The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
Cafas had a few years of acting experience behind his poker face. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to fully stop the wince that ran across his features. A shadow of it danced through his eyes.
That is... Wow.
Yup, well, that sure made the situation a bit different. Then again... "Wait, if Sam doesn't know, and you didn't know at the time, then who does know you two are related?" Because if the answer was nobody, then the photos meant a grand total of nothing. Surely it was only really possible to blackmail someone with something genuinely damning?
Internally, Cafas was somewhat surprised with himself. He was oddly okay with the confession, and in fact the strongest emotional response he had was a quickly squashed pang of jealousy. Honestly the whole thing barely affected him beyond how it affected Maya.
His lack of concern over it was written all over his face. The poker face had dropped the second he'd realised he didn't need it. The suppressed wince had been entirely to do with the photos, and what they could do if people actually did know Maya was related to the guy in them.
"So Isabel and your brother huh? You think somehow two murderers dating is going to bring them towards the light?" She had said neither of them had killed anyone, right? Like it was slightly surprising for both of them? It was kind of hard to imagine anyone related to Maya being that dangerous.
"I don't know what Sam knows, but he sure loves to tease me about it." Flopping onto Cafas' lap and moping sounded like the best course of action had she not been holding on to a piping hot cup of coffee. With her options limited by her desire not to be scalded, Maya simply let her forehead fall onto Cafas' shoulder as he continued to think things through.
"Katrina knows." Oh boy did Katrina know everything. She'd been butt dialed from Simon's bedroom. "Maybe Calley." Actually, maybe the moping wasn't so necessary. There was a whole string of 'what if's that led to someone finding out for real. The issue then was that once someone found out for real... what would they do?
"He's not-!" Maya sat up, ready to defend her brother, but the excuses she thought through were pretty thin. "I don't know, exactly, that's he's a murderer. I mean, I would hope not, but the evidence is pretty damning." Maya sipped at her coffee and thought about the weapons cache she'd raided at his apartment. He was a powerful mutant with a dangerous ability. He didn't need weapons.
She'd lost track of the things she'd stolen on the way to England. Mentally, Maya was kicking herself about how she'd been in his apartment recently, but totally forgot to see if he'd replaced them. At least, she sort of had an excuse there...
"Or at least a distraction from the bad stuff." Maya was such a good matchmaker. At least she could be proud of that. They were so totally naked last time she checked.
Such match. Many friskiness. Wow.
"I don't know what their dynamic is like, but I told both of 'em that I'd beat Simon up if he was mean to her." So, you know, there was that.
Cafas felt a sleepy wave try to pull him under, the comforting scents of Maya and coffee intermingling into one big cozy nose hug. He had to struggle to keep his eyes open. Sipping his coffee helped. The metal manipulator turned his head and gently rested his lips on Maya's hair for a long moment while she spoke.
Concentration was made difficult when he inhaled, as Maya's hair tickled his nose. Cafas pulled back and wrinkled his nose this way and that to try and kill the sensation.
"Well, Calley is probably the most likely to leak the brother thing, if the photos went around to begin with, which I feel is a long-shot anyway." The pulling of funny faces continued through the better part of the observation. Cafas was pretty certain the photos were a non-issue after their conversation.
Sam wouldn't actually do it would he?
"So I think you're worrying over nothing there. Far more worrying is the idea that Isabel could find a partner. She's scary enough on her own. I hope you're right about this distracting her." Sincerely hoped, because he had the distinct sensation Isabel would be his problem one day.
Fat chance I'll be able to arrest her...
Cafas yawned and shuffled a little closer to Maya. "How's your Isabel project going anyway? You still hoping you can make her less murdery?" She was certainly working pretty well for Cafas. Not that she knew. She should probably know. He should tell her.
Maya peeked at Cafas over the top of her cup, half in awe, half sure he was the wisest guy she'd ever met, and half like he might have sprouted a second pink-haired head. She was overwhelmed by half. Relief flooded her once she realized that he hadn't gotten up and left in a disgusted tizzy. He didn't throw his coffee at her. Nothing. He just tried to make it better, tried to help her through the realization that it probably wasn't as big a deal as she thought it might be.
It didn't feel like the weight of her secret was wholly gone. Maybe she hadn't fully given it up. Maybe she was just holding onto it too hard for too long. She rolled her lips in on themselves and held onto her lower lip while Cafas worked through his next question.
"I'd love to help Isabel change, but she's got to want to and I haven't exactly talked to her a lot lately. I texted her exactly once and it actually went to you. I mean, every couple has a honeymoon period right? I figure it's too soon to bother."
So was the Cafas-Maya honeymoon period over?
"So... you don't hate me? You're not disgusted?" She just had to sure... just in case. No point in going back to the hotel if he was actually feeling all squidgy inside.
"She doesn't seem too keen on changing from my brief encounter with her in the bar. If anyone can do it though, I'm confident that it's you." He punctuated with a long sip of coffee. He felt no less tired for the sip, though he was sure he'd come to regret it in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Well, arguably it beats sleeping.
Briefly he considered the origin of the term honeymoon, and made a note to look it up. He didn't share Maya's unspoken musing on the state of their own honeymoon period, though that was perhaps less a reflection of his confidence in the matter, and more his lack of understanding the distinction of said period.
"So... you don't hate me? You're not disgusted?"
The metal manipulator considered the concern evident in Maya's features, a soft smile and nearly silent chuckle on his lips. His mug found the table to free his hands, with which he gently held Maya's head, his eyes meeting hers. Words came to his lips, but faltered as he opened his mouth to speak them. They felt wrong. Not false, just the incorrect gesture.
As a personified crab once said to a prince in a row boat...
Instead he brought his lips to hers, gentle motion thinly veiling a depth of love and passion. Nothing had changed in his feelings for Maya, which was why he had to break off, before too much of the longing he was holding back slipped into the kiss. His eyes opened, and found and held hers once again.
Okay, now what was I going to say?
"Never. Not as you drove a blade through my heart, would I hate you..." Cafas' expression abruptly flowed into a slight, amused frown. Barely a breath passing before he followed up with "Which is a terrible example in my case, but you get the point." His hands were retrieved before the silly intensity could grow any further. Genuine or not, that had been a little... Actory.
He made her look at him. He started to say something. Stopped. Looked between her eyes. And then stopped that too. Like he came to a mental conclusion. He was serious. He had serious eyes.
Oh no. Here it was. The hammer was gonna fall...
But, instead, he leaned in. She could tell what was happening since he was moving carefully and with consideration. He was going to, and eventually did, kiss her. She held her ground until he closed at least 90% of the way and then couldn't wait the last 10%.
That was her biggest, deepest, darkest secret. And he didn't care.
He pulled back and she tried to duck under his attempts to capture her attention, but his words caught her instead.
> "Not as you drove a blade through my heart..."
Seriously!? Maya brought her arms up to... well, something. She'd had a plan and it all fell apart once she realized that she had coffee still in her hand and then she didn't have coffee in her hand. Cafas had coffee on his person.
"You are the most self-sacrificing, self-hating, deserving of love morons that I know." Maya huffed and got up for napkins, more annoyed at herself and Cafas' continued self devalue than the cheesy sentiment. She returned not two full seconds later with gobs of napkins in her fist. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, but don't you go telling me or anybody else that it's okay to hurt you, Cafas Johnson." She righted the cup and fussed as much as he let her. Luckily, she drank most of her coffee already, leaving just enough to make a mess.
He really did lose a lot of shirts, and so few to a good coffee flinging. Hot coffee soaked into his shirt and pants with fervor, and all he could do was sit there, staring at it in resignation.
"You are the most self-sacrificing, self-hating, deserving of love morons that I know."
"I don't..." She was already up and gone. Cafas knew, because he watched her walk away, over to some napkins. His eyes darted up as Maya turned and started walking back, but he was still biting his lower lip, in a typical display of subtlety.
Maybe a little too long on that kiss.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, but don't you go telling me or anybody else that it's okay to hurt you, Cafas Johnson."
Cafas took a few napkins from Maya and wiped up what little coffee had landed on the furniture, before turning his attention to his pants. "It's fine, it wasn't that hot, and I wasn't really saying it was okay, just that I'd still love you." That wasn't going to fly. He knew it wasn't. "I mean... Okay, sweetheart, I won't." his chided expression took a suggestive turn and he followed up, with a wink, "Well, maybe you, but different context."
We circle back to this topic a lot..
The shirt was a total write off, that coffee stain was for life. The pants were perhaps salvageable, but it would remain to be seen. Cafas finished his own coffee and stood, wrapping Maya into a slightly damp hug. Mama T's insistence that he tell her kept circling in his mind, and after what was clearly a distressing confession, he didn't feel like pretending with Maya. He pulled back from the hug and held his girlfriend by the waist, back to serious mode.
"Look, this might not be the right time, but uh, when we get back to the hotel I think I need to tell you something. I don't predict this being an easy conversation for either of us, but I've been informed it has to happen."
He just really hoped it wasn't going to destroy them.
What was that? He needed to see some 'I'm serious' eyes? Because she was serious.
> "I mean... Okay, sweetheart, I won't."
She nodded once and considered the matter closed. Maya artfully ignored any allusions to bondage since based on previous conversations she had to assume he was only poking fun at her spanking picture. Which he could totally do now that he knew about it.
Ugh. Not this Johnson too.
> "Look, this might not be the right time..."
"There's never a good time to deliver bad news." At least it sounded like bad news. Maya rubbed her eyes. Today was just full of bad news, but she wasn't about to tell him to wait for tomorrow. Not when she'd offloaded so much on him today. She could take it if he could.
"I'm really sorry. I'm tired and it just happened. I'll be your shirt bodyguard. Look. No one will look if I stand in front of you, right?" She stood in front of him and then went up on tip-toe beyond what her shoes offered once she realized that she did not make an adequate cover height-wise. And width-wise... well, she could maybe put her hands on her hips...?
Sheepishly she set herself down on square footing again. "We'll just go quick then." Maya put her hand in Cafas' and tried not to let her mind wander into what Cafas felt he had to confess. At least he had the foresight to not spill his guts (or his coffee) all over the coffee shop.
She pulled him out onto the sidewalk. "Or did you want to ghost?" Because they could totally ghost, Maya was hesitant since she didn't know her way around but it was an option.
She did her level best to hide the shirt, but it wasn't going to happen. She didn't have the mass. It really didn't matter that much. He had shirts, so many shirts, and a coffee stain hardly seemed like the media field day them awkwardly shuffling about would have been.
"Maya, it's fine, really." Being led into the street by the hand with an insistence on being quick seemed inefficient. Surely they should have called the driver first? Oh, but of course, there were transport options. Cafas would have to decline though. "Tired, no Doc-Prof, and we'd probably lose the driver his job for losing us. It's fine, lets just drive."
Cafas fired off a text to the driver ad stole another kiss from Maya, because he wasn't sure how many more he was getting. He didn't even know where to begin. How do you tell the most morally upstanding person you know, a crime fighting hero no less, that you have a kill count the is likely approaching triple digits?
Well first, you throw yourself out the window...
Their driver spared him going any further with that thought, pulling up in front of them and almost running to get the door for them. Cafas let Maya in first, and with a smile that didn't meet the nervousness of his eyes, asked him to take them home. He seemed relieved. It had been a long day for him too. The driver was buckling up by the time Cafas slid into the back seat. He'd needed just one more deep breath.
The trip was short, relatively uneventful, with Cafas struggling to find oxygen while playing it cool in front of the driver. Or behind, as it were. Even with LA traffic, they were back in almost no time, and dismissing the driver cheerily enough. A short, quiet walk back to their room, a pause to make sure the door was locked.
It was.
Cafas rested his forehead against it, trying to gather his thoughts and breath.
There's just no good place to begin...
He began speaking without moving, not mustering the courage to turn.
"So... You might have noticed I have some, uh, issues. I don't know how much I talk in my sleep, so I don't know quite how much you already know, but I think if I'm ever going to move past it I need to talk about it. Mama T thinks I need to tell the whole team, and uh, you'll get why when I tell you, I suspect. I needed to tell you first though, because I'm not sure how much of it I can actually tell the whole team, but you deserve the full story, because of what we're kinda trying to do here, and because of how much you've already been through this with me."
Will she ever even look at me again?
His yes were clenched shut, his forehead pressed hard into the door. He couldn't do it like that though. He had to actually face her while he spoke to her, because it was Maya, and ultimately, he had to face what was to come, and he chose to do so head on, not hiding.
"There's no going back from this one, Maya, so I feel it's only fair to give you a chance to opt out."
At least it wasn't cold here. Outside, despite the potentially lurking cameras, was actually nice now that the sun had set.
Into the car, she tried to watch him without being too obvious about it. They couldn't get back to the hotel fast enough. Cafas seemed to be of similar mind, rushing them until they were finally enclosed.
But by then it was too late. She'd had too long to think and there were only so many places she could think to go.
Surely he hadn't killed someone. Or maybe something sexual. Was it not working out? She could easily imagine it. She wasn't enough. He really was gay. It wasn't just Calley. It was never just Calley. Even now maybe. Or maybe he had done something to someone. Maybe even someone who didn't want it. He'd been drunk lots of times, was it when he was drunk? Did he have kids? Surely he hadn't hurt a kid. Surely.
Maya twisted her hands in front of her as Cafas spoke. He said words. The words weren't helping. She'd already been through some of something with him? Her scenarios all buzzed in her brain vying for a new angle to present themselves.
"Can you please cut the drama and just tell me? I'm sure I'm imagining worse." Her voice cracked on the last.
Surely.
But as she studied him... once she really looked at him closely...
aya sighed and tried to push all the building tension down. He needed her to be calm. She could see it in the way he wore his own tension.
"Cafas." She hesitantly reached out asking permission with her eyes before making contact with her hand to his shoulder. "I don't want to opt out of anything that's weighing you down. This is important, right? Gemma said I need to know?" She was a smart lady. Maya trusted her judgement better than almost anyone else in the entire Mansion.
A muscle in her jaw jutted as she clenched and un-clenched her teeth. It was her way of bracing herself. "Tell me and we'll work through it together."
Cafas flinched when Maya snapped at him. If that was her reaction to what she was imagining... Well, he'd known confessing was likely to ruin a lot. Perhaps it would have just been better to die? To go out of the world never having tarnished the image his team mates had of him.
Too late.
Cafas was still trying to figure out where to begin as Maya composed herself. He barely noticed the unspoken request to touch him, his brain agreed as a reflex. He was lost trying to rummage through repressed memories and forgotten pains, eyes glazing for a moment that felt an eternity, dancing blindly around the room.
"Cafas. I don't want to opt out of anything that's weighing you down. This is important, right? Gemma said I need to know? Tell me and we'll work through it together."
F***.
What little hope that Maya wouldn't want to know was dashed. He refocused his eyes on hers, the pain of nearly a hundred lives taken no longer buried. The murderer sighed and nodded. "You might want to sit down... " He still wasn't sure where to start, so he just picked the beginning.
So he told her. Everything.
The accident that killed Sophie, and how it had broken his heart and soul.
The life and death struggle that had been his life on the streets. Corpses created because they left him no choice.
The man Meld had mutilated, and the child-killing anti-mutant group they, with Aura had cut through like a hot knife through butter.
His time with the Judge, the gang bosses and unpunished bastards they had ended, done what courts hadn't had the evidence to do.
All those that had left him no choice on a mission, accidental or otherwise. Those would be no surprise, but he spoke of them anyway.
The weird dream that had never felt like a dream, how losing everything had turned him into the avenging wrath of a nuclear wasteland.
The mission with The Ranger, the Korean and Russia soldiers alike they had killed in order to extract, and failing that, eliminate, a mutant teen being used for nuclear research. That they'd never even questioned what would become of the kid.
He spared the gory details, but he told her everything else.
... And try as I might, I can never forget any of their faces, or any of their last moments. Maybe I don't deserve to forget..."
At least, he assumed he had told her everything. When he finished, his eyes, which had glazed as he paced and recalled, searched for Maya in the room.
She let him finish. What else could she do? Every time Maya opened her mouth it flapped in shock and horror until she remember to shut it. An hour ago, Maya had thought she'd cried all her tears for today. Maybe the coffee had rehydrated her enough to fill them back in.
So that was why he tossed and turned. That was why he was obsessed with motor vehicle safety. That was why there was sometimes a cringing around his eyes, a hesitation in his voice. The self-loathing made a bit more sense now.
He was a killer, albeit slightly reformed. Oh. Please let him be reformed.
"I—" No. That wasn't what she'd meant to say. Maya cleared her tight throat and tried again. "It's not, I mean, you haven't... in a long time..." But he had even after he'd been with the X-team. With another X-man, no less.
It was a big burden to carry and he'd chosen to carry it alone. Until now. She'd told him that she wanted to know. That she would share the weight of it. Maya touched her forehead and traced her hands back down her hair until she found the ends of a braid.
Even if the world felt like it was crashing down around her, there were some things that could not go undone. She still had to get to bed. She still had to get up tomorrow. Maya's hands worked mechanically to undo the braid while her mind buzzed with everything and nothing all at once.
First thing was first.
"You were reluctant," at least at first, "and you feel remorse?" She had to confirm. It was like she had to rebuild her entire image of Cafas from the ground up. He was so compassionate and empathetic. How could he possibly do it? She'd seen him angry and battle... battle berserk? But she hadn't seen him kill. Not even close.
She had hit a snag in her braid and couldn't get her fingers through her hair. Silly, but she got really upset about it, tugging and ripping at the strands of the knot in her hair. She needed her hair untangled. It just, it needed to be better.
"You haven't paid your debt to society officially." Again, just to confirm. Maya'd never heard about Cafas doing jail time anyway. But, then again, their X-duties sure as heck felt like societal improvement, or whatever. And he was remorseful. Yeah. If he weren't legitimately remorseful, he would sleep easy at night.
"I can't believe-" her throat threatened to close up and Maya smeared her tears before going back to work at the knot in her hair. "I can't believe you tried to carry this all inside for so long. I mean, I understand why, but it's, it can't be..." What? Healthy? It was silly to accuse him of not taking care of himself when he'd struggled so hard and so long. Also silly when he'd cut short so many other's health.
"Come with me." Maya stood from her seat, one braid in, one half out and held out her hand to Cafas. Selfish moment over. Time to share the weight.
She'd stayed. He wasn't sure why, but she had stayed. A confusing mix of emotions came, as his eyes found her, and flashed straight through, as they always did. He hoped desperately it meant she didn't hate him. Perhaps she just wanted to get a word in before leaving? Fear of that possibility gripped him hard around the heart.
"I—" It seemed Maya had about as much idea where to begin as Cafas had. "It's not, I mean, you haven't... in a long time..."
Cafas shook his head. He wouldn't call it a long time. "Korea was last year. We made it look like the Russians. I don't know if I should feel more justified about that one, but I don't." He wasn't even sure they hadn't just been taking the kid from one terrible fate to another. Not like the US government wouldn't experiment on him just as much...
"You were reluctant, and you feel remorse?"
"Yes." He nodded. Remorse didn't feel like the word. It felt like a weak word, it lacked the power to adequately encapsulate the feeling. Lacking something stronger though, it would serve.
Watching Maya tug at a knot in her hair, he realised just how much the exterior calm was being faked. He hesitantly began to extend a hand to help, but stopped before even half closing the distance. He couldn't imagine she wanted him near her, let alone to touch her. It went against every instinct, but he let her cry and struggle, and dropped his gaze to the floor, where it belonged, because he was unfit to look at her.
"You haven't paid your debt to society officially."
"No. I'd be in prison the rest of my life." He had no intention to face the justice system. He'd throw himself off the Empire state building before bringing that sort of controversy on the X-men. Not to mention he didn't want to spend his whole life behind bars, likely in solitary, given how many criminals he had helped to put into prisons.
"I can't believe- I can't believe you tried to carry this all inside for so long. I mean, I understand why, but it's, it can't be..."
Healthy?
It wasn't. It had turned him to an alcoholic insomniac, with nearly nightly flashbacks. It had made him suicidal. It was horribly unhealthy, but he felt it deserved to be. He deserved what he had, even if he desperately wanted to be rid of it. Tears burned in his eyes again. His gaze was boring a hole into the carpet, but he was in his own mind, his emotions playing across his face, sadness, anger, disgust.
"Come with me."
He frowned, perplexed, and drew his eyes up to Maya. She was standing, hand extended, hair more ludicrous than he had ever seen it, and he'd seen it in the mornings. He didn't know where she was taking him. She could have been dropping him from a great height, or taking him to prison.
Trust, mixed with curiosity, could be dangerous, because the thoughts never even occurred to him. As he took her hand, he was close to tears that she would still even touch him.
Should she be scared of him? Maybe. What scared her most right now was the naked emotion raking across Cafas' face. She cared, in theory, about the people she'd never met. But it was hard when now, here was someone she loved. Hurting.
But still holding her hand.
She secured his hand with another of her own. "Okay." She was talking, they were both walking with Maya in the lead toward the door. There was still time to fix this. "I figure you have some options. First option: Jail. Forever. Or is it prison? Prison is the really bad one, I think. Or deportation. Or, or extradition. You know, the legal route." She felt a little wild at the idea, but if that's what he felt he needed to do, then she could support that choice. It was certainly what she should have been pushing if she were not so selfish.
Maya reached the door and hesitated with her hand on the handle. "Option 2: Admit it was a mistake. You can learn from mistakes. Don't do it again and maybe even work to counteract whatever harm was done. I don't know what that means. Funerals or, uhm, donations or... Well, err- money's not the point, but you know what I mean."
Could she trust her kids with Cafas?
The thought derailed her positive 'fix it now' attitude and left her paralyzed with one hand on the door and one attached to Cafas' hand.
He had killed, but that didn't make him a killer. He regretted it. He was a reluctant murderer. That was the important difference, right?
"Uh. Uhm." Where was she? Options. Yeah. Maya pulled open the door to the restroom. She was back on track. Back on her mission. "Third option: You go full vigilante and teach yourself to not care." That was, technically, an option. "I don't think you can stay an X-man then, but what do I know?" She laughed a single ha that was more bitter than happiness. Apparently she didn't know jack about being an X-man. Maybe that's what she got for taking a break for so long. Maybe it had always been like that and she really was just that naive.
Unspoken option 4. Cafas kills Cafas. Not a real option. Not really. That wasn't moving forward. That was not moving on at all.
"Whatever you decide, I'll help you. I might not be happy about it and I may try to change your mind, but I told you I'd share the weight of this. That wasn't an idle threat." She edged herself onto the counter next to one of the sinks, her back to the mirror. She knew that she was a mess. That wasn't the point.
Maya tugged Cafas over to the vanity and put him squarely in front of himself."You owe somebody an apology."
Cafas listened to the options, and let Maya lead him to the bathroom. It was hard not to feel like they were all terrible options. Prison was right out, going back to Australia doubly so. He'd managed the premiers and publicity appearances mostly due to the international eye that was turned at the time.
Probably end up dissected... Or vivisected...
The vigilante route was also out. He didn't want to be that person. Saph was that person, or at least had seemed so outwardly. Maybe that wasn't true inside, maybe it troubled him as much as Cafas. They had never killed anyone who didn't need to be brought to justice, but surely there was some other punishment.
There was one that didn't deserve what he got.
"Whatever you decide, I'll help you. I might not be happy about it and I may try to change your mind, but I told you I'd share the weight of this. That wasn't an idle threat."
That kind of only left him with one option, as he was made to look at himself in the mirror. He didn't know about making amends, especially financially. It would feel too much like funding crimes and hatred. Maybe the families of those people weren't walking the same paths, but outside of the odd person here or there, everyone he'd killed had been a criminal, or an anti-mutant bigot (and potential baby killer). No, he wouldn't fund that.
Maybe continuing to be an X-man would have to suffice. Surely they did some good in the world...
"You owe somebody an apology."
"What am I meant to apologise for?"
His voice resonated with loathing layered over the genuine question. As far as he could tell he was the only person not deserving of an apology. He was alive, at the cost of dozens of lives. His anger, and idea that he had the right to enforce his own sense of justice, had been indulged.
A sense of justice I don't even share any more...
Surely he was the last person that he needed to apologise to.