(OOC: OK X-men, I'm starting this thread for you guys to have a starting point in Sanctuary.))

The main hallway is immaculate with polished marble floor and pillars lining the walk way on both sides. Beautiful chandeliers hang from the ceiling and cast down their light below. The ceiling is vaulted at least two stories to help give a sense of awe once anyone enters. Stained glass windows line where the ceiling and walls meet. Security cameras dot the hallway in strategic placements as well.

At the end of the hallway is a rather large desk. Behind the desk sits a woman who appears to be possibly in her early thirties. She’s dressed in a nice tan colored suit with a white shirt underneath. Her desk is neat and orderly. Her hair is blonde and drapes partially over her shoulders.

Noticing the front door open the woman watches as a couple new arrivals approach her desk. Standing up and smiling genuinely she greets them. “Well, hello and welcome to Sanctuary.”

Dominic pulled open the double doors and held them open as Raphael came inside behind him. He looked around at the amazing decor. "God, didn't think it got any better than Xavier's," he said in an almost whisper, since any type of noise would echo throughout the whole of the building it seemed. He immediately noticed the woman at the end of the hall who stood up as they came closer to the desk. 'Cameras everywhere...'

"Well, hello and welcome to the Sanctuary," the woman said to greet them.

Wire held his hand out for their introduction. "Hello. I'm Dominic and my good friend here is Raphael. We've heard many things about this place and being mutants, well, there aren't many places opening their doors for us. Would you mind telling us a bit more about the place?" He hoped Raphael would remember his story in case they questioned them more.

"Yes, of course. Please follow me for a tour," she said, stepping from around the desk and leading them to a different part of the building. Dominic pressed the com down in his ear and whispered to Fade that they had made it inside, were on a tour, and that she should continue on. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"Oh, no nothing. Please, continue," he said, giving a quick glance to Raphael. The woman was so involved with her tour, she seemed to be on autopilot from doing it so much. He grabbed his wrist behind his back and casually walked along, pretending to be interested, nodding at all the things the woman had said which she found to be fascinating.

Raphael shrugged to Wire’s comment, looking up at the vaulted entry hall, he took notice first of the cameras as Wire seemed to be enthralled by the hallway. “Designed to be pleasing to the eye and captivate the imagination, though there are better ways of inspiring safety. Does give it a ‘grand cathedral’ feel though… Xavier’s is subtle, this place isn’t, that’s the only difference thus far.” Raphael spoke all but the last bit normally, the last he echoed Wire’s whispered tone.

Raphael shrugged, he had grown up in the lap of luxury and walking into another building that was designed to impress and amaze, set the visitors to the place off guard. Several of his parent’s friends, and by extension his friends, had places designed to do the exact same thing, albeit, on a slightly smaller scale. Even Benny had a loft whose entry hall was designed to toss a person off balance.

Raphael eyed the woman as they walked up to her, shifting his duffel bag from one shoulder to the other as she greeted them with soft words and a smile. Typical secretary, wonder if she’sa mutant…, Raphael thought as Wire spoke, and then watched her walk off with Wire in tow. He remained a moment longer looking at the immaculate desk, before jogging a couple steps to catch up to them.

He eyed Wire’s clasped hands and assumed a walking gait behind them. As far as he could tell, this place held few outward secrets. It was, as advertised, a haven for mutants. Ample rooms to stay in, a fair amount of extracurricular activities to do, classrooms, the works. Reminded him a lot of Xavier’s, but the mansion had its share of hidden nooks and crannies.

“Is it true you accept any and everyone?” Raphael directed the question at the tour guide.

The woman showed the new arrivals all the usual things. Everything that she was supposed to show new guests. Everything Mr. King had instructed her to do. She did her job well too. "Yes, we take in any and everyone so long as they don't destroy the place. Afterall, we do have rules like any other place does. Don't want anyone causing any trouble." The woman smiled politely and asked if the guests were thirsty or perhaps hungry.

Nicki didn't know what she was doing. When she was around Kaz there was this word that kept popping up: Sanctuary. When they were talking she hadn't though about it much, in fact she had pretty much dismissed it as something she just wouldn't understand. It wasn't until later on, when Kaz was away and Nicki's brian was functioning properly, that she remembered what the Sanctuary was: a runaway home for a lot of mutant kids. It wasn't hard to find the place. Ironically...she thought she recoginized someone right off that bat...wasn't that a couple of people from the Mansion. Nicki started over, following the group a little.

"Hey, you givin a tour?" Nicki yelled out as she approached them. She immediately thought this was a mistake. Her hand flew to her earlobe, pulling on it. She wanted to find out more about this place, since it clearly meant something to Kaz. She was going to have to deal with the scared.

Kaz sped down the streets toward the Sanctuary. When he drove the building, he slammed on the breaks. Looking behind him at the car parked to the right of him. <SHIT! I know that car.> Kaz had seen the car take off from the mansion. <This isn't good.> Kaz put the car into gear and floored it, heading to the rear of the Sanctuary.

After getting the car into the garage, he made his way to his room as quickly as he could. The first thing he did was pull out his cell phone and began typing a text to both Syn and Abyss. The message was short and to the point.

There are people from the Xavier mansion at Sanctuary. Not sure what they're up to. Be ready for anything.

After sending the text, he began to rummage through his room. Finding some clothes, and an old mask he used a few times, hair clips and binders, he ran off to the medical room. The attendant was stunned for a few moments at Kaz's quick entrance before she spoke, "What the hell's the emergency?" She moved quickly to where Kaz was rummaging through the supply room, she noticed some clothes had be dropped on one of the beds. Kaz ignored her and her questions, until she reached for the intercom, "Don't! Just sit down, shut up. Go back to doing whatever you were doing." The attendant was speechless, but she recognized him after a moment, a member of The Order. When the realization set in she did exactly as Kaz told her to do.

Kaz found what he was looking for, sanitary wraps for burns and wounds. Grabbing the entire case, he went into the main room and disrobed. The attendant gaped at him, his blatant disregard for his privacy, and at his body. She kept silent and tried her best to get back to her work, but kept looking over as Kaz began to wrap himself in the wraps. He was doing a horrible job. "Here," Standing up she walked over to him. "Let me do it." Kaz eyed her for a moment deciding whether to accept or push her away. After Kaz nodded and told her he needed his entire body wrapped, she gave him an odd look, but began to do just that after a moment's pause. "Make sure the neck is wrapped tight." Kaz spoke sternly to, Lisa, finally noticing the woman's name tag. Lisa's eyebrow raised in confusion and interest. When she began to wrap his neck, he told her tighter, and she did. Kaz let out a small cough and smirked. Lisa didn't understand his smile but kept quiet while she wrapped his body as if his entire body had been burned by acid or a fire.

Once she had finished with his torso and arms, Kaz grabbed a comb and hair clips. He combed his hair back clipping it down as flat as he could against his skull. Taking the hair binder he pulled the excess into a small lump and bound it. It took some time but she had finished wrapping him, "Your face as well?" Thinking for a moment before answering, "Yeah, make sure I can fully move my head without getting my caught or limiting my moving." His voice was raspy and deeper than it had been when he came in the door. Lisa followed his instructions to the letter. When she finished she stepped back and looked at him as he tested his range of motion. "You look like a mummy." She half laughed. Kaz caught her eyes, "Thanks. You did well. When I leave, put the clothes I was wearing some where safe. I was never here, remember that."

The woman nodded and sat down at her desk. Her eyes went wide as Kaz began to bleed from the mouth. She jumped out of her seat half way before Kaz held his hand up for her to sit down. Interested she sat down and watched as he took the blood from his lips and the blood that was dripping, and dabbed it on the wraps on his fingers, some parts of his arms, shoulders, chest, back, hip, thighs, legs, feet and his head. Lisa's face took a look of partial understanding; He's making himself look like he's bleeding through the bandages. He's going undercover or something. This is exciting. A shiver went down her spine as quills shot out from underneath her skin along her spine, skull, shoulder blades and shoulders. Kaz looked at her from the corner of his eye and was surprised himself.

Focusing, Kaz began to get dressed. He took the mask, which had soft black cloth attached to it, and slipped it on. The cloth draped around his head, covering his skull, neck and draped across the top of his shoulders, and down part of his chest and back. Carefully he put his arms into the sleeves of the leather shirt, before zipping it up. He did the same with the leather pants, boots and gloves. He pulled on the last of the form fitting leather clothes, a thick leather vest that fit together in the front with buckles and clasps. The final pieces of his outfit were a black velvet cloak and a straight black cane with a silver cobra head. The cane was actually a sword, something Kaz rarely ever went without. The cloak fully covered his body, and the hood covered his head, leaving enough of an opening to show part of the mask. The mask was two different colors, the right side completely black, while the left side was bleach white. The mask was oddly shaped, though it fit the contours of his face almost perfectly. The right side was smooth and round, reminiscent of an ovoid shape, while the left was much more angular around the edges, and at the top, towards Kaz's left temple came a sort of horn that stuck straight up as if the mask had been grabbed and pulled. There were two small holes so he could breathe through his nose, and a tiny slit between the lips of the mask. The eyes were completely black; it wasn't possible to see through to his real eyes.

Kaz took a few steps while remembering when his leg was nearly broken when he was beaten by the boys in junior high. Almost immediately he began to limp on his right side, as if he had lived years walking with that limp. He tested this as he jogged with his 'gimp' leg; it seemed as if it was truly a busted leg. Lisa stared at Kaz, amazed at the transformation. When he first came in here, he was brash, and looked like physical perfection, and now, he looked like a black void, a broken grim reaper, who wouldn’t' be able to go up stairs or down a hall very easily.

Kaz nodded to her, which was merely the hood moving, as he left the room. He intended to find these people, he needed to. This was too much of a coincidence for him. <Was I found out? If so, how, and by who?> He walked the halls a few minutes before turning a corner and bumped into the secretary leading the guests. Kaz stumbled a bit, as someone with a busted leg would from a sudden jar, righting himself quickly using his cane. Kaz apologized to her, using her first name. No one besides Dorian King and members of The Order did such a thing. She realized who he was, and also realized he was defiantly not dressed normally, as well as his voice was very different, and probably for good reason, "It's fine Jonas. I should have been watching where I was going. I can get caught up in my work sometimes." She smiled to him. "Are these," Kaz coughed a bit, "New residents? Or tourists?" His eyes roamed the two men's faces, committing them to memory. He saw a third person, a girl. When he focused on her, he realized it was Nicki. His eyes went wide, and his hearth began to thump in his chest hard and fast. <What the HELL is she doing here?!> He began to cough to cover his surprise. <How...why? She couldn't have....> Kaz grabbed a white cloth from his pocket and put it between the cloth on his throat, setting it against his mouth, he bit his cheek hard, like he had done in the medical room, and made it bleed, though not as much. He made sure there was some blood on it and pulled it back, making sure that it was obvious what had just happened. Folding the cloth, he put it back into his pocket, and straightened up as much as his disguise would let him, as well as leaning on his cane for 'support'.

Raphael shook his head to the tour guide’s question. He was neither hungry, nor thirsty. Until now, as Nicki approached, the halls had been fairly empty. Almost devoid of life, something he found odd for a very public, and very open ‘sanctuary’. Though it was fairly obvious that Nicki was not a resident here, or if she was she seemed incredibly guilty of something, and recognized one of them as a guard or police officer who had caught her in the act. He looked to Wire to see if he recognized the girl, for Raphael did not. He chose to answer Nicki’s question for the tour guide.

“We’re just about to wrap it up,” he cast a glance at the tour guide who confirmed his statement.

“Exactly Raphael,” she replied with a ‘secretary’ smile.

Raphael did not return the smile, merely posed another question. “Medical facilities, in what kind of shape are they here? I mean, tip top? What about your staff? Mutant or human?”

The questions were meant more to keep up a guise than to actually be delving for any ‘deep’ information. He nearly tuned her out as they approached her desk, and certainly watched her almost run Kaz over. As she apologized, Raphael gave the man the ‘once over’… dark clothing, head to toe, raspy voice and a gimp leg, hacking cough … leper? Burn victim? Person pretending to be what they’re not? He suspected each of these things in turn, wondering if the cane might contain more than a just a cane.

“Right no –“ the secretary began, though Raphael spoke up to answer for her.

”Possible new residents,” he stated bluntly. “Depending on the rent, we’re in need of a safer place than our former quarters, a place that understands us and sees us as more than just a potential science project.”

Given that the words rolling out of Raphael’s mouth were the truth, with the only lie being that they were possible new residents, and even that was not a hard stretch for him. In truth, he had been kept from leaving the mansion solely by his girlfriend some month earlier. “Tell me, what is the rent here? What would be expected of us? And what is the security like? I mean, I noticed all the camera’s in the front hall… but… where do those go?”

Kaz watched Raph, as he looked him over. Coughing, Kaz spoke, "If you're wondering about something, just ask." Laughing, which sounded like a lot of small very harsh coughs. "I'm no leper, though I may seem like it. My mutation is completely useless and annoying. I was born without skin. If I were human, I would have died very shortly. But," Kaz shrugged with his left hand. "I'm not the grim reaper, no matter what I look like." It was a bad joke, and he knew it. He held his hand out towards Raph. "Jonas Valcolus."

Listening to Raph's question. "Hmm, well rent. There isn't any. Since you've come to this place, I'm sure you know who owns it. As he said, this is Sanctuary, for all mutants. The only thing we expect of anyone, is to stay safe, respect your fellow mutant, don't bring trouble here. Ya know the baiscs for any household really." Kaz held up his hand, making the sign for 'one moment', as he began to cough. His right arm began to shake, his right leg, the gimp one, buckled, as he fell to one knee. The secratary leaned over and grabbed Kaz's right arm and helped him up. She looked up at the visitors. "He won't be alive too much longer, maybe a year or so. Not everyone's mutation is helpful, his is killing him, slowly." <She's smart, and quick. No wonder she's the one to first greet people.> Kaz looked up at her face as she helped him up. The look he was giving her was one of resigned sadness. Of corse they couldn't see it on his actual face, but the body language portraid it quite well.

"Forgive me. I hope I didn't frighten or disturb any of you." Clearing his throat, which was much harsher than what it normally sounded, "There was an accident in the weight room a month or so ago. No one else was in the room. The watchman, saw it, and had some of the residents go help him. The camera's aren't jut for security from outside, but inside as well. I don't know where the room is. Honestly, I've never cared. Like most residence, it doesn't matter, we know it exists and it helps us. Keeps us safe from those who would like to kill us for no other reason than being different." It was clear his teeth were clenched, his left hand was clenched into a hard fist, and is right gripped the silver cobra head as hard as he could, without showing his strength that is. After calming down. "Don't worry about science experiments, the only ones going on are the ones in the classrooms." Through his talking, and his pauses, his eyes kept scanning the area without being obvious, while he kept listening to any sound that was odd, or out of place.

Fade walked off as the two entered the sanctuary. She walked around, peering into different doorways, looking around hallways. Everytime someone would walk near her, she would move to the side and at times, cling to the wall until the coast was clear. Another caught her attention. He was in a hurry, rushing along, texting someone. She attempted to follow and read his message, but she was unable to. What was the hurry? What was he so scared of? Was it merely a coincidence or did he know? How could he know?

Her curiousity got the better of her and she followed him. Oddly enough, he began to bandage himself. An odd attempt of...well, something. What he was doing was...honestly, Jenny had no clue. But she watched as he began to clothe himself over the bandages. Was it part of his power? Whatever it was, she did not like it. When he walked out, she again, followed him. He went back to where she started, amazing how, since she had no clue where she was.

He inquired about Wire and Raph and Fade took the opportunity to sneak up behind Raph and whisper something very quietly, only loud enough for him to hear "Careful of this one, I don't trust him." With that, she slinked back off again. Back down the hallways, back to her mission. She opened a closed door to find a lab. What was this place? She walked into the room and closed the door to look at the syringes. Just as she was about to knick something, the doors opened and a woman in a lab coat entered, sat down and got on her computer. Fade came up behind her and found that the woman was playing a card game. With disbelief, Fade exited the lab to continue her hunt of incriminating evidence.

Nicki caught up the rest of the group and shoved her hands into her pockets. She tried to look like she belonged. She was sure she was failing. Nicki decided to stay with the group of the other newbies, but she was a little confused about everything. Something was off. Even with her lesser skills she could tell something wasn't as it should be. Was she picking up lies from the tour guide or from the people getting the tour?

Nicki looked over at the man, Jonas. She squinted a little, thinking he looked familar. She had been getting that a lot today. Shaking her head, she decided to just be quiet and let the others ask questions. This whole situation was just confusing her more.

Syn had just turned off her music when she heard her cell phone buzzing on her night stand. It was a text messege from Kaz. Something about there might be people from the Mansion here at Sanctuary. Well, this could get interesting Putting her cell phone back in her pocket she sat up and got off her bed to leave her room.

After locking her door Syn thought the best place to start would be the front foyer. So she headed off down the hallway. She noticed several mutants she had never seen before but they were already helping themselves to games and food and such. Continuing on she saw a group of people at the front desk area.

When Syn approached Lisa acknowledged her and pointed out the new guests. Syn looked them over carefully and smiled. "Welcome to Sanctuary. Are you seeking a place to stay?"

((OOC: Fade, Kaz went into the medical room. Through doors. If doors open and no one comes through, it's obvious. Also he wasn't just moving fast, he was running as fast as he could, I doubt you could keep up with him. When he typed his text, he was in his room. You deffinantly wouldn't get in there without him noticing.))

Kaz noticed something odd, Raph's shirt moved the slightest bit while he stayed quite still. He could have sworn he heard, something like a voice, but couldn't quite make it out, almost like hearing soft voices through a wall, just slight murmers. Keeping his eye on Raph, his shirt moved again. <I knew it.> "Your friend is quite good at hiding." He coughed. "They might want to show themself. Before you ask, and deny it," Pausing to raise his left and hand point to Raph's shoulder. "Your shirt moved just slightly, then moved again back into place, while you didn't move at all." Putting his hand down, he leaned against the wall, taking weight off his right leg. Rubbing his throat a bit as he coughed, taking a deep, raspy breath, "If you're really interested in being here, this won't help your case. It sounds like you've had a hard time from where you come from, I'd really like to think you're not just playing us."

Kaz saw Syn at the end of the hall heading towards them. Waving to her, "Hey there. Haven't seen you in a while." Returning his attention to Raph, "There are people who don't like safe houses for mutants. Even mutants have turned against their own kind." He put a lot of emphisis on his last words. "They don't want this place to exist. I don't want to think of what would happen if you and your friends were one of those people." His tone was sturn and very serious, even though he began to cough. "If I remember correctly, the Xavier Institute has been attacked a few times, from human and mutant alike. Even rebuilt, three times? We at Sanctuary don't want that to happen here. There are youngsters here, like the girl behind you, who we'd rather not see hurt, or exposed to any more violence than they already have been." Grabbing the cloth from his pocket, he put it to his mouth as he began to cough violently, his body nearly doubling over, as blood came out of his mouth, some of it even coming out of the slit in the mask where the lips were.

Raphael shifted his duffel bag from one shoulder to the other and reached out and shook the other man’s hand as Fade touched his shoulder and whispered in his ear. He mentally cursed her for doing so, they had radios and Wire was wearing his… she should have used that, but no matter now. He would just have to hope the other man, or the secretary, did not notice. “No rent is good rent.”

He nodded to Syn as she approached, addressing her question. “Yes we are, and as your friend Jonas has just explained, there is no rent… So, my next question would be: What is the process of application?”

In truth he wanted reassurance that this place was as safe as the propaganda claimed. He looked back to Kaz as he mentioned Fade. He put on a smile where most would frown at the scout being found out. His smile faded as Kaz had one helluva coughing fit. “She is skiddish. It is funny you mention Xavier’s mansion, as that was our previous place of residence.” His smile dropped. “That place is not safe. I can testify to that myself. It was attacked twice in less than the year I was staying there… one of those times, mutants were kidnapped for research.” As he spoke he ‘turned on’ his life-aura sight and had a look around for Fade, and anyone else that might be invisible or otherwise hidden. “I don’t see her around. Jenny, come out please, there’s no one here to hurt you, we’re going to be safe.” He frowned for a moment, closing his eyes and shaking his second sight from his eyes. “My mutation is to see the life-auras given off by people. Useless in most situations given that it makes me dizzy, but for finding people who are hidden…” he shrugged. “Jenny, come back here and reveal yourself… These good people will protect us, they’re not going to experiment on you again.”

“The Xavier’s institute’s heart is in the right place, but…” he shrugged. “Security is lacking, even with ‘x-men’ living there. What a load of s*** they are. Didn’t protect me much the first week I was there and they couldn’t keep Jenny and I from being nabbed in a Fusionist research raid.” He shuddered at his time at the research lab, a shudder that was real and not faked. All of his story was real, he did not hold the older x-men in high regard, excluding the couple that had personally broken him out of the research lab. They had failed to protect Victoria the night of Whitmore’s attack, and had failed to safeguard him and more than a handful of other mutants when Fusionist decided the mansion would be a prime picking ground for test subjects. It would not be difficult to pick out his truer feelings concerning the x-men he felt were at fault.

“What sort of protection can you provide against an outside incursion? Or are we suddenly no longer welcome simply because of our previous residence? If so, we need to be on our way to find someplace that will take us in despite where we used to live.”

((I apologize, I did not read your post that closely. But a door will not stop her, she snuck in behind him. When your character opened the door, mine followed closely and did not open it a second time. I do need someone to follow as I do not know the Sanctuary and a character that is running around invisible cannot be expected to know everywhere to go and everything to do and most certainly not what to find unless one of the Sanctuarians post something to give me brief knowledge of where my character is and what she could find that would not be neccessarily 'out-of-the-ordinary'. So as it may seem like I am, however you wish to word it 'taking advantage of your senario', I merely followed the only character outside of the lobby so I can have some grounds and gain some background information. Again, my reading was not as observant as it should have been and I apologize for that.

However, you have made the same mistake as well for if you were to go back and read my post over again, you would realize that Fade never touched Raph's shoulder. She never made any piece of his clothing move, thus her location was not revealed. I can live with your character hearing a slight noise, but it could not be loud enough to be percieved as a whisper, especially considering your character's location in relation to Raph's. I do not believe they were a foot away. Secondly, might you remember you have many layer of clothe and disguise on you and it might not be so easy to hear through all of those, again, I can understand you hearing a noise but to be able to distinguish it as a whisper through your disguise and at your distance is quite quizical.))