Everyone was beginning to panic. The 'insane' girl escaped the institution and is now running around the street, looking for her next victim. The media had it all wrong, as usual. Then again, whenever Ahorta would explain that she killed a giant spider, not a human, everyone would just stare at her as if she were from a different planet. Truthfully, the world was insane, every human being in the world was insane and Ahorta had to live by their rules or perish under their diseases. Sickening. Then again, news reports of a girl with a face mask had gotten around a bit more than she expected, she needed somewhere to go, somewhere without humans, somewhere safe.

As she skittered through the crowd, she stood up straight, then bent down, spun around, threw her arms up and did every other ridiculous move to avoid touching anyone in the crowd. She had some black gloves clinging to her hands and she wore a black trenchcoat with the hood up, but that was not enough to stop infection. Not to mention an atomic bomb could go off because Russian and America never actually stopped the Cold War. The world was on the brink of destruction!

Finally, the admired gold doors of the Sanctuary stood in front of her and she remained around ten paces from the doors, contradicting herself. This was a place for mutants, but what if it was a trap? It could be full of government men that would take her away and infect her with mutant-limited-infecting viruses. Or...it was full of mutants. Whatever the case was, she could at least take a peeksee.

Slowly, as if a false move would set off a landmine, Ahorta made her way up to the doors and tilted her head to listen. Naturally, she could not hear a thing, so the next step had to be taken: with a deep breath, she raised her fist and lightly knocked. If someone was nearby, she did not want to scare them with a loud knock, plus, it would attract attention. Still no sign of life on the other side, which was actually perfectly fine with Ahorta. The door creaked open and she peered into the Sanctuary, remaining half in and half out. The street could be a good way to escape if she needed to get the hell out of there.

Isabel had been lounging in the Rec Room when her phone gave a single buzz, signaling that a message of some sort had been sent. She simply had to look at the name that appeared on the little screen to see that it was Lisa sending out the signal that Isabel was needed in the Foyer. She'd been getting a fair amount of similar messages, perhaps due to the fact that she may have been one of the Order's less busy members that spent a decent amount of time in the building, rather than out causing trouble. She didn't particularly mind in any case. Usually it was a call to welcome in a visitor, which she always found to be interesting.

Rising from her comfortable position in one of the plush armchairs, she made her way down the corridor to the Foyer, giving Lisa a small nod and a smile in passing as per usual. She didn't quite expect the new arrival to still be hanging halfway out onto the front steps, though. Some people knocked and waited to be let inside. Others simply opened up the doors and walked right in. She wasn't sure she'd ever run into anyone that was in between the two.

"You can come in, you know. We won't bite," she said, smiling at the young woman as she slowed to a stop a few yards from the door. She didn't want to crowd the girl and risk creating a more intense feeling of unease in her. It would be better to let her enter at her own pace, which would hopefully also put her a little more at ease and make her less likely to turn back and run. "Are you looking for a place to stay? If you come in, we can discuss any arrangements that you're looking for."

A young woman approached her, slightly cautiously, as Ahorta was half in and half out. Suggesting that Ahorta should enter was pleasant, indeed, but Ahorta was frozen stiff, analyzing the place slowly. Her eyes darted around, taking in everything about the room. Her gaze finally rested upon the one in front of her. Darting her eyes around Isabel's body, she surveyed her for any threats, needles, contagious gases, ropes, frogs, anything that would send her into a fury of fear.

"If I'm not back in five minutes...wait longer," she spoke, turning her head to the street. Although she had come alone, it was best to make it seem like she had some kind of bodyguard outside to protect her. Besides, first impressions were crucial and quoting Ace Ventura seemed like the humorous and light-hearted way to gain someone's trust. "Thank you," she shyly spoke before scooting through the door, as if opening it even more would set off a trap.

"I heard this place was...safe...for people who don't feel...safe," she kept her eyes low while she spoke, staring at the bridge of her facemask. "If that's true...uh...I have money," correction: she stole money from the deceased spiders, frogs, newts, robbers and prostitutes. Apparently even spiders have to shop.

Isabel remained still as the young woman continued to survey the surroundings and then moved on to examine Isabel as well. Her smile remained in place, though one brow did arch inquisitively as she appeared to speak to someone outside the door before proceeding fully into the Foyer. Isabel wasn't quite sure if there really was someone outside, but they would be welcome to come in as well if that were the case. However, she would not push the issue, her main concern at the moment being the one already in the Foyer.

Timid was the first word that came to Isabel's mind as the young woman stood inside the door and proceeded to speak once again, her eyes cast down. The mask was a curious accessory, though she assumed it had something to do with whatever mutation the girl had. She'd never seen another individual that needed to wear a mask as a side effect of their abilities. She'd be interested in finding out exactly what the reasons behind the item were.

"You heard right," she replied, continuing to smile, but not quite daring to step closer just yet. Instead she crossed her arms and allowed her weight to shift to one leg, falling into a more casual stance. "We're called the Sanctuary for a reason. We're here to welcome in any mutants that require a home or a safe haven for as long as they wish. And you don't have to worry about money. You keep whatever you have. You don't have to pay for anything around here. It isn't exactly fair to sell safety. So tell me, what's your name?" One question at a time. Hopefully the young woman could relax a little and she'd be able to learn a little more about her.

The woman in front of her seemed to be nice, very nice, nicer than many people she'd met. Then again, she had only met disasterous people before, the girl may look like a saint in comparison, but she still may be out to get her. Apparently, she did not need any money to stay there, which was granted the schizophrenic a great deal of comfort. Stealing from giant spiders and newts got a little too frightening lately. No hallucinations had occured in the course of their introductions, maybe this one wasn't a hiding human, or maybe she had a device that kept Ahorta's hallucinations at bay.

"...McCoy. Ahorta McCoy," she spoke, posing to be well educated and supreme, but the look didn't match and she did not hold it long anyways. Well, she couldn't just give her a name and then have nothing else, but how much information could she trust this woman with? Not much, yet. At least Ahorta could appeal as a woman who definitely needed to get out of the world outside the Foyer doors called 'reality'. "The world is a shithole, full of shity little scumbags, who are scared shitless. If this really is a Sanctuary...can I...stay?" she asked, suddenly dropping the volume of her voice. No need to push things. Knowing Ahorta, she'd be thrown out to the streets again within seconds of an encounter. She was not even accepted at homeless shelters. Shame.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ahorta. My name's Isabel. Most people around here know me, so if you ever need me for anything you can ask around. Lisa's always a wealth of information as well," she replied, giving a gesture in the Secretary's direction as she was mentioned. The receptionist didn't even seem to glance up at the sound of her name, the rhythmic typing of her keyboard never pausing for a second. "She'll have some forms for you to fill out anyhow. It's not anything bad, we just like to have some information on who is staying here."

One brow arched curiously at the young woman's description of the world. It was strange, but it was also something that a decent number of people could agree on. It was perhaps more curious in its place in the conversation, rather than its meaning. However, Isabel easily focused her attention on the following question. "Of course you can stay, Ahorta. You can stay here as long as you like. That's what we're here for. We're not going to invite you in and then toss you back out the door. I can even help you find a room if you'd like so that you can get settled."

This Isabel girl was very helpful indeed and did not seem like she would bring Ahorta any harm, but who knew who was actually a good person and who wasn't. Then again, every 'good person' she had run into believed Ahorta was sick and needed to be detained against her will and forced her to take medications. These so called good people let the police handle everything, even helped the police handle some cases, and Ahorta was quite the case. Maybe it was time to give up on her quest for good people, maybe she just needed mutants that would protect her from any of those good people and possibly have some fun doing it.

"Paperwork? Why do you need information?" she asked. Any information there was on her would raise a red flag that shouted "criminal!" Information was not a good idea. She had already given her name as Ahorta, there was no turning back now, she had doomed herself. Hoping to seem less like a convict and more like a parking violator, she added an explanation, "See, I have a few unpaid parking tickets that I don't want anyone to find me til I get some money...This part of my life is called bankruptcy" she sighed, hoping to postponed on leaving any trail open for the mental institution to follow.

"We like to keep a record of everyone that's staying here," Isabel replied, understanding any apprehension the girl had with sharing personal information. "It's basic stuff like name, age, gender, mutation. Those kinds of things. It helps us keep track of people in case we need to speak with them and assists us in ensuring that we're well prepared for the number of unique abilities that are housed here. You don't have to jot down information that's super personal or anything along those lines."

With the mention of parking tickets, Isabel regarded the young woman curiously for a moment before the actuality of the situation sunk in. "Don't worry about anyone coming after you here. Unpaid parking tickets or worse, we protect the mutants that come to stay here or seek our help. We do call it Sanctuary for a reason. You'll be perfectly safe here," she assured the girl, attempting to put her a little more at ease. For someone like Isabel to be safe within the Sanctuary, another mutant with more minor offenses would certainly be well sheltered.

Isabel put her at ease by ensuring her that even mutants with more than parking offenses on their records would be completely safe at the Sanctuary. "Oh, ok, I can do that then," she said as she made her way over to the counter where the secretary who had the paperwork was sitting. She took the pen and began to scribble down her information, even though half way through, the pen started to bleed out ink because her body structure between her finger bones and her skin was so thin, some acid could seep out when too much pressure was applied, and she was applying too much pressure to the pen. Slightly freaked out, she took the pen to the garbage and began to wipe off her hands with a kleenex. Scribbled on the paper read:

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It was all she could think of. Other than that, she did not know how to explain her powers and was not entirely sure if she really wanted them knowing that much about what she had the ability to do. "Thank you, um, where do I stay?" she asked, her eyes darting around the room, staring at every door and stairway as if it could just tell her to follow them to her room. Yet she got no such response from the stairs and doors and instead, she turned back to Isabel, smiling under her face mask. Living without a home had been a little harsh, for one, she had not been able to keep up on hygiene, not that she minded though, people tended to stay far away enough from her because of it and how weird she appeared that they were unable to identify her.[/color]

Isabel stood back and waited patiently as the Sanctuary's newest resident agreed to fill out certain fields on the form that Lisa had set on her desk, that being the only interruption that the Secretary had allowed in her work for the moment. It wasn't unusual that it had taken some minor coaxing for the young woman to feel alright with putting down any information. The Sanctuary had a way of attracting mutants in shady situations as well as those that were just plain suspicious of strangers. After the Registration Act, she couldn't find a single reason to blame any mutant for being weary of paperwork or other form of record created for them.

The sudden malfunction of the pen was a bit of a surprise. She'd never seen anyone have trouble with something like that. Usually a bad pen ran out of ink, rather than bleeding it all over. However, the slight panic that flashed across the young woman's expression as well as the hurried actions she took in disposing of the pen and cleaning the ink as best she could kept Isabel from inquiring about it. She could always ask Lisa for a summary of the girl's mutation at a later time if her curiosity persisted. If not, there was always the chance that she'd be working with Ahorta at some point and could have a demonstration then.

Returning what she assumed was a smile from the other young woman, Isabel gave a small wave of her hand as a signal for the new resident to follow after her. "Everyone who stays here gets their own room. You're free to decorate it however you like, though as a starting point it's got just a few basics. Bed, dresser, lights, stuff like that. There's also a small bathroom attached to each one with a shower, so you don't need to worry about finding that sort of thing elsewhere," she explained as she headed for the elevator which would take them to the floor where all the rooms were located. "You can also install as many locks as you'd like, though each room's got at least one. Spare keys can always be made if one gets lost or something like that," she continued, exiting the elevator as it came to a stop before proceeding to lead Ahorta down the door-lined corridor. "All you've got to do is pick out an unoccupied room and you're all set."

Ahorta kept wiping her hands on the kleenexes, even though they were corroding the more she fumbled with them and she finally decided to put on her gloves. The gloves she had had been dipped in a base, so they weren't for a human touch, but they kept Ahorta from burning through things she did not want to burn through. Her mutation was fairly handy in an arrest because if the police figured out that she can't have regular hand cuffs because they would just dissolve off of her, they could not get her prints either because she would just dissolve through the paper and even into the desk underneath. Perfect way to hide her identity, but she was known for her mutation that kept her from being processed.

The sound of a new room that she could decorate however she wanted sounded fantastic. In her bag of things, she had a few precautions. Just simple things like five door locks, magnets to line around her door and window, saran wrap to staple to the floor, that way if anyone moved too fast in her room, the wrap would ripe and wrap around the intruders feet. Of course she could just corrode through the wrap, but she would hate to have her face stuck in it. A few strings to put up in her room like little nooses that would choke anyone that did not know how her room worked and some shampoo. Just the basics.

"How many mutants live here? Do you have worms, insects, or reptiles?" After realizing how long she had gone without a quote, she began to fear that Isabel had her figured out already and she was doomed because she was not careful. Breathing slowly, she counted in her head and tried to keep a straight face before she said "You have a rodent infestation, shall I terminate it?" Although the Transformers line was extremely uncalled for, Iron Hyde was her favorite Autobot and her mind was trailing to the possibility of slimey gross critters in her room. The thought brought an obvious shiver down her spine.

"I'm not sure of the exact number, but there is a good amount of mutants here. Actually, all of the residents here are mutants. In order to be a true shelter and safe house for the mutant population, we've stopped housing humans here," Isabel replied, stepping to one side of the hallway to allow Ahorta to move as she wished and to locate a room for herself. Most of those that were occupied were marked in some way or another to warn others away from stumbling inside unexpectedly. A number of them were already claimed, but there was also an equally as decent number that were left unclaimed for new members to find and occupy.

The following questions were a bit unusual, but considering a few of the previous questions that had been posed, Isabel could only assume they would gradually become more of a normal occurrence around the young woman. "There is one mutant here that has a collection of critters. I know he's got a pair of Crocodiles and a few spiders. I'm not sure about worms. But they're all locked away somewhere so they can't get out into the rest of the Sanctuary to bother people. If you do run into one you can always come find me and I'll knock some sense into the guy," she replied, giving an easy-going grin as she attempted to joke with the newest resident. She could only hope that Bane would listen to any complaints she could receive in the future.

Ahorta walked around until she found a plain, boring door. It had no marks on it and when she opened the door, it was empty and plain and boring. It did not even look like anyone lived in that room for about 2 years, the perfect paranoia room. Disinfecting the room would actually prove to be much faster. Moving inside, she placed her bag at the foot of the bed, then began to walk around the room, checking corners and ceilings, looking in the closet, checking in the shower, she did not want to find any spider webs, that would cause her to leave the room alone and she rather enjoyed the boring atmosphere. "Well, here seems perfect," she sighed.

Of course, she would not sit, sleep or even use the bathroom until she was done sterilizing and analyzing the room, but that was fine. At the sound of a crocodile and spiders, she jumped and her eyes grew large. "What?! Slimy and creepy crawly things? They are locked up?! Can they escape?" she panicked. One thing was for certain, if she were to find a spider anywhere, she'd kill it and pull off it's legs, then poke out it's eyes and throw it in the garbage disposal. Crocs were harder to dispose of. They needed their scale to be removed, and then their teeth, they needed the webbing on their feet to be cut out and the tail to be ripped off and the mouth to be smashed. Yet, she would only do that if she saw it, never would she go hunting for spiders or crocs.