Pulling Lucianna in with her had been one of the better ideas of the day. The woman was able, for the most part, to calm her fellow captives. Not the mention the face that once they got some gloves on her, they were able to pull everyone out that much faster.
After getting the last one out, Daylia scanned the room, catching the hesitation that Lucianna had when it came to the doctor. Not quite realizing what was going on, she called out, and the girl snapped back to attention. A brow rose beneath her mask, but she didn’t say anything further as she pulled the woman out of the room.
She addressed Aren and the slight deviation to the plan. "Got it. Everyone hear that? Stay between me and the giant here." She said addressing the rest of the group.
With the group between them, they made their way down the hall. She hardly heard Aren't telling them to get down, let alone the other voices as the ceiling began to crumble. Going intangible as she hit her knee she pulled those closest to her down as well, transferring some of her powers. It was the only thing she could do.
As he shifted, as did she. A grave expression crossed her face as she began to worry about the Native. It couldn’t be any easy feat to hold the debris off of the rest of them. "Right." She said with a nod as she stood back up, helping the others as she did so. She couldn’t help but try to cover her ears as Aren went at the wall, grimacing as she did so.
The scene before them was not a good one. Multiple Alphas were down, and not exactly responsive. A sigh passed her lips as she shrugged at Aren. "The best laid plans and such." She muttered.
Daylia’s jaw flexed as the announcement came through the the facilities speakers. "Well, ******** all." She growled. With a small grunt D laced her fingers together and cracked her knuckles. "Maybe. We can only hope that he’s fairing a bit better than us."
Already she was working on passing the captives though the wall. "Lucianna, try to keep them together, get those able to help us get the unconscious out please." She said before sending the woman though the wall. It would help, at least a little as they passed the unconscious though. Or at least until someone could bust down the wall.
"You ready Jedi?" The Chameleon asked as she knelt down near two of the fallen, her hands resting on their shoulders. This was going to be exhausting, she knew it, but she was going to have to push past it. They were running out of time.
Transferring her gifts to the two she touched first, Dimitri and Aurelie were first. Their light ragged breathing was all she needed to know they still lived. For now anyway.
------Present Day------
It felt so good to be back at the institute instead of underground in the snow-covered wilderness. It felt even better to not be confined to one place. Everything was damn near the same.
A sigh escaped her as she heard her tummy grumbling at her. Scooting off her bed, she stood and stretched, idly wondering if Gracie was still in hiding or not. The poor girl would probably never live down the fact that she created the world's biggest opera singing male appendage. She couldn’t help but giggle at the thought, it had been the first thing Aren had pointed out to her on their last mission.
While her heart did go out to Gracie, it was still funny.
Daylia put those thoughts aside as her stomach rumbled again, she left her room in search of the kitchen. Maybe if she was lucky she could catch someone there who had made too much food. She yawned and stretched as she walked into the room. "Yo." She said in greeting as her yawn muffled the word.
A brow rose in Blakes direction as he mentioned news. "News? Please don’t tell me we’re already off on another adventure." She said grumpily as she made her way to the fridge. "I haven’t even had any food yet."
She paused in her search for juice to look at the texan man again, more confusion over her features. "Unless she somehow has shrunken herself down and hid in one of my pockets, no." She went back to searching. With a sigh, she pulled out a jug of white grape juice that barely held enough for a half a glass.
Deciding not to bother dirtying a cup she popped the cap and drank out of the bottle. "Oh please, she makes a penguin one time." D said as she sat the juice container on the counter. "At least we’re trying to learn how to cook. If it weren't for her powers, we’d be fine."
She sighed and looked to Lucianna. "Don’t listen to mister scaredy cat here. You have to break a few eggs to get the omlet." Or something along those lines.
Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ:Jet then the holding cells. Ｔｈｉｎｋｉｎｇ:Whatever you do, don't s**t yourself. Ｗｉｔｈ:Aren, Luci, and Roland
""
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:59 pm
Aksel McCrowely ~ Houdini
Remember the moment you left me alone
and broke every promise you ever made
Welp, he felt like the most awesome badass ever! Why? He, the best illusion manipulator in the world lies, had been promoted to the teams! While he wished he had been chosen for the team with the more badass reputation, he guessed it was fine to be an Alpha. He could always find a way to make them more badass with his persuasive ways! After all, who didn’t want to be known as the people that could take down any threat in style? Pussies that’s what and he was no p***y!
But, since he had only been just promoted earlier that day, he hadn’t got to meet any of the Alphas yet. If he had, it might have been in crossing when he wasn’t paying attention. Who would pay attention to a team with the backbone of a church mouse? At least, that was how others portrayed them anyways. Now if he got proven wrong, he would be glad of that. That would mean he didn’t have to put effort away from working on his cosplay, writing, and video games to set his team on the best and badass path!
For now, though with no way to know where the leader was (wasn’t the leader some chick? Hell if he had cared to know), he decided to go back to his old ways a bit. See, he had the school’s layout mostly memorized. The old bunker place they were forced to stay in? He had been working on it, but months were different than years in terms of knowledge. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pull off his tricks as easily due to messing up on where walls were, doors were, and all kinds of small details.
Illusions took a lot of work!
But, he came back to one of his favorite old perches. A hallway that ended in a wall. What was nice about this hallway was that there was a hallway on the other side. The wall itself acted a division between the two. Both side were mirror reflections of the other. What was great about this little intricacy? Easy. It meant he could easily make it look like there was no wall and a sucker would likely believe it!
He grinned as he hid around a corner and raised his hand up. Now the only bad part was that he couldn’t affect it on the other side and couldn’t see through the illusion itself to the other side anyways. It meant he would have to stay on the side he created the illusion on. Good thing though there was a supply closet he could hide in and peak out. He didn’t pick this spot for nothing! As the wall looked to disappear, making the hallway appear no longer like a dead end, he quickly went into the supply closet and shut it until the door was only opened a crack.
Since the illusion barely took effort, he could hold it for a little bit before he would have to make it disappear.
Hopefully within the next ten minutes, some sucker or suckers would run into the fake non-wall and make his day even better!
So you can throw me to the wolves
Every wound will shape me Every scar will build my throne
Where I am:Some random hallway Who I am with:No one currently Team:Alpha
“Semantics.” Was his simple reply as Gracie mentioned real statistics. She was missing the entire point if she thought he was being factual, and this didn’t seem the best spot to argue viewpoints. She went on to argue about the existence of love and the speedster laughed in response. “Right, because I’m sure you’re divorcing your husband because he “loved” you enough to put your needs ahead of him. Right, forgive me.” She claimed girls just wanted someone to care about their happiness, then added after a minute that she was speaking outside of bed too. “And you can’t always get what you want. Else I would bed a different model every night till the end of time.” He was mostly joking. Mostly. Bedding a different model every night did sound highly appealing though.
Gracie continued to argue his view on her powers was wrong, but her please were falling on deaf ears by this point. He didn’t even bother responding verbally at this point, just little bits of laughter would tell her what he thought of her explanations. As she continued sarcastically, Felix cleared his throat and responded in perfect deadpan. “Well it’s about time you realized that.”
Offering her a look the next time, he responded in deadpan as to what he imagined everyone imagined his member was, and she nearly fell off his back. “Then don’t blame me when you get it wrong next time.”
Describing his arrangement with Raine got him being called an idiot in response. Chuckling, he didn’t bother replying verbally. It wasn’t like she expected her to actually understand what he had been saying. If Raine had been expecting anything else out of him, she was sorely mistaken. She claimed he had a venereal disease and the speedster rolled his eyes. “Predictable answer as always.”
Likening himself to a bull was enough to cause her to break into giggles, citing his earlier description as making his statement wrong. “Oh sweetie, it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.” She broadcast to the team, citing his own description again and Felix smirked. “I never claimed it was size accurate. It IS art after all.” He broadcasted in a calm manner after, clearly not bothered by the broadcast. If she had thought she’d found his weakness, Gracie was once again mistaken. Why did he care if everyone else thought his member was short and fat?
Claiming she should call him stubby from now on, Felix shrugged in response. “Does that mean I should liken you to the mojave desert?” He almost mentioned it being for her long dry spell, but he didn’t bother actually clarifying. Hearing her chant for a desired effect, Felix gave his own chant. Not long after Blake spoke and Felix responded in an amused manner. “If you aren’t concerned with who’s riding who, then you sir, are a killjoy.” At the mention of the statue once again, Blake claimed Felix would take responsibility regardless causing the speedster to smirk. “You never know…”
Gracie claimed they always got it wrong, and Felix rolled his eyes. “Says the woman who at this point, would be doing good to know what part goes where and for how long.” Smirking at her, the two of them moved farther into the room. Claiming her as desperate again, she had apparently had enough as she slid off his back.
Turning as she grabbed his shoulder, the woman claimed he wasn’t enough to make anyone desperate, and she would prove it to him. Raising an eyebrow in response, he didn’t move as Gracie took in a breath then stepped forward and kissed him. It wasn’t long before he responded in kind, deepening the kiss to the point she clearly hadn’t been expecting. If this was supposed to prove to him that she wasn’t desperate, she was doing a poor job. Picking her up, the kiss continued, until she broke apart and started to walk off. Her words fell over him and he simply smirked in response.
Any retort he had prepared was interrupted as Blake sent a message over the comm. Despite the message, Felix pretended not to hear and pulled Gracie back into him as she tried to walk away. Feeling her kissing him back for a few moments, she once again pulled back and shooed him while speaking. No sooner had the words left her mouth than he pulled her back into him again. Kissing her just long enough for her to respond in kind, Felix moved passed her before she would even have time to register it. “Right, you weren’t tempted at all. Now, I, am done, with YOU. My point is proven. Try not to be so desperate next time.” Shrugging he sent a message back to Blake as the cowboy seemed to be in panic mode. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, I was busy. I’ll be sure to hurry that way.” He didn’t even attempt to hide his sarcasm at the last sentence.
Felix had arrived in time to see Colin using a method that probably wasn’t the best way to transport an injured individual, but he didn’t bother helping. Roland would live, that was enough. Maybe next time he would think twice about trying to be a one man army. With the facility about to blow up, there were more important things to consider.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Being back in New York felt absolutely wonderful. Felix had been spending most of the nights back, running around the town enjoying his freedom once again. His previous bad mood was now in the past completely. There were also other developments that had made things amusing again. The mission was now just one of many makeout sessions with Gracie, but it wasn’t anything unexpected really. What was unexpected, was her rather insistence that it end at makeout sessions. She was proving more resilient in that way than he’d initially pegged her for.
It made for an interesting obstacle, but one he was confident he could overcome given enough time.
He’s also visited his blonde telekinetic friend in the hospital from time to time. Bringing playing cards to teach her various games, the most prominent being poker, while jokingly leaving a future game of strip poker mostly unspoken. It seemed to be her destiny to be cooped up in the hospital, it was the least he could do to help make her time in there bearable.
Aren was somebody the speedster hadn’t seen much of since being back home, but he would seek him out at some point. This morning found him passing by the gym and catching the sounds of working out. Farren was the first person he saw, and Felix had been about to continue on his way when he also spotted a familiar figure and smirked. Walking into the room quietly, he settled onto one of the benches against the wall and leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed, and legs outstretched and crossed in front of him.
“That was a good solid hit, you should try moving more though instead of staying planted in front of your target. Makes you easier to hit when you just stand there and swing. You know, bob and weave.” While the commentary had been at Gracie, he wouldn’t correct Farren if she thought it was aimed at her. “Though if you wanted to give me a free show, I won’t complain.” Adopting a perfectly innocent expression afterwards, Felix wondered just how much frustration Gracie was attempting to work off in an attempt to not find another stress relieving activity with him.
He was honestly curious how long she could keep it up. Then, as if to tell her he wasn't that interested in what she was doing, Felix took a moment to make a show of sending Aurelie a message. "How are you feeling today blondie? You about to get out yet? How about that special game of poker?" Pouring copious amounts of amusement into the last detail, he looked back towards the two ladies working out and gave them the thumbs up. "You're doing just, wonderful. A solid six out of ten."
(OOC: PM me if I missed something.)
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 5:05 am
[ ʈ | ɦ | ҿ ➸ S | i | z | e | - | S | h | i | f | t | i | n | g ]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Making a shelter out of his body for the others had been more instinct than anything else, but he ground his teeth as debris sliced into his back. Daylia offered even more of a blanket of protection by letting anything that rolled underneath him went straight through the group. While he had never really considered how their abilities could work together, he was more than happy to see that they paired well. Sizing down a few feet so that he wouldn’t get a crick in the neck, Aren punched a hole in the wall where he had thought he heard yelling. Much to his dismay, the panicked voices were not his imagination, and the scene that unfolded before them caused his stomach to churn.
Wraith and Siege were definitely out for the count, with the former toting quite the badge of war near his eye. Lachlan appeared as though someone had put him through a meat grinder and Auggie looked no better. Resigning to helping the Alphas collect themselves, the native muttered something along the lines of a change in plans, and Daylia nodded. “At least they have a few still up and potentially…” He hesitated to dub any of them useful at this point. They were obviously spent. “Able to help cover all these people if we take our time.”
As if some sadistic god above was listening in on their compromise, the alarms sounded again, this time alerting everyone to a self-destruct sequence. Scowling at the ear-splitting noises, he bit out a reply that was meant for no one in particular… But he’d stand by it. A self-destruct in thirty seconds definitely made things worse. Citing that it was probably a good thing that they hadn’t initially followed Roland and his group of victims out, Aren shrugged at the Chameleon’s response. “If nothing else, he’s resilient. Like a cockroach.” Meaning, he’d survive even if he hadn’t wanted to work with the team.
Making a quick plan on the fly, Aren suggested that Auggie lift her near lifeless body into the air and D pass them through the building’s walls to get them outside with risk of aggravating their abundant injuries. His ability to keep them afloat would be far less jarring than carrying them out. Lachlan passed a knocked out Aurie to him, and he’d been prepared to carry her out when gravity pulled her upward. Instead, he bent down and picked up Wraith, Alpha’s newest member. “Nice meeting you, dude.” He said to the unconscious body. Pretending that he was still awake, he continued. “I’m Measure, and not because I ‘measure’ to size.” He got nothing in response, not that he expected to. “I’m sure you’re far more entertaining awake, don’t worry. We all have those dead moments.”
**
His afternoon sandwich spread was the stuff of legend. Turkey, chicken, ham, some hamburger patties, several kinds of cheese… He only wished he could eat like this once he returned home. Salivating as he stacked each layer, he barely listened to the tv playing in front of him for the time being - a feat in and of itself, considering he’d found a streaming thing that had all the episodes of Rick and Morty.
He half-heartedly offered some when he heard a passerby behind him, but decided he’d make good on the offer when he saw that it was Alice. Returning her grin with his own lopsided one, he lifted his shoulders toward his ears. “I was hungry… everything sounded good.” Meaning that he really hadn’t been able to decide on one of the options. “So, rather than potentially being disappointed because I wound up choosing the wrong thing…” With a dip of his head, he motioned toward the food before him, letting her fill in the blanks.
“Nice haircut.” He said, chocolate-imbued eyes taking note of the change in her appearance. Putting a hand through his own mop, he sighed. “I’m done with those. Once my hair is long again, I’ll probably be ready to go home.” There was a longing in his voice that he couldn't quite hide - not that he necessarily wanted to. Everyone close to him knew that his tribe called to him, that he didn't think he was long for the white man's world. "A few of the girls in my tribe had a fit when they saw that I cropped it." He explained, his expression making it clear that he did not appreciate their nagging. "So before I go home, it needs to be down to my shoulders again, or I'll have to live where they can harp on and on about it every day." At least now when they boo-hooed about it, he could simply hang up the Skype call.
[[you are not expected to read the stuff here. it was more for me to know her process than for anything useful.]]
Coma dreams never made a patient feel rested. Her realities made zero sense in her unconscious state, as the timeline of her life blended together in a way that was jumbled and out of order. She’d beared down as she tried in vain to contain the sentinel’s self-destruct sequence, knowing a half a second before that doing so would be her last act in their war against the machines. She knew the consequences of letting something blow up within her telekinetic shields; she did it anyway. For her team. To keep them safe.
Were she more like her best friend in nature, she would have simply bubbled herself and let the explosion take the rest of the Alphas. No doubt Kat would have wanted her to do so, to finally put her safety above the others she worked with. And though the shape shifter had made Aurelie more assertive and instilled the tiniest bit of much-needed confidence in her… the former ballerina’s core values remained unchanged.
Squeezing her eyes shut as the robot exploded, she wrenched out a harrowing scream as she poured all of her mental acuity into holding steady, not letting her shields drop, despite how it felt as though a thousand knives diced the inside of her skull. For a moment, the blond thought she accomplished her goal, as the intensity of the original detonation lessened considerably, dying into something manageable, something that wouldn’t necessarily kill them. But as the aftershock crashed against the invisible walls her mind had built, it proved too much. For the second time since joining the Alphas, her shields shattered, and all the protection in the world couldn’t save her brain from shutting down to nearly nothing.
There was excruciating pain that felt endless, promising to stretch into forever. And then, there was nothing.
**
Her mind took her back to the day of her last audition, to the applause from the audience for her showcase. She could feel the smile on her face as she stared up at the judges in the back row, knowing that she’d secured her place in the world of ballet. But then it melted into her expulsion for being a mutant. Labelled a cheat and an unnatural, heinous excuse for a human, uncontrollable tears raced down her cheeks as she pleaded with the board. Her powers meant nothing; her accomplishments were her own. She earned her place with the New York ballet. She shrank to the size of an ant under their judgment as her boundless crying made a river whose rapids threatened to drown her.
And from there, a void took her. An abyss of darkness, silence… even when she called out for someone to find her, her voice was gone - nonexistent, as though someone had ripped her vocal chords right out of her throat. She reached to feel her neck, to make sure her body still existed, but just before her hand could confirm, the scenery changed again.
This time, she saw the lake where she and Leo sat after she’d dragged him from the bottom, thinking he was dying. Here she felt peaceful, at ease because this place was simple, tranquil. The grass beneath them felt cool against her skin, the wind carried the sweet scent from the floral gardens not far off. Holding her knees to her chest, her chin rested on her arms as she stared out at the tiny ripples in the water. She listened to his promises, his stories and was content to stay in this stasis for eternity. Working up the courage, Aurelie whispered her feelings for the mimic, admitting that he held a place dear in her heart - that every time he came near her, butterflies threatened to tear her asunder. “I know you’ve felt it, this…” She motioned between the two of them. “Chemistry.” She’d been drawn to him the first day on the team, even before he saved her from the advances of the creepy toad boy. He’d not lasted long with the blue and blacks, and she had always wondered if Leo had appealed to have him removed from the team after that mess.
Fixated on his profile, she waited with a baited breath for his response, never more nervous in her life. When he turned his face, his oceanic gaze collided into hers, his body twisted into a misshapen, acidic-looking figure, void of color and full of rot. The smell of death emanated from him, and it stole the air from her lungs out of shock. Everything that happened after those promises flooded her - him holding hands with Bella, her heart sank into an icy stomach at the reminder, how she felt when she realized that what she thought she felt, had never been there. He never saw her as anything more. “Only someone brain-damaged like Dom ever would.” The voice stated matter-of-factly. Why would Leo ever see her with their perfect, confident leader around?
She couldn’t dwell on that remorse or the jealousy that followed because more images nudged her to remember everything else. The mimic’s fight with Katerina, the feral presence he put off in his cage when she had gone to see her best friend. “Monster!” Was all that she could manage to say, stumbling as she backtracked, attempting to retreat.
Desperately running as fast as her legs could carry her, she only looked over her shoulder once to gauge the distance, believing that she hadn’t stopped for months, years. He wasn’t there. A frown shaped her countenance and she squinted in an attempt to see further, to know for sure that she’d left him behind - only for her to crash into him, somehow in front of her. Glancing up when she mustered the courage, his malicious smile promised her end, his pointed teeth in rows like a shark, riddled with cavities and decay. Gasping, she shook her head and took a step backwards, but he was there too. Swiveling around in a circle, she realized a hundred copies of the monstrous figure surrounded her. He was everywhere and not there all at once. Oblivion blanketed all that once was, leaving her once again in a chasm of pitch black. “You didn’t read my letter.” With that, they all disappeared and a familiar envelope fluttered down into her hands. Though she couldn’t see them, she felt the monsters watching, hovering. “I didn’t want to.” She whispered, tearing the envelope in tiny pieces that fell into the nothing. “You weren’t who I thought you were.” She rationalized, more angry than hurt - a contradiction to how she had felt just before he disappeared and broke the promise he made at the lake that day.
The blond felt them nod, could feel their glower. “You mean we aren’t WHAT you thought we were.” They accused, their tone scalding enough to brand her the villain. She betrayed them. Choking, tears filled her eyes to the brim but they never spilled over as she fought against assuming the blame. Their voice filled her chest to the point that she couldn’t draw in air, and she flailed, swinging her arms to fight an invisible force she had no hope of defeating. I don’t want to die here!
Wheezing, heaving, the nothingness around her became a vacuum, giving her nothing to survive. Falling to her knees, she clutched her chest as her body convulsed from lack of oxygen. Suffocating, she shook her head, stringy locks of blond hair slapping against her cheeks as the agony continued eons. She pushed out with her telekinesis, but never found anything in any direction. No! Even if Leonardo had proven himself to be a much different person than she had thought… He wouldn’t kill her. Would he?
The voices conglomerated into one. “I could.” It answered honestly, but then it released her, pushing her out of this place and into the next. Reaching toward the sky for something to hold onto, Aurelie couldn’t stop herself from falling.
Her mind traveled dozens of places, always different but still always parallel to the next in that she relived her regrets in an obscure form of torture. The mall, the people she failed to save. Dominik Edipova, her mom’s hatred of what she was. Her last day on the Corsairs, discovering her ballet partner cheating… Watching Isabella treat Katerina unfairly. None of it went in any sort of order, but served to emphasize all of her failures, until she found herself lost in something entirely unique.
Like the rest, there seemed to be no depth to this reality. It had no beginning, no limit to how long she could fall. There was nothing beyond the space around her, save for a whirl of black and white, circling beneath her in a mesmerizing rotation. Both in the vortex and above it, her thoughts were no longer her own. Timeless, she felt her sanity slip as the contradicting sensations continued.
Why are you here? Something asked.
She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Flashes of the sentinel fight darted past her conscience, a hair’s breadth away for her to comprehend. Stretching toward the ideas, they felt as though she could touch them if only she could…. Her hand reached toward them, believing those glimmers to be tangible, but they always seemed just a little further.
She must have been suspended in this place for a century, forever grasping at answers to the question that echoed within the walls of her skull. Why are you here? Spellbound by the hypnotic circle below, the images ceased to matter. The question continued, but the voice that asked it slowly transformed into something almost familiar. The more she listened, the more she heard, despite the hypnosis telling her that sound did not exist. No, it insisted that she would fall forever.
“There’s nothing more I can do.” A man’s voice, above her. “The rest of the damage isn’t physical.” Was that defeat she heard? Frustration? What was damaged? She could feel the man’s presence leave her in a rush. Why did none of this make sense?
The swirling continued, enthralling her as the question that hung, unanswered became more demanding. A thousand voices asked, but as she watched the vortex below, she had no inkling of what, or even how to say it.
A different man, this one teasing. “You should wake up. We’ll play poker…” A pause, as if considering a notion. “I’ll teach you how.”
More demands, her brain felt hazy, as though it wasn’t her own. Just borrowed. Someone bit out that she needed to stop playing the martyr, put herself first. It sounded… Italian?
“We’re moving. Ensure she’s stable enough for the trip.” Was she… the she? Whispers of thoughts brushed her conscience but she couldn’t form the words. Who was moving? From where? Did she know these voices?
Another voice, this one soft, different. It came from within, sort of. “Aurelie…” Is that me? She couldn’t remember; so many regrets.
“Aurelie.” It repeated the name, only this time it came from within the center of the circle. “Wake up.” The command stirred a part of her, and the pieces so long out of reach fell into place. In that instant, her brain caught up with the voice, understood what it wanted from her. Her eyes moved beneath closed eyelids, and she exhaled her body’s relief from the mental agony as her sanity started to take hold.
Opening her mouth to speak, her voice croaked from disuse. “Did” She choked back tears from the sweet sound of sound, silently thanking God for letting her live, for letting her out of the trap her mind had devised. She even gave thanks to the aches and pains that persisted as she tried once more to ask what was on the forefront of her mind. “Did I do it? Our team.. They made it out of the blast, right?”
**
Soon after, she really started to wake up from the nightmarish hell of her coma, learning that she had been out for just two and a half weeks. It seemed so short a time compared to how much had passed in the depths of her brain. Since leaving the sentinel base, the mansion on Gray Malkin had officially been rebuilt; her bed in the infirmary was next to a real window with real sunshine.
Over the next few days, she didn’t have a want for visitors - Katerina, Felix and numerous others had come to check in her. The ex-hydra agent of course had not been subtle in her displeasure over Aurie’s sacrifice, but the telekinetic adamantly argued that it couldn’t be helped. Without protecting them from the blast, they likely all would have died. Felix of course played the cad under the guise of teaching her how to play poker, not-so-secretly hoping for a game that involved stripping once she got the hang of the rules.
The other important visitor had not been one anyone else could see. Jean was working to help heal her mentally, assist in rebuilding the shields she’d ‘carelessly’ shattered again. Day by day, with a lot of rest, which was more than what she could say for Elixir, who was still in his own coma from over-exerting himself. His bed wasn’t far from her own, which ultimately made her feel even more guilty. A lot of what he healed had been her team. Even though she had saved them from the initial blast, the second wave that followed the explosion had done a considerable number on all of them, not to mention that the building collapsed on top of them just after. If she’d held on a bit longer, perhaps none of them would be in the shape they were.
Her own list of injuries was extensive; she’d stolen the chart at the end of her bed to have a looksie the first time she didn’t feel groggy. From the explosion alone, she suffered a sprain in her right wrist, several femoral breaks in her right leg, a grade three concussion, second and third degree burns on 25% of her body, six crushed ribs, Bywaters’ syndrome and apparent kidney damage, a pulverized sternum, lactic acidosis as a result of being crushed, deep tissue abrasions, and compartment syndrome and a punctured lung. She was incredibly lucky that the ribs on her left side hadn’t collapsed into her heart, especially with her sternum in so many pieces. And even luckier that Thomas had been on the jet to administer first aid as soon as Daylia and Auggie got her to him. Without his blood, she would never have made it back to Elixir at all.
Eating a sandwich brought to her on a bed tray, she waved a still wrapped wrist as Roland wheeled over. Finishing her bite, she chuckled at his greeting. “I do. Thankfully.” She answered honestly, sapphire eyes shimmering with the truth of that. This was her second brush with death in the last year because she insisted on doing the right thing.
The would-be ballerina outright laughed when Roland mentioned the speedster. “He definitely has been a good friend to visit.” She said, a smile making her lips curve prettily as she joked. “Though his motives could be questionable. He mentioned strip poker last time he was in.” Her eyes widened a fraction as she pretended to consider it. “I haven’t quite got the rules pegged for Texas Hold’Em yet.” Glancing askance at the deck of cards on her bedside table, suspicion laced her voice. “I think he keeps changing the rules on me, so that I’ll think something is good when it really isn’t.” No doubt a confused Aurelie would lose the game, and that would make the Omega’s speedster all too happy with the results. “And then when I finally agree to play with those stakes, he’d teach me the real rules and I’ll be a sucker.” She was half-teasing at the notion; the other part of her had to wonder if he’d do something that devious.
Nodding at his chair, she opened her pudding cup and then tossed him the extra. “I see you’re still on the mend too. You still seem pretty capable though. Rumor has it that you single-handedly saved over ten people from their cages.” She didn’t have to feign how impressed she was; that he’d sacrificed himself for people he didn’t know was commendable in her book.
“Once Joshua wakes up again, he’ll be able to finish the job.” But who knew how long that would be? From her understanding, most of the Alphas had come back, barely hanging by a thread, and Roland had been no better. Plus with all the victims inside the base… They’d run him clear to the point of exhaustion. “I mean, if he was able to grow Prodigy’s heart…” Surely something as simple as a spinal injury would be cake.
Thomas had said he’d basically only healed the life-threatening injuries, merely putting out the fires as they came at him. That was why he’d not regrown Wraith’s eye, or been able to fix Roland’s spine yet.
Speaking of the devil seemed to cause him to remember her, and the speaker on her comm broadcasted Felix's voice. Since her headaches hadn't quite let up, she had not bothered to put it back in her ear - simply choosing to leave it on speakerphone instead. "How are you feeling today blondie? You about to get out yet? How about that special game of poker?"
A wry smile painted itself onto her lips despite his lack of subtlety. Pressing the button to respond, it was evident in her tone that she was shaking her head in admonishment. "You're relentless." But even as she denied the 'special game' once again, she couldn't stop herself from snickering. "I'm not officially discharged yet. The nurse said they are going to follow up with me at some point today, explain my restrictions and be alright."
Grinning over at Roland, it was clear that she didn't take his teammate seriously. Felix was a flirt. She doubted he meant anything by it. "Constant conquest, that one."
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:31 am
Luci kept her eyes on the vegetables in her pan, tossing them to mix the vegetables and the oils before reaching over for her small bowl with a mix of spices, sprinkling them into the pan before tossing again. She listened to Blake as he explained that the choice was sure that she would be part of the team. Her feelings were torn. She was happy that she had even been offered to become part of the X-Men, but she was still hesitant.
He went on to describe what Aren and Daylia had said about her during the situation back at the labs. She was honored, and there was a slight pink tone gracing her cheeks as she thought about it. She just thought she was doing what was right. There was never a moment where she would have turned her tail and ran, ignoring everyone else that was just as scared and drained as she was. As afraid she was of hurting people, she knew that despite her fears of herself or what could have happened, she had to try.
Once she was satisfied with the even coating of her vegetables, she turned to face Blake after he repeated the offer that he had made to her, “Okay, I accept. However, I want to train with you and only you. If you think I’m safe to be with the team, we can introduce the others to our training sessions. I don’t want to hurt anyone by accident and my control isn’t exactly the best. Especially after being milked like a snake for eight months. I want you to really make sure that I’m ready.” Her green eyes were on his for a long moment before turning her attention back to the stove top after his reply.
Their attention was grabbed by the redhead that had strolled into the kitchen. She glanced up and smiled at the girl before sprinkling soy sauce into the pan, coating the vegetables, and turning off the heat. She looked to Daylia once again when Blake had suggested that they share the ‘good’ news which was still subjective in her opinion. “I’ve been offered a spot on the team, your team. But, we will see how it goes, after training,” she gave Blake a pointed look to drive her opinion home.
It seemed that there was usually another woman, Gracie, in tow with Daylia often enough for Blake to ask about where she was. Luci took the opportunity to plate up herself some of the vegetables without feeling like she would have to immediately join in on the conversation. She turned and leaned her back against the counter as she started to eat. She snorted softly at the redhead’s rebuttal. She had so much sass that it was really endearing.
Luci looked between the two. It seemed like Blake had solid advice about running for the hills in the presence of both girls in the kitchen, but Daylia had a different opinion on the situation. Knowing that the others didn’t have perfect control over their abilities made Luci feel a little bit better. “C’mon. It can’t be that bad. Besides, the only way you can learn how to cook is by trying and either failing and learning what mistakes you made, or trying and doing a great job and perfecting it. The only reason I can even cook is that I had to start cooking for myself when my powers surfaced.” Not to mention most of her family didn’t want anything to do with her and barely wanted to feed her. Luckily, her decision to become vegetarian lightened her burden on them since meat can be expensive.
xx
like a wild fire
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Norse Princess Crew
Desirable Phantom
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:18 am
Alice had to give credit where credit was due. The spread of sandwich fillings was beyond impressive. There was enough variety to feed a family reunion. She took to the food that had been offered, especially since it was coming from a teammate. Building up her own impressive sandwich, she joked with the Native. “So you are eating for two.” Most she knew about pregnancy was the crazy cravings.
She plopped down on the flood in front of the coffee table, pretzeling her legs beneath her. She grinned up at him like a child when he complimented her haircut. “Thanks. I think I’m getting pretty good at it.” The lines between where her hair had be shaved and where the rest was left long were clean and straight. There was no odd medium length hair, and none that had been missed by the razor that stuck out in every direction along the part. She had thought about braiding it before coming down, but it wasn’t really necessary today. Instead, she left her hair in its natural wavy mess. Where her head was smooth, the rest was blonde and a little frizzy from the air-dried waves.
She looked like the definition of low maintenance.
Aren had mentioned his own hair while putting his fingers through it. His hair was always thick and dark, but kept short probably because long hair in a fight was a pain in the a**. She knew from experience. She took a bite of her sandwich and barely managed to swallow it down before she started talking. “That’s awesome, dude. I’ll miss the hell outta you though. But seeing you with long hair will be awesome and you gotta remember to come back and visit. I can’t be the only one keeping the Rhinestone Cowboy in check all the time.”
Aren could be just as sassy as her if he wanted to.
“Man, wish I got that kind of attention.” She made a face before taking another bite. “I’m starting to get the feeling most guys around don’t like when a girl can kick their a**,” she said with food in her mouth, barely caring about presentation at this point. Aren wasn’t going to judge her for it. She swallowed down her food before pulling a piece of chicken out of the clutches of the bread and popped it into her mouth.
Most of the time Alice acted like it didn’t bother her. But being around Blake all the time and seeing his own failed non-relationship with the Siren from hell was getting to her. Not that there was a ton of dating going on around, but still. A girl had dreams. Or something. At least to get her mind off of the fights between missions. But then again, maybe the feeling of being back in the mansion was making her soft. She knew that she had to tread lightly. The closer she became to someone, the more likely they would get hurt or killed, and then she would have to deal with the feeling of loss all over again.
She took another bite of her food, “You really plannin’ on going back home, though?” She wasn’t the kind of person that got homesick. She didn’t really have a home to go back to. The mansion was her home. And now that she was here, she was ready to protect it better than she did before.
xx
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:19 am
s**t was already bad, and it was about to get worse. The sentinels had one last fight in them, and no matter what they tried, there wasn’t going to be anything to stop it. The self-destruction of the robot killing machines was a last ditch effort to take them all out at once. When he was told to release his old on the sentinel, August did just that, trying to get out of the way as fast as he could for Lachlan to do what he did best.
The explosion was a hard one. He tried his best to shield his face as Aurelie tried to contain the explosion. Even in all her glory, she was just as tired as they were and the block wasn’t enough. Her shields couldn’t contain the blast. The wave sent August back, shrapnel flying with him. He didn’t even have a chance to try to contain the explosion himself in a super-nova kind of way.
Stars glittered his vision when he hit the ground. The building was rumbling and falling apart around him as he tried to recover. Dust and flashes of black and white were making it hard to see. He sat up, or tried to when the rumbling stopped. Something held him in place, though. He blinked the dust from his eyes. His left arm came up to wipe at his face before he tried moving again.
That’s when the pain started. He grit his teeth to silence the sound that had tried escaping him before he looked over at the large chuck of cinderblock that had trapped his right arm beneath it. Panic made his heart flutter like a caged butterfly. He had to focus. His eyes stayed on the block before it started to slowly get lighter and lighter until he was able to pull his arm out from beneath it. The pain increased as the weight was lifted off of his arm and his nerves came to life. He screamed through it until he was able to get his arm out. He dropped his hold on the block and tried to get to his feet, holding his broken arm against his chest.
He heard a voice through the damage and turned in the direction of the call. His eyes fell on a member of the Omegas. He was happy to see Aren, despite the situation. He nodded at the order. “I sure as hell can try.”
------
His arm wasn’t completely healed. Even after the weeks it had been. Luckily, he was still able to use his powers to help move into the mansion. But, only if he was under enough pain killers to keep the pain from breaking in concentration. Luckily, any boxes he did drop weren’t filled with breakable s**t.
Still, he felt incredibly powerless and stir-crazy. He couldn’t work on hardly anything without having use of his dominant hand. And his already atrocious handwriting was beyond legible. But still, he could at least text, which honestly, was way more important than writing in this day and age.
August had his phone in his undamaged hand, his right arm wrapped tight in a cast and held against his chest in a sling. He managed to damage more than just his forearm. The pulling he had done to get his arm free damaged the muscles in his shoulder and made them weak enough that he could easily dislocate it if he wasn’t careful. He turned, following the halls based off of memory as he messaged back and forth on Tinder with a potential date. However, he had been trying to play off going to see anyone at this point, which lost him a few hookups. And he already felt like this 6’3 cutie was going to be the next fish to get off his line. He had a broken arm, there was no fun in having a broken arm. Most people probably would just avoid dating sites while they healed, but honestly, the chase was the only thing keeping August sane.
Another turn down the hall had his already distracted brain trailing off on memory alone. He hardly was paying attention to where he was going when he hit something. Hard. Not hard enough like he was running, but his phone dropped out of his hand when he hit an invisible wall and pain shot up from wrist to shoulder making him grit his teeth and grunt out.
He dropped to the ground, holding onto his arm. The constant ache in his armw as usually easy to cover with painkillers, but he was out and needed to get more from the medical bay before he could function on a semi-friendly level. "What. The. ********!" he growled, almost as feral as Wolverine in a moment of brutal Texan anger mixed with pain. His arm screamed, red hot in pain as he held onto it, hoping to God All-Mighty that he didn't dislocate his shoulder on top of it.
xx
a muletiny
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Satin Promises
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 1:18 pm
Location: Gym Company: Felix, Farren
“Oh sweetie, it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.”
The brunette couldn’t help but shake her head in unison with an eye roll at the trite statement. “That’s what every guy lacking in that department tells himself, hoping that the girl he’s saying it to will overlook his obvious deficit and sleep with him anyway.” She responded matter-of-factly before the giggles over took her again. Broadcasting to the entirety of the Omegas, Gracie used his direct quote to describe his member, stating that he was definitely not her inspiration in creating the statue.
Designating “Stubby” as his new name, hazel eyes narrowed when he compared her to the mojave desert. “I hope that’s in reference to my dry sense of humor.” She replied darkly, honing her focus back onto the sentinels towering in the production line. “And not your perception of my sex life, which is none of your business by the way.” Not that reminding him of that would make a difference. Sex seemed to be Felix’s favorite subject, and school was never not in session.
Blake’s joke about her not reverting the entire place into a “fun” factory caused her face to flush for the billionth time since they’d stepped off the jet. Honestly, the pair of Omega men were enough to make her want to find a hole, crawl into it, and never resurface. Not even for food. But rather than embarrassment engulf her, Gracie made the best of the situation, replying haughtily that most of the women would likely appreciate her efforts in that - considering men so seldomly did things right. Blake chuckled, revealing nothing of his own experiences; Felix once again took a jab at her apparent dry spell. “Well with a speedster, I’m guessing that once we figured out where it went, maybe two seconds?” She whispered against his ear, piggybacking making the motion much easier.
Once he called her desperate though, the hex manipulator finally had enough. She slid down from his back, her nose high as she claimed she’d be happy to be the one to bring down his ego a bit. Grabbing his shoulder, he turned to face her easily enough, his expression one that said plainly that the challenge was on. That only deepened her resolve and her lips brushed against his after she pulled his head down to her level. Once she knew she had him, she pulled back enough to actually look at him, claimed she was done. The way the smirk played with his lips when she told him not to stare too hard as she walked away garnered a severe want to smack him, but she recognized the need to separate herself from anything to do with the speedster.
Proud, she lifted her chin defiantly as she started to walk away, smug. That is, until Felix wrapped his fingers around her own, tugged at her in a way that spun her back into him. The air in her lungs evaporated as she crashed into his chest and his lips met hers again. Caught off guard, she heedlessly returned his fervor for the briefest of moments before her brain caught up to what was happening. Pushing him away again, she shook her head in denial, as if the simple motion would eradicate the tinge to her cheeks, slow her now racing heart, and erase the fact that she’d forgotten herself, albeit for only a second. That would not matter to him. Shooing him, she insisted that she was done with him. She barely got the words out before she felt him pull her against him again, overtaking her sense for the second, wait third time.
He abruptly ended the kiss, pushing past her with his own glib retort. “Tempted?” Gracie asked, her voice rising to meet his challenge. “Kissing you doesn’t prove I wouldn’t say no.” Folding her arms over her chest, her lips fell into a feisty pout as her gaze flicked over him. “And believe you me, I would.”
**
Three weeks later
Being back in New York made her both nervous and happy. Nervous, because she would now be easier to find; happy because real sunlight beat out the artificial scenery every time. Since moving back, she and D chose a room together, tried four or five new recipes (that all ended up on fire, on the ceiling, or weirdly, a teddy bear), re-enrolled into college courses, and generally kept busy.
She’d also taken up kickboxing as a hobby -- intent on burning off any excess energy -- and made sport of avoiding Felix, who had, in turn, decided to counter her efforts and make a game of trying to seduce her. Kissing him at all was an obvious mistake, one she was sorely paying for now. Especially since she kept making the mistake when given the opportunity. Between that misstep and the statue, she would never forget their last mission, much as she tried to. Thankfully, no one had really caught onto the latter; Felix had been discreet thus far. She guessed that his decision to keep quiet had more to do with the fact that he’d not succeeded than it did caring a whit for her embarrassment levels.
Her earbuds in, Gracie tucked her ipod in the hidden pocket at the small of her back as she walked into the gym. Nodding at Farren, she donned her gloves and took the bag next to her teammate’s. As “I Don’t Need a Man” started playing, she made several rapid jabs, finding a rhythm that was sure to exhaust her. She didn’t notice the speed demon make his way in until he took a seat on the bench to watch them. Turning her back to him, she grimaced when she realized she forgot the mirror wouldn’t allow for her to totally ignore his presence.
“That was a good solid hit, you should try moving more though instead of staying planted in front of your target. Makes you easier to hit when you just stand there and swing. You know, bob and weave.”
“I’ll show you a bob and weave.” She grumbled, before grabbing her iPod to adjust the volume in an attempt to drown him out. “Go away, Felix. Neither of us need you as a coach.” Tucking it back in place, Gracie made a sidekick against the bag before looking over at the pretty brunette near her. “Feel free to punch him instead.” Her southern lilt made it sound a little more light-hearted than she intended, and paired with her smile, it would have been fair for Farren to think there was no malice behind it.
If he thought to get a jealous rise out of her by initiating a conversation with the Alpha’s telekinetic, he was sorely mistaken. All it did was disappoint her that the earbuds didn’t have a noise cancellation effect. “I think I need to buy new headphones.” She muttered when she saw Felix’s reflection give them a thumbs up. Striking the bag with a cross, she kept her focus on her target, hoping to ignore the new bane of her existence entirely.
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:37 pm
He was used to having to move around. First, he was basically a hermit dwelling in the sewers of Dallas with his dear ol' father and a few Morlocks. Not by choice, clearly as he was among the few mutants who had the grace to still look very much normal, but there was a pale batshit crazy scientist who came clad with a crimson diamond on his forehead out to experiment on either him or his father mostly, huge emphasis on the latter. Then came the slight chase when being above ground from what he liked to call backwoods sheltered in-breds complete with being bible gun-toting idiots. Those were the Friends of Humanity and lets just say a little girl got too close to comfort out in Dallas and Marcel was made everyone's wishes come true of having a Water Park come close to home. Total accident, of course, but he was already on the run the night before so Marcel was completely on the fritz to begin with. While he would like to say that his adventures of danger ended there, oh no. They had just begun the second that famous black jet came down from the skies offering him asylum at a safe haven for mutants. Oh, the irony given in those words right there. And why exactly would he wish to think upon such rowdy escapades? Well, Marcel made it his sort of thing to jot down everything within a journal every chance he got.
There was no real particular reason other than for his own sake to be quite honest. Bobby Drake had recommended it to him when said man of ice would often desire to write out to his parents about either his powers or even telling them the truth about his status of being out of the closet. Marcel had nobody to write home to, but he casually wrote everything out as if he were. That's what he was doing at the time, the African-American male walking down the halls to not only write out to ghosts about everything he's encountered so far, starting from his first fight with the Brotherhood's resident Pyromaniac at the mall with the prom in the middle to all the way down to what occurred with the Sentinels, but to also examine the new layout of the institute itself. If anyone loved making their own personal blue prints to compare with the school's actual map in an effort to see how well detailed he made his own, it was Marcel, but...he did like to multi-task. As a result, his headsets were on, casually playing music at a slight low level to even having his face buried with the journal and pen. That should have been an easy write off all on its own, right? Well, not quite.
Initially, he was finishing up what had occurred just a few weeks back within the journal. He jotted down every recollection to memory he could muster, starting from their arrival on the jet to fighting Sentinels that refused to go down without a fight. He had put himself to his limits, but unlike the past few encounters, suffice to say, he was not badly injured. Exhausted and fatigue had gotten the best of him this time around. Marcel dealt with some of the Sentinels that came their way, defending his teammates and even playing the resident water man by short circuiting robotic heads to prevent them from rebooting back up and continuing the fight. He played defense for the most part, though a part of him actually wanted to join in on the offensive fun. Curse him, his heart at times and that mini-sentinel who just refused to leave them alone. As he finished writing that last detail, his body jolted with alert from something loud.
At first, he assumed the sound he heard came from his headset. It was loud and if he had to draw comparisons, it had to be the equivalent to the utter duress of a sick cat in heat as if it were fighting for its life all at the same time. Either that, or it was Wolverine being in a very sour mood. While he probably shouldn't be scared, it totally sent his heart racing when he pulled his headset off to hear the sounds again. Marcel took a deep breath as he walked down the hallway just a little bit more with slow caution as some form of anxiety began to build, turning down a few corners to single out the source of the loud sound. He didn't jump with a scream of his own, gladly, and it wasn't a raging cat that might have been Sabertooth coming to visit Logan on his annual day of birth. Marcel had heard the stories, but personally never witnessed it himself, thankfully. He had gone through so much to become a victim of some feline's stark raving horror games to play. It wasn't even Logan himself going out for blood. Who it was instead was someone who probably had a temper on their level and Marcel would only know due to working with him before on top of having to deal with the Tinbuckets themselves in their final lair. Why, it was August and to say he was pissed was quite the far cry from his he was visibly looking at the moment and if Marcel could take a few guesses, it had something to do with his arm.
"Gee, are you alright," Marcel asked as he approached the other with caution and in doing so, his dark brown eyes noticed August seemed to be up against an invisible force. It was like one of the illusionist's that played a trick. At a certain angle, the naked human eye could be easily deceived, but thanks to one tatted and totally pissed off gravity user, the hallway before him seemed a bit...off. Marcel pulled off a similar trick a while back with the mist during their game of deadly laser tag, but there was a difference in using the fog and reflections to vaguely project something compared to seeing a hallway that only appeared to be slightly off due to August being up close to something that could not be seen. If that didn't give it off, the phone certainly did, barring the fact that he totally wasn't -he really was- paying attention to what was on it, rather the fact that like August, it had seemingly bumped up against what should be another path down the hallway.
He casually pressed his finger against the "hallway" as if to test what he was garnering in his head and that itself pressed against a hard surface. Whether a prank or not, someone was going to get it. While he was totally concerned about August in hopes he might not have injured himself further, Marcel was also chuckling mentally at the thought.
He extended a hand forth once August seemingly gained some composure."Here, let me help you up."
Felix’s initial commentary wound up completely ignored on the former mma fighter’s end because she knew for a fact he wasn’t talking to her. She had been a semi-pro boxer and such a basic tip had long ago been instilled within her and was simply second nature to her at this juncture in time. To Farren, he was a mere fly on the wall, a peanut gallery that offered nothing to her but a distraction and as such, she tuned him out for the most part. She was far more confident in her own knowledge on the topic than that of a stranger’s.
She bit back a chuckle, however, when Gracie threatened to show him a 'bob and a weave'. Farren could have easily pictured herself biting back with those exact same words under normal circumstances. Considering it was Felix she was dealing with, though, she couldn't help but inwardly wince at the hexer's poor choice of wording. He was undoubtedly going to twist her phrasing against her and likely make her eat them while he was at it.
Of course, the next comment he made would have been enough to make her blood boil under the right circumstances, however, she already knew of Felix’s reputation and his enjoyment of, to put it bluntly, being a d**k. She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of being genuinely upset but she wasn’t going to take the comment lying down either. However, until she was finished her routine and satisfied, she wasn’t about to turn away from her training. She’d done the same thing to Alice when they had met at the pool, although Alice hadn’t attempted to goad her into conversation by trying to enrage her.
Luckily for Felix, Farren was generally pretty aloof and good natured. His comment more or less slid off her back the same as a stream of water would have. And again, she offered no response or comment to his goading, at least for the time being.
She landed a few more near flawless combinations that remained in perfect rhythm and sync with the previous set before the Speedster had arrived, then just as suddenly, she stopped. The petite brunette closed her cerulean eyes briefly and inhaled softly before serenely stepping away from the bag and exhaling with tranquility. Her knowledge and awareness of the area she had to work with seemed almost intimate considering her eyes were closed yet she seemed to instinctively know the layout of the gym, even in such a short time.
After stepping away from the bag and opening her eyes, Farren gave Gracie a wry smirk upon receiving her blessing to punch Felix, albeit a rather cheery sounding one, cheery enough it almost seemed eerie. "Something tells me," Farren commented as she shamelessly sized Felix up, "I might make him cry if I were to punch him. And it'd be a damn shame to rough up a pretty face. I'm honored all the same, though, that you'd give me permission to knock out your boy toy."
Next she turned to Felix, finally deciding to acknowledge his existence by offering a smug smirk and wink to the speedster that was telling in itself: he wasn’t about to get under her skin, not when she had the high ground. And she certainly wasn't about to let him ruin her relaxing workout. “That’s quite alright, princess. You just sit your little tush down and make yourself comfortable on the sidelines. You can even project your commentary and make out in the middle of a life or death situation while the 6/10 big girl takes care of it all for you. Don't worry, big ol' mama Farren's got you, sweetie.”
“Never did get a thank-you, though. Rather ungrateful if you ask me.” She shook her head at him in mock disapproval before issuing an over exaggerated sigh while pretending to push up a pair of reading glasses that weren’t there.
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:52 pm
Gabriel Byrne Location: The Institute Thoughts: Sandwich
Things were a blur for Gabe at the Sentinel facility. With the energy drain, he practically passed out shortly after the rumble of the Sentinels coming forward. As things went black for him, he heard the words “self-destruct”. His final thoughts before losing consciousness were simple: Oh ******** months had passed since the fateful raid. He was informed that Trask, the mastermind behind the Master Mold, had a change of heart regarding his creations. Opting to sacrifice himself, he put an end to the machine threat. And with that they were able to come home, back to the Institute. Back to a semblance of normalcy for the X-Men. He had been out cold for what was probably a few days, but the effects were very clear. He’d burned a lot of energy, a lot more than he’d originally thought. He’d never quite used that level of power before, so the reality is that he had no true measure of control over the output. So he was focusing on rebuilding the energy reserves he’d burned to the ground, through both the shots and the healing process. While he was by far the least significant casualty, he had impeded his energy reserves even further for his recovery.
So he now spent his time eating, a lot. His meal prep for the week consisted of just making god knows how many sandwiches and stuffing them into a sack, which he would regularly dive into and scarf down the first piece of food he got his paws on. So as time marched on, he continued to eat. And walk, he came to appreciate walking around outside now that they had the ability to do so. Being cooped up in a Canadian bunker made one appreciate the things they took for granted, like sunlight and fresh air. Hell grass was something he came to enjoy, and he grew up in the damn desert.
So he wandered, carrying a sack of sandwiches and his trusty gun. After everything that had happened he was going to avoid the prospect of getting caught with his pants down again he was going to be armed, always. Besides, he was in no condition to be able to run should things go really wrong at this point. Not that he thought they were, but rather be armed and not need it than not be armed and get screwed. Making his way towards the outdoor pool, he breathed in deeply, and smiled. The injuries on his face twisting a bit with the curving of his lips. His face was littered with a series of small cuts that would eventually heal, but frankly some of them would never heal. They’d be able to tell a story of the time he helped avert an apocalypse. Good story to tell at a bar one day.
Taking in the nice day, he saw someone else by the water, waving to her while getting his sack ready for another bite. “Afternoon.” he said to her, his smile gentle, voice calm. “Mind if I join you?”
OOC: Post is blah, sorry. Let me know of any critiques please.
Relaxation began to shower Dimitri's legs that were submerged in the cool, calm water. Beside him were his tennis shoes and socks, a water bottle, dumbells, painkillers and a tennis ball hat; used to crisp his accuracy with his striking. "I know my body." Was his justification to the medical staff that tried to put him on a recovery regimen after the sentinel facility. He stared at the bottom of the pool, quiet just like himself. Inside of his head was where the true conversation/concern was.
"Everytime I get close to her i feel like I'm starting from scratch. If I made it out in one piece we could have been got to Fox!"
"And what would you have done?" Glance wondered. " What could you have done? You said it yourself you haven't unlocked the rings powers yet."
"...Im getting close i can feel it."
"Dimitri we'll get to her but you can't jump the gun, not when you're this close..."
Just as close as he was to disarming the sentinel before waking up in a hospital bed a month ago. He woke up feeling discomfort and asking what had happened. He was told he was saved and made a note to thank them but when he heard her name of the names mentioned his crunched up suddenly. "She did What? Bullsh-Nnngh!" He layed back and panted heavily and curled his body when unexpected pain jolted through his stomach
"Dimitri you need to relax."
"She only did it just so she could ******** brag! Like she gave a flying ********!..." He gritted out.
"Siege Jedi, Wraith.." He painfully announced. "We gotta..." He was too exhausted, and he began to feel throbbing in his head. then he felt his eyes close heavier than normal.
Since then Dimitri had fell off of his training regimen; lacking the performamce needed until he was 100 percent. He would have gave his thanks to those that saved him, well except for one for the time being. The damage he remember being told that he had a broken right orbital bone with multiple mini fractures and dislocations in his fingers, and his left forearm needing to be placed in a cast, 16 shrapnel punctures and a concussion. Each day that passed he just tried to focus on light, light training so he be back to Playboy, not being Playbreak. But part of him wanted to get back to the social life, back to the fun days.
He looked up again, coming back to the real world and saw his infirmary friend and another one of the newbies on the team. "We're splitting that 3 ways right? He asked Siege and the cutie newbie.
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:11 pm
Rectify
Academy Infirmary
The eye roll didn’t exactly come as a surprise and neither did the snarky, dry humour. Neither gesture from Wraith was met with much of a response either way. Lachlan simply didn’t know this kid well enough to know if he was legitimately joking around, if this was simply his sense of humor or whether it was an underhanded attempt to get beneath his skin. Regardless of intent, regardless of how he perceived Wraith’s retort, he had to take it in stride. Unfortunately for him, he was expected to lead by example, something he intended to take to heart as best he could. Something he anticipated was likely to prove easier said than done.
"Good to hear you're in relatively good spirits." Like that was going to last long. It was his rather neutral comment made in response to Wraith's colander remark.
Wraith was an utterly open book when it came to displaying his utter contempt as Lachlan continued on with his lecture. It was impossible to miss the initial smirk the umbrakinetic offered contort into silent ire. The super strong mutant didn’t need to hear the shouting to know Wraith was holding back: his eye alone said it all. He could practically hear the bellows his teammate was keeping at bay likely for no other sake than to retain a spot on the team. Despite it all, though, Lachlan did not waver, his voice stern and steadfast as he delivered his warnings and responses.
“I might only be a talking piece to you but the reality of the situation is that I will be the person you are answering to from now on until your fearless leader returns. Yes, Scott asked me to do this but I’m not about to lie and say I don’t hold some of the same sentiments regarding the mission, otherwise you’d be hearing this from Scott himself. From now on, I’m held accountable for this team as a collective, including yourself, and I’m not going to hold back concerns when I clearly have a valid reason to be concerned for your own safety and that of the team’s.” Though he knew it would likely hit a sore spot with Wraith, he gestured toward the umbrakinetic’s eyepatch when explaining he had a valid reason to be concerned for his well being.
Lachlan had absolutely nothing. Sure, he might not have much to gain from admitting the truth in this instance but he wasn’t about to shy away from taking responsibility, or in this case offering Wraith the proper person to focus his anger toward. All of it would prove to be a test of both their true characters in the end, anyway.
Wraith's next statement would prove to be the first test of Lachlan's character as the umbrakinetic had the audacity to accuse Lachlan of cowering directly to his face. Lachlan's neutral expression shifted ever so slightly, eyes narrowing, jaw somewhat clenched as he paused for a moment to carefully choose his words that definitely would have been different had the circumstances also been. "Perhaps if you hadn't darted off on your own into the field oh so eager to look for a fight, you would have noticed the one happening right behind you. None of those alphas were cowering, they were dealing with a sentinel as members of a team instead of abandoning their teammates to go search for more interesting prey. The few that came after you were doing their due diligence as teammates and assuring your recklessness didn’t wind up getting you killed and you ought to thank each and every one of them, along with some of the Omegas that you’re even alive right now."
“I’m not here to argue with you, Alexander, I’m here to set forth my expectations of you: the same expectations I’m to hold for all the alphas. You can be bitter all you want, hate me if you must, but I’d rather have you alive to do so. And you’re to apologize to those that were in the corridor with you as your poorly made choices along with Gabe’s almost got the remainder of the alphas there with you killed. Do you need a list or did you pay enough attention to remember those that were ‘cowering’? I believe that was the phrasing you used.”
Lachlan's final two questions were mostly rhetorical in nature and a testament to the fact he was hardly impressed with Wraith's poorly founded accusations. Seeing as he'd said his piece and the nature of the situation, Lachlan decided it was probably best to take his leave before tension escalated into a full on shouting match or worse. They were in the infirmary, after all and here was hardly the appropriate place to make a scene. "If you have any further questions or desire to discuss or debate things further then you're free to contact me via the comms. For the time being, however, I need to make some rounds so if you'll excuse me."
Perhaps his choice to move on would be perceived as cowering too, if so, he honestly couldn't care less especially at this moment in time. Hearing Wraith so blatantly disregard the efforts of his own teammates only solidified Lachlan's resolve that forcing him to swallow his pride and apologize was the most fitting form of punishment for the child wishing to play tough guy. Of course, he didn’t expect the apologies were going to be sincere but first and foremost was the principal of the matter, that he owed his fellow team members one whether he meant it or not.
His part said and instructions issued, Lachlan decided to take his leave of the situation and made his way toward Aurelie’s room in the wing.
There was a whole list of things he meant to do, run danger room sessions, check up on the alphas that had been involved in the explosion, greet the two newest members and offer them proper introductions ... It was a little overwhelming but all he could do was take things one step at a time and for the time being, he'd chosen to prioritize those that had been involved in the explosion. The new arrivals, he was confident, could find a way to occupy their time while he concluded his rounds.
Lachlan took extra care to assure his knock on the door was just that, a simple tap from his knuckles, before cautiously opening the door to allow himself inside. He'd heard Roland's voice as he'd been coming down the hall and took the liberty to assume that meant Aurelie was currently accepting visitors. The last time he'd come by, she hadn't been conscious.
He silently stood by the door, stitched, scabbed and scarred arms crossed patiently while he allowed the two in the room to exchange greetings and banter before making his presence known. "Glad to see you're finally awake," he noted to Aurelie with a smirk before turning to Roland with a nod of his head in greeting. He didn't really know the omega but from the looks of things, he'd taken a pretty rough beating last mission himself. "I can come back if now isn't a good time."
XX【 】Name: Alexander "Lex" Magnus XX【 】Codename: Wraith XX【 】Team Affiliation: Alpha XX【 】Location: Infirmary Wing, then outside XX【 】With: Rectify, then alone XX【 】Actions: stormed off
Rectify had responded in a somewhat wooden way to Wraith’s little joke about being full of holes. A minor disappointment. Perhaps not everybody was ready for Wraith to be more than a workaholic loner. That would change in time. Then the meat of the interaction occurred. A conversation that really wasn’t one. Rectify said what he had to as a leader, a speaker box for those above him. Wraith tried to acknowledge that. He really did. Rectify hadn’t earned a seat on the umbralkinetic’s s**t list. Still, he let some venom out in his retort. Who wouldn’t? Prostrating himself to people that refused to do as they were told worth a damn. Still, he managed to keep his voice at a conversational level. No yelling or making a scene. That wouldn’t help. After all, this was a messenger, and there are phrases about not shooting that one, right? Rectify was stoic through the retort, he didn’t let this all get personal. For that, Wraith was glad. Of course, in any discussion there is give and take. The new leader gave, then it was Wraith’s turn. Now the pendulum moved back the other way again, and Wraith had to listen. He opened with the fact that he was the leader now. That was already established. In fact, Wraith only remained listening because this guy was the one in charge. Evidently the messenger agreed with the message, and that was where things began to unravel in Wraith’s mind. Scott was not above coming down from on high. Rectify went on to make even more of the obvious visible by mentioning he was responsible for the team for the time being. To accentuate the point, Rectify blatantly referenced the eyepatch. Wraith’s remaining eye stayed narrowed. This guy needed to stop retreading the most obvious things before he got to how the ocean was wet.
Being so close meant the two men could read each other’s subtle movements easily. Every twitch, every narrowed eye was as obvious as the sun in the sky. When Wraith was done with his view on the situation, it seemed a rebuttal came. Rectify went very professional. A move that he could appreciate. Instead of emotionally yelling over the opposition, their new leader chose to get emphatic. It seemed that they were not on the same field during the operation. Wraith remembered people covering for one another, and nobody moving forward. Rectify seemed to recall a team dealing with sentinels and being heroically stalwart in the face of danger. Danger that seemed to ignore the umbralkinetic. Wraith didn’t take a single shot until he entered the facility using a blitzkrieg technique with Siege, Playboy, and Jedi. Rectify saw a person ignoring the team and choosing to find ‘more interesting prey.’ A long slow exhale came from the one-eyed mutant as he willed himself to remain silent. The incredible difference between the two accounts meant that they were not likely to find common ground on this. Unlike a normal argument however, this guy was in charge. Once again, he was convinced this wasn’t a conversation. The subjective nature of their accounts were simply incompatible. In a military organization, the one with higher rank is believed. In this case, he had less than a chance of getting anybody to back him up.
Rectify continued that he wasn’t there to argue. That much was painfully obvious. The only argument he did offer was when called ‘Alexander,’ the man immediately corrected his opponent “Wraith.” Evidently this little exchange was meant to set expectations. He invited bitterness and hate, but expected compliance. Wraith’s snide question got an answer, and a pointed jab as though he didn’t remember everybody that was in that hall. It wasn’t insulting to have the cowering comment mentioned again. It was insulting to assume Wraith wasn’t grateful for every soul that actually did what he knew had to be done. Met with stony silence, Rectify decided to move on and gave the professional ending to their encounter. Invitations to meet via comms? Not bloody likely. Invite the whole institute to another round of brow-beating was not something Wraith intended to do. His fists clenched hard enough to make his knuckles white and draw a drop of blood from his fingernails, Wraith chose to turn on his heel and walk away with a strained voice of “Sure, Herr Commandant.” It was all he could muster without going on another tirade. The last one was done in a speaking voice. This one would be as much screaming as growling out the lunacy of this situation. He was ordered to attack, he did so. Now he was to apologize to those that did act as a team and attacked as ordered! Unable to see the forest for the proverbial trees, neither of them seemed to understand the depth of the other. Rectify was doing what he must as a leader despite not wanting to take the job. Wraith was doing what his heroes and team should have done, and being punished for it. At least, that was how he saw things. Apparently he was the only one to see it that way. Unable to wrap his head or his hate around that revelation, he walked away and headed outside.
It wasn’t until he was in the sunlight that he began to realize where his thoughts were going. His anger and outrage was mingling with his experiences and realize he was beginning to consider unthinkable things. In the weeks he had been recovering, Wraith had ample free time. That had led to some realizations and revelations. For instance, his ability seemed to focus on two specific criteria. First, he needed an area that was devoid of full-light. The less light, the better. A place away from any light source would be best. Secondly, he needed an area that was devoid of solid or liquid material. A place that was filled with gas only. This was a rather broad set of items, but the fact remained that he was now aware of precisely where his powers could manifest. Additionally, one of the last gasps of strength his shadows had on the operation was to feel for gaps in the arm of a human-sized sentinel and pull the arm over a bit. He made shadows inside somebody, relatively speaking, solid and moved them. That raised rather disturbing implications for him against more living targets. Humans had gaps too. Wraith paused in the sunlight and just stood there as the pieces came together again. The digestive and respiratory systems in particular had significant enough pockets of gas to feel for. It would take longer than a moment to find them, but invariably the existed. Wraith was not above the idea of doing something like an inverted puppet master. In his anger, he had begun to consider causing more than a little discomfort for Rectify. It wasn’t the revelation that he could that made Wraith pause. It was that he wanted to.
Could he do something like that? Could he really bring himself to causing significant bodily harm to another mutant? Even then, he didn’t really consider Rectify a teammate. The effort was made, but situations didn’t line up. If anything, Rectify seemed to be an enemy he had to tolerate. Somebody that was more in-keeping with what it meant to be an X-man. But that brought to the forefront the nature of the talk. Wraith was in mission limbo. Until he tracked down and apologized to those in the corridor with him, he was barred from danger room sessions and missions. At the moment, he wanted to go and tell Rectify to shove his apology and missions. From his perspective, Wraith attacked as was ordered. He covered people out in the field as best he could. He followed the damned rules, but by not following them the same way as others, he was being singled out. Did he even want to be a part of that bullshit?! Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be an X-man. He never idolized Cyclops, Storm, or the others. His heroes were gone, and he was left with those that opposed them. And that came full circle . . . he wanted to use his powers to cause more than a little discomfort to those in his way. He just had the misfortune to have sentinels as his first sortie. It was even more unfortunate that they confirmed the theory of more insidious uses of his powers, opening the door for those in his way . . . here. He had spent so much time reading to try and get a better feel for his place. Reading up on anatomy to know where to go looking for pockets of shadow. Reading up on team profiles to get a better feel for powers and affiliations here at the institute. Reading up on gun maintenance and operation as he redefined his role on a battlefield. Front lines suited him poorly, but perhaps as sniping position would be more advantageous?
In his anger, he had walked away from Amp, and would have to apologize to her later. That was something he knew he did wrong and had no issue saying sorry over. He began walking around again, aimless, using the physical activity to drive out his anger. Over and over he mentally screamed outrage at the thought of an apology. Even if he was walking normally and acting as stoic as he could, he was beyond pissed off! Eventually, he noticed people not too far away, hanging out together. Three from what he could tell. Wraith nearly avoided them when he recognized two of the three. Siege and Playboy. Those were faces he didn’t mind seeing again. It took him longer to recognize Chi-Chi. Still, he hesitated. Did he want to subject them to his foul mood? And what of her? Would she even want to see him? The last they spoke she was quite upset with him and that was definitely something he didn’t want to repeat.
Things were a blur for Gabe at the Sentinel facility. With the energy drain, he practically passed out shortly after the rumble of the Sentinels coming forward. As things went black for him, he heard the words “self-destruct”. His final thoughts before losing consciousness were simple: Oh ******** months had passed since the fateful raid. He was informed that Trask, the mastermind behind the Master Mold, had a change of heart regarding his creations. Opting to sacrifice himself, he put an end to the machine threat. And with that they were able to come home, back to the Institute. Back to a semblance of normalcy for the X-Men. He had been out cold for what was probably a few days, but the effects were very clear. He’d burned a lot of energy, a lot more than he’d originally thought. He’d never quite used that level of power before, so the reality is that he had no true measure of control over the output. So he was focusing on rebuilding the energy reserves he’d burned to the ground, through both the shots and the healing process. While he was by far the least significant casualty, he had impeded his energy reserves even further for his recovery.
