Blizz

X-Men: GenetiX

In her borderline-feral state, Ryder wasn’t fully concerned with this “school” that this man was referring to. In a way, it only confirmed a suspicion that Ryder had which suggested these men were going to take her somewhere else- Trading one captor for another. Of course, she had no way of confirming this up until now, but she assumed t this point that they wanted to bring her back there. Umbra was touted as a safe place for mutants, somewhere that they could live without fear while they were given what they needed to survive. That was a bold faced lie, of which Ryder was living proof, but she wasn’t about to trust someone else who made a similar claim.

When the old man uttered the name “Charles Xavier,” something shifted in Ryder. She was taken back a little, and had to stop and think about that. She knew that name. In the time she spent secretly trawling Umbra’s database under the guise of weaker powers, his name came up many, many times. An unknowable individual had seen to it that Xavier’s DNA was secured, and used to create a child with powers that exceeded his own by an exponential margin. That child was right in front of him.

And he had the nerve to ask for her name.

”You… You can’t be him. No. No.” Ryder’s resolved found a footing again, and she plunged a metaphorical crowbar into the man’s mind to wrench a door open. Xavier was a powerful psychic in his own right, but there was only so much he could’ve done in this situation, and that would only slow down Ryder’s mental attack. It was like a weight laid upon him, she aggressively searched him to find anything- A meager scrap of evidence that implied he was telling a lie.

And just as abruptly as she dove in, she splashed back out of Xavier’s mind with her answer. He was telling the truth.

”I don’t believe this…” For the first time since they met Ryder, Scott and Charles saw an emotion etched on her face that wasn’t overt rage. Now, her face only conveyed shock, and confusion. ”You- You. Becker never told me anything about you, but I know you.”

Scott had previously observed overwhelming conviction in this kid when she broke out of Umbra, and took down at least a third of the on-site security plus a dispatch team in her escape. But right now, she was struggling to find the words to get her point across.

”You and me… We’re related. They took a piece of you, and used it to make me. I’m Ryder- Your kid that you never knew about.”

There was no sense or warmth or catharsis to this revelation. Ryder’s words we dripped with anger.

X-Men: GenetiX

Jean was finally out of his hair. Good.

Becker walked down a hallway that no one ever walked down. The floor echoed up as fast as his heart was beating, and every now and then the man looked over his shoulder to ensure no one was there. The gun he carried under his vest weighed on his mind heavily. When Becker turned a corner, he walked seven steps, and pressed his fingertips to a wall. The wall slid away in pieces, like a secret bookshelf. It made not so much as a sound, even as it closed behind him. Behind the wall, there was only darkness. Out of that darkness came sickly green lights to illuminate the path, which no one else could have seen had they stepped into this space. It was not a room, it was not an area. It was a "space." There was no oxygen beyond the liminal wall which Becker crossed. Becker could breathe nonetheless, because it was decided that he could. The lights could have at least been bright enough to see more than two inches in his face, but brother dearest had a flair for drama.

Becker stepped forward down the path that was cut out of the negative, and his steps neither felt nor sound real. Parsecs went by with each step, and he stopped before an abstract landscape he could only acknowledge instinctually as there rather than see. The landscape was like a bedchamber, safe and isolated. In this land where time had no meaning, where the mind was synonymous with existence, Becker brought him into existence.

A man without a singled discernable feature. He was but a tessellation upon a backdrop that didn't truly exist in tangibility. But he was there.

"There's been a delay. You're going to have to wait a little longer."

There was silence.

"Don't give me that look. We'll find the damn kid. Just don't burn the place down while I'm gone."

---

Ryder's chest and arm stung like hell. Her head swam and she couldn't truly recall when she woke up, only that she did. She heard the old man and the laser twink chatting about someone named Jean. There was a pressure over the wounds, but she didn't dare to look up and open her eyes. They weren't particularly stressed by the sounds of their voices. They just talked like normal back and forth. Ryder was pretending she was still unconscious while they spoke. She stretched her powers out and determined that the things she looted were still nearby, so either she was back where they found her from, or they had moved her somewhere else and took that shit for some reason. She could've tried to read the other two, but right now Ryder didn't feel like doing much. She had relative peace and felt more liked capitalizing on it than anything else. But then again... Fuck these guys.

After a lull where things chilled out, Ryder sprung up suddenly. She was on her feet thanks to her ability to apply telekinesis to movement. Even in her busted up state, Ryder was primed to beat the living shit out of anyone who breathed wrong.

They could've took her to the lab, yet they took her here... If she scared them, they wouldn't have a time to form a lie... Okay, time to scare them.

"Where the FUCK did you come from?!"

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

Interactions: Yoko and some weird MF

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There was something quite weird about this guy. He was talking like a robot and saying he was defending himself, but that girl looked like she couldn’t hurt if she took his kneecaps with a shotgun… At least he was smart enough to not disqualify him. That meant this could be somewhat salvaged. ”That’s more like it. Did they fail to teach you manners back where you came from?” She asked, as snidely as she could manage. Conflict resolution wasn’t her strong suit, so she was secretly grateful this was easy to solve.

In the blink of an eye, the clone of Selena seemed to evaporate into pale purple smoke. Along with the magical orbs or light that were held to his head. Of course, she was ready to blast him if he didn’t actually cool off. ”Mind yourself from now on, alright?”

Then, Selena addressed the small woman with the stick.

”Now then… Are you alright?”

X-Men: GenetiX

They were actually backing away.

They understood. Ryder's death glare soften by a fraction, as she believed it possible to escape now. This was the end of the road for now. She didn't know where she'd go, but she'd figure it out now. Ryder figured everything out, she could do this alone like she always thought she'd have to.

"I mean it. Don't ever come near me again. You don't know me, you don't know them. If you think you're so fucking clever that you could catch me, then you should know that. I'm not letting this all get ruined by some fucking nobodies who don't know me." Ryder's asteroid belt of debris clattered violently to the ground around her. She collected the scattered pilferings from the ground, and just for good measure, she sent out a telekinetic wave to toss the mutants back. Xavier would be parted from his wheelchair and Scott was off in some other direction. When they looked back, Ryder was gone.

She had rocketed away into the sky again, into the forest. She made sure to stay near the town to ensure she could raid it again, or to lure those two fucking weirdos into it and make the town recognize them again. There wasn't much she needed right now, so she dropped into a tree and started playing with her stolen bits of tech. In the commotion, Ryder forgot to process that there was a knife and a bullet stuck in her... So she pulled them both out with her telekinesis. The sound she made as she ripped the bullet out would've alerted anyone chasing her, if they were still on her tail.

Using her powers to float the basket into a tree, Ryder stopped to catch her breath. The sun was starting to go down. And this was the first time she had laid eyes on a sunset. This felt like being reborn, as if her life had properly began just an hour ago. Ryder had no intention of falling asleep right now- She had been kidnapped too many times in her sleep before for Silas' experiments. Instead, she used the disconnectedness of the moment to actually think in peace. In a few hours after she had rested, she'd sneak back into town and steal a few more things. A bike, a change of clothes, perhaps even something to eat. It would be very easy to snatch these things up under the cover of darkness.

Ryder felt blood start to soak into her shirt... She didn't think about this part. If she bled out now, what would be the point of all thing?

Pain was ringing through her chest and arm. It felt throbbing, cold and slightly numb. The adrenaline was starting to dump out of her.

"Fuck... Fuck- FUCK!" She swore out loud, and the whole tree groaned under her. This wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to get shot. Now she had to go back and hope she could find something to slow the bleeding or use a computer to look up how to cauterize things. And god as her witness, she would if she had to. But what if those fucking guys were there?

Fine then. I'll just go Brainshatter on them if I have to. Here we fucking go.

Approximately 6 minutes later, Ryder was now awkwardly walking down an empty street. The sun was officially down, and blood was soaking into her shirt more and more. Her arm wasn't feeling that great at the moment. It felt hard to move her shoulder. Psychically looking through cameras on street corners, Ryder could tell there were no cars, but it was so dark that people might as well be invisible to her. Sweat was dripping down her face. But she didn't care, she couldn't stop. It was stop and die or continue and live. She was not letting herself die here.

One foot in front of the other. Live by any means necessary. Or die.

And yet, her eyes were so very heavy, and Ryder tripped. She didn't get back up.

Inferno - STRIKE THE MATCH! - Concluded

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Jack Hawthorne

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Location: Limbo
Skills: Extra-planar Navigation
Spells:
Outfit

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”…You-“ The idea that Ororo, more than the universe itself by his understanding, expected him to carry this burden was unsettling to Jack. She expected him to protect life- Why? Why him? Jack often had something to say in response to anything, he was never slow to retort anything. But now, Ororo had challenged him in a way that went against all he was. Jack did not protect, he simply wandered. But perhaps this was what Ororo expected. After all, she knew him quite well once, and Jack Hawthorne was not a man to back down from a challenge. To be surrounded by so many legendary people was no small fear. Steven Strange, Storm and the X-Men themselves- They all expected something of Jim that he simply could not bring himself to give.

Jack gently took the acorn into his hands. Even through a hand that was not fully there in the normal sense, he could feel its magic like warmth from a fire. It was unconditionally a figment of Ororo’s will. Her strength, her compassion, her power… These were all of the things that Jack resonated with. At last, he found his voice.

”Ny sacred pact. I’ve never known anything to be sacred… But you always did know how to convince me into something that deserved more of my dedication.” Perhaps that was why he stuck around for as long as he did as a boy, however fleeting. ”It seems there truly is not way for me to avoid this further… I expected this to be a hollow endeavor. That Steven Strange’s cloak would move on from my shoulders one it found a truer candidate, and that the pieces would simply… Fall together as they always have.”

”But something is telling me that I’m wrong. I am not one to push against a change…”

He doesn’t say it out loud, but Jack made a decision. If the universe he lived in called out for help, then what was another night in Limbo? Besides, if anyone were to replace Stevie, it might as well have been someone competent.

”Ororo, I may not ever see you again. Clearly, I have places to be for the first time in years, but I don’t know if I can ever return here. I found you by mistake…” He paused, trying to find the words that would matter. ”When I was there, at Charles’ mansion with all of you, I had a home and more than I could ever ask for. I never showed an ounce of gratitude for that… But know that I will never forget that time. You were all the closest thing to a family I’ve ever known.”

He held up his magical hand, and it’s surface rippled. Shapes rose up from its surface like an ocean, as a pitch black rose formed. Jack laid his hand on a patch of grass between them, and the flower rested there, planting itself in the earth. ”You’ve given me something with a great meaning behind it. Let me to do the same for you. This will remain here for as long as your garden stands, as a reminder that I am out there in the universe, and that I have not forgotten you.” Ororo’s penchant for drama and being poetic rubbed off on him.

Hope for a Dying World

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Katrina had generally kept quiet on the journey. She gave out directions and ensured they stayed on course during the ride to Moonhorn Ridge, but she didn't offer much more in the way of conversation. Occasionally, Katrina would pull out a map from a satchel under her cloak, to make sure they were going the right way. Beyond that, Katrina didn't partake in any conversations. None of the physically irritating prayers that Osric muttered or the jabs of Revna. The red haired kid was quiet enough at least. To the others, it felt strange to be in this dead and barren place, but Katrina found the Seven Villages stuffy. There was magic behind the barrier, but out here, there was just death and the dying. These were things Katrina had been long accustomed to- She was there when the apocalypse began, in a time when neither Osric nor Sage had been born yet, she was already 16. This was second nature to her in a way it couldn't have been for them, in her mind.

Katrina had been to the place before. It was the last stop on her trip to the villages, and she camped here for an entire week, living off of dead rabbits she smoked in the hills a few miles east of the Ridge. Eventually the group started to get antsy. The sun would set shortly and this was the ideal spot to start making camp. Unsurprisingly, Revna had misgivings.

"Yes, we're near. And no, you're not the guide, Revna. Don't get your halberd in a twist..." Katrina pulled her paper map out and looked at some distant rocks. One of them had a sort of crescent shape that jutted up out of the dirt. The path they were taking led down a hill around the rock. "Just down there, I slept there for a week once." Katrina led them down the hill and to a left turn. When they stopped, the group was at a small clearing nestled between a few rock cliff. There were old remnants of a campfire here. The rocks provided cover from rain and the warm sun as they sloped over. It was like a shallow cave. Over in the corner of the rocks was a makeshift wooden rack, and hanging on it were clumps of rotting fur and long-dried blood. Someone camped here once, presumably Katrina.

She jumped off and led the horses over.

"Closest thing to indoors we've got out here. Plenty of room to move things off the cart should it need. Before I reached the villages, this is the spot I holed up in. We're good here for a night." It was bleak, the air felt dry, and there were a lot of seemingly meaningless, peeling bloodstains on some trees if anyone was particularly perceptive, but it was goof enough.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Leah Jordan

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Location: Framework
Skills: Battlefield Manipulation
Today’s Fit

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It’s about damn time he died. Leah was a little surprised that Zarina didn’t try to shut off that flesh mech sooner. With Vicky, Ed and Diana all out of the picture officially, that left just Leah and Zari. There were a few ways she could go about this. Leah could try and blitz her and cave Zarina’s face in with her beefy punches, or try to skewer Zarina before she had a chance to react. But in either of those situations, there was no guarantee that Leah would actually kill her. Reality was in the palm of Zari’s hand right now. Anything she did hinged on Zari’s decision to allow it to happen. She was essentially the purple man from those movies that don’t actually exist in this universe. You know, the one who could snap anyone out of existence with just a snap. Strategy didn’t factor in here. And if it did, then the only logical reason would be that Zari didn’t fully grasp her powers. That, however, was not a gamble Leah felt like taking.

She could pick herself up from having her skull caved in when she was 13. But she couldn’t compete in these circumstances. Leah walked up to Zari.

”Between you, me, this sim and the alcoholic cat’s manic tendencies, I’m not fucking around. You’re god in here, and I throw rocks. No contest. You want to just call it a draw and come back later? You’ve got me beat.”

Usagi must be fuming right now. That’s going to be fucking funny.

The Gifted (Reborn)

@Ace of flames01

Good question. Haven’t considered that but I might actually

X-Men: GenetiX

Down in the depths of Umbra Biogenetics, there was a nauseating aura that Jean could feel in ways Xavier could not. It was like feeling heat from a radiator waft up a flight of stairs. A distant sound growing louder as she followed it. One she could not hear, but knew on a subconscious level was there The walls had holes in them, a trail of destruction that practically burned with the traces of psychic energy unique to one mutant in particular. The epicenter was in a level that officially did not exist. Located deep, hundreds of feet beneath the ground. There was the remains of an elevator shaft that Ryder presumably flung herself through to escape.

At the bottom, past a set of dizzying hallways was a child's bedroom locked behind a three ton magnetic door, which lay in pieces at its threshold. If the trail of evidence was a bonfire, this room was the midday sun...

The difference between here and the sterile walls of Umbra's basement was nigh uncanny. The walls inside were painted a faded blue color, minute cracks in the paint suggested it was once a cold white. A bed lay in the corner of the room, barely a hand's width between it and a metal frame. It looked like a hospital bed in a way. The walls were barren, except for a dart board and holes that were probably punched through out of anger. Something about the place felt... Empty. The carpeting was faded and dull as if it had been here for years, and the entire room smelled like it was old. As if no one had really lived in this room beyond sleeping here. Even in this ruined state, riddled with signs of violent destruction where the ceiling was caved in slightly and the concrete floor was exposed underneath, Jean could intuit that nothing happy came from this room. There was no evidence of life, no joy or personality.

A prison cell dressed up to look pretty.

---

The humans in the crowd were getting antsy. Their faces were etched with contempt and aggression. Ryder kept her stolen haul close to her chest- If she didn't have these things, it would make life much harder. Seeing the cop get his gun shot out of his hand made Ryder spin and look at Cyclops. So he was a mutant too... And he could've done that back at the gate. Ryder pushed her powers out and felt there were microchips regulating energy behind that visor. Some sort of choke for a power source, maybe? If she made it fry itself, what would happen? Would he explode and take everyone else with him? Ryder decided she didn't want to find out. The cop was slack jawed as he saw his precious pistol get swatted out of his hands so easily. Meanwhile, Ryder was backing away slowly. She kept her eyes on everyone as best she could, but there were no security cameras around this part of the street. She didn't have any sort of third eye advantage.

Ryder heard a clicking sound behind her. She was inadvertently backing up into someone, and when she turned around, that person had a switchblade. A middle aged man who looked like he had been smoking a pack a day for the last decade, he swung the knife down at Ryder, and it got stuck in in her arm. Ryder shrieked like a banshee and shoved the man back dozens of feet, slamming him into the door of a car and causing the car to start blaring an alarm. Bleeding all the way from her elbow to her wrist, Ryder turned back around and locked eyes with Cyclops and the old man in the wheelchair. She could just throw that thing for hundreds of feet, snap Cyclops's neck and see how quickly Xavier could drag himself over to it. So why didn't she just let herself go all out? On second thought, maybe she would. Her telekinetic powers were the weakest of her abilities, but that was only in the sense of fine control. Broad strokes were still something to fear.

Behind her, the car that was screaming like a tripped alarm groaned and screeched as it floated upwards, high enough that there was no question that Ryder was definitely more than just a technopath. The man saw this, and ran away screaming in terror. Ryder's face held nothing but hate for what was happening. Her injury looked pretty bad, but Ryder was paying absolutely zero attention to it right now. The floating car drifted closer until it was just behind her.

"I don't know either of you, and I want nothing to do with you or fucking Umbra. If you don't stay away from me, I'll fucking kill all of you. Do you fucking understand me?! I'll-"

Bang.

While Ryder was monologuing, the cop has reached for his gun and she didn't pay attention. He shot her in the ribs. Ryder stumbled, and slipped back. Blood trickled from her shirt, and the car fell. She caught it before it could flatten her, but she screamed out of pure rage and ripped the damn thing into shreds while it was suspended in the air. Bits of metal, plastic and glass fell to the ground and flew at the cop. He was smacked by a rear axle in the stomach. He'd be fine, but now he was doubled over trying to catch his breath. Once again, the gun clattered to the floor. Fractured pieces of the car orbited over her in a way that might've been familiar to Scott. Like he'd seen someone go down this road before, or display this level of potency with their powers. She was pissed.

Ryder stood, despite being stabbed and shot.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The Gifted (Reborn)

It has begun.

I’ve been leaning that strategy for a hot minute lol. I made some NPCs to make it interesting.