|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:06 pm
✖▐ A C A D E M Y: Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Esc; Don't lose Ctrl xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx▃▃ ✖ ▐ S t o r y ↓ ▃▃▃▃▃▃ ▃▃▃▃▃▃▃xxxxxxxThe world has become a place that is increasingly difficult to survive for those with gifts. Mutants that have not followed the demands of the Registration Act are being actively hunted down by Sentinels, SHIELD, and the MRD. Mutants that have followed the new laws are being evaluated in holding camps to have their threat level assessed.
If the mutant is classified as too dangerous to be returned back to society they are never released. They are kept in whereabouts unknown. It is speculated that they are tested upon in labs to increase the scientific communities knowledge of the X-Gene and how it develops such fantastical mutations. The strongest mutants are often held in deplorable conditions that are akin to concentration camps. Few ever escape or are released to see their family and friends ever again.
The X-Men are currently operating out of an underground facility beneath Alkali Lake in Canada. They are doing what they can to help mutants in need across the United States. That is the only country that has sentinels legalized, and the Registration Act, legalized. Politics dictate that the other world powers aren't far behind. They use a twin machine to Cerebro that is located in the sub-levels of the devastated X-Mansion on Greymalkin Lane as well as information sent by informants to find and aid victims of this event.
Scott Summers, Cyclops, is training one of his subordinates on how their rescue missions work so that they can be performed with the Junior X-Men teams. Their target is elusive but the Headmaster of the Academy fears that he is in danger. He plans to find the technopath at all costs.
xxxxxxx▃▃ ✖ ▐ C h a r a c t e r s I n v o l v e d ↓ ▃▃▃▃▃▃ ▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ xxxxxxx 1.) Zaphiel Klein
2.) Isabella Stone
xxxxxxx▃▃ ✖ ▐ D e v e l o p m e n t s ↓ ▃▃▃▃▃▃ ▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ xxxxxxx TBA...
Coding done by The Bunit, Pics edited by Selena Lucania, Concept for thread approved by AX moderator, Angel Reaver
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:28 pm
  •••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" You know something is up when your electronics begin glitching for no obvious reason. Almost like someone uploaded a virus across a network, then a shadow flies on by, indicating a Sentinel was on the prowl. You would go out and look to see if you can identify the filthy mutant, but...nothing. Then you catch sight of a young man running along the inside of a building and weaving through doorways. That must have been the target, right? Zaphiel knew he was the target, and he thought running through the congested part of town might have slowed down the damn robots. He managed to get this far easy enough, just by hacking their visual processors to just...forget about him. He wiped their database at least twenty different times between New York and Detroit so he could cross into Canada. It was easy enough for someone with his mutation. But the damn Sentinels got smart. Started blocking his access quickly through firewalls and back doors and effectively making a maze for the Technopath to fight through. Even his porn upload to clog their system was nullified. "Ich hasse riesige Roboter." The young man shouted at his pursuer. Then he caught a break. He ducked into an alley, and started erasing himself again from all networks in the area. He was back to being no one.
INDENT"§" This wouldn't actually help him against the Sentinels though. They were onto his X-gene, and someone was actively tracking him. He needed to get into a more remote area, because he was certain a fight would break out, and in the pursuit of mutants, anything was fair game. Zaphiel was surprised there hadn't been more laser beams already. Looking at his watch, he was able to keep an eye on news reports. It was big news about this runaway renegade mutant. He sighed and got back to moving, loading up a GPS to as many as a hundred different destinations. Zaphiel knew that his movements were being tracked somehow, and it had to be via the Cellular network. But he needed it. So instead he would confuse the hell outta whoever was tracking him. No amount of scrambling his IP or system name was shaking them. "Eines dieser Tage werde ich öffentliche Räume mit so viel Porno überfluten ..." Zaphiel arrived in a warehouse area near the Detroit River. He was so close, and yet so far. He considered running towards the Renaissance center, and getting over via the tunnel, but at this point, it would likely break his cover. The Sentinels could easily stop all cross over traffic, leaving him stranded and fair game for an X-Gene sweep. At this point, Zaphiel was hunkered down in a warehouse, using the cameras to keep an eye out for a Sentinel. He needed to breath.
INDENT"§" The poor man was running out of ideas. He pulled out his wallet and a weathered picture. Two young men were smiling and clinging together in front of a similarly worn out building. Zaphiel so wished he was back in those simpler times. Zaphiel took a quick moment and shot a text to his boss, boucing it through a number of terminals to disguise its point of origin. "Sorry Ethan. Can't make it to work today, or any more. To come clean, I have Sentinels on my a**, and I am about four states away from New York. Take care man, thanks for everything." The message sent, Zaphiel sighed audibly, then spotted it. A Sentinel was getting damn close, and likely, these buildings didn't have lead to block its super vision, so instead, he started trying to hack and scramble their programming. Even one byte of change could give Zaphiel the time to escape, but it was difficult, and he was running out of time. He was finally losing hope. He wished someone could save his a** right about now.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:10 am
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District]Isabella watched with fascinated emerald eyes as Eden Fesi tore a hole in space and time. The swirling colors made her feel a little uneasy and sick to her stomach. She’d traveled many times with Gateway previously but the gift that Manifold held was different. It was no less accurate or useful but the actual application left her feeling unsettled. As the swirling colors solidified she knew that it was time. It was as if there was suddenly a dank entrance to an alleyway hidden in the back of the hangar. It was frayed around the edges but she could already smell the chemical scent of failed industry.
She’d been to Detroit once, and only once. It had been with a friend. She had mistakenly equated the city with indian summers, cherries, and chocolate. That wasn’t the case. At the moment, it reminded her of wading through the bowels of a storm drain while playing with some flint fireworks.
“Are you ready Bells?”, came an all too familiar voice to her right. It was deep and authoritative however kind. Scott Summers was a hard task master but the songstress had always thought him fair. “Are you sure you want to go? I know that things have been hard lately.”
“I could use the distraction.”, Isabella responded honestly, flashing her mentor an easy smile. She was used to hiding her nerves. Ever since her dearest friend, Leonardo Rossi, had come in from the cold things had been bizarre. They’d parted on horrible terms. He wanted to go out and fight the Sentinels on his own after the Academy in New York was decimated. He thought that the X-Men weren’t being aggressive enough. As his team leader, and his friend, she’d forbidden him to go. Challenging the Sentinel threat alone was suicide. They fought. Brutally, verbally, tearing each other apart in equal amounts. “I promise. I’m five by five.”
Leonardo had come back a changed man. Skinny and haggard from being on the run for months after ticking off the wrong people. He shied away from human touch and could barely stand to be in the same room with anyone—Let alone her. His apology for the way he’d left things brought her to tears. He wanted to comfort her; but he couldn’t. He had been through too much. Her broken heart for him was one of the reasons Isabella wanted to go out and help the mutants that were being hunted down. It was wrong. It wasn’t fair. One day, it would end…But until it did she would help anyway she could.
They stepped through the portal, and just like they planned, split off in opposite directions. She turned off her comm-link as Cyclops had directed. They didn’t want the technopath they were chasing to inadvertently realize they were on his trail before they had a chance to explain. He could mistakenly think that they were working for the MRD or for the officials that ran the Sentinel program. In which case, he would run twice as hard in the wrong direction.
“Check in will be at the Guardian building on Griswold at zero eight hundred tomorrow morning. If that stop is compromised we’ll rendezvous at St Mary’s church at twelve hundred. It’s on Monroe in Greektown. You’ve studied the maps. It shouldn’t be hard to find.”, Professor Summers informed her stoically, ruby tinted sunglasses glinting in the late evening light. He was worried. It was a dangerous venture that he wasn’t 100% comfortable putting Isabella in. Still, she had volunteered. Just because he was partial to her didn’t mean he could shield her forever.
“Copy that.”, Isabella responded as she turned in the other direction. There were several groups of Sentinels scouring the city for him according to their data. She pulled up the collar of her black double breasted peacoat to obscure her face and to hide from the chill. For all intents and purposes she looked like a small woman taking a dangerous route on her way home. There was graffiti on the walls and alleys full of trash that had never been removed. Her exceptional ears led her through the city as she tracked the sounds of thrusters, laser fire, and intensely smooth moving machinery.
It bothered her that she couldn’t communicate with home base or Professor Summers. He was out of range for her to use her ability to speak to. She couldn’t even hear him anymore. Isabella heard a crash up ahead and sucked in a deep breath of air. It was too large to be a coincidence. She darted forward and pushed condensed sound waves at the ground that launched her into the air. She landed on a decrepit rooftop soundlessly, again, a gift of her ability, and walked to the edge of the roof.
It was a Sentinel. There were two, actually. They were three stories tall and menacing as hell. One was searching through the abandoned warehouse district in the noisiest way possible while the other was sweeping the waterfront. Isabella cursed under her breath. One was bad enough, but two?
She threw her hearing out and swept building by building. Empty, empty, empty save the rats that scurried in terror. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop until she thought she heard something unusual. In the eastern most buildings, the one that the Sentinel was getting closest to, someone was hiding. She could hear him. Breathing, his heart beating, faster and faster…Was he afraid?
The sound user dropped down and began to make a break for the building. She used the shadows and wrapped her body in a bubble of silence so the Sentinel’s auditory scanners wouldn’t be able to pick up her movements. Regardless, they seemed very focused on finding this particular mutant. Why? She wasn’t sure. It worked to her benefit though. Eventually she was standing in the behind the warehouse. The heavy footsteps of the Sentinel was causing the building to shake. It was getting close, they wouldn’t have much time.
She drew back her hands and pulled strength from the ambient sounds in the area. The vibrations that the Sentinel created was pure power for her. When she released the sub-sonic blast that she had generated she immediately silenced the area—masking the sound completely as the door blew in. Neither the Sentinel nor the man in the building would hear her entrance. But, if the man was looking, he would see splintered wood fly everywhere.
Isabella looked around. She didn’t see him, but she could hear him. She made her way up to the control booth where the monitors for the video cameras were located and opened the door. She really hoped that this human or mutant didn’t favor guns. The last thing she wanted to do was shock him and get shot while trying to save him. Jade eyes fell to the man. “Are you Zaphiel Klein?”
“If you are…I need you to trust me. If you’re a mutant, I need you to trust me. I promise I’ll explain everything but right now we’re running out of time. The Sentinels will find us if we stay here.”
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:36 am
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse near Detroit River]
§ Thoughts: Let's see who this woman is before I make her phone explode....
§ Others: Isabella Stone [Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" Zaphiel was hard at work in his little control center, monitoring the movements of the Sentinels. One was getting incredibly close to his location, and he was biting his nails out of nerves. He made it this far, he was so close to his goal and freedom. What he needed to do disrupt their network and backlog their sensors with redundant information. Directly messing with them was out of the question. Zaphiel sighed audibly and pinched the bridge of his nose, while closing his eyes, fighting off a headache. There was so much he would have to do in order to get in their heads or hijack their network, and he didn't have the time. An opportunity arose though, when someone started talking right behind him. He spun around into a defensive stance, losing his connection to the sentinels and any attempts at monitoring them in order to engaged the woman who appeared behind him. "Wer zum Teufel bist du, und was zum Teufel machst du hier?" Zaphiel growled at the newcomer, scanning them for any EM frequencies or online terminals. He found nothing, not even a cell phone. "Warum hast du kein Telefon ... verrückte Frau." But he got an idea. His smart watch was effectively a clone of his own phone, so he could use that as a second...yes. That might work.
INDENT"§" Zaphiel would immediately pull out his phone and connect both the watch and phone to the computer he was at. From here, he would get to work on one of his bucket list projects: Hijack an entire cellphone network. If he was correct, in order to operate from a central location, the Sentinels would use the cellphone networks in order to maintain a connection to their central processing hub. This means that by stealing that network, he could isolate the two sentinels nearby. The outcome would actually allow him to find and download information from the Sentinels network, and force them to change their security methods. This would possibly shut down the Sentinel program for about....two weeks if they were as good as he was. Zaphiel knew it would take about that long for him at least. Whoever was tracking him might be able to do it faster. It was time to get to work. "Machen Sie sich bereit, etwas Magie zu sehen." Zaphiel was smiling devilishly, knowing that he had one shot, and he would do so flawlessly.
INDENT"§" One phone and one smart watch; two separate access points to the network, would allow two worms to find their way around. This would let him hop onto the signals of the two Sentinels in the warehouse district, and follow them. Using the computer, he was already getting an upload ready for his backlog of information. He was going to literally upload the entirety of 6 different porn sites onto the Sentinel network. What he was engaged in was called cyberwarfare. Even as he was hacking into the Sentinel network, they were trying to find his location through his access points. The reason he was able to throw them off was because his own phone had no established service provider, and this other one was...Canadian? Still, he was able to confuse the crap outta whoever was trying to counter him. Then he realized he never answered the woman. "Yes. I am Klein. Working. Sorry. " His English was smooth, but he was so focused simple sentences were all he could get out at the moment in English. If the woman read any of the monitors he was using, which was all of them, they were operating in German. Then, after about ten minutes, Zaphiel leaped up in triumph. "Nehmen Sie das einfacher Rost-Eimer!" He was smiling, and turned back to the woman. He looked at his watch though and noted it was over heated and smoking. He shrugged. He phone was looking a little worse for wear as well.
INDENT"§" He looked her up and down, and realized he had no idea who she was. No uniform, so unlikely with any organization he knew off, not a robot herself, or an infiltrator platform for the Sentinels. He doubted they were even consider infiltrator platforms. "We have probably ten minutes before those two things reconnect to their home network and get flooded with information. Then we have another 5 minutes before they sort it. Talk moderately quickly." Zaphiel did have a headache though, and could feel a possible migraine. Any more hacking today would probably put him out of commission for a while, similar to his victims. Though he did learn at least one thing super interesting and why no ordinary hacker could connect to the Sentinel network...it was a trinary coded system, instead of binary. That negative one shook up a lot of processing. That could be the source of Zaphiel's headache.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:50 pm
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District]Isabella fell in to unnatural stillness when Zaphiel rounded on her faster than she would have given him credit for. She was faster, but still. It took her a moment to realize that he was speaking German. At first, she thought it might have been Russian. She accepted her error and dismissed it in the same notion. Whether or not she recognized the language didn’t really matter. She couldn’t read or speak either one. “You’re losing me cari*… Try it again in English?” [*hon]
He seemed a little too busy to acknowledge her request and kept on working. He pulled a cell phone, cables, and a smart watch together while she could feel the Sentinel getting closer. The vibrations left from huge metal boots leaving crater sized indents in the crumbling asphalt were felt in her bones. There was no aspect of the huge metal automatons that didn’t set her on high alert. She’d been a young teenager in a lifeboat when SHIELD first enacted the Sentinel program and decimated an island full of innocent people. She could still remember the sight of a skyscraper sized laser beam slamming into the island with enough force that it shattered.
No matter how hard she held her hands over her ears she hadn’t been able to block out the sounds of people screaming as they burned to death. As bad as it was, the silence that followed was worse. There had been nothing left. No bones to bury. Everything was ash.
The Academy had been destroyed most recently by this new batch of Sentinels. The students all thought it to be a terrifying event that the X-Men had triumphed over. They’d only suffered property damage. No one had died. In that respect…The newer students didn’t really understand the danger they were in. She wasn’t sure that this technopath, Zaphiel Klein, did either. If the Sentinels didn’t kill him the scientists that they brought him to would make him wish they had. Emerald eyes focused on the German words flying over his computer screens as he finally said something she could understand. “Working on what?”
Her gaze returned to the seemingly solid walls of the warehouse while she waited on a reply. They flickered this way and that—Almost as if she could see what the Sentinel was doing on the other side. She couldn’t actually see it, but she could hear it. Searching. Trying to get closer. Since it didn’t seem that she could pry Zaphiel from his tinkering she prepared herself to fight. She didn’t relish the idea of challenging a Sentinel alone. Let alone two. But, perhaps she could disable them and provide just enough time for them to escape. Perhaps.
She blinked in confusion when Zaphiel yelled out another German phrase. Yet, it wasn’t the language that confused her. It was the Sentinels. They’d stopped moving. Almost like they’d powered down. She looked slowly back toward Zaphiel and noted his fried phone and watch. The scent of burning metal told her all she needed to know. “That was you?”, she questioned, Colombian accent tilting her words just slightly. The olive skinned woman was impressed…But knew from experience that this kind of interruption could only last so long. Eventually they would adapt unless their core processors were removed or destroyed.
Zaphiel confirmed that this was his doing when he explained about how long they had. Isabella raised an eyebrow when he suggested that he spend what little time they had ‘talking’. She couldn’t decide if he was serious or not. “Unless you can keep taking them all offline like that we need to go. I’ll explain on the way. Once two go down, or there’s an interruption in the network, every unit in the state will be directed back to this point when they come up for air. I’m a friend. I’m here to help you. If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it already.”
“Please. Trust me.”
Isabella didn’t regularly try and use the more hypotonic qualities her voice possessed. She kept it to a minimum but passively encouraged Zaphiel to trust her—quite like a fabled mermaid that led a sailor in the direction she wanted him to go. The only difference, was that she was trying to lead Zaphiel to safety, not doom. Some people could avoid the hypnotic pull. Some couldn’t. Most never noticed she was doing anything at all. Not even if she told them. “Please.”
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:10 am
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [On the move]
§ Thoughts: I wonder what this woman has planned....
§ Others: Isabella Stone [Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" The woman still had him at a significant disadvantage. Zaphiel didn't know her name, yet she knew his. He couldn't find her picture on the registry when he was actively accessing the sentinel's network, nor any databases really. So that only left one thing. Trust her. "Honestly, you are my best chance to get out of here, and we only need to hop the river. That is why I am not in a big rush." He smiled a bit, yet in the back of his mind, he was still monitoring their environment. Any additional sentinels would ruin their chances. This reminded him of a heist back when he was a kid.
INDENT"§" Looking back, it wasn't that big of a deal, stealing the money from that register while Rainart distracted the cashier. Small hands, ya know? Of course, the two were caught, and they returned the money, but still, the idea was the same. Rainart and Zaphiel thought they got off Scot-free, only to find out that they had incriminated themselves horribly. It was the longest three months of chore duties. This situation was similar, and he felt the need to move suddenly at this woman's urging. "We can talk as we run, no? Sorry for the German earlier. When I get focused or excited, I slip into my native language." Zaphiel smiled at her, and waved at her to lead the way.
INDENT"§" Regardless of where they ran or the route they took, he would likely be able to keep up moderately. He would shut off any cameras on their path to prevent them from being tracked directly, as the cameras were left off in their wake as well. To bad his cellphone was burned out, or he might have had a chance to do some research on the fly, but it didn't matter much. Just escape. "So, who are you? Your lack of uniform tells me you are not SHIELD or MRD, and no robotics to mess with so not sentinel. How did you find me?" Her answer to that might actually shed light on who was tracking him, and help him figure out how to shield himself from that kind of tracking. It was uncomfortable to think about. Though since his plan against those robots worked, he was smiling and in a much more relaxed mood. The pressure was off for the moment. "Oh yeah. Are you with the Xavier Institute? I was in New York and tried to register for classes, but found out the building was destroyed. That group or the Brotherhood of Mutants are the last two I could think that would find and recruit me." He winked a bit at his own deductive reasoning. She wasn't super aggressive, or she would have fought the sentinels, likely implying either a small group or this was a dedicated rescue mission.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:00 am
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District to DoubleTree Inn]“Only need to hop the river?”, the dark haired woman questioned slowly as her eyes lingered on the walls that the stationary forms of the tall automatons hid behind. It took a moment to realize that he thought the invisible lines between the United States and Canada would stop them. Eventually, they may be called off, if Canadian authorities threatened to take action against the United States for weapons of mass destruction moving freely in their airspace. Until they were discovered, it was open season. “Just stepping foot inside Canadian borders doesn’t immediately place us in the clear. Sentinels will override all other commands and restrictions in the event that a dangerous mutant resists arrest. They aren’t people. They don’t care about ticking off the U.N. and spending a few life sentences behind bars.”
The songstress had seen it first-hand. When they were first deployed they had been sent with instructions to capture rogue mutants unharmed. Those directives quickly became apprehend, if possible. If the mutant resisted they had clearance to immediately terminate the threat. Mutants were nothing more than an anomaly to be studied and corrected. A statistic. “The only thing that keeps them from burning down all of these buildings to find you is the possibility of hurting a flat scan. That’s the only thing that hasn’t changed. They won’t intentionally hurt a human.”
Since he agreed to go with her Isabella waited for him to collect anything he needed before leading the way out of the warehouse. She took him out through the remains of the splintered back door that she had used as an entry point. They crossed a few sets of train tracks and it would soon become apparent that she was leading Zaphiel back toward the more populated areas of Detroit. If they tried to cross the river, which was being heavily watched by border patrols, she had no guarantee that they would make it before the Sentinels came back online.
The extraction plans that the X-Men had at their disposal with were far more promising. They also didn’t run the possibility of leading their enemy any closer to their base of operations. As they entered the more densely populated parts of the city she reached for Zaphiel and linked her arm through his. She was a magician when it came to sound. She copied their voices, and made it seem to anyone listening in, that they were talking about a party next weekend. “The authorities are looking for a single male on the run. Not a couple out for a walk.”
He eventually asked what organization she was with and she smiled a little bit when he figured it out on his own. He was smart. Deductive reasoning was an important survival skill that she appreciated. Isabella nodded her head in agreement though she didn’t necessarily look pleased when he mentioned the Brotherhood. She chuckled lightly, the sound soft, like the ringing of silver bells. He sure was a talker. “I am from the Institute…But we aren’t trying to recruit you. The Sentinels were specifically targeting you. We only want to help.”
“As to your question about how we found you…You aren’t the only mutant in the world that’s good with technology. Between spies and friends that are specifically geared to find people like you and I…It was only a matter of time. Anything the Sentinels are tracking…We don’t want them to find.”, she explained, without really explaining anything at all. How did she describe something like Cerebro to someone that had never seen it before? She wasn’t a telepath, nor did she have the skill to say how it really worked. She’s listened to Professor X wax and wane about it a hundred times but there wasn’t much of it that she was able to grasp. This was the best she could do. “And I do have a uniform. It just doesn’t blend in very well.”
If they were in New York City it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a woman walking around freely in skin tight leather. Detroit was a little different. Especially, when there was a very real, very lethal gun holstered at her thigh. Isabella threw out her hearing to listen to their surroundings as well as she was able. It didn’t seem that anyone was following them yet. There were no Sentinels close by, and no MRD. She knew their call signs and the white noise in their radio frequencies like the back of her hand. “My name is Isabella. Bella, if you like. It’s nice to meet you.”
Normally she gave people her codename as well but it didn’t seem necessary yet. Eventually they found themselves at a Double Tree Inn that wasn’t far from the pickup points. It wasn’t an overly fancy hotel, but it wasn’t the cheapest either. It was chosen because it was heavily booked but with enough open space outside of it to fight if it came down to it. They would use the Sentinel protocols against them. It was hard for them to separate a mutant signature at a distance from the human population unless they were already locked on to it. They also wouldn’t fire openly because harming a human was against their basic protocols. They were hiding in plain sight.
The room had been checked into a few days prior to avoid suspicion. Isabella walked through the lobby and before they knew it they were tucked, relatively safely, into a hotel room with two beds. The windows gave a decent view of the courtyard but Isabella wasn’t terribly worried about surveillance. Her ears were more reliable than her eyes. “So here’s the plan…We stay here tonight. I’m sorry for the close quarters but it’s best if we don’t split up for long. There’s an extraction set up for tomorrow morning. If we miss the first time frame at the designated location we’ve got contingencies.”
“If a Sentinel is coming…I’ll know. If the MRD are coming, well, I’ll know that too. Neither party is exactly quiet.”
Isabella unbuttoned her black pea coat and tossed it gingerly to a nearby chair. They might as well get as comfortable as they could. She reached up and ran a hand through her hair as she habitually scanned the property. “Are you hungry? If not, I would suggest that you take the time we have to rest.”
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:16 am
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [Double Tree Inn]
§ Thoughts: Rest....maybe.
§ Others: Isabella Stone [The Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" Zaphiel was a little crestfallen. She was right, but his idealism, his hope that he could have escaped had sustained him since his flight from New York. Following this woman, a rescuer from the Institute, he couldn't help but feel a sense of defeat. She was right, but even being among people wasn't safe for him. Sure, he could detect coms and listen in, but he couldn't escape if he was surrounded. Zaphiel just hoped she could be enough. He kept up with her though, probably surprising her with his agility. Then again, if she knew he was a technopath, she probably knew a number of his capabilities. "You are probably right. I've been running for a long time, I just got used to being able to mess up sentinels or avoid patrols. Now, so close to the end, I got sloppy." He was mentally punishing he carelessness.
INDENT"§" Suddenly, an arm slipped through his, and he looked a little surprised, until he heard her explanation. Zaphiel raised an eyebrow, but smiled. "So, now a good time to mention that I prefer the company of men, or no?" He chuckled. "Thanks for saving my bacon too by the way." Zaphiel let himself smile, and relax. Isabella knew what she was doing. He was safer now than he was when he was on his own, though this many people still made him uncomfortable. Perhaps he wasn't used to be around people. Two weeks on the run from New York to Detroit, back tracking and hiding, using every single network or computer terminal to delete himself over and over again. He was tired. And now, just now, the Institute has finally found him, right when he almost got his freedom on his own. It was bittersweet. He kept his smile on though. No need for her to see him feeling ungrateful. Zaphiel didn't want her to know that.
INDENT"§" Zaphiel listened to her explain how she found him, sorta. It made sense that there were other mutants with similar technological abilities, plus other designed for searching. Mutations likely covered a wide array of potential abilities. Someone could even have the ability to see the future, much like Zaphiel dabbled in with tarot cards or pendulums. Isabella mentioned her uniform and he actually laughed a bit, a hearty chuckle akin to the bells of Notre Dame. "I wonder if I can get one to match." He winked, and found it a bit easier to keep his smile on. She was human. Like him. Not all business and worry. That made it easier. Then he got an introduction, finally. "A pleasure, Bella. Zaphiel Klein as you know. You can call me Cipher or Zahl. Both mean the same, one is in English, the other German. Much akin to who I am." Zaphiel was getting a bit more talkative again. Easier to fill the silence so to speak. Then the two walked into the hotel, and had a room already ready. Zaphiel, instead of hitting up a bed, walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
INDENT"§" With his clothes on, he got in, and shouted out to Isabella, "You have no idea how good this is going to make me feel right now. And, thanks again." He sat down in the shower, and hoped it would hide any noise he was about to make. Zaphiel let out all of the pent of fear, stress, and sadness. His life was gone, the one he had known. He didn't take the time while he was on the run to fully feel. So now, sobbing in the shower, he let himself mourn who he was, and question who he would become. He did so as quietly as he could though, for even if he was letting it all out, it was a private moment he didn't want to share.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:35 am
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District to DoubleTree Inn]Isabella felt a twinge of something that might have been guilt for shooting down the plans that Zaphiel had made. Her lips parted to reflexively apologize but she held it back. Now wasn’t the time to waver from her mission. She couldn’t fall victim to emotion or anything that tugged on her heartstrings. Not yet. Not when there were two temporarily disabled Sentinels just outside of the warehouse they were hiding in. They left quickly in order to take advantage of the time that the technopath had provided. She was light on her feet and was relieved that her new ward didn’t have any trouble following her footsteps. He seemed to have taken trusting her seriously. It made things so much easier. “You’ve been doing very well on your own Mr. Klein. Not many people could have avoided capture as well as you have. Not without extreme collateral damage.”
“You’ve been on the run for at least a few weeks from what our intel suggests. I’m here so that soon…You won’t feel like you have to run anymore. You won’t have to sleep with one eye open.”
The songstress didn’t see it as Zaphiel getting sloppy with his goal in sight. He had hope. He was so close to freedom that he could probably taste it. There was just too much open space between the Michigan-Canadian borders. The tunnel was a death trap. Isabella could handle a lot. She could even deal with a Sentinel if it came down to it. The real question revolved around whether or not she could keep Zaphiel safe if things went downhill. In a tunnel, with nowhere to hide, it was doubtful.
He seemed surprised when she slipped her arm lightly through his. They walked at a brisk pace but not overly hurried. The last thing they wanted to do was draw unnecessary attention to themselves. The green eyed girl laughed lightly when he spoke of his orientation and shook her head. “Clearly, I’m heartbroken cari*…Whatever will I do?” [*hon]
Isabella didn’t comment right away on his thanks for saving him. In truth, he had been doing quite well on his own. It was the fact that the Sentinels were capable of learning that worried the X-Men most. Not to mention, that as a living, breathing person with needs and an innate desire for sleep…It was fact that he would only be able to run so long. Robots didn’t need food. They didn’t need rest. They would come for him when he was at his weakest be if they wanted him bad enough. It was only a matter of time. “Thank you for disabling the Sentinels. Getting away would have been a lot more interesting otherwise.”
That was the truth. The last time she’d managed to decimate a Sentinel the aftermath had been mind boggling. She’d never been afraid of her power before. Isabella had lived and fought with it for nearly a decade. This was different. It was destruction in its simplest form. It reminded her of why humanity feared mutants so much. What they were capable of…It was scary.
Zaphiel asked if he could get a uniform to match and Isabella’s chin ducked down as she snickered. She liked his laugh and appreciated his humor. “I don’t see why not. Especially if you decide to stay with us.”
Isabella listened to him introduce himself and a smile lingered around the kiss of her mouth. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected from a technopath being hunted down by the government. Someone a bit more squirrelly perhaps? A little more paranoid? Zaphiel, aside from occasionally slipping into speaking German, was about as normal as any of the other students at the Academy. Especially, his inclination to be a chatterbox. She was curious if he was always like that or if it was just nerves. “I think I might prefer Zahl if that’s all right... Out in the field I’m usually referred to as the Siren.”
The walk into the Inn was uneventful. It was large and crowded enough that no one paid any mind to a couple walking, seemingly happy, arm in arm. Especially not when they proceeded right to their room versus stopping at the front desk to check in. Isabella breathed a gentle sigh of relief once the door shut and locked behind them. Knowing that she wasn’t the only member of the X-Men in the city was a comfort, but not knowing where Cyclops was, still left her worried. Of course he could handle himself…But still. He was important to her. So, she worried.
Zaphiel disappeared into the bathroom and she chuckled when he shouted to thank her again. `You’re welcome. Take your time. I’ll order a little room service for when you’re finished.’, she spoke clearly with the use of her ability. Zaphiel would hear her as if she were sitting right beside him versus being on the other side of the door. A hot shower, a decent meal, and a little reassurance was probably just what the doctor ordered. She picked up the phone in the room and placed an order for a few things. It was a little chilly outside so she ordered french onion soup for herself and chicken noodle for her new friend.
As she was ordering, her voice broke, when she realized that she could hear Zaphiel crying through the sounds of running water. She could hear a mouse squeak clearly from two blocks away. She couldn’t stop herself from listening in. It was a faucet of her ability that she was incapable of shutting off. She couldn’t not hear things. The more she tried, the more she unintentionally focused on that person, the more she overheard. She mentally apologized to Zaphiel for his pain and ordered a cheeseburger with fries, a house salad, and an orange juice.
She didn’t know what Zaphiel liked and hoped that when he was finished he could find it in himself to eat something. All men liked cheeseburgers right? “It can be left outside the door. We’d prefer our privacy tonight.”, she spoke to the hotel employee with a lilting girlish giggle. The female that she spoke to returned her laugh and assured her that discretion wasn’t a problem. ”There’s no rush. Just knock to let us know it’s here. Thank you.”
The room service arrived when Zaphiel was still in the shower. Isabella listened and waited for the worker to walk away before retrieving the food cart. Everything was covered so it should stay warm. Isabella retrieved her soup and curled up at the head of the bed on the right. A cup of black coffee sat next to her on the night stand. This night couldn’t go quickly enough. There was no way she’d be sleeping until they were clear and Zaphiel really needed to be somewhere he felt safe. It broke her heart...Hearing everything fall out of him as if some great dam had finally burst. This wasn't fair to him.
The Sentinels, the Registration Act, all of it needed to stop.
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:36 am
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [Double Tree Inn]
§ Thoughts: I hope she doesn't mind a clothing delivery....
§ Others: Isabella Stone [Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" A lot has happened. Zaphiel eventually stopped crying, and just sat there in the shower, mentally preparing himself for eventually getting out, and going over everything that has happened since his escape from New York City. He had been fine living there for the longest of times, even after the Registration Act was enacted. He could avoid it merely by erasing himself from their databases, change his flagging to human. All sorts of tricks to hide digitally. Then about a month ago, something changed. SHIELD tried to arrest him for being an unregistered mutant. He shouldn't have existed. He checked their system and....there he was. A file dedicated to him, his power, his location. Zaphiel had been surprised, and he quickly deleted it, then it popped up again. So Zaphiel was now stuck on record. He managed to escape and go on the run, but it was over. His ordinary life was over.
INDENT"§" In that month, Zaphiel had done literally everything he could think of with his mutation to hide. That was when he learned about the X-men in upstate, and so he tried there first. That was a base for some kind of anti-mutant operation, and the mansion was gone. Zaphiel almost got caught there, but he escaped. The young man had been attempting to get to Canada, but like Bella said: It wouldn't have mattered. This was the first hot shower Zaphiel has been able to take in at least a two weeks, and he also needed a change of clothes. He pulled back the curtain and spotted the bathroom telephone. He was able to access the internet via that phone line. Zaphiel also finally responded to Bella, talking louder than his sobs earlier. "Anything hot would be nice. Also, do you mind if I have some cloths sent here or nearby? Mine are kind of....trashed." He already had an outfit in mind: blue flannel shirt, standard jeans, and a new pair of shoes that could handle hard walking. Plus standard undergarments, and a jacket. It gets cold in Canada, right?
INDENT"§" He sighed a bit, and waited for her OK to get some cloths sent. In the meantime, he finally took of his super wet and dirty clothing and tossed it aside, before washing up thoroughly, and then wrapping himself in a towel, then he spotted a bathrobe. He shrugged and garbed himself in that instead after drying off, and walking into the main room. Zaphiel would normally have been a bit shy, but now wasn't the time. Upon exiting the bathroom, the wonderful smell of food hit his nose, and he started to calm down a bit more. "You, Miss Stone, are a saint. Warm food, warm shower, and a warm bed. These are things some people take for granted." He smiled, trying to ease her mind, in the event he wasn't as quiet as he had hoped. Zaphiel picked up the soup first and sat down, being careful with the robe to make sure he didn't flash his rescuer. He took his time to enjoy the soup, and the rest of the food he was ordered, trying hard to hold himself back, just because he didn't want to show off how desperate he was for real food, not junk food from convenience stores. So he decided to start up some small talk.
INDENT"§" The question was, where to start. He was wracking his brain for things to ask, then he realized, there was already a topic she was expecting: Information about the X-men. After carefully managing to swallow his food, despite having taken a fairly large bite, he looked her dead in the eye, and a twinkle shone in his own. "So, the Xavier Institute. You are rescuing, not recruiting? I mean, I am more than willing to assist with any of your technological needs, particularly cyberwarfare. Hacking and information control is a thing I can manage effortlessly. In fact...I have been destroying any trace of us on cameras we passed by, and feeding the news false information on the sentinel presence. All while shopping for a new outfit." He smiled. Yes, Zaphiel was kind of trying to get in to help them, because that was his goal anyway, but he also wanted to assure Bella that they were going to be fine. It was the least he could do.
INDENT"§" Then Zaphiel made a few points connect in his mind. "Did you come alone? For a mutant being hunted by sentinels, you either have to be incredibly strong to be considered able to solo rescue someone, or you have backup. Plus my own location was always being covered and scrambled. Either you got lucky, or there is a group of you guys. Why no comms then?" He pondered the question himself and had a theory about his own ability being the reason why, but he wanted her answer. "Also, Zahl is perfectly fine. That is the german one no less. The intention behind the codename is that both mean zero or code." Zaphiel was relaxing a bit, but not to much. He was constantly monitoring information within the city. His initial connection through the phone line has him listening to almost all digital traffic in the city. If someone had a clue where they were, he would know it.
[OOC - Damn. Zaphiel is getting down right chatty. Hope Bella can keep up. wink ]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 10:02 pm
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District to DoubleTree Inn]Zaphiel would find Isabella staring at nothing and everything when he finally left the restroom. The dark haired Colombian seemed precious, doll-like, and innocent of all things as she held a hot cup of coffee between her hands with her knees drawn up to her chest. Listening to someone cry like that, soft, mournful tears, was worse than listening to someone wail like a banshee. She didn’t respond to his question about clothing until then. Curiosity grew in in emerald eyes. “Wouldn’t it be strange to have clothing hand delivered this late in the day? Even next day air isn’t that fast.”
Though perhaps he had ways of manipulating the system? She couldn’t say for sure and sipped lightly at her black coffee. Most people she knew either didn’t like espresso or liked it so sweet that it may as well have been a desert. Isabella liked it the way it was. Shocking, bitter. It reminded her of a home and a family that she had not seen in over a year. Being a mutant was dangerous. She wouldn’t willingly bring that danger to the people she loved. Not when they had a normal life.
“If it can be done where it wouldn’t seem unusual feel free.”, she acquiesced with a light smile. Zaphiel had trusted her so far. It was only fair that she do the same. “If you choose from a shop or department store nearby I can go pick it up. It would best that you stay out of sight.”
The Sentinel’s, SHIELD, and the MRD were looking primarily for a tall male. She could slip by most check points undetected. There was virtually no way of sneaking up on her unless power nullifiers were involved. She didn’t relish the idea of leaving Zaphiel alone, however. Normally, once they made contact with a survivor, they stayed together until safe haven was reached. Doing otherwise fostered a sense of panic and abandonment. That didn’t help anyone.
Emerald eyes followed his movements with a poised sense of amusement when he referred to her as a saint. “Can I get that in writing?”, she teased lightly, artfully skirting around the fact that he was dining in a bathrobe. It didn’t bother her much, but she wasn’t the one half dressed. It was also curious that he had spoken to her using her last name. She didn’t remember giving it. “I know a few people who might disagree.”
And a few who might scathingly agree. From a certain Omega’s she knew it would be the furthest thing from a compliment. Her distaste for rule breaking and penchant for doing the right thing really rained on the parades of some of her peers. Especially, for a British, blond, nazi-esque team captain named Narcissa.
Isabella let Zaphiel eat with minimal interruption—which let him do a fair amount of talking. He could have scarfed down food like a black hole and she wouldn’t have thought anything of it. The insane things she’d seen with the X-Men had basically desensitized her from normal customs. When everything was weird or terrifying—Nothing was weird or terrifying. “I was really, really hoping you weren’t vegan…The salad was an afterthought. I’ve always been safe trying to feed a guy pizza or cheeseburgers.”
“We aren’t against adding new students to the roster but we don’t want you to feel pressured. You can decide once you’ve seen what we’re all about. For now—we’re just a helping hand offering to hold a roof over your head.”, Isabella explained gently, wanting him to know that they were no threat to him. If he chose to go out on his own after they patched him up and figured out a better way from him hide—That would be his choice. So long, as he chose to hide. Fighting took a village to survive. And even then, only barely.
He went on to question if she’d come alone and it was right about then that she realized that his mutation almost revealed itself through his personality. Data. Information. He was taking it twice as much as he was sending out. She chuckled softly before responding, the sound seeming to linger in the corners of the room. “I may not look like much but I promise…I can hold my own.”
“One of the veteran X-Men is in the city as well but we likely won’t cross paths unless we run into trouble. We avoided using our commlinks to keep from spooking you. I have mine but it’s powered down. Its standard protocol to go radio silent unless there’s an emergency.”
He agreed to let her call him Zahl and she needed her head with a small smile. It just felt like it would be fun to say. Between the two of them it felt like they were in control of the situation. Both were probably too paranoid; but Isabella felt that it was her duty to bring Zaphiel home safe. “We haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly why SHIELD is after you…But we have a few educated guesses. It’s somewhere between a need to study you and to keep you from crashing just about everything that matters.”
Everyone relied so heavily on technology. Zaphiel was a threat to national security without even trying. It made her glad that the government didn’t know what she was capable of.
“I was in a similar situation once…But that was a long time ago. Less robots, more crazy scientists.”, she moved her hand in the air as she spoke, still unmoving from the head of the bed. Isabella was comfortable and found herself in good company. For now, they were safe enough to enjoy the little things. Besides, a little human interaction would probably do Zaphiel a world of good. “Do you have any other questions for me? I’ll answer what I can.”
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 10:51 pm
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [Double Tree Inn]
§ Thoughts: I think I am going to get along just fine.
§ Others: Isabella Stone [Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" Zaphiel took her statements to mind, considering the timing of a clothing delivery to a hotel would be fairly odd all things considered. Having her pick up the clothing specified, or even having it waiting for pick up would be much smoother. Zaphiel would also understand if she didn't really want to. Then he got an even better idea. "Instead of leaving the building, there should be onsite laundry for a building of this quality. That should tide me over on a new outfit to celebrate our escape, no?" He smirked a little. He was so used to his own ability and being on the run now that he had completely forgotten he could actually wash his clothing. A month may not seem that long when living normally, but when every moment is uncertain, it can drag. "Anymore coffee? I could use the boost. I have a bit more work to do to ensure we can't be tracked." Zaphiel kept an eye on his savior though. Something about the way her eyes weren't actually tracking anything told him she was using her ability, or already suffering PTSD for someone who looks like at most her late twenties. Zaphiel really hoped Bella was just using an ability.
INDENT"§" Then she replied to his saint comment. He actually chuckled a moment. "I can have it plastered on the news right now if you'd like." An impish smirk would probably help her relax. While they weren't exactly safe, their tracks had been covered. Actually, he was working on a false lead for them heading further north towards Flint, a city known for illegal boats crossing Lake Huron to Canada fairly often. It might give them enough space to breath easy. "I don't currently have the luxury of dietary restrictions. Even if I did, one bite of anything from a gas station would ruin that." Fed, washed, and snuggled in a bathrobe, Zaphiel was relaxing. His false lead was working wonders already. Of course, it was still only him in the lead. His Siren wasn't mentioned at all.
INDENT"§" Then came a bit of business talk. Isabella was still trying to reassure him. Guess this was as good a time as any. "I had submitted an application for graduate school to the Xavier Institute about a year ago. I know full well much of the rumors and suggestions that it was a base for a team of mutants operating on behalf of Charles Xavier. It would be an honor, a privileged, and a dream come true to be there in any capacity. Despite the school having moved locations. Couldn't pick up on its new one, other than not in the States." He waited to see the look on her face, knowing that she was dealing with someone who prided himself on information. In another life, he could have worked as an information broker, but as it was...he was dangerous. Considering he presently has mental access to any network directly connected to the Internet, and just hoping the internet to a cell phone further expands his view of the world and flow of information. He took a moment to continue eating, while thinking over a few things. She had a point. "The truth is somewhere between likely. Considering that my mutation basically makes me a perfect blueprint for fully functioning artificial intelligence...studying me and taking me out of the equation almost assures superior power in a war." He was unnerved by this. Horribly unnerved.
INDENT"§" He stood up and started pacing. His mind was reeling suddenly with an immense number of possible scenarios of what SHIELD or MRD would want with him, based on his mutation alone. He almost missed Bella mentioning her own history and rescue. "Sounds like a fun story to pass the time." Zaphiel did his best to smile, but now his mind was working on solving a problem, and he became entirely focused on that. The ability to visually interface with any network would be invaluable in any number of espionage applications, let along networking or robotics. Study was highly likely, as well as getting a technopath off the playing field. Then he got an idea. Likely not quiet the truth, but something close. "What is preventing Sentinels from targeting humans? Possible friendly fire? What if their software had the similar processing power of a human brain? What is currently preventing them from effectively hunting us could be the exact problem my mutation, my brain, could fix." That was a sobering thought. "I need to do my laundry. It is just down the hall, I will hum the German national anthem so you can find me." He smiled, and went and picked up his clothing off the bathroom floor.
INDENT"§" Instead of waiting for her to say yes or no, he started walking, and let himself get lost in his thoughts. He needed to be off the grid in a way that no one could find him. Perhaps at the institute would be enough. He could amp up the defenses there, create a closed network with encrypted access to the internet, hell make a drone defense system he could control. He started his laundry while humming. Any other guest that wandered buy would probably think it was a foreigner thing, especially as he said hello in not English, not German, but French. Not even just bonjour, but full greetings. That was his favorite secret: he could translate any known language and very quickly speak it thanks to Google and a wide variety of language tutor programs he could access whenever he wanted.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:27 pm
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District to DoubleTree Inn]“There’s also the ‘I Love Detroit’ tourist collection in the lobby.”, Isabella offered up to Zaphiel as a possible wardrobe change. While it was a little hinky, and absurdly expensive, it was still a step up from the gear he’d been running in. She had plenty of cash to burn from the Academy. Spending a little on proper clothing for a survivor was definitely not the worst use for it. “I’m pretty sure I saw t-shirts, sweats, and track jackets.”
He then suggested that he use laundry services and she nodded her head with a little uncertainty. She knew that some hotels had them but she’d never personally used them. “If you wanted to know an exit, entrance, or what our neighbors are doing I’ve got the 411…But I have don’t know where a washer and dryer would be accessible to the public.” Shouldn’t there be a laundry bag in the room? It could be something that they had to get from the front desk. Not to mention, didn’t housekeeping pick it up from the hallway? She smiled apologetically and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’m apparently a terrible girl. I have no idea how it really works either, I’m sorry.”
Zaphiel asked for coffee and the small woman nodded her head as she unfolded and slid from the bed with a diluted sense of grace. For the moment she stopped watching things neither of them could actually see. She was just on high alter. Always listening. There was a single serve coffee maker with plenty of refill packs near the minibar. The dark haired mutant picked up a clean coffee cup and set the machine to brew. “How do you take it?.”
She snickered a little bit as she waited and he offered to plaster her sainthood on the evening news. “Under different circumstances I might take you up on that. But altering the news isn’t exactly what some might call being inconspicuous.”
When the coffee was finished she brought over anything Zaphiel may have requested like cream or sugar and set it on the edge of the dining cart where he could reach. “It’s hot.”, she reflexively warned him, before gingerly sitting back down on the edge of her bed. She listened to him explain what he knew of the Academy in-between bites. “If you sent in your application a year ago it’s strange that no one reached out to you.”
“And you’re right.”, she agreed with a small pause, features unguarded, ”With the Sentinels moving freely here we couldn’t stay on US soil. We have too many children to keep safe.”
They spoke of the reason that various agencies wanted him in custody and she remained attentive. Isabella was gentle, kind, and always a good listener. She didn’t like to interrupt and always waited until Zaphiel finished. “Many mutants have gifts that could ensure victory in a warzone. Try not to dwell too much on it right now. It’s true that you could give any side an extremely useful advantage… But that’s not anything we’re not used to. One of the captains we have is basically a walking nuclear weapon without any fall out. Imagine how much SHIELD would want to get their hands on her?”
Zaphiel had started pacing and the songstress could understand why. She avoided discussing her own ability because it could be difficult to explain, hard to process, but she knew what it felt like to be chased. To feel hunted for something you couldn’t control. She could almost see his brain firing off as he tried to reduce the intentions of others to a mathematical problem that could easily be solved.
“They’ll always want what they can’t have. They’ll always want power. But we protect our own.”
He mentioned that her experience seemed like a fun story and she smiled, though it seemed to fall short, not quite reaching her eyes. It was a painful time. One that still stung her heart, if she let it. When he moved on she selfishly didn’t stop him with that particular piece of her history and he kept devolving. She could see him losing himself in data and statistics. “The Sentinels are programmed to target anyone with an active X-Gene. Their primary function is to protect humanity. Killing them, hurting them, would be in violation of that protocol. They learn…But they still haven’t circumvented that directive.”
As far as Isabella knew anyway.
Zaphiel picked up his laundry and went off to get it done before she could say much else. The olive skinned sound user sighed as he left the room and ran a hand through her hair. He was definitely a handful. She went to the bathroom and splashed a little water on her face as her ears followed her charge. True to his word he hummed a song…But Isabella didn’t really need it. Not that she knew the German national anthem anyway. She could track him by his biorhythms now that she knew him. A heart beat was as individual as a finger print.
If he got into trouble, she’d know it. Maybe before he did.
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 1:23 pm
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
§ Location: Detroit, MI [ Double Tree Inn ]
§ Thoughts: s**t
§ Others: Isabella Stone [Siren]
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
INDENT"§" Zaph laughed audibly out loud when Bella suggested the "I heart Detoirt" stuff in the hotel store. It took him a solid moment to reign himself in. It was an honest and earnest laugh, that kept a smile on his face for a bit after he quieted down. "Hun, that actually is funny, but I wouldn't be caught dead in tourist gear. Makes me stand out all the more, ya know?" Zaph nodded and gave her a wink "And I have the entire layout of this building, plus any data regarding its current guests, and those from the past week and soon to be here for a week. I even have their camera network. All in my head. I can see the laundry services." Zaph then took simple black coffee and drank it. He was trying hard not to dwell on his journey here, but this moment here, reminded him of home. He had a boyfriend a while back, and they used to spend mornings together, quiet. Just like this. It was enough to long for easier times. Her response to his offer of changing the news actually helped him break out of his reverie. "Ah, oh well. Maybe when we are safe I can mess with it, eh?" A raised eyebrow and wink would cement his mischievous plan. Something to look forward to on the morrow.
INDENT"§" Then came something more serious. His application. "Yeah. I was wondering that myself. Then again, shortly after sending it, I had to disappear. Like a lot of people did honestly. I did the best I could to help others like us, deleting their birth record and any other information that could be used to track them, without destroying their ability to live. You all may have reached out, I was just so wound up in my own way of helping, I missed it." Zaph thought it was the easiest solution, and it made sense to go out of country. For now, it was safer than here, but for how long? His mind started to get weighed down again, and he tried to keep it off his face. Suddenly, life was hell, he had to think further ahead than two minutes, yet at the same time, couldn't count on any solid plans. His own worries about his use in upgrading the Sentinels just scared him more. Then Bella mentioned their living nuke. Zaph sighed. "A whole lot of good talking about it does. To be honest, I would rather hide than fight, but there are others out there that can't do what I can, so I have to help. That is all I can count on right now. That is all any of us can count on." Her sentiments reflected his own. We protect our own.
INDENT"§" Then she mentioned a bit of their programming. Their adapting, their learning. That explains a number of things on sentinel attacks during his escape. "Let's hope they don't ever overcome that bit of programming. If they could, anyone could be a target, and the Sentinels would have the capacity to use human hostages to encourage anyone with powers to try and save them, laying traps effectively. This world would fall." That caused a shudder. He used his escape to do his laundry to try and clear his head. Bella was wonderful, but the fact she was here, meant a lot of different things. And she brought up a number of points Zaph didn't want to consider. It was...tough. Tough on everyone that wasn't human, in particular carriers of the X-Gene. What if they start to find potential mutants, not just active ones? Would they seek to isolate that genetic code and eliminate the chance of new mutant births? It wasn't just the sentinels. Defenders of the peace, SHIELD, were now hunting them like they were the enemy. Once again, Zaph was the outsider. No home, few friends, and now. He sighed while no one was around. This was hell. Then he caught sight of something on the cameras. Uniforms. MRD. s**t. His clothing was just about ot finish up their spin cycle, meaning no time to dry, or even get them out. He sprinted to his and Bella's room. "We have a problem."
INDENT"§" Odds are, she knew, and he would follow her lead, but for right now, he had no clothing besides this bathrobe. So he hastily scanned room occupants, and their personal information through any database to find someone in his sizes. "So. I have a lead on clothing so I am not running around naked, at the same time, MRD is in the lobby and beginning a search of the building. I will follow your lead, but for now...I am honestly surprised they found us. There was nothing any networks I had access to that told me they were here." He would wait for her signals, but he also knew that two doors down as a businessman on a trip here, and was not in his room. He could get in, take some cloths, and be out pretty quick. It was up to her though now. Zaph would help however he could to get out of this, but she held most of the cards.
•••▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬•••
Mutants Present
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:37 pm
Name: Isabella Stone [The Siren]Location: Detroit, MI [Warehouse District to DoubleTree Inn]Isabella shook her head with a little smile when Zaphiel shot down her idea of the campy clothing from the hotel gift shop. “It would make you stand out less than what you were in. Definitely less than a bathrobe…”, she responded teasingly without missing a beat. He seemed fairly confident in his ability to get around the hotel on his own and as she passed him the black coffee she let it go. She could see that his mind was already made up. He seemed to space out a little bit and she gently pulled him out of his head by commenting on his ability to change the news.
“You can mess with it all you like when we’re home free. Just don’t start any international incidents or anything…”, the raven haired woman trailed off as he winked in her direction. He was strange in a way that reminded her of someone much younger. One moment he was in tears. The next he was full of bravado and joking around. Being on his own for so long would have accounted for some of his randomness if she didn’t suspect that it was simply partially who he was.
“Everyone has been doing everything they can to survive. The Professors at the Academy wouldn’t hold it against you for not getting back to them before we moved.”, Bella intoned lightly, trying to reassure him. The Sentinels were walking constructs from hell. They were responsible for so much chaos and destruction she was shocked that the government hadn’t restricted their deployment. They caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages just to land in a residential area. Let alone to try and capture a mutant. It was a waste. “Those that resisted the Registration Act are all helping in their own way. It’s tense and terrifying sometimes… But it’s better than the alternative.”
Being locked up and torn apart for study was the alternative. Once it was determined that a mutant ability was too dangerous to be allowed to roam free they were never seen again. Not unless it was in a ditch somewhere.
He spoke about the consequences of Sentinels overcoming their base programming. She didn’t know enough about robotics or artificial intelligence to make any true speculations but the songstress would rather die before letting things get that bad. All of the X-Men would do everything they could to prevent such a wide scale disaster from happening. “It would definitely make things more difficult... But I have faith in our team. We’ve beat some terrifying things in the past…Things you wouldn’t believe. We won’t let that happen. I promise.”
Zaphiel excused himself after that to do a little laundry and the small sound user sighed as she let her body flop down on the bed. She lay on her side, wondering if she had truly only added to her wards paranoia, versus assuaging it. Normally she was so good at making people feel at ease. Why did she feel like she was failing? She listened for Zahl as she waited with her eyes shut, silently willing him to get back sooner than later. Bella could sense that he needed a little space but it wasn’t smart to split their forces.
It wasn’t long after Zaphiel left that strange noises outside caught her attention. Large trucks and the scratching sound of radio comms. Lots of them. Her eyes again seemed to shift, darting this way and that, as she followed the information her ears provided. She put two and two together a few moments before Zaphiel came crashing back through the door. He was twitchy. Jumpy. Ready to move, ready to flee. But that wasn’t the part of the plan. “They aren’t here for us. Not specifically anyway.”
“It’s a random sweep.”, she continued as she absorbed all of the verbal communication going on from soldier to solder. Isabella could hear them testing in the lobby with handheld devices. They were requesting hotel records to run background checks. Their room was registered underneath a fully identifiable pseudonym of one of Emma Frost’s colleagues. It wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. “We don’t need to run.”
“Think of the benefit of hiding out in a building that’s already been cleared. It’s not like either one of us has visible horns. I think I can talk our way out of this. If I can’t…We can deal with the soldiers and try it your way.”
Humans were easier to deal with than a Sentinel. Isabella couldn’t use her ability to ply a robot…But she could work easily with flesh and blood. Throughout all of the conversation she remained calm. A quiet mind always prevailed before a chaotic one. So long as she could think clearly – She could do her job.
"We met for a reason. I'm either a blessing or a lesson. I'l let you decide which is which."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
