[Training Room]

Well, at least the screen didn't look like her dead friend anymore. Penny sighed; it didn't sound exactly like him, either. Daniels had a certain arrogant suaveness to his voice that gave him the charm of someone who tried too hard to impress ladies; it was just pitiful enough to be likeable. This mass of chips and wires and data was too robotic. It made sense, considering the voice was a robot. Then again, while it was uncanny, the inhuman nature of this attempted mimicry was strangely comforting to her. It kept her from doubting her memories and hoping that the massacre she survived was just a terrible nightmare. There was nothing worse than denying the truth, after all.

Speaking of truth, Penny thought to herself as she silently listened to the screen's words, this damned machine knows an awful lot about me. She resolved to fix that. She had a reputation as an unexpected variable to uphold, after all. She decided to not use her powers for a while, or at least not make it obvious what activates them. The robots didn't seem to know about that much yet, so it seemed like the best course of action. Feeling rather devious for coming up with this idea all on her own, she smirked to herself briefly just before the jolt of motion dropped her to the ground.

"Oof!" Penny whimpered as the floor jolted to a halt after a brief stint of motion; was this entire room made of extra walls and elevator parts or something? Getting up and blowing the stray hairs from her face with a quick upwards breath, she quirked a brow at the screen. "Training facility?" Was it some kind of gym? A gym was nice. She could take out her emotions on a punching bag, maybe go for a swim or something. She couldn't remember the last time she had trained at a gym. She seemed to have convinced herself of what this training facility was before she even set eyes on it. "Does it have a pool? Could use a dip." She jumped to her feet and trotted eagerly down the hall. This whole prison thing wasn't so bad after all; free food, clean rooms, there was even a gym. She couldn't see why people complained about it so much.

That is, she was fine with it until the room she entered was very much not a gym. It would have looked like she had stepped into a commercial for some Apple product if it wasn't for the bearded fellow on the other side of the room that resembled a buff hobo. The situation was so peculiar that she couldn't help but snort in an attempt to hold back a laugh. "I'd ask if this is a joke, but robots have a pretty stiff sense of humor." Blowing stray hair out of her face and flashing a friendly smile at the unfamiliar face across the room, she crossed her arms and peered at the odd looking cylinder in the center of the room. "I'm new here, name's Penny. I'm assuming whatever we're working together to do has to do with that thing?" She had a feeling in a few seconds she would regret wasting the time to ask.

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-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

[ Kazakhstan – The Front ]

When the mysterious woman began touching the dead man's body an instinct struck Tag, a feeling similar to what a lion feels when hoarding a fallen zebra. That was her kill. Tag didn't jump to defend it, though. She just bristled and glared.

The woman picked a pebble out of the dead man and looked at Tag, "Your work?"

Tag bared her teeth - her canines especially pronounced - and snarled. A low guttural growl that made the intent absolutely clear, "I don't like you." Normally that would have been all Tag needed to do, but she was beginning to understand that too many people didn't have the right instincts to respond to basic signals. So she gave the woman a little more direction with actual spoken words, "What do you want?"

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[ DOOM ]

As Kresnik had desired, he was brought to Latveria to have an audience with its very monarch. He would, after receiving his “aid” for so long, meet the man himself in the flesh. It was a great honor that had been granted to very few. After all, one does not request an audience with Doom. In reality, it is Doom who demands your presence, and it is you who answers that summon. It was one of the many lessons that Vision knew well. His respect and courtesy were for only his equals, and there are none.

By Vision’s lead, Kresnik was taken all the way to the very throne room of the castle. Strangely, the pair was paid little heed and were allowed to roam freely by the patrolling soldiers. The most attention they received was the most imperceptible of nods to Vision as she passed, a brief acknowledgment of her return. It seemed Vision held some degree of status amongst her cohorts, having faith that anyone should brought wouldn't be a threat to their master. Or they, at least, knew better to accost her at all when she was making her way to see their ruler.

Eventually, the pair reached a place acutely familiar for the mutant soldier. After all, she was just here a few days ago. Unlike before, however, Doom awaited them upon his throne. Unfortunately for Vision, he did not wait for her to pay her usual respects. “You stand now before Doom. Speak, while I still allow you to do so,” he remarked almost immediately, staring straight into the eyes of Kresnik.

-----

[ The Shack ]

“Yes, right. Of course. The mission. So anyway,” Kenji remarked, almost stammering. With a bright flash of light from his hands, he projected a large map on the wall. It seemed to be some blueprints of some sort. It wasn't difficult to put two and two together and realize he was showing them the layout of the very facility they sought intrude. Unfortunately, it also made very little sense. There was a definite ground floor that looked like any other unimaginatively created holding facility, but there seemed to also be a whole underground component to it. It looked like nothing but innumerable squares of various sizes, with lines drawn that seemed to indicate movement. “This... is the place our unfortunate souls will be breaking into today.”

“As you can see, there’s another face to this little prison. On the surface, it looks like any other old place, albeit surrounded by Sentinels. However, underneath it all is a dizzying array of moving rooms that are shifted and connected by God knows what means,” he explained, using his powers to animate the movement of the prison rooms. “This place is filled almost entirely of mutants. Very powerful mutants, in fact. The kind ordinary Sentinel facilities wouldn't be able to contain, in spite of the presence of power dampeners. We have reason to believe that they’re using something to keep the inmates sedated. It could be some kind of gas, or even a mutant. We’re not sure.” Kenji paused briefly, as moved aside some rooms and isolated a single cell that was roughly maintained in the center of the array.

“Whatever it is, we think it’d be contained here. A big part of this breakout is going to be trying to get into this room and dealing with this control system. From there, the sheer havoc of dozens of powerful mutants waking up at once should be an adequate dose of chaos to spring a prison break,” he explained, practically speaking as if it was easiest thing in the world. “So, specifics. We need Whisper to locate which cells actually contain people in it. Then, from there, I can teleport everyone to the ground floor. Unfortunately, we need that sedative system taken out first, otherwise we won’t be able to get close. That’s where Mickey comes in. This is an enormous gamble, but we need a bit of probability manipulation for it. I have a rough idea of where I’ll be ‘going’ when I teleport to the room, but it’s not exact. I’m going to need a little luck for the extra push. If it’s just me, I should be able to stay conscious enough to take out their system. Luckily, we have someone else working on it on the inside too, so we don't have one big point of failure.

“Everyone else, you’re going to have to do the other heavy lifting. The kind that involves a lot of mechanical and property destruction. We can... delay a confrontation with the Sentinels by teleporting straight in, but there are plenty of security drones and other surprises we’ll have to deal with once we’re inside. Now, any questions?”

--------------------

[A Dream within a Nightmare]

As if reacting to his refusal to grasp reality, the silhouette suddenly distorted and almost dissipated. However, it held on tight to Franklin’s mindscape, and after a few brief seconds, it regained its shape. It additionally anchored itself by holding on to the dreamer’s shoulder, although it did so in an almost comforting way. For whatever reason, this gave it its appearance a more definite form. Whoever this individual was, it was feminine and was no definitely speaking in a woman’s voice. “No, you don’t. Not yet, at least. But I know of you. I know of you, and the X-Men,” she said, a smile in her voice. “I’ve been watching all of you for a very long time, and let me tell you... this isn’t your world, and these aren’t your classmates.”

Her head tilted in the direction of the Dream-Mickey. “He’s close. They’re all close. But, at the same time, they’re not quite right. I’m sure, somewhere deep down, you recognized that a long time ago,” the silhouette said carefully, trying to coax Franklin to the other side. “The world, and your friends, need you know. You need to leave this dream behind.”

-------------------

[ Training Room ]

As if on cue to Penny’s words, the cylinder at the center of the room opened, disappearing into the ceiling and the door and releasing copious amounts of vapor. It didn’t take long for it to fade away and reveal the pair’s opponent. No doubt John’s dismay, it was Sanjit, and he barely looked like the friend he knew. Gone was any semblance of humanity, his facial features barely distinguishable from the mix of purple and blue alloy that was now his skin. It was the ultimate perversion of what was once human. “For the purposes of this exercise, we withdrew the use of the core personality as means of psychological combat,” Master Mold remarked matter-of-factly to John. “Indeed, we reinstituted a very old primary directive in order to completely test this model’s capabilities.”

As if on cue, the Sanjit-Sentinel stepped forward and it’s glowed red. “MUTANTS DETECTED,” he stated, with an unnervingly familiar monotony. He then turned his gaze at John, and then Penny, analyzing them both with blinding speed. Then, with Sanjit’s emotionless voice, it uttered, “Destroy all mutants,” as the room glew bright from the concussive beams fired as both mutants.

_________________

"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

[ Kazakhstan – The Front ]

“She wants company,” Hiram interjected, turning his back on the newcomer.

He was most likely right, to some extent, but years of travel had made Hiram savvy to many of the little human things he’d have missed or misconstrued back in his academy days. She was after something more than that – it was in her eyes, in the way she held herself. But she seemed to pose little in the way of danger, and it would have been unnecessarily cruel to deny her. Not to mention, the woman’s demeanour seemed to indicate a certain love for dramatics that Hiram did not share and would not feed through contention.

He winced his way over the half-crumpled wreck of one of the patrol jeeps, his eye having been caught by a two-wheeled shape strapped to its rear. It was an old military bike – a common companion for the smaller patrol groups that roamed Mutant Prime’s territories. The jeeps would set up camp for the night at regular intervals, while the two bikes – it was generally two – would establish a perimeter watch. It was exactly the kind of lazy, imprecise methodology he’d have expected from armed militia, but probably not one implemented for the purpose of fending of Sentinel advances. The men they’d killed today were more likely a kind of filter against any refugees hoping to hop the border. Mutant Prime’s nation always needed warm bodies, whether they happened to possess an x-gene or not.

This was good. It meant that this group was expected to hold down this area for all of the day and much of the night, and then move on to whichever point was next in line.

And it meant that they’d been supplied appropriately.

Grunting, he unhooked the bike from its tethering, lifting it gently towards the ground. It was dented and scratched, but it would move.

“Take anything you can salvage. These people will have been carrying food, and weapons. We need both.”

For her sake, he hoped that the newcomer didn’t mind taking orders.

_________________

-Dreamscape: “Dreams Into Nightmares”-

Apropos of nothing the shadow seemed to dissipate retreating back into the ether from which it came. Franklin began to turn, satisfied that the shadow had gone, only to find it clutching his shoulder. Its touch was disarming, warm and comforting. It had a fullness and weight behind it that Franklin hadn’t felt in a long, long time. A desire to embrace this creature sprung up only to be tempered instantly by some powerful force in his subconscious. He merely stared into the shadow’s formless face. The gesture had only just broken his placid expression of indifference. Her words however blew it wide open.

“Close? Watching?” he muttered, looking away from the shadow. “Not my… I don’t understand.” He sounded confused, lost. “Wait,” he said with a little more finality. In a slow purposeful motion Franklin lifted his left hand and pinched his right. His body tensed, eyes going wide with revelation and understanding.

In the moment it took Franklin to calm his breathing and center himself once more the institute’s lunchroom grew noticeably emptier. Where once stood fond memories of people and the amenities of mealtime there was now nothing; even the warm sunlight pouring in from outside seemed to dim to suit his mood. Franklin looked to the shadow briefly once more before sitting upon the ground and stareing at it almost defiantly.

“Why?” He asked simply. “Why did you do that? I remember now. I didn’t want to.” Franklin shook his head. “Not ever. It hurts to remember.” He could have, should have been angry, but Franklin couldn’t properly dredge up such an emotion. He was still in shock. “If you knew me you wouldn’t have come. I’m useless.” His voice quavered as he spoke. “I could barely pick through ruins for scraps without getting captured. No one needs me and my friends are all dead. At least here I can see their faces again, even if they aren’t quite right. Close is more than close enough for me.”

Franklin sighed and gave the shadow a long pleading look. “Please. Go. There’s nothing out there but a ruined world and giant killer robots. That’s no world to live in.”

=The Shack is BACK!=

Mickey was rocking back and forth in his chair rather impatiently, his eyes completely focused on the man that stood before them. If it hadn’t already been obvious from the mass of cigarette butts piled up onto the ground next to where the Irishman was sitting, his nervous rocking was a clear indication of how restless he was about the whole situation. He listened to the man’s words carefully, his full attention upon the plan to rescue the mutants trapped inside of the base. The rocking slowed down at first, but then came to a complete halt once Kenji had finished explaining all of the details of the plan. Although Mickey didn’t particularly show any negative emotions towards what he just heard, the expression on his face clearly showed that he wasn’t entirely sure that it was what he was hoping to hear from the older man. Still, despite any reservations that the Irishman may have had about the plan, a sly smile crept onto his face as he stood up from his chair to get a better look at the glowing map.

“Probability manipulation, eh? That’s a rather nice way o putting tha’ I’ll just be takin a wild guess at it… but I’ve gotten away with worse before, this should be a piece of cake.” He said with a slight chuckle, his hope was that his dry humor might lighten up the mood a bit and make their situation seem a little less like suicide. Even with his ability with luck, there were still a lot of things that could go wrong with their plan. Mickey’s face got a little more serious after his remark, showing that what he was about to say next wasn’t a joke.

“A person on the inside you say? Well tha’ is all well and nice… but what kind of resistance can we expect from this place? If the mutants in the base are so strong, I doubt that they’ll just have one thing keeping them incapacitated… they’d have some kind of back up defense ya know?” the Irishman leaned in to get a better look at the map, studying it for a moment before blinking and looking over towards Kenji awaiting his response.

_________________

Maddie gasped and placed a hand to her mouth, her other being used to fan herself. "Oh, I'm hurt dearie." She said dramatically, before half-giggling, half-cackling and winking at her. "Just some fun sweetness." She said as she skipped after Hiram, although the little spark in it died down once she focused on him again, those negative feelings welling up again. Most unnerving. "I'm afraid you'll need to tell me what ammo to collect. Even in these times, the whole mechanisms of guns thing flew by me. Didn't even know guns needed specific ammo til that time in Cairo. Whooo, that was tricky." She babbled on, as she started slotting the clips out of the guns and stuffing them in her bag, taking her time to rifle through the corpses pockets for anything interesting. A few shiny things and trinkets were thrown in too. Anything electronic she could find went in the bag too, apart from those with disposable batteries, when just the batteries were taken. "Oh yes, haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Maddy." She said absently, as she fiddled with one man's shoes, pulling out the laces and sticking out her tongue in concentration.

_________________
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

Minerva Hitaome: Shack!
Minerva sat and listened to the whole game plan and for the most part agreed with it. She shrugged and cracked her back, knowing that she'd be among the 'other' group doing some of the heavy lifting. She was used to it afterall. Mickey would probably try to get her to change her mind again, but she was stubborn and determined as per usual. She would help even if it killed her. She also had some selfish desires to protect her teammates. She thought for a moment of what those prisons could be turned into if they were put into good hands: hospitals, houses, refugee safe-houses. So many things that could have been put to good use were now going to waste. It was fine time that those buildings were put to good use. She eyed Mickey's rocking chair and the increasing pile of used cigarettes and shook her head slightly. She wasn't one to nag, but that was going to catch up to him one day. Returning to the moment they were in, she watched for Kenji's response.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Tag did not take her eyes off of the newcomer. The "Maddy". If Tag had the opportunity, though, she would have taken Hiram and demanded "why". Why did they have to deal with this stranger? Why were they letting her come with us? Why couldn't they just kill her and move on?

But Hiram had decided to accept the stranger's existence, an existence Tag understood not only to be unknown, but dangerous. She bit back the reflexive urge to hiss at the slightest sound Maddy made, and instead simply glared even when Tag moved to the dead bodies to clean them of their goods.

It was as her hands were dotting up with leftover blood that Tag realized that she could just kill Maddy anyways. She hardly needed permission to kill any of the mutants here, what difference would it make for one more later on? A knife in the throat as the stranger slept would be as sufficient as it ever was. A year ago, Tag would have never bothered asking "why", in fact she would have never bothered with words at all. The only thing that ever mattered and would ever matter was action. Hiram knew where to go and he had helped Tag, so he had earned her deference and that gave her reason to speak again, but now what was needed was action and only Tag could really understand that.

As Tag collected ammo and rations, she made her plans. Maddy would die tonight.

_________________

(Cuban Jungle Japes)

It took Ben a second to realize what Snap wanted him to do, but it quickly donned on him to tie the bandanna to the reptilian mutants bicep. With that he bowed to his friend bidding him a farewell in his hunt as Ben began to levitate himself off the ground. He rose slowly through the trees, carefully navigating his way through the crisscrossing tangle of branches. When he reached the tree tops he could see smoke billowing from the campsite. He froze for a moment as his mindscape began to conjure up his worst fears as a leader. Thought began to race in his mind. Were they followed? Did they get discovered by a patrolling Primer or Sentinel? Was their a traitor in their midst? He had no clue, but he had a sinking feeling in his gut. The same one he got when the professor died and the time he was found by a Sentinel.

Ultimately it was the frantic barking of his canine companion that snapped him back to reality. The air waves rippled from his launching point when he propelled himself toward the scene. Ben steeled himself as he sped towards the flames like a gunshot. Among their little refugee army there where a couple of talented mutants, and a few men, but it was mostly women and children. He had no doubt there would be more casualties, but there was no way he could prepare himself for what he was about to see.

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My Poetry and More!

[ Kazakhstan – The Front ]

“Hiram.” He mumbled in response, his uninflected tone providing a solid wall for Maddy’s apparent enthusiasm to rebound off.

“Take everything. I’ll sort it later.”

They had time to spare, but not time to waste. Hiram wouldn’t dither it away lecturing a drifter on the specifics of firearm usage. If her demeanour was any indication, the young woman was far too excitable to make a truly proficient marksman either way. And her sheer conspicuousness ensured that Hiram would supply the convoy’s children with weapons before resorting to putting a firearm in her hands.

Biting back complaints from his ribs, he pulled himself atop the twisted wreckage of the jeep – he thought he’d seen a Panzerfaust sitting near one of its passenger seats earlier. The settling dawn flashed in his eyes and for a moment he couldn’t help but stare over the hills, towards the oncoming horizon, and wonder.

In an hour or two they’d be over those hills, and on into lands far more dangerous than these. Every inch of him whispered of charges over open fields, and foolishness, and Light Brigades rushing into the jaws of loaded guns.

He knelt to sift through the ashes. That Panzerfaust had to be somewhere.


[ Over da Border ]

The stars were out. Brisk winds had chased anything remotely grey from the sky and left a gaping, speckled void in their wake. There were dim distances in the reaches of Hiram’s memory, before Mutant Prime, before Sentinels, and before X-Men, in which he sat at the banks of a great and still lake, far away from anyone, and the night up above seemed to be teetering into its own reflection. After that, stars faded from his recollections – his bed sat by a window that stared out into one of the brightest cities on Earth, and he very rarely left his bed in those days.

But now everything man-made in at least sixty miles had long gone dark, and the stars dominated the night. And Hiram, sitting there in the dark, felt strangely sorry that he had no telescope.

The border was more than a hundred miles behind them now. By chance, their path had brought them within eyeshot of an old mine, likely tapped out and left to rot long before the world was torn in half. Most of it had collapsed in on itself long ago, but the caves were still deep enough to hide their truck. By the look of it, the place had briefly served as a forward base for Mutant Prime’s forces, but they’d abandoned any hope of keeping it long ago, leaving nothing but the skeletons vehicles charred beyond usefulness and miscellaneous bits of military junk.

Most of the refugees were in the caves, relishing the opportunity to sleep somewhere they could stretch their legs. Hiram was hunkered down, rifle over his knees, upon an outcropping overlooking the entrance. He’d meant to stand watch for just a few hours, but then he noticed the stars.

And he couldn’t stop noticing them.

_________________

[Training Room]

Impulse bursted through her veins as Penny took and held a deep breath. She dug her toes into the ground, pushing off in a rush leaving nothing but wind behind. The movement was so quick, it seemed as if she teleported to John's side, shoving him down to the floor and shielding his body with her own. She said no words, or rather couldn't; she had to hold her breath if she were to survive this. The only thought in her mind was saving this stranger from the homicidal being in the center of the room.

She felt the tingle of heat crawl up her spine as one of the beams hit her square on the back. She felt the cloth of her shirt shrivel and burn away into cinders where the beam had hit, but her lungs stayed strong and her skin was untouched. So much for laying low, Penny mused internally. It didn't bother her that her plan to keep her powers hidden backfired so quickly; she tended to work better on instinct anyway. Penny only resumed breathing when the beam had finished it's searing attack. "Well that wasn't very friendly! How are we getting out of here?" She readied herself to hold her breath once more, as the sentinel in the center of the room would not take long to recharge its weapon.

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-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

Huh. Weird. Maddy chewed at a hangnail and leaning against a wall leading to the entrance. Hiram hadn't come back yet. Would he still be keeping watch? Didn't seem like the type of man to fall asleep on the job. Although, he could be a drunkard and passed out. Maybe he'd wandered off somewhere to partake in some mind-altering chemicals to help people see things in a better light. People had their ways of coping. Anyway, she'd been waiting for at least an hour. Hoping to let him come down to her so they could chat in the inside. It was nice to chat to people. He seemed civil at least. Probably a better choice than that feral girl. Maddy pondered briefly over the likelihood of the girl just being insane, being raised by wolves or just being rude. It wasn't like Maddy had done anything except be lovely and polite. Some people just had no idea how to act. No standards. If she was going to leech Hiram dry she'd definitely have to kill the girl too, seems like the crazy bitch type that holds a stupid grudge like that. She'd have to dins out more about their powers too, and personalities if possible. Sometimes mutants left a little more than a bad taste in her mouth. Psychics were especially bothersome. The way their memories and personalities flitted around in her head for days afterwards. Screaming at her. Maddy shuddered with distaste. "Pathetic." she said quietly, brushing down her clothing and flicking her hood up.

She rubbed at her arms, warming them against the wind and tapping the ends of her tattoos on her wrists as she went outside to look up at the sky. One other thing about civilisation ending. Nice to be able to see the stars properly. That had always depressed her in the cities. She looked around for Hiram, but couldn't see him. Either unconscious if she was being pessimistic, or just hiding quite well if she was being optimistic. She whistled a few times, piercing the air for a few moments.

_________________
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

命❀~In the jungles of Cuba, Hisui~❀命

As the sun started coming up, Hisui's eyes fluttered open. It didn't take long for her to wake up, since something wasn't right about the clearing. It was too quiet. Hisui carefully sat up, and came face to face with Cornelius, waiting just a few feet from her position. She groaned in disbelief. She had run all day, that trail should have left them miles in the dust, and yet here he was. He must have followed all through the night. She leaned to the left to look for a way to escape, and was startled to see him move as well. So she swayed in the other direction, watching her. It was like the day before. She didn't know how, but Cornelius could see her through her illusions. Standing up, she stepped out from her hiding spot, with backpack in hand. Shrugging it on, she dropped her illusions and stood in front of him.

"What do you want?"

_________________
Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

~Snap; Jungle of Cuba~

Cornelius blinked at Hitsui as the girl dropped her illusions and was standing in front of him. "What do you want?" Such a simple question and so difficult at the same time. Snap slowly got up on all fours, then his hands left the ground as he started to straighten up. The big red lizard stopped half way in, when his face was just a little over Hitsui's. Using his tail to ballance himself he remained in that half-leaned position, as he didn't want to rise above the girl. He slowly took a step forward, then another. He moved very carefully, like approaching an animal, trying not to scare it away with rash moves. When close enough he slowly opened his arms, and put it around the girl's small frame, and hugged her close. His arms were squeezing her body, but trying to be gentle enough not to squeeze too much, so he won't snap her delicate body like a twig. Putting his big head on her shoulder, he growled softly like a purring cat. He just stood there, holding her... for minutes.

"What do you want?" She did deserve an answer. Finally Snap let the girl go, and move over the the log where she was sleeping. His claws started to tear lines into the wood:


|\..........|...|
|/..........|...|
|\..........|...|
|/....\/\/...\_/

[Training Room]

John wasn't sure what to make of this girl. She seemed in a fairly good mood for apparently being in the exact same position he was. Maybe she was still new here. Yeah, she quickly conforms that's the case. Not very surprising.

She says her name is Penny. That's nice. John didn't really care right now. Not that he didn't care about her at all, but he knew there's not much time before something bad happens and it can't be wasted on introductions. Sure enough, the cylinder soon drifted away and amidst some misting vapor stood Sanjit, barely recognizable from the kid John once knew. If one were to be seeing him for the first time, it would hard to convince them that the thing there was once human.

"You fucking monsters..." John muttered, his fingers curling into fists. The mechanical voice coldly informs that Sanjit's personality had been removed, and only one directive was initiated in his new cybernetic matrix or whatever the fuck he had now. Within seconds, Sanjit was firing an energy blast in both directions, echoing the terrible robotic tone of the Sentinels as he attacked.

Before John could even comprehend acting, he found himself being shoved aside by a sudden force. Stumbling, he managed to stop from falling and spin toward what had pushed him. The girl, having moved at an incredible speed, now stood there with the faint smell of burning cloth. She had taken the blast for him directly, and apparently seemed no worse for wear; She even managed to make a sarcastic remark. John wasn't terribly surprised she was a mutant, but if she was that durable and that fast, maybe they had a chance...

Quickly he aimed his hands toward the flame nearby, instantly creating a large wall. The growling fire soon surrounds Sanjit and the pyrokinetic mutant drags Penny off to the side. With any luck this would keep Sanjit from locating them for at least a few seconds.

"Getting out? You really are new here..." John speaks in a low tone, trying not to move his lips too much or speak too loudly. "But what you just did is pretty damn impressive... All I can do is mold the fire and alter the temperature and density. At best I might be able to weaken a wall. What can you do? That guy is a friend of mine, so killing him is out of the question... If you haven't showed them your powers yet, they might not be ready for both of us together."

[Training Room]

"W-What can I do? Well...I...uh...I can fly and punch things," Penny stammered; the full extent of her abilities was far too troublesome to explain in detail, but she figured he'd understand with the circumstances being what they were. The stranger's master over flames had Penny gaping in awe. This was the first time she had seen a mutant in action outside of television and her own abilities; it was, in the least, a startling experience. Penny had only ever met one other mutant in her life, a neighbor by the name of Rosalie. She was a sweet little girl, always gardening with her grandmother, but her family had some problems and she ended up leaving town for some crazy mutant boarding school. She only had a few conversations with the girl, but she didn't seem to be the horrible witch people had branded her as; granted, Penny had never seen the girl's powers in action. Still, this stranger's abilities were powerful, and his comment on weakening walls struck a chord in her brain.

"I have an idea," Penny murmured. Her mental gears whirled into action as she whispered to the man in front of her. "If you can super-heat a wall to weaken it, I can punch right through." She peered back over her shoulder at the cyborg--was it a cyborg? Either way, the man said that this was a friend of his. While she did question his taste in friends, she wasn't about to outright murder someone when she was directly asked not to. "Meanwhile, I'll try to knock out that friend of yours. Maybe we can get someone on the outside to fix his temporary lapse of sanity thing."

_________________

-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

[ Over da Border ]

The refugees were jammed into the caves, clustering together for warmth. Hiram was outside stuck watching the skies, for what Tag didn't know. The stranger - what was the point of remembering the name of a person who Tag was going to kill? - was also out of the cave making some odd shrill-pitched sound with her lips. As if Tag didn't already have plenty of reason to kill the woman.

They were still in the woods and although Tag had spent most of her life in city alleyways, the forest would always be more of Tag's domain than anyone else. There was never a twig to be snapped when Tag walked and Tag brushed past leaves like the wind itself. Her eyes did not glow the way a night cat's would, but she could see just as well. Tag's body was a part of the forest and her mind was closed off to telepaths as it always was. She was a predator of the night, invisible and ready to pounce. She watched her prey and waited for the golden opportunity.

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~ Whisper ~
~ Sector 15 - Shack in the middle of nowhere ~

Whisper stared solemnly at the light-map of the facility, her gaze flicking over it as she seared the layout into her memory. Not that it would help, with the way Kenji shifted things around. Idly, part of her mind wondered where he'd gotten this information. He wasn't broadcasting that little tidbit, though, and she didn't go digging. Instead, she just memorized as much as she could, building the moving rooms from the glass shambles in the city of her mind.

She nodded as he explained the plan. She wouldn't be much good for the crunching and bashing, but locating people was one of the things she was really, really good at.

"I'll act as communications as well: keep everyone up to speed with each other. Just...Think loudly in my direction and I'll make sure everyone is apprised," she said quietly, turning her eyes up from the map to stare seriously at Kenji before she turned those blank eyes on her old friends. Briefly, emotion flickered in their darkness. Envy, but also a little spark of joy that she quickly suppressed.

It wasn't possible for her to be happy herself, but...maybe she could help the two love birds carve out a little part of time and space that they could enjoy, even if it was brief.

Maybe it would be enough...No, that was a stupid thought. Some things were just not forgivable. She could call herself an X-man all she wanted, but it didn't erase the past. It didn't bring Miranda back, and it didn't ensure any kind of future for anyone.

She shifted her weight on a heeled foot, crossing her arms under her bosom as she dragged her gaze back to Kenji. "So...I assume you're teleporting us all in, then...What are we waiting for?"

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Official Forum Mom

[ Over da Border ]

“Volunteering for watch?” Said the rock nearby Maddy.

Of course, it wasn’t a rock it all. It was Hiram.

He’d seen her wander out into the night from his vantage over the cave mouth, and it had seemed appropriate to follow some distance behind. It may have been more appropriate to stay hidden and observe her – this vaguely lackadaisical, cut-from-the-world girl, who was everything a runaway and an outlaw shouldn’t be – but for now it was enough for Hiram that she knew she was being watched.

Of course, though his tone didn’t imply it, he was exercising a measure of sarcasm. He’d rather trust a Sentinel to watch over him as he slept. The Sentinel, at least, would be predictable.

He turned again to the stars. They gleamed cruelly down, brilliantly removed from the quarry, the mine, the endless ravening war. They did not trust one another and did not need to; they were beyond that. In the past people had often looked to the stars for insight into the strange comings and goings of the world around them, but they would have nothing to do with this place. It was all too small; all too dim.

“You are a mutant.” He stated. “Either that or you are superhuman by some other means.”

You’re too clean. You have no sensibility for survival. You’re alone. There were a thousand reasons to assume she’d have died long ago without the crutch of supernormal ability, but Hiram kept them to himself.

“What are you capable of?”

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[ Training Room ]

Although they were no doubt unaware, the Sanjit-Sentinel had immediately scanned and analyzed their abilities when they had used them. It took him mere microseconds to determine what abilities they had displayed, and how to counteract them in the most effective manner possible. Unfortunately for their chances, he did not hesitate to pursue those methods immediately. “Ability determined: enhanced endurance,” he remarked upon witnessing Penny’s impressive resistance to harm. Suddenly, a missile produced itself from his left forearm, coming out of an apparently hidden compartment in his limb. “Destroy,” he stated monotonously, before he leveled the weapon and fired it straight at his targets.

Luckily, John had acted quickly enough, anticipating not this specific act, but some kind of retaliation nonetheless. He put up a powerful fire wall to protect him and Penny, and its heat was intense enough to melt the missile almost immediately upon contact. This caused its premature explosion, and spared the two from being caught up in a small blast. “Ability determined: fire manipulation,” the Sentinel stated, raising his hand at the fire. Almost absurdly, flame retardant chemicals shot out of his palm, and began dousing the raging flames. This was most certainly some kind of new “feature” for the Sentinels in dealing with pyrokinetics like John. A somewhat flattering and unfortunate consequence of his internment. Now they had even less time to act, as their enemy continued to advance upon them.

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[ Shack Pack ]

“Ah, yes, the backup. That’s something we’ll also have to deal with,” Kenji remarked with a small smile. “Remember the power dampeners? Like I mentioned before, the power dampeners don’t do much against significantly powerful mutants, “ he began to explain, “But, it’s enough of a restraint that the prison’s drones and Sentinels would certainly have the upperhand against them. After all, they’d only be isolated individuals in a tiny metal box.” He paused for a moment, and created an enlarged hologram of one of the prison boxes. “I’m also assuming that there are ways to... discard each box, given how modular the whole facility is. That’s why my second job is to assume control of the system that is managing that. My guess is that there’s some central A.I. doing all the heavy lifting, and if that’s the case, I can at least destroy it.”

Whisper then spoke up, seemingly eager to begin the festivities. If that was what she was feeling, he could understand that too. Kenji had been making preparations for this for a long time, and now was finally the time they could turn the tide. “Ah, we’re just waiting on one more element,” he replied, in a non-specific manner.

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[Farewell, This Reality]

The silhouette couldn’t argue with Franklin’s feelings. Indeed, it wasn’t a world any person should have to live in, much less someone as docile as him. She almost wanted to give up here, and let the young man dream in peace... but she knew that this was a luxury she couldn’t give him. Not when the world needed him. Not when it needed the X-Men. “You’re right. The world is in a terrible state,” she admitted, “But that’s why it needs you. You’re not useless, Franklin, even against the machines. You’re far more than your power. You’ve had more training and experience than most people alive now. You could probably do so much more than you can imagine.”

The silhouette took a breath. She hadn’t practiced enough for what about to come next. She wasn’t entirely sure is she was ready for what she about to do, but she knew she had to show him. Concentrating as much as she could, she reached far into Franklin’s memories, as well as her own, and began to piece together images... images that she began materializing before them, once again filling up the empty classroom. “These... these are your friends as you remembered them, “ she said softly, as those ‘close enough’ friends of his appeared before him again, this time all staring at him and smiling warmly. Then, slowly, one-by-one, they began to fade away. In their place, their older selves began to appear. Although everyone wasn’t represented, it was probably more than Franklin could’ve believed to be alive.

Unlike their younger selves, however, they all had hardened, but determined expressions. Not only that, but they were all in various battle-ready states, as if the silhouette had plucked images of them from whatever battlefields they have caught themselves up in. “These are your friends as I have seen them. Tired, and worse for wear... but fighting. Fighting despair, and fighting for a future. Fighting for the world to be like the way it was. The way you remember it,” she remarked. “Your friends haven’t given up on hope just yet... and neither should you. They’re going to need your help now, more than ever. I don’t think you should ever stop dreaming, but...” she paused, and gestured to the makeshift world around them, “This isn’t the dream you should be clinging on to.” Eventually, those images too disappeared. The silhouette then turned around and took one of Franklin’s hands with both of hers, gripping it tightly. “I have to leave now, but remember what I told you. Your friends are waiting,,” she told him reassuring, as she slowly began to fade away. “Hope to see you on the other side.” And then, she was gone.

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[ Shack Pack Continued... ]

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. An unusual thing to hear out in the middle of nowhere, to be sure, but given Minerva’s entrance, it shouldn’t have been too disconcerting for everyone. Nonetheless, they were all wisely on guard, and even Kenji tensed ever so slightly. Still, he went over to open it, confident enough about knowing who it was that he didn’t bother asking Whisper to confirm his belief. For a moment, he remained at the door, and his body blocked from sight whoever had done the knocking. “There you are,” he remarked with a sigh of relief. “Well? How did it go?” “As well as you’d expect,” came a feminine voice. “He’s been asleep for a very long time. I did the best I could. It’s all up to him now.”

“Ah,” he replied, disappointment clear in his voice. “Well, come in, meet the team. I know you’ve been eager.” With that, he stepped out of the way, and let in the final member of their merry band of suicide mission takers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anyone they knew, and no one they could possibly recognize. She was a young beautiful woman, with dark, caramel skin, and long dark brown hair. The most notable thing about her, however, was her unusually green eyes. Not to mention she wore a form fitting suit that was black completely down her middle, but purple on the sides of her torso, her arms, and her legs. On her hands and her feet were the appropriate black gloves and boots as well. Not a very discreet outfit at all.

“Hello X-Men. It’s an honor to meet you all at last. I am...” she began to say, suddenly pausing, as if thinking for but a moment. Kenji understood why, but before he could interject, she finished her thought. “...Karolina,” she stated anticlimactically. Kenji frowned. Well, that wasn’t right. Nonetheless, he kept silent. It wasn’t his place, after all.

“Er, anyway,” he began to say, “‘Karolina’ here was trying the ‘other’ method I was speaking of. It doesn’t look like that has bore fruit just yet, and I’m supposing real introductions can wait, so if you’re all ready, it’s time.” He then reached out his hand, and gestured for everyone to join together. This was going to be one big jump into hell.

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[ ELSEWHERE ]

I had a name once.

It was my human name, but it did not give me my identity. In fact, it gave me nothing. No comfort, no purpose, no strength... nothing. I was a worthless creature with a meaningless existence, and my only contribution to this world would be that I would one day leave it. I remember very little of my life before the world fell, but I can never forget that feeling. That feeling of worthlessness. Then, my master came, and everything changed... the world, the people, and most importantly, me. I was stripped of my name, and everything I was became no more. Everything I would be, would be in service to my master.

Now, I have no name.

However, I have a purpose, a duty, and a cause. A name is meaningless when it cannot grant you your identity. I have that now. I am a servant to my master. I am his warrior. I am his enforcer. I am his assassin. I am his destroyer. I am whatever he needs me to me be. I am the herald of all he shall bring, I am the Harbinger of Apocalypse, and all shall fall before his might.

“My lord!” I hear from afar. I look into his direction, beyond the stone, the fire, and the rubble that was once one of the seats of power for mankind. He is another servant, but one more expendable than I, and thus my subordinate. “Speak,” I tell him.

“We have found it, my lord. We have found that which our master has sought,” he stated breathlessly, clearly excited that his search had bore fruit. I am, however, not as impressed. They were given a task and completed it. No praise should be given to what is expected. “Good,” I state simply. “Bring it to the ship.” In the distance, I see the other servants carrying the thing to me. It was something once human, I suppose. Now, however, it was nothing more than a corpse: a thing of bone, metal, and scraps of green. But there is enough there.

I leave first, ascending to our vessel above the city. The others take far longer than I, but that is what I intended. It grants me enough time to prepare the Chamber. It is one of many magnificent devices my master had given me, in order to reshape those who are worthy. They resemble a cross between an egg and a casket. Appropriate. It is what killed my old life and gave me my new one, and what will give that pitiful specimen substance. All it requires is a blessing of my master. Although I carry but a paltry sample of that, my blood is enough for our purposes. By the time the servants arrive with the body, the Chamber is already ready.

“Place him inside,” I tell them. The servants do as I instruct, placing the body inside. As they complete their deed, the device begins to fill with fluid, eventually submerging the specimen. As it begins to close its hatch, I start to wonder what form our newest brother will come in. A twist of machine and metal perhaps? A feral beast? The possibilities excite me. Suddenly, power begins coursing through the Chamber, and I see flashes of light from within. Then, after a moment, screams of unbearable anguish. It’s enough to make the lesser servants shrink away. Me? All I can think about is how beautiful a resurrection sounds.

Unfortunately, I am not able to enjoy this music for long. I notice the Chamber is suddenly beginning to... rust. How peculiar. “Check the machine,” I command one of the servants. He does so without question, rushing to it to ascertain this new development. His investigation is brief, however, and the Chamber is suddenly torn apart from the inside. A scream echoes throughout the ship as a figure emerges from the wreck. The servant tries to back away, but the thing grabs him by his wrist. Before anything can be done for the poor fool, what had seemed like rust before engulfs him, and very quickly withers him away to nothing but bone. “Interesting,” I observe with a pleased smile.

The thing notices me, and immediately lunges, all the while screaming obscenities. Did he just say he would kill me, then some sort of amphibian? Amusing. I grab it by the neck before it can even touch me. I’m tempted to break his neck there, but that would be terribly wasteful. He grabs my wrist and attempts to use his power to break free. An intelligent move, if I had been a lesser being. Foolish creature. “Be quiet, and be still slave. Know your true master!” I let go of his neck and then grip his face, imbuing him with all the knowledge and power our servitude to the Primacy grants us.

I see the change wash over him. See his rage ebb away, and the sense of purpose reach his hate-filled eyes. Yes, he is realizing his new destiny. He is letting his new self claim his earthbound vessel. I release him, and he falls to his knees, no doubt overcome with his new standing. “Who do you serve?” I ask him. “God,” he answers. I smile. “Yes. And now... who are you?” He rises, standing tall and proud. “I am Famine, Horseman of the Apocalypse.”

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"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

(Jungles of Cuba)

-/!\ Went a tad graphic here /!\-

The campsite he left was a smoldering crater strewn with the scraps and broken bodies of a few refugees, several primers, and a sentinel scouting unit. As he looked around he saw the charred bodies of the human women and children they had captured hanging from the branches of the trees that were still standing. Many of the trees were still burning as were the bodies swaying from them. He dropped to his knees in anguish, tears welling up as he could still identify many of the people he lost. Anguish transformed into anger, angry at himself and wrath for those responsible for ripping his people apart. He doubted there were any survivors, but how could he face them after abandoning them to the carnage of war. Everyone hadn’t been accounted for but mutants were valuable to all sides in this war and any incapacitated ones would be taken and detained or brainwashed.

One word left his mouth that he yelled at the top of his lungs, “ FUUUCK!!!” he screamed as he punched the ground with enough force to cause a mini tremor in the surrounding area. He’d fucked up royally and for what, to chase a Figment though the jungle that wanted to remain as such. For a while he sat there thinking of what to do next, shocked and in disbelief. He then heard something rustling in the bushes and approaching him. He glared toward the creature approaching with a face filled with fury. He didn’t hesitate to grab it and lift it into the air. Unconsciously he began to squeeze even before it had cleared the bushes until he heard Luna’s yelp. She had tracked him back to the campsite. Immediately he released her, but she just lay down. She was injured and timid, but he was her master so when he approached she started trying to wag her tail. She released a happy bark when he reached her and embraced his canine companion. She only survived because she went searching for him just before all hell broke loose. Even so, without attention she wouldn’t last long.

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My Poetry and More!

-Dreamscape: "What's Left?"-

Franklin looked to the linoleum tiles of the darkened lunchroom as the shadow spoke, his breathing heavy. He couldn't bare to listen. To hear such words of encouragement, to hear that he wasn't useless, that he was needed... It went against every thing he believed about himself; everything he knew.

How many hours had he spent listening to the memories of his friends, pleading for their lives and blaming him for every little fault and failure his mind could conceive? How many times had he run through every battle, every scavenging mission in his head to try and save those precious figments only to have them turn once he did?

"It's too late!" They would say. "Nothing you ever do can change that. There is no redeeming yourself. I'm dead and nothing you can do will ever change that you useless excuse for a human being." A hundred times from a hundred different voices; voices that had been his friends in better times.

Franklin could feel his eyes welling up with tears. More than ever he wanted to banish this intruder and resume his peaceful existence but he couldn't. Even the shadow's stinging words were the warmest he'd heard in ages. Franklin just didn't have the heart.

He looked to the shadow once more through blurry eyes as the smiling faces of his friends appeared before him one more, seemingly of their own accord. He continued to stare, trembling, as one by one their were replaced by their older selves hardened and battle ready.

The sight was like a blow to the stomach, and the shadow's words a slap to the face. Franklin collapsed to his knees. It was one thing for his own mind to demonstrate his own failures and uselessness, but it was something else entirely for someone else to lay it bare before him. His friends, they were alive. They were free. They were fighting against all odds. He was here. He was alone. He had run away. His friends deserved so much better than lowly little Franklin.

"But... I... They..." He choked through pained sobs, his tears flowing freely now.

There was a tense moment of silence as the shadow took both of his hands in hers. In that moment Franklin could once more feel her reassuring warmth. In the next, she was gone.

It took a moment for Franklin to realize he was alone again, and another for sheer panic to rise up with him. He was alone, so desperately and horribly alone. He began to run as the walls of the cafeteria collapsed as if they had been cardboard cut outs held up by nothing but a two by four and a dream. The collapsing walls gave way to an endless grassy plain against a starless black sky.

"Where are you?! Where did you go?! Please, don't leave yet!" He called out in vein. There was no response, just inky black silence. Franklin's pace quickly slowed to a crawl as the hope within him slowly died that the shadow might return. Eventually he fell to the ground, staring into the endless black void that was the sky. He lay there empty and alone. Even the tears wouldn't come any longer. "Please, don't leave me alone." He whimpered to the abyss.

"Why shouldn't she?" The abyss answered back in his own voice, dripping with venom. "You wanted her to go. Now you can go back to your own depraved little happy fantasy for the rest of eternity." Franklin didn't respond, ignoring himself. "Well?" The voice asked with growing impatience.

"She was warm." Franklin whispered back to the abyss, unsure of what else to say.

"Ha!" It laughed cruelly at him. "You think you deserve any 'warmth' after what you've done? Not only did you absolutely fail Searchlight, you left her and everyone else to die when you came here. Face it you abandoned them. You don't deserve anything."

"You're right." Franklin replied, defeated. "But what about them?" He asked a near eternity later.

"What do you mean?"

"My friends. I may deserve everything I get coming to me but they don't. They're going to need all the help they can get."

"And you think you can help them? Your pathetic ass couldn't help anyone."

"Maybe not, but there are others."

"Who?"

As if on cue the abyssal night came to life with gleaming stars, each a mind waiting in slumber.

"Oh." Was the abyss' only reply seeing now what Franklin meant. "Finally going to let the prisoners go, eh? Finally changed your mind?"

Franklin didn't respond. One by one he touched each and every one of the stars and booted them out of the sky and into the waking world. The abyss
was silent until the full scope of it's wretched blackness had been restored.

"Well wasn't that brave of you." The abyss sneered. "Now you really are alone."

"Yes." Came the empty response.

"What now? I'm certainly not going anywhere, are you? I'd be more than happy to taunt you for the rest of your pathetic life."

"Go."

"Your 'so called' friends will hate you when they know what you've done, what you failed to do, and what you've refused to do, if they don't know already."

"So?"

"So, what's the point then? They won't accept you, and the certainly won't grant you forgiveness." The abyss almost seemed to shudder as it spat the word it. "The absolute best you can hope for is that they use you like a tool until they win or your break under the strain. Then they'll dispose of you like any other piece of trash. At least this way you save them the trouble. So I'll ask again. What is it that you want?"

Franklin took some time to think over his answer carefully. It was long before he finally replied. "A dream."

"An impossibility!" The abyss shouted in rage.

"Yes." Franklin couldn't be sure if the ravings of his own mind were true. It they weren't then, maybe he could be happy if even for a little while. If not. then seeing their faces one very last time would have to suffice. Either way there was nothing left for him here.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Yes." He repeated for the last time before embracing the darkness.