Achronum

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: Omega Level Healing

Resurrection was on the table again it seemed. The first time the subject had been broached, James wasn’t present for the actual conversation but Max told him about the offer he made Waverly. It seemed like so long ago now. James rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered it. “Max has some plans for this sort of thing already. He offered to bring back Waverly’s mom just before he left the Hellfire Club for us.” James admitted hesitantly. He wanted her to have this chance but the consequences of it were… above his pay grade and maybe it would help Casper after all this tragedy to feel like he has a little bit of control over things again. “My ability only enhances what the body can already do naturally but if they can restart your vitals, of course I’m more than happy to help get you back on your feet, Kris. In the meantime, we need to find something to carry people out on. Max is on his last legs and Andy really shouldn’t be moving around after being impaled plus Kris’ body and whatever else we’re going to find down here.”

James whipped around at the sound of the gun at the end of the hall. Andy and Polaris didn’t seem to be freaking out so whatever happened must have been fine. Still, he broke into a light jog as he headed their way, poking his head into the open doorway. The sight was grim, blood and injuries everywhere he looked as he gave them a quick glance. Reeva seemed to be stable and cognizant so he focused on the Three-in-One first. He knelt next to Esme, the worst of her wounds sealing shut as he felt the weak pulse of her heart. He checked the other two despite the obvious signs and let out a sigh as he stood. His heart hurt for Esme, always in connection with her sisters and now having to wake alone. He only hoped that she had others she was close enough with to find solace in their presence.

“Your turn now, Reeva. Let’s get you patched up. These Vault guys are vicious.” James talked as he approached her, a little wary of the gun and how badly her nerves were probably frayed. He laid his hands on her shoulder, sinking into the familiar sensation of syncing hearts and knitting flesh. It was comforting after all the death and devastation to feel someone alive and well so closely.

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: Omega Level Healing

The chaos of the scene faded into muted background noise as Harry’s clones surrounded them, reducing the imminent threat of attack. James chewed on his lip as he considered how to best do this but he wasn’t a medical expert so there was only one thing to do. James gave a muttered apology as he firmly gripped the stake and pulled, getting Andy free of it. The blood flowed faster as the dam broke and James swore to himself as he tried to settle into the familiar sense of healing but between the chaos of the night, the exhaustion creeping in after a night of little rest, and the lingering frustration of having his memories erased, he struggled. The wound worsened briefly despite his efforts but it eventually sealed itself, as awful as it was, she would live.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. Max somehow managed to lose a fucking hand dealing with the newest threat. James already had one person’s blood on him, what was a little more. James grabbed his arm just under the wounded stump and focused. It healed quickly, the blood slowing as the stump grew flesh over the wound. “I never thought I’d say this but please stick to setting things on fire when you fuck up.” James said once he finished, “You two should take it a little slow for a second. I patched you up but I can’t replace lost blood.”

James turned his attention to the apparition his boyfriend brought about. He hadn’t been particularly close to her but she was still part of the team and losing one was never easy. They’d lost two now, Waverly and her, and James grimly concluded it was probably only going to get worse if the two near misses were anything to go by. “I’m sorry for your death and for those you left behind.” James offered apologetically before he turned his attention to Casper, gently massaging one of his glowing hands.

“Are you sure you’re okay to be doing this already? You just had a really bad episode and I don’t really understand how this works but I don’t want you to hurt yourself by pushing so soon after that.” James said softly.

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: N/A

James considered the new information. An alternate dimension where time ran faster and their technological advancement led to augmented advancement in mutations. Considering what the few they’d encounter could already do, fighting was probably the only and simultaneously worst option they had. Maybe Magneto could hijack a nuke, drop it in the heart of their little Vault, and be done with it. Though with the Underground’s luck, the Vault probably had an advanced mutant who’d just absorb it or something.

“That’s going to be a long conversation, sweetheart. Let’s focus on making sure we’re around to have it, okay?” James replied to Casper’s sudden interest in bringing torture methods into the bedroom. He pressed a kiss to Casper’s cheek, sent Sunshine an exasperated look at the unnecessary vitriol but refrained from saying anything due to present circumstances, and made his way to Max, pressed his palm to the sorcerer’s forehead long enough to fix him the rest of the way up. “You’ve been working on your healing magic since I last saw it, huh? You did a bit more than stabilizing now, good job.”

James’ head whipped at a loud crash from where Andy and Zari had vanished upstairs. James was off like a shot, taking steps three at a time and skidding through the entrance to the secret passage the others vanished into. The trail of blood led to a violent looking cyborg and James needed a second to take stock of the situation. Polaris, Zari, Maria, and Krisina had entered the passage and were immediately engaged by the cyborg. Kristina was down and Andy was… James looked at a large hole in the wall and beyond where a wooden shaft protruded from her stomach.

“Guys, we have two casualties and I need cover to do my job!” James shouted back into the mansion proper before dashing to Andy. Fuck, this was bad. He was going to have to pull her off to heal her and he didn’t have a lot of time in between. Really, he needed another set of hands but with how insane these Vaultian’s were, he wasn’t sure if he was going to have time to wait.

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: N/A

James was getting tired of having his memories fucked with. It had only happened twice but when you were talking about turn someone's brain inside out and pressure washing it for fun, twice was twice too many. The memories had pulsed back with with every attempt Miranda made, strange scrambled bits appearing like a jigsaw puzzle until finally they were all snapped back into place. James reached out and squeezed Miranda's hand in thanks as he took a moment to sort out all the whirling thoughts in his head.

"I am so tired of this shit." James sighed as he pushed himself to his feet. He brushed a hand down Casper's back, guilt written plainly on his face. "Sorry for choking you out, babes. Max, do you need a top off or did you manage to get yourself functional?" James asked but then he remembered they hadn't all been fucked with in vain.

"Before Serafina fucked us over," he gestured towards the various pieces of the telepath. "Casper and Ben discovered that these people are from a place called the Vault and that they believe they're the next step in the world's advancement. Anyone know what The Vault is?"

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: N/A

James watched with little interest as the ghost eater walked the odd mutant through whatever issues he was dealing with. From the brief moment of attention he gave the out of control mutant, James could easily conclude he’d rather this be their first and last interaction. Not only was he out of control, he was slovenly and, if his first observation upon waking was any indication, exceedingly immature. Maybe they ought to have stripped the man-child of his mutation. Of course, then someone people were asking about him

But before he could muster a reply, the King swept through the doors in all his fury. James saw the Queen and a rabble wisely followed in his wake. James dropped to one knee, barely keeping himself from yanking the nearest imbecile down with him. If they wanted to have their heads removed for their impunity, so be it. James had no connection to these people. “My apologies your Majesty but besides the thirty or so ghosts that were here earlier and the metal woman strewn about, there were no others that you do not see.” James replied evenly.

James’ head spun with disbelief and the lingering pain of the headache. Why in the world was everyone ignoring the King? Why was everyone blaming the Princess for something? Did someone really mess with his head? The wizard mentioned messing with his mind… Was a telepath to blame? It probably was a fucking telepath.

Telepaths were the worst.

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: Omega Level Healing

James' lip curled with scorn as the wizard came begging for help. Dear God, did this man have any dignity? James was inclined to hasten him along, ignoring the flamboyant cloner's obtuse observation, rather than help him. And why was everyone so causal with him? He went by Kingston to nearly everyone because he wanted discourage people's interests in anything more than a professional relationship. Disgusting.

"One point for Novikova for basic intelligence," James rolled his eyes at the chorus against killing the problem. He was an omega level mutant and turning him human or killing him really was a waste. Control could be taught or made; telepathy existed for a reason. "But then she loses them all on account for being a traitor to the crown. Clearly, we aren't killing or erasing an omega level mutant. Control can be taught or if they refuse, enforced."

James eyed the wizard thoughtfully as he spoke. This was an opportunity he supposed. This wizard seemed to recognize him and was relatively friendly towards him so keeping the wizard alive long enough to get them would probably be in his best interest. "Any more magic cast on me and I'll take away what I'm giving you." James informed the wizard, brushing his hand against the other's cheek. James felt the briefest heartbeat, the faintest syncing of a pulse, and drew his hand back. The wizard would be fine, outside of death's clutches buy no where near 100 percent. He conti used past, slinking up next to one of the clones.

"If we settled on the killing route, I'll handle it. I'm trained in advanced interrogation techniques and know how to do it so I can heal him safely again." James offered.

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

Of Blood and Magic

January 8th - 4:45am

Early morning mist drifted off the ocean, seeping across the campus to swirl around students’ ankles as the last lingering classes finally ended. At first the campus was still quiet, the exhaustion that came with extended magical working after a break period dimmed the excitement that came with the freedom from classes but it couldn’t last forever. Soon enough, the campus buzzed with energy and noise as friends found each other again, tales of how they’d spent their breaks breaking into radacious laughter. The paths filled with students unhurriedly finding their ways to hang out spots, club meetings, and even the occasional rush to the library or arena to get a head start on assignments.

Varis clicked his tongue irritably as he stepped out of the lecture hall and into the cool morning air. The chaos that the campus inevitably devolved into after the structure of the schedule fell away exhausted and annoyed him to no end. Didn’t these ingrates have anything better to do than involve themselves in meaningless conversation? Even his own mage had succumbed to it, slouching outside between periods and playing with his phone. He’d thought the boy above that but apparently Starags were still just mages, short attention span and all. He instinctively started debating how many lines it was worth but caught himself. Varis should technically reward the boy for when he accepted the offer―Varis knew he’d get him even before they’d left the dorm this morning, Staragian sense of duty and all―but he hadn’t been sure what would be appropriate. Forgiving him a single transgression seemed reasonable, Varis supposed.

“Now that we’ve finally escaped that dreadfully dusty Professor’s sad excuse of a lecture,” Varis sighed, disappointed in Ryner’s choice of staff. Between permitting mages such unregulated freedom and her staff’s clear incompetency, he was surprised the Queen hadn’t razed the whole place to the ground. “I have to get my living quarters arriaged sufficiently for a serious night. I made the boy an offer that he won't turn away and I need the proper ambiance.” Varis didn’t bother looking back to see if Eris had followed him out of the hall. “Do you need to attend to the sad excuse of a mage Ryner stuck you with?”

---

A rotund vampire watched the mage as he left his lecture, unseen by those around her. She’d barely understood a word of the language, the modern tongue having slipped her mind long ago, but she’d caught a name: Taldin. She remembered that mage. A funny little man whose magic didn’t work quite right. It was a sad night when she’d put him down.

But that didn’t matter as she stalked the mage. The hair color was off, brown instead of black, but otherwise if she hadn’t known better, she might think her daughter walked once more. He was surly where she’d been inquisitive, defensive where she’d been loving, but the eyes, were full of life and passion, spoke to a time long ago before everything was so messy, so complicated.

She hadn’t been looking for him. That thief thought he’d been so well hidden but she’d always had a nose for his bullshit and it only took half a century to find where he’d squirreled himself away. She’d followed him after he left, trailed him back to this grooming ground, without really knowing what to do now that she’d found him but it didn’t matter anymore because she found something far more precious.

Maxwell Aldermann.

She’d failed her daughter. She won’t fail this time.

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: N/A

James let out an undignified squawk as the newcomer caught him off guard, cursing at himself as he lay on the ground. What was with these mad mages and tossing him around like a sack of flour? His irritation was quickly forgot as a ghost honed in on his restraints and took the opportunity to scratch at his eyes as it screamed. Thankfully, whatever strange reaction he was having to the witch's effects saved him again. He still shivered as his eyes turned to solid metal, the sound of fingernails screeching against steel grating above the roar of combat.

James watched warily as his captor feed him and then offered his assistance and while he certainly didn't trust him, James reached out and stood with his assistance. James paused to take stock of the situation, watching as various individuals threw themselves into the fray. A young girl his captor called Sunshine seemed uncertain how to approach this. Another man replicated himself and surrounded the problem Mutant in some effort to defend him after inadvertently taking down Cthulhu. A few were actually successfully staving off the ghosts, the most terrifying the one actively eating them, but it was clear they were out numbered and losing fast.

James could run but he had no idea where he was or if the world outside this house was as crazy as it was in here and he had no way to contact any allies, if he had any here. His captor seemed familiar enough with him so for now, he'd stay nearby and use him to get out of this mess after they got out of the

"Our odds of survival seem slim." James commented flatly to his captor, glancing over at the Problem. "Have we considered that terminating the source would likely put an end to all this?"

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: Kickboxing, Torture

The throbbing in his head had receded a tad but with these bizarre illusions around him, their howling and screaming echoing in an annoying cacophony, it was like he had two headaches simultaneously. He’d been distracted for a moment, closing his eyes as he rubbed at his temples in a futile gesture to find some relief, and then suddenly he was changing, skin hardening without his command as something slammed down on top of him. He glanced up as a blade shattered on top of his head, the impact still making his head throb despite the lack of any real injury. James stared for a second at his skin as it shifted back into… skin, mind churning with a few experiments he could recreate with new data, but his attention was snatched back into the present by a tentacled freakshow.

Mini-cthulhu apparently knew his name and the solution to this. Now he just needed to figure out who Casper was. Someone beat a hasty escape, the metal woman was panicking, and a decided unhealthy looking man hit the ground without any real reaction but with an ethereal blue glow. Mini-cthulhu was deafening the glowing man with everything it had so James guessed he was the source of all this. He plunged through the chaos, building up speed to catch the scrawny man in the head with his foot and James let out a quiet hiss of pain as toes met skull. He paused, looking around for anything but apparently that hadn’t done the trick. James stared at this Casper―looking for all the world like he’d drop at the hint of a stern word―in disbelief. He’d used his head like a soccer ball and he was doing fine?

James hastily straddled the glowing man, fingers finding and digging into the carotid artery with familiar ease as he wrapped his arms around the man’s throat. He squeezed and waited until the man fell unconscious and while James eased off the pressure, he didn’t let go fully. He really wasn’t sure what was going to happen and if it wasn’t enough, James would just snap the man’s neck. “What the hell do you get me into, Runa?” James muttered under his breath as he watched his surroundings carefully.

held roll

Reactive Adaptation if attacked!

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

---

Location: Hellfire Manor
Skills: N/A

Whatever trick the Asgaurdian bitch pulled hurt like hell.

James clamped his jaw shut around a groan as his head pounded. Even with his eyes closed, he knew she’d taken him somewhere else because now he was standing, someone was fucking screaming, someone else was wailing, and his head felt like the Hulk showed up and bitch slapped him back in Australia. He must have managed to heal the bullet wound and the burn on his neck in the meanwhile but it didn’t make up for the garbled cacophony pumped up to 11 going on around him.

James finally opened his eyes. He took in the swarming people, took in the metal monstrosity in front of him, took in the man at the wall screaming, and then checked for the gun. He clicked his tongue in disappointment as he came up empty handed but patted a few more times as he felt clothes he wasn’t wearing back in the mirror dimension. He looked down for just a second, wary of turning his attention from whatever horror show Runa dropped him in for too long, and confirmed that he was indeed wearing something other than his uniform. Annoyance and frustration churned in his stomach and the noise wasn’t helping.

“Another new dimension, Runa? Couldn’t kill me, couldn’t chop off my hands so that’s it? Where’s the creativity, oh Goddess of Lies?” James scoffed at the metal woman. Apparently, she’d gotten tired of throwing random shit at him and wanted to square up. Fine by him, though the metal exterior put him at a disadvantage. His grimace made a return at the sheer amount of noise, his headache unable to subside in the chaos of it. He needed to find someway around that exterior before she found a way through his spine. “You know, the longer we do this little dance, the more I feel like people don’t care about your unholy domain. Maybe people don’t like you because you’re useless. What kind of Asgaurdian can’t decapitate their enemies at five paces?”

Held Roll

Since it’s technically not something he activates, I’m assuming I can still hold Reactive Adaptation rolls?