Description

XX╔══════════════════════════════════╗
XX

XX╚══════════════════════════════════╝

{ H e r o Of W a r | K n o c k i n g O n H e a v e n ' s D o o r | G o A l o n e | T h i s I s W a r }

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
––John F. Kennedy

Full Name
Tennessee Elizabeth Brannon

Nickname
Ten, Ness

Birthday & Age
July 31, 1986 [Age]

Sex & Gender
Female

Sexual & Romantic Orientation
Homosexual, Homoromantic

Ethnicity & Nationality
Irish/American

Hometown
Texarkana, Texas, United States

Occupation
Former Mercenary. Looking to join the X-Men

Height & Weight
5'7" 145 lbs
Eye Color
Ten's eyes are a clear, sunny blue, evoking thoughts of a cloudless summer day in Texas. While they are warm and inviting, there is a hardness to them typical of soldiers and those who witness death on a daily basis.
Hair Color & Style
Shoulder length blonde hair, often tied back in a tight ponytail, occasionally worn down in casual settings.
Special Markings
Ten has several tattoos, her old army unit's insignia on her left shoulder, a collection of seventeen bullets across the top of her back and neck, each with a set of initials on them, and underneath them, the words "Fighting 69th". On her right shoulder, she has an American flag, and directly underneath it, the flag of Texas.
Physical Description
Ten is slightly above average height for a woman and in superb physical shape. Her years of military and mercenary work and a lifelong passion for the athleticism and the outdoors has left it's mark, not only in toned musculature and an impressive set of scars, but also in the very steps she takes. Nothing she does is by accident, every step and every motion is intentional and thought out, giving her movements a sort of predatory look. Combining that with her analytical gaze and air of easy confidence, one look at Ten is enough for most people to realize that she isn't to be trifled with.
Fashion Sense
Ten has a fashion sense best described as casual but practical. Typically, in the chilly New York autumn, Ten wears a pair of dark cargo pants, a simple t-shirt, and a pair of black combat boots. She never steps foot outside without her handgun, which she wears, along with three spare clips, in a horizontal shoulder holster. To conceal her gun and to keep herself warm, Ten typically wears an overcoat or trenchcoat, or, when applicable, her leather jacket.

If she knows there's going to be any sort of combat situation, or even if she suspects there might be, Ten doesn't mess around with fashion. She'll show up in full tactical gear, including kneepads, elbow pads, a bullet proof vest, and no less than three handguns. Regardless of situation, Ten never goes without her dog tags, always worn underneath the rest of her outfit.

Likes
❤ Sport Shooting ❤ Firearms ❤ Using a new weapon ❤ Working out ❤ Hunting ❤ Fighting ❤ Hands on activities ❤ Reading technical manuals ❤ Praying ❤ Music, particularly country ❤ The Outdoors ❤ Hiking ❤ Camping ❤ Horses ❤ Veterans ❤ Dogs ❤ Military and History documentaries ❤ America ❤ Texas ❤ Protecting others ❤

Dislikes
✘ Church ✘ Cheating ✘ People who aren't open to reason ✘ Dishonesty ✘ Quiet ✘ Mutant persecution ✘ Bigotry ✘ The cold ✘ Injustice ✘ Disloyalty ✘ Hateful religious people ✘ People who hate religion ✘ Disrespect towards soldiers or the military ✘ Dislike ✘ Failing ✘ People who don't support the military ✘ People who are anti-military ✘ Bullies ✘ People who pretend to understand her experiences ✘ Condescension ✘

Habits/Quirks/Oddities
➳ Stripping one of her many firearms ➳ Spontaneous pushups/situps ➳ Cracking her knuckles ➳ Oddly good at sneaking up on people ➳ Reverts to an almost unintelligible accent when angry ➳ Strong Texan accent ➳ Can't understand "text talk" ➳ Unnecessary abbreviation ➳ Loud and obnoxious ➳ Swears often and aggressively ➳ Salutes squirrels(it's an inside joke) ➳ Can't cook to save her life ➳ Loves cooking shows ➳ Dances in the shower, and often falls down ➳ Has tons of money but still stingy with it ➳ Allergic to cats ➳ Extreme lightweight when it comes to alcohol ➳ Wants to try pot, but doesn't know where to buy it ➳ Will tackle people when drunk ➳ Still a perfect shot, even when drunk. ➳

Aspirations
▲ Create an America where mutants and humans live together ▲ Master every known weapon ▲ Protect mutants from abuse ▲

Fears
▼ Being unable to protect everyone – It doesn't matter how many people she does save, she constantly fears the inevitable failure of losing someone ▼ Being rejected by the X-men for what she did ▼ Making new friends, only to lose them ▼ Returning to her family of evangelical Christians ▼ Coming out as gay ▼ Going to hell, either for her sexual orientation, or her actions as a soldier and government agent ▼

Secrets
∞ Ten is still in the closet about her homosexuality, constantly afraid that others will judge her or hate her for it. Due to her religious upbringing, she still thinks something is wrong with her, and she hates the fact that she is gay and can do nothing about it ∞ Ten enjoys fighting and killing, and finds it very easy to separate the "good guys" from the "bad guys". Killing comes naturally to her, and she prefers war and combat to peace and safety. ∞ Ten didn't immediately leave behind her government job when they began ordering her to capture or kill mutants. In fact, either out of blind loyalty or patriotism, or both, she hunted down mutants for them for nearly a year before it became too much. ∞

Personality
{Loyal} {Honest} {Adventurous} {Sincere} {Stubborn} {Patriotic} {Efficient} {Sharp} {Aggressive} {Blunt}

They say everything is bigger in Texas. It only takes one sentence from Ten to prove that statement true. She is boisterous, strong willed, and keen on letting everyone in a five mile radius know her opinion. Most people, upon first meeting Ten, draw two conclusions about her. One, that she is from Texas, and two, that she is very proud of it. Like most Texans, she is of the opinion that Texas is the greatest state in the union, and thus Texans are the best possible citizens. She will never pass up an opportunity to talk up her home state, just as she will never tolerate anyone disrespecting it. This outspoken enthusiasm also applies to her love for America. She is very patriotic, and will not abide by anyone bad mouthing the U S of A, despite what she has done for it's government. She is a firm believer in the old saying, "Love your country always, and your government when it deserves it." America, and it's ideals, are sacred to her, and she becomes extremely angry whenever she sees someone disrespecting those ideals. She is the type of person who, if she sees you sitting or wearing your hat during the national anthem, will not hesitate to give you a piece of her mind. Ten also holds a deep respect for the military, and will immediately salute someone the moment she realizes they are a current or former member of the armed forces. If she ever catches anyone disrespecting a veteran, she will go out of her way to teach them a lesson in manners, and she has started multiple fights over the years because of this.

Tennessee grew up knowing honesty was a virtue, so if she doesn't like you, or the way you act, she will not hesitate to let you know, and she will not mince words. On the other hand, if you are friendly to her, she will respond in kind, and her friendship is anything but boring. She is overwhelmingly friendly and outgoing, often to the point that it's overbearing, and some people even find it annoying, or think that it is a facade. However, her excited enthusiasm is entirely genuine, and is just her natural attitude. She affectionately calls her brand of friendship, "aggressive friendship." Ten is also extremely polite, almost ingratiatingly so, and she never misses a beat when it comes to manners. She uses sir and ma'am to refer to age contemporaries, and is even more respectful to her elders. She will go out of her way to hold open doors for people, even men, and is one of those people who never knows when she has held the door open for people long enough.

The first value drilled into Ten by her parents when she was young, was loyalty. In her youth, she gave that loyalty to her army friends, and her government, but after her friends were killed and her government began giving her orders she couldn't follow, she broke her oaths and left it behind. Now, her loyalty belongs to whoever earns her trust. While she is friendly to all, earning her loyalty as a true friend is more difficult. However, if one manages it, they will find no more loyal a friend than she.

During her tour in Iraq, Ten watched half of her unit get slaughtered in an ambush. This moment awakened her secondary power, but it also left her with a case of PTSD, from which she still has not fully recovered. She hates the quiet peacefulness of civilian life, and far prefers the simplicity of a combat situation. She has come to realize that, not only is she capable of killing, but also that she is good at it, and even more surprising, that she enjoys it. It is one thing to be good at shooting targets, but quite another to be good a killing people. In truth, she was glad that her discharge from the army was followed by employment by the government. Ever since then, she hasn't considered herself a civilian, and although she now fights for a safe America for everyone, she has no idea what to do when her fight is over. She cannot stand the "problems" faced by the majority of Americans, knowing that all over the world, people are suffering and dying. Reality shows with teen moms and posh celebrities drive her to visible anger, and if someone wont change the channel with her in the room, she will leave the room in anger. She can't stand the fact that brave men and women are dying to protect these people, and they don't seem to even care. Even worse are the people who pretend to understand what it is like to be in war. In her eyes, even the mutants who have been fighting for freedoms their entire lives don't quite understand it, and anyone who tries to compare their problems to her experience will be met with an angry tirade.

Lastly, but surely not the least, is Tennessee's faith. Growing up a child of evangelical Christians in the bible belt, Ten holds the bible and Christianity in high regard. This in despite of her sexuality and her mutation, things her hardline family would hate her for if they knew. She sees the hatred and bigotry towards both mutants and homosexuals as being brought into Christianity by bigoted leaders of churches, not as problems with the faith in general, and likes to think that with enough positive effort, she can inspire change in the church. Deep down though, she still holds views similar to her parents, as they were drilled into her practically from birth. She secretly views herself as a freak, both for being gay and for being a mutant, and a part of her believes she is going to go to hell. These thoughts have led her to hate herself, and despite her positive attitude, she would be lying if she said she never thought of killing herself. Still, her faith is very important to her, and although she is willing to listen to other points of view, she has no immediate interest in converting, nor does she seek to convert anyone else to her viewpoint. She most often keeps her faith to herself, and will very rarely, if ever, engage in debate or argument over it. When she does, it is after significant prodding. The more egotistical side of her views herself as a sort of martyr figure, and a part of her secretly hopes she will die heroically fighting for equality, her death inspiring change. A more realistic take would be that she has a subconscious deathwish, and is scared of the time when fighting is no longer necessary.

Mutant Alias
Lady Cavalier

Mutation
Empathic Weaponry & Weapon Proficiency
Mutation Capabilities
Weapon Proficiency - Ten's primary power is the ability to instantly master any weapon simply by touching it. This applies to any tool designed for combat, whether to kill, maim, stun, incapacitate, or otherwise harm someone or something, and is not limited by anything other than fitting into the broad category of "weapon". All she needs to do is touch any part of a weapon and she will instantly have the knowledge and physical ability to use it on par with a master. This includes things that are part weapon and part something else, like a tank or a fighter plane. If she touches things that function as more than just a weapon, she not only becomes a master with their use as a weapon, but also all other forms of their use. Because she has had this ability for nearly all of her life, and the fact that she never forgets a weapon, Ten has an impressive list of weapons that she can use with the skill of a master, including thousands of varieties of guns, swords, spears, axes, explosives, darts, bows, tanks, planes and exotic weapons. She even once used a catapult. This power not only confers on her the ability to use any given weapon well, but grants her expert knowledge in all forms of combat involved with it. Simply put, she is as good with any weapon as any person could possibly be. It also gives her intimate knowledge of whatever weapon, so she can field strip and reassemble any firearm or explosive in a matter of seconds. A unique quirk of this power is that it allows her to use weapons she normally could not use, either because of security measures, or some other requirement that she does not meet. For example, can launch a missile from a silo, so long as she can touch the controls, even if she does not have the launch codes.

Empathic Weaponry - Discovered later in life, Ten's secondary power is the ability to manifest a variety of weapons through force of will. By simply concentrating on the weapon she wants to summon, she can cause it to "phase" into existence, fully functional and ready to use. The weapons she creates can only be used by her, and in fact will disappear if they leave her grip. There is no limit to their aesthetic design, but they do have to be functional. However, the only real limit is her imagination, as she can create weapons which are not technologically feasible, such as her personal favorite, a lightsaber like sword of energy. The weapons she creates are solid, and projectile weapons she forms never need to be reloaded, and they never jam or misfire. Creating and keeping them in existence is physically tiring, and although the exact amount of energy consumed varies by complexity, on average one minute of maintaining a weapon is about as draining as one minute of steady jogging. While there is theoretically no limit to the size of a weapon she creates, she must be touching the weapon to keep it in existence, so unrealistically sized guns, for example, are not a good idea.

Enhanced Strength, Perception and Agility
An interesting tertiary power stemming from her weapon proficiency, Ten's physical attributes are heightened to the near pinnacle of human capability to give her the actual physical ability to use any weapon she touches as a master. She's strong enough to wield a battle hammer like a Nordic berserker, fast enough to match any expert fencer, and perceptive enough to shoot a target at over 2000 yards, with the right rifle.

Skills/Talents/Strengths/Knowledge
Apart from her obvious mastery of any and all weapons, Ten has some other skills picked up over nearly ten years of combat that help make her the perfect soldier. First and foremost, she doesn't hesitate when it comes to killing. While her power grants her the ability to use weapons effectively, it didn't equip her with the mental faculties to deal with killing people regularly. Luckily for her, those came naturally, and she doesn't even flinch when shooting a man dead anymore. She's also highly skilled in several forms of martial arts, particularly those that make use of weapons, and years in the field has given her a hardy endurance. She doesn't tire easily, and she never gives up. She is a skilled driver and pilot, and can work wonders with anything even remotely technical. She's also extremely well versed in combat theory, and by extension, military theory. She's also a huge history buff, particularly US history.

Equipment
Tennessee has a gun collection that would drop the jaw of any self-respecting gun nut, and make most liberals shit themselves. The ones she uses most are kept in the back of her van, along with the value pieces, while the rest are spread out among her several safe-houses across the US. Notable firearms include an original Winchester 1873, manufactured in 1873 and in near perfect condition, a Barrett 82A1 .50 caliber rifle, a flintlock pistol from 1773 in near perfect condition, a gold-encrusted 7.65 Walther PP with the initials A.H. inscribed on the grip, and a Mateba 6 autorevolver. Despite having all of these as showpieces, the guns she primarily uses are much more practical. Two SIG Sauer P229's are almost always holstered beneath her coat, just in case. When she knows there's gonna be a fight, she packs her H&K G36C subcarbine. For missions where she expects to be in a marksman position, she'll bring the SR-25 DMR. In any situation, her sidearm of choice is the M1911X, a custom variant of the M1911 .45 sidearm designed specifically for the government agent's responsible for tracking down and capturing mutants. It has a unique chambering system, controlled by a built in microcomputer, that allows the user to apply a variety of special effects to the bullets it fires, to more easily take down troublesome mutants.

In terms of non-lethal equipment, Ten has a variety of stolen government tech designed for operatives to use against common mutant archetypes. Perhaps the most useful is the X-Out neural implant, which uses a similar theory to Magneto's anti-telepathy helmet to shield Ten's mind from prying mutants. It is, however, not 100% effective in preventing telepathy, it only makes her more resistant.
Weaknesses
Apart from slightly elevated physical ability, Ten is practically a human, and is thus subject to all of their weaknesses. She possesses no superhuman healing ability or defensive ability, and must rely on her own training just to stay alive in a world with people who can shoot lasers from their eyes. Although she is in peak physical condition, a bullet in the gut will still kill her, and even the most well trained human can only go so long before tiring. In terms of psychological shortcomings, Ten is a few eggs short of a dozen. She never fully recovered from her PTSD, and can be prone to moments of instability and anger. She sits on a fine line between mutant freedom and patriotism, and is in danger of falling either way. Her conflicting beliefs and feelings often leave her feeling drained and depressed, and some days, she couldn't care less about living or dying. In combat, she can be reckless and overly aggressive, often exposing herself to harm to get a better shot or to save a comrade. While that bravery can be admirable, each time she does it, she inches closer to death.

History
Tennessee Brannon was born to Michael and Lorraine Brannon, a sheriff and a sunday school teacher, in Texarkana, Texas. She had an older brother, Tucker Brannon, who was 4 years older than her. Her family was deeply religious, and she doesn't remember a time in her childhood when she did not attend church thrice a week. Ten's mutation developed early, perhaps even earlier than was apparent, but due to it's nature, she seemed like a normal human kid who was just a real natural with rifles. Her father took both her and her brother out on hunting trips from the moment they could hold a gun, and right from the get go it was apparent that Ten, at age 10, was a natural. When Tucker was 18, he joined the Army, like his father and grandfather and great grandfather before him, and soon after, the Twin Towers were struck and he shipped off to Iraq. Ten, meanwhile, continued to master new guns as quickly as she could find them, and at 15, she was the sport shooting champion of the entire state of Texas, beating out trained marksmen with decades of experience.

When Ten was 16, Tucker returned from his tour of duty, haunted. Something had changed him, and after a few days, it became apparent. Tucker, like Ten, was a mutant, and his experience in war had awakened it inside of him. While Ten's ability was virtually invisible, Tucker's was impossible to not notice. His mutation, which manifested at night, turned him into a type of vampire. His skin blanched, his hair darkened from ginger to blood red, and his eyes grew sullen and black. He kept himself confined to his room the first few nights, but on the third night, his thirst was so great, and he left the house, bringing back his "prey" a young college girl. Ten and her father walked in on Tucker just as he was finished draining the girl of her blood. Ridden with shame and fear, he fled. It was from that moment that Ten's father grew to despise mutants, yet little did he know his own daughter was one as well.

In addition to hating mutants, Ten's parents also hated homosexuals, and were very vocal about it. When Ten began experiencing sexual attraction, exclusively towards other girls, she realized that she was exactly the type of person her father loathed. This, of course, did wonders for her self esteem, and is one of the primary reasons she is still in the closet today, despite not having seen her parents in more than five years. At 18, Ten decided to put her phenomenal shooting skills to good use, and simultaneously get away from parents who would hate her if they knew what gender she fancied, and joined the army. Despite women not being allowed in infantry jobs, Ten's shooting was so good that a special exemption was made for her, and she found herself in the 69th infantry division, albeit in a support role. Her marksmen scores were through the roof, not only better than her entire class, but better than anyone who had ever taken the test, ever. She claimed it was simply natural talent, but she had attracted the eye of a government spook named Lynch, who began to suspect her of being a mutant.

Immediately after training, the fighting 69th was deployed to Iraq, where Ten graciously served in an overwatch position. It was here that she realized how right fighting felt to her. She was comfortable on the battlefield in a way she never was back home. Unfortunately, the good times had to come to an end, and during a routine movement of her unit, her convoy was ambushed. Nearly half of her unit was dead from the first volley of rockets. She and the rest of her team made it to a relatively defensible position and engaged in a prolonged firefight with the insurgents. She watched as even more of her friends fell to gunfire, and although she was taking down bad guys left and right, she found herself separated from the rest of the group, and out of ammunition. In her attempt to make it back, she became entangled in a knife fight against an insurgent, and he knocked her to the ground and kicked away her knife. Desperate, she reached for anything to use against him as he prepared to bring his blade down. Finding nothing, her secondary power awakened, and she manifested a handgun out of thin air. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, she killed her attacker. Unfortunately, however, the QRF dispatched to rescue her team had arrived, accompanied by Lynch, and he saw everything. Although her injuries were not that severe, she found herself discharged from the army. She was nearly 21 now, and she didn't want to return home. Coincidentally, Lynch found her, and offered her a job. He and his agency were very interested in people like her, and he offered to let her keep doing what she was good at, and pay her copious amounts of money too. Of course, she accepted, not knowing the rabbit hole she was getting into.

Still coming to terms with her powers, she decided to visit her parents. She meant to tell them about both her mutation and her sexuality, hoping that they would understand, but fear got the better of her, and she left without ever telling them. Under Lynch, Ten learned more about her powers, and finally understood why she was perfect with any weapon. She worked with a team of mutants, nicknamed the Lynch Mob, who worked for the government doing black ops jobs that couldn't be accomplished even with normal special forces. At first, it was good. They went up mainly against radical terrorist cells and the occasional mutant psychopath. She felt like she was doing good work. It was with the Lynch Mob that she earned her nickname, the Lady Cavalier. They let her play with the best and coolest weapons, they let her run free in combat with very few restrictions, unlike the army, and best of all, they payed her tons of money. Then, as anti-mutant sentiment began to become more prominent, the focus of the Mob changed. Where once they hunted down only the dangerous mutants, now they were hunting innocent ones, often children, and bringing them in for experiments. A few of the Lynch Mob members didn't like this at first, and tried to leave. Ten was ordered to kill them, and she did. Without hesitation. Despite knowing that what she was doing was wrong, she did it anyway, out of loyalty to her country. For almost a year she blindly followed their orders, kidnapping children from their beds, and killing their parents if they resisted, or sometimes even if they didn't, just to keep them quiet.

Ten was 24 when she could no longer take it. After being forced to kill a child mutant who was causing too much trouble to be worth experimenting on, she simply snapped. She tried to convince the rest of the Lynch Mob to help her stop the torture, but to no avail. They threatened to turn her in for treason, and she had no choice but to kill them all. She freed as many of the prisoners as she could, and activated the facilities safeguard - an onsite tactical missile that would wipe the facility off the map if it were ever breached - and got out of there. She believes that Lynch died in the explosion, but she was never sure.

Free, but without purpose, Ten fell back on her core motivation: protecting people. She travelled America, now in the throes of a near civil war against mutant kind, protecting mutants from abuse by humans, and humans from abuse by mutants. Her mind somewhat clearer, she began to pick up hints of her brother's whereabouts, and set off to find him as well. Then, M-Day happened, and Ten found herself as one of the world's few remaining mutants. She couldn't help but feel a little cheated that most people who didn't want to lose there powers did, and that she, who yearned to be human, did not. Still, she wasn't about to give up. She knew if she still had her powers, then others must as well, possibly even her brother, and she knew the most likely place to find them: Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters.

Family
Michael Brannon - Father (Alive)
Lorraine Brannon - Mother (Alive)
Tucker Brannon - Brother (Unknown, possibly de-powered)

So begins...

Tennessee Brannon's Story

Seen 5 Times • Page 1 of 1

Setting

Marvel Universe

Characters Present

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#2015-03-23 07:51:53, as written by Vix

x╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
x

x╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

{→ o u t f i t ← | → m o o d m u s i c ←}

Two weeks.

That's how long it had taken for them to work things out. It had been hectic, dealing with everything that had come their way. Things weren't completely sorted out but they were on the road there. Xavier's had been moving people in and moving people out since the death of Wanda Maximoff after she triggered the depowering of mutants all across the globe. Nobody really knew what had happened but the X-Men all knew that it had to do with Wanda, the only mutant capable of warping reality so quickly on such a level. None could even remember, having their minds erased, of the alternate reality she had created. All anyone could remember was life as normal only to wake up the next day and find that mutants had lost their abilities.

A lot of them.

Some were awake when it had happened in the dead of the night, watching frightened as they were suddenly no longer mutants. For those at Xavier's, they'd been examined in great detail and it was discovered that their X-Gene was completely gone, without a trace. A few samples had been taken from humans as well and it was found that they no longer possessed the X-Gene that would make it possible for them to one day mutate as well. It was the very next day when the news hit the television screens and internet. The inhabitants of Xavier's Estate felt a tragic loss as Jeanette Summers, the only child of Scott and Jean and the strongest mutant telepath since the death of Charles Xavier, died from mental overload after using Cerebro to see how many were left. She died shortly after letting them know. Scott was barely able to contain his despair and it was a damn near catastrophe trying to plan and host a funeral while at the same time packing up and moving out those who were humans while also seeking out and moving in the mutants who needed their help.

Two weeks and they had moved out their human residents; It had been easy enough to find them homes when many of Xavier's graduates and former staff members were willing to reach out a hand to the former mutants, some of them now human as well. The staff of Xavier's apologized but there was none needed, as they understood that they needed all the room they could get as well as how being around so many humans could be a trigger for some mutants. Only fifty-three inhabitants of Xavier's hadn't been depowered and all of them focused themselves on moving in the new mutants that began flooding in as well as maintaining security, keeping the protesters, rioters, and the news teams at their gates.

It was tough work but they managed to do so with a limited amount of snapping on others, breaking down into tears, and whining for normalcy. By the time that the twelfth had rolled around, they were still getting a few new mutants a day and had everyone situated into their dorm rooms and made sure they knew how to get around the house and who the staff members were. Rosetta had managed to find among the refugees some new teachers to replace the ones that they had lost during the day that was now dubbed “M-Day”. She was happy that they could finally begin to establish at least some sense of a normal life after getting everything sorted out, mentally exhausted from the matter. After establishing contact with their former-mutant friends, Rose officially declared things to be back in order. Students had been registered for the school year, and she had made a number of backup plans to discuss with the X-Men.

Rose grunted as she glanced at the clock on the wall; It was six in the morning. That meant that people would be getting up and getting ready to start their day. Most of the people there, nearly two hundred, had been in Xavier's for a while. However, at least two-thirds of them were still relatively or completely new. She had decided to delay the beginning of school for another week to give everyone time to adjust. She didn't think she'd give them much longer, thinking that getting them into a schedule of a normal life at Xavier's would help them all calm down. She and her team worked hard to shield them from the mess outside and she knew that a lot of people were bummed about them no longer being able to go to the rest of New York City.

However, many of them that were coming in from elsewhere had barely made it through the front gates, swarmed by throngs of people. There were media reporters all over, angry Christian protesters rioting, and pro-mutant supporters trying to chase away the protesters. Then there were cops as well, constantly breaking up fights. It was a mess out there and Rose had responded by telling the media to wait and making higher walls around the school. She would have to address them eventually and that day might as well be today. The sooner she got them out of there, the better. She would have to deal with the cops as well as local and state government, having a meeting in another thirty minutes with all of them, arranged a rather informal press conference within the mansion by George. The older man thought that it would fare better for them and the rest of the mutants not associated with the Brotherhood if they actually sat down to explain what was going on as best as they could. Revealing the true nature of Xavier's Academy would hopefully help as well, also admitting why it was kept so secret.

She sighed heavily and stood from her seat behind her desk, looking around her office. She should probably get dressed now, having been in pajamas for a while now. She hadn't really been doing anything for the past twenty-nine hours except sitting in front of her computer, trying to catalog all of the mutants that had come to them as well as wiring money to those who'd left. Charles had left a massive fortune for them and she had essentially cleaned out the bank, sending out well over twenty million dollars to her former students and colleagues who were now essentially on the run – Though, perhaps “hiding” would be a better phrase.

While they had done nothing wrong, they didn't want to get caught up in the wave of chaos. Now that they were human... They were vulnerable. Most of their families knew that they were mutants and were not supporters; They feared that their human family members would throw them to the wolves. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time for many. Rose didn't mind the lack of money – She maintained the grounds and for the past three years their entire household had been running through the use of alternative generators that were built by Rebecca Howlett and kept running by getting a weekly dose of electricity by Rose and a couple of others capable of generating electricity. She felt that they were in a good situation to sustain themselves without ever having to leave. Ever. But she obviously didn't want to keep everyone a prisoner forever. She wouldn't make them go through something like that.

She eventually forced herself out of her office and headed up to her room, closing the door behind her. When she had been appointed Headmistress ten years ago she had been stoked to get the biggest bedroom in the house, celebrating by buying a much larger wardrobe. She moved to her closet and inspected her color arranged outfits, moving down towards the blacks and whites. “Oh! I haven't worn these yet!” She grabbed a pair of black Christian Louboutin drapesse with a delighted squeal. Her eyes then floated over to a dress of black and white, pulling it out. “Nineteen fifties chic; I love it.”

She sighed and laid out the outfit on her bed before heading into her bathroom for a quick shower, moving as quickly as she could. Stepping out, she blasted herself with warm air for a quick dry before heading to get dressed, tilting her head at a knock on her door. “Um momento, por favor,” she called out as she moved to her dresser and grabbed a seven layer black bead necklace, struggling to get it clipped behind her neck, having to shove thick waves of pale gold out of her way. Her shoes came on last, boosting her up to an even six feet in height, making her a bit more intimidating and professional in appearance than usual; She was normally seen wearing a rainbow of bright colors with her hair rotating color constantly, looking more like a student than the Headmistress.

She headed to the door and pulled it open to see Caelan standing there, welcoming the much larger mutant with a hug. “You look nice, hon',” he said softly. She offered him a soft smile before looking at the clock. “They're here, huh?” She bit down on her bottom lip nervously, her eyebrows pinching together. “Yeah, Nina is at the front door with them.” Caelan shoved his hands into his pockets, clearly worried about the consequences that could fall upon them if the press conference went wrong. She switched to a smile again and placed her hands on his arms, giving his biceps a squeeze.

“Everything's going to be alright. I'm going to need you there... Don't worry about Soph and Skylar; I've asked Tristan to keep an eye on the kids.” As she looked to him for a response, he only nodded before moving for her to exit. His walk behind her was solemn and hers were more confident, the clicking of her heels echoing through the halls as they made their way to the grand staircase, descending a bit slowly. Her unique blue eyes swept across the sight before her. The X-Men had gathered and waited patiently for her, standing in front of their guests. Nina moved to take her place among the X-Men, offering Rose a nod of her head.

Rose's gaze then turned towards the humans: Gary Markov, the Commissioner of the NYPD, Elaine Roberts, the Mayor of New York City, Jackson Talbon, the Governor of New York, and four people that she didn't know, reporters for news networks. She kept on a brave face and a kind smile as pink wildflowers bloomed from her hair.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and made a showing motion of opening her arms. “Welcome to Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters.” She continued moving forward until she was standing evenly between her team and the humans, bringing her hands clasped together, resting against her abdomen. “I know that you all, and the rest of the world, have a lot of questions. And I'll try to answer them as well as I can.” Her eyes closed as she took a breath before opening them again, looking into the cameras. “My name is Rosetta Juarez and I have been the Headmistress of this academy for the past ten years. ...Until recently, the majority of the humans who know about this place have believed it to be just an academy for students with extraordinary talents, something like a performing arts school. However, we are a school exclusively for mutants.”

She took a moment to let this sink in as it was finally admitted to the world. A female reporter lifted her hand, answered with a nod. “Michigan Lousit, CNN. Is this school exclusive to mutants because of its ties with The Brotherhood of Mutants or any hatred towards humans?” Ah, the first and most obvious question.

“No. This school was founded to protect both humans and mutants. Whether born with abilities or having developed them later in life, no mutant will automatically have complete mastery of them. Their mutations are triggered by intense states of emotions and can be dangerous if they don't learn what they can do and how to control it. Because of both this and the stigma against mutants, they are welcomed here to be surrounded by other mutants. This instills them with a sense of normalcy, feeling less like a freak of nature and learning to accept who they are, learning to feel unique. Everyone is required to take Power Control classes under the supervision of my staff members as well as allow themselves to be studied by Doctor Rebecca Howlett, who can help us gain a better understanding of their abilities until they have mastered keeping their powers under control to the point of their accidents being within point oh-five percent and no higher and achieve her seal of approval. And I won't lie: There are mutants here who both hate and fear humans due to prior torture and abuse suffered at the hands of humans, often their own friends and families.”

Another reporter lifted a hand, this one a male. “Chuck Quarters, Fox News. Exactly what are your qualifications to teach these children and to take it upon yourselves deem these children worthy of not being identified as a threat?”

To this, Rose took a step to the side and motioned towards the people behind her. “Rebecca Howlett is the world's leading expert on genetic mutations. She looks young, but she is fifty-four years old. She obtained four PhDs before she was twenty years old – One in Quantum Physics, one in Molecular Genetics, one in Nanotechnology, and one in Mechanical Engineering. I'm sure you've heard of her. She has studied every mutation known to date, mapped out the capabilities of them, and named them. She studied directly under Professor Charles Xavier, who, as you know, was the first to bring genetic mutations to light – even though nobody listened to him. Nina Villanueva is one of New York's best family lawyers and a skilled therapist. Her abilities allow her to literally feel the emotions of those around her as well as calm them to help prevent incidents. She is our resident therapist and psychologist. Speaking with her helps the students come to terms with themselves and what they can do. Caelan Howlett is a very well traveled and educated man and everybody adores him. He has several college degrees earned over the course of his many years of life and teaches a number of subjects here. I have a degree myself, so I think that qualifies me to teach. We all possess a great deal of power and knew what it was like to grow up fearing and hating ourselves for some time. This allows us to empathize with our students. Doctor Howlett's studies allow her to help determine their potential and their weaknesses. Our Power Control course is more or less learning to control one's emotions. I'm a bit of a hippy, so I know a bit about that.”

Finished, she turned before looking back to the reporters. The Governor spoke up this time, clearly hesitant. “There are rumors that you're training mutants here into an army against humans. That you're somewhat of an academy that churns out Brotherhood members... Is this true? What exactly is your tie to the Brotherhood?” She gave another nod, clenching her hands a bit as she launched into the complicated history between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, trying to keep it as simple as possible while maintaining the point that not all mutants were flaming douchecanoes.

“That is not true. We have our own... Security team. The X-Men, named after our founder, Charles Xavier, are a group of highly trained mutants who have mastered control of their abilities and have shown a strong desire for peace between humans and mutants. Generally, our job simply entails finding innocent mutants who are endangered, often at the hands of humans, and bring them to safety. We offer them a roof over their heads, education, jobs, three square meals a day. We offer them a community, a support network to help them heal. As far as the Brotherhood, we are nothing like them. We discourage every mutant that lives under this roof to refrain from letting any existing fear or hatred towards humans to warp so badly that they become deranged, psychopathic murderers. We do not house Brotherhood members and those who have any alliance with them are given a chance to cut ties or they are removed from our grounds. The Brotherhood and the X-Men have a long history; The founders of both were once best friends. However, Charles held hope for humanity and distanced himself. Erik, the one called Magneto, he had suffered too much at the hands of humans and thought that too many others had as well that he refused to lay down and take it any longer. They weren't always this bad. But we've always fought them and tried to protect both humans and mutants from them. They did their best not to harm fellow mutants, viewing themselves as the superior race. But sometimes mutants stood in their way. Mostly us. In short: They vie for mutant supremacy. We vie for equality.”

“Why be so secretive about it all?” The Commissioner spoke up now, taking a few steps forward until he was nearly toe-to-toe with Rosetta. She was about a half inch taller than him in her heels, casting her gaze down.

“Humans already hated mutants enough, judging the entire community for the actions and beliefs of what is relatively a handful. Do you really think that things would have gotten better by telling them Hey! We've got a secret school-slash-community just for mutants, some of which hate humans. We train them to use the powers you think are unnatural, teach them that they're just as normal as you, and we also have a secret special operations team!? I mean... Even right this moment, people are at home hating us for it. We can tell people and show people that not all mutants are evil bastards, that not even the majority or half are, but will they really accept it? We can show scientific proof that mutations are just as natural as everything else... But will they believe it? So far, they haven't. Most of us just want to exist in this world peacefully. To lead normal lives; Have a career, have a family, travel the world. Humans cannot continue to blame mutants for everything wrong with this world. Humans cannot continue to act like mutants are the sole evil, the very source of it. There are humans who are murderers, rapists, child molesters, psychopaths, and terrorists. Despite the fact that for over fifty years we've tried to show that we're not all bad, we've tried to reach out a hand of peace, tried to help, we've been slapped down. Tell me – How's that case going for Erik Lensherr, Mia Tanara, and Lydia Michaels and her unborn child going?”

She gave a hurt glare now, causing the man to look away. “I've been watching the news. Erik had a family. He has a family. Grandchildren of his watching humans on television talking about the grandfather that loved them as though he is the source of all evil. As though he was just some psychopathic murderer who got what was coming to him. Humans destroyed his life and his family. Just last month, the same reporters that condemn Erik now are the very same who sympathized for the man who murdered fifty people responsible for his daughter's death and was sent to prison. The only difference between that man and Erik is that Erik is a mutant.”

Everyone was uncomfortable now, the Commissioner taking a step back as she took a step forward. “He has been tortured and abused, shunned his entire life by humans, watching the same happen to his fellow mutants. And no human ever held out a hand to help him. He wanted peace, too! He just didn't see it being possible with humans! Can you blame him?”

Nobody answered her as she went on, her hands coming undone, now hanging at her sides and clenched into fists as she fought back tears. “He's cared for mutant children abused and cast out by their family – He brought Otis to us.” She turned to indicate a young man with a frightened expression, wringing his hands. “He was born with the tail, ears, and several abilities of a cat. He was no danger to anyone. Yet his parents emotionally and physically abused him every day of his life until Erik rescued him when he was ten while he was on his deathbed, starving and bleeding out. Erik took care of him and then brought him to us to take care of. He was a man who didn't want to see anymore children dying. He didn't want to see anymore people shunned by their families for... Evolving. Otis is twenty-one now and among the brightest in his class and as healthy as a horse, never hurt a fly.”

Her head lowered and there was a moment of silence before she lifted her head again. “Mia's family filed a missing report a month ago. Lydia's husband filed one a month ago as well. Their families loved them. They were kidnapped. They were beaten, raped, killed, desecrated, and pitched up on crosses at the gates of an academy where we house children as young as five years old... I'm not going to sugar coat it... You bring justice, or we will.” Her eyes were cold and hard as she turned to the Governor, who seemed to be thinking before speaking up.

“What about that depowering... What was that?”

“Erik's daughter... Wanda. She had the ability to manipulate reality. She was so devastated by what had happened to him, Mia, and Lydia that she became hysterical. She thought that all sides of the war were fighting in vain, that we would all be fighting until we were all dead. She believed that the world would be better off without mutants. So, she attempted to erase mutations across the world by warping reality, erasing the very existence and memory of the X-Gene – She was very powerful but not that powerful. Between the strain of such a large scale reality warp, her unstable mental state, and thousands of mutants whose mutations granted them inherent resistance abilities, she died before she could remove all mutations. Once we realized what exactly it was that she was trying to do, one of our own... Killed her. Doctor Howlett has studied the genes of both humans and former mutants and found that their X-Gene is completely gone, as though they has never existed.”

“I'm very sorry to hear that... I have a cousin. He attended here as a child – which is why I addressed the rumors as just that, rumors – and he lost his mutation during this. I harbor no ill-will towards mutants at all. I know that you're all frightened and worried and those idiots out at the gates aren't making it any better. But you have my support and I will do all that I can to make sure that Xavier's Academy is protected. I hadn't planned on announcing this until next week, but a bill is being pushed that will make New York an official sanctuary for mutants. I am pushing for legislation that will protect mutants in this state, whether born here or not. Just remember – we're all scared and we're all worried. But I will do what I can to help fight the fear, the worry, the hatred, and the bigotry. However, I must inform you that some investigations will be conducted; Making sure all of your teachers have the proper certifications and that... Well, make sure that none of the children are kidnapped.”

The two nodded in understanding before sharing a tight and lingering hug. The Governor released her after some time and turned to the others there, motioning towards the door. “Perhaps you'll get a tour and interviews with them later, but I think they have things they need to do and don't need us in the way. Gary, I need you to get the blues to start rounding up everyone outside the gate and get them out of here. And don't even think about closing that case.”

Rosetta watched as they all headed to leave, feeling a giant weight off of her shoulders. As the doors closed, she turned to face everyone who had gathered, a smile on her face. “I told you – Everything's going to be fine. So long as there's breath in my body, I'm going to fight to keep you safe.” Caelan stepped towards her, motioning to the other ten X-Men. “We all will... Now, go ahead and go get some breakfast, go play. Make yourselves at home...” He gave a faint smile as people slowly began to disperse, heading upstairs to the cafeteria, grumbling about having only one elevator and that one elevator only heading down. He gave a soft chuckle, draping an arm over Rose's shoulders before looking to the others. Most of them had dispersed as well, likely to oversee that everyone was settling nicely.

“Things are going to be okay,” she whispered softly, her arms wrapping about him as she leaned against him.

Setting

Marvel Universe

Characters Present

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#2015-03-26 01:47:31, as written by ShieldMaiden

Rebecca did not look so well. In fact, as the scientist stared down at the screen that held scattered files upon files of data, her world spun. Ironic it was that in all her life - with the restless nights, the self experimentation, and the the reckless work - she would be taken down by a common cold. Whether the causal factor was the two weeks of exhaustion or the fact that she has made the cold atmosphere of the labs her home, the woman was running a fever. While a cold had a drastically shorter time span and weaker effects on her, the struggle her genetic healing factor held against the constant battle forced more strain on her already-exhausted body. The bags under her eyes were signs of insomnia, though intentional. The fever brought a bit of color to her usually pale skin. Everything about her appearance was indicative that she needed rest. As if that was possible.

The lab she stood in was crammed but organized, the equipment held a variety of objects from technologically-advanced machines to basic chemistry equipment. The room had a faint bitter smell of tea leaves though no tea was in sight - nor any liquid at all for that matter except for the sealed tubes with liquids of all different colors. That tiny space with the stuffy atmosphere Rebecca called her home, having spent far more time in it than her actual room. Especially in the past two weeks, where the scientist was often found passed out against the white tables. It was there that others would find her, subconsciously biting her nails with the usual look of focus plastered on her expressions. The world went on perfectly without her on the outside.

Though the reality was far worse than the genius would accept. It had been two weeks since M-Day, and two weeks since she had received far more company than usual. The files that the woman intently stared at were moving on their own upon the screen, the data manipulating and morphing itself to create patterns sensical to her eyes. These files held the carefully mapped-out mutations, in fact every known ones up to date. Though something was different. The thousands of files were now divided into three sections - deceased, erased, and resistant. Her file was amongst those of the third category, along with the chief candidates of the study; their files were scattered before the others - Creeper, Lady Cavaliar, Vervain, and so on. The patterns were obscure, but all those that held healing mutations, whether it be conspicuous as the Howlett genes or merely imbedded into their DNA, it nonetheless gave a scientific basis in a situation that was far more than merely science.

The pinch of the needle against her arm was hardly detected - the woman removes pieces of her organs and tests weapons on herself for research. The red liquid that rose in the syringe appeared just like any other’s, and yet how vastly different it was. Within almost an instant, the small mark made upon her arm disappeared. Slowly, the vile was placed next to others labeled with codes that she could clearly discern, lowered next to one of her brother’s and another of her father’s (the process of collecting it was hardly pleasant, for both him and Rebecca). In the background, the screen above her flickered on to reveal the headmistress’ voice.

The scientist had not bothered to leave the labs to be present for the press conference. It was no secret that she desired no crowds or attentions and the excuse of the overwhelming work and research covered her absence quite nicely. As the voices continued, the volume was increased without so much as a blink of her eyes. On the screen underneath her, the files and data continued the analysis process as if it had a life of its own.

The headmistress’ amiable nature was something to be respected. Her words held power, and while Rebecca had refused to be present, each word broadcasted was heeded by the scientist. Should the smallest mistake be made, she was determined to deactivate every single one of their devices, but that would not be needed. Not when it was Rosetta. With all the chaos and pain, the headmistress now seemed to become the beacon of hope for those left. That did not mean they did not have their fair share of problems. When the voice in the screen spoke of the 0.05% guarantee, the scientist raised her gaze with the crease between her brows indicative of frustration. It would be pretty to think that. With all her credentials, she could no longer guarantee that with complete confidence. Not when the predictability of mutations was growing weaker and weaker by the second.

And then there was her reputation. I'm sure you've heard of her. Indeed they have, but that was years ago. She had not shown reluctance in letting the headmistress announce her presence, but then again, Rebecca hardly shows reluctance or thoughts in any matters. The last heard of her was during the making of the anti-mutagenic cure, of which the day unannounced to the public when all the files within the database was wiped clean. Since then, all search for the scientist was kept out of the public’s eyes. Until now. Her identity as a mutant would be out in the open, but who would she try to impress? No one. Let it be. There were far greater problems at stake. In the moment of frustration, the sudden sneeze shook the woman’s frame just as the bright lab instantly went dark, its lights and machines going out like a candle flame blown from a breath. You have got to be joking. With her demeanor regained, the lights and machines began to reactivate one by one, but the sign was heeded. Rebecca was not well enough to continue the same die-hard schedule until she too can guarantee herself an accident rate less than point o’five percent. As quickly as the files rose onto the screen, it was wiped off as the research data locked itself down into the databases. She was always cautious in that matter. The research in there can raise havoc should it fall into the wrong hands.

Upon the screen, Rosetta was just finishing up the press conference. Wanda Maximoff was indeed one of the biggest pains in mutation history. One of the more obscure mutations, while mapped, has never been truly studied by Rebecca. Though there was another. His file had been high on her research, and she probably high up on his list of people to avoid. Never once did her mind stop its analysis of the different elements that came into play during M-Day. Quickly, she had placed the laptop into her messenger bag as well as a few other toys - that of which included a holographic tablet, a metallic looking tube, two syringes, and the usual mutation detector. Even inside the bag, the tablet almost had a life of its own, holding its control over the academy’s defense system that was temporarily put on hold in the presence of the media. Soon, it would once again hold a near impregnable barrier from the outside.

It was then that Rebecca finally stepped outside her labs, though her appearance making it seem as if she did not wish to be out. Beside the elevator she had poured herself a cup of tea from the kettle that rests outside of the laboratory’s proximity. In her presence, the changing number atop the elevator accelerated faster than normal, until it hit the sub-basement level one. In the rare instances near the scientist’s presence, the elevator travelled upwards.

Setting

Marvel Universe

Characters Present

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#2015-03-27 10:25:41, as written by Solo Wing Pixy

Mood Music

Tennessee Brannon had been here before. The fading light over the desert was hazy, but clear at the same time. She'd been here only a few minutes, laying prone with the barrel of her SR-25 Designated Marksman Rifle extending forward, but it had been hours since she arrived. She knew, vaguely, that she was dreaming, as she had dreamed the same dream a hundred times before. The scene was familiar, a memory from her past imposed on to her sleeping mind. Below her, a small valley extended perhaps three-quarters of a mile, a small village situated in the middle with a stream running through it. Her unit was down there, along with two others from the Fighting 69th, kicking down doors looking for a small time local warlord by the name of Al Hakam, The Judge. She trained her sights on them, looking for any hostile intent from the locals, most of whom were simple farmers or goatherders who did not expect to be handcuffed to their beds while foreign soldiers sifted through their belongings when they woke up in the morning. Still, her unit had their orders, and intelligence was certain that Al Hakam was somewhere in this village.

Ten's unit had just finished with one house, and was about to move on to the next when she saw it. A grenade. There was no mistaking it, RKG-3 russian anti-tank grenade, made by the good ol' Soviet Union. Someone from a rooftop further down the row had tossed it in a tall arc, straight towards the unsuspecting soldiers. Ten didn't hesitate. Her first shot rang out, striking the grenade and causing it to explode midair. Her second shot echoed over her unit's cries of, "Grenade!" and struck the assailant square in the chest, blasting him back and into the wall behind him. Gunfire erupted all around her unit, as insurgents that had been laying in wait all hopped up and began the ambush in earnest. She counted thirty before she spotted the two technicals speeding into town at her unit's rear. She adjusted her rifle and fired, punching a three inch wide hole through the engine block of the nearest technical, sending it careening into a sandstone wall. The second technical rounded the corner, narrowly avoiding the wreck of the first, and came into sight of the small squad of U.S. soldiers. The gunner on the back opened fire, his .50 MG rounds tearing into the nearest soldier. Ten's rifle let loose another round, and the gunner and driver of the technical slumped over, dead. Rather than crash, the second technical slowed to a stop, and the passenger didn't even have time to get out before he was ripped to shreds by gunfire.

Seconds later, an explosion ripped through the air, and Ten felt a blast of heat to her left. She looked over to see the smoking remains of the second unit's overwatch nest. She didn't even see a rocket or a grenade, but she wasn't going to risk the same happening to her, so she hopped up, slung the DMR over her shoulder, retrieved and readied her M4A1 carbine from it's position on the ground, and started down the valley towards her team.

By the time Ten reached the outskirts of the village, she could see green smoke emanating from one of the two story buildings, indicating her team's position, and that they had called in some form of air support. Though she couldn't tell from this distance, she figured the other two units were at least in the proximity of the green smoke, and figured it would be in her best interest to get there before the air support came raining death. She moved through the streets as quickly as she could while still being cautious. There were bodies strewn about, and as she came to the location of the initial ambush, she found the bullet ridden corpse of her squadmate, who she now recognized as Mick "Hotdog" Denny. She let out a silent prayer as she passed. After the insurgents were taken care of, they'd need to collect the bodies, but in the middle of an ambush there simply wasn't time.

Just as she was rounding the corner to get on the right street, another explosion tore through the air, the fire consuming the second unit as they were moving into the secured building. Gunfire was erupting in all directions, and the air was thick with bullets. Ten leveled her carbine and fired, putting three 5.56x45mm NATO rounds into the chests of three insurgents between her and her team. With a good amount of luck, she found herself reunited with her team, half of whom were injured or missing. She was informed that team three had also been wipe out before even making it to the building, and that the QRF was still 20 minutes out.

The ensuing firefight seemed to last years, as everyone who could hold a gun was pouring bullets into the seemingly endless waves of enemy combatants, until they on their last magazines, and forced to run. At last, like an angel from heaven, the air support helicopter appeared, loosing it's rockets and unloading it's dual miniguns into the chaos below. However, before it could do any real damage, a streak of red fire burst from behind another building and streaked into the cockpit, igniting the air within and causing a third explosion to tear apart the helicopter from within. Having never seen such a weapon before, and eager to kill whoever just used it, Ten found herself separated from her team once again. She rounded the corner to where the streak had come from with her M4 drawn when she was met with a burst of heat and a firecracker sized explosion directly in front of her. Instinctively dropping, her M4 tumbled away as she rolled to the side to avoid another tiny explosion. This time, she followed the red streak back to it's source, and was surprised to see a just a man holding out his empty hand, not a weapon in sight. In a second, she recognized him as Al Hakam, and in another, she realized he was a mutant, like her brother and, unknown to her at the time, herself. She drew and fired her sidearm in one swift motion, just as he was preparing to launch another explosion at her, her bullet tearing through his firing hand, shattering bone and spraying blood and skin all about. He shrieked in pain, but before she could loose another shot, bolted across the distance between them and tackled her, knocking her gun aside. He was far faster than any human could be, but she quickly realized that, like his explosive bolts, he needed to charge up first. She kicked him off and flicked a knife into her hands like some sort of magic trick. As Hakam recovered, he drew a long dagger from an ornate sheath with his left hand, and grinned.

The two of them eyed eachother cautiously, not wanting to rush into the first move and make a mistake. Knife fighting was like a dance, but one where stepping on your partner's toes meant death or, at the very least, loss of an eye. Al Hakam could bolt forward with extreme speed, but just before, his charge up was extremely obvious, and when he made the first move, a speedy attempt at running her through with his dagger, Ten saw it coming a mile away, and easily sidestepped, sending him careening into a wall. Then he came at her with surprising ferocity, and the tip of his knife bit her skin more than once. They danced about for several more seconds before Ten caught his wounded hand and jammed her knife in the open wound, then dragged it up his arm, prompting a terrifying shriek of agony to escape his lips. She couldn't remove her knife, however, and Hakam brought his dagger down to bear on her. Though she twisted away, the blade tore into her left side, quickly soaking her torn clothes with blood. She stumbled back and fell into the dirt. Weaponless and weary, she fumbled for one of her guns or anything to use as a weapon as Hakam loomed over her. He was about to bring his dagger down when, in desperation, she held up her hands and, as if by magic, a crude blade formed in her hands and impaled Hakam as he fell on her. It was at this moment that she realized that she, too was a mutant. It was also at this moment that Lynch and the QRF arrived, just in time for them to see her magically create a sword from thin air.

Lynch gazed at her with his trademark empty eyes. Something about him had always unnerved her, but she couldn't quite place it. His gaunt stare, his silent walk, or his excessively polite speech, all of it sort of worked in tandem to create a creepy figure that fit perfectly for his role as government spook. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but all that came out was, "BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ"

Ten's eyes shot open and she sat up in bed immediately. She hated that dream. Or memory. Dream memory. It was always the same, except perhaps her friend's deaths. They've been getting more and more gruesome over the years. She glanced around the strange room, unaware for a second where she was, before remembering that she had arrived at Xavier's the day before, late at night, and was given a spare staff room to sleep in by the headmistress. She did admit, it was far nicer than the weapon filled back of her van, and the bed was a nice change to metal van floor. Her clock read 7:00 AM. She was told there would be a press meeting at 6:30 that she could attend, so naturally, she set her alarm for half an hour past that. It was that she disliked press meetings, it was that she absolutely could not stand them, at all. She rose now, though, eager to shake off her dream and make proper introductions with the others around the campus.

Setting

Marvel Universe

Characters Present

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#2015-04-01 19:25:25, as written by JokerofSpades

As the sun rose to break the darkness of night, the shadows hid a man laying on the roof of the school, staring at the sky as the colours blended throughout the sky. His eyes stared at the transition, a number pulsing through his brain constantly, unable to be forgotten no matter what subject in his mind he wished to change it to; fourteen. Fourteen days, two weeks, 20160 minutes.

Fourteen days since his world turned to shit.

It was easy for him to reflect upon the events that had happened over the past two weeks; after all, how could he not? One day he was enjoying a summer vacation, ready to tackle his final year of college with the world at his finger tips; the next, he was staring at the corpse of his mother, murdered after a vain attempt at making the world a better place. People said she was wrong, that what she had done was just creating an illusion; it reminded him too much of what they said about his grandfather, who - surprise surprise - was also brutally murdered. Yet what they said mattered little to Klaus; Wanda was his mother, Erik was his grandfather, and neither of them deserved the fate in which they were given. But who would listen to the grandson of a terrorist, or the son of a reality altering psychopath? And people wanted to know why he became so detached.

Nevertheless, Klaus sat up as the sun began to drift into the sky, beginning to realize the day that had befallen upon him. It was the day that Rosetta decided that it was best to come clean and honest with the humans about the events and the school. He could see this going wrong in so many ways, he was actually looking forward to somebody making the wrong statement so he could just start a fight and blow somebody up. Yet then Rosetta would get that irritated look, and she would probably force him into some bullshit he didn't need, like being Rebecca's test dummy again. He loathed every time he was somehow dragged into her basement lab, forced to participate in useless tests just because his mutation was 'unstable'. Damn straight it was unstable - hell, he was unstable. His mutation is borderline reality warping, with the ability to teleport; if he knew anybody else who was more unstable, they would have probably been a walking nuclear reactor.

Yet Klaus knew he couldn't sit up there forever - no, he would have to be there for the stupid press conference. Hell, he already had a hunch how it would play out; he would sneer at the audience, nobody would be able to look him in the eye during the recap part, and he would leave right after making sure none of the humans were stupid enough to attack. It was predictable, yet there could always be that little moment where he just coughs out an incantation and somebody explodes. Sure, he could say that he didn't mean it, but they probably wouldn't believe him; so it would be best if he just did what he always did, and stayed on the edge of everybody, staring coldly as always.

That thought in mind, Klaus rose from his spot, thankful that he had showered a few hours ago so he didn't have to bother rushing down to the entrance. Hell, he barely had to rush at all; he knew exactly where he was going, so he didn't even have to walk. How he hadn't gotten obese from the teleportation was a mystery to many, except for those that knew how much the kid worked out. Walking just felt like a waste of time to Klaus now if he knew the route and location. So, with minutes before the 'grand show' would start, Klaus felt the prickle of the reality warp settle in as his deep blue skin rippled and transformed into those of his alternate self, and his eyes glass over to return to their deep green. Satisfied that the warp had crept throughout his body and replaced his actual form, he teleported down into the lobby to await the welcoming party.

The warp dropped him in the corner closest to the door, one that he used frequently as it was not lit up by the sun just yet at this hour of the day, allowing him to exit from a shadow and walk towards the rest of the X-men. Some of the reporters gave him incredulous looks, as if they couldn't figure out where he had come from, but his hard stares invited them to look in a different location as he took his place farthest from Rosetta, who was currently replaced by Nina, the resident therapist. The amount of people who had told him to go visit her were astounding, but he wasn't ready to bear anything to anybody yet, so he stood silently as Rosetta came down and began her speech.

It all started as expected, with the first question being about the ties between them and the Brotherhood - funny how Rose never mentioned that she was housing more than one former Brotherhood member, with some seriously scary mutations under this roof. The whole point about Rebecca made Klaus sneer a little harder, but he kept that to himself as he watched the rest of the reporters think of another actual question. Instead, however, they ask another obvious one; her qualifications. As if these humans gave a shit about her qualifications, all they wanted was something to ask to get to know Rose better to make her either more demonic or more human. Again, interesting how quick Rose was to point out the nice mutations, yet hide Caelan's obvious necromancy or some of the other nasty ones. For some reason, however, the reporters went back to the Brotherhood questions, so Rose had to give an abridged version of the history, which again Klaus just simply sneered at - no point in bothering trying to bring up anything now.

It was right about now, however, that Klaus was beginning to become angry. Rose countered the Commissioner's secrecy question by exposing how biased the humans really were, and even brought up the case for Erik. He slowly sank into his seething anger as Rosetta brought up that he had a family, and that he had to watch his grandfather labelled as a terrorist amongst the humans - even though the X-men were no different. While most of the reporters were feeling uncomfortable and looking away, Klaus's eyes stared hard at every one of them, unblinking; he was feeling too exposed right now. He needed to get out of there soon, get away from the people. He needed to hit something; badly. Good thing Rose finally made it to her ultimatum about justice, for now his anger looked well-placed rather than random, even if his rage was getting close to being released.

But the next question nearly made him lose it.

Rose began talking about his mother, and the depowering. At first, it started out okay - even if he wasn't okay with Wanda being talked about at all still. Then it got ugly as Rosetta started talking about her death; aka murder. Sure it had been two weeks, but did one really think that Klaus was able to get over his mom's death that easily? The rest of the words spoken by Rosetta, and later the Governor, were a blur as Klaus refused to acknowledge them as words so as not to irritate himself too much. But as soon as it began, it was over just as quick. Klaus remained unmoving as everybody else departed on their own way, staring ahead at the door in which the reporters left through as he heard Rosetta state that 'things are going to be okay'.

"Bullshit" Was all Klein mumbled before disappearing in a flash. He had no business remaining in the vicinity.

Setting

Marvel Universe

Characters Present

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#2015-04-16 09:54:56, as written by Vix

x╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
x

x╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

“I think I'm lost again...”

The halls of Xavier's once hustled and bustled with life as people seemed to constantly be rushing somewhere. People still hustled, however few there were. Among that hustle was a girl younger than most, clinging tightly to a plush stuffed rabbit that was nearly as big as she was. She looked essentially normal, her dishwater blonde hair pulled into a ponytail with a ribbon to match the bright yellow dress she wore.

But her eyes gave her away. Her crimson eyes were wide with fright, as they so often were, as she stumbled around in search of a familiar face while doing her best to avoid those whom she did not know. Sophia wasn't completely new to Xavier's, having taken lessons there before with her brother on several occasions. Still, she was not completely familiar with the layout of the home, now lost on the second floor and unable to find even her own room.

She had originally been sitting in the cafeteria with her brother and a mutant that they called Kismet, being cared for while their adoptive father, Caelan Howlett, made an appearance for the press conference below. Considering that she was wanted for murder, it was deemed that she and her brother should stay out of sight. However, she found herself forced to run off as she gave chase to catch her stuffed rabbit, Thumper. She was just about ready to give up when there came a loud bamf! sound that left her cringing against the wall as a blonde male suddenly appeared.

“Please don't hurt me! Her chest clenched as she heaved for breath, trembling before Klaus. Her eyes squeezed shut and she held her bunny tighter before the plush companion leaped from her arms and stood between she and Klaus as if to defend her.

x╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
x

x╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

“Go to Xavier's, they said. You'll be safe there, they said. It'll be an adventure, they told me. Yeah, the fuck, right.” Also wandering the halls was a young teen with curls for days. The brunette tossed a wallet over her shoulder for whomever to find while she slipped the fifty-three dollars she had found into the back pocket of the skin-tight jeans she wore. Charlotte was in a bad mood, not liking her current situation. While she had initially thought that it might be fun at Xavier's, she found out that she was dead wrong. “This place is like fuckin' prison,” she muttered in a thick Brooklyn accent. She scowled and shoved her hands into her pockets, quickly rounding a corner and wishing that she hadn't. It was highly possible that the four mutants waiting for her weren't too happy that she had borrowed a few things from them without asking. In a flash, she quickly turned heel and ran away from them. They were hot on her trail as she tried to find some form of escape.

In any other time and place...she would have made them all wish that they were never born. She knew what their fears were and she could so easily manipulate them to her advantage. However, mutant against mutant attacks were a heinous crime that the Brotherhood had always taught her she must only use as a last resort. Right now wasn't the time for it and she knew that she might get kicked out for it anyways. She already had to renounce her ties to the Brotherhood. That wasn't exactly hard either. Char was more than willing to renounce them after seeing the levels of utter lunacy that they had descended into.

She was stuck on X-Men turf now, her every move being watched. She didn't trust any of them personally but she knew that they were all goodie-goodie two-shoe bitches who'd do anything to protect the remaining mutants. Still, she tried not to push their buttons. She couldn't resist a little theft though. Those bums had it coming when they had smashed her iPad screen with their roughhousing, not paying attention to what they were doing. For now, she would let them get themselves into trouble. She had managed to lose them but she needed to hide. Thus, she kicked in the door of the room closest to her, quickly shutting it behind her and coming face to face with a blonde that she had seen before. A blonde with guns. “Ah, shit...”

Seen 5 Times • Page 1 of 1