Callie gave Max a slight nod as he started to open a portal for them back to the Green Lagoon and stepped through the portal, she looked back at Max. "We'll see you in a bit when we get the info from either Casper or Jack." Callie said as she looked around for a moment before turning to Veil. "We should probably get some volunteers to come with us New Orleans is in the deep south and I wouldnt be surprised if they had a lot of Purifiers there to." Callie told her she knew that the Southern US was mostly full of idiots and drunken hillbillies to.
She noticed that the area was getting fairly busy and Blob was busy tending to the other customers who were there. "Want me to get you a drink or something before we go?" Callie decided to offer her friend, she wasnt to sure to think about leaving the safety of Genosha and wasnt sure what they would even expect when they got to New Orleans either.
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive), MMA, Boxing, Electrical Manipulation
Dodging things was something that came easy to Andy. However, she'd have to be careful here. These weren't telegraphed punches like she was used to. She'd prefer being in the ring. But in a way this was a ring. They were two v. one. She assessed the situation.
With Zari distracting him with her sword she came in from the other side. It wasn't easy. She had to doge quite a bit because of the furniture now flying around them. But thankfully with her Enhanced Reflexes, she is able to clear the worst of it. Gaging the distances between the pieces of furniture flying around.
Until she's close enough, and then almost casually so as to not attract attention, she sends a blast of Electricity through the furniture. It bounces through and hits Magneto. It would not be something Andy would try normally as she fears it would be too unpredictable. But it hits him and he seems stunned. Still standing. Still alive.
So she does the next thing she had planned. It has worked perfectly so far. She lands a perfect punch, aiming for the solar plexus area. She doesn't want to actually hurt Magento, but she isn't pulling her punches either. This is the quickest way for the fight to end. Her hand crackles with electricity as the punch lands. And she steps back nimbly ready for a return punch, hands up in a classic boxer stance.
Location: Green Lagoon Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
Max nodded along to Veil. He figured he could find Pixie at one of her usual locations. Thinking of which place to go to first as he waited for Veil and Callie to cross through the portal he'd made before following shortly after. The portal closed behind him and he could see the afternoon rush coming in, Harry and another mutant sat eerily still at a table while Sunshine and Marrow watched from afar. The scene itself seemed a little weird but he didn't feel as if any of them were in any real danger. Max wondered if he would be able to grab two drinks to go, perhaps using it as a peace offering for the information he was about to be asking for. Pixie seemed hesitant enough talking about the gems and his soul staff, he wasn't sure how willing she'd be to talk about these matters.
Max took a step towards the bar, deciding he didn't need to push his luck and would just create the drinks when he got there. After all, Pixie tended to view him differently when he used his magic. He wasn't sure in what way that was, but he hoped it was all in good light. As he began to make his way out of the Green Lagoon, he started thinking about their destination, wondering softly out loud to himself so that Ben could hear. "I've only been to New Orleans once before. Technically it was in another reality, but I can still picture the location clearly in my mind. If it held any significance to Casper and Jack…what're the chances it'll be nearby to your resting place? Think it's worth a shot?"
As usual there was no response. Max let out a small sigh followed by a light chuckle. "Right. I'm not sure why I expected to suddenly be able to hear you. For what it's worth, I really hope that we can pull this off. Most of all for you. Even if I didn't originally believe you were real and were just a drugged up hallucination of a human man. No offense, Casper just wasn't the most…reliable source?" The air remained quiet, and even if Ben was with Max, he felt incredibly alone. Max adjusted his jacket, walking with more purpose as he began to search for Pixie.
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon Skills:
Harry looked around, taking it all in. The Astral Plane. David said it so plainly, as if this was just another Tuesday for him. Then again, this probably was just another Tuesday for him. He'd mentioned escaping here to hide when he was younger, a place where only telepaths could hide. Harry had heard of people using escapism as a way to leave bad situations, but this took the meaning to a whole new level. What was more, Harry looked fairly different in this realm, but David seemed unchanged. Unashamedly himself. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the fact. In a place sequestered for telepaths only, where someone could be anything they wanted to be, and anywhere they wanted to be, David chose to be himself. Then again when you had so many personalities in one body, oneself was just enough.
Harry kissed David back, placing one hand over his while the other mirrors David's hand by resting above his hip. When David finally pulled away from the kiss Harry simply said "Any place is fine so long as you're there. Even with your messed up Astral hair." He said while running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to fix it a little. Harry gave David a warm smile before pulling him in for another kiss, shorter but still with passion before something sparked at the back of his head. "Wait, if we're in the Astral Plane…where are our bodies?"
That wasn’t really how that… Well, it didn’t really matter, James supposed. “We’ll go check in with the Doctor, thanks Stacey.” He laughed at her casual dismissal and quirked a brow at Casper’s suggestion. He was more than on board with Elliot but it wasn’t very hard to see where he’d gotten the name from. “Of course we can do that, babes. Daniel Elliot works perfectly doesn’t it, little guy?” He cooed softly at the baby in his arms before giving Casper a chaste kiss.
Seeing as that was apparently everything they had to do to adopt a child, it was time to buckle down and actually get everything in order. “So we need to stop by the hospital. If he hasn’t had a check up in the aftermath of all this, we’ll need to get that scheduled. Then we’ll need to go secure some supplies and then get settled in back at home. I hope everyone is ready to put up with a baby being around.” James laughed. Not that they had a choice really.
David giggled as Echo messed with his hair - the instant Echo tried to fix it, David's hair popped back up, refusing to do anything except stand straight up. "I love having my hair like this - I need to grow it out longer in the real world so I can do this," Legion confessed. He returned Echo's kiss, pouting ever so slightly as Echo paused for another question. He couldn't blame him though. The astral plane was exciting - the first fifty or so trips.
"In the real world, just sitting there, heads empty," David explained. "Hopefully no one's trying to talk to us.... Might be a bit weird."
The Green Lagoon...
Veil nodded - Callie was right, New Orleans wasn't a very safe place for mutants. She thought for a moment, thinking back to the Mutant Underground and trying to remember who ran the New Orleans Cell. They could be useful in this scenario, having a good idea of the local attitude towards mutants, and also knowing how to best sneak around the city without drawing too much attention. "I don't suppose you remember who was in charge of the New Orleans Underground?" Veil asked.
The name was eluding her. However, she could already see some potential candidates for this mission here at the Green Lagoon. Sunshine and Marrow were drinking together, looking rather cute; and Veil's twin brother, Echo, was sitting shockingly still with Legion. It was a little strange to see Legion here, mostly due to his reputation - an incredibly powerful yet unstable mutant. The prodigal son of Professor Xavier (aside from Casper). "A drink could be good," she then answered.
Outside the Green Lagoon...
Max had left the Green Lagoon, muttering to himself, in hopes that Ben would be there to hear him. Instead, he would notice that Jack was nearby, looking like something was going on with him. As to where Pixie might be, Max would guess that Pixie might be up at the Akademos. She tended to run with the slightly younger crowd of mutants, being roughly school age herself, so it was as safe a bet as any. He could also check the Carousel or Blackstone for her, maybe she was hanging out with people or talking with Selene about magical things.
Hellfire Manor...
Casper beamed when James said that he liked the name Elliot for a middle name for the kid - Daniel Elliot Kingston was, in Casper's opinion, an adorable name. He turned his head to tell Ben as much, only for his face to fall slightly as he remembered his friend wasn't there. For whatever reason, Ben had gone to hang out with Max, someone who couldn't even talk to him. "Ben, you thirsty slut," Casper murmured, as if his friend could hear him, wherever he and Max were.
"Okay, so hospital time, weee - you know, most movies they take the baby from the hospital, they don't bring the baby to the hospital, kinda ironic right?" Casper observed. He grinned a bit at little baby Daniel, booping the baby delicately on the nose. "He's so fucking cute - shit, sorry, agh, my bad, this not swearing thing is going to be really hard... Which way is the hospital again? I kinda never went back after I got un-Captain Popsicle-d. No idea how Captain America dealt with that for soooo long."
The Rebuilt House of M...
"Excellent form," Magneto praised. Andy's electricity had stunned him (literally), and he had managed to recover after her swift punch. He noted that she wasn't going easy on him ever, actually trying to demonstrate everything she knew. For a moment, he saw his favorite child standing there in front of him, with her long dark hair - his precious daughter, Wanda. And that would then make Zarina his other daughter, Polaris... or his least favorite child, his son Pietro.
Magneto then twitched his fingers slightly, and a spoon turned into a smooth, circular object. "This match will conclude once the two of you manage to steal this from me," he declared. The metallic sphere then shot up into the air above him, orbiting in a circular pattern about 15 feet into the air.
You can use a magic ritual of three to attempt mutant resurrection, provided you can recover their body. You will only be able to bring back one mutant at this time. At the conclusion of the RP, you may attempt to resurrect other mutants. (I will say that not everyone will be resurrect-able, so you'll have about 2-3 resurrections allotted to you.)
Select who you would like to attempt resurrection on and let me know on the Discord - I think the easiest thing to do would be to collab the resurrection ritual and post it as the 'end' of this chapter.
Location: the Green Lagoon -> Blackstone Skills: N/A
"Well that's a little more helpful, also practically on the opposite end of the island from me, great, super helpful," Jack responded one last time. A part of him still thought that this was a bad idea, like a really really bad idea. This whole situation was screwed up, and right now, he wasn't too sure what to do. One thing was for sure, he still didn't trust his father, the other thing was that if he told anyone about what was going on, it would lead to questions that he didn't want to answer. Nothing else he could do now but go talk to Selene, or something.
With one last look back at the Green Lagoon, Jack turned and headed off and away from the area. This wasn't going to end well, that much was certain, but he was sort of out of options at this point given he doubted Sinister would actually leave him alone. So he just started along on his way, not really caring at this point how long it was going to take him to get there. Then again, he wanted nothing more then to just sort of pretend this entire situation just didn't exist.
Location: Hellfire Manor -> Hellfire Bay Skills: N/A
Miranda smiled a little bit at Mongoose, as she once more looked over at Casper and James, seeing that they had a small baby with them and had been talking about the name for him and all. "Well, it looks like you two will have your hands full for a little while, see you both later," she said with a slight wave towards the pair, and another wave directed towards Stacey X, before she started off with Mongoose, holding onto her hand as she led her outside of the Hellfire Manor.
She decided that she wanted to go talk to her best friend at this point, so she looked down at Mongoose, "Hey, I want you to meet a friend of mine real quick okay? I want to talk to her, and introduce her to you," she said calmly to her, before leading her along towards Hellfire Bay, figuring that was where Ellie would be. She knew that she was helping with some of the recovery work with pulling things out of the bay. Eventually, she'd spot Ellie, and gave her friend a wave, "Hey there Ellie, how are you?" she asked, walking up to her.
Location: House of M Skills: N/A
Zari dodged out of the way of the furniture, but ended up getting clipped by one of the chairs and got knocked back a little. Her mind was wandering around with regards to trying to figure out how best to strike back, when Andy seemingly managed to do that all on her own and had gotten electricity going to zap Magneto a bit as she had gotten close to him. That was a good thing, plus she had managed to land a solid hit of sorts, which definitely was a good thing. Her mind started racing, trying to think of the best things that she might be able to do at this point, when an idea danced through her head, and she smiled slightly, as she reached into her bag and pulled out her horn as she watched Magneto levitate their objective up into the air.
"Well, if he's going to fly, how about we do the same," Zari said with a smile, before blowing on the horn rather loudly, a portal of sorts appeared by her, and out stepped Mr. Sparkles her Pegasus. Climbing on board of him, she immediately went to get a bit of a running start, and as she darted past Andy on horseback, she grabbed her and pulled her onto his back when Mr. Sparkles started flying up into the air, circling the area a bit that they were in. "Well this should even the playing field a bit, bonus, no metal, he doesn't even have horseshoes," Zari said gleefully.
Readied action for Zari to just be prepared to navigate and fly the Pegasus around in order to avoid anything that is thrown at them.
Callie took a seat at the bar as she looked over towards Veil as she started to think for a moment who was the current leader of the New Orleans Underground Cell was. She quickly remembered who it was pretty quick having met him a few times when she was helping transport some mutants out of the south. "It's James Madrox, or Multiple Man." Callie answered as she pointed towards Harry for a moment. "He kinda does the same thing Echo does just minus the whole fancy light show thing." Callie explained as she thought about who else they should bring with them as she looked at Sunshine, Marrow and Echo.
"Lets take Echo Sunshine and Marrow with us, Legion to if he wants to join us. And we can tell them all what we are planning as well to." Callie suggested before turning her attention over towards Blob and waved him over. "I'd like a beer, and whatever Veil wants." Callie said looking over towards her friend, she wasnt sure what Veil actually preferred to drink really.
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive), Electrical Manipulation
The complement meant a lot to Andy. She had grown up with very little reassurance that she was doing good. Especially when it came to being a mutant. Only the Drummonds had ever given her praise for her skills. Andy couldn't help but smile. But she still had a task to do. Get the metal disk from Magento. Zari summoned a pegasus! And pulled her up onto it with her. Andy was excited to be on the pegasus.
As they took to the air Andy wondered something. She knew that metal could be magnetized by electricity. Could the opposite be done? She reached out feeling the electrical fields around her and the items in the room. How close was magnetism to what she could do? She focused on the small object, their MacGuffin. And twisted at the electrical field. It coursed through her. Electricity could still hurt her, it had in the past. And she could feel it pulling at her very insides. Like her body was ready to rip apart if she did this wrong. She tried to push through it, but couldn't. It was just out of her reach. Maybe with practice. Maybe with training, she could, but for now, that was not in her skills.
Not deterred, Andy problem solved. They were in the air, making the disk reachable. But they needed to get past Magneto's defenses. She couldn't bring the item to her. A few ideas crossed her mind. One seemed even more impossible so she discarded that immediately.
"What if I distract him and you work on trying to get the piece?" She asked, staying on the pegasus, but reaching out to the nearest piece of furniture that flew by. A charge left her hand, and now that it was out there she kept it alive. Kept it rotating through the furniture. A field of electricity came to life using the furniture and its movement of it to create a zone of electricity. Her goal?
Distraction. Magneto would have to slow down and move the furniture further apart to deactivate the field. Hopefully, giving them the opening to grab the ex-spoon. She had never done anything like this before, but the idea came from Tesla Coils, which would mean the electricity could discharge with great prejudice.
Location: Green Lagoon Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
As Max passed by Jack, he kept the mutant in his periphery, still unsure of the trustworthiness of him. The real Jack…the old Jack, had had his mind manipulated by his father and later kidnapped Sunshine. Most likely it happened when they'd spoken back at the Cherry Bomb. Luckily they'd removed that control, now only to have them all thrown into a new dilemma. A clone made by his father. Even with a skilled telepath, they likely wouldn't detect something abnormal. Chances were that Sinister would've made a new failsafe. Something biological given his field of study and expertise. Max shifted his eyes ahead of himself, pressing forward at a faster pace as he shoved the thoughts aside and tried to focus on the task at hand, finding Pixie.
He ran through the logical locations. Deciding that the highest chance of seeing her would be at the Akademos. He kept her drink of choice in mind at the back of his head. No sense in conjuring it too early, and chances were Pixie would enjoy seeing him do his magic. She was interesting that way. He never helped but notice how her large black eyes would seemingly glance his way when casting, though she seemed more curious at the magic itself than anything. Just as he was approaching the building, Pixie flew up towards the top levels, barely missing Max and he barely missed her. Had this been a sitcom, he surely would've opened one door as she fled through another. He sighed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around the grounds. The Akademos was huge, and the island even larger. If he kept this up it'd take all day just to find her.
So Max did what any reasonable mutant would do. Scry. Or he would, had he not wanted to seem creepy, instead he asked the nearest student by him if they'd seen Pixie and where'd she'd gone. The student replied with a bit of a chuckle, only for Max to realize why as he pointed up towards the sky. Max, hero of Genosha, student to the Sorcerer Supreme, and acquaintance of Wanda Maximoff, had somehow missed something that was directly in front of him. Or in this case something right above him. He smiled and thanked the student, before looking up and giving his best shot at a New York cab whistle to try and grab Pixies attention. "Hey! Pixie! Down here!"
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon Skills:
Echo watched as David's hair sprung back into place. It was amazing to him how someone so powerful, with so many personalities and people inside of his own mind, could still remain so childlike. Or was it because of all these other personalities that he retained his childlike wonder? He decided not to ask. He stared at him lovingly for a moment, taking in his messy hair and goofy smile, the area around him. Most people would be intimidated, others afraid, but if anything David's powers matched Harry's ambition. He wanted to be more, to do more, and here was someone who had it all and yet still chose him.
He ran his hand through his hair, the colors rapidly shifting like kinetic sand. "Here's hoping no one's trying to talk to us then. Wouldn't want to seem rude…or wake up with a sharpie mustache." Harry said with a laugh. He thought of Sunshine pulling such a prank, Marrow only serving to encourage her. He thought about telling them the news, though Harry figured the two had most likely guessed it already. He wondered what Veil would think, would she be happy for him? Worried? There was a small knot in his stomach now. "Im…kinda nervous to tell my twin about it. Though I'm sure she'll love you just as much."
Location: Hellfire Manor -> The Hospital Skills: N/A
James chest tightened, the fond amusement that was always there as Casper rambled from one topic to the next fading as he mentioned the six months the Mutant Underground members were on ice. It'd been a demanding time. The scramble to find a solution to wake them without killing them, training to get better control and focus over his ability, the emptiness of a near silent apartment, the tension between Sunshine and him, Jack's perpetual dissociation… It was exhausting mentally, emotionally, and physically. What made it worse is there wasn't anyone still living he could place the blame on, no flawed decision or poorly executed plan the found as he poured over his recollection of their attempt to deal with that genocidal maniac, nothing that had given him an outlet for the storm of emotions. The brief repreves with Miranda offered some breaks from how overwhelmed he'd felt buy it wasn't enough until the day they'd opened their eyes.
James stopped and rested his head on Casper's shoulder for a moment, unable to hug the man with the infant in his arms buy needing a second to collect himself. "And let's hope we never need to find out." James said quietly, more to himself than to Casper. He straightened up shortly and offered Daniel to him. "Did you want to hold him for a little bit? I've been hogging our son all to myself?" James chuckled as he resumed walking g to the hospital.
"If someone does try talking to us, one of the others will prooobably step in and take over," David mused. "They don't come with me to the astral plane. But I'm not worried about what they're going to do. I just want to spend this time here with you," he admitted, blushing slightly as he leaned forward, pressing his nose against Harry's. "You have the most beautiful soul that I've ever seen," he whispered.
At Harry's mention of his twin, David tilted his head. "Why are you nervous?" he asked, a little confused. He didn't have a ton of dating experience. And David didn't really talk to most of his family.
The Green Lagoon...
Veil couldn't help but groan when Callie reminded her who ran the New Orleans branch - Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. She had met him on a few occasions and didn't much care for him. He seemed to think that he was god's gift to women, despite being painfully average looking - and for whatever reason, he managed to repeatedly get girls who were waaay out of his league. None of it made sense to her. "Are we sure we want to go to New Orleans now?" Veil joked, shaking her head slightly. "Madrox has to be the most insufferable of the cell leaders."
"Sure thing," Blob said, cracking open a beer and sliding it across the counter to Callie.
"I'll take a whiskey, neat, thanks," Veil ordered.
Blob nodded, pouring a special Genoshan whiskey vintage - all the whiskey made on Genosha was artificially aged by mutants with time-manipulation powers, allowing the perfect whiskey to be made within minutes, and taste like it had been aged for centuries. "How are you two doing?" Blob asked. "Things have been real fucked up lately."
Veil nodded. "No shit," she sighed, pushing her hair out of her face again.
Akademos...
Pixie's wings fluttered extra fast for a moment, as her eyes darted around, before locking in on Max down below. She almost dropped the wooden beams she had been carrying. "One sec!" Pixie shouted down to him, before putting the beams into place. She whispered a word of power and hammers began nailing the beams down, one little bit of the frame of the Akademos restored. Pixie then flew down, landing gracefully on her feet in front of him. She was wearing a pink and black version of a classic school girl's outfit - the same pink of her hair and black of her eyes.
"What's up?" Pixie asked Max. "I didn't take you as the good at construction type," Pixie then admitted, giggling a bit at him. "But if you're here to help, this place could use some style stat."
En route to the Hospital...
Casper was instantly a bit nervous as James asked if he wanted to hold their son. He couldn't even hold a cup without there being at least a fifty percent chance he would drop it and break it within seconds of picking it up. Growing up, his mother had always joked that Casper's fine motor control was exclusively for applying makeup - anything else it was a random roll of the dice as to whether or not he could do it. "Um, yeah, sure!" Casper said, as his heart was pounding. "Uh, just wondering, how, like, bad is it if you drop the baby? Not that I'm planning on dropping him, but I drop things all the time when I'm cleaning them in the sink, and a baby is heavy and wiggly and I'm just worried that I might... well, might be me and mess it up," Casper admitted.
He did, though, take little baby Daniel from James. Casper was immediately struck by how much heavier Daniel was than he had expected - he had always thought babies would be super light, like tiny little pillows, but Daniel felt more like holding a well fed cat. It took Casper a moment to get the hold correctly, but he mostly was just mimicking what James had done, hoping that it was right. "Is this good?" he asked James tentatively.
The Rebuilt House of M...
Magneto was a little bit speechless as Valkyrie summoned what appeared to be a genuine pegasus. He was used to his daughter, Wanda, bending reality to make odd things happen - but he hadn't expected this from Valkyrie at all. From what he knew, Valkyrie was a technopath with a strong sense of Norse theming. "...After we conclude this exercise, we are going to have a conversation about that, young lady."
He narrowed his eyes slightly at what Andy did - he was annoyed by it. But at the same time, proud. She must have had an excellent grasp on the science of how her powers worked to create this sort of effect. He hesitated, thinking through what to do. He didn't want them to get seriously hurt from a discharging electric field. But he needed to get this zone out of the way. "Impressive - yet potentially harmful to you and your allies," Magneto warned. He focused on the furniture the electricity was arcing between, forcing them to stay still as fixed points. The electric zone was still up, but not in danger of discharging. Simultaneously, Magneto shot the former-spoon behind him, and raised up a small swirling storm of other small metal objects, setting those whipping around in a cyclone around the spoon - his own zone of fuck you.
Blackstone...
Blackstone was more or less on the opposite end of the island, making up part of Hellfire Bay. Selene had changed the style of the building somewhat during the rebuilding process. It was made entirely of stone now, the majority of which - at least on the outside - seemed to be obsidian. Much like Magneto had rebuilt the House of M by himself due to his control of magnetism, Selene had managed to reconstruct Blackstone due to her ability to control inorganic matter.
There didn't appear to be anyone outside, but Jack would notice that there were sigils carved into the stone - the sort of sigils that witches might use. That in itself wasn't alarming - Selene had never exactly been subtle when it came to her witchcraft, starting her own Coven here on Genosha. In his mind, Jack would be able to tell that Selene wasn't alone in there, but he wouldn't know who was with her - just that there was someone else there.
Hellfire Bay...
Renegade glanced up from her work, sweat dripping down her forehead. A lot of important things had sunk to the bottom of the waters of Hellfire Bay, and Renegade was working with a team of telekinetics to retrieve them all. Renegade was using her special power over kinetic energy to slow the water molecules to a halt, allowing the telekinetics to part the water more easily, and then simply lift up the remains (largely inorganic) from the bottom of the bay.
"Salut, cherie," Renegade greeted. She raised an eyebrow, her hands trembling as she focused on keeping the water molecules slow, but she was mainly looking at the little kid with Miranda - who seemed far more interested in what the telekinetics were up to than meeting Renegade. "C'est qui? Who is this little dear?"
"I'm Mongoose!" Mongoose blurted. "Can I go play down there?" she asked, trying to get a good look at the bottom of the bay, where water had once been - the very water Ellie and the others were working to hold back.
You can use a magic ritual of three to attempt mutant resurrection, provided you can recover their body. You will only be able to bring back one mutant at this time. At the conclusion of the RP, you may attempt to resurrect other mutants. (I will say that not everyone will be resurrect-able, so you'll have about 2-3 resurrections allotted to you.)
Select who you would like to attempt resurrection on and let me know on the Discord - I think the easiest thing to do would be to collab the resurrection ritual and post it as the 'end' of this chapter.
"I mean I could just simply go solo but then i'd have to be the only one to deal with him. You'd also end up missing me making him turn into a massive crybaby to." Callie said teasingly towards Veil as she started to think a little bit she could mess with his emotions if he got annoying as hell. She wasnt sure what the other Underground cells were doing currently or if some members from other cells were here or not getting a little bit of an idea.
"You know we should get all the Mutant Underground Cell leaders and get them to start sending mutants here, and strengthen the network to other parts of the world where it's needed to and make it a global network. And since the Marauder is still down it'll make it a bit harder to bring them here, we could bring that up at the next Quiet Council meeting. And we'd be pretty much stealing the business from Xavier that he created." She suggested, Callie still hated the fact that Xavier pretty much abandoned them all other than giving them the M-Pox vaccine, he still left them to die with X-Cutioner.
Callie turned her attention towards Blob as he handed her drink and smiled towards him as she quickly snatched the bottle of beer that was sliding over to her and took a drink from it. "I've been alright I guess for the most part what about you, hows the business treating you?" Callie asked Blob, as Blob gave Veil her drink.
Well, this definitely struck him a bit as a lair, much like the area his father inhabited. Right now, he was trying to think of the best course of action, as there were two different things he could do. He could try to sneak in and be stealthy, or he could be an idiot and knock on the door announcing that he was there. Thing was, option one was not exactly within his skill set, since he was not much of a sneaky person too much, he was better at talking his way out of situations then really avoiding them.
So option two of being an idiot it was then.
Jack knocked on the door somewhat loudly, but didn't get much of an answer. The door was unlocked though, so he wasn't too sure if this was a bad thing, but oh well, he was already there anyway, might as well try something right? However, he did think to mentally defend his mind, in case someone wanted to try and mess with it (he really didn't want something like that again). Walking inside, he saw a bunch of portraits of Selene, some looked to be fairly old ones, that didn't matter though, as he heard Selene talking to someone upstairs about corsets or something like that.
Location: Hellfire Bay Skills: N/A
"Oh, this is Mongoose... And no, you can't go over there right now," Miranda said to the little girl, ensuring to keep a hold of her hand so she stayed out of the way and didn't hopefully cause too much trouble. Though she did notice that Ellie looked a bit tired, which might be because she's been hard at work all day with everything that was going on here. Maybe she should offer to take her friend out for a drink later or something like that? And probably explain why she had a little kid with her.
"Well, things are a bit complicated, and probably would take a while to explain..." she commented with a shrug, not really answering her question about the girl or probably the one forming about why the girl was with her. "You look like you could use a break and rest for a little while, how about we go get a drink or something and I'll explain?" Miranda asked her friend, giving her a smile. She did want to just have a nice chat with Ellie for a little while.
Location: House of M Skills: N/A
Well, chaos was surrounding her at this point, and one thing that stuck out, was the wall of electricity that Andy had created, and the cyclone that Magneto had created around him. This was an issue for her, as she couldn't send her robots out towards where Magneto was, since even though they could survive the electrical field (probably) Magneto could rip them to shreds, something she didn't want to risk. Her sword was something similar, being made of metal. The electrical field did protect them from any direct attacks that Magneto did, but it also made it very difficult to get too close to him, and the object they were after.
"Uh, Andy? The electricity thing is cool, and kind of impressive, but uh... Mind dropping it so that we can get past it a little more easily," she asked her, kind of quietly. Zari was preparing her move for the instant that the field was down, just waiting to strike. As soon as Andy dropped the electrical field, she charged, guiding Mr. Sparkles so that she looked to be on a collision course with Magneto. At the last moment however, she diverted up and around him, before snatching the object out of the air. "Got it!" she giggled happily, before glancing at Andy, "Nice job Andy," she said to her with a smile, before she went and landed Mr. Sparkles on the ground, jumping down. It just now dawned on her what Magneto had said about the pegasus, "What's there to say about Mr. Sparkles? He's my friend?"
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive), Electrical Manipulation
"Yeah that's not something I have plans of using very often." She could imagine it getting out of control. She wasn't surprised that Magneto had moved the ex-spoon, but that put a crimp in what she had done. If Zari had been able to get to it before Magneto had moved it this wouldn't have been as much of an issue. She nodded when Zari asked her to get rid of it. She held on tight as they dove and Zari grabbed the item.
The field had done its purpose. Distracted Magneto. She felt a little tired though. She had never used electricity outside of herself before. Normally she just punched things. She sighed relieved, and slid off the pegasus, stepping away. She had never ridden a horse before meeting Zari so she didn't really know how to interact with one, let alone how to interact with a pegasus.
"Good catch. I was really worried when he started spinning a bunch of stuff around it we'd never get it. Glad you had Mr. Sparkles too. I can't fly." She then looked to Magneto to listen to him dissect their fight. This was something Andy knew all about having fought a lot in amature boxing.
Max waved hi to Pixie as she finally saw him, nodding to her and waiting patiently as she continued her work for a moment before fluttering down towards him. It was always amazing watching others use magic. Seeing as the beams hammered themselves into place while she made her way down. When she'd finally made it to him, he gave an appreciative whistle to her before holding one hand out palm facing up while the other passed over it. His magic began to swirl into the palm of his hand as it began to take shape and turned into a glass of Penderyn Whiskey. "You have got to teach me how to do that. Thirsty?" he asked, offering the glass towards her.
Max looked up at the structure, watching all the work that was being done. "Definitely don't know the first thing about construction. But I'm sure with a bit of direction I could just…make whatevers needed." His eyes shifted from the Akademos back towards Pixie, smiling as he remembered why he was here. "Oh, right. Um I had a few questions for you by the way. Top secret, and you're the only other magical mutant I can trust with this sort of information. So…mind helping me?" Max tried to give his best smile, mixed with a pair of gleaming eyes to hopefully help to sway her into saying yes, though he didn't see a reason for her to fully refuse.
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon / Astral Plane Skills:
The more that David spoke, the more questions Harry had. If the others could take over for David, what did that mean for them two? Would he be able to get back from the Astral Plane without issue? Would Harry? More questions began to race throughout his mind when David pressed his nose against his and then all those thoughts and concerns melted away. It was back to just the two of them, at that moment, as Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "Is that so? And how many other souls have you seen?" he asked teasingly. He didn't dare to pull away, though David broke off first as he tilted his head in confusion.
Harry wasn't sure exactly how to answer him. Trying to find the words but seemingly unable to. "No reasons in particular. I just…I get nervous about these sorts of things." When was it a good time to mention past relationships? The Astral Plane seemed as good a place as any, but the moment certainly didn't feel right. How could he explain the hardships Veil has had to go through? Explain how she might be apprehensive or cautious about this sort of a move? Harry always wondered if the X-Gene had some bearing on the mutant's personality. Was Valery a guarded individual because her powers allowed her to be? Or was it merely due to her circumstances with the Underground? "Val means a lot to me. But she can be a bit guarded. So I wonder what she'll think."
“You won’t mess it up, babes. A cup or a pot or whatever else you drop in the sink doesn’t really matter. We can replace those. But when you really care, you do great. Look at us. You love me and you haven’t messed up. You won’t mess up with our son, babes. You’ve got this.” James reassured Casper, pressing a kiss to his lips before transferring Daniel over gently.
It looked right, even as Casper stood there a little awkwardly as he tentatively searched for reassurance he was doing it properly. James took a moment to appreciate the love of his life holding their son―God, they were dads now―and he took a shaky breath as he beamed. “You’re doing great, gorgeous. Keep his head cushioned and supported since he can’t hold it up on his own for now. James pulled out his phone and took a quick picture, setting it as his background before slipping the device back in his pocket. “I think there’s going to be a lot of photos in the future.” James laughed, heart lighter than it had been in a long time, and continued towards the hospital.
David thought for a moment, trying to recall all of the souls he had seen. He'd seen his own soul before. And then the others. They tended to make themselves known. There had been a moment where he had been trapped inside of his own head, seeing them all. He counted those as souls. "At least... twenty seven?" Legion guessed. "I'm not really good at math," he then admitted.
David then tilted his head, thinking about what Harry had said - about how he was worried, since his sister was really guarded. "Well... I don't like going into people's heads, but I could always tell you what she thinks," David offered, looking uncomfortable even as he suggested it. Going into people's heads was something his dad did. David never wanted to do that. But he wanted to help Harry, and it was one way that he could do that.
The Green Lagoon...
Veil snorted slightly at Callie's idea of using her powers on Madrox. "He's already a crybaby, I'm not sure even your powers could do much to change that," Veil quipped. She did not like Madrox at all. He was an annoyingly boring man who everyone seemed to obsess over, acting like he was god's gift to women. It was like seeing a popular RomCom in theaters, but the leading man was just a wet blanket.
She did pause from her thoughts about Jamie Madrox to consider what Callie was suggesting. It wasn't a bad idea. She knew that Genosha had been using the Marauders to bring mutants back to Genosha, but the Mutant Underground Network was already established. They had their own Underground Railroad, now with a destination that could - with the exception of the recent tragedy - keep mutants safe. And Veil liked that they'd be taking Xavier's power away from him - that his ego would take a hit. "Think of what the Underground could do with Genosha's resources, too," Veil pointed out. "Half of our time had been devoted to just finding food to eat, think of all the mutants we could have helped if we had our basic needs met."
"Well, I'm not making any money," Blob said, before bursting out into a full belly laugh. "Not that anyone else is here. I can't help but overhear, y'all are going to New Orleans? I could use a way to work out my feelings if you need anyone squished."
Veil glanced at Callie - and then past her, to where she could see Sunshine and Marrow making out in a corner, and her brother still standing eerily still with Legion. "We'd be happy to have you, Blob. How are you at graverobbing?"
Akademos...
"Ooo, is that Penderyn Whiskey?!" Pixie squealed, her eyes lighting up as she accepted the glass. "If you keep these coming, we can talk about whatever you want," she joked, before taking a sip. She smiled, her eyes closing for a moment. She was Welsh and while she loved Genosha, she missed her home in Wales at time. This drink happened to take her back there, at least in her head. "Also, let's get sushi. I'm starving. You can make sushi appear, right? My food magic is rubbish."
Outside the Hospital...
Casper was relieved when they made it to the hospital - a new one for him, he tended to not really like going to places like this, doctors weren't usually a fan of Casper's life choices. But as they were here, it meant that they could get little Daniel Elliot checked out, and also that there would be a doctor there making sure that Casper hadn't already ruined everything. A stray thought then popped into his mind - it had been a while since he had gotten a new tattoo, but he wanted to get one. Something of James and Daniel - of his own little family.
"Hey, we know he's not a vampire now," Casper joked slightly about the phone. "So... I'm not the best at, like, asking to see a doctor for things or picking up things at the hospital... I tend to not really be conscious for this part, more used to waking up and being told hey man, you can't OD in here or whatever it is doctors say so... Can you take the lead?" Casper asked sheepishly.
Basically, Casper, the person who never shut up, was uncomfortable at the idea of talking to whoever was at the front desk of the hospital. The world was a strange place.
The Rebuilt House of M...
Magneto returned all of the flying metal bits back to the ground, before gliding down there as well himself, his cape flowing dramatically behind him. "You are my ward - my child, by adoption but my child all the same - so I expect to be informed as to how you were able to summon a winged horse of legend," Magneto said simply. "Just who are you, Valkyrie?" He then paused for a moment. "You both did well. However, you lack focus when it comes to accomplishing your tasks. You made many unneeded moves that wasted your time and power. Learning to communicate with one another better will serve you well. The humans will not go as easy on you as I did."
Blackstone...
It might have been Jack's imagination, but it would look to him like the portraits on the walls of Selene were watching him. As he moved, their eyes would move to follow him. There was something on the walls that wasn't a portrait, however. There was a conspicuously placed bookcase, filled with dusty books. Well, almost all of them were dusty. There was one area void of dust, as if one book was routinely pulled off. This definitely won't remind him of a secret passageway in a mansion, nope not at all...
From upstairs, Selene's voice would come drifting down.
"Honestly, Jumbo, I appreciate your work but I don't think you can outdo my couture. I have perfected the sexy vampire queen look over the millennia. Since time immemorial, I have slayed."
A man's voice - a bit high pitched - replied. "It is a stunning look, but isn't it, well...? It's been done before, girl. It's time to mix it up, to wow us again. No one should be sleeping on your look at the Gala!"
"Hmph. If you were a virgin, you would be in a volcano right now," Selene complained. "And get me an earl grey to drink, will you? Either the tea or a grey-haired earl, I'm not picky."
"I'm a fashion designer, not your butler."
"And?"
Hellfire Bay...
Renegade hadn't always been good at "responsibility" or "showing up on time" or "not leaving work to go get drunk." It had been one of Magneto's largest complaints back when she had joined the Brotherhood. Rules weren't really her style - she preferred to go with the flow. She got things done when she got things done. But in old age, Renegade had gotten a bit more responsible - at least, enough that she thought for a moment before she...
Wait, nope, she didn't think about it at all. "God, yes," Renegade said. "Later, bitches," she then said, throwing up a peace sign as her way of saying goodbye to the others she had been working with. She then glanced at the kid.
"Later, bitches!" Mongoose repeated, waving at the telekinetics. "What's bitches mean?" she then asked Miranda.
You can use a magic ritual of three to attempt mutant resurrection, provided you can recover their body. You will only be able to bring back one mutant at this time. At the conclusion of the RP, you may attempt to resurrect other mutants. (I will say that not everyone will be resurrect-able, so you'll have about 2-3 resurrections allotted to you.)
Select who you would like to attempt resurrection on and let me know on the Discord - I think the easiest thing to do would be to collab the resurrection ritual and post it as the 'end' of this chapter.
"Yeah true empathy would be a huge waste of energy to use on him anyway." Callie said with a slight laugh and smiled towards Veil it seemed that she was onboard with her idea to help work and expand the network. The Marauders could only do so much this would help things quiet a bit as well to. "And with Genosha's resources they wouldn't have to find abandoned and rundown buildings to stay in. And it'd make lives for other cells so much easier as well to, with the extra muscle and manpower. We could bring this up at the next meeting then." Callie said as she looked towards Blob and chuckled slightly, it was true they didn't really have to worry about currency here really she was on board with him joining them in New Orleans.
"The more the merrier I always say." Callie said as she looked towards the corner where Sunshine and Marrow were. "I'll go and see if Sunshine and Marrow want in, you can get your brother if you'd like." Callie said as she took her beer and stood up, making her way over towards Sunshine and Marrow before waving and getting their attention. "How are the two of you doing?" Callie asked as she thought about how to suggest and bring up the plan to bring back the members of the Underground who had passed.
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive)
Andy listened as Magneto spoke. She was used to constructive criticism of her fighting so she nodded along. He wasn't wrong either. It took time though, and fighting together could become a language on its own. They had to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. Andy shifted, she wanted to ask Magento to help her learn how to use her power to de-magnetize stuff. But she also felt like that would be...asking for trouble.
"There are a couple of things I want to test. Ideas I have but am worried about using without practice. Is there a place I could try them out?" It was a safe way of asking for help. She'd try the magnet stuff without him there, but space would be a start. Her power could be more dangerous than she had ever given it credit for. Not that she hadn't been worried about how deadly it was before today. But now she knew she could use it at a larger range in the right setting.
Location: Akademos > Wales Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
Max smiled as he watched her light up from the simple gesture. Watching as she took a sip before continuing on. There was a certain air of reminiscence as she indulged herself in her favorite drink, giving him the perfect place for them to speak in private. After all, two magically inclined mutants could surely find their way back home should something go astray. "Been a while since I've made food. Actually, save for what we had to go through thanks to those Vault kids…it'd been a while since I used my magic in general." His powers tended to be chaotic, unrefined, and usually did more harm than good. For a while he had been afraid to even use them, blaming himself for a lot of the undergrounds misfortunes. But now it felt more natural to him, as if he was working with it instead of trying to force it.
"C'mon. Let's find someplace a bit more private to talk. I think I have just the place in mind." Max held his hand out, attempting to open up a portal to a lush green landscape of Wales. He'd never been there himself, but he'd seen photographs, and of course one of his favorite fictional characters was Welsh. Another wizard of grand report that had a field for himself. He tried to picture the location, finally having it snap into place on his second try as he passed his hand around again for another circle. The portal opened up to reveal a beautiful countryside overlooking the ocean. Max stepped through, looking back and waving Pixie over into the scenery as he began to Conjure a platter of sushi for them both to enjoy. He didn't know if it was the nerves, but for both tricks he'd had to try twice. "So? What do you think?"
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon / Astral Plane Skills:
Harry gave David a dopey smile as he reached his hands out and grabbed his. He clearly wasn't comfortable with the idea of having to enter people's minds, a clear way that David and Xavier were different, and Harry wouldn't ask him to do anything he'd felt uncomfortable with. "You don't have to go and do that. Especially if you aren't comfortable with it. Besides, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with the idea of having someone do that to me in her situation." He shook his head lightly, the colors in his hair seemingly hypnotic as they swayed and changed with the motion.
"No, No, I think this is one of those problems that has to be done the good old fashioned way. With grit and nerves, no powers, no mutantations, just three people talking in a room together. Then again…" Harry had a half smirked smile on his face as he gained an idea. "I could bring back an old trick, have one of the boys tell her so that I don't have to. But She'd most likely find out later and say something back at where we live. That, and well…something this important should be said by me. Just gotta…find the nerves that's all." Harry exhaled softly as he thought, wondering how Veil and Max's chat was going.
