X-Men: After the Fall ( IC Thread )

Eliza looked to the girl before her with a frown. How crazy were mutants normally? Would she end up thinking up and trying this stuff after awhile herself. Nodding she ducked below again trying her best to ignore Viktor as she moved to the front seat and started to buckle herself in. “Hey um . . . anyway to wrap the vines about the girl up there so she’s safer . . . she’s been shot and . . . well I think she’s insane but wants me to pass on a plan to you.”


At that she sighed feeling back for him already being wounded, glancing to the two left in the back of the van. “You MAY want to hold on or strap in or pray to whatever you believe in if he decides to do this.” At that she looked back to Jeremy again. “She wants you to slam on the breaks, cause a crash . . . I really don’t know what she’s thinking personally . . . but it’s your call. As you can probably tell by now . . . well . . . yeah . . . if it does end up deadly and I time it right I may be fine. Only one car left though . . . “
 
Jeremy didn't think these kids would be much help against the MHS... but thankfully he was being proven wrong. Sure it cost him his TV and some random stuff he had piled up, but what was a TV when compared to a life? Then he was told the plan that the phaser had cooked up. "Sounds like a good plan. Here. You steer." Despite his injuries ( which looked far worse than they were, but still weren't pleasant ), Jeremy climbed into the opposite seat and formed some vines over his right arm as a shield before leaning out the passenger window. "Be a dear and come get me in a little bit!" cried the plant-wielding hippie as more vines emerged from his backpack and slithered around his left arm.


To anyone who could see that arm, the ends of the vines that surrounded it seemed to take the form of massive wooden spikes. Any who thought such would be correct. Wood was plant matter, as was anything that Jeremy controlled. "I'm already in deep for San Diego... so here goes round two, you MHS pricks!" As a pair of bullets hit his thick and fibrous shield, Jeremy turned it to the side and thrust out the arm that was engulfed by the thick and pointed vine-weapons. Forcing his will on them, he forced the cells to multiply exponentially. This caused the vines to extend at an incredible pace, right into the windshield of the fast-approaching MHS Vehicle. The passenger who was firing the gun was impaled in a most unceremonious way, through the stomach and shoulder. The driver was unharmed for the moment, but Jeremy had a nearly suicidal plan to remedy that.


"Just don't wreck. I'd rather not force you to replace my wheels." said the young man with a smile just before expanding the vines that had gone through the dead MHS Agent. That done, Jeremy had made an anchor for himself. He then lept from the window and forced the plant cells inbetween his arm and the dead agent to move around each other, shrinking the length of the vines just as quickly as they had extended. The cells had to go somewhere, though... and that was around Jeremy's body. Now... seeing vines impale a man. Strange. Seeing a man-sized coccoon fly through the air... also strange. Seeing a hippie impale a man with vines, jump from a van, and turn himself into a coccoon-bullet of doom? Beyond belief. But that's what was indeed happening.


Jeremy's coccoon of thickened plant matter slammed headlong into the Dodge Charger... crushing the front end into itself and sending shrapnel into the driver's body. The coccoon was sandwiched within the confines of the twisted metal hulk of a former car, and within that was Jeremy... who's fate was as-of-yet unknown. Would he live? Seeing as he didn't have any sort of supernatural healing, it was unknown. But if no one did anything, he would definitely be dead... as the flames from the wreckage began to build, so did the danger to the plant-manipulator...
 
Eliza looked at him confused when he told her to take the wheel again. Phasing over ready to take over when he was gone from the seat. Nervous but if he had a better plan than she was more than willing to follow it. Her eyes going to him in shock as he was looking out the window with a plant shield like thing on his arm. Cussing as she swerved some keeping her eyes on the road at that speed, but wanting to watch what he was doing.


His words ringing in her ears only made her eyes widen in fear. What the hell was he doing? “Hey mind peeper or whatever your name was, what’s going on?” She asked watching the man beside her the best she could from the corner of her eyes. Then he was gone . . . had the fool really jumped??? The idiot! Surely they could have thrown more things out instead. She cussed once more as she only had the passenger side mirror to go by since the vines blocked the rear view one and the driver’s side one was busted.


Slowing up when she could best judge it was safe to stop the car, getting out looking behind her, only to get back in. More cusses filtering her lips, she may as well be a sailor if this kept up. Turning the van around as safely yet quickly as she could to drive a safe distance towards the wreck before parking and phasing to exit and run over to it. “Hey crazy waitress, get down and inside if you can! Get that red head to drive as soon as I . . . well . . . ****!” She didn’t want to touch someone who was dead even with her gloves on. She knew she couldn’t bring them back but . . . Deep breath and she would enter the accident scene feeling sick at the site alone. Dragging Jeremy out of it as soon as she saw him and to the back of the van, of course more cussing would follow there.


The van was covered with vines . . . she hadn’t even realized she managed to phase him before due to her slight panic and now she had to do it again. This guy was going to wear her out . . . god he better know how much he owed her for this shit. A few calming breaths and she got him inside laying in the back if possible. “I hate you all” was all that left her lips afterwards in such a very bitter tone, as she moved to the passenger seat to cross her arms. Total strangers and they probably got more knowledge about her than her own parents even tried too. Here she was just feeling like she was worn through and through due to all the work as well, not used to having to be so active or moving and lifting so much.
 
(( This is a plot-post taken from the previous incarnation of AtF. Credit for it goes to Sloth, not myself. All I did was correct several typos and change the character focus. ))


Richard had only been in town for about a couple weeks, and was already in training at a bunker below the Las Vegas Hooters restaurant that now served as the mutants’ Zeta Base. The Zeta Location was a technologically advanced base made specifically for the needs of the war. On the top floor, it operated like a normal Hooters. The basement floor was a communications hub filled with large screens linking the haven to remote bases scattered around the world. The second floor down, a training center complete with barracks, target devices, and full on sparring mechs. And the final floor down... an entire war room. The floor that Richard was currently on was the second basement floor, the training center.


Richard was in a regular class with fellow mutants, testing out their respective powers. He was rather boredly shooting his lightning blasts at his assigned targets, the current spreading out in arcing bolts to cover a moderate space around the area of impact. He grinned at another nearby student who seemed less than amused by his flashy powers. Wearing his urban combat attire, as was custom in training sessions, Richard was quite comfortable despite the tough activity. He quickly ducked an incoming punch from a training robot that was behind him, dropping to his hands and bringing his legs closer to himself, his static field had alerted him to an incoming attack. He quickly disposed of the mechanized fighter by driving the bottom of his feet upward into the machine’s chest while shooting electricity at the machine in front of him, allowing him to twist himself in mid-air to land facing the robot he had just done away with, and swing the latter almost a full 360 degrees ( using electromagnetism via the lightning blasts ) into the wall facing his immediate left.


The teen huffed as he removed his shirt, letting it hang backwards over his shoulder, snowy hair and young face while he began wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead with his forearm.


Gambit looked over at the students, especially at the new lightning-user. Sure, he was showing potential, but not enough to surpass people like Magneto or Polaris. “Hey Zappy. go upstairs, your training is done for the day.” He ordered as he motioned for another student to take away the pieces of the robots. “I do have a name...y’know...” Richard sighed lazily as he began walking towards the barracks on the floor, waving his hand dismissively as he walked off.


Richard slipped into his casual attire before heading up to grab a bite to eat. A pair of blue jeans, a Disturbed T-shirt (even though it was an apocalyptic world, he still found time to listen to music.) and a jacket, he tied his shoes up quickly and headed off to the elevator, slinging his small backpack over his left shoulder.


The elevator doors on the first floor of the incognito restaurant opened some ten seconds later, revealing Richard to the entirety of the bar, to which he only shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking further into the crowd, and shrugged as he saw no one new, “No news is good news, I guess. Right?” he remarked with a slight groan. “I see nothing's really changed up hear, eh?.” ... luckily, everyone that came to this particular food spot couldn't care less if he was a mutant, a clone, or Jesus Christ himself.
 
Las Vegas was hot and the thick crowd of people he had been surrounded by didn't make matters any better and even though he had taken off his green jacket, the sun still burnt like the young mutant was standing in the center of a burning coal pit. Being so close however meant that he had ample chance to do a little thieving with little chance of detection by any wary eyes. Taking a deep breath and a tentative look about himself for any watchful eyes, his first target would be the person directly in front of him, with a quiet flick of his fingers and a small spark, Ariki watched the black bolt of energy jump to his quarry's overburdened bag, for a moment the bag wiggled a little and the man simply moved it a little so that the satchel sat directly behind him in the crook of his back which made it so much easier for the young mutant to conceal what he was doing. Ariki simply held his hand out below the bag as it began slowly unravel at the bottom seam, a moment later he had pocketed 25$ and slowed down enough for the crowd to move beyond him.


Half an hour later and Ariki was at least 85$ richer than he had been an hour before, his morale was a little better now and he could afford to feed himself. He slowly broke off from the crowd he had been walking with to avoid any suspicion, he began to trail farther and farther away from the crowd until he had turned a corner in order increase the distance between himself and his erstwhile victims. The young pickpocket continued on down the street until he passed an alleyway where he was grabbed at the shoulder, spun around and then shoved up against the wall of the alleyway he had just passed "What do you think your doing!!" Ariki's captor yelled, "I-I don't know what you're talking abou-!!?!" the man slammed his free hand against the wall near Ariki's head, the man looked like he was in his 30's "Don't give me that you dumbass, those people out there may not know it until it's too late but you were way too obvious, you're just lucky it was me and not some two-bit mutant thug!!!" The man growled and Ariki flinched, the man's breath was fetid with the stench of alcohol and cigarettes. "Yo-you saw me?" the young mutant asked, his surprise written clearly on his dark brown face. "Look kid; you seem to be new here or you wouldn't have tried a stunt like that, I'll give you some free advise kid; there's a hideout in this city, I can't say who's hideout it is but I 'can' say they can help you."





"Breaking News!!! The International Peace conference has ended in tragedy!! Last night the Peace Conference ball was attacked by an unknown group but whoever they were, there motive is undoubtedly stir up trouble for the American Government, there were several casualties all of the visiting dignitaries from foreign countries; among them was......."


A few hours later after getting lost several time, looking for someone with enough pity to give him some directions and half an hour of worrying over whether the man was simply leading him into a sinister trap of some sort or actually, genuinely trying to help him. Ariki stood in front of Hooters a little nervice about what might happen if he walked in "It could be some sort of trap, it could just be a normal Hooters and that guy could've been just f'n with me. I could just walk away but what if he was telling me the truth?" A deep breath and Ariki steeled himself for anything that could happen and proceeded into the 'establishment where he was given curious looks but he simply sat down and tried to calm himself down "Look hun if you ain't gonna order you're gonna have to leave, I've got customers to serve and you're takin' up valuable space" Ariki looked up at her for a moment not sure what to say when he was being confronted by a scantily clad waitress "Ah, um can I just get something to eat and maybe ah soda, I don't really care what I-I just need something to eat and drink." Ariki grumbled, the woman frowned at him a little and shrugged. She returned with a jug of some sort of 'fizzy drink' and a platter filled with various things and went on about her business letting Ariki eat at his own pace.
 
Bracing for an impact, Kae was quite surprised when none came. Instead the vehicle slowed to a stop before ghostie was yelling at her to get down and get into the vehicle. There had also been instructions saying to convince the girl caring for the man that they had hit to drive. This, however, proved difficult as she seemed to be so intent on worrying over him that she did little else. At first the waitress hadn't thought much of it as ghostie seemed a competent driver and plant boy actually owned the vehicle. When ghostie dropped the brutally injured hippy back in the van the reality of the situation sunk in.


Sitting around was going to get them killed and neither of those two were in any shape to operate a vehicle. Feeling possitively terrified, the frazzled girl took the driver's seat and looked at the controls for the vehicle. Placing her one moveable arm against the steering wheel, she pressed hard on the gas but stopped immediately as the vehicle groaned loudly in protest. "How do I make it go?" She shouted as innumerable curses flashed through her mind. She was lightheaded, wounded, and had never driven before . . . What the hell did she think she was doing?


Finding the thing she needed to switch gears, she pulled hard on it and after a few more terrible groans from the engine she had actually managed to get it into drive. Taking a deep breath and actually uttering a prayer under her breath, the girl pressed lighlty on the gas as she brought the vehicle up to speed slowly. It was necessary, she figured, as jarring the two injured boys could cause more injury.


Surprisingly, the actual manuevering came quite easily to her as the calculations on momentum and heading happened on a subconcious level. Eventually reaching the point where she had the gas floored, she manuevered the vehicle as best she could in the same general direction that hippy had been taking them. She really hoped that their wasn't a plotted path that he had been following as she didn't have directions, but she knew she didn't have time to think of that right now. Until farther noticed all that mattered was that they keep moving in hopes of finding safety or help . . .
 
Jeremy was messed up but good. The trauma he had suffered when he took out the MHS Cruiser wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, though. Honestly, he figured it would have killed him. Though he seemed to be out cold, the young man was only on the edge of being totally KO'd. If anything, it felt like he was... looking at himse... "Oh shit... out of body experience. So like... I'm pretty much dead. Beautiful." His body still showed some signs of life, though. As the plant-coccoon receeded, Jeremy's body moved slightly. Muscles spasmed due to severe dislocations... namely his left femur and shoulder. And his left leg was further mangled from a broken tibia. And to top it all off, he had several cracked ribs and possibly a collapsed lung.


"Yeah... I was pretty screwed up. Looking back, we could have dealt with the issue a few different ways. But I chose to try and make sure these kids lived no matter what. I mean heck, what's one dead hippie when compared to the lives of a few young and promising mutant kids? I mean sure, I'm a mutant, too... but if one dies to save several, I think that's fair. But yeah, I was tripping pretty hard, seeing my limp body there inside my own van. Was kinda cool at the same time, though. Like I was... oh... I'm getting off topic? My bad. Where were we? Oh yeah."


Jeremy suddenly woke up, and instantly yelled out in pain as best he could with a collapsed lung. It came out more as a squeaky wheeze than a yell, really. "Get to Vegas... quick. Holy crabs, this hurts." ... from what he could tell, they were headed in the right direction. The bright lights on the horizon could only come from once city, given where they had been coming from. "Freaky... but when I was in San Diego, I heard that the Vegas base is at a Hooters or something. We should start th..." Despite efforts to keep calm and be helpful, Jeremy coughed up blood every time he tried to say more than a few words. Hopefully his info was correct... because he'd be able to get medical help from the X-Men more than at any human-run hospital.
 
Hoyt Volker was approaching a Hooters just off the Vegas strip. When he first encountered Gambit,he was told of a base somewhere in the city,but the French mutant refused to tell him where. Either to prevent intelligence leaks or as a test,he assumed. At the moment,Hoyt had no money on him. He was running away ever since he shot his friend with a gun he didn't know he could conjure. He needed to learn to control his power. He tried many things on his own,but all he could master was the ability to simply conjure something,not control what was conjured. Why did I conjure a Slivergun then? Every other time it was an auger,a helmet,and a blue glow... Hoyt stopped in his tracks. Blue glow...? I was a Biotic for a minute!? Hoyt shook his head,and proceeded into the tacky restaurant and bar. He very quickly saw a young man at the bar,looking very out of place. Sliding into a stool beside the young man,Hoyt said,quite plainly, ​"Where's Gambit?"
 
Hank walked through the desert traveling on foot. It was hot outside but as long as he kept in his altered form, he was able to handle the desert. He wore a long sleeve sweater with a hood covering his head. His hands were tucked away in his pockets and long black pants covered his legs. Anyone coming across him would think of him as a crazy person for wearing all of these things in the middle of the desert, but it was the only way that he could keep his presence hidden and survive in the harsh weather of desert. Looking up towards the horizon, he could see lights.


Thank god. I have been walking forever in this place. I am pretty sure that i was lost for about a week. Not heading in the correct direction. Following a mirage, i think more then once. But i am pretty sure this time it is real. Hank though to himself.


Continuing his walk, his pace sped up slightly as he kept himself covered. Looking to his sides, he wanted to make sure nobody was coming so he could keep his power activated. He knew that it was not going to be good if he was caught with his powers activated, after the last time. With a deep breath, Hank once again picked the pace up from a stroll to almost a speed walk. He wanted to get to the town so he could get something to eat. He craved for a nice big steak, a baked potato, some vegetables; You know, the works. From his spot, he would say that he was only about a good twenty or twenty-five miles from civilization.
 
Eliza’s head leaned sideways facing the crazy one as she tried to stay awake. Today was rough; the worst part was she never phased another with her let alone twice before. A small smirk rose on her face at least she knew she could do it now. She wasn’t about to let herself sleep though, perhaps relaxing was enough. She figured, fighting the urge only to end up passing out herself some. IF she was awake she would have gladly walk the girl through gears and how it worked.


It was when Jeremy yelled that she snapped forward awake, the seat belt catching her. Her eyes going around wildly before sighing “and here I was hoping you all would be a bad dream.” Glancing to the girl driving then back to Jeremy she winced at the site almost afraid to touch him more that the one she hit now. Then again this one had allowed and helped her more than most she knew it her life.


The wheezing was bad then the cough of blood had her eyes soften as she unbuckled to turn in the seat to look at him. “You’re dying you know . . . we need to get you help NOW if you don’t want too.” Sure it was cold and blunt but it was the truth, coughing up blood alone screamed that. She had seen very few deaths but she knew shows, and movies and . . . this outcome somewhat well. “Your lungs will fill with blood from what it looks like and you’ll suffocate.” Hesitating she would climb over the seats to get closer to him despite the obvious fear in doing so.


“Someone get the girl a map and help her figure how to get there.” She said softly as she studied the man before him wondering “Why did you do it anyways? It was stupid and foolish and obviously suicidal.” At that her hands shakily went to his chest before glancing to him as if to make sure he wouldn’t mind. “I may kill you with this, hell good chance if I don’t get it right, so I may need to fiddle some in hopes first. YOU stay alive though, this kind of stuff sucks . . . and I have to stay grounded to hold you grounded and yeah this is going to be messy . . . and **** I should just do it and shut up.” She knew she would make a horrid doctor, but something had to be done.


Her hands would clench to his shirt at that as if to hold him to make sure he didn’t float away. And after awhile she started to phase him, her concentration fierce . . . something difficult as she had to focus on phasing all of him outside of the blood in his lungs currently before suddenly letting good and falling back on who or whatever. “That ******* sucks . . . if I managed it will just fill again . . . you . . . we have to find away to inflate it and block the hole I guess. Don’t look at me to do it . . . can’t like . . . a plant or something do it? You know keep the lung moving and have room to keep you air but cover the hole so . . . well you don’t drown in your own blood?”


She knew this was unlikely but . . . these guys . . . they were helping her. Sure it was their fault she was in this situation in ways. Hell she figured up until now they were just helping to save their own skins like she was until this edit jumped out the van and ended up like this. For some reason . . . she knew he wasn’t out for himself with that alone, it made her feel guilty sure, but it also made her want to help him in any way possible.
 
Alright . . . So ghost girl was dealing with what appeared to be a quickly deteriorating hippy, the telepath seemed to injured to do anything, and the other girl had so far not even tried to help beyond worrying over the telepath. The situation looked pretty damn grim. "Think, Kaelyn, think . . ." she muttered, forgetting that her nametag identified her as a 'Lizzy.' The others weren't going to be able to help her find the Hooters hideout of the mutants . . . why a Hooters!?


As the van shot past a car going the speedlimit and missed oncomming trafic by a narrow margine of mere inches, her eyes glanced over a roadside sign. The sign denoted up comming gas and food establishments that existed on the next right. Sighing as a small amount of relief finally managed to permeate their current situation, she kept a vigilant eye out for any sign which might advertise her target location. It was not even 5 minutes later that she found A Hooters. Uncertain if it was the correct one, she sped that way anyways as the hippy's time was bound to be quickly running out.


Pulling to a sudden stop as she parked on the sidewalk barely a foot from the door, she lept from her seat and ran into the building. "Please . . . He is dying . . ." she choked out as she stumbled through the door. Wait . . . Stumbled? Her eyes instinctively moved to track her movements in the emblemed mirror behind the counter as she noticed her state fully for the first time. As of yet she hadn't allowed herself to admit what had happened to her as she knew the realization alone may cripple her. Now, however, it hit her like a ton of bricks.


Her frizzy brown hair was in a wild state as it escaped from the cord tying it back, her face was pale, her body was shaking, and there was blood. There was lots of blood. It had dyed the arm of her white button up work shirt a deep crimson. But why is there blood? Oh . . . Right . . . The bullet wound. "Help . . ." she pleaded weakly as she felt bile and desperation rising in her throat and choking her. Then her vision greyed as her legs gave out under her and she fainted in their doorway.
 
Continuing through the desert, Hank arrived at the outskirt of the town. Reaching up and removing his ring, his body returned to normal. Removing his sweater, he looked over the city for a place to eat at. Walking down the street, Hank looked upon all the stores and buildings. They were many different places to choose from, many that seemed a little awkward. He seen all the casino's and decided to head for one of those. If anything, he might be able to sneak into the Casino and get something to drink.


If i was a hideout, were would i be? Hank thought to himself as he walked towards the casino.


Walking down the street, he seen a van screech to a halt and park in front of a hooters.


What a weird thing to do. Hank thought as he stopped walking and just looked at the person run into the building.


Turning to his left, he walked towards the front door of the casino only to be stopped by the guard.


"You are too young to be here. You are not allowed to enter this establishment." the guard spoke out to Hank.


"But sir, I am super thirsty and hungry." Hank replied in a friendly tone.


"It does not matter to me. If you want something to eat, you can go to Hooters over there." The guard spoke out as he placed his arms across his chest.


Looking back at the hooters, he thought deeply about what he just seen. He was not sure if he wanted to be in the same building as a person who just drove crazy up on the sidewalk.


"Ok then. Thank you." Hank spoke out as he turned away from the casino and headed for the Hooters establishment.
 
Richard sat at the bar and was chowing down on some hot wings that he had ordered. They were good, as usual. But just as he had started to really enjoy his relaxing break from training in the danger room, some punk sat next to him and outright asked where Gambit was. Ballsy. The young lightning-user simply glared at the other guy and resumed eating the wing in his hands. "This guy knows something, obviously. But how much does he know? That's the kicker." a small spark of electricity flew from Richards hand and traveled to his silverware as his thoughts raced. ... but now that the wing in his hands was finished, there was no reason for him to not answer, other than being outright rude.


"Well that depends on who's asking. You a mutant hater, or a mutant?" In fact... Richard ( being the sentry for Zeta Base at the moment ) thought of a little test for this bold little investigator. "Scratch that question. I'll say this... I know where he is. But I'll only tell you if..." more little sparks flew off of his skin and clothes as he spoke. "... you can prove you're with us. Come with..." Just as he was about to give this kid a test, a big green van skidded to a halt right outside the restaurant and a frazzled-looking girl stumbled in and said someone was dying. "Great... just my luck."


Richard growled in frustration and ran into the kitchen. Near the "walk-in cooler" there was a small panel that appeared to be a thermostat. He flipped it upward and firmly pressed the small silver button. "We got wounded up here. A girl who seems like she doesn't know where she is, looks like a gunshot. She also spoke of some guy who's dying. Should probably help out with that one, too. Before he walked away, Richard pressed the button again. "There's also some nosy douche asking about you, boss man. Should I s..." the voice on the other side was clearly not amused by Richard's attitude... "Got it. I'll help as much as I can."


Rushing back out to the dining area, Richard motioned for everyone to follow him before he spoke. "We can help you guys... but there's a price. You gotta stay once we help you. Human or Mutant, doesn't matter. We can't risk people telling everyone about this place. Know what I mean?" He pressed a few keys on the secondary register at the bar, and seconds later a staircase emerged from panels in the floor. "Before you ask... yes, the employees here know about all this. Now hurry up and get inside. We can't have people dying on our doorstep." ... it was clear that Richard wasn't pleased by this development... but he had his orders and intended on following them. As he walked over to the passed out gunshot victim, he motioned to the curious young man. "Go get whoever she said is dying. You want to know about Gambit, make yourself useful."


She was pretty lightweight, so lifting the girl wasn't a problem. The only real issue would be treating the wound. Luckily, Zeta Base had a fully-functional Trauma Wing and Surgery Suite in the infirmary. After all... accidents happened when kids with superpowers were training. Better to be safe than sorry.
 
Ariki had been sitting at his small table mulling over his food and what he was going to d,o things were rather calm and a few people had come and gone from the establishment but at the first mention of 'Gambit' things seemed to have happened rather quickly. Ariki's head had shot up when he heard the barely audible mention of the former X-man's name and noted the two sitting at the bar, he was about to get up and walk over to the pair and ascertain for himself what was going on and if he could get any help when a van shrieked to a halt outside. Ariki watched as a girl stumbled from the van and asked for help, then one of the two he was planning to ask got up and shot into the kitchen and returned to heft the now unconscious girl. Seeing his chance to be of help Ariki rose from his chair, forgetting his meal and drink he approached the van outside and assessed the situation, there were several wounded, none more wounded than a hippie who took up the majority of the space within the rear of the van.


Ariki opened the back door and proceeded to calmly check the apparently dying man, he maneuvered his way through the back to sit next to the man, his minute first aid skills taught him not to move a man injured like this hippie was but he continued prod and poke here and there. There was a hard spot on his stomach and it sounded as though the hippie were struggling to breathe which meant there was probably some sort of internal bleeding, some firm pressure to the ribs told him he had a few of them fractured, Ariki couldn't tell what else was wrong so he moved to the now open rear of the van and shouted "We need a stretcher, this guy's got some internal bleeding, you ain't moving him!!" Ariki then moved over to a pair a girl and another guy, "Lady, you need to move out of the way and get yourself seen to." Ariki looked at her gravely but moved on to exit the van and stand outside, "We'll need another stretcher too." Ariki then moved to follow the guy holding the wounded girl further inside.
 
Hoyt was about to respond along the lines of "Only in the middle of nowhere" when the van screeched to a halt outside,and a young woman in hysterics entered,going on about a gunshot victim."So why'd you bring them to a tasteless pub instead of a hospital!?" They're either mutants or government. They don't look armed,so... When the rude young man went to the back,his ruminations were rendered moot. He barked back to the group, "Were you followed?" Without waiting for a response,Hoyt marched out the door,and looked down either end of the street,holding his left hand open at shoulder height,and concentrated.


[roll0]


A small green crystal orb appeared in Hoyt's palm,which he immediately clamped his fist around. "Curaga,eh?" Hoyt made his way to the rear van and saw a young man there. Hoyt roughly shoved him aside and flashed the Cure Materia that was in his hand,and growled "Get out of my way. I have less than a minute to save this guy's life."
 
Eliza could only hope the girl wasn’t making a big mistake by going in there like that. Her eyes went over the others, only to return on the hippie as if to make sure he was still breathing. A breath catching in her throat as so many came out, eyes studying those and now this new bold man. “Who made you boss? What if I want to stay with them, make sure they’re okay? What you do with the girl who went inside?” She wasn’t comfortable at all, after all how many people did it take to screw in a light bulb?


Her eyes widen as another man pushed his way forward, about to protest and even maybe try to fight if it wasn’t for his words that stopped her. Save . . . his . . .life? Eyes widen and she quickly shuffled back from the hippie hoping she was doing right by him by listening to the stranger. “Can you really do it?” She glanced to the guy with the weird item. Eyes shifting to watch curious, pointing back to the useless tele guy behind her some. “He got hit with the van . . . we . . . we got rid of who was chasing us.”


At that, at the safety of those around her she began to truly pale in realization. Now . . . she was stuck being known, there were too many around her not to be. Tempted to kick the hippie for this she merely crossed her arms annoyed. “Guess this makes me officially coming out of that closet then.”
 
Hoyt nodded at the young woman in the back of the van,and climbed in,sticking the Cure Materia in his mouth. He showed it to her,clamped between his front teeth,then popped it back to his left molars,then said, "Ever play Final Fantasy VII? This is the Cure Materia. At worst,it'll stop all the bleeding. At best,he'll be hale and hearty." Hoyt inhaled deeply through his nose and closed his eyes. He slowly brought his arms in towards his chest,slowly clenching his hands. The Materia was giving him the knowledge he needed to cast the spell,using his own energy. Time's short...Now or never. Hoyt's eyes opened as he thrust his arms forward,palms presented to the dying hippie. His eyes were glowing a healthy green,and the same light flooded from his mouth,as if a green star was contained within. The light and energy surged down Hoyt's arms,and into the patient. The energy exchange rocked the van on it's suspension,making the vehicle buck as if it were being pummeled by the fists of giants. However,when the spectacle ended,the light faded,and the van came to a halt. The hippie's wounds were closed,his breathing equalized,and colour returned to his features. "It's done." The crystal orb was gone from his mouth. It was less than a minute...Single use? Hoyt stepped out of the van,and pointed inside. "No idea about his internal injuries,but outwardly,he's fine."
 
Eliza shook her head at the question. She wasn’t into video games and such, she was more out there moping with friends and hanging out. The house she grew up was too lonely to stay at home all day. Although his words brought an honest smile to her face, as she watched.


The scene was all magical and scary, especially when the van rocked and she held on to the nearest thing. Kicking the hippie lightly after it was done she leaned in to whisper into his ears. “You owe me dinner and a new pair of clothes for dragging you out.” Her own outfit probably covered in blood, she followed the healer though as he exited.


“So . . . it’s really safe here?” Her eyes going around to everyone else, as if unsure, course what she saw proved her doubts wrong. “Why they send so many out if you alone could have dealt with it? Doesn’t seem right . . .” Okay so she was slightly paranoid but could you blame her, her eyes going to Jeremy and the others in the van. “What did you guys do to the girl? No one has answered me still . . . did you heal her first or something? Where is she?”
 
Hoyt answered as best he could. "I came here on a hunch. The guy that went into the back confirmed it. This is where Gambit is hiding out." He gestured to the storefront. "Behold,the taste of New Orleans." He chuckled at his offensive joke. "But I digress. Normally,I can't heal people. I just conjure random things. Truth be told,I was hoping for a rifle so I could stand sentry,but I got Cure. And when you have healing magic for a minute,you don't go wasting it on someone without mortal injuries if someone's dying." He looked at the girl asking all the questions. "Besides,as I just found out after healing our granola boy here,my Cure Materia has only one use." He pushed himself off the van's fender. The entire vehicle was sitting oddly,and Hoyt mused aloud, "I wonder just how wrecked the suspension is...?" With a shrug,Hoyt walked back into the pub,calling over his shoulder, "Carry him in!"​
 
She felt the pain; even in her unconscious state it filled her with a deep and dizzying ache. With the exception of this lone phantasmal throbbing, there seemed to be nothing in the world. Her body felt light and adrift within this void that she seemed to have fallen into. Noises permeated the unconscious rift occasionally. Mostly they were just snippets of conversations that she didn’t comprehend, however. There was a mention of retrieving someone who was dying at one point. It brought with it a moment of clarity as she seemed to remember some distant dream of a hippy cannon ball . . . she had the weirdest dreams sometimes . . .


It wasn’t really until she heard the ghost girl’s voice from somewhere outside that she started to even stir. In the darkness, the pain in her shoulder was less noticeable and she subconsciously clung to that relief. “Ghosty . . .?” she mumbled confusedly, the word barely audible and coherent.


Forcing her eyes to open slightly, she watched as the world spun in odd distortions for a moment. As her body started to register that she was awake once more, she found herself to be cradled against a boy’s chest. For a moment panic struck hard at her and she jerked weakly to try to free herself. Unfortunately she found her good arm to be trapped against him as he hadn’t wanted to rub against the bullet wound when he had picked her up. After the feeble protest, however, she gave in to the part of her mind that reminded her that she was at her wits end.


Pushed to such extents as she had been, her mind and body just sort of finally surrendered themselves to whatever it was that would come of this. Weakly, she held onto the boy’s band t-shirt with her good hand, and she snuggled closer as a child might. He felt warm and something about just being held was soothing. For now she wouldn’t worry about intentions or possible death . . . her mind couldn’t handle such things for the time being. For now, Kaelyn just let herself be carried off to the hospital wing.
 
Only toes on the ground, Monet moved meticulously around the streets of Vegas; around really only a specific block of streets she was now focused on. The people avoided her as much as she dodged them, even the slightest eye contact making her stiffen… what should she do now? Avoiding eye contact immediately seemed to be the answer, rushing past. Now that she was making her final and fourteenth right turn in total. Absent-mindedly each finger of her left hand starts touching her left thumb in turn, the strange hand gesture copied by the other as she surveys the area around her.


There were a lot of bright and flashing signs but the one that caught her eye was the purple one with the yellow bird, maybe because of all the hustling and bustling. It read Hooters, but she couldn’t tell by the sign what it was…a zoo? Could they teach you how to bird call? There were people there and they all seemed to be swarming a van parker out front...she didn't quite understand why…there was red stuff there. Monet didn’t make the connection, but she was intrigued.


Toeing across the road she barely notices almost getting hit by a car, instead only seeing the entrance of the zoo place. Van forgotten, she hurries along and avoids the people huddled around it. whe she entered the building, there seemed to be a weird staircase in the floor and she tentatively took a step on the second step down before taking a step back...an underground cave for the animals, maybe? Her hands seemed to be moving again, this time clenching and unclenching as her head ducks and she flies down the stairs.


Where were the owls? She bumps right into someone at the bottom of the stairs but once again, seemed to remain unfazed by it
 
Richard had disregarded pretty much everyone else, given that he was focused on saving a life. Sure, things sounded hectic upstairs, almost like a car wreck... but the instructors could handle any problem that arose. The girl in his arms stirred slightly, but soon ceased her weak struggle in favor of simply adopting a more comfortable position. Not a moment too soon, as someone bumped into him at the bottom of another staircase. "Honestly, I'd give my left arm for this day to just end. thought Richard as he re-situated his grip on the wounded girl. Luckily the pair soon reached the med-bay, and the now grumpy young man layed the injured girl on a stretcher and motioned for one of the docs to tend to her before leaving once more.


Elsewhere...


"Was it sent out? Good. Yeah, I got you. Understood. I'll head there shortly. But I have to ask... do we have a target? So I can pick and choose? No, I'm not complaining. Alright. Will do." The phone beeped as the call was ended...


Back at the Hooters Base


Jeremy woke up a bit, to the sound of shuffling and the smell of hydraulic fluid. ... hydraulic fluid?! Jeremy sat up so quickly that his head slammed into the ceiling of his van. "Ah sh... huh?" He still felt pain, but nowhere near as much of it. His bones were healed, his cuts mended, and his organ restored to an undamaged state. He was still bruised up a bit, but that was about it. But his van didn't appear to have gotten off as lucky. It was pretty thrashed inside, and the smell of hydraulic fluid was a clear indicator that at least one of the struts had ruptured. Great. But as bad as that was, it wasn't the big issue right now. What was the issue was that he saw several people vanishing inside and down a set of stairs. Jeremy intended on following. His gut told him he was finally at the Zeta Base. And he'd soon find out he was right.
 
“Gambit?” Eliza questioned, she didn’t keep up on the mutant news if she could help it. It was all depressing, people dying and the fact she was one and felt she had to hide it. There was a pause though, a realization. “So . . . they take all of that kind here or something?” Maybe . . . just maybe she might belong for once.


She tried not to laugh as Jeremy jumped and bump his head, sure it seemed heartless but in truth she was glad he was alright. He probably didn’t realize he was lucky to survive. Moving to help him if he need it he motioned towards the hero (Hoyt). “You owe him at least a thank you.” She spoke before whispering into Jermey’s ear. “He said he thinks this may be where gambit is, if that means anything to you.”


Her eyes resting on the other at his words before blinking surprised he was hoping for a weapon. “I would have taken a healing item over a weapon any day . . . you know you just saved someone’s life right? You’re a hero in my eyes.” Trying to keep up with the other while helping the hippie if he needed it “Guess we’re about to join and see what the party really is about.” Her thought being if the base was hidden she could search for it a bit easier than others with her gifts after all. “I just hope it’s not like the ones you live to regret . . .”
 
Hank had stopped in his tracks as he seen people approaching and leaving the van. Just a few seconds into the whole thing, a man entered the back of the van, and a extremely bright light lit up the entire place. It was intense and made Hank cover his eyes. From the sound of the van rocking, something insane was happening but Hank was not able to make out what exactly was going on. As the light dulled down, The man exited from the van and walked into the restaurant. Hank just stood there for a minute before seeing other people leave the van and walk into the building. From that point, he knew these people were like him and he must have been in the right place. Taking in a deep breath, Hank walked up to the door of the building, and placed his hand upon the door. Exhaling, he pulled the door open and walked into the building. He was seconds behind Jeremy and Eliza, enough to not be considered ‘with’ them. He looked around at the people in the restaurant and wondered to himself.


Are all these people mutants? Hank had thought as he looked back towards Jeremy as he walked down a flight of stairs.


Picking back up to his walking pace, he followed Jeremy and Eliza down the stairs. He tried to be calm as he looked upon the entire scenery. He didn’t even know if they would except him, was not sure if he was even in the right place. He had a slight bit of hope that he was in a friendly place with his kind, and not in a place filled with evil mutants, ones that were out for the blood of the normal humans.
 
Ariki walked down the stairs keeping his head low and his body as nonthreatening as he could, as he walked he simply watched his feet and the feet in front of them to keep an appropriate distance and to keep from stumbling over and making horrible situation. It came as a surprise when a soft white hand grasped his shoulder firmly, a slight jump and a quick look up too see it was a rather pretty girl, she smiled at him "Come this way, it looks like you guys need some food and some rest, when you're ready we'll go through some testing and see how we can help you alright?"


Ariki nodded and followed after the girl silently, he didn't look to see if anyone followed them since she had motioned for everyone else to follow her. Ariki didn't take any notice of where they went because he simply looked down once more and watched the ground. The cafeteria was nice and spacious and had a lot of tables, one of which was laden with food and drinks, the blonde girl simply gestured to sit down and said; "I'm Camilla, nice to meet you." She said cheerily to them.





"Finally here!!" He though as he took a cookie from a nearby tray and nibbled at it, Ariki knew that he wasn't going to get home anytime soon but he still needed a place to stay. This place was better than most others and at least here he could train himself and his powers. The X-men were famous in New Zealand since his home country had been a haven for many smart mutants who saw what was about to happen in America. "I heard someone talk about Gambit, is he here?" He asked the blonde hostess as she sat down opposite him.


 
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