It was hard to tell how long Shade had been waiting to his cell of light. There was no way to tell time here except for the arrival of food. Three times during the day, or what Shade assumed was day, an elderly man dressed as a doctor would arrive to give the trapped mutant food. It was a ritualistic procedure, and no matter what Shade would say to the man, he would never even acknowledge Shade's existence. The shadow mutant had started out kindly enough, asking for the leader of the X-men to come see him. With no reply to that, Shade asked about what would happen to him. However, he still had no reply. Finally, the shadow mutant had started making threats and screaming curses at the silent doctor, but it did nothing to provoke the man's anger. So Shade simply accepted his fate of captivity.

The shadow mutant had tried to mark the cell with his blade every time the man appeared, but the wall was too hard to take a scratch. Boredom and frustration were Shade's only companions. In order to kill time, the captured Orderling had taken to exercising as much as he could in his cell. His muscles had become leaner and more defined. He was faster at drawing a blade from his pocket and more accurate with it as well, at least within the range of his cell. Shade's blonde hair was starting to lengthen and he was in need of a shave. Luckily, they had been kind enough to provide changes of clothes every "day" with his first meal, even if they were ugly orange coveralls.

The shadow mutant had come to his own realization about why no one had entertained his capture. The X-men were a peaceful organization. They would not kill him, and he knew that if they tried to bring the shadow mutant to court, he would either escape or the Order would rescue him. So the X-men had confined him to this tiny cell to remove Shade from the fight. The Orderling was one piece off the board for the X-men, and they were not about to lose that piece. However, Shade also knew that they could not keep him down forever. They would have to decide what to do him sooner or later. The shadow mutant just hoped that they would decide sooner than later. He was tired of living "Groundhog's Day" in this tiny cell.

Another headache was putting it mildly. No one had been in the holding cells in the mansion since he first moved in. Sam had heard stories but not until recently did he feel the need to check them out. How do you keep a shadow contained? Glass and a ton of light. Sam was sure there was a joke somewhere in there but he didn’t really think much on it at the moment. Shin would have come up with a quick one-liner but for now he would have to work with what he could think of.

Sam walked down the hallway that led to the X-Brig where Shade was being held. Sam had a few run in’s with this mutant in particular, attacks on the mansion and other things. Heck his first run in with one of the stalker bots in NYC was with Shade back then though there wasn’t sides. It was just survival it was simple then, now there were sides. The X’s and the members of the order. One was about superiority and the other was about cohabitation. According to them if you didn’t agree with them and slaughter innocent people then you were part of the problem.

Backwards thinking, at least that was what Sam used to think. Now? No, now he had a different perspective. If he had killed Amanda and Sydney when he last saw them before he was being controlled the incident itself wouldn’t have happened and his life would still be as normal as it could have been for him. He wouldn’t have nightmares of seeing false members of his family being slaughtered, he wouldn’t see his false wife’s face every time he was alone. That was the worst part about it. His mind still played tricks on him.

Every time Sam fell asleep and then awoke he still had difficulty telling reality from a dream. Like right now when he was walking down the hallway with a six-pack of his favorite beers and a box full of pizza, this was all a dream. But it wasn’t.

”You know there was a time when I wanted to thank you for saving me. That was before you attacked my friends and home half a dozen times.” Sam said as the doors opened after a retinal scan from his lone eye and the voice recognition software Streak installed picked up on what he was saying. The Glass cell door opened and Sam entered the cell. The temperature in the room dropped slightly as Sam placed the pizza and beers on the floor near a chair as he sat.

The doors closed behind him and Sam sighed slightly, ”First time I’ve ever been in one of these cells.” Sam said kicking the prisoners bed trying to coax him into letting him know Sam was real. He had been here for a while so it wouldn’t have been a surprise to Sam if his mind was playing tricks on him.

”Not the healthiest of meal choices but I though you could use a little company. Sam said reaching down and popping the tops off of two beers one for him and one for shade.

Shade's appearance that continued to deteriorate over the months of his captivity. His blonde hair had turned white and frail. It had remained uncut. It fell almost to his shoulders now. His muscles had left him long ago. Instead, he looked like a living skeleton. The orange jumpsuit provided by his guard hung loosely on him. Luckily, he had changed it recently so he did not stink too bad.

The mutant once known as Shade was doing what he was always doing when Cold Steel entered the brig. He was lying on his bed. One arm hung off the edge of the bed. With his fingers, Shade traced unseen patterns on the floor. The sound of the security door opening did not disturb Shade's mindless task. He was certain that it was only his daily ration of food being delivered by the mute guard. However, the sound of words reached Shade's ears.

It was joy to Shade. He had been waiting so long for something, anything, and finally, he was rewarded. Shade tried to get up, but the sudden excursion was too much for his frail body. He fell back into a sitting position on his bed. If Shade had been stronger, he might have offered Cold Steel a response, but he only gave a half-hearted geer.

The room chilled thanks to the ice mutant. Shade drew his bony arms close against the cold. The smell of pizza filled the small cell, and Shade's empty stomach growled in response. Then Cold Steel offered Shade a beer as if they were sitting next to each other in a bar. The gesture definitely gave Shade pause. He was expecting torture and pain, not a meal and pleasant company.

Gingerly, Shade's bony hands closed around the beer, taking it from Cold Steel. With his eyes watching the X-men, Shade took a drink. The amber liquid tasted delicious. Shade's body seemed to transform the carbs of the drink into energy in an instant. A strength that Shade had not felt in a long tine returned. And he broke into smile. A genuine smile.

"Thanks," Shade said, taking a longer drink from the beer. The cool beverage seemed to lift Shade's spirits and flack away the effects of his captivity. "You know, for an X-men, you aren't that bad."

With a supreme pizza in his hand Sam took a bite ignoring the comment, Sam knew there was bad blood between the factions. He didn’t know how far back it went or whose blood it was but he knew ever since he had joined the X-team the mutants over at the sanctuary found him less of a mutant because of it. Like he was making less of himself for trying to save innocent lives, no it was obvious killing humans made you superior. Sam rolled his one eye then looked upon him.

The Shade or rather the crypt keeper (at least what he resembled currently) seemed to enjoy the beer, a good sign. ”Noticed you haven’t been eating much.” Sam said understanding the effects of captivity well. ”Food taste bad or just not hungry?” Sam asked taking a bite of the pizza and following it up with a sip of beer.

”Other than the food how is captivity?” Sam knew it would have been a sore subject considering it was under the team’s orders to keep Shade in the brig. In fact he was pretty sure Shin wasn’t aware of it, if he was they’d be having a very different conversation right now. ”I can see about getting some books or a TV in here.” Sam looked around and smirked, ”Got enough light to read with I’m sure.”

"No reason to eat." Shade replied before taking another large swig from his beer, draining it to halfway. Seeing Cold Steel take a slice of pizza, the shadow mutant took that as an unspoken invitation and grabbed one for himself. The first bite was pure heaven. The perfect combination of cheese, toppings, and tomato sauce filled Shade's mouth with favor and his body with joy. He savored the taste for a moment before devouring the rest of the slice in record time. To wash it down, Shade drained the rest of his beer. He let go a belch before helping himself to another of Cold Steel's beers.

"Boring." Shade said, popping the top of the beer. "Something to distract myself would help. A newspaper would be nice, too. How are things on the outside? Anything interesting happening? And don't get me started on the light."

Shade laughed at his own joke before taking another large drink from the beer. If the ice mutant had hoped to get Shade drunk to help loosen his tongue, the idea was working. Thirty pounds lighter and without alcohol for a year, Shade's body was already feeling the effects of the alcohol even if his mind had not realized it yet.

>>>>"No reason to eat."

Sam nodded trying not to read too much into it. He had been in similar situations before but he decided he wanted to live and while the food was disgusting and he had no reason to believe he’d be able to escape he decided to make the most of it. In his case he worked out.

”Newspaper I can do.” Sam said nodding his head, ”More of a News guy or you in it for the comics?” Sam said smirking and taking a swig of his beer to wash down the pizza. Sam looked to the bottles of beer and aimed a small jet at the ones still in the six pack and frost coated the bottles. Another bite of pizza and Sam continued on, ”Not much after the riots.” Sam said trying to sound as bland as he could about that fiasco.

”I mean, I was attacked recently but that wasn’t really in the news.” Sam said shrugging his shoulders trying again to sound very reserved. He didn’t want Shade to read too much into it. At least not yet. He doubted the order had anything to do with it anyways the last thing they would want is an all out war with the X-Men no one would win that.

”Pretty sure they think I’m dead but you know how it is.” Sam said taking another bite of pizza followed by another sip of beer. ”So tell me about yourself.” Sam said trying to get to know Shade a bit better, he figured the best way to understand why he is the way he is to simply talk to him. Sides it wasn’t like Shade wouldn’t keep talking, Sam knew how lonely being in a cell could make you. A chance to talk to someone made any cell a vast improvement.

>”So tell me about yourself.”

"What would you like to know? There is not much to tell. You know the important information." Shade replied, brushing off the question. It was nothing personal. Shade had never opened up to anyone. He had never told anyone about his nightly pursuits when he was younger. It was then that he discovered that everyone had secrets to hide. People were always wearing masks, hiding their true identity from the world. Speaking of hiding something, Shade could not help but notice how Cold Steel breezed over his recent incident. It perked Shade's interest.

"You said you were attacked? It wasn't the Order, I hope?" Shade said with a sadistic smile, a hint of the old Shade surfacing. "You obviously made it out okay though. And being death definitely has its advantages."

After he ignored the firs question he asked his own and a smile reached his expression revealing he was reliving the glory days of attacking X-Men. A look Sam wasn’t particularly fond of. The room got colder for a second and then Sam’s hold over air molecules was released. ”No I don’t think it was the order, I’ve got into fights with them before and they weren’t that skilled.” Sam said making sure Shade heard the ‘they’ implying Sam no longer considered him an order member while he was locked up.

”I mean other than Abyss and his brothers the only one that ever gave me a really difficult time was Geo, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t try fighting me again unless I gave him a personal reason.” Sam said shrugging his shoulders, ”No this was a well thought out attack, they tracked me for a while supposedly and waited till I was pretty drunk before they jumped me. One had a sonic roar of some kind and the other didn’t miss with projectiles.” Sam said pointing to his ears and then knees, ”They immobilized me and then attempted a kill shot.” Sam said smirking, ”They failed of course but that still doesn’t mean I don’t want to see some retribution.” Sam said sipping his beer showing little emotion.

”I mean the order never really were never the plan it all out type of group.” Sam said smirking and taking a bite of pizza. ”Unless you guys decided to actually think things out.” Sam shrugged and then asked, ”You don’t have a guy with a sonic roar do ya?”

So the ice brain had jokes. Kindness turned to mockery. Cold Steel blanantly left Shade out of the picture, failing to mention that the shadow mutant had snuck into the mansion singlehandedly or the fact that he was one of the only Order members to ever kill an X-men. Shade should have expected something like this.

Anger swelled in his chest, and Shade made another attempt to stand. But he was too weak. He was only a shadow of his former self. And a shadow of a shadow was not much of anything. Instead, Shade broke into laughter. It was a hysterical laughter, bordering on insane. When he finally stopped, there were tears in his eyes. He wiped them away as his laughter fell into a chuckle.

"No, no. I never saw a sonic roar mutant for as long as I was there. Two musical twins, but nothing like you described." Shade replied before grabbing another slice of pizza and wolfing it down. He licked the grease off his fingers before taking a large gulp of his beer. His eyes then fell back on Cold Steel.

"What kind of retribution are you planning?" Shade asked, offhandedly.

Sam watched as Shade got a little angry by his comments rightly so he was trying to see if the mutant had any fight left in him. Turned out he did. ”Don’t bother getting up, your not gonna do anything anyways. I’m the only one that has actually come to talk to you since you got locked up.” Sam said sipping his beer.

Shade explained that there wasn’t anyone there with the mutation he described which did shed a little light onto things which meant there might be a new player in town with enough resources to track and get their research down on him and then have the stones to attack him. Sam took a sip of his beer and shrugged when Shade asked him what he planned on doing to the guys that attacked him. ”Whatever kind is needed. Ideally we can bring him in but if not…” Sam didn’t say anything else he took a bite of his pizza and ignored the words he had just said knowing they weren’t very X-Man like. Neena and Tricity might even have had a word with him if they heard him. Luckily they wouldn’t.

Insane laughter and looking like a skeleton aside the holding cell seemed to be treating Shade well Sam thought sarcastically to himself. ”So why’d you attack us again?”

~”Don’t bother getting up, your not gonna do anything anyways. I’m the only one that has actually come to talk to you since you got locked up.”

"You're right. And it would be rude to attack the my only guest. You might leave me down here to rot for good next time." Shade said with only a hint of disgust in his voice, like his tongue was betraying him for speaking such words to an X-man. However, it did seem that Shade had in fact learned a little humility while being locked up.

~”Whatever kind is needed. Ideally we can bring him in but if not…”

Oh, the ice mutant was holding a grudge against whoever had tried to kill him. That was not very X-men like at all. Shade wondered if any of the others felt the same way. If so, Shade's proposal might go over smoother than he imagined. In response to Cold Steel's words, the shadow mutant only gave a nod and a sound of approval. Shade knew how it felt to want revenge against someone who had wronged you.

~”So why’d you attack us again?”

Aw, they had finally come to the most important question. Why had Shade attacked them again? After all, he had barely escaped last time he had infiltrated the mansion. Security was bound to be tighter now. Why risk it, especially with no backup or partner or escape plan, for that matter? Why, indeed?

"To get caught, of course." Shade replied, simply. Certainly, Cold Steel would want a more prudent answer so the shadow continued. "Okay, it was to get an audience with you, without raising suspension. You see, the Order has not kind to me lately, and I want you to help me bring it down!"

>>>"To get caught, of course." "Okay, it was to get an audience with you, without raising suspension. You see, the Order has not kind to me lately, and I want you to help me bring it down!"

Sam did his best not to smirk when Shade had said why he was attacked however he didn’t bother trying to hide it when it had appeared after he took another sip of his beer. The room got a chill when he set his drink down. ”Clearly you aren’t the brains of any operation are ya?” Sam said reaching down for another slice of pizza without keeping his eye on Shade. Sam had already established he wasn’t afraid of the guy at this point the lights made him next to useless.

”You attacked my home again almost killed a kid and caused a large enough commotion for me to get a few phone call from some parents.” he stated coldly as the room’s tempature started to drop under his influence. ”All for an audience with me so I can help you take down the order?” Sam started to chuckle then he set down the pizza he just grabbed so he could bring his hand to his nose as he continued to laugh with his eye closed. The room still got colder, ”Order isn’t a big concern on my list at the moment.” Sam said flatly as his laughing started to wind down.

The icemancer took another deep breath then resumed smirking as he grabbed the slice of pizza he dropped and took a bite. ”The order is filled with killers and psychopaths, this I know however, I’m currently focused on some others some more pressing threats that don’t have an issue attacking mutants like myself in the streets without much regard for the danger they pose on others.” Sam said flatly as he sipped from the beer again.

”What kind of help could you offer me that I couldn’t get from someone else? Someone I trust more? You attacked my home multiple times, my friends and the kids I’m sworn to protect, why would I trust you?” Sam asked already thinking of a sure fire way he could Shade under his control with nothing more than a few words. ”An easier way to get an audience with me would have been to break the law. Mutant related crimes are usually one of the things I’m called to respond to.” Sam looked around the cell the air still cold enough to make anyone’s teeth chatter, ”How’d that work out for ya? How long have you been locked up?”

Was it getting colder in here or was Shade halucinating? He placed his beer down as a shiver ran down Shade's spine as Coild Steel spoke, and it was not just from the temperature. The ice mutant was slowly destroying Shade's plan with every word he spoke. The skinny shadow drew his arms in around as the temperature dropped more. He was not halucinating. It was getting closer in here, very cold. Silver Streak may have been the X-men to capture the shadow, but only because Shade wanted to get caught. But Cold Steel had Shade cornered, and Shade hated feeling cornered. The shadow mutant tried to get a word in, but the X-men was ranting. And it was getting so cold in the cell that Shade could not concentrate.

"For God's sake, Cold Steel! It's freezing in here." Shade said, his breath fogging in front of him. He was shivering from the chill, and his teeth were chattering. If he could think properly, Shade might have shot back some witty response to Cold Steel's questions, but presently, he was just too cold. The bottle that Shade had dropped earlier had frosted over.

(OOC: Cold Steel, I know it is not much of a post, but I did not want to god-mode.)

Once he begged for a little warmth only then did Sam sever his hold on the temperature. Again he wanted Shade to know how much control he had over the situation. He might be able to teleport in shadows but he could control the very air around them. Shade wasn’t much to a threat to Sam anymore especially not with his ability to sense body heat. That kind of made Shade’s ability to use stealth more of a liability for the shadow jumper.

”A few weeks to a month.” Sam said shrugging, ”I found out you were hear not to long ago and seeing as both of us are now presumed dead, I figured it would be good if we talked.” Sam said sipping his beer, which still was covered in frost. ”Now impress me or it’ll be a long time since I come to visit.”

(OOC: No worries, this one isn't really long either)

The frozen demon made Shade shiver for a moment after he literally begged Cold Steel to raise the temperature. It took another couple of seconds for Shade's blood to start moving again. After he stopped shivering, the shadow mutant shot the X-men a lethal gaze. However, the cocky idiot probably did not see it because of his boasting, and for the fact that Shade's head was down. Shade flexed his thawing hands, willing a blade to materialize in his palm. His brightly lighted cell had other plans though. It was probably for the best, but Shade was seriously rethinking his plan, presently. Rash decisions would only leave him locked in the cell until he died. He forced himself to smile as he refocused on persuading Cold Steel to release him. Shade had to show that he was a good boy.

"Thank you." Shade replied to the increase in temperature. "Believe it or not, I did not intent to hurt that girl. That knife was suppose to be for Silver Streak, but I missed."

Shade thought it best to clear up that misfortune incident. He did not entirely care if Cold Steel believed him or not, but it was best to get everything on the table. The Order not being on the top of Cold Steel's list did come as a shock to the shadow mutant. Maybe Shade thought too highly of the Order.

"As for why you need me... Shade licked his lips as he paused, searching for the answer. It had been so clear a year ago when he had conceived this plan, but now everything seemed hidden in a fog, and someone was shouting the wrong directions to Shade trapped in it. Ah, there was it.

"Well, I mean, you have to be pretty dumb or incredibly smart to betray the Order, right? Not many people are that stupid. Obviously, they would not be the brains of the operation for sure..." Shade replied before grabbing himself a slice of now cold pizza. He took a bite and chewed slowly, trying not to smile. He did not want to appear cocky. Shade could not forget that he was the prisoner.

"Actually, I don't think anyone is that stupid...except for me." Shade said. He did not say what he really wanted to say. Cold Steel had never had an offer like this before. Nobody was willing to spy on the Order. Shade was one of a kind, the only one. In other words, if Cold Steel wanted to stop the Order, he needed Shade.

(OOC: So I tried my best not to go overboard but still get my point across. I know I did not really "impress" Cold Steel, but I wanted to give you a chance to reply to this. I will try to get to the other questions in my next reply.)