Andy didn't notice that someone was trying to intrude into her mind. Not really. It was always bustling and full of thoughts, a lot of them already unpleasant. She had just imagined that her adoptive father, Jamie, had told her she had done a good job, and then the bullets from the shape-shifting lady had been shot at her. Andy's first power had actually been enhanced reflexes though she did not know that, she had not known about the power until Jamie had pointed it out.
She honestly didn't get them. Why were Mutants fighting Mutants? They had enough bull to deal with as Mutants to have to worry about in-fighting. Andy thought of the few mutants she had met in her life. Especially Ash, sweet, kind, wild Ash. She sighed, there was no point throwing anymore punches if the old guy was saying the fight was over.
Andy walked back into the Underground and went looking for her jacket. She wondered if this place would no be considered insecure and they would move the place. It seemed awfully silly to keep a place that had had the enemy in it. Andy started digging around the debris for her jacket. After a moment she found it and dusted it off. Some tension released from her shoulders. She hugged the jacket for a moment. "Sorry mom. I found it though. It is okay." She spoke quietly to the jacket as if it were her mother before putting it on.
When Waverley's mind shifted back from the semi-meditative daze that allowed her to surf the airwaves more effectively, it took a second to adjust to the physical world. But as she did, like someone running backwards into a sword, she felt a sharp pain pierce her brain. It caused a surprised gasp to slip between her teeth as she slumped down to her knees. After squeezing shut for a second, her eyes flickered about, trying to see any obvious foes that might be the culprit. When she saw none, her eyes landed back on Jack. At first, it was simply because he was right in front of her, and her eyes needed somewhere to go. But as she gazed up at his face, her eyebrows pulled together.
Something was off. She wasn't sure if it was the way his surprised expression took over his face just a second earlier than the others, or perhaps the way his mouth hung just a little too open in shock. Perhaps it was an amalgam of barely noticeable tells and twitches that cultivated in her mind as a general feeling of suspicion. His surprise was fake, that's all she knew. Somehow, she wasn't sure how, but somehow he knew the cause of the pulsing pain rippling through her brain. Her mind was so clouded by both pain and wariness that she didn't register Spark Plug's question until it was punctuated by Veil scooping her up off the ground.
"Huh?...Oh, I'm...I'm fine," she mumbled, though the words sounded far away as they passed her lips. She was a motionless lump as Veil held her, slumping like an old rope bridge between her arms. The only movement her body made by itself was in her arm, reaching up and grabbing onto Veil's shoulder. Or, at least, she'd tried to grab Veil's shoulder, but instead her fingers got tangled up mostly in her unkempt hair. It helped; gripping onto something, anything, helped keep her mind off the pain a little, and she kept it there even as Veil buckled her in. Her head at first rested back against the headrest, her eyes clenched shut, her face painted with an agonized expression. But after she heard Veil tell Jack to sit shotgun, her eyes flicked open. She flopped to the side, leaning against Veil, and she began to lightly tug Veil's hair downward, trying to pull her head closer so she could talk quietly to her without having to worry about being overheard. "V-Veil, th-there's still something wrong with Jack. Y-you have to keep an eye on him. He's...he's hiding something, I just know it," she whispered, her voice raspy, scared.
James watched Magneto and Polaris leave and then spared Havok a glance. It seemed like he'd live, unfortunately. "And how easy was that?" James muttered to himself. He offered Casper a smile. "At least this shit show wasn't a total loss. I found out that apparently S.H.I.E.L.D already has a cure but they're circulating it to a senator or something first. Regular humans too apparently. Magneto is going to go liberate it and start circulating it, I guess. At least James hoped Magneto's information was true. After Havok's little stunt, James figured it was unlikely Magneto would be particularly forthcoming for the Underground. Another reason to hate this situation.
"Its kind nasty outside so I gotta go make sure no one got themselves killed before Magneto got his daughter." James sighed to his boyfriend and walked back outside. He beelined for Echo first, dodging and ducking around the nonsensically panicked laser show the singer was kicking off. What a damn drama queen. "If you wouldn't mind shutting the fuck up and calming down, this would be a lot easier. James shouted over the cacophony around Echo. He managed to get a look at the wound and noted the metal still embedded in him. He glanced over at Sapphire, who seemed to have shut down if her lack of ice was any indication. Fantastic. Gotta love the ice queen's "vulnerable" moment was in the middle of a crisis. He'd give her a moment. Maybe by then Echo would tone down the light show and she'd actually be able to help him.
The flying man who Luna thought to be her father, flew into the Underground and Luna collapsed, falling to ground and stared at it. She didn’t have the strength to roll herself over. She barely had any strength left. Luna huffed, feeling tears of defeat as Magneto returned with his daughter Polaris. Luna glared at them both, realizing that wasn’t her father now that Polaris stood with him. ”My father will hear about this,” she claimed, trying to sound tough but her voice was weak. Luna’s attention span on the two didn’t last long, as an unusual squeal of delight left Luna’s lips as she spotted something crawling around on the ground. It was a ladybug, moving rather slow in the cold temperatures but it was slowly trying to find its way to shelter. Luna tracked it as she would do for a person she was tracking. Clearly Luna would not make a very good look out at this point.
Location: Washington DC, Outside of Jack's Apartment Skills: N/A
"Alright then lets get going back home." Callie said as she started to feel a bit better again enough to drive, she just hoped that another spell like that wouldnt happen again while they were driving. She waited until everyone else got into the car and started to pull out and started to drive. She looked over her shoulder towards Waverly and Veil for a moment, she wasnt sure what was causing Waverly to experience pain like that. "Are you guys okay back there?" Callie asked looking over at them as she continued to drive while looking over at Jack as well to.
"Is there anything else you remember from last night?" Callie asked Jack, maybe he could remember something else and maybe get some answers to as well. Callie wasnt sure why Emma Frost wanted to mess with Jack's mind for either she just hoped that Luna wasnt loopy at all for them to get into Jack's mind.
Kristina could feel the fire snake's grip around her start to lessen a little bit as she continued to groan out loudly in pain as the fire continued to burn her. She started to focus on Pyro again, as she aimed more at his head and unleashed another eyebeam directly at Pyro hitting him in the face. Which instantly knocked him out, and the fire snake finally disappearing, fire started to spread and burn more of her clothes crying out in pain. Carolina started to drop to the ground and rolled around in order to try and get the fire to go out, until it finally did.
Kris looked down at her burns it really hurt as her burned clothes to smelled like she was laying on a grill for a long time, she noticed Magneto and Polaris both coming out of the Underground. "Are we just going to let them go?" Kristina asked looking over at the others, sure they may have taken Polaris, but that was all Havok's doing honestly as well to.
"Well sorry," Zari responded towards Polaris, "But where I come from most people are either still conscious or whatever when lying down, and if they are lying incredibly still usually it's because they are dead!" she instantly added, defending her choice of admitting that she had thought that Polaris had been dead. It had only been a natural thought for her to have. Of course then came in a man with a red helmet and a cape. A person who no one seemed to want to introduce at all, and it was someone who Zari had no idea who they were.
"Wait a minute who are you!" she called out after him and Polaris, before she started following after them.
"Oh be quiet Mr. Eyeball, not like anyone ever explains anything to me, the only way I can learn anything about this reality is by going and asking questions!" she responded, before she made her way outside and looked around at not only the chaos, but the group of people that were in the area. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at the Brotherhood members who were seemingly assembled in the area. "Uh, who are you people?" she asked quite loudly towards them, as Mr. Eyeball zipped over and was now floating right next to her.
Location: Mutant Underground HQ - Outside Skills Medical Knowledge
Sapphire was having a bit of a mental breakdown, she was having problems when it came to getting out of Mastermind's mental little world that he stuck her in. Though it wasn't really helpful that no one thought to hit Mastermind with anything to help her out. She was trying to break free from it, but Mastermind's powers were making that incredibly difficult for her. However, eventually after a few attempts to get her freak out under control, taking a few deep breaths she managed to get back to reality and stood up off of the ground, before glancing over at Kristina when she asked about whether or not they were just letting them leave. "Gonna be honest, I really preferred him as a vegetable," she muttered.
"Yeah, we are, since it seems pointless, we are seriously outnumbered, will probably lose horribly and that's if none of us are killed," she responded, before glancing over at James. She definitely wanted to have a few words with him later either that or smack him across the face, "And people say that I have a horrible bedside manner!" she ended up snapping at him before going over to Echo, even though she didn't care much for him at all. "Echo, it's going to be alright, okay? Just lie very still... I need you to do that for me, okay?" she said, surprisingly calmly to him (and loud enough for him to hear) and it sounded like for once when she was talking to him that she actually cared. She glanced at James, before going over to him to whisper so only he could hear her. "I don't like you, at all right now since you are kind of acting like an asshole, but move him and you could make things a hundred times worse if you even think about trying to move him. Spinal cord injury, very nasty and don't even try to pull that metal out before we can get a good look at everything, since you pull it out, you could cause him to be paralyzed permanently, something your powers can't exactly fix."
Location: Outside Jack's Office -> The car Skills Bluff, Manipulation, People Reading, Charisma, Telepathy
"Yeah, sure no problem at all," he responded to Veil's request for him to ride shotgun, nodding his head at her before casting a glance towards Waverly for a brief moment as he then got into the car. He felt his hold on Waverly's mind slip entirely, and despite his best efforts, he wasn't able to keep her in pain. Well, there wasn't much he could do about it, considering he had absolutely no idea really how to control his telepathic powers yet, yup, that was a horrible thing for him to have to deal with at the moment, but he couldn't really do anything about it.
Hearing Callie's question, he turned to look at her as he thought to try and come up with a decent answer. He had no idea how to best respond to that, since to him this was going to be yet another lie. "Aside from what I told you? I don't really remember anything else... Everything is just kind of a giant blur at the moment... I'll let you know though if something else pops up or I remember anything else, deal?" he said, giving her a smile, and he sounded truly genuine, though that was just in part to the fact that he is a master manipulator and con artist, here's hoping they don't catch on too quickly.
Location: Island M the Bermuda triangle. Skills: ConjurationNew Outfit
The walk there was more difficult than Max had anticipated. Between the strenuous teleports that took him to an uncharted island, the restless sleep thanks to this mornings situation, and the M-Pox that was eating away at him. His feet dragged in the sand, the indents deeper than Sunshines as he followed behind in the silence she left. He felt some water stuck in his ear, pressing his finger against the cuff of his hoodie so that the cotton fabric would soak up the water that was lodged in. When he pulled away he saw the dark liquid seeping into the elastic bands and let out a sigh of exhaustion. He was tired of bleeding, tired of the fatigue, and tired of this dreadful disease. As they neared the castle he finally spoke up. "That's pretty cool, not being able to get sick. cough it must be nice." The blood splattered against his sleeve cuff again as he covered his mouth.
Sunshine pressed opened the doors to reveal a darkened interior. The glint of magenta shining in the abyss. Max watched as her body stiffened and his soon followed when she asked her question aloud. Why had his powers taken him here? Where even was here? He thought back to his time in the Hellfire Club, trying to think of any information that Magneto may have let out about this location and nothing came to mind. Max felt around for a light source and found nothing but a wet box of matchsticks. He threw them to the ground, the sound of a wet splat echoing in the room. "I - I - I don't know why we're here. Or even where here is...I didn't know Magneto even had a place like this." His voice was low, confused, and on edge. "If his palace is anything like Emma's penthouse then there's probably a speedboat here."
Echo's panic began to slowly subside as he watched James approaching him. James! Maybe he could help him, use his powers to cure him of what Havok had done. Never before had Echo thought how apt the Summers name was. Havok, that was all he was capable of causing. When the healing mutant came close Echo tried to reach for him, grab his clothes or even his shoe...anything. But his hands stopped short of touching him when James' curt tone came out. Telling him to shut up and calm down. Had everyone in this underground lost their senses? A man was just crippled and lost one of his greatest joys in life over a white knight asshat and he was the one needing to shut up? He blinked, blinked again, and finally a third time before he just gripped the ground, holding onto a bundle of dirt and grass.
Sapphire made her way over and it was as if she and James had swapped places. Her calm and polite manner, the concern peppering her words. Echo immediately began to relax, the light show subsiding with the coming silence. He let his face fall slowly against the ground, his tears soaking the dirt beneath him. "Ok. Ok. I can lay still...just please...help me." Echo had been Rollerblading since he could practically walk. It was his form of exercise, his form of expression, and an excellent mode of transportation. To think that he wouldn't be able to do that again, he wouldn't be able to go about his life as usual. But in some weird twisted way, he was beginning to think he deserved this. Life already took away his love, why wouldn't it take away another joy as well, perhaps next it would take his voice and leave him to rot in a gutter.
Mild Symptoms: Headache, some splotchiness of the skin, fatigue and exhaustion Moderate Symptoms: Difficulty breathing, dizziness, vomiting, blood shot eyes, prominent veins Severe Symptoms: Vomiting blood, trouble walking, bleeding from the ears, extreme skin discoloration, general looniness
So far, only two individuals have "cured" themselves from M-Pox. The first was S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Cassandra Reed. The second was Gabriel Summers A.K.A. Vulcan.
Outside the Mutant Underground HQ -
Three members of the Brotherhood were unconscious - Avalanche, Toad, and Pyro. The others were relatively unscathed. Mastermind yawned with boredom, perhaps wishing that he could have inflicted mental torture on Sapphire for longer. He owed his daughters vengeance after all. Mystique was smirking a bit as Zarina asked who they were. "We're the Brotherhood of Mutants, kid. The only ones who can keep the humans from slaughtering us all."
Magneto nodded. He levitated a small piece of metal towards him and manipulated its shape, until it was a small ruby red token. He then sent it over towards Zarina. She looked like the youngest of the group and her naiveness was palpable. "There will be a place for mutants soon called Genosha. If you go there, bear that token and you will be cared for."
Then just as suddenly as they appeared, they departed. Magneto levitated himself and the unconscious members. Polaris did the same for herself, Mastermind, and Mystique. They must have all had metal threaded through their uniforms.
"That's fucking typical," Ben complained with a sigh. "Give it to all the human politicians first, since who cares about the people who are actually sick and dying?!" He tried not to watch politics if at all possible, since it only made him angry. It also reminded him of how powerless he was - he couldn't vote and Casper always managed to lose his ballot.
"Now now, Caduceus, we must always kiss the asses of the humans because they are afraid of us!" Casper said in a mocking tone, crouching down to look like he was in a wheelchair. His father's "dream" felt so foolish and childish at times. Though to be fair, Casper was usually too drunk or high to really pay attention to the events of the world around him. He knew that it was a horrible time to be a mutant, but he passed for human. People just assumed he was crazy and that he couldn't actually be talking to the ghost of his dead best friend. He didn't have blue skin or webbed toes or a forked tongue.
Ben snorted, amused with the impression.
The green haired child - who had such a striking resemblance to Polaris that Casper had to wonder if she was another kid of Magneto or not - had run off. Less than a minute later, the brunette kid had returned, going into the dining hall. Casper thought for a moment, debating who he would rather go on off after - Magneto and everyone, or the kid. He decided the kid, heading into the dining room just in time to see the kid hugging a leather jacket and whispering something.
"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," Casper teased gently. "Or a reeeeeally good trip. You aren't tripping, are you? Or maybe do you see faeries or something as one of your powers? Or what are they called, the blue smelly things... bamfs, I think?"
Veil
Location: The Car - Outside Jack's Office Building Skills: Perception, Leadership, Deception
"Ouch!" Veil yelped involuntarily as Feedback used her hair as a handhold. Despite popular belief, it was still incredibly painful for long hair to be pulled on - Rapunzel must have had no nerve endings in her head at all. Instead of shaking Feedback off though, Veil tried to support the girl's weight so as to alleviate the need for her to grip. But once she had buckled Feedback in, the girl then tugged on her hair, forcing Veil to kneel and awkwardly fall into the seat next to her.
"I feel like Mia during the makeover scenes in Princess Diaries..." Veil grumbled. If she didn't love her long untamable hair, she definitely would've been shaving herself bald at this point. She frowned ever so slightly at the important news Feedback had to share with her. They had already established something was wrong with Jack - he had been controlled by Emma Frost. She was worried about Feedback - she sounded terrified.
"Yeah, we're fine - Feedback's just got her hand tangled in my hair," Veil lied. She was used to telling little lies like that in order to keep harmony between various people in the group, so Callie and Jack wouldn't likely have a reason to suspect anything. Jack's lack of recollection sounded so incredibly genuine to her, Veil couldn't help but believe him. It was only because of the intensity of Feedback's fear that she kept an open mind about this situation - about whether or not they really had all the facts.
"Spark Plug, can you take us the long way back? I'm worried about us being followed. Maybe make a few wrong turns on purpose."
Sunshine rolled her eyes ever so slightly at Max's comment. "Way to point out the obvious, Captain Fatso," she said with a slight sneer. Her opinion on Max had pretty much gone more and more downhill since she first met him. He was a walking disaster and even though he had left the Hellfire Club, he still had joined their enemies. He had turned his back on his friends. Any other day, Sunshine would've fantasized about putting an arrow through his eye. She realized she could easily use her powers on him and leave him here to die. No one in the Mutant Underground would know.
Her hands were slowly surrounded by green mist as she conjured up a seasonal flu. She stared at Max, imagining him dropping to the ground, succumbing to disease. She raised her hand, about to strike - but she hesitated. The green mist disappeared. If he died, then she wouldn't be able to make his life hell. He'd get off the hook. He'd be let off too easy. And per her beliefs about the afterlife, he'd probably skip out on being judged and wouldn't get eternal torture and suffering.
"We need to make sure we're alone here first. Then find clean water and food. And then pick an area to shelter in," Sunshine instructed Max. She was used to exploring abandoned places and moving in to live there indefinitely. With practiced ease, she went to the hallway on the right. Light was spilling in through the windows, barely illuminating the place. She opened up the first door off the hallway, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
The room smelled like boy. Posters of Felicia Day and old bands covered the walls. The ground was a mess, covered in clothes and random belongings - and there were various highway and traffic signs from around the world just leaning up against the wall.
"That's rich coming from you. You're always talking to yourself, and considering I've known you like an hour that's got to be a lot of talking to yourself." Andy said. She dusted her jacket off a bit. She was smiling as she looked at Casper. Andy had only seen him at breakfast. She took in his appearance this time. She hadn't seen any guy so flamboyantly dressed before. This guy was literally wearing a mini-skirt.
"Also I haven't done any drugs. Other than sleeping drugs and caffeine. And I think you mean smurfs?" Andy offered, with a slight hitch at the end to make it seem more like a question than an answer. She had only ever seen the movie, never any of the shows. "Why aren't you helping fight the guys outside? I punched out the earthquake guy, but I won't get near the fire guy." She shrugged a little bit with her comment about Pyro. She hoped Casper didn't want to ask why she didn't want to fight him.
Luna continued to track the lady bug with a fierce determination, oblivious to Magneto and his group leaving. Luna went to shift herself, losing sight of the ladybug and as she shifted, she could breath. Luna paused a moment before she managed to finally sit up, albeit shakily from her weakened state but as she sat up, she couldn’t help but grin. The dizziness was gone, the difficult breathing gone, as well as the bleeding and nausea. Luna was incredibly drained though and felt like she could sleep for a week straight but she was feeling better and that’s all she really cared about. Luna looked around, seeing a few people outside still but the Brotherhood was gone. Luna had a vague recollection of them but not much. She couldn’t even remember why they had been here. ”Where did the Brotherhood go?” she asked Sapphire and James. Luna shifted her weight and tried to stand so she could get back into the Underground and have something to eat; hopefully, before she passed out from exhaustion.
James listened to her long winded explanation. Why she was wasting time, he wasn’t sure. Any high schooler who even so much as glanced at a biology book knew spinal injuries were only for the experts to handle and despite what Sapphire might think he thought of himself, he was fully aware this was well outside his area of expertise. But maybe she just liked the sound of her voice. Not likely but an amusing thought nonetheless. More than likely it was her weird way of shifting guilt in a situation she’d caused and reasserting her dominance over someone she didn’t care for to make herself feel somewhat better. Boring, banal, bland. At least make it interesting. Anyone with eyes, and probably without, knew Sapphire didn’t like him. She didn’t need to hide behind this half baked excuse.
“You don’t give a shit about me on a normal day, no need to beat around the bush, but I’m not here about you. I was here to fix this and realized I couldn’t yet.” James cut straight to the point, not particularly interested in hearing more of her drivel. He did keep his voice down but raised it at Luna’s question. “They went back home, Luna. Magneto just picked up his daughter from a playdate. Sit back down and I’ll help you inside in a second.” He turned his attention back to the ice queen.
“So, what’s your call here doc?” James asked, whispering again. “I’m waiting on your orders.”
Location: In the Van Skills: Radio Wave Manipulation
As Waverley sat in the back, eyes clenched tightly shut, whimpering with her head slumped against the plush car seat, she could feel the drilling in her head begin to lessen. After a few seconds, it seemed to fade entirely. She kept still for a few seconds after it had, before eventually letting her eyes groggily flutter back open. She blinked the bleariness out of her eyes, and repositioned herself, sitting up straight. But when she went to rub her eyes with her hand, she was unable to, finding it still tangled up in her boss' hair. She could feel heat rising to her cheeks, embarrassment flooding her face.
"Er, shit, sorry," she quickly apologized, reaching her other hand over, struggling for a few moments to untangle herself from Veil's chaotic hair. She eventually managed it, withdrawing her hands with a bashful look, folding them back onto her lap. Once most of the embarrassment had subsided, her eyes shifted away from Veil and instead to Jack. He was hard to read, at least on the surface. But maybe there was another way to get info. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached out her mind. Within a few seconds, even though her eyes were facing forward, she wasn't looking at Jack, or Callie, or anything, instead in a trance. Finding Jack's phone wasn't hard, not when she knew exactly where he was. Dissecting it for information did end up being a bit of difficult. She spent a minute or so on it, but finally broke her trance with a shake of her head. All she managed to get was a search for a donut place and a website for brain teasers. Brain teasers for geniuses, to be specific. Hardly incriminating evidence, though knowing he considered himself a 'genius' was enough to fuel her suspicions. She let out a quiet sigh, keeping her eyes glued to the pair up front. "Headache's gone. Must've been a passing thing."
Location: Washington DC, On the Road Again Skills: N/A
Callie looked at Jack and nodded slightly as she turned and focused on the road ahead of them as she started to drive down the street while looking at Veil asking to take the longer way back. "The scenic route back home it is then." Callie said as she continued to drive, taking mostly back roads and taking wrong turns as well on purpose. She looked out of the rearview mirror and side mirrors as Callie looked for any suspicious cars driving, she couldnt help but shake the the feeling that they were actually being followed right now. Though she remained calm as best she could for right now.
"Just in case we are getting followed, could you do your invisible trick with the car I kind of get the sense that we are being followed right now?" Callie asked Veil, if they took the long way back and being invisible as well at the same time would help cover their tracks rather quickly. "You know it still isnt to late to try and shave your head to right?" Callie said teasingly towards Veil, her hair was a complete mess a lot of the time and sometimes she wondered if birds tried to make a nest in it to.
Kristina nodded towards Sapphire as she watched the members of the Brotherhood starting to fly off, glaring at Pyro for a moment she was glad that she didnt have to fight him again. She looked down at her clothes and some of the burns that were on her skin and winced slightly as she touched them. Kris walked over towards the others as she knelt down slightly looking over at Echo, now getting a good look at what had happened. She couldnt help but wince seeing the metal shard sticking out of his back, and reached over to gently rest a hand on his shoulder.
Kristina did find him a little bit annoying, but he was a good guy though anyway and she did respect him for his help during the fight the day before. "Is there anything you need me to get?" Kristina asked looking over at Sapphire, she didnt know what to do at all and none of this was her area of expertise at all she was still willing to help pull her own weight around here as well.
Location: Island M the Bermuda triangle. Skills: ConjurationNew Outfit
Max had no idea of the conjured green mist that lurked behind him, nor of the creeping death that was following him. All he knew was that he wasn't getting any better and if ever there was a time to talk, it may as well have been now. He wasn't exactly sure of what to say, or even where to start, but as he pressed against the wall to his right, hugging the path in the barely lit space to a room, something came over him to speak. "Listen...Sunshine...I know we don't get a long well, and I haven't exactly done anything to try and fix that either. I hoped by giving you space we could grow separately and eventually try again but that doesn't seem cough cough seem to be working. I was genuinely worried for you when I found out you were taken, we don't have a lot and the world is against us...I just wished that maybe I could bridge the gap between the mutsnt divide and so that there isn't as much infighting...we need to stand together against this world not divided."
Blood had splattered onto his sleeve again, each cough making him feel worse for wear and bringing a stinging pain to his throat. His whole body felt weakened by the disease.When they had made it towards the room, he peaked past her shoulder and onto the space before him. She wasn't wrong, it smelled like what he imagined a hetero guys room smelled like. The collection of useless decor and street signs added to his mind of what he believed a straight guys room looked like, down to the Felicia Day posters. But as he looked on he began to catch hints here and there. The street signs, some of the music albums, and then it hit him, this was Pietro's room, Magnetos son. "Uh Sunshine, this could either be really good or really bad. Its Pietro's room, Magnetos son but last I knew I helped reunite him with his sister and they went off to be X-Men together." Max looked around the room, searching for any sign that he may or may not be there. But why would the Silver Speedster be back at his dads palace? Didn't they have some falling out? Wasn't that the reason for Wanda's world?
"The who now?" she couldn't help but respond, a bit confused as to what was going on or who these people were. There wasn't really a Brotherhood of Mutants in her reality, but the name Genosha stood out to her like a sore thumb. Genosha was something that did exist, and it stood out to her for another reason. The prophecy that the Norns had told her mentioned Genosha, and as far as she knew, she had to do something while there. What that was? Who really knew, all she knew was that she had to get there, and she looked at the red thing in her hands, figuring that she really needed to get there.
"Genosha, de nevnte Genosha, jeg trenger virkelig å komme dit Mr. Eyeball. Profetien som nornene nevnte krever at jeg går dit og gjør noe, det er jeg aner ikke alt jeg vet er at jeg trenger å komme dit..." she said, glancing over at the floating eye near her. Zari had switched to her native language, since she didn't really want the others to understand what it was that she was saying regarding this, since only a very few select people knew about Genosha, that mainly being Veil and Callie.
"Vel, jeg skal finne ut av det litt senere..." she muttered, before going to look at what was going on with Echo. "...Did something happen?" she asked them, tilting her head slightly.
Location: Mutant Underground HQ - Outside Skills Medical Knowledge, Perception
She just more or less stared at James, trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him, she had a half of mind to just smack him across the face. Instead however, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him by her, so that she could whisper and only have him hear her. "Look genius, you are one, starting to act like your psychopathic alternate reality counterpart, and two, know nothing about what goes through my head. The idea was to try and stall a bit, since Havok had drugged Polaris and figured we would be in a worse position if he walked into the Underground and she was still passed out cold, that was literally it. I could have cared less about whether or not we would keep Polaris here or not, since we were in the wrong. Secondly I told you to shut up because you're scaring Echo, and him moving about or panicking is literally the last thing you want him to do with a serious spinal cord injury. Or are you the genius who is fine with snapping and yelling at him instead of trying to be a bit nicer to calm him down that way? I've learned yelling is never gonna get people to calm down, it'll make them panic even more." she then sort of shoved him away, but not incredibly hard before she looked down and try to figure out what best to do.
"We'll do what we can okay? I just need you to stay as still as possible..." she said softly to Echo, seeing him there and her mind got a brief flash to the day before, when she was kneeling down next to Cayden trying to stop his neck from bleeding out, and he had died in her arms. She was seriously trying to stay calm, at least as calm as possible, namely for Echo's sake, since if she started showing that she was panicking, odds were it would freak him out. Oh the days and weeks of hardly showing any sort of emotions definitely came in handy.
"Okay, so there are a few possible ways that might end better then just pulling it out, since we don't have any real surgical equipment to do that at least the safest way possible, so that's more of a last resort... But someone with a psuedo-telekinesis ability or something like that... If Veil was here I'd suggest her using her force fields and pulling it out that way... Glimpse might be able to phase it out with her enhanced speed though..." she said glancing towards Glimpse now, "Do you want to try and phase the metal out?" she asked her rather calmly.
Location: The car Skills People Reading, Perception, Deduction
Jack wasn't too sure what exactly was going on in the backseat, and he glanced that way to try and perhaps figure it out. He could tell that Veil was lying slightly, but there was some truth to her words and based what he could tell was going on back there, it probably was just about Waverly tangling her hand in Veil's hair. That must have been a horrible sort of thing, having someone more or less just yank downwards on your hair without much thought, especially when your hair was mainly just a mass of curls. He did not envy her for that one.
"I mean, would it really be that surprising if there were a bunch of cars following us? Especially given you people were using your powers in the wide open where anyone could have called the cop on us," he ended up muttering under his breath, since that was sort of the truth. He had expected the cops to pop up and chase after them already given how openly they had used their powers in the street. Though he considered it a good thing that they didn't have to deal with the cops, since that would probably not end well.
Echo laid there helplessly, staring far off into the distance until the whole world began to blur and bend together. There were whispers above him. Some semblance of secrecy happening right around him but for once he didn't care. He didn't care to listen to the idle gossip, even if it was about him and his condition. He wanted to remain in the idle bliss of ignorance. Wanted to believe he could be fixed and on his blades again. Sapphire reiterated what she had said before. Telling him to lay still on the ground as they worked on removing the shard and fixing his back. They would do everything they can she said, a solemn comfort that he clung onto. His finger twitched as some of the adrenaline from before threatened to escape, searching for a way out. Echo felt the pool.of blood building on his lower back, the thick warm liquid tickling his skin as it moved down the dimple in his back but could only be felt in some spots.
Echo tried to focus on that feeling. The feeling of being able to feel something, anything. His legs were there but they weren't. As if some spectral half of him now existed. He thought about that for a moment, a slight chuckle of madness releasing as he picture his ghostly legs dancing about Ben and skating figures around him. He pushed the thought away, trying to focus on the idea that he wouldnt be another Xavier. Another reminder of what Magneto could take away. He needed hope, and as soon as Sapphire began to speak again he found it. Hope that there was a way, hope that there was a chance, that is until he heard her plan. Glimpse had been bedridden for a number of days and was there maybe a third of the time. That his future laid in her hands sprung some tears in his eyes that slowly rolled down his cheeks and onto the straps of his apron. His eyes had closed and he had just awaited darkness.
Mild Symptoms: Headache, some splotchiness of the skin, fatigue and exhaustion Moderate Symptoms: Difficulty breathing, dizziness, vomiting, blood shot eyes, prominent veins Severe Symptoms: Vomiting blood, trouble walking, bleeding from the ears, extreme skin discoloration, general looniness
So far, only two individuals have "cured" themselves from M-Pox. The first was S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Cassandra Reed. The second was Gabriel Summers A.K.A. Vulcan.
Outside the Mutant Underground HQ -
James and Sapphire would receive a text from Veil - Jack is sus. Emma Frost may be manipulating him. Have Glimpse ready for psychic rescue. ETA 10 min.
Casper shook his finger seriously. "Nope, I never talk to myself. I give horrible advice, so it's really best if I just tune myself out," he told her with a slight grin. It was hard to tell whether or not Casper was being serious. Even now that he was sober, he still smelled crazy - he was like a bunch of deranged cats were trying to imagine how human beings were supposed to act. But given his parents, it wasn't that surprising - both of them had mental issues of one flavor or another.
"That's shockingly self aware of you," Ben mused.
"Aww, thanks Ben!" Casper squealed, beaming. "And maybe they're called smurfs? I guess it'd make sense if the elf called them that, since they were blue and smelly and kept on popping up all over the place. You couldn't take a piss without one of them showing up and looking. Not that I'm shy or anything, but it's spelled c-o-n-s-e-n-t you know? Not just anyone gets to see my magic wand."
Ben sighed. "Casper, she's, like, twelve... Can you not talk about your dick? This feels like an HR violation."
"Fiiiiiine," Casper whined. "But as for the fighting thing, I don't really do that. My official job here is to be cute, get cuddles from James, and provide insightful commentary on the fashion choices of the villain of the week. My mutation lets me make a whiny ass appear named Ben, so I can't help out much."
"HEY!"
"Ben, can you not right now? I'm talking to the youth of tomorrow or the elderly of today or whatever the expression is! The middle aged of yesteryear?"
Veil
Location: The Car Skills: Invisible Energy Manipulation
"Glad to hear it," Veil told Feedback with a slight smile. Her pain from having her hair yanked on had faded away pretty quickly - she was a mutant in the United States after all, she had to be made of stronger stuff than most. She took a breath and concentrated. Once they went down into a tunnel she used her powers, causing the car to seemingly vanish and disappear. She figured that likely someone might notice the car wasn't there anymore, but hopefully the change in light as they went through the tunnel would be enough to persuade them from screaming muties!!!
"I'll shave my head if you shave yours," Veil bargained with Spark Plug. She had no intention of shaving her hair. As messy and wild as it was, she loved it. She had surrendered so much of her identity in order to lead the Mutant Underground. Her hair was the last bit of her former self left around - the last part of a girl who didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. If she ever got tired of going by Veil, Atlas wouldn't have been a bad fit.
The mutants that they saved, even the others in the Mutant Underground, their lives moved forward. The real challenge of being the leader was that Veil had to remain still. She had to stay in an endless cycle, losing more and more pieces of herself with the more she was needed by the hopeless and helpless. One day, she'd mean everything to everyone - and be nothing to herself. She would just be her job. It was a chilling realization, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Heroes sacrificed themselves all the time, just in different ways.
She didn't hear Jack muttering under his breath, otherwise she might have said something. "I'm going to see if Max and Sunshine are back," she lied, pulling out her phone and texting the two people she had left in charge - James and Sapphire.
Sunshine turned sharply and stared at Max. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing. The anger set her heart on fire. There were so many things about him that she despised, she couldn't even think of them all at once. "You abandoned Erg and then you joined the people who killed him!" Sunshine screamed at Max. "You don't get to ask me to be united with you, idiot! You're the one who can never pick a side! You'll get tired of the Mutant Underground soon and join the X-Men, probably. Or maybe the Avengers. Or the Fantastic Four. Anything so that way you can feel powerful and once you get bored, you'll move on because you don't care about people - you just care about nice clothes and soap!"
She was so enraged that she went further into the room and grabbed the first thing she found - a baseball - and threw it at Max as hard as she could. The baseball hit him in the groin. She didn't show it off very often, but Sunshine also had the mutant power of perfect accuracy - she could never miss a shot. "And whatever, no one's been here for years! This place is abandoned!" She then took a step backwards, her foot brushing up on a nearly invisible wire. Ropes came from out of nowhere and they encased Sunshine as they yanked her up high towards the ceiling. The lights in the room flashed.
"Max, this isn't funny!!!" Sunshine blamed Max for this. Everything was always his fault.
Luna frowned a bit when James told her what had happened and when he told her to sit back down again. They had Polaris? When did that happen? Clearly having M-Pox was severely throwing Luna out of the loop. What was one more reason for hating a disease and all that came with having it. She couldn’t help the team, not like she was supposed to and now her memory was shot. Luna’s stomach grumbled as she walked to the Underground but then Sapphire directed a question towards her. Luna stopped and thought about it a moment, trying to ignore the mounting headache. ”Theoretically, I should be able to do it. Is there a chance that I could cause more damage?” Luna wasn’t up to date on how bad Echo’s condition was. She didn’t know if just his legs were paralyzed or the neck down but Luna had faith in her abilities, even in her weakened condition. Ideally, she would like to eat before she attempted this but they were probably on a timeline. The only time she doubted her ability was when she had no control over her thoughts or words when she went loony but as of right now she was the most coherent she had been in over twenty-four hours.
"Who is Ben? I think that alone means you talk to yourself. We're the only people in here." Andy lifted her hand and sort of waved it, gesturing to the room as a whole indicating that it was empty. She was further confused about what Casper was talking about when it came to smurfs. What did he even mean by no one could see his magic wand. Casper went on to say that his mutation allowed him to make the person named Ben appear. That didn't really answer her question.
"My mutation is electrokinesis as my dad called it, and enhanced reflexes. I'm not super speedy but I dodge things well, which means I was really good at Boxing." She gave a bit of shrug. "That's how I fight. I punch things, and I let some electricity flow through my fist and" She trailed off before adding. "...knock people out." Andy looked uncomfortable for a second. She blinked, "Uh. I'm a teen I guess. I don't know what you mean. I think that makes me youth."
There was a fleeting moment as Andy tried to figure Casper out. He was definitely talking to someone she couldn't see. Did he hallucinate or something? Casper gave her the feeling of someone who had done entirely too many drugs in his life. She had met a few of those during her vagabond days before New York. She decided she would like to get out of this conversation, but wasn't certain she knew how. Hopefully, someone would come along and distract the apparently easily distractable Casper.
James froze when she grabbed him, pulling him closer. He felt so much anger at the motion and he wasn’t really sure what to do with it. It was all he could do not to try and snap each of her fingers, remind her that he wasn’t something he could shove around at her whim, but it died out at her accusation. James snapped back into this world, going stiff as a board as he realized what happened. He felt sick to his stomach and something unpleasant crawled over his skin. He needed to get that under control. He was here with the mutant underground. He should have been normal. He should have been fine. Everything was fine.
The bullet felt like lead in his pocket.
However, the urge to smack her when she shoved him was all him right now. He didn’t know where all the other stuff came from. All he’d said was she didn’t like him―which isn’t unreasonable since she’s always been unpleasant towards him. It was a good day when they never crossed paths honestly.―and that he was waiting for her plan because he knew he couldn’t touch it. This woman exhausted him to no end and she was quickly reaching the end of his tolerance. He could be patient, had been patient for months, but her abrasiveness was seriously wearing him thin. If she didn’t dislike him was she just a dick because she could be? Because she found some sort of sick, twisted pleasure in treating people like this? James didn’t know and he didn’t want to put anymore effort into this but he might have to; the Underground having two members with issues towards each other, because James was developing some really fast, was a problem they didn’t need. They had plenty of others.
James fished out his cellphone, checking the text and closing his eyes briefly. He held back a groan and quickly sent out a response - “Dealing with the brotherhood’s mess. Came hunting for Polaris. Will be ready as soon as possible.”
“Veil texted. They’re bringing Jack back and they’ll need your help after this, Luna.” James explained with an apologetic look as he put the phone away again. He really didn’t like an m-pox victim straining themselves, much less Luna. He felt far more protective over her than others but he blamed that on the fact that she had nearly died in his hands. He settled down next to Echo on the ground, leaving his hand out in case Echo needed something to hold onto through this. “Hey, we’ve got you. Even if something goes wrong and you get cut up a little more, I’m here to make sure you get pieced back together. I haven’t failed anyone yet. Well, I’m not counting Magik. She may have sold her soul to a demon but as long as you haven’t done that we’ll have you up on your feet in no time.” James tried comforting Echo. He couldn’t imagine what the man was going through but it’d all be a distant memory sometime soon. “And I’m sorry for being a dick early.”
