Today, Lori was fully enjoying her rights as a legitimate member of an illegitimate social society.

She had meant to confront the bastard herself, but upon knocking on the Director's door, there was no answer. Lori had it on good authority that Seizure was a traitor. There wasn't physical proof, no the wily man had made sure of that, but he had a serious over sight in his plan. He didn't bother to destroy an eyewitnesses to the event. Sebastian, a man who had healed for the Sanctuary and for all mutants, had seen the man shoot Syn.

Of course Lori heard this through her own personal grapevine, but she had come to implicate the man in person. It was only fair, after all, to confront this attacker face to face; and, though she'd never liked Syn, Lori had liked Seizure even less. Her ability to judge a person hadn't yet let her down. She'd wanted to throttle Jacen at first. Too bad she'd quelled that first instinct.

After so many minutes of polite knocking there was only one thing left for Lori, she broke down the door.

Inside there was no evidence of life. In fact, quite the contrary. It had been a few days since the KP brawl and her Haywire incident and yet there was dust collected on the desk. The corners of her mouth curled reflexively. Perhaps Seizure was a smarter man than she credited him. He had skipped town. That was perfectly alright with Lori. He was still guilty and she still wanted his job. Him not being there made it that much easier.

She fetched her reading glasses and then sat herself down behind the desk. First thing was first, she wanted to read up on all the Sanctuary residents. Lori pulled out a lovely stack of files and cracked one open: Meld. It was a fascinating read. She leaned back in the chair and propped her feet up on the dusty desk the door to the office hanging slightly askew from it's freshly ruined hinges.

Isabel was beyond distraught. She had heard nothing of Syn's recovery after she'd found her dear friend in KP. It was a rapidly growing belief that her oldest of companions had not recovered from the blow of the gun. She personally had not detected any signs of life in her inspection, even though the circumstances had made it somewhat hasty. The belief was crushingly devastating and made her sick to her stomach. One of few individuals Isabel never could have pictured even severely injured, nevermind dead, was gone.

Sebastian, the man she still blamed for the unfortunate situation had yet to be punished. She couldn't quite find the heart to injure the gentle-seeming individual, even when his treachery had injured her so deeply. He had instead been ignored entirely. It was Seizure who she wanted to talk to. He had been the one to reshape the Order in a way. He was so organized and so confident in himself. He was a man that seemed to possess all the answers. Isabel desperately wanted any kind of answers.

Abyss would likely be the next of the Order that she sought out individually, and likely the last. He was the last of the members that had been present at the Order's restructuring, not to mention Syn's brother and a very dear friend to her. That would wait until later, though. Something of much greater importance quickly grabbed hold of her attention.

The door to Seizure's office was not only open, but hat nearly been knocked clean off its hinges. The occupant of the office surely would not allow such a thing. Something had to be wrong. Quickly Isabel picked up her pace, closing the remaining distance between herself and the entrance way, leaving no time for hesitation as she rounded the corner of the doorway, pushing the broken door further into the room as she took its place.

For a moment she could do little else but stand still and take in the sight that met her. Rather than the expected individual that she'd anticipated meeting, a slight young blond had plopped herself down in the man's chair and was sifting through his files, minute amounts of dust brushed away from the top of the desk as her feet moved, making the accumulating gunk all that more noticeable. Seizure couldn't have been gone that long before the Brawl, could he? And where was he now?

"You're not supposed to be in here," she stated, allowing the surprise to drain from her features as she crossed her arms and attempted to create a more demanding outer appearance. She was the Red Knight, after all, formerly called the Order's Second in Command. She hardly knew Lori and she certainly didn't want the woman invading Seizure's office, especially if she was going to root through his files. Any guilt over using Haywire against the small woman was stubbornly pushed away in favor of her outrage at the audacity of the woman's actions. "Where's Seizure? I need to speak to him. And you need to leave."

A flourish of green and starchy fabric kicked in the remainder of the door. Lori didn't even have to look up from her slide presentation of the "New World Order" to know that it was Ms. Isabel Duskmoor, Red Knight, Alleged Police Maimer, and 'Activities' Director. Lori found herself begrudgingly giving more and more credit to old cue ball. If he hadn't been such a dirty rat, he would have actually made a nice authoritative figure.

"You're not supposed to be in here."

Lori's eyes flicked up to the huffy girl in green, dark blue eyes appearing just over the page as she considered her compatriot. Well, She was family now. No need to make an enemy of her. "The person who is supposed to be here is not." Her words were almost lazy in nature. Lori was not afraid of Isabel. If the girl stabbed her, as per her favorite move, they would both go down together.

"Where's Seizure? I need to speak to him. And you need to leave."

"I came to confront him myself when I learned the news." Lori dragged her feet off the desk and leaned forward in the chair laying down the New World Order booklet in front of herself on the lightly dusted surface. "Betrayal by the man with the plan." Lori flicked the papers in front of her. "You must be furious."

The initial disregard of her presence, the careless recognition, the deliberate slowness and obvious answer to her question. Every infuriating move effectively rubbed Isabel the wrong way, her hands curling into fists as her crossed arms tightened. She wanted real answers, not the ones she was getting. "I can see that," she replied tensely. "And apparently we both know you shouldn't be here, so I suggest you find somewhere else to snoop." It was quite plain that Seizure had vacated his office some time ago, which she didn't understand, either. She wanted to know where he was, not where he wasn't. Perhaps it would have been best if she'd spoken to Abyss first after all. She had known him longer, and with the Clones milling around it would no doubt be easier to locate one of him. Live and learn.

News didn't mean anything to her. What news? Was it about the destruction of the Haywire virus? Sebastian's hand in Syn's death? Her death in general? There was so much that had gone on recently that it would be hard to pinpoint exactly what the small young woman was speaking about. She didn't miss the title of the booklet that was dropped, her attention draw by the action and momentarily held by the small puffs of dust that were kicked up as a result. Seizure wasn't one to just let things like dust accumulate. He was much too organized, not to mention busy. A bad feeling began to settle in her gut.

What did Lori mean by betrayal? it was clear enough that she was implying that Seizure was the culprit, but for what crime? It couldn't have been something to do with KP. Isabel didn't even recall seeing the young man on the premises during the battle. He never had seemed like much of a fighter. She'd simply assumed he'd lagged behind where he could be more useful. "It's none of your concern how I'm feeling about this whole mess. And Seizure did his best to help the Order. No one would be stupid enough to turn on us." And this she truly believed.

"No. He didn't."

Isabel's loyalty was commendable, but her logic was flawed. It was time to drop the bomb. Lori pulled out a small envelope. Where Lori always seemed a bit supercilious, now she did not. She had come to confront the man from a position of power, not kick a puppy when she was down. Sure Isabel shot he with Haywire, but it hadn't been all bad. In fact, Lori had come to expect a certain amount of pain in any respectable relationship. If anything it made Lori respect Isabel more for choosing that path instead of letting her emotions get in her way.

The green girl was defensive. Lori would have to be delicate. Her short fingers opened the small packet as if almost afraid. She knew Isabel was Syn's bosom buddy. And the girl had been friendly with Seizure. This was going to come a shock then.

"Only the guilty run, Isabel."

Blurry shots from a street's red light camera of a bald-headed Seizure in a police uniform. That wasn't particularly incriminating. Another photo. Seizure in a garbage truck. The story was playing out in reverse, the earliest photos from KP's own security system. Seizure taking off in a company helicopter from KP's roof. Seizure on the phone. Barrels moving. Seizure with gun in hand. The room's internal cameras had been disabled, their footage erased so she had no proof of what actually happened in the room with Syn, but he hadn't had the foresight to cut off the external cameras. He didn't even bother to cover his tracks about finding the trucks carrying Haywire.

"I went digging into KP's finances. We don't own a foundry do we?" Lori was almost certain the answer was no because that was what her research pulled up, but it was worth asking. "There's a metal working facility some miles from here that had some recent trouble. Humans seizing, becoming mysteriously ill, even deaths. They had to empty out all their molten fare and human remains were found. Bones mostly. The teeth were mixed up they couldn't identify any more than one man." Lori pulled out a very small picture she'd found in the employee databank. With none of the higher ups left to steer the ship, it's cargo was ripe for the taking.

"Samuel DeLoya. KP yes man. An expendable piece to the puzzle." Lori felt a slight pang of regret for Mister DeLoya's family. For all the families ruined with one man's actions. "The foundry paid for repairs, start up, recompense, paid vacations... They paid for all matters relating to the disposal and replacement of the metal with a blank check from King Pharmaceuticals. A check signed by Seizure." She pulled out a printed out copy of the check from the bank. It had been folded twice until it was a small square. When she first saw it, she hadn't believed it. She'd tucked it away before anyone else might catch on. It was sloppy to say the least. Maybe in the end he hadn't cared if he was found out because he knew he'd be running.

"This foundry, it's the final resting place of Haywire." She pulled out one last photo. Seizure shaking hands with someone in a hardhat. Seizure didn't look too happy but then if you knew your world was about to end because of the deed you'd just done, would you be happy? "After Garrett shot Syn, he left Sebastian as the scapegoat while he took off with the family jewels. He tried to cover it up at first, but I suspect he got impatient. As a result we have an empty office collecting dust." She'd been surprised by it too and ran her fingers across the desk with a slight wrinkle to her nose. How long before the brawl had he been planning this treachery? "We've got all the pieces, but no one left who knows how to play the game."

Such simple words spoken in reply. Simple, but carrying so much certainty and weight that Isabel's own confidence slowly began to shrink. What did she mean he didn't? What did she know? Isabel had been there at the meeting Seizure had organized, had been able to give her own input and had been witness to the approval given by the others present. The Order was more organized and smooth running now. The higher-ups had set duties and jobs to perform, rather than just holding a title that did little but put them over the heads of newer members. Who was Lori to say he hadn't done anything for Isabel's beloved Faction? Who was she to have any such say in anything? She was a new member, she had no weight to throw around. Surprise and uncertainties were gradually changing into defensive anger.

"Guilt and innocence are points of view," she shot back, that bad feeling in her gut beginning to grow. She didn't like the turn this conversation was taking and she was liking the idea of slipping back out of the office more and more. Had Seizure really run? From what? There was nowhere in the world safer than the Sanctuary, at least not in her own mind. If he'd been in trouble, they could have helped him. He was part of the Order, he was family.

Another packet was placed on the desk, though she was reluctant to turn her attention away from the young woman who had produced it. Some part of her wasn't entirely sure it wanted to know what she was pulling out of the envelope. "A foundry?" she repeated, likely answering the question in the process. Different members of the Order invested in different things, some of them taking a shine to businesses, she was sure. Not everyone had tabs kept on them. It was usually their business what they spent their own money on. She'd never heard of anyone investing in something like a foundry, though.

As Lori launched into more information that she'd turned up in her sleuthing, Isabel tentatively took a few steps closer to the desk that the other young woman had settled down at, uncrossing her arms so she could carefully lift a photo from the growing pile that was produced. Seizure with a gun. There had been nothing left in the room with Sebastian and Syn except the bullet that had struck her. She'd just assumed that the weapon had been disposed of somehow. He wouldn't have. ...Would he?

Isabel was barely processing what the other woman was saying as she continued to speak, only briefly looking to the photo of the KP employee, personally having very little care for what happened to their human staff members. It was the circumstances that surrounded the death that worried her. Rapidly the puzzle pieces were fitting together in her head, no matter how much she wished the pieces had remained missing. Ignorance truly can be bliss.

She didn't want to see what was written on the folded piece of paper that had been deemed as a blank check. The security pictures were bad enough. She didn't want to handle any more incriminating materials. "But... I don't understand," she muttered, looking back to the picture in he hand, the image beginning to wrinkle from the hold she had on it. The process made sense, but the reasoning behind it didn't. Why would Seizure turn on them?

Haywire. The Order's baby. The samples they had worked so hard to obtain and protect. One of the people that was supposed to help them protect it had turned traitor and destroyed it. But why? All that hard work, all the pain that had resulted in the fights that had been had over Haywire, the trouble that had inevitably come of those fights, all of it nothing but a waste. And had that not been bad enough, the words that hurt her the most were finally spoken; 'Garrett shot Syn'.

The Red Bishop, one of the men in charge, a generally respected and trusted member of the Order, had murdered the woman who was in charge of it all, had killed one of Isabel's oldest and dearest friends. Her heart began to ache with the certainty in which the revelation was spoken and the uneasy feeling in her gut shifted into a minor bout of nausea. She had trusted him, the Order had trusted him, and he had turned around to wound them so deeply. She didn't want to look at the picture anymore, her hand balling into a fist and curling the image with it.

"We have to tell the rest of them," she commented distractedly, dropping the crinkled image onto the dirty desk in front of her. She meant the Order of course. They deserved to know what had really happened, and Sebastian deserved to have his innocence in the matter restored.

"I don't know if he changed his mind mid-stream or if it was all a scheme from the beginning." Lori watched Isabel carefully. The girl's words had gone from defensive to disbelieving and finally to anger. "They deserve to know." Anger was fine as long as the anger wasn't directed toward herself. She looked down at her carefully constructed truth. Unstable. He had struck her as untrustworthy because he had seemed too volatile as a person. And her instinct had rung true in the end.

"He set all this up." Lori picked up the NWO booklet with tender care. "But no one ever got to follow through with it. It seemed a good course of action, but a bit too bureaucratic for us." She fanned the pages and watched the dust motes skitter across the table. "As I see it the rules surrounding the Order are simple. The Sanctuary is our safe place and all mutants are welcome. No one and no thing with an x-gene may be turned away. We are the dark dumping ground of nightmares. And we're stronger for it, I think."

Her eyes flicked to the short stack of files she'd finished reading before she came across the New World Order. Some had what the humans would consider gruesome deformities but Lori saw opportunity there. They might not all look human, but they were all armed to the teeth with incredibly useful skills, not all of them even combat practical but every one of them was valuable as long as one knew how and where to use them. "No matter who or what comes against these golden doors this is where we make our stand. We may invite trouble, but it ends at the door. I don't think it'd work if they tried a trick like the Registration Act again. Not here. Not anymore."

Lori was feeling quite inspired. She may not have made all that many friends here at the Sanctuary, but they had been more family to her than her blood relatives. When she was hurt, they healed her. When she was in trouble, they sheltered her. When it was useful to them, they shot her. All for the greater good of mutant kind. And if she had any say in the matter, they'd push the Order's influence past the golden doors and out into the streets. X's be damned.

Lori tried to ignore the fact that Isabel had crumpled her most incriminating bit of evidence. She had backups, but they weren't easily accessible. "What will you do?" Lori looked at Isabel because she knew the others would be looking her way soon enough even if they had yet to do so. The Order need someone to pull them all together. Lori hadn't seen Isabel lead much, but it might not matter. The rights words here and there and Lori could direct her as needed. "Without members there is no family."

Isabel didn't even want to take into consideration the possibility of Seizure's entire career with the Order being a stepping stone for his inevitable betrayal. It was bad enough he had turned traitor in the end, but to think that all of it could have been a lie was too much. But the more she tried to put the possibility out of her mind, the more stubbornly it stuck. He had formerly been a Mansion resident, after all. Who was to say he hadn't been in training to become an X-Nerd? She didn't think they'd be above sending one of their own to poke around an enemy faction's gates. It had happened before. The more realistic the possibility became, the angrier she got. She didn't want to be in his office looking at the photographs of his face anymore. The room and its contents might not last through the remainder of the day.

Damn straight the Order deserved to know. It was always better to know where the blame should be placed, rather than to be left wondering or with even the littlest amount of uncertainty, as there had been in the accusation of Sebastian. The more members that knew who was at fault, the higher chance there would be in finding him. She wanted him found, and she wanted him punished. No one hurt her family and walked away from it without so much as a scratch. God help him if he ever showed up at the Sanctuary again.

Once again Lori made a good set of points, further proving that she had done her homework and had done it well. Isabel had never exercised whatever powers had come with the new title she'd been given. For the most part she'd gone on with life as usual until the possibility of the need of her position could have risen. She hadn't much cared for his stress over remaining out of the public eye, either. Not that it had particularly affected her all that much. She tended to stick to the most basic of the Sanctuary's purposes, as Lori had gone off to list.

She didn't at all care for the mention of the Registration Act, but she certainly agreed with the reason it was brought up. She would be damned if she ever let another human invade her home, especially with the intent to harm her companions. Humans were always stupid enough to try some tricks twice, the Order just had to make sure they were one step ahead. With the minor additional goading from the blond behind the desk, Isabel tired to tear her focus away from Seizure and toward what they were supposed to do now.

What was she supposed to do now? With Syn's passing, did that mean she had become First in line in leading the Order, or would Abyss step up to take his sister's place? She would have to discuss this with the Red Giant later on. For now, however, she needed to do something. First and foremost, her companions had to be notified about Syn's death, not just of her killer. It was very likely that with all the chaos that the Brawl had caused, the incident had gone unnoticed by most. Syn had, after all, been carried out as quickly and quietly as was possible to avoid further harm coming to the girl.

Her personal vendetta against the X-Nerds was another matter to take care of. She wanted to hurt them as they had hurt her, however another fight, especially without a more experienced leader at the front, would likely be a poor choice of action. "First, we get the word out about Syn's death," she began, taking a step away from the desk lest she tear apart more pictures of her newest enemy or any of his other work. "I want Seizure known as the enemy, and I want him found. That will be easier to do the more people are informed. I'm not going to let this slide by quietly. Syn may not have been the most well like young woman by the general public, but I want her made out to be the good guy in this mess."

As she spoke, ideas seemed to crop up in her head with increasing ease, and with them came eagerness to set everything in motion. She could get everything rolling, and once the dust had settled a bit, she would seek out the last remaining leader of the Order and speak with him. "The Sanctuary is going to be the house of heroes this time around. I want the X-Men to be the bad guys. They attacked us this time, and they deserve to be punished. They prize the public's opinion of them over anything else the claim to fight for. We need to take that opinion and twist it into something negative. We can hold a meeting right outside our doors, call in news crews and get the word out. The faster this spreads, the better. We may no longer have a family if we don't have members, but the same applies to them. Make the Mansion look bad, and no one will want to send their kids there for schooling. We may even get a bigger influx of residents if the Mansion no longer attracts mutants. They won't be able to get in our way anymore if we keep growing and they suffer."

It was lovely to hear her own words come out of Isabel's mouth as if it were Isabel's idea in the first place. Some people might be bothered, but not Lori. She knew that it meant her words had been so wholly adopted that they now operated with a similar way of thinking.

Isabel was taking steps toward the door now and Lori scooped up the remaining pictures and evidence and slipped them into her little white envelope. The envelope went in her pocket. "As for informing the Order, why don't you call a family dinner?" On TV after funerals they always showed the family getting together and sharing memories over food.

Besides, once she'd read something about the benefits of a family that ate together. Not only was it a good way to trade information, but it would strengthen the bonds between members of the Order. They needed to be like the Roman phalanx. If they were all close, that would also eliminate the possibility of a traitor. Surely someone would catch a whiff of it first or they'd simply stop coming to family dinners.

"As for the public... what will you do? Call a press conference?" Lori nodded along with Syn being painted as the martyr. That was a natural move for them now. An untimely death made for easy public support. "I can make even Syn sound a saint, but it'd mean more coming from a true friend." At least she admitted that Syn and herself weren't best friends forever. "And as for the Xavier cast off, I have the perfect explanation in hand."

Slipping her reading glasses down to the tip of her nose, Lori busied herself with putting away the already read files and the NWO packet. back in the desk drawer as she old Isabel a brief synopsis of her media plan. If Isabel wasn't happy after that kind of plan, there would be no pleasing the woman.

"A family dinner?" she parroted, finding the proposal to be an odd one. The Order had held meetings on numerous occasions, though they usually took place in the War Room, not the Dining Hall. It was certainly an interesting idea, just unusual. Isabel had never thought of having any kind of sit-down meal with her companions, especially not if business was involved. However, a conference with the rest of her Faction could very well turn out a greater number of participants if the promise of a full stomach was in accompaniment.

"I suppose something like a dinner is worth a shot." If nothing else, the more relaxed atmosphere that tended to surround a meal would perhaps make it minimally easier to deliver the news of Seizure's disappearance and Syn's passing. "Yes, I think a dinner would be a better course of action than a more formal meeting. With everyone there we can do some brainstorming on top of it." She would contact Lisa later and get everything set up. The Dining Hall would need to be cleared of non-faction members and they would need to get cooks organized and ready. Lisa was also good at contacting everyone that they needed to get a hold of.

"I can take care of announcing Syn's passing if that's your concern. I'm capable of behaving when need be," she replied, trying to organize things in her head as plans fell into place and organization began to form. "We could call a conference, yes. However, if we want a lot of people informed and involved, something a little bigger might be in order," she continued as the gears in her head knit together and kept on turning.

"Why not a fundraiser? A banquet, or a ball, or something else along those lines? We don't really need any money, but the destruction of KP, a business supposedly aimed at helping others with the products it manufactures, could be used as an excuse to raise money and gain sympathies," she proposed. The Valentine's ball and fundraiser that she'd attended had attracted a lot of people, why not repeat the process for their own benefit?

It would take a little time to organize everything, but it could certainly be done, especially once the rest of the Order was all on the same page. They had handled more difficult tasks, a fundraiser should be a cakewalk in comparison. "A conference could always be held beforehand announcing the news and the possibility of a following event. I can take care of getting everyone up to speed on the condition of Syn, Seizure and our destroyed property, and you can provide the explanations behind why the X-Nerds would have attacked us."

Well, well, well, weren't they two peas in a pod? "Fundraising ball?" She echoed Isabel's words just as Isabel had disbelievingly echoed hers. They were definitely thinking outside of the box now and it definitely wasn't what Lori had been expecting. She tried to see her personal plans fitting into that avenue, but all she could think of was the fiasco of the last ball where she had been dressed up at the Sailor of Love and exposed to the world.

"A conference or maybe an interview or an article in a respectable magazine first would cement the idea of villain and victim that might not come across strongly enough at a ball." The idea of hobnobbing with a lot of people sort of made her feel ill, but it would have its uses. "If there is a turn out like there was for the Valentine's Day Ball it could be a good way to scout interested mutant parties to pad the Order's number."

"Also funding KP's repair with legitimized funds would do wonders in the way of that man's new world order." Lori held up her hands as if to pacify any knee jerk angry retort Isabel had planned. "I know. It can't all work. I, personally, think it's too idealistic, but he made some good points. You know that or else you wouldn't have agreed to it." That or he was a silver tongued speaker and Syn, Abyss, and Isabel had all been taken in with the metaphor of red chess pieces and promises of rainbows. She'd seen people fall for less.

"Speaking of the organization supposedly helping people, we probably need an actual product soon. The Kabal have their heart... but maybe we can discuss this around the kitchen table." The idea of eating with a family, any family, was surprisingly exciting to Lori.

"Just a conference would be faster than including a fundraiser, yes. We'll have plenty of time after the original announcement to plan an event if we decide it's definitely something that would benefit us. The announcements themselves are what's really important," she agreed, reeling in her own excitement and putting a bit more thought into the discussion to refrain from spitting out more ideas in rapid succession. It would be something to keep in mind if they needed more public support. It gave people an excuse to feel good about themselves and create a positive image for others to see.

"We can hold the conference outside the Sanctuary, make sure the image of the doors and the purposes of the building are refreshed in people's minds. The last thing we need, more that our normal bad publicity, is to be forgotten." The older and more ordinary the news surrounding the Sanctuary became, the more people will tend to overlook it. If they were going to continue to draw in a crowd and select promising recruits from that crowd, they would need to assert themselves and make sure they got noticed.

New World Order morphed into a more negative title the more it was spoken, the actions of the man who created it tainting any promising aspects of the recent organization of the faction. However, Isabel obediently bit her tongue with the swift signal that was given as Lori spoke again. They were doing well in their planning. She didn't want to turn it into an argument while good progress was being made. She would also have to admit that, despite her wounded emotions, that the electric woman had a point. The reorganization had it's good points as well as its downfalls. They would just have to toy with it a little further until it truly fit the Order.

The sudden mention of the Kabal was an unexpected turn, which Isabel was curious to pursue, but the quick cut off and redirection of the sentence quickly brought her back to the more important concerns at hand. The brainstorming could be continued later on when more of the Faction was together. "Right, the dinner," she commented, giving a small nod of her head as she backed fully out of the room and into the hallway. "I'll go speak to Lisa and then the dining staff. Lisa can get the word out to our members while the preparations are being made." She was eager to get everything underway.