So if you don't mind, I don't exactly have time to get ice cream, just came in here so we didn't get run over by the crowd and chaos outside, so I'm going back out there, you are more than welcome to join me, okay? We should probably stick together anyway," he said, before he headed back out the door. He could understand not having much of a survival sense, especially given that Leighton seemed like the type of person who grew up a privileged life, but still. There was a reason that the Morlocks stayed hidden, there was a reason a lot of people didn't show off the fact that they had powers. Even someone whose had her sort of life should know that by now! He thought that a lot of people knew that sort of thing, especially in the DC area, since this place was just bad. He hoped that no one in the ice cream shop had heard what Leighton had said, otherwise the two of them were going to be in major trouble.

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Leighton was shocked, to say the least at how downright rude Jack was to her. She glanced around her, eyeing the other customers. They paid them no mind so the fact he was freaking out a bit was a bit uncalled for, in her opinion. Still, she met him halfway and dropped her voice to a whisper. "First off, lose the attitude. You have stretchy powers for christ's sake, loosen up. Second, no one heard me. Third, it looks more suspicious to be going off at me and NOt getting ice cream as opposed to just standing here talking like friends. It was a joke."

She calmed down a bit before she continued. She might not know survival, sure, and maybe she should have kept the tunnels a quiet (though the sewers naturally HAD tunnels in them). "I get your stressed, so I am sorry. I am here to help, but as I just joined you lot I have no experience with this sort of thing. What do you want to do right now?"

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Luna flipped down the kickstand on the bike she had rented as soon as stepped foot on American soil. No, it wasn’t as precious has the baby she had back home but she, as well as her father and Xavier decided that a bike as flashy as that should probably remain home. Still, Luna needed something to get around on and this would suffice. She took her helmet off, ran hands through her helmet hair to given the shortened, blonde hair some sort of shape. One thing that needed to be perfected while overseas was the ability to change one's appearance. Luna didn’t have that ability but how much more useful would it be within this line of work to have a completely different appearance whenever you wanted it? She got off the bike, setting her helmet down on the seat and walked out of the trees. The Underground in Washington D.C. wasn’t much to look at but that was kind of the point wasn’t it? Hiding in plain sight or in the most rundown, degraded place ever. Still, Luna would have preferred staying at a hotel of some kind. She sighed, staring at the grimy building with tattered sheets and walked towards the building. Bring on the “who are you!?”, “come no further!” or just plain, start firing no questions asked that the runaways tended to have.
She took the secret way in, Xavier having briefed her a bit before hand. She walked into the darkened building and gave it a once over before she focused on the people within.
”You’re interior decorating has done a wonderful job. Mind if I get the number off of you?” Her British accent rang true as she looked at the big silver man and smaller but no less agressive girl beside him. Colossus and Negasonic she determined from the Professor’s description.
”Where’s Veil?” Luna was a very much, straight to the point person. Sure she enjoyed flair, hence the bike and leathers she was currently in that hugged every well toned curve but, she was here for a purpose and she enjoyed working.

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Cayden found a dime on the sidewalk and was currently flipping it into the air and catching it. Supposedly, if you found a dime on the ground it meant that a loved one who had passed was letting you know that they were watching. That whatever path you were on, was the right one and to continue on. Cayden Proudstar looked up, seeing several people getting out of a car and heading into the back entrance of the homeless shelter. Thank goodness the location the big silver guy had told him was true and he hadn’t sent him to some Purifier strong hold. Right path indeed. He watched them kick down the door and smirked. Kickass entrances, check. Yup, definitely the right place. He looked left and right before dashing across the street to follow these fellows inside.
So far it was pretty calm but having a stranger show up behind them would determine if anything, exciting happened. A blonde girl was holding open the door, talking to the people inside. She was talking about needing a bigger car.
”Are we talking a luxury model? Or a mini van?” Cayden grinned at the new faces. ”Cayden Proudstar at your service.” He flourished his hand and bowed at the waist. ”Or Moonwalker if you prefer. The big silver guy said you people tend to stick to the codenames. Anywho, a car. I had a friend who used to boost vehicles. Never attempted myself but I watched him do it a few times.”

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Max's eyes shifted towards James, having them widen the more he spoke. He began to feel a knot in his stomach, sitting there, weighing deeply on him and turning to tighten. James wasnt inherently wrong, but how could he possibly think that rescuing mutants from danger wasnt a priority? Max's eyes darted to Sunshine as her voice peaked up. Both of them didnt want to help? What is the point of having these powers if we cant even help our own kind? Finally Erg spoke, his words and look tightening the knot in Max's stomach past its point and finally Blink spoke up, notifying the tunnels of police and Purifiers activity up above, causing the knot to finally snap. He stood there, silently, staring wide eyed at all the mess he just created for Jack, Leighton, and all the Morlocks.

Max's eyes were down cast, staring at his feet as a ringing began to pierce his ears and then silence took over. Any sounds that were made for that moment were lost on him as his brain raced wildly. His lower lips began to shake and his eyes quivered as they moistened up, only for tears to begin to fall down his cheeks when he finally looked back up to Erg. "I-I-I'm sorry. I just- I mean-" Max fell silent once more, steeling himself for what was to come and knowing now wasnt the time to lose himself. A fight was coming, and he needed to be prepared to help all those around him. He wiped away the tears, looking at Erg with a new found determined look. He shook his head and said "Now isnt the time for me to fall apart. Your people need me to help fight against intruders as does Elsa and Jack. I'll be right back" Max ran towards the tent he slept in earlier and grabbed his cane in his left hand, running back towards Erg and standing beside him as his right palm faced up and Max attempted to create a flame. The spell fizzled and failed, but Max wasnt about to let that waver him, flicking his hand into a fist and then back open, a flame bursting into life and illuminating his face as he stood there ready for anything. "Let's do this."

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Homeless Shelter - Mutant Friendly:

"...The hell?" Havok couldn't help but say, looking at Moonwalker for a moment. Very few people knew this but Havok was a bit of a perfectionist. He hated it when things were left up to chance, when new people were added to an already in progress mission. But in this line of work, his perfectionistic tendencies rarely came out. But right now, he was a bit annoyed that Moonwalker showed up to help. He and Spark Plug had this handled. And adding in a new person in the middle? That was just bound to cause a mess.

There weren't any minivans or anything nearby - in fact, the only large vehicles there belonged to the Purifiers. Luckily, the Purifiers were currently trying to ram down the door that they had blocked, being too dumb to realize that they could just go around the building in order to get to the mutants. But hey, not all racists can be geniuses.

The Surface - ColdStones Near the National Zoo:

There are currently about ten customers in the shop. Of these ten, one of them is a big family of five, with the tired parents trying to keep the kids under controlled. It seems that they had taken them to the zoo for a day trip and had made a pit stop for some ice cream, but either way, the happy and excited chatter of the kids keeps anyone from really hearing Jack and Leighton's conversation. "Can I help you?" the skinny girl behind the counter asked, looking directly at Leighton. She then grimaced a bit in sympathy as Jack walked out.

"Fight with the boyfriend? That's rough," she said, sympathetically. She fixed up a cone for Leighton and offered it to her. "Here, ice cream is what the doctor's ordered for that."

Outside of the ColdStones, Jack would practically come face to face with a confident and somewhat cocky looking man. Jack wouldn't be able to see his eyes, thanks to the sick shades he was wearing. "You might want to watch where you're walking," the man said, crossing his arms. He had a Purifier tattoo on his GIGANTIC BICEP! "You wouldn't have happened to see a couple of muties running from terrorizing the zoo, would ya?"

Johnny Ward gave a smile, looking inside and seeing Leighton. "Looking good today, sweetheart."

The Mutant Underground - Washington D.C. Station:

Negasonic didn't even bother to look up from her phone, texting away as Glimpse entered. She and Colossus had gotten back from their assignment early, as the Purifiers hadn't been hitting that shelter. And since they didn't have any fighters left to defend the Underground, they had returned there rather than provide reinforcements to the other groups. It was a good thing they had too, since it allowed them to redirect Moonwalker when he had showed up. "If we told you, we'd have to kill you," Negasonic said bluntly, in response to asking for their decorator.

"Negasonic, please. We have guest," Colossus reminded her. Piotr walked up to Glimpse and offered her a hand, currently in his steel form. "Veil is not here," he explained bluntly. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that Xavier had mentioned to those at the Underground here that Glimpse was coming. Typical. "Why do you look for her?" Colossus then asked.

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"The only thing that is ridiculous would be how much you are protesting this," Veil replied with a bit of a smirk. She closed her eyes for a moment, wishing that she could have gotten any sleep during the night but she hadn't been able to. At least they hadn't placed her in solitary confinement - she remembered being told about false and induced confessions at one of her classes at the X-Institute. People were held for crimes, interrogated about them, and thrown into solitary confinement until they confessed - despite having no memory of it. With Sapphire here for company, at least they'd stay sane, no matter how long they were locked up in this place.

Veil then opened her eyes, ignoring the throbbing pain that went through every inch of her body. She felt strangely at peace, despite the fact that they were in jail and didn't really have a plan beyond hoping Sapphire's friend would show up eventually to spring them out. "You know what I miss? Milkshakes," Veil said softly, as her stomach grumbled. The Mutant Underground was short on funds, meaning that they couldn't afford to get milkshakes. They bought the cheapest food they could in bulk in order to stay alive without stealing. "When I was at Xavier's, there was this kid in our classes who could teleport. When Xavier wasn't looking, we'd cover for him and he'd teleport to Dairy Queen... Get everyone their favorite... and be back for Xavier noticed," Veil smiled slightly.

"He probably did notice, come to think of it," she realized, starting to giggle. "I guess he just didn't mind."

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Somehow, Tome's words struck a chord with Erg and he saw himself for a moment. Hardly anyone knew this, but Erg hadn't always been a Morlock. He helped to found the Mutant Underground, wanting to use his powers to help mutants everywhere, to let the dream of the X-Men live. He learned the hard way that tolerance was not the same thing as acceptance. Sighing slightly, he looked at the boy as he left. "My apologies, Tome... That was harsh of me. I understand that you mean well."

"Good," Erg then told James. "Our primary objective will be to figure out where Stretch and Leighton went."

"Guess you need me for this, then," Blink said, brushing some hair out of her eyes. She was how the Morlocks got around the city so quickly. She could construct portals, get them in and out of tricky situations in a flash. Any group that knew how to survive tended to have either a teleporter, a speedster, or someone who could make portals on hand. Usually whenever Blink went up to the surface, she would wear makeup and contacts to hide her visible mutation - but the contacts made it so she couldn't portal. That wasn't an option here.

"Grimlock says there are too many Purifiers nearby - a little over a dozen," Erg explained. "And not very many Morlocks have mutations that allow them to fight..." He sighed a bit. It was true - they tended to get people who couldn't live on the surface, and they rarely had powers suited for fighting.

"... I can get rid of the ones by the tunnel entrances," Sunshine volunteered, wanting to help. Erg nodded and Blink made a portal. Sunshine stepped through it, reappearing near the entrances to the tunnel system. She could hear the chatter of Purifiers up above and she took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, green smoke swirled around Sunshine and she sent it upwards, gassing the Purifiers that were stumbling too close to the Morlocks with deadly diseases. It was the sort of moment that defined a person. But Sunshine didn't feel any sense of remorse.

She felt a sense of pride. It had been too long since she felt that she had a home, the potential for a family - something to belong to. The Morlocks were willing to take her in no questions asked. And if the Purifiers up above died from the diseases she just inflicted on them, so be it. It was to protect her new home. She didn't care about humans anyways. What had humans done for her? They had mocked her, chased her, incarcerated her for a crime she hadn't committed. They called her a monster and so be it - she'd behave like one if she needed to.

Meanwhile, back in the main Morlock tunnels with the others, Erg nodded grimly. "Grimlock says that Sunshine has the entrance secured. Anyone who wishes to go with Blink and me to retrieve Stretch and Leighton, please go so now."

Blink then gave them a tight smile, opening a portal that would drop them in an alley about a block away from the National Zoo - and about three blocks away from the ColdStones.

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Casper was whistling to himself as he walked, hoping to run into one of his usual suppliers along the way. The only problem was, the living Séance had made a wrong turn and wasn't heading towards the seedier part of town. Instead, everything seemed to be getting more bright and cheerful. There were blossoms blooming all around him and Casper smiled slightly, picking a flower and taking a whiff of it, only to a few flies to start zooming around his head. "My flower, get your own! You aren't even bees!" he complained.

"Hey, hey man look!"

"Don't you 'hey listen' me, Ben!" Casper snapped, before looking down the block in the direction of where Ben was pointing. There were some hardcore looking trucks parked on the side, with a bunch of muscular men standing around them, like they were waiting for something to happen. "Okay, so they're any number of privileged dicks, so what?" Casper asked his friend.

Ben sighed. He really wanted to get Casper's eyes checked. "It's Jack, idiot!"

"Hey, that is not nice Ben! I thought you were supposed to set a good example for me!" Casper scolded, before he started waving in Jack's direction, hoping his brother would catch a glimpse of him. He had to wonder though if Jack knew about the muscle heads that were near him. From what he could tell, Jack had made a stop at ColdStones? That was confusing - Casper knew for a fact that Jack preferred doughnuts. He used to catch Jack stashing them in his desk when they were kids.

"This doesn't look good, Cas... How much do you wanna bet those guys are here to beat him senseless?"

Casper glanced at the money he had taken from the old woman. "I can bet forty on it? Anyways, he probably just got pictures of them cheating on their wives. He's a professional wedding photographer, right?" He could never remember what it was Jack did. Ben wasn't about to explain again that Jack was a private investigator - and Ben had to admit, a good looking one too. Ben had had a crush on Jack before he died.

"You need to go help him, Cas... Or actually, maybe stay put..."

He shrugged a bit, ignoring Ben's advice and he started running in the direction of his brother. "Jackie! Hey Jackie! Did you get waffles?" he shouted, not caring who heard.

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"I am not protesting or anything like that! So don't you dare call me ridiculous for it! You are the one being the ridiculous one for trying to tell me that I'm being ridiculous for just pointing out how you are wrong in this case!" Sapphire said to her friend, before she started laughing again. This was a kind of fun thing, and sure, she knew that Veil didn't mean anything but to tease her, but it was still a little bit annoying.

Hearing Veil's words about milkshakes made her laugh a little bit harder at it. "You know if we had a blender and some stuff to make ice cream with I could make us ice cream and keep it cold if we ever wanted to do that," she added, giving Veil a smile. The second part of her made her think. "...What exactly was it like at Xavier's? I've kind of been on my own for years so I never actually really went to high school or anything..."

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Jack didn't really stick around to hear Leighton's response really, he didn't really care, he was just trying to survive in a world that was constantly trying to kill him. Of course, case in point the person that he ran into with the giant arm and Purifier tattoo. Sure, Jack figured he could probably fight the guy if need be, but the problem was that would definitely cause a lot of trouble. He glanced back inside of the ice cream shop, looking right at Leighton. He hoped that she understood what it was he was trying to say to her. Namely shut up, don't interfere, stay where you are. Taking a bit of a deep breath, he looked at Johnny Ward. "Well, I know I'm not going to be able to talk my way out of this... I'm one of the mutants that you're looking for... Well, one of two really, the girl inside who I had been arguing with a few moments ago isn't a mutant, but I swear to you I have no idea where my other friend went. I really don't..."

Ward nodded slightly at Jack, lifting his shades up slightly. "Well shit, that was too easy," he said with a smirk. He was a bit disappointed that the mutant didn't have any fight in him. Sure, he was a man of principles, fighting to protect humanity, but he loved beating the shit out of people. He never felt more powerful than when someone's blood was on his hands. "Come on, mutie, you're coming with me. And please, try something. It's been a slow day."

"Well usually I try to talk my way out of situations like this or avoid this sort of thing all together, my powers are useful in a fight, but I generally choose to avoid them whenever possible," Jack said, stepping away from the door of the Coldstones, still looking right at him. There was a reason he generally stayed in the shadows, both with the Morlocks and as a PI. It made things easier, and he was technically more of a con artist, so that sort of thing kind of came naturally for him.

Ward then looked in on Leighton, giving her another grin. "Call me when you're legal, okay sweetie?" he told her, before turning to Jack and starting to shove him into the trunk of his car. He didn't even bother staying out of the way of cameras and the like. None of the police in this town were going to do anything about a missing mutant. If anything, they'd shake Ward's hand and congratulate him on a job well done.

Jack took one last look at Leighton when Ward had his back to him and him looking at her instead. Don't do anything, please he mouthed the words to her before Ward turned back to him and started shoving him into the trunk of the car. Then he caught a glimpse of someone waving in the distance coming towards him, and now he was thinking what the hell is up with Casper and why the hell was he showing up now of all times. Now if only he'd just leave, everything would be better, or if he was actually smart enough to not do anything. "Hey Casper, I'm a bit busy at the moment, mind waiting in Coldstones for a while?" he called out to him, hoping that Casper would take the hint, he then turned to look at Ward, "Don't pay much attention to my kind of dependent friend the drug addict," he said, dropping his voice so that Casper couldn't hear what he was saying to Ward.

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Leighton watched Jack leave without a word back. She would have followed him except the voice behind her beckoned her to the counter where she was given an ice cream cone. Truly not all heroes wore capes. She mustered a look of "oh gosh thank you!" and accepted it graciously. "Oh girl, you don't even know. It's like back and forth with this guy. But, I love him. What can ya do? Men, am I right?"

After sufficiently befriending the girl, she turned to find Jack outside. What she had just noticed was a man approaching him. He looked tough and Leighton saw the telltale signs. She had watched TV often enough in her former hatred of mutants to recognize a Purifier when she saw one (she hoped). He gave off confident vibes and she fought the urge to retch when he came on to her. Jack gave her a look. A look that read "Don't do anything". But, he was being carted off. He admitted himself and saved her. It was just about the most romantic thing a guy ever did for her! So what did she do?

She did what she does best.

"Hey!" She came out (with her cone, of course) and walked up to Ward. She passed Casper, assuming by his yelling he knew Jack, and tilted her head. "For your information handsome, I AM legal. Your lucky day it seems." She licked her ice cream cone, letting the flavor settle on her tongue. She licked her lips to get the remnants before speaking again. "Listen, I get it. I support you Purifiers, especially if they are as built and rugged as you. But this guy? He's small fry. He's nothing! You want the bigger fish yeah? Think of the fame. Think of the women! When you bag a load of mutant freaks? They will be all. Over. You." She ran her hand down Ward's arm, feeling his muscles. "Oooh, I like that. So strong. Listen, this guy means nothing. He may be one, but I doubt he's part of the ones you are looking for. Surely they would have stuck together. You know mutants. Stupid and always needing to stick together. Imbeciles. Let him go and I'll look after him. Keep him on the straight and norrow. I have my ways."

She licked her cone again before grinning. "I would be very grateful..."

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James watched as Sunshine let herself go and grimaced. He remembered how she managed messed with the police officers earlier. He didn’t envy anyone on her bad side. But then again, maybe he should ask her to infect him. His previous attempts were focus on external stimuli; he hadn't ever had the opportunity to actively attempt an internal issue. He tapped his nose as he watched Sunshine thoughtfully. After the supply run, he’d ask if she would infect him. For science of course.

“Sounds like a plan.” James said, stepping through the portal into the alley. He didn’t have very much information on the situation but if there were purifiers out in bulk with a mutant who lacked control over her powers then it may only be a matter of time before something happened. Hopefully, they’d find the pair before anything awful happened. James sighed, rolled his shoulders, and stepped out of the alley. Purifiers made him nervous and knowing he was wandering amidst them didn’t help. James headed down the sidewalk along with the other foot traffic, keeping an ear out for any signs of conflict.

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New Outfit

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Max nodded at Erg and Blink, acknowledging what it is they had to do. "I'll go with Caduceus, I'm good in a fight if need be, and he could probably use some back up. But first" Max flung the flames at the dirt ground before him, extinguishing the flames he had just carefully crafted. "No sense starting a mutant panic uptop any more than it has already. I'm sure a kid with flaming hands wouldnt look to great to the public eye, even if I am just walking the streets.Now then." Max closed his eyes for a brief moment, visualizing an outfit, ready for combat, and began to weave and change the material of the fabric. A blue turtleneck that was made of kevlar, padding beneath it as well to stop any bullets that were shot at him. The pants a nice dark wash jeans with more kevlar padding beneath on his thighs and crafted around his calves. Finally brown leather boots, sunglasses, and a leather bomber jacket to finish the look.

When Max opened up his eyes, they were radiating the cosmic energy he usually does, this time more brilliant than before. His clothes began to disintegrate and turn into cosmic dust and energy, weaving about his body, covering his now nude form. It slowly began to shape and change, materializing the image that Max had within his mind and bringing it into reality. First the pants, then the shirt, turtleneck, and leather jacket. The boots followed soon after and with a final burst, his eyes created the sunglasses that nestled on his nose. Max slightly tilted his new sunglasses down, half exposing his eyes before saying "They just turned the dial up to Max-amillian" Max placed the sunglasses back up and stepped through the portal, following James. "What's the plan?"

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Callie turned her head when she heard an unfamiliar voice and stared at Moonwalker for a moment, and then mentioning Colossus was also what got her to trust him enough. As her attention turned towards the doors for a moment, the Purifiers seemed to still be way more interested in bashing down the door. She assumed that Moonwalker didn't know the way to the Underground just yet, as she tried to think of a plan, and came up with probably a really dumb and stupid idea. She rubbed the back of her neck a little bit they needed to get the homeless out of here as quickly as possible.

"I'm Spark Plug, or Callie, whatever you prefer to use I don't mind, and over there is Havok or Hula Hoop." Callie said as she stared at Havok for a moment and smirked slightly. "Alright, so dumb idea. But seems like they are more focused on the door right now, so Cayden get the kids into one of their cars. Hopefully one of them left a set of keys still in, Havok and I will distact them if they come out got it?" Callie said as she started to wave the kids out of the room as quickly as possible.