Washington D.C.: September 8th, 2020 - 11:45 AM
Homeless Shelter - Mutant Friendly: "Only my friends can call me Hula Hoop," Havok complained. He had a certain image to keep up with the newbies! However, Spark Plug's idea didn't seem too dumb to him. Stealing a Purifier's car? It was more
insane. Moonwalker's little manifesto about his insane ideas on the afterlife made Havok want to puke. He didn't know it was possible to find someone more annoying than his brother, Cyclops, but apparently the universe had decided to rise to the occasion and bring this insufferable person into his life. His eyes were practically twitching with each word Moonwalker said.
And quoting movies? That was
his thing! Havok had half a mind to challenge the kid to a sparring match once they got back to HQ, just so that way he could assert his dominance over the man. Fortunately, none of the Purifiers seemed to notice that Moonwalker and the kids were stealing their cars, as the Purifiers breached the door and came face to face with Havok and Spark Plug at the back entrance of the shelter.
"Hula hoop time?" he asked Spark Plug, right before the Purifiers opened fire.
The Mutant Underground - Washington D.C. Station: "I didn't know Xavier was sending us prostitutes now," Negasonic said, prompting a stern glare from Colossus. The teenager shrugged, spitting out her gum into a wrapper and then tossing it into the trash can.
"What? He can send us a girl to entertain us but can't give us the funds to get a milkshake every now and then?" she pointed out. The Mutant Underground was perpetually strapped for resources. Negasonic blamed how frequently Xavier's Mansion had to be rebuilt as one of the underlying factors. Colossus sighed slightly, wondering if Negasonic would ever mature.
However, his eyes widened slightly as Glimpse explained that Sebastian Shaw was up to something. He was a public figure - the CEO of Shaw Industries. The billionaire was dating Emma Frost of Frost International. He had connections to just about every political figure and ties to most major corporations, making him one of the most powerful people on the planet. From what Colossus recalled, Shaw even had connections to the Avengers, as he had been friends with Howard Stark. He had ties to the Braddock family as well.
"Then we have problem. The police took Veil," Colossus explained.
"We do not know where - I contacted Stretch, he is investigator, very good. Hopefully he can find Veil - if not, Spark Plug is acting leader of Underground cell," he explained, his Russian accent thick and he wasn't using any articles.
Veil
Location: Jail
Skills: N/A
She hesitated slightly, knowing the answer that everyone wanted her to give. The scripted answer was to talk about how attending school at Xavier's was a paradise, that it allowed them to live like normal kids and to feel like they could be productive members of society after they left. That was the fiction that was printed off in the brochures, that the X-Men would discuss when interviewed by reporters, that Xavier would testify to Congress about.
"It's not what people think it is," Veil said carefully.
But Sapphire was her friend and she was going to tell her the truth.
"It was like attending a military academy in the middle of a war zone," she said bluntly.
"Every year or so, one of Xavier's enemies would blow up the Mansion, so no one ever kept things precious to them very long... Some nights, I'd go to bed wondering if my room would still be there the next day... We had to train once we were about sixteen years old, learning not just to use our powers but how to fight with them - how to be Xavier's soldiers. We didn't have prom or anything that a normal high school had, though I heard through the grapevine apparently they started having prom last year..." "The teachers weren't there to teach. They were just the members of the X-Men. I learned science from Beast - Dr. McCoy. History and psychology was taught by Professor X... Wolverine taught gym class and Gambit, for some stupidly brilliant reason, actually was my Sex Ed teacher," Veil chuckled slightly, remembering the Cajun man grabbing a banana one day to do a demonstration.
"But for the most part, the teachers weren't teachers. They weren't taught how to instruct and most of them weren't qualified for the subjects they were assigned..." "Not that I hated it there - I had fun. I felt normal when I was at the mansion. It was when people came to visit or we left the grounds that I didn't feel normal anymore - that I felt like just a pawn in Xavier's game against Magneto and reality..."
Sunshine
Location: the Sewers - Underneath the National Zoo
Skills: Disease Manipulation, Enhanced Accuracy
Sunshine was alone in the tunnels, near the exit to the sewers that Max, Stretch, and Leighton had used earlier that day. She took in a deep breath, blowing out streams of green smoke from her lungs. Up above, the Purifiers were dropping like flies, in the grips of a bad case of influenza. She loved the flu. However, there was one problem - the Purifiers were still alive. She didn't have as much experience with her powers as others did, essentially spending almost all of her time and energy trying to stay alive. And in juvi, she had been forced to wear a power inhibiting collar.
The sewer grate started to move and Sunshine's heart started to pound, hearing the metal scrape against the earth up above and light flooded into the tunnels. She had been down with the Morlocks for less than a day and the light blinded her, forcing her to put her hands up to protect herself.
"Blink? A little help here?" Sunshine called out.
"Grimlock? Please?" "You can't let him through!" Grimlock's voice whispered into her mind.
She saw the light of the Purifier's gun before she saw
the man himself. She took a deep breath, forming a little ball of the green smoke in her hands and she tried to imagine every disease she had ever heard of flowing into it at once. She thought about measles, small pox, the flu, polio -
all of it. Her nose started to bleed from the overuse of her powers and she could feel the energy of the little disease bomb becoming more and more unstable.
"I'm not here to hurt you," the Purifier said, looking a bit taken aback when he was face to face with a teenage girl and not some terrorist monster. "Put that... thing... down," he told her, holding out a hand. His other hand was still securely wrapped around his gun, a finger on the trigger and the safety off.
"You can't let him get any farther, Sunshine," Grimlock's voice urged in her mind. She sent Sunshine flashing images of mutants in pain, lynched by Purifiers across the country, of the rallies and hate speeches. The telepathic Morlock was playing every card she had, in order to ensure that Sunshine did something horrific that she couldn't take back.
"You're human. That's what you were born to do," Sunshine told him. She threw the ball of disease at him, her enhanced accuracy ensuring that it hit. At the same time, a shot went off.
"...Sunshine?" Grimlock called out.
"He's taken care of," Sunshine said, staring at the bullet embedded in the sewer wall behind her. Another few inches to the left and it would have hit her.
Spirit Box
Location: Sidewalk Outside ColdStones
Skills: Mediumship
As if Leighton was the incarnation of Aphrodite, Ward was entirely focused on her and didn't even seem to hear what Jack was saying. He was so focused on this embodiment of female virtues and sex appeal that he didn't even really seem to register that Jack was there. The trunk wasn't closed to the car as he smirked at Leighton, enjoying the slight shiver that went down his spine as she touched his muscles.
"Ewww, this is like watching a porno! I hate straight porn," Ben groaned. Casper had to nod slightly in agreement.
"Or a disgusting new ColdStones advertisement," Casper joked to his ghost friend.
"... Anyways, you should probably help Jack out of the trunk before Larry the Lobster here comes out of his child molesting fantasies." However, as Leighton appealed to Ward to let Jack go, he just nodded, putting a strong arm around Leighton. He bent in, grazing her neck with his lips slightly, before pulling away. He had to be modest, after all, they were in public. Ben started making gagging noises at Casper and Casper was having a hard time not giggling. It really was disgusting.
"Something funny, druggie?" Ward asked, looking at Casper.
"Well, yeah, you," Casper told him with a smile.
"You're thinking with the wrong head and falling for the oldest trick in the book. I would know, I played a female bard in Dungeons and Dragons for three years straight." Ben glared at Casper slightly - was he
seriously messing up Leighton's disgusting plan to get Jack to safety? Ward just chuckled slightly, stepping away from Leighton for a second and he punched Casper as hard as he could, sending the wiry drug addict stumbling backwards, holding his eye with his hands.
"At least you wear enough eye shadow that they won't notice the black eye," Ben teased his friend.
Unfortunately, Ward wasn't the only Purifier present. Blink and Erg stuck to the alleyways behind the stores, letting Max and James follow along with them if they chose. By the time they got to the little alleyway that would let them emerge in front of the ColdStones, they saw that Ward had back up with him. There were about three other beefy Purifiers, watching the exchange that was going down. James, since he had taken the sidewalk, would be essentially about to walk into the other three.
"Keep on stepping," one of the Purifiers told James.
"If you guys can get Leighton and Stretch into the alleyway, then I can portal them out of here," Blink explained. Erg nodded, looking at Max. He hoped that James wasn't about to do anything stupid, especially since it seemed that Jack and Leighton might have had this situation handled. If they spotted Erg, there'd be no doubt in their minds that he was a mutant. His M brand on his face ensured it. Blink's case was similar, thanks to her distinctive markings.
