"Well, I don't see why not," said McCoy with a jolly smile, "I'd say she's well enough for a nice hearty breakfast, after all."
Over near the entrance, Sam lead Paige into the room, and gave a great "Ta-daaaa..." as he showed her the eclectic range of pupils out and about. Most of them were pretty much human, just ordinary kids milling about, eating breakfast and chatting with their friends just like anybody else. Then, of course, there were the pupils with technicolour skin, bizarre growths or inorganic limbs, and then there was the slim percentage that looked only nominally human. But even they were eating and chatting like the regular school kids that they were, with no signs of anyone getting picked on for their bizarre appearances.
"Behold, the gifted youngsters o' Xavier's school. Pretty cool, 'm I right?" Sam pointed over at the far corner, where most of the adults were sat talking amongst themselves. "Over there's most o' the teaching-folks. The blonde guy, late twenties, he's Mister Drake, pr'fers folks call him Bobby, 'n' he's the maths professor. Th' redhead lady's Vice-Principal Grey, she also does english. The guy with blue skin and metal wings y'r probably starin' at is Mister Worthington, he does gym and flight classes."
He turned back to Paige. "The guy you met comin' in was Mister Summers. He teaches geometry, leadership 'n' tactics. He's also overseein' this lil' thing he calls 'Vocational Activities', an' that's where ah met most 've my friends here."
Paige looked around her with wide eyes. She'd seen mutants on the television, of course, but in the flesh it was so different! Her mind was whirling with all of the sights and sounds. Wings! Fur! Blue skin! Transparent skin! Huge maggots!
Then her thoughts caught up with her ears. The man she'd met at the entrance was a teacher? He must have thought she was some kind of runaway or crazy person just showing up unannounced like that! Desperate to cover her embarrassment, she quickly spun away from the eye line of the group of adults and turned to Sam. "What do you mean, "Vocational Activities? Are you becoming a priest, Sam?" She raised an eyebrow in mock puzzlement. "And what's "tactics?"
edited 31st Mar '16 7:03:21 PM by Booky
This post was thumped by the Codfish in a Derby Hat
huzzaaaaaaaah
At the mention of 'what happened', Megan struggled to find a way to describe the past day's events without mentioning... the thing. "I got there, at the gala, just seconds after it happened. I helped everyone bring you here and when it came time to heal you up, I was by your side the whole time- except the hours I had to go to sleep." She usually always joked at these situations, but this time, it felt imperative to add some light to the entire proceedings.
"I'm so happy you're back." She continued, sitting besides Karen on her makeshift bed. "Not that I ever thought you'd ever go away, but.. y'know... it was kinda scary. At one point you were screaming and yelling and I really thought..." Megan looked at her hands, frowning, before waving that entire set of feelings aside. "Who cares about what I thought— you're safe, you're healed up, that's all that matters!"
"Yes," Raze mocked in a pitch perfect imitation of Coulson's voice. "I think you should do that." He said, whilst adjusting an invisible tie, before adding a 'jackass' under his breath.
"Tactics, well... ah don't take it m'self, but ah gather that it's mostly Mr Summers settin' up all these logic puzzles, scenarios an', sometimes, even hypothetical fights, so's students c'n figure out strategies for usin' their powers under pressure. Now, keep in mind," Sam put on a voice as businesslike as he could manage. "The Xavier Institute for Higher Learnin' does not an' will not officially condone its students an'/or faculty recklessly 'ndangerin' themselves an' others, through mutant gifts or other perilous means, no matter the cause or motive."
He gave Paige a sly smirk. "But, well, you know me. Anytime ah see someone gettin' themselves inta trouble, ah can't help but rocket in an' try to lend a hand. Turns out, there's a lotta folks feel the same way, so the principal set up Vocational Activities, so's we can get involved in the community, exercise our gifts, an' build upon trust an' cooperation. Translation: If we're gonna go riskin' our necks savin' lives, we gotta do it as a team."
Sam and Paige arrived at a table where a handful of friendly teens were sat. There was an asian girl with short cropped black hair, and a girl with reddish gold hair, both chatting away without a care in the world. There was also a bronze-skinned lad with wavy dark brown hair, who didn't look terribly interested in the conversation and practically cheered when he saw Sam returning.
"Hey fellas!" called Sam. "Paige, this here's the crew ah was telling' you about. New Mutants, I'd like ya'll to meet my amazin' lil' sister, Paige!"
Meanwhile, Green Arrow's entourage arrived outside the Xavier Institute. The gates had promptly opened to let them through, so it seemed that Xavier was keeping an eye out.
The guard who had just arrived with the phone proffered the phone through the bars. "Your phone, Mister Darkholme."
edited 4th Apr '16 12:41:18 PM by LizardOfAus
It was a lot to take in: her brother's newfound confidence in himself, the references to "fights" and "risking his neck", and the vast cheerful horde of people all chattering and laughing and (she was sure she heard it) singing.
Paige was almost dizzy with the vast wall of sight and sound. She ran a hand nervously through her hair as they approached the group of teenagers, wishing she'd had the opportunity to at least wash her face or take off her clunky engineer boots. If Sam hadn't been standing nest to her, she'd have felt like a hick. She began nervously picking at the skin on her hand again, unaware she was doing it. Paige's eyes widened slightly at the diverse group. She'd never actually met an Asian person before (the girl was very pretty, she thought nervously, her cheeks pinking unexpectedly), and the young man didn't look like anyone from home, either. The blush deepened as Sam introduced her (I'm amazin' to HIM?), but Paige managed to fight it down and stand tall as he spoke.
Vampire Hunter
Rogue, X-Cafeteria
"Okay, Dr. McCoy," Anna Marie said as she gathered up her books and packed them. "Let me get a another meal and I'll head down to visit Power Girl right away."
Wizard Needs Food Badly
"Keep an eye on her." Green Arrow muttered to the SHIELD agent in the car. Much as he disliked the suit's involvement in this whole mess, he still recognized that "Laura X" was still a danger and not to be underestimated. He strode up to the front door and knocked loudly.
"Professor? It's Oliver Queen! I have someone here who I think you might want to take a look at!" he called loudly to the door.
huzzaaaaaaaah
"Took you idiots long enough." Raze snarled as he grabbed the phone off the agent's hand, quickly dialing the number of one of Mystique's burner phones.
Instead of turning around and covering his mouth so nobody could try and read his lips, Raze actually stared right into the agent's eyes, speaking up the instant someone picked it up on the other side. "Hey there. So as you may have noticed, I didn't come home last night. Which means we're going to need to do a hostage exchange- me for that blonde British loser. Put him on the phone so he can confirm his location, will you?"
The asian girl was the first to speak, and spoke with a slight french accent. "It's nice to meet you, Paige. I'm Xi'an," she pronounced this as 'shan', "or 'Karma' if you'd prefer."
The afro-brazilian lad in front gave a 'chk-chk' point to Paige and said "Hey. Name's Bobby, or Sunspot, or hell, you can call me Robert if you like. Any family of Cannonball here's a friend of mine."
"Reign it in, slick. She's mah sister, r'member," said Sam with a playful smirk. He turned to Paige again. "Yeah, one thing y'll notice is the nicknames. Most ev'rybody's got at least one. Goofy, maybe, but helps identify powers an' boost the self esteem. Sunspot here's got nat'ral solar power an' can shift into a form with super-strength..."
On cue, Sam changed his appearance, turning his skin pitch black with glowing orange eyes and gaining an aura of fiery glowing and little black dots. Then, just as quickly as he changed, he shifted straight back again.
"...an' Karma's got the power t' possess folks, takin' control o' their body for a while. Don't worry, she's completely moral with her gift. Ain't that right?"
Karma smiled and nodded. From the look in her eyes, she was clearly hoping against hope that Paige wouldn't think of her as some creepy mind-controller.
"There we go. Now, lil' miss timid there is Amara, or Magma. Say hi, Amara!"
The blonde girl next to Karma hid behind a lock of her hair, and gave a small 'hello' under her breath.
"An' the other two girls o' the group already finished up, but they're called Dani and Ororo, or Mirage an' Storm."
The door opened, and Oliver was immediately greeted by Mr Summers. "Try to keep it down, Mister Queen. The Professor's in his study right now; he'll be expecting you."
''"Raze, I'm going to stop you right there. There's been a problem. An immense problem."
Meanwhile, Anderson had just got off the phone with Morgan Edge. She and the rest of SHIELD had been coordinating with him to assert damage control, but he had just got back to her with an interesting development. She turned on GBN, and watched the latest broadcast with great interest.
edited 12th Apr '16 12:22:43 AM by LizardOfAus
Studio
Kate Bishop walked out of the taxi and into the recording studio of Gordon Godfrey. She had her bow and quiver stashed in a cello case, and was dressed nicely but practically; white shirt, lilac pants, and purple headband and sunglasses. Plus, she had memorized the phone number for the Xavier Institute that Rogue had given her, in case she needed backup.
It didn't bother her at all that Clint had disappeared into the night. Nope. Not in the slightest. She was perfectly capable of handling this on her own.
She entered the studio and introduced herself to the receptionist, who directed her to where Godfrey would be recording.
edited 20th Apr '16 7:46:07 PM by emilyorthoclase
Paige listened with interest to Sam's description and introduction of his friends, even jumping back slightly when Bobby changed. She said hello to them all, making an especial effort to greet the shy blonde (Magma? Wow, that sounds incredible! I wonder what she can do?) and giving a big, friendly smile to Xi'an, hoping it would reassure the Asian girl. When Sam mentioned his own nickname, however, she grinned. "So you're named after a big dull lump? I guess they know you pretty well already. Did you get that name before or after you showed 'em you can fly?" She punched him playfully on the arm.
Inside, however, she was distressed. They were so suave and outgoing, comfortable with their mutant powers. What would they do when they learned how useless her power was? Send her to the remedial class? She'd seen kids get ostracized (and had been herself after Sam displayed his gift) for no good reason except for being not as smart, or athletic in high school, and hoped this place would be different.
Iron Man landed on the rooftop with a faint clink, opening his faceplate so as not to appear condescending by masking his face* . "And what, exactly, is Godfrey? A mutant? An alien? A 'time-traveler' like you?" Tony's expression was one of doubt - both at Booster, and, unknown to the other man, at himself, concerning what had happened to him on the pundit's show three months ago.
Karen listened intently... which internally surprised her for a moment, as she had been having trouble focusing on a lot of things these past couple of months. This wayward train of thought would've continued, if not for Megan mentioning some things.
"......I was screaming?" the blonde asked, visibly unable to remember what she had been doing after being brought to Xavier's. What she did remember, though, was an intense, constricting feeling of... hopelessness seemed to be the best term for it. Some kind of sensation that felt like it was dragging her down faster and further than before - and now was... 'gone' wasn't the right word; it was still there, just heavily-subdued. Practically normal.
It was Karen's turn to stare at her hands for a moment. She glanced around at the bed she was on, noting that no part of it seemed to have been bent or broken* . "What happened after I... you know, after I got here?......"
A mansion in Upper Manhattan
Ming arrived home early today. A teacher was sick so she had only a few classes. She didn't feel like hanging around on school, anyway. She had been in a foul mood since yesterday.
The scare of the incident at the ball, her parents acting all racist against superhumans, and, as much as she wanted to deny it, seeing Axel again had disturbed her.
She noticed the limo parked on the entryway. Did her parents have guests today?
She steeled herself for the inevitable 'good mannered daughter' act she knew she would have to play. If her parents only knew how she really acted the rest of the time!
She entered. As she approached the main room, she heard a familiar voice.
"Oh yes, I heard it on the news. Were you scared, Mrs Kuo-Fan?"
"Indeed! We had to hide in the dark! Like Animals!" her mother responded with anger.
The other man was Sebastian Shaw, the owner of... something. She wasn't really paying attention the last time they were introduced.
"It was terrible!" her father chided in. "What kind of times are these, that respectable people like us, can't even go out without risk? Why doesn't anyone do something??"
"I assure you, Mr Kuo-Fan, that there are good folk working on it. In fact, I represent one such group. And we would be honored if you joined us."
A beat.
Ming couldn't see from behind the wall, but her parents looked into each other's eyes for a moment, as if debating it silently.
"Very well. We accept" her father said.
Ming also didn't see Shaw smile.
"Welcome, then, to the Hellfire Club."
Love is Love is Love
Rooftop
"Yes!" Booster blurted out. "Yes! He's an alien! He works for a guy called Dahkseid. I know it sounds stupid but trust the guy from the future! He uses his powers to breed mistrust and hate against the Superhero and mutant communities so that when Dahkseid attacks, and that day is coming, he brings the Earth to the brink of extinction. It's why I lived on a floating city over where Ohio used to be, instead of living in Ohio!" Booster let out a frustrated exhale as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I... I could have stopped him before," he said with clear distaste for himself, "I could have stopped him months ago, I could have stopped him and so many other people the day I got here! But I was too worried about being famous, about people seeing how great a hero I was." His tone was dripping with self-loathing as he balled up his fists. "And because I was stupid, people got hurt. Well not anymore. I won't let Godfrey hurt one more person. I'm going to expose Godfrey for the monster he is!" He looked at Tony and took a step forwards, eyes narrowed behind his visor. "Stark, you've got two options. You can either get out of my way, or I will put you out of my way."
edited 19th Apr '16 9:46:20 PM by SonOfSharknado
My various fanfics.
Vampire Hunter
Rogue, X-Mansion
Once Anna Marie got a meal ready as well as her books packed, she had left to go visit Power Girl.
"Hey, can I join y'all?" Anna Marie said as she carried in breakfast on a serving tray designed to be used while in bed and placed it over Power Girl's lap. "I brought ya breakfast, Power Girl... It's from the cafeteria, but Dr. McCoy gave me the okay to bring ya somethin' to eat."
Anna Marie looked like she wanted to hug Power Girl, but just put her gloved hands on Power Girl's shoulders and cried, "I'm glad your alright, Power Girl! I just wish I could hug you, but y'all know how my power is..."
edited 11th Apr '16 8:18:59 PM by GameGuruGG
Wizard Needs Food Badly
huzzaaaaaaaah
Studio
"Ms. Bishop!"
Kate would immediately find out that television didn't make people look bigger: instead, it made them look smaller. Compared to his TV show visage, Godfrey was much taller and bulkier in real life (almost in contrast to his position as a pundit- just when did he find the time to work out?)
"A pleasure to have you here." He said, holding out his hand and putting out the slimiest of smiles. "I'll make an opening statement to my good public, and then we can proceed with your interview. Oh, yes, Ms. Bishop, I do have to warn you: appearing in my show will get you a lot of attention. The kind you convert into revenue, and the kind that'll make you hire extra security guards due to the mutant terrorist threats." With this, he nodded at the absurd amount of black-suit wearing men and women spread around the studio. "Morgan! Come over here!"
Godfrey waited until the much more weaker-looking Morgan Edge came his way. "This is Morgan, my boss." He said, although by the looks of it the power dynamic went the opposite direction. "He can answer any questions you might have."
Prison
"What do you mean—"
Raze looked over at the television, which was displaying an announcement by the station. "We interrupt our programming to bring you all a live, in-person message from Gordon G. Godfrey regarding the events of last night's Charity Ball. The message will begin after these messages." It said, before repeating the warning a few times and moving over to Godfrey's sponsors.
"Oh." The mutant glared at Anderson almost immediately. "Fuck me. How... how did he escape?!" He hissed into the phone, expecting the blow back from SHIELD.
Mansion
"We helped you- by we I mean me, Doctor Mc Coy and one of my teachers." Megan explained, trying to sound as warm as possible as she realized her eagerness might end up harming Karen's transition back into normalcy. "Someone had attacked you... mentally. We thought it may have been the Weeper, but we can't confirm. Something he- or someone else- did made you feel... awful. I went in and helped you get back to normal, helped you heal up."
She crossed her arms, mustering up a smile. "I guess you can say we're even now in the 'help each other fight back against the Weeper's attacks' territory, right?"
Studio
Kate winced a little as she shook Godfrey's hand; he had a grip like a vice.
"Believe me, Mr. Godfrey, I don't think I'll need bodyguards. I can take care of myself."
Once Godfrey left to continue going on the air, Kate turned her attention to Morgan. If he was Godfrey's boss, that meant he had to have dirt on the guy. Compared to Godfrey, he seemed downright tame; Kate figured she could have this guy singing like a canary by the time she had to go on the air.
"So, Morgan, you're a television producer? How long have you been working with Godfrey?"
"Morning, lass," Rocket greeted Power Girl as he came into the room next, a fresh cup of coffee in his hands. "You slept well?"
DAMMIT MARK, STOP HOTTING HELPY!!
A Street somewhere in Manhattan
Whew. Another day of college classes done, Axel Asher thought as he walked down the avenue. So why was he still feeling so uneasy?
Probably because of the events of the previous night. Also, this morning was awkward, with that Miss Martian and Darwin stuff. Oh well, at least he made sure Power Girl was OK. *I bet no one even told her I was the one who carried her to safety* he mentally complained. Poor little Access, never getting any credit.
Ahh, screw it all! he decided. He needed to just go out and have some fun. Hey, there's an idea! He brought out his cellphone, intending to call Caitlin and see if she was available for a date. But just as he was about to dial her number-
-the phone buzzed. *beep*
-*Huh? Is that Caitlin? No wait, that number- it's Ming's!*
Should he answer? he thought. After all, he did have a new girlfriend. He shouldn't go around contacting his old one.
But what if it was something important? Especially after what happened last night... Axel groaned, then took the call.
"Hello?"
"Axel? I-It's me. Ming."
"I know. Umm, what's up?"
"I need to speak with you. Not over the phone. In private."
Uh oh. Being alone with Ming is the LAST thing he needed now.
"A-Ax? Are you still there?"
"Yes!" he quickly responded. She sounded so worried. Mentally cursing, he said, "OK. Where do we meet?"
"Remember our spot in Central Park? Meet me there. ASAP."
"Wait, why-" Too late, she had hung up.
-*ARRGH why do these things happen to me!* Axel cursed. *This never happens to Spider-Man, I bet!*
Anyway, he decided to duck into an alley, and after making sure no one could see him, *pop*
-he was on Central Park.
Ming was there, all right. On that tiny bridge they went to on so many of their dates.
He sighed and approached her.
"Umm, hi" he said.
"Axel!" she said happily, running over to him and hugging him!
This actually stunned him. The last time they spoke, she swore off seeing him again because she was tired of the weird stuff in his superhero life. But this was just like their old days as a couple. Awk-ward!
He gently slipped out of her embrace and said, "Err, nice to see you too. But, what's going on?"
"Oh, Axel" she said, going sad once more. "It's- my parents. I'm afraid they might have involved themselves with some bad people."
"Eh? What do you mean?'
"Have you heard of the Hellfire Club?"
"Uh, is that a rock band?"
"No, silly. It's a club for the idle rich. They had been courting my parents to join for a while."
"And that is bad, why?"
"...Well, it's not bad by itself. But their leader, a man called Sebastian Shaw- he gives me the creeps. He convinced my parents to join by telling them they have plans to deal with mutants and such. I don't trust him."
Oh, right. Ming's parents were no fan of superpeople of *any* kind- including Access.
"So you want me to, what, spy on them and find out if they are really evil?"
She looked away.
"Ming, I'm a superhero, not a detective. I can't spy on people without just cause. In fact, why don't you hire a detective?"
"I can't, my parents control my money, they would find out!" then she stared at him with those big, puppy eyes of hers. "Please, Ax. I... know I hurt you. I was a selfish jerk. I don't really deserve your aid. But, my parents aren't bad people- they are just misled. As immigrants, they suffered a lot before making it big, so they distrust people. Please, I don't want anything bad to happen to them!"
And he, by extension, didn't want her to be affected, either. He sighed.
"...Fine. I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you!" *hugs him again!* *awk-ward*
edited 16th Apr '16 5:30:27 PM by Sijo
King of Lame-Style
"Its easier to believe than you might think actually" Said the journalist, taking a sip of his tea, afterwards "It is harder to comprehend though, but... I suppose I'll have to trust you... so you go to this separate plane, meet this Dream Maker or Dream Weaver... I do want to ask, why was that part of him... her? does it even have a- no, that's not important." He clears his throat "ehem, why is there a piece of them in you in the first place?" he asked.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.
Freelance Worrywart
Wesleigh cleared her throat.
"Uhm, he didn't really explain that. I learned a bit from his sister... no, don't think too hard on that. From what I can tell, some time back some magicians in the Wake summoned and broke him, everything sort of split apart. You ever reading about the sleeping sickness epidemics of the 30s? Something to do with him apparently. So some part of him found it's way to me... I still don't know how exactly. It's all a bit-"
She waved a hand vaguely.
"-complicated, back home- I mean back in the dreamscape. He's trying to get everything back in order. Which apparently it's my duty to help with."
X-Mansion
"Summers." Green Arrow acknowledged the young man with a nod as he stepped inside the mansion.
"If the prof is busy, who else is around? I got somebody who I think should be looked at here. Real dangerous but I think she's a good kid at heart for some reason. Anyways, there's a fed outside so whoever wants to take a look at her should hurry up out here before he regrets coming here." Ollie told the man patiently but urgently. This little excursion wasn't on SHIELD's agenda and Green Arrow didn't want the agent outside to do anything drastic if he was kept waiting long enough.
Manhattan
After making sure Ming got home OK, Axel began walking around the streets aimlessly, trying to think about what to do next.
He tried Googling "Hellfire Club" on his Iphone. All he got was some information on its being founded in the 18th century and some gossip columnist decrying it for holding orgies, not that anything had ever been proved. So far, the Playboy Club had a worse rep.
Now what? He could try to sneak in via teleport and sneak around at night... or maybe try the old "I'm here to deliver some pizza" trick... yeah, right.
Damn, if only he had actual detective skills!
...Wait. He might not have any, but he did know someone who does. And who loves investigating corruption: The Question!
But, would he even bother helping him? Oh well, it's worth a try, he decided.
He pulled out his JA comm and spoke to it: "Access to The Question. I need your assistance with- a case. Are you available?"
"So, what you mean to tell me is that... you disappeared to Dreamland?"
Gimme yer lunch money, dweeb."Yes," Wesleigh replied bluntly. There wasn't really another way to put it. She looked at the cup held between her hands and chewed her lip, trying to think of something more convincing. It was difficult.
"There's a... being? No... a personification, that watches over the dreams of all living beings. It... he has a... a personality of a sort, goals and hopes. I think. The way he explained it there's a..."
She waved a hand beside her ear.
"Piece of him in my head. It let me see things that were going to happen. I don't know if it still does, but that piece led me back to him. I don't know if you've encountered... Ivan the universe is so much bigger than we ever could have imagined..."
She was faltering. Summarising the experience seemed impossible, she and her friend used to punch criminals in the neck for Christ's sake, this was so beyond the pale how could she even attempt to explain?
"Think of it like... a magical plane, like D&D or something. A separate reality. The worlds of dreams and nightmares."