'Now this is interesting'

It seemed as though a mob had decided to form outside the ornate golden gates that guarded Sanctuarys entrance. As with most mobs they were loud, crude and most of all stupid. Bellowing curses and waving their homemade protest posters, they looked every bit like the 70's rejects they seemed desperate to impersonate, or so it seemed to Zephyr anyway.

Standing atop the roof of a building just across the street from Sancturay the elemental gazed down at the overcrowded street and wondered how he would he be able to enter the complex without somehow attracting the attention of the fools below. He was half tempted to simply create a localized twister to sweep the stubborn protesters out the street and down into the center of town. Such an idea though was quickly dismissed; such an apparently random act of nature would garner too much attention from the media and could simply lead to a greater mob standing on the sanctuary's doorstep which would only make it more difficult for Simon to enter unnoticed.

As Zephyr was pondering this conundrum a feral cry of rage met his ears and upon locating it's source he discovered a squad of masked individuals swiftly making batting members of the crowd away like flies. Something about the figures seemed familiar but the elemental just couldn't put his finger on it. 'Whoever they are it's obvious they're working for Sanctuary' he told himself, 'Perhaps they're part of the Order Hunter was talking about, if that's the case...'

Simon narrowed his eyes and corner of his mouth twitched upward ever so slightly. Who said he needed to enter the building unnoticed? Hunter hadn't seemed particularly concerned about how they got their information as long as they got it, so why not enter as an obvious ally?

Taking a deep breath Zephyr narrowed his eyes to slits as he called upon the uncountable air currents that roamed the sky and directed them down to the street below. The wind was weak at first for Simon wanted them to at least seem natural, gradually though they increased in strength until it was the point where people were finding it difficult to maintain their balance. As Simon was observing his handiwork he made sure that his winds avoided the masked assailants who had originally been dealing with the crowd. After all it wouldn't do to attack the people you were trying to befriend.

Well things had certainly progressed; with the elementals aid the masked task force had assaulted the crowd with renewed fervor. Tossing humans like rag dolls into the gale force winds that now barreled down the increasingly empty street.

Alas all good things must come to an end, the local authorities had finally taken notice of the mindless mob now that the mutants had finally decided to fight back. Decked out in their padded black armour and carrying the stereotypical plexiglas shields the riot squad steadily advanced up the street to put an end to the mindless violence, for the rest of the day at least.

Taking this as his cue to leave Simon watched the mask figures down below; unless they had a series vendetta against humans they would have to make their exit relatively soon and when they did the elemental would follow them.

Strangely enough only a single member of the obsidian task force decided to abandon the fray while his fellows continued to strike vengeance upon the panicking mob. Deciding not to question the tactics Zephyr floated above the retreating individual and followed him into a deserted alleyway and began entering a security code for a rather sturdy looking steel door. Remaining in the air for a moment longer the elemental angeled his newly acquired spy cam towards the key pad, hopefully someone back at the labs would be able to make out the code that had just been entered.

The moment the code was entered the door opened with only a slight pneumatic hiss. Zephyr chose this moment to silently descend behind Abyss and make his presence known, "mind if I follow you?"

((OOC: That's fine, I'm not really that bothered to be honest))

--

Zephyr blinked as a gloved fist froze not a inch from his face, close enough for him to make out the individual cracks in the leather work. This certainly wasn't the kind of greeting he'd been expecting; didn't most people typically offer thanks after they were aided? Yet it seemed this hulking brute was quite content to separate his head from his shoulders.

The elementals masked companion then proceeded to trigger some sort of alarm which promptly trapped the two of them between two solid sheets of steel. Something that didn't bother Zephyr in the slightest; as long as he had access to air in some form or another he considered himself nigh invincible to physical assaults and could most likely shred their steel prison if he put enough effort into it. However his purpose here was to discover as much about Sanctuary as he could and that would be so much easier if they considered him a friend.

Taking a weary breath Simon took a step back from Abyss and glanced at him with a deadpan expression,"You certainly have an interesting way of expressing your thanks" he said in a dry tone of voice deliberately showing that he was in no way intimidated by his companions superior size. In response to Abyss's question though Zephyr allowed one eyebrow to raise upwards in rise slightly as an indicator of his amusement, 'He hasn't figured it out? Who else would willingly follow him into a back alley?' Summoning a portion of his gift Zephyr created a sudden gust of wind which circulated around the enclosed room once before dissipating.

"I go by Zephyr and the reason I have followed you is that I wish to seen as an ally of Sanctuary"

As the masked mutant gave his response Zephyr kept his face carefully blank, little did his companion realize that he had hit the nail right on the head. The elemental was nobodies ally, ally held connotations of friendship and camaraderie which eventually led to weakness and Simon despised weakness. He was a mercenary, he had no interest in the goals or dreams of others. He simply worked for the highest bidder.

As Pluto made his sudden appearance the identity of Simon's masked companion finally became clear; after all who else summoned duplicates of themselves through a hellish portal? In actuality there were probably a fair few, but Zephyr was confident that there was only one currently in residence within the New York area.

Placing a polite expression on his face the elemental nodded in greeting at Pluto's abrupt entrance before doing the same to the original as Abyss allowed him entry to Sanctuary "Thank you.. Abyss was it? Mr. King was not present when I called earlier, although I did happen upon Syn. Unfortunately we had a... clash of personalities, and I was unable to get any further in my pursuit of employment. Tell me is there anyone else I could speak with?"

Zephyr followed his crimson companion through the underground tunnel that led into sanctuary's lower bowels, so far his mission was progressing very nicely, not only had he discovered one of the priority targets Hunter had listed but the elemental had also uncovered a secret entrance into the supposed this supposed haven. 'The question is how long will my good luck last?'

As they left the tunnels Simon listened silently as Abyss informed that he would most likely not be finding employment within the order any time soon. Such words prompted a response and so Zephyr allowed a suitable slight scowl to emerge as he released an irritated sigh, "I don't suppose you could put in a good word for me? I need some funds fairly quickly..." he trailed off as they emerged into what could best be described as a changing room, there were stalls and lockers lined up against the walls and down the middle of the floor and even a metallic grate set into the ground to catch any stray liquids. While Abyss was changing Zephyr took the opportunity to test a few of the lockers and discover their contents only to find that they were locked tight. Normally this wouldn't have been much of a problem for him however at the moment he couldn't afford to be too reckless; there was still too much to do.

In response to the question of residence Zephyr polite demeanor remained constant as he shook his head with a sad smile, "I'm afraid not, I've just taken out a lease on a rather expensive apartment and I plan on taking full advantage of it, perhaps at a later date though it will be realistic to move in here"

As Abyss started listing off the different areas within sanctuary the elemental kept his ears peeled for anything that might sound remotely useful, he doubted the scarlet man would mention the security control room or the buildings servers but sometimes things did slip. Unfortunately that didn't happen this time and Zephyr was left with a rather ordinary list, "Tell me do you have any type of training area? A place where mutants can practice their abilities without worry of injuring someone?"

Simon stayed silent for the most part, allowing Abyss to speak and soaking in the mans words in case he let anything slip. Unfortunately the crimson skinned mutant was either very careful with his words or was ignorant of what happened within Sanctuary's bowels since Zephyr learned nothing interest.

When Abyss mentioned the possibly of a heist Zephyr simply shook his head, "a heist requires a lot of time and patience" he stated with a learned air, "not only do you have to learn the banks schedule for transfers to find out when it has the most cash, you also need a group of people you can trust." Here Zephyr glanced at the crimson mutant to make sure he was listening, "Despite your ability to clone yourself my friend unless your technologically gifted we still require a third member at least in order to bypass security checks and divert local authorities. If you know someone with such expertise see if they're interested and maybe we could pull something off, at the moment though the idea simply isn't viable."

Done with his lecture for the time being Zephyr listened as Abyss gave a brief description of their training facilities. It didn't sound like much to be honest, not when compared to what he'd seen in Hunters labs and so the elemental lost the inclination to travel to that section of Sanctuary. However the hulking crimson giant was heading that way and would most likely find it suspicious should Zephyr suddenly change his mind.

'Time to get "conveniently" lost'

Lifting himself off the ground without a sound Zephyr drifted behind Abyss and waited for scarlet mutant to dissapear behind a corner and out of sight before floating off in the opposite direction to explore the bowels of this supposed haven on his own. Only when he was certain he had completely lost hos previous companion did he allow his feet to return to the floor.

'Now which way do I go?'



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((OOC: Ok I've edited this post so that Zephyr is now free to roam Sanctuary. Abyss when you come back feel free "find" Zephyr and barge in on whatever Sanctuary topic he is in, the first one I'm gonna do will be in living quarters and will be up shortly. ))