Marvel Universe

Tecmessa had reentered the jet only to put her backpack away after finishing her joint, earning a lifted brow from Wolverine and Storm both as they caught a whiff of the heavy scent of marijuana floating around her. She gave them the same lifted brow. “What? He can smoke cigars laced with rat poison but I can't smoke my herbs?” She pointed a finger at Logan who only smirked and redirected his attention to the new kids walking in. Her gaze floated to Kai for a moment but it didn't linger.

Tec moved out of their way and was about to go back out when Flynn decided to take off. She knelt down to balance herself until they were in the air, ignoring Flynn's announcement of his astrological sign, agreeing heavily with Logan's statement that nobody – except perhaps the new guy – gave a damn. As he asked her to make use of herself, her hands went up. “Yeah – I'm out. Sorry, guys. But you get to suffer alone on this one.” She hung up her backpack after grabbing an apple from within, wondering if she should have packed some sandwiches. “I'll leave you with food though. Just stay the fuck away from my joints.”

Giving a cheery smile, she zipped up her jacket and pulled her hair into a ponytail before shoving the apple into her mouth, biting down to hold it there. Gaea's hands moved in front of her, waving as though washing an invisible window. There was a ripple and soon an orb of water appeared. Her hands closed to fists slowly and the orb began to slowly flatten and freeze before taking an elongated shape. “Ciao, darlings.” She gave a wave as she made sure everyone was buckled before opening a hole in the floor of the jet, falling through and closing it back up.

She could tell Ororo was tense about the action but the younger woman wasn't worried. She moved her iceboard beneath her feet and leveled her hands, feeling the element and moving it with ease. Through a mixture of manipulating her board and the air currents, she was able to ride the clouds and keep up with the jet, shouting happily over her commlink. She had to use thin but sturdy vines that sprouted from her hair to hold her headphones onto her head. “You guys don't know what you're missing! Awoooooo!” She howled to the sky with a laugh as her hair whipped behind her.

She had no issue of the wind in her eyes, creating a small visor of ice that blocked it from hitting her too much. She could almost forget that she was on a mission, closing her eyes for a moment as she moved through the clouds. With a wicked smile, she reopened her eyes and bulleted through the air, landing her iceboard on the top of the jet. She froze it to the metal, creating a barrier of ice in front of her to keep the wind from blasting her as she knelt down and simply rested. She didn't want to waste too much of her energy before she got to fight.

She reveled in the idea of actually fighting someone out on the field. There was a difference between her training spars at the mansion and her fights with the humans for her competitions. She could use her abilities and she was encouraged to give it all she had. Of course, she had to make sure that there was minimal collateral damage as well. But the thought of an all out track-and-capture brawl with another mutant was absolutely tantalizing. It also made her feel better to know that she didn't have to work with BAM on this mission. She felt a bit bad for snapping at Ana earlier, but she couldn't help it from her foul mood. Ah well – She'd have later to apologize.

---

Marigold focused on getting to the coordinates once Kali had loaded herself into the van. She checked the GPS and gave a smirk when it was revealed that she was right – They were headed for Canarsie. She cranked the key and put the van into gear as soon as the engine turned over. Driving with her was always... Exciting. Whether one's excitement was from the thrill of speed and possible near death experiences or the bad sort of excitement from... Well, speed and near death experiences. You could never say that it didn't make your heart race. She was well over the speed limit, hitting ninety in a fifty zone, speeding through Westchester County. She could turn their one hour drive into a mere thirty minute drive – Fifteen if she really wanted to get there fast.

She rolled down her window and let one hand remain on the wheel while her left elbow sat on the bottom of the window sill, her fingers tapping against the hood of the car gently. She was silent the whole way there, remaining focused on the mission at hand. She took into account what Kali said and thought about it. That seemed extremely cheap for forced superhuman abilities, even if they were only temporary.

Why would they be so cheap...?

If they were cheap enough that even the kid working part-time at Burger King could buy a couple, that meant bad things for mutants. It was obvious that the original creators weren't fans of mutants. She wondered if, perhaps, they knew that people would get out of hand. It would be all too easy for them to use this to their advantage and paint mutants in a bad light. The results in the end could be absolutely catastrophic. Her hand gripped the wheel tighter as she slowed down when they finally came into the major city limits, halted by traffic.

She sighed as she found a parking garage and turned off the van before popping another one of her candies into her mouth, turning to her team. “Get dressed in your street clothes. We'll take the subway to Canarsie. Amp – Take the rookie with you. Remember – You three are looking to buy. I want you guys getting as much of this off of the street as you can. Spoiler, we'll work the competition angle and go straight for the supplier.” She got out of the van and opened up the back, finding her bag. She dug around in it before pulling out some commlinks. She didn't need them, but it was just in case. She passed them out and tested them before sighing.

“Autem.”

She spoke Latin softly and watched as stack blank rectangles of paper appeared in her hand. She snapped her hand down as through opening a fan, smirking as the blank sheets of paper fanned out and appeared to turn into money. “A simple trick but none will be the wiser. You'll need mad bank to grab the dope.” She conjured a few more thick stacks of paper, shifting their appearance as well before conjuring a small black bag and stacking them inside, passing it to Alex. “Spend it all in once place.” She gave a soft chuckle before nodding towards the exit. “Now, c'mon. We got a subway to catch.” She ran her fingers through her hair, praying that her teammates were good at acting. The last thing she needed was someone ratting them out as narcs before they succeeded in their mission.

"Hi.."

"Hello." Azrael spoke, attempting to sound somewhat welcoming. She seemed nervous, and he couldn't blame her. It was one of her first missions. He attempted to calm her.

"Don't be nervous, you'll be fine." He spoke reassuringly. Not too long after, another new recruit showed up.

"I'm a Virgo and I enjoy long walks on the beach, just in case any of you were wondering."

"He seems, different." Azrael thought, noticing an irregular pitch pattern in his voice.

Azrael sat in the blackbird, in an awkward silence. There was a few times he attempted to make small talk, but they were unsuccessful. He decided to stay quiet, and perhaps take a nap. He shuffled around a little, attempting to get comfortable, but it wasn't easy with his wings being buckled up like they were. He drifted off into sleep not too long after. He had a dream, of what happened to his father.

A light rain tapped on the single window in an old, run down motel. Azrael had just reecently sprouted his wings, and discovered his mutation. It seemed like any other day, until a small red light came through the window. His father noticed it before he did, and dove behind the bed. Several shots rang out, before the door was blown in. Three men, armed with MP5's. His father grabbed the six-shooter he had under his pillow, while keeping cover behind the bed. He fired, killing all three. Azrael's ears began to ring. He knew this dream, it was the day his father died.

He flipped the bed up, and motioned for Azrael to get behind him. They slid out to the door, and that's when it happened. A single shot, from what Azrael assumed to be a sniper rifle, made its way through the matress, hitting his father dead in the chest. He dropped, and looked Azrael in the eyes. "Son, there's a smoke grenade in the drawer, throw it outside, and run. Run fast, and hard. Go see Rick, in New York, he can help you."

"But dad, what about you?" Azrael spoke through tears.

His father laughed. "I'm dead in the water, boy. This is the end of my story, but it's not the end of yours."

Azrael attempted to blink back tears, but they fell. "But, I can't, just, leave you here."

"Son, you either go now, or we both die, and I will not let that happen. Now, get that smoke grenade, throw it, and run. THAT'S A GOD DAMN ORDER!" His father screamed.

"Yes, sir" Azrael spoke, his voice quivering.

He ran to the drawer, two more shots rang out, as his father crawled out from behind the matress, and fired towards the rooftop, providing Azrael with enough time to pull the pin and toss the smoke. He ran out of the front door, away from the smoke, and once he was behind the building, he took flight.

Azrael startled himself awake. Several were staring at him, he must have been talking in his sleep. This wasn't good, paired with the dream he just had, and him talking in his sleep, he just told his story, to everyone. This was something nobody needed to know, this was private, personal. He looked towards Haven.

"Did I just.........." His voice was nervous, he didn't know how to react.

"Fuck." He turned his head down, clearly disappointed in himself.

He sat silently for the last few hours of the flight, nodding to BAM as they exited the blackbird. It wouldn't be long now.

Logan looked back at him, with a look of understanding, before nodding to him.

"Austin, get ready, that's our cue." He said as he unbuckled himself from his seat, opened the hatch, and jumped. It felt great, being out of the blackbird. He could finally get away from the tension. Leaping from the blackbird took him quite a while to get used to, it was a lot of G force. He dived out, and continued diving until he was about 150 feet from the ground. He expanded his wings, caught a bank, and slowly made his way into the town, searching for Toad. "Austin, take the west side of town, I'll take the east, If you spot him, do not engage, tell the others where, and we will all engage as a team, it'll be easier that way." Azuriel began slowing down, flying by apartment building windows. He managed to scare one small Asian family pretty good, he could hear the father scream, it sounded like a 12 year old girl. He chuckled lightly. He wondered how long the others would be before they arrived in town, he didn't think they'd be too long. HE noticed a man, who looked similar to toad, leaping into an alleyway. "Got him, on the corner of Vermont street, heading towards Clairon Alley. Watch out, we don't want to be spotted yet. He just turned, heading west on Alemany." "Come on guys, I can't stay hidden forever, especially not while I'm flying."

The moment that thought passed, Toad looked back, and saw Azrael. "I'm spotted, I'm going in." Azrael dove down, around thirth feet from the ground. Toad jumped backwards, and shot his saliva at Azrael. He managed to tuck and roll left, avoiding the first one. The second came fast, he spanned his wings, and rose above it. This kept up for about five minutes, And then he heard reinforcements coming, he was thankful, his wings were beginning to tire.

---

"Well.... I'm a Pisces" he looked back and smiled. Logan just facepalmed. He heard Azrael, "Austin, get ready, that's our cue!", Austin cheered and unbuckled himself, "Yo, someone take co-pilot" he did a run up and leaped out of the Blackbird, "Wooooooooo!" he turned into a eagle and flew up when he nearly hit a tall building, that was fun, for him at least. "Austin, take the west side of town, I'll take the east, If you spot him, do not engage, tell the others where, and we will all engage as a team, it'll be easier that way" Austin moaned, "Finnneeeeeeeee" he flew west and surveyed the area, "Got him, on the corner of Vermont street, heading towards Clairon Alley. Watch out, we don't want to be spotted yet. He just turned, heading west on Alemany. Come on guys, I can't stay hidden forever, especially not while I'm flying. I'm spotted, I'm going in." Austin quickly flew to the alleyway, "Hang on, I'm on my way!"

Anastasia "Blindside" Cloverfield

Amira remained silent as multiple people joined the team on the blackbird. A few of them new like her, a few of whom she was all ready acquainted with, whilst others she had no idea who they were.
Her pale cheeks started to glow with a bright pink colour as Flynn or Energizer proceeded to flirt with her. She wasn't exactly used to his flirtatious remarks, let alone how to reply to them. "Please don't call me that" She whispered, from what she could gather from how everyone else was acting and how Logan was face palming himself multiple times this was a usual occurrence within the team.

A female voice from behind caught her attention, causing her to look back towards Tecmessa who was in the process of basically jumping out of the plane. Amira's eyes widened in shock. Was this girl suicidal? Or was she capable of flying? But since no one else seemed to be panicking she let it past.
For most of the flight she read her book, something that she felt comfort in, but that comfort soon disappeared when another body threw itself out of the jet, and from what she could remember it appeared to be Ace. "Yo, someone take co-pilot" Her eyes making their way to Reform as she watched as he as well exited the jet. She wasn't going to argue. And since no one else was making a move to Co-pilot she decided she might as well make her self somewhat useful. And luckily Hank allowed her in a simulator of piloting a jet a few times, she had also read a few books on piloting but she highly doubted they would help.

Removing the seat belt that held herself in place, she began to move towards the front of the jet, taking a seat a few metres away from Flynn. Once she was buckled in she took the headset that Reform had left, placing it on her head.
"Not entirely sure what I'm doing, but it beats doing nothing" She wasn't exactly sure if Flynn heard her but she didn't care. She liked the feeling of seeing what was in front of her.
"How far away are we anyway? She questioned.
Looking back towards the others hoping someone would answer her question, but a girl with bright red hair caught her attention. From what she could remember her name was Ana. From what Amira could tell, Ana didn't exactly look very comfortable. Either she was worried about something or she didn't like heights.

"Hey, did you know that you're more likely to die by being attacked by a cow rather than a shark" Amira didn't care if everyone thought she was crazy right now, or if she didn't make friends. But Ana didn't exactly look very calm and the worse thing to happen is for her to panic, so the best thing for her to do was keep her occupied.

((Sorry if I tagged you and you aren't in this section XD))

Flynn glanced over as the new girl took up the co-pilot seat. "Fair enough Ginger, just you know, don't fire any missiles, or anything. We might cause a international incident or something. Captain Canada back there won't let me shoot them. Tempted to do it anyways." Flynn smirked at her admittance to not knowing exactly what to do. "We all start somewhere. Well except me, this much awesomeness is just something you're born with." He continued to smirk. Flynn accelerated the Blackbird even faster, all with a slightly psychotic smile on his face. "We shouldn't be too far away to the drop off."

"Hey Sunshine! You're not gonna up-chuck are ya?" Flynn asked Ana with his usual brand of smugness mixed in with some genuine concern. "Ok then. That's....uh....interesting?" Flynn replied to Amira randomly spewing out facts about dying. "Well, I guess that makes sense. I'd say a good chunk of that percentage is from Spain. Bull fighters, and all.....wait, are we talking milking cows or bulls? Meh, whatever. They had better not replace Shark Week with a....Bovinae Week or something. Cows are not badass." Flynn shrugged. They soon arrived to Sanctuary, Nevada. A small town in the middle of the desert.

Wolverine, and BAM were dropped off outside the town, and Titans were taken to San Francisco. Outside of Sanctuary was a large steel wall that surrounded the entire town. "So, do we ring a door bell? Or what....?" Flynn sarcastically asked. Wolverine rolled his eyes as he led the team to the town. A large gate opened as they approached, and they were greeted by several different Mutants. "Take us to Forge. He's expecting us." Logan ordered to the Mutants. They looked at each other, and then nodded as they showed them the way.

Sanctuary was a technological marvel of a town, thanks to Forge's Mutant ability. They were taken to a building in the center of town, and shown inside. Inside was Forge, a black man with a X shaven in his hair, and a wall full of computer monitors. "Logan? Charles sent you?" Forge asked in surprise. "Nice to see you too." Logan said as they shook hands. "This is BAM. It's their first full-fledge mission." Logan introduced them. "Sup?" Flynn smirked. "Name's Flynn. Or Energizer." Flynn greeted. Forge reached out his right hand to shake Flynn's.

Flynn shook his hand, but something was off about it. "I lost my real hand, so I built me a cybernetic replacement. My right leg's bionic as well. It's a long story." Forge explained. "Cyborgs? Awesome." Flynn muttered. "Alright, what'd you call us here for?" Logan asked getting straight to the point. "Right, forward as always." Forge said as he went over to the monitors. He brought up several different images of different Mutants that have gone missing.

"Sanctuary is tolerated by the MRD, and government because we are completely neutral in the Mutant conflict. We're full of Mutants who can barely fight, and just want to live their lives in peace. But over the last four weeks we've lost thirty citizens." Forge explained. "They just disappeared. No trace. Not even our best tracker here could find them." Forge then pointed over at the other man. "And he is?" Flynn asked. "Name's Bedlam." Bedlam stated. "I can track others by sensing their unique bio-electrical signature. And they've just disappeared. I can't find them."

"Wow. Your powers are lame." Flynn smirked. Bedlam just glared at him. "Jesse that's enough. We need you guys to help us find them. We've got security footage from when they disappeared, but we haven't found anything. You're free to look." Forge said bringing the conversation back on track.



"Alright, alright. Listen up you bunch of codgers, if ya want to join the Brotherhood then you're gonna have to prove yourself." Toad shouted at a bunch of Mutants in an abandon building in Chinatown. There were at least twenty Mutants there, all wanting to be apart of the Brotherhood. "If ya manage to succeed, and live through your mission, then you're one of us. Now let's get down to brass tax..."



A guy somewhere in his early teens knocked on the door of a run down apartment building in Brooklyn. The door cracked open a little bit. "Password?" A voice asked from the other side. "Strigiform." The guy answered. The door swiftly shut, and then opened back up. "Come on in." A extremely thin man greeted as he motioned for him to come inside. Once the guy came inside, the door was quickly shut. The skinny man locked several locks before he turned back to the guy.

"Umm...hi....do you have...." The guy stuttered nervously. "Chill out kid. I got what cha want. Call me uncle Porter. And uncle Porter always has what ya need." Porter said as he took out a small baggy of pills. "What cha want? Super-strength? Flight? Telekinesis?" Porter asked.

Haven listened on as the man called Forge and the other man called Bedlam went on.
"I can track others by sensing their unique bio-electrical signature. And they've just disappeared. I can't find them."
Haven took a breath. She could locate them...if they were dead.

"Wow. Your powers are lame."Flynn smirked and Haven rolled her eyes. "Do you have to be a dick right now?"She huffed knowing she'd be ignored. Believe it or not, Haven was the more mature of the two, which was saying quite a bit. Bedlam just glared at him. "Jesse that's enough. We need you guys to help us find them. We've got security footage from when they disappeared, but we haven't found anything. You're free to look." Forge said, back on topic. " I can help, but I need one personal effect from each of the missing..."She said and sighed and extended her hand. "Sorry, I'm Nightshade, I should warn you though, you don't want me to find them... I can locate them if they are dead..." She said and both men looked at her oddly. Haven was quite the odd sort and she knew it, but considering where she was, she could actually fit right in...besides that she could go cosmic at any second, should she get angry enough . "Long story if I do locate them, and they aren't dead...chances are we have a bigger problem." She warned them after her eyes darted toward Logan for a brief moment.

Alex climbed over into the front seat at Marigold's insistence. Settling into the seat, he listened as Marigold began to formulate a plan, making sure that there were no flaws in the logic she followed. Even though he knew that, tactically speaking, Marigold was sound, it was an old habit that was hard to break. Marigold wouldn't be team leader if she was an idiot. Where that left Flynn, he wasn't sure, but then again, Flynn wasn't on his team so it didn't really matter.

“We'll start in Canarsie. If anyone's peddlin' new stuff, they'll be starting there. Amp. I want you and Halo to go out lookin' to buy. See if you can get your hands on the stuff. Halo, I want you to see if any of the spirits around have seen anything suspicious. Spoiler. We're gonna stir up some trouble by lookin' to push the same product at half the price. If any one of us gets a lead on the dealer, we meet up and go in as a team. Together, we'll take 'em down and find out where they get their supply. If trouble comes your way and you can't handle it, send me a thought and we'll be there real quick. When fighting becomes our only choice, be sure to keep innocents away from the noise.”

"Yes ma'am," Alex answered. The plan was good, solid. Thanks to Marigold's mutation, they could stay in constant contact without having to make a sound. He knew that one day, Marigold's mutation was going to come in real useful. He just hoped that day was later rather than sooner. Another girl, Kali as she introduced herself, climbed in, taking his former seat. Thankfully, she seemed to know quite a bit about MGH on the streets. Any information was useful information. Alex nodded to her politely while Marigold started the car. It was at about that point that Alex started to pray fervently for his life. He supposed that you could say Marigold was a relaxed driver, if you wanted to be polite. If you wanted to be accurate, driving with Marigold at the wheel was the single most terrifying ordeal he had ever subjected himself to, and was the only one he would continue to subject himself to, if only for necessities sake.

“Get dressed in your street clothes. We'll take the subway to Canarsie. Amp – Take the rookie with you. Remember – You three are looking to buy. I want you guys getting as much of this off of the street as you can. Spoiler, we'll work the competition angle and go straight for the supplier.”

Alex turned to Hailee, "Pass the bag, would ya?" He waited for Hailee to pass the bag over before getting changed. Getting changed in the front seat of the X-Van wasn't the easiest thing to do, but Alex liked to think he had it down to a fine art. He shrugged his jacket back on, leaving it open over his Jack Skellington t-shirt. Unzipped, it was difficult to tell it apart from any other leather jacket, unless you knew what to look for. He somehow doubted the average street seller was going to be on the lookout for the X-Men. He took the fake money from Marigold, folding it and sliding it into his pocket.

---

The subway wasn't exactly Alex's favourite mode of transport, but he would take it over Marigold driving like a lunatic to Canarsie. The problem was there were so many people. Who knew if any of them had mutations they were unaware of? The subway probably wasn't the best way to 'out' them, so to speak. As the subway pulled into Canarsie, Alex checked the fake money was still in his pocket. Feeling the slight give of the paper made him relax and they stepped off onto the platform.

Alex checked the time on his phone before speaking,"Okay, so we're not spending all of tonight searching, we meet back here at ten?" The question was more directed at Marigold, since she was the team leader.

Hailee listened as Alex answered her question. She frowned slightly, but didn't say anything else. She still wasn't convinced that this wasn't dangerous. Sure, it may not have been too dangerous for a few of them, but she wasn't sure what people would do with powers like her own, or Mari's. If it got into the wrong hands...

Hailee shook her head and reminded herself that that reason was exactly why they had to stop it. She sighed to herself slightly in her nervousness, but listened as Mari replied to her second comment. “I was thinking that we just run in, guns blazing, beating people up for answers and whatnot.” She rolled her eyes and muttered the words; "Sure." also sounding sarcastic. She huffed a sound of amusement before listening to the plan. She had to buy? It was a good thing Hailee trusted Mari's judgement - otherwise she wasn't sure about risking her powers. She just hoped that if they could get the dealer - and maybe even a sample of the drug to test it and see what it was actually doing to people - before anything bad happened.

Alex asked for the bag and she grabbed her stuff out of it before handing it to him. Luckily, she had only put it over her normal clothes anyway, so she would be fine changing in the car, which she did hurriedly, slipping off the uniform and folding it neatly. She shook her hair out a little more, running her fingers through it, and sat up a little straighter to view herself in the mirror that hung down in front of Mari's eyes. She looked like an ordinary girl. Good. She thought to herself. I look normal. She couldn't help grinning, but that's when she looked out and realized. They were driving crazy fast, but her head was almost exploding with information, memories, and miscellaneous things from the spirits of dead people. "Woah." She muttered. It hadn't been that bad since she had fallen in the river, and that was only when she'd first started seeing them. The strangest thing about them were that most people had at least one or two of the slightly translucent, tinged gold people following them around. But some people, and these were the minority, had none, or were tinged with red. She frowned, but none took any notice. They were going too fast for any of them to realize. She decided not to voice her concerns - after all, she was out in a new city, and she hadn't ever really been out in the open like this since her mutations kicked in. She closed her eyes, trying to block out at least some of the information, listening to the rustle of paper as someone slipped paper into their pockets.

The van soon stopped, and Hailee took it as her cue to get out. She opened her eyes, taking the scenery in. It wasn't spectacular, but the amount of people around her felt like double because of all the spirits there. She swallowed a lump and instead turned to the new girl, Kali. She grinned at her, before putting on her careless front - and secretly, the sort of careless that only existed for normal people her age. "C'mon then. Let's see what we can get up to." She sent a quick 'Bye!' to Mari before turning and following Alex into the subway. If anything, the subway made Hailee's stomach turn even more - being underground and thinking about having no way out was almost as terrifying as the memory of drowning. Nonetheless, she began searching the thoughts of people in front of her, all surrounded by the gold tinge of spirits. Nothing... Nothing at all... She thought to herself. Not even the spirits.

"Please let's keep moving." She almost cursed herself as the words slipped out, and gave her teammates an apologetic smile. She followed it up with a mental, "I've got nothing. Not even the spirits know, and here they just seem to follow people around. There is something interesting, though... Some of the people have red spirits, not gold. Or none at all. It's weird." She looked around her, trying to identify anything abnormal. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, and that freaked her out a little.

As Ace and Reform left the Blackbird the rest of the team stayed behind for now. Kai was instructed not to go too far from Autumn unless asked by Tec. Autumn could sense him even when invisible and since he could not wear one of the commlinks it would severely limit his communication without another team member present. During most of the flight Kai had been silent. He had followed the conversations of others, but somehow he didn't yet feel part of the team as much. His training so far had been mostly with individual members of the different teams, like Hailee and Haven, but never with his entire team. Maybe this mission will bring me closer to the team... While Tec, Autumn and Kai were being dropped off and said goodbye to the others they received a message from Ace. "How can this guy be in pursuit already, we just got here!" Kai had difficulty deciding if he should be impressed or worried about the Titan's second in command. "Look Gaea, I don't want to meddle or anything, but do we want the guy with huge wings shadowing Toad? I can do it while invisible and Austin could do it in bird form, both quite a bit less obvious than the Eagleman."

Before Tec could answer they received another message, Ace was not only in pursuit, but he actually engaged in battle on his own. Knowing Kai could not be hit by Toad's tongue or spit he left right away to help him out. Flying as fast as he could it could not have been long before he arrived. In the distance he could see Ace was having a bad time fighting Toad. Kai turned invisible before getting closer, without the others being there at the moment Kai could only think to get Ace away from Toad. Without being able to touch anything Ghost wouldn't be able do much more than to fly in front of Toad to obstruct his vision, and he doubted that would be of any help.

Kai flew close to Ace before he spoke. He had to make sure only Ace would hear him and no one else, it would give him away. "Ace, it's Ghost, we have to get out of here, the others are probably on their way, but I’m not sure if you’ll be able to hold out that much longer." Ace responded with sweat dripping from his forehead. His wings swayed down as he himself began to rise. Another acid saliva burst was sent in his way, but somehow he was able to dodge it. They seemed to be so high now that they were out of reach for both Toad's tongue as well as his spit. Kai thought that they would be safe in just a few moments. Through the sky it would be impossible for Toad to follow them, even if he had the intention to do so.

When they were ready to move back towards the others Kai started flying behind Ace to keep a look out. What happened next however he could not see coming. Without warning a ball of fire was moving right through Kai and hit Ace on his right wing. Kai turned around in mid air and saw a young girl standing a mere 50 meters from Toad with hands that seemed to be made of fire. She looked tall and was well dressed, her leather coat reached to her knees and a smile lay dormant on her face. The reason Kai did not know, but Toad was not alone. Behind him it seemed Ace finally had enough punishment or exhaustion to be dropping from the air. It looked like he was no longer conscious.

Kai dove down towards Ace and flew right into him. He had never possessed him before, but he didn't think he had any choice at the moment. It was easier than ever to take control of someone. Being past out there was no resistance at all. Steering his movements but not feeling his pain, Ghost was able to use Ace's wings without problems. It was possibly way too straining for the angelic wings, but it was not like there was a lot of choice. He could finally use a commlink now that he had a physical body. With Ace voice he addressed his team mates. "Everyone, it's Ghost. Ace is unconscious. I'm flying him down to one of the rooftops. I need someone to distract Toad before he’s following us somehow. Watch out guys, Toad is not alone. A very hot girl was with him, and I mean that literally, she sent a fire ball our way!" Waiting for an answer, he hoped that he wasn't damaging Ace's body, although his self-healing should kick in once they'd landed.

Ghost landed Ace’s body on the roof closest to them now. It was about ten blocks from where they just saw Toad. I don’t know if it’s far enough, but I don’t want to stay in his body any longer. After carefully landing he left Ace’s body and almost instantly saw the angelic being self healing. He was glad to see his team mate was going to be fine.

After Wolverine and his team got out, the tall teen was all too happy to take control of the Blackbird for the first time since her joyride a few months ago. The ride was silent and they had barely made it into San Francisco's city limits before Ace leaped out of the jet. “Dammit, Ace! You know you can't fly that long!” She yelled at him through their commlink, ignored. Sighing, she watched as Reform jumped out when he called for backup, shaking her head. Flying solo with Stimuli and Ghost now, she could feel her grip tightening as she steered for a clear area to land, finding an abandoned neighborhood only eight miles away from where her team was located. Kai took off after the other boys and she couldn't help but to roll her eyes. “You and I are the only ones on this team with any fucking sense, love.” She moved to Autumn after opening up the side door, holding her hand out and glancing at Ororo, who was taking notes. Autumn gave Tessa a humorless chuckle as she took her offered hand.

Gaea could feel irritation welling up in her from the actions of the guys on her team, knowing that they were going to make her look bad as a leader. She didn't really blame Kai – He was brand new to the team; He hadn't run any simulations with them, or even trained. She wasn't even sure that he had full control over his abilities and doubted that he was above novice level abilities. But Ace was her second-in-command. As Kai spoke to them through the comm with the winged mutant's voice, she narrowed her eyes. “That fucking bonehead!” This was all on him. Both Reform and Ghost were rookies and had to bum-rush in to save Azrael's ass. “That idiot won't be able to feel his fucking wings by the time I'm done with him.”

"One problem at a time, Tessa." came Autumn's reply, feeling her bubbling annoyance rising in her Captain. She didn't blame her though, this was a bad way to start a mission. Autumn took her own advice and focused on the mission at hand. Immediately, she was struck by the smell, it all came rushing in at once, it was enough to make her eyes water...if they rushing wind hadn't done that already. She wanted to mute her sense of smell but everything was so loud, already it would have done nothing but make it worse. Taking a calming breath, Autumn just braced herself, following Tessa's lead.

She grabbed Autumn gently and hopped out of the jet before blasting them into the air with a gust of wind. Water formed beneath their feet and soon became ice that bulleted through the skies as she headed towards their location. “Ghost! Reform, get back to the Blackbird and keep Ace there! Stimuli and I will handle this.” She shouted into her comm over the wind as they moved in closer until they could see Toad and the girl that Ghost had warned him about. It was all too easy to avoid the fire she hurled their way as they passed by an eagle that she assumed to be Austin. She went in for a dive, dodging Toad's tongue by a few inches. Landing on the ground, she put herself between the foe and Autumn, acting as a shield. Another ball of fire and Toad's ridiculously long tongue shot out towards them and she reacted immediately, throwing her arm upwards with her palm to sky. The fire dispelled against the wall of asphalt and earth that had been drawn up and she could hear Toad gagging at the taste of dirt lingering on his tongue. “Alright, Stim. We're gonna go with Scenario Lights Out, alright?” Autumn nodded. "Right" She said, having been over this a million times in training, she was prepared.

With the plan set, she lowered the wall to see Toad and Fire-Bitch -- as she had decided to name the girl -- trying to make a run for it. Her fists slammed into the ground and sent up a wall all around them that boxed in all four of them, soon making it pitch black as the sky was blotted out by asphalt creeping across and completely closing them in. “Get ready! And... GO!” She could hear as Toad tried to jump out before the roof of the earthen box completely closed up, only to hit dirt and fall to the ground. “So, it's gonna be like that, girls?! I'm gonna be a good guy an' give you a chance. Join the right side of this war... Or I'll kill you,” Toad shouted out to them in the darkness. She knew that he had taken his goggles off and could see in this pitch dark. She kept the wall up that separated she and Stimuli from the two of them, removing her boots and setting them aside.

Wiggling her toes, she closed her eyes so that she could get a sense of where they were. “Here - I'll keep Toad off of you and make a labyrinth around Fire-Bitch. Immobilize Fire-Bitch and tie her up. I'll take Tongue-Boy.” She gave a light smile that she knew Autumn couldn't see. She felt around until she grabbed Autumn's hands, allowing a length of strong vines to grow from her own hands. Autumn took a breath, she wasn't much of a fighter, but she knew her role in this. She knew it from the start. She took the vines as Tessa handed them to her, wrapping them loosely around her arm. “Hands behind the back, ankles, then string them together. Go hog-tie that bitch and make me proud,” she chuckled as she added two more lengths of vine. Autumn nodded. Her nerves shaking up a bit. She was scared, there was no denying it but she swallowed it, used it. Just like she was taught in training.

Gaea manipulated the earth once more, creating a labyrinth for them all to work through. She knew that she was the weakest one of the situation, considering the darkness; Toad could see quite fine, Stimuli could sense everyone, and the pyro had fire to light her way. With herself being constant on the move, she wouldn't be able to always rely on her bare feet to feel the vibrations and even so, she wasn't advanced enough in earth-sighting that she could feel the body movements except for feet.

Autumn felt the ground rumble in her chest, as it rose and fell creating the labyrinth. She reached out in her mind, letting the world fall away for a moment, and allow herself to fall into her senses. Her eyes closed and behind them, neon glowing figures danced. She could see herself, and Tessa, both a glowing green, bright and familiar,, from afar she saw two glowing blue figures, cold and unfamiliar. One moved oddly, animal like. That was Toad. The other was jumpy and nervous. That must have been the Fire Bi...Girl. Autumn opened her eyes. "Four rights and a left, That's where Toad is." Autumn said and turned to Tessa. "But first." She held up a hand and with two soft fingers, she placed them on Tessa's temple. Autumn then reached for her power, focusing on Tessa's sight, after closing her eyes. Autumn pulled from her vision, feeding the power into Tessa slowly through the soft pads of her fingers. It was the oddest thing, giving her power to someone else, it gave Autumn and odd rush, a strange sense of control she didn't normally have. When she opened her eyes. Autumn couldn't see a thing, her sight was that of a human.

“Thanks,” Gaea remarked. Autumn's was alright though, since now she could mute her other senses, like smell, something she'd been wanting to do for a good while anyway, and with a few blinks of her eyes, her vision was sharp again. She smiled and nodded to Tessa. "There; Good luck, Gaea. She said and then Autumn was off, veering left, and right, then left again. She ran through the labyrinth, and toward the pyro girl. She stopped just as she reached her. The girl was waving a fiery hand, groping in the dark. Autumn lightened her step. She couldn't deafen the girl until she was able to touch her so she had to sneak around her. Thankfully, years of dancing made Autumn light on her feet. She tiptoed around the girl, dodging the girl's manic light waving.

Autumn crept up behind her, and just as she went to unravel the vines, the girl whirled around, face to face with Autumn. Both girls gasped, and Autumn dove to the ground, narrowly missing the girl's fire ball. Autumn scrambled gracelessly to her feet, and rushed the girl, sending her shoulder into the girl's stomach. They both hit the ground, the girl was a bit dazed from the fall but she was conscious enough to engulf her body in flames. Autumn rolled away, flames licking her skin. She muted her sense of touch, her sight blazed with sharpness and clarity. The girl seemed dizzy but was getting to her feet. Autumn had to act fast. She lunged forward, recalling one of her many combat lessons. She grabbed the girl by the hair and sent the side of her hand into the bundle of nerves at the side of her neck. The girl went down, the flames extinguished. Autumn looked down at her hands, they were burned rather nicely.Thankfully, she'd muted her sense of touch and couldn't feel it, nevertheless she'd have to ask Tessa for some aloe in the meantime. She got to work 'hogtying' the girl, as Tessa instructed, although, the girl most likely would be out of it for a good while. She touched the comm unit in her ear. "Gaea, I've finished, relatively untouched. How'd you fair?" She said, still a bit winded.

“Playing hide-and-seek with a freak,” Gaea remarked into her comm. She was glad Autumn had done so well, extremely proud of her ability to take orders as well as her in-combat abilities. Now it was her turn to prove herself. She was stepping lightly and doing her best to listen, having followed Stimuli's directions. Toad had already left that area and was scaling the walls, looking for a way out. In fact, he was right above her. Clinging to the roof of the earthen box, he peered at her through the dark. Taking a breath, he let his tongue loll out just a bit before shooting it out at her. Luckily enough, she had felt and heard the disturbed dirt and gravel falling from above, dodging just in time to miss his tongue. She could tell that he was getting irritated with getting his tongue covered in dirt, smirking at him through the dark. “Nyeh!” She taunted him like a child as he leaped down towards her, hitting the ground when she moved through the wall behind her. He scaled the wall and followed, lobbing spit at her that caught her shoulder, sending her into a wall, leaning against it.

He snickered and closed in slowly, her hand placed against the earth. The wound was minor, having caught mostly her jacket but splashed onto her neck. The wound healed but she went through the wall, the earth crumbling as he body slammed her through the dirt. “Sonuvabitch!” The string of words came out as one as she struggled to keep her flesh from touching his. She needed to only worry about where his hands and face were since he was wearing a shirt and jacket and shoes; obviously. Reflexively, she kicked out at him. He was thrown back but caught onto the wall. She managed to scramble to her feet. No sooner had she gotten to her feet had she felt his disgusting tongue lash out and squeeze around her waist. Giving a scream, she felt herself lifted up, smashed against a nearby wall. She couldn't see, her eyes closed, but she could tell that he was enjoying himself. She was glad that she had bothered to keep her jacket zipped up. She would hate to have her flesh dissolved. Luckily, she wore her X-Men jacket instead of her regular leather jacket. That didn't much help her out of the situation though.

Grunting, she thought quickly as best as she could what the best way out would be. Acting essentially on a whim, she brought the moisture in the air to collect upon her left hand, traveling up her forearm and onto her jacket. It froze quickly and began to sharpen and shape. Mortimer didn't seem to notice as she raised her hand as he raised her one more time for the final throw before he really got into it. With a loud yell of frustration, she brought her arm down quickly and sliced through his tongue, freezing the separation point in the same go to prevent him from choking on his blood. The part that was wrapped around her remained so but she dropped through the air while he cried out in pain. She grunted and began to grope frantically at the ground, scooping up dirt and sinking her hands into the earth. Roots shot up from the ground wrapped around Toad, unable to escape them now that he was too preoccupied with the pain in his mouth that rocketed through his body as well. Wanting to get back quickly, she drained as much energy from the earth as she could muster, but it wasn't much. It was in the middle of San Francisco and the earth was polluted, offering her less nutrients.

It was enough to get her up and walking, making her way over to him with a glare. The walls came down and she turned to see Autumn, glaring against the sudden brightness of sunlight. “Got him. Let's go get the boys.” She lifted her hand and brought up small chunks of earth beneath her commlink and her boots. Putting them back on, she tapped her link and tilted her head. “Bring around the jet, boys. See if you can manage that at least.” Walking over to Mortimer, she hissed lowly in pain as she walked from the pain ringing through her body. He was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked, that was for sure. Almost nothing compared to Wolverine. The roots unwound themselves as she grabbed him by his collar and jerked him up. She would have beaten him until he passed out but she knew that his superhuman levels of endurance would tire her out before it knocked him out and she wasn't going to beat a dead horse -- or dead toad -- even if it was a bad guy. Instead, she encased him in a roll of asphalt. She wasn't worried about his tongue at the moment, but she did worry about his spit. Could people without tongues spit? She didn't want to take the chance but she didn't have anything to cover his mouth until they got back to the jet.

Sighing, she leaned against the asphalt, careful not to touch Toad but making the roll squeeze tighter around him. Grinning, she looked to Autumn and her catch. “You've officially made Varsity. Congrats.” She gave a thumbs up to indicate that she was proud but her arms quickly dropped as she wheezed. “I think that bastard cracked one of my ribs... And this air is disgusting. I thought New York was bad... Fuck!” She made a show of dry heaving before shaking her head as she waited for Ororo or one of the guys to bring around the jet so she could get the hell out of California.

"Oh, and there is one more thing you should see. It's.....weird. It's....hard to explain." Forge said as he motioned for them to follow him. "Weird? Do I want to know what registers as 'weird' for a cyborg?" Flynn asked. "Probably not." Wolverine stated. It has to be something truly strange to leave a experienced man like Forge speechless. Forge led them outside the building, and walking towards a house that has yellow police tape around it. Wolverine stopped for a moment, and looked around. He sniffed the air, and tilted his head as if listening for something. "Timmy stuck in a well Lassie?" Flynn smirked. Wolverine rolled his eyes, and gave him a anger shoulder bump, almost knocking Flynn over.

Forge brought them to the house of the latest victim. "This place is owned by Miss Flannigan. She has electrokenic abilities. She has two sons. Sean, ten years old, and Jake, eight. They are currently staying at my place. She likes those medical drama shows, and tending to a flower garden. She has very lovely tulips, even here in the desert. She just vanished. What am I supposed to tell her kids?" Forge stated as he ducked down underneath the tape, and entered the house.

Wolverine was about to say something, but was cut off by Flynn. "Tell them that we're going to do everything in our power to find her. No one should grow up without a parent, and they won't. I promise." Flynn answered as he ducked down underneath the tape. That was probably the most serious, and sincere sentence he said all day long. A small smile of pride started to creep across Wolverine's face. It quickly went away when he sniffed the air again. He looked around, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Inside the house, it was a wreck, obviously there was a struggle. Scorch marks, most likely lightning blasts, littered the walls. There was dirt, and broken flower pots on the floor. But the oddest thing about the room was a large chunk of the floor was missing, it was like it was perfectly cut in a circle. Next to, a few feet from it was a large circular hole in the wall. There was a table next to the holes that was missing a chunk of the edge. The places were perfectly smooth, no rough edges, no anything. There was another hole in the floor in the center of the room.

"The kids, did they see anything? Were they hurt?" Flynn asked Forge. "No, they were playing with some other children. We have footage that confirms this. She was all alone." Forge replied. Flynn went over to the table, and ran his fingers around the edge of the missing chunk. Wolverine went over to the center of the room, and sniffed at the hole. "These cuts are almost laser precise. I don't think even Cyclops could make this clean of a cut." Flynn stated. Wolverine's eyes shifted around the room as he sniffed the air. Something was off.

Flynn watched Wolverine carefully. He knew he wouldn't be acting this way unless something was up. Wolverine's eyes looked around. Flynn watched his eyes. Flynn's eyes darted left, and right as he was thinking. Flynn looked over at a pile of dirt that was near where Wolverine was staring. Flynn held up his hand, and clenched it in a fist. His fist was suddenly covered in his purple neon energy. Flynn blasted the pile of dirt that sent it flying across the room. Some of the dirt stopped in midair. Flynn fired another blast at the floating dirt.

He blasted something into the nearby wall hard enough to leave a large crack. "What the hell?!" Forge shouted. Then a body started to flicker in, and out of visibility. "Good work Scooby. Sorry, left the Scooby-Snacks at home." Flynn smirked as he walked over the invisible stranger. The man was in a high-tech looking white suit with tubing running around his entire body. He was wearing a round glass helmet over a metal with a blue visor instead of a face, and obscured it. You could not see any part of his body. It gave him a real 'space man' look.

Flynn firmly placed his foot on the stranger's chest, and held his energized fist up to his face. "This place near Area 51 or somethin'? We are in Nevada after all." Flynn smirked. "Thought I heard another heartbeat. Just couldn't smell anything." Wolverine explained. "I've never seen anyone like him before." Forge said as he moved in closer to get a better look. The man came to, and aimed his right hand at Flynn. A blue bolt of energy shot at Flynn. Flynn held out his hand, and absorbed the energy. "Sucks for you." Flynn smirked as he took the stranger by his collar.

Flynn lifted him up in the air, and slammed him in the wall behind him. "Who are you?! Where's the missing mutants?!" Flynn demanded as his hands glowed with energy. But the man didn't say a thing. "Read his mind." Wolverine ordered Ollie. Then a chuckle started to bellow from the man that soon turned into a sinister laugh. "What's so funny chuckles?! I haven't gotten to the part where I beat you until candy comes out!" Flynn smirked with a twisted grin. "Mutant dogs! That won't work on me. I'm genetically superior!" He spoke the truth, if Ollie tried to use telepathy on him, all he would get is static.

"You're not the first person to call me a dog. But I wonder how it will sound when I'll squishing your head like a grape under my heel? if you don't want to find out, then talk!" Flynn demanded as he slammed him against the wall again. "Does he always act so.....Wolverine-ish?" Forge whispered to Haven. "I am stronger, I am purer then you....mutie. We are the true next stage of evolution. Not. You." The man stated with distain. "Pure huh? Well I'm not gonna pretend to be that, but honestly? All I can think about is peeling you out of that suit like a banana."

The man started to breath heavily in a somewhat panicked way. "Don't like that much huh?" Flynn then looked down at the hoses on his suit. "These look important." He smirked as he grabbed hold of it. He squeezed it tightly. The man started to gasp desperately for air, and struggled to try to push Flynn away. "Ready to talk? Maybe I should just rip this suit off you, and see that pretty face?" Flynn smirked. Forge started to step forward to stop him, but Wolverine stopped him.

The man shook his yes, and Flynn let go of the hose. "Talk. Fast. You're starting to seriously piss me off." The man gasped for air before he started breathing normally. "Twenty miles away. Bunker in the ground. That is where the cattle is." The man answered. "Good boy." Flynn smirked. He then threw the man across the room. Before he could get up Flynn charge him. He gave him a powerful punch to the helmet of the man with enough force to knock him out, and crack the glass of his helmet.

"You got someplace to hold him?" Flynn asked Forge. "Yeah. I'll have him taken care of." Forge answered. "Can we borrow a car? Promise not to scratch it." Flynn asked with a charming smile.

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Storm brought the Blackbird around to pick up the girls, and Toad, having the boys already inside. Storm stepped outside, and looked over there work. "Well done. For the most part. All in all I would give you a C.....plus. You must all work together. Even if your team runs off head first, you are they're leader Tecmessa. You must learn to lead them. They're failures are yours as well. That's just part of the burden of leadership." Storm said with warm smile as she placed her hand on her shoulder. "But still, well done for your first mission. You'll all have to have a few sessions in the Danger Room for teamwork when we get back to the mansion."

They were soon interrupted by the arrival of the MRD. Several armored Humvees, and prisoner transportation vans drove up towards them. Several MRD soldiers poured out of the vehicles, and took aim at the Titans. A physically fit man in his 50s came through the crowd of soldiers, making them almost part. This man had a large, familiar looking three clawed scar on the side of his head. "Uh oh." Storm muttered. "Let me handle this."

"Colonel Moss, you're looking well." Storm said as she stepped forward. Moss looked her over, and then at the Titans with distain. "Toad is to be taken into our custody. You and you're....X-Men are to be detained as well for questioning." He ordered. "We just got a bunch of his flunkies attacking a medical R&D facility. They lead us here. You might be tolerated, but this is still our jurisdiction. We are the law." He stated. "We will cooperate anyway we can. I'm sure you can agree that the capture of a Brotherhood Member is a huge win. We can work something out."

Although it couldn't be seen, a sinister grin crept across Toad's face. "Bag Toad up. Get in the vans. We're taking you to the local base." Moss ordered. "We must do as they say. As much as we don't like it, we are on the same side." Storm whispered to the team.

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"So...um...Porter....how long until it starts working?" The buyer asked nervously. "It'll be a minute kid." Porter answered. Inside the apartment was three other guys. "Have you been taking the stuff?" The buyer asked, trying to make small talk. "Once man. All I needed." Porter answered.

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"Does he always act so.....Wolverine-ish?" Forge asked as they watched Flynn interrogate the holier than thou suspect. "Yes, yes he does"Came Haven's reply. She was itching to get in their herself with all the noise that fool was spewing. It was just like the Brotherhood, everything that came out his mouth. She felt the Nether drawing to her. She took a few breaths to keep it at bay, it helped to watch Flynn work that son of a bitch over. She could have kiss him for it. Even still, it took all she had not to peel him out of that suit. Thankfully for all of them, the man spilled his guts, before Flynn could do it for him and Haven snickered. She gave him a punch in the shoulder as if to say. Good Job. Despite his faults, He was captain for a reason.
"Can we borrow a car? Promise not to scratch it."
Haven laughed. "I make no such promise." She said, her voice was gruff, and her marks were glowing. She needed a fight. Bad.

*Sorry it's so short >_<*

Finally having Ace safe was a relieve. However, except for what he had done already, there was nothing more Kai could do for Ace without any help. Ace was laying on the roof, seemingly still passed out even though Kai could clearly see the body was healing. Waiting for Austin took longer than Kai had hoped. He was scared there were more mutants around. Firehands had been unexpected already, in the briefing Beast and the mentors had only spoken about Toad.. It bothered Kai that a young mutant like her met Toad before she met the professor. Kai himself had a checkered past to say the least, he rather not think about what would have happened if he met the Brotherhood before he met the X-men. He might have been fighting against the Titans right now, instead of with them.

There was nothing more to do for Kai at the moment. He couldn't help Ace up, and neither could he possess him again. First of all it would be harder for Kai now that his team mates body was almost fully healed and secondly it was dangerous to possess anyone for that long.. The body tells a person when it has had enough. When Kai is insides someone's body he doesn't get that memo and so he tires the body out too much. Kai looked to the sky and with a sigh of relieve saw Austin coming towards them at high speed.

Austin came down in a hurry, he flew down in an eagle form and landed and turned back to his normal shape. "Is the idiot okay? Any major wounds, or is it just that burn on his wing we need to worry about? Because I'm not exactly the best medic on the planet, come on let's get him to the Blackbird." Austin was getting worried, for Azrael and if the girls could take on Toad without the rest of the team. When they both eventually made it to the Blackbird they put Ace in a seat and tried their best to tend to his wounds. Austin took the pilot's seat, "Do you reckon they'll be okay? Toad isn't exactly a super-easy threat, he's big in the Brotherhood, ya know?"

Kai thought about what Austin said as they moved into the blackbird. In these cases he felt so helpless. He couldn't support Ace or Austin since he couldn't even touch them. He saw Austin strapping him in and moving to the pilot seat. "I know Toad's a big deal, but it's not him I'm worried about him. I'm more worried about him not being alone. I just saw the one, but how many more could be with him?" With a mournful look he looked at the co-pilot seat. He knew he wouldn't be of any use not being able to push a button. Storm, who still had been in the Blackbird, saw the look on Kai's face, gave him an encouraging smile and set herself down on the co-pilot seat. With a hand gesture she told him to come and stand behind her and Austin.

Tecmessa's voice could be heard over the radio of the Blackbird. "Bring around the jet, boys. See if you can manage that at least." The comment must mean that Toad and his female friend were apprehended. Her words repeated in Kai's head ...manage that a least... Rather demeaning and not at all the words of a true leader. To Kai it sounded like she took her tasks as a team leader not as the privilege it was, but as a burden. A weight dragging her down. Of course the mission hadn't gone like it was supposed to and maybe there was more luck than wisdom in their victory, but everyone was needed to make the mission a success. And a fast success at that.

The short trip lead the Blackbird to the girls. Stepping out Kai found an asphalted Toad and a hog tied girl, passed out from the fight. She looked a lot less intimidating like this. Especially witouth that malicious smile on her face. Kai was disappointed with the Team's grade and promised himself to put in some real time in the Danger room. He hadn't been asked to come train there before, but maybe now he was part of one of the teams. Kai walked up to Autumn and saw her burned hands. "Ouch, that looks bad. Are you okay?"

Within moments signs and logo's of the MRD could be seen everywhere around them. Kai took a step back and asked no one in particular if he should turn invisible. One of them answered it was probably too late for that already so he just balded his fists and waited for instructions. The man who stepped forward was impressive in stature. Kai was glad Storm, and not Wolverine, was the mentor of the team for obvious reasons. Kai wasn't surprised to hear of the MRD findings at the medical facility. He whispered to Austin who stood next to him. "Wait, why the hell do we have to come in for questioning?"

Austin shrugged, looked at him and slightly widened his eyes, he looked sort of worried, he was wondering if the team was going to be arrested or worse.... He whispered back to him, "Why would I know? Were mutants. People HATE US... The world's become a bunch of racists." Austin decided to cooperate. He walked out of the Blackbird, but gave General Moss a intimidating look. As he walked by him he turned his tongue into a snake's and hissed at him. Austin got into the van and turned his tongue back to it's normal state. He sat down inside and mumbled to himself, "Our side, my ass..."

One of the MRD soldiers, who looked scared upon being around so many mutants at once, pointed at one of the other cars. Apparently they were not allowed to all sit together on this ride. He saw the door was still closed, but he did not want to give his power away by floating through the door. "If you're arresting us the least you can do is open the door for us..." He directed his attention to the scared looking MRDouche, whose eyes seem to grow larger with direct eye contact. He hurried over and opened the door for Kai. He slid in and waited to see who would be joining for the joyride.

There were many reasons why Tyler sometimes hated his gift. Driving backseat behind Marigold was one of those reasons. Ever since he had gotten his powers he had been scared he would see his death before it happened. With Marigold driving the moment seemed so much closer than at any other given time. While the others were changing in the car Tyler was happy he had already done so before they left.

After parking the X-Van the group left to the subway station. Since two new suppliers on the block would be suspicious enough without three new buyers right behind them they decided it was better not to be seen together anymore. They went onto the platform separately. Just before splitting up Tyler uttered a small "Good luck guys." Tyler was actually deep in thought. These cheap prices were either a trap set by anti-mutants as a 'told-you-so' when one of these MGH-users would get out of hand or even worse, the newly powered junkies were mere test subject. Looking at Marigold's face he could see she was reading his mind.

Tyler held a backpack on his back with their supply. Marigold had handed it to him earlier at the X-van. The backpack was about half full with pills in small plastic bags. They had different tags on them indicating what mutant power these pills would provide. To be honest Tyler didn't know if she had gotten it from Dr. McCoy or if she had made it appear by magic. What he did know was that the pills were most probably as effective as baby aspirin. They waited for a few minutes for the first team to leave the platform before they went to the platform themselves. The platform itself was near empty. Two middle aged man were talking with loud voices, nothing of interest for the two young investigating mutants. A couple of about 25-years-old's were sitting one of the benches on the side. Their whispers were too soft for Tyler to understand, he hoped Marigold would be able to catch some of it.

There was not much time to stand around as the next metro was already arriving. The others were aware that Marigold and Tyler would get out after two stops, which would be the main station, Rockaway Parkway Metro station. Usually ground zero for bad stuff to go down. He had been there before. About two years back he had spend a few nights sleeping under one of the bridges near the station. It was a competitive spot around homeless people, the warmth and the amount of people that would pass by were both aspects homeless people were looking for. At that time he had liked his spot, but it was not worth losing an eye over.

The doors slid open and the two of them got out. "I think we better get downstairs. Last time I was here most dealers were at the south east corner." Coming down the stairs he saw the metal gateways to get outside. They did not have tickets to get outside. Tyler let Marigold go first so she could magic their way out. Once outside they took a sharp left. Just before turning the corner he held his hand in from of the Enchantress in order to stop her from moving. In his mind he could see turning a corner would show them a tunnel. The moment they would get into the tunnel there would be 3 men at the far end. Two of them would leave immediately, leaving the largest left standing. Halfway the tunnel there was a small group of people sitting on the ground, they looked like they could be junkies.

Tyler assumed his fellow mutant read his thoughts as he was thinking them. "Go in, try to sell to the junkies and see what the big guy is gonna do?" He waited for her approval before making another step.

Marigold was reluctant to separate their team once they got off of the subway together only to split up into their teams of three and two. Heading out with Tyler, she lead the way through the tunnel quietly. She could already see the vision in Spoiler's head and found herself preparing to throw a few blasts of energy if she needed to. She gave a nod at his words before straightening up, having not realized that she was walking in a creeping motion. Coughing, she put on a smile and headed towards the three men with a wave. “Easy, gentleman. I understand that the two of you are looking for some MGH.” She gestured to the baggie that Tyler had, giving a faux smile of trust. From their thoughts, she could tell that they were lusting after the pills badly. “How much is he selling them for?”

“A grand per pair...” The blonde woman answered hesitantly, taking a careful step towards the two X-Men.

“I'll double the offer for... Half the price. Actually, one-third of the price. No... Just give me whatever money you can spare.”

She gave a grin and took the baggie from Tyler, swinging it in front of them and yanking it back as they snatched. Their dealer was not pleased, pushing past them with a smirk. “That's some fake ass shit -- You ain't with our crew. Get them fucking sugar pills out of here,” he snapped, giving Marigold a shove. The young woman laughed and nodded. “Fake?” She reached into the bag and popped one of the pills, swallowing it whole. She put on a show of growing power within her before looking up at them with glowing eyes. She threw her hand forward and released a blast of energy that knocked the dealer into the wall. “Take the whole bag, keep your money, forget you fucking saw us.” She threw the fake pills at the junkies, who caught it with surprising reflexes and ran.

“They're gonna be pissed when they find out that shit's fake,” she laughed as she approached the big man, placing a foot on his throat as he came to. “Who's supplying you, fat man?” She pressed a bit harder as he spit at her, earning a growl from her. “Fuck you.” She was displeased with his answer and let her hand raise, glowing with bright red light. Her face gave way and her "mask" reappeared. “Wrong answer.” He cringed as she was about to release her energy upon him but she paused, tilting her head as Kali sent a thought to her. She looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. “Is it Porter? Where can we find him?” She knelt down and placed her hand closer to his face but he wasn't giving in -- She had to admit: The guy was loyal to a fault.

Instead of obliterating him, she merely kicked him in the head and left him there. “Let's go. Silent he may have been, his mind was quite open.”

As Marigold stepped away Tyler followed closely. He had been impressed and even caught slightly off guard by her power play over the big guy. They walked with haste to the other side of the tunnel. Just before reaching the end the two guys who were with the fat man in the beginning showed up again, probably alarmed by the man himself or the MGH-junkies. The latter appeared to be true as the man on the left held up one of the bags that obviously came from Tyler's backpack. Tyler saw it happen before it actually did, but he did not act against it. The man opened the bag and took one of the pills. Let's even the odds, he said smugly. Inside Tyler laughed and send a thought to Marigold. You take left, I'll take right? Spoiler alert, yours will try to open with a right hook.

Tyler himself walked to the man on the right. He did not look particularly strong. Seeing what would happen Tyler avoided the first hit. His opponent looked surprised at Tyler's reflexes and stepped back. Tyler avoided another punch and pushed the left shoulder of the man which resulted in him losing his balance. With the man turning slightly left Tyler stepped to the right side of the man and hooked his arm around the man's neck. He stepped in with his hip against his opponents and pulled the man over Tyler's body, closing his throat due to the force on his neck. By the time the man slammed into the pavement he was out for the count. It was one of the first moves Cyclops had learned him when they started training. Somehow the judo-based moves stuck in Tyler's head more than any other.

He looked at Marigold who had her guy down as well. Probably 10 times faster than me, he thought. "I don't know if you still want to question this one, I can probably wake him up soon enough." Apparently she already had all the information she needed as she left again and turned the corner. Tyler kept up, looking back at the mess they had left behind in the tunnel. Not really the stealth mission I thought it would be... Tyler wondered how many people in Canarsie were warned about the appearance of Marigold and Tyler.

"So, where are we off to? Will we regroup with the others already or do we stay separate for now?" If she read his thoughts correctly she would know that staying separated for now was his preference. Although his adrenaline was pumping due to the small skirmish, he still thought they should probably go for the more careful approach. When Marigold had worked over the fat man she mentioned the name Porter. Tyler wondered if it was a personal matter or if she knew the name through her time with the X-men. In any case, it didn't sound familiar to him."Should I know this Porter guy?"

“How am I supposed to know who you know?” She lifted a brow at him but regarded the thugs with a bored expression, clearly unimpressed with their attempt at a fight. “No interrogation needed -- They're all Porter's guys. Let's meet with the others.” She closed her eyes and centered herself, her left hand raising up in front of her as she sought out Alex's aura. Her eyes snapped open as she felt the familiar tug of his emotions, her strange orbs giving off a bright glow. There was a shimmer in the air before her as she grabbed Tyler by the sleeve and pulled him into that displacement. They disappeared from the tunnels and reappeared with the remainder of the group. Her eyes returned to normal and she beamed a smile. “Kali, we're in Brooklyn, in case you've not noticed. And, fun fact, Brooklyn is the size of Chicago. Not really helpful in the location information department,” she chided with a roll of her eyes. Sighing, she closed her eyes again. “Luckily, our guys weren't exactly packing mental shields. He's dealing out of some shit apartment on East 94th, a block and a half behind the high school. The kids are his biggest market. Let's go pay him a visit, shall we?” She moved towards a less crowded area in the subway station before placing her hand against the wall and motioning her team to walk on through. “Platform nine-and-three-quarters at your service. Next stop: East 94th! Step lively!”

As much as Tecmessa adored and respected Ororo, her mentor had another thing coming if she thought that Tecmessa would be training at all for the next three days. “Normally, you know I'd agree. But even after all the hours that you and I have both put into training them they still made the decision to do what they wanted. Azrael knew his limits and still pushed them, knowing that now is not the time to be experimenting like it's a training exercise. Kai barely gave me a moment to inhale before he jumped into action, though I can hardly be mad at him for saving Azrael's dumb ass. Austin did good in his postion.” She gave a pondering expression before glancing at Azrael. “We'd have done much better if Azrael didn't run in guns blazing. Austin and Autumn were the only two who knew what to do.” She made no attempt to hide the disappointment in her voice, lines creasing in her face as she frowned. She wiped the back of her hand across her face and moved towards the jet so she could grab her bag before dust was kicked up by several vehicles. In no time at all they had guns pointed at them and Colonel Moss leading the pack. She gave a snarl, even with Ororo's words reaching her ears. “On the same side? The last time I checked, allies didn't point loaded weapons at each other.”

There was a long and tense pause as she and Colonel Moss stared daggers at one another. “Lower your weapons or you're not getting shit,” she said calmly. Moss took a step forward, narrowing his eyes. “Do you know who--”

He was cut off by her laugh before he could finish, a menacing glint in her eyes. “I know who you are and I don't care. If you think you can just roll in and start aiming guns at a bunch of teenagers, my team, my family and start giving out orders... You're sadly mistaken. While you're sitting around with your dicks in your hands, two teenage girls took down Toad faster than you could with minimal collateral damage and zero structure damage to the area. Show a bit of respect. We're the ones who risked our lives to take down these criminals – Not you.” The Colonel seemed taken aback by her bold outburst and it was obvious she wouldn't back down. There was more tension, more silence, before he motioned for the soldiers to lower their weapons. She scoffed softly before moving towards Autumn, taking her hands gently. “Good job out there, but this is gonna scar. Here...” She could hear the gasps of horror and disgust from the soldiers as spiky aloe vera leaves grew from her right arm. She ignored them and picked the plants before quickly harvesting the gel, rubbing the soothing plant product onto Autumn's burns with as much tenderness as she could manage.

Having treated her, she moved back to Toad and kicked the asphalt that wrapped him up. It unrolled and left him lying in a heap on the ground. Dark brown vines and roots shot up from the ground and wrapped around him quickly, binding him tight. “Load 'im up and watch out for that tongue!” Moss was back to shouting orders as Tecmessa limped towards a humvee. “Don't worry about his tongue – I cut it off. Sorry if that ruined your interrogation plans,” she said a bit smugly. She had zero plans on being one hundred percent compliant with these assholes and would hassle them and irritate them just because she could. Sure, it was expected of her to be mature and set an example with grace and poise. But anyone who knew her well, especially Ororo, knew that she didn't take kindly to threats and harassment towards herself or other mutants. Especially not from “law enforcement”. If they were going to give them hell, she was give it back tenfold. Rolling her eyes, she glanced at the jet for a moment before heading into it, emerging with her backpack, locking up the metal beast tight. She took a seat in one of the humvees and sighed irritably, closing her eyes.