Retired

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

_{Location: The Xavier Institute - Westchester, New York}

New Mutants #1.08

---

Interaction(s): @Bounce

Two figures danced back and forth through the ruins of a castle keep sat atop a cliff. Their ornate blades met again and again to the rhythmic clanging of steel. One advanced as the other shuffled back, though neither showed any sign of weakness. One, a mustachioed man with dark hair to his shoulders, performed a dramatic front flip off of a rock, spinning in midair over the head of his opponent, before landing with flair. The second, clad in black with a mask concealing half his face, pressed the attack. Their duel, although impressive in swordplay, was even more fierce on the battlefield of wit.

By the time Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes had each revealed their respective twists, the young man in the Xavier mansion's recreation room was thoroughly enthralled. So much so that he barely noticed another body plop down in a huff beside him on the couch. He continued to watch the film, sitting at the edge of a cushion, leaning forward as if that would bring him closer to the displayed duel.

The individual beside him sighed dramatically. When that proved ineffective at garnering his attention, the sigh transformed into a frustrated groan.

"You know," said Kurt Wagner not once removing his eyes from the large television screen, "it's a lot easier to have a conversation if you use your words."

The teenage girl next to him pouted. "Says the guy more interested in a movie than his friend's problems. Haven't you seen this one, like, a million times?"

"Ja, and I hope to see it a million more." Kurt reached over and hit pause on the remote. "But I suppose it can wait for now."

The boy turned to his friend, a slight smile stretched across his blue-tinted features. It had been a few days since the two had hung out, ever since the recent student team training had begun there hadn't been much free time for the younger girl. Though, Kurt knew his friend well enough to realize most of that was likely self-imposed.

"What's up, Kitty?"

"Everything!" The exasperated Kitty Pryde tossed her arms up.

Things hadn't been going the mutant girl's way. It had been two days since the first team evaluation at the hedge maze, and Mirage had put the five of them through several more exercises during that time. None of which had been overly tough, certainly nothing like Kitty had been expecting and hoping for, but that didn't make the events of the week any less frustrating. Especially as Kitty was pretty confident Mirage had been targeting her in the training - selecting her for the most challenging tasks, singling her out when lecturing the group, and giving her more chances to fail compared to the others.

Kitty was sure their mentor had it out for her. Ignoring all the rest of the frustrations, that in itself was particularly hurtful for the teenager. She had been so excited to have Dani Moonster as a mentor, and while she did her best to not let it show during training or even throughout the rest of the day, that sort of letdown was getting to her.

It wasn't something she would share with anyone else, but Kurt had always made her feel comfortable. Since his arrival at the mansion two years ago, the pair had formed a fast bond and Kitty had realized she could always go to him when she needed to vent. To her, he was like the older brother she never had.

"You really think Dani's favoring Katie?" Kurt asked once Kitty had finished blurting out everything she'd been repressing the last few days.

"What else would it be? Little-miss-perfect and her two tag-alongs get assigned the simple stuff. Bobby just keeps sleeping through everything. That just leaves me being the one stuck doing the tougher stuff."

The nineteen-year-old raised an eyebrow at the younger teen. "But isn't that what you wanted? Weren't you the one telling me for years that you wanted to be challenged? To be given the chance to prove yourself?"

"Yes! But that isn't the point!"

Kurt had to stop himself from pointing out the obvious. He had learned long ago that sometimes bringing light to the absurdity in someone's logic wasn't what was needed.

"It's just not the same," she continued. "I can't do what I want to do if Dani keeps picking on me!"

"And what is it that you do want, then?" Kurt said after a moment of considering his words. "Right now, I mean. Not in the future because we both know you want to wear the X someday. But right now. Today, tomorrow, over the next few weeks and months, and however long this whole X-Men-in-training program lasts. What do you want, Kitty?"

"To win." Kitty's response came with no hesitation. "To be the best."

"Who are you trying to beat?"

"What?"

"You said you want to win. But who are you trying to beat? Your teammates?"

Kitty gave him a look like he was an idiot. "No, of course not."

"Then who?"

"I just... I don't know! Why does that even matter? I don't know who I want to beat, I just want to prove that I belong at the top," Kitty said.

Kurt raised his hands disarmingly. "I'm just saying, Kitty, that you're a part of a team now. It may not be the team you hoped for, they may not have an X on their chest right now, but they're still your teammates. And if you're trying to win all the time without them... then doesn't that mean you're really losing?"

The older boy placed a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "I'm not saying you're a loser, so don't take that the wrong way. We both know that you, Kitty Pryde, are definitely not a loser. But if you really want to prove yourself as X-Men material, then shouldn't you be proving that you're the best teammate? And not the best all by yourself?"

Kitty chewed on her bottom lip as she considered those words.

"I still think Dani's picking on me," she finally said. "But... you're right. You're always right."

She punctuated those last two words with a playful shoulder bump.

Standing, Kitty said, "Fine. I guess I can give the whole team thing a try. Doesn't mean I have to like them, though."

"You? Like other people? Never!" Kurt clutched his heart as if the mere notion had shocked him to his core.

One of the couch's pillows collided with the side of his face.

"Oh, shut up." Kitty couldn't help but laugh. Kurt always knew when to switch from wiseman to jokester, and he never failed to cheer the teen girl up.

As she left the rec room, new thoughts and plans flooding her mind, Kurt reached back over for the Blu-ray remote. His thumb pressed the play button and the screen lit up again.

"Please understand," Kurt echoed Cary Elwes as the scene came to a close. "I hold you in the highest respect."

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

I'm still around and aiming to get a post out within the next 24 hours.

@Retired

I'm amending this to 48 hours. So another 24 from now. I got out of work late.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

I'm still around and aiming to get a post out within the next 24 hours.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

I'm going to officially drop the Booster Gold concept that I've done literally nothing with. The idea I had for him is still strong, I just don't have the time I thought I would. My schedule is much more restrictive than I'd anticipated, sadly.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

Should make it public that I'm backing off of Charles and the X-Men. I could see picking them up again someday, perhaps in this very game if the circumstances align, but as of now, they're up for grabs. That said, I'd still like to hang on to Wolverine as support for other characters.

@DocTachyon

I now exert more control over the X-Men. My plans are all aligning. I don't know what these plans lead to, as they just formulated a second ago, but I'm sure it's something extra nefarious.

Rogue Continuum: The Singularity Crisis (A DC and Marvel RP)

We'll just pretend that I didn't waste a month taking so long to get my post up.

Rogue Continuum: The Singularity Crisis (A DC and Marvel RP)

M A R T I A N M A N H U N T E R

---

Bare, concrete walls pushed in on empty hallways. Dim red lighting seemed to pulse to the beat of blaring klaxons that would never die. Their wails echoed through the vacuous corridors, screaming to warn those who could no longer heed the call. Every path through the expansive complex blurred together in monotonous fashion; each hallway passed through revealed only more of the same. Nothing of any notable substance.

A blue cloak rippled through the air behind the stark white alien's form. M'gann M'orzz slowly levitated along each corridor she came across, her powers of telekinesis effortlessly lifting and carrying her wherever she saw fit. Eyes swept across every inch of concrete walls, exposed metal pipes, and anything else she came across. Nothing escaped the Martian Manhunter's gaze, regardless of seeming insignificance.

Something had happened here, that much was certain. A dangerous presence lurked within, and with no way of knowing how long she and the rest of her assorted group were stuck in this place, that danger needed to be discovered, evaluated, and, if need be, eliminated.

Years of extensive training and practical experience patrolling the greater galaxy, hunting down insidious criminals, and uncovering grand conspiracies had drilled upon her the importance of understanding what one was up against. Being forced to travel with a handful of strangers, some of whom could well be threats on their own, was uncomfortable enough of a situation for the martian. She didn't want to add to that with additional unknown potential threats.

M'gann drifted to the right side of the long, drab corridor. Her body continued floating up to and through the solid wall, entering the room on the opposite side. A few dozen seconds later, she reentered the hallway before repeating her ghost-like trick with the left wall. Each room that M'gann slipped into was little different from the next. Dissimilar purposes, of course, from offices to break rooms to storage closets, yet all revealed the same minimal levels of information.

She continually drifted through the hallways, phasing into each room she came across, carefully observing and analyzing as she went along. The monotony of it all was broken several minutes later as M'gann's senses picked up something from a distance.

A voice called out to her, muted, though not courtesy of the incessant alarms. It was Barry Allen. The version she had found herself an outcast with. The man was speaking to her, or at least he was trying to. Without a mental link established between the two of them, the thoughts sent her way came across as if they were underwater. M'gann could feel that Barry was projecting his thoughts out toward her, and she could certainly detect his psionic presence, even pinpoint his exact location if need be, but attempting to understand the context of those thoughts was nearly impossible.

She supposed it was only natural for this Flash to try and contact her mentally. M'gann had mentioned briefly on the previous world that she had the ability to sense and reach out to the minds of others. What she had failed to explain at the time, however, was that martian psionic communication required a pre-established link from one mind to another. In her culture, it was something usually reserved for family, close friends, or mates. Even as a Manhunter it was uncommon for psionic connections to be formed among units during missions unless close bonds already existed. It was an intimate act as a shared link meant that all of one's most treasured thoughts and memories could be handed over to another with little effort.

A frown flickered across her features for a second. She hadn't considered the notion until just then, but M'gann began to ponder on the potential necessity of a link between the five of them. If they were forced to continue hopping from one reality to another, with no guarantee of finding their respective home dimensions anytime soon, and every world they arrive at possibly being rife with danger, the ability for discrete, long-distance communication might be crucial. She would need to work on a solution for that, the martian realized.

More important matters were at hand at the moment, however. If Barry was attempting to reach out to her it was likely he had discovered something of consequence, be it answers as to what had occurred in this mysterious bunker complex or perhaps even with the device that had brought them all here from their former prison world.

M'gann turned around in mid-air and began floating back down the long corridor. She had made it less than a hundred feet before her senses once more picked up on something.

Her head snapped to the left, though there was nothing there of course aside from the concrete wall. Nor was there anything immediately beyond that wall, she knew, because just minutes ago she had stepped through it to the cluttered custodian closet beyond. But beyond that there was... something. A presence. Maybe five hundred feet in that direction; multiple corridors, and walls between her and whatever it was.

Her frown returned, brow narrowing intensely. It was a life form. One of those she had sensed earlier upon the group's arrival, though much closer than before. Too close. The Manhunter should have been able to sense it nearing much sooner. M'gann's sensory range easily covered the entire complex, and although she hadn't been actively focusing on tracking everything within up until that point, a sentient lifeform, as she knew it must be, should have alerted her long ago before coming so close. What was more, there was something familiar about the presence, though it was difficult to place at the moment.

She barely had time to consider this before her senses flared again. Another one, though this time further away, pinged within her mental radar. More than two thousand feet in the direction she had originally traveled from.

The direction she had left the others. The realization hit her quickly.

Barry's attempted message. A warning? A cry for help?

M'gann let her psionic power envelop her completely, the telekinetic force that had kept her suspended and lightly floating forward now propelled her like a rocket down the corridor. As she raced down the hallways, passing freely and haphazardly through any wall in her path, her senses picked up another presence. Then another, and another. Each of these three new lifeforms arose closer to the second she had detected, all within the same direction she was now headed. All within several hundred feet of the rest of her party, who she now could sense gathering together in one location.

The child called Six had been right earlier. There was a predator lurking within. The boy's intuition hadn't been entirely correct, however, as it became blatantly clear to M'gann that there wasn't just one.

It would become clear to Six and the others as well very shortly as four of the unknown predatory lifeforms converged on their position.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

Apologies for the massive delay. Special apologies to @Bounce. Life got the best of me the last thirty days.

Hasty, shitty post up, though. The next one will come quicker.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

_{Location: The Xavier Institute - Westchester, New York}

New Mutants #1.06

---

Interaction(s): @Bounce

Left. Right. Another right.

The paths twisted before her in perfectly geometrical angles, each branch presenting a possible route to success or failure. Kitty's sneakers seemed to barely connect with the ground as she darted from one alley of the hedge maze to the next. Each dead-end that greeted her was met with a growl of frustration.

As she found herself facing yet another tall blockade, Kitty spun around on one heel and raced back toward the closest branching pathway. Her toe quickly swiped across the ground twice forming a rudimentary 'X' at the entrance to the failed route.

She paused for the briefest of moments to glance at her watch. Barely two minutes remaining and she was at most halfway through the expansive maze. The young mutant mentally retraced her steps. Kitty knew at this point she was somewhere west of the center; she could tell that much by the sun's position overhead compared to when she had first run into the labyrinth. Which meant that, ideally, she needed to take a left from her current location to get back to moving in the right direction.

The only problem with that, however, was the path immediately to her left was a dead end. As were the paths directly behind and ahead of her. Which left her only remaining option to go right. That path would only lead her further from the center, though, and Kitty knew that with her remaining time moving in that direction would only end futilely.

This left the teenager with only one remaining choice.

Kitty chewed her bottom lip. If she went through with the choice she wasn't confident it would lead her to an actual victory and not a disqualification, anyway, but at this point, she saw no reason to not give it a go.

With just over one hundred seconds left on the clock, Kitty Pryde turned left and raced back down a pathway she already knew resulted in a dead-end. This time, however, instead of stopping in frustration she set herself to move past her obstacle.

The mutant reached out toward the thick, woody bushes that formed the barricade before her. She stuck her hand into the divider and gripped the yew and holly. If she was forbidden to use her powers to go through the maze's walls, and she didn't have enough time to navigate the garden puzzle, then she would go over it. After all, nothing in Mirage's instructions had said Kitty needed to reach the entrance by conventional means.

Hoisting herself up, Kitty began climbing the nearly ten-foot hedge wall. She felt it give to her weight ever-so-slightly before holding firm, though the sound of several perfectly manicured plants and twigs within the boundary snapping made her grimace.

She hoped the headmasters didn't mind some minor damage.

Coming over the top of the wall, Kitty paused to collect her surroundings. Just as she had thought, the center lay to the east of her current position. She could see from her bird's eye view that it was less than fifty feet from her, at most, with just a few more boundary dividers in her way. If she had tried to take the conventional path the entire way through, the twists and turns of the maze would have had her traveling in the opposite direction for quite a while before recorrecting.

A smile touched her lips. She could do this. She could win.

Kitty leaped from the top of the wall, bending her knees before impact and tucking forward into a roll. She didn't even take note of the stinging in her ankles before she was once more booking it toward her goal. Moving in a straight line, Kitty came across another hedge wall. This one, too, she conquered, scrambling up and over before hopping down onto the other side. She did the same to the next and the one after.

The mutant teen no longer knew how much time she had remaining, but she did know that there was only one more barrier in her way. She jumped at it, not bothering to take the time to find a proper handhold. Something dug deep into Kitty's palm as she clawed her way up, it felt sticky as her fingers closed around their next hold, and her foot kicked free twice before she reached the top. This wall, she knew, would need serious maintenance afterward. It was worth it, though, and she could always ask for forgiveness later.

Kitty practically tumbled right over the edge as she mounted the final wall. The center was there. A wide, clear circle adorned with wooden benches around the perimeter that faced inward toward a single, tall obelisk of stone. The teen knew it was marked with the names of mutants, those lost in the fight for equality. Today, though, it marked her victory.

She hopped off of the wall, this time collapsing to her knees, her wrists burning with pain as they caught the full brunt of her fall. Her left palm stung as dirt met an open wound, but Kitty picked herself up as if she felt none of it. Now wasn't the time for weakness or hesitancy. Not when she was so close.

Just another fifteen feet. Ten feet. Just—

"Time!"

The voice called out from somewhere outside of the maze, but it was unmistakenly belonging to Danielle Moonstar.

No. Nonono. It was right there. All she had to do was take another few steps and reach out...

Kitty's right foot moved, then her left. She was nearly there.

Suddenly, a flash of orange light struck through her mind. Kitty reeled her outstretched hand back as the abrupt image of flames and the fear of being burned lashed across her.

"I said time," Mirage shouted again, this time almost sounding like she was right behind Kitty, though the younger mutant knew that couldn't be true.

Kitty forced back the tears she felt threatening escape as she let her aching legs finally give out. She kneeled there, right fist balled, left hand staining the ground red, staring in disbelief at the obelisk that marked the very center of the hedge maze.

Just five feet away.

It wasn't fair.

Sensation & Wonder: An Absolute Comics Roleplay [DC & Marvel One Universe Style Game]

That's a funny looking Ted Kord.