It had been a long time since Aura had seen sanctuary, Aura liked to avoid it because of all the old memories she had in it as well as the thing that made it wonderful was now gone, the order and the mutant only accommodations were as well. Aura liked Tempest but not how he ran sanctuary. Still it was better then the place just being closed with no one to control it.

When Lisa had called her she had of course taken the call, despite having been in a small skirmish with a few stupid gang members. She had made her quickest time to Sanctuary she could even taking a few shortcuts that exposed her longer then she should have risked but it went all right and no one reconized or tried to shoot at her.

Arriving at Sanctuary she almost knocked down the doors in her excitement and hurry to see her old friend. Part of her told her it was a ghost, Meld had been gone so long it was hard to believe she was still alive. Still she knew Lisa's data was almost always accurate and well researched so she still had

Aura smiled at Lisa as she entered and looked around things looked different but somewhat simmeler. Still Lisa's friendly face was enough. She was glad meld has asked to see her, she had and so this was as strong relief for her. The pair of them had been wonderful together and had brought out the best in each other in Aura's opinion but more then that Meld was easily Aura's best friend if not a bite more.

Finally Meld was back in the city she considered home.  For 5 long years she had rotted away in a mutant prison.  Called a dangerous mutant terrorist, a mass murder and worst, it was a miracle someone was willing to release her at all.  Countless humans had died by her claws, so many she'd long ago lost count.  Of course, she hadn't actually been convicted for any of the people she'd actually killed.  Rather, she'd had the bad luck to be caught breaking into the residence of a local anti-mutant politician.  A combination of dumb luck and getting cocky had done her in.  Ya, she'd planned to kill him.  Ya, it had all been a part of her mission to better the place of all mutants in the world at the expense of the inferior human race.  No, she felt no remorse thinking about his tiny little life or the tiny little lives he left behind. You'd be surprised how little any of that junk mattered when you had a good enough lawyer.

5-8 years in a maximum security mutant prison for break and enter and the intent to do bodily harm.  A laughably light sentence.  She wasn't complaining.  The indignities were many.  All her melds were forcibly removed and replaced with the limbs of cadavers; non-mutant cadavers, at that.  A strictly enforced schedule ruled her life, eating, sleeping and sh*tting when and where she was told.  Between the few traitorous mutant guards, adapted guards and META-bot guards, physical and mental abuse was common.  A weaker person wouldn't have made it to the end.  A weaker person wouldn't have been able to maintain the almost zen-like calm needed to keep their anger in check and get themselves released on good behavior.  She was not a weak person.

Her time behind bars hadn't been entirely wasted.  Contacts were made, new skills were learned and, upon her release, both contacts and skills were put to good use getting her life back in order.  As it turned, there was real money to be made in mercenary work when you were as she was and had as little conscious as she did.  There were rules of course: She'd only work for mutant employers and she'd only kill humans or mutants who were proven traitors to their people.  Her reputation began to grow.

For 2 years she honed her skills and built her finances, becoming rather wealthy in the process.  Finally, the time was right to return home.  It just felt right; for too long she had placed her all important cause on the back burner to simmer while she pursued her own, selfish goals.  Now, established, financially comfortable and with a growing reputation in the mutant, criminal underground, it was time to begin her mission anew.  It was time to return home.

After securing herself a place to stay, the first call she made was to Lisa.  She'd heard of the Order's demise through the grapevine, of course, and while that brought her some sorrow, it only served to reinforce the need to restart her work.  A call to Lisa confirmed that her old friend and old partner Aura was still around, however.  A good sign if she ever heard one.  Her old friend had always been more than capable, willing to risk as much as she was for their mutual cause and one of the few with a higher body count than her own.

A wave of nostalgia washed over Meld as she came up to the Sanctuary doors.  Opening them, she was struck by both the things she remembered from before as well as the things that had changed.  A long time had gone by since she'd last been there.  Too long.  She greeted Lisa with a warm smile and a hug before being directed towards where here oldest friend and partner was waiting for her.  

"Aura!" She was older than she remembered, her features matured, but also so much the same.  She hadn't realize dhow much she'd missed her until just then.  "It is so wonderful to see you again.!"  She approached the younger woman, hoping to hug her after so long away.

Aura turned at the sound of her voice. The fact Meld was there sent a shiver through her skin. It seemed to good to be true and for a moment she questioned if she was having a relapse in to her shattered memory. She had gotten into more then one situation fighting things that were not what she thought. She considerd glancing at Lisa but i8f this was in her head then Lisa likely was to. Either way, real or not she was thrilled to see her old friend.

"By the Life giver Mai, you are alive" she said the shock preventing her from moving closer ever as Meld did. Syn had 'died' and come back as had Lori, so why was her mind having such trouble wrapping her head around this.

She snapped out of her momentary daze and embraced her old friend in a hug. "I thought you were dead, I searched for you..." she said having more then once set out in search for her old friend despite her own reasoning Meld was likely dead. She was so glad she had been so very wrong.

She broke the embrace but stayed close. "Can i help you with anything?" she asked considering her friend might be out on the streets. She had no idea where she had been and mont of the things Aura considered did not lend one to money. "You know my blades are yours if you have the need" she said with a smile.

Hades had offered her a chance to make a difference, amber had come back and now Meld was back to. Things were coming back together and Aura felt comforted by it all. Now if she could find Solkat things would almost be perfect again.

It was surreal to see her oldest, dearest friend again.  In prison, she'd met many solid contacts and made a few solid alliances, but no one she could truly call a friend.  The nature of prison acquaintances was such that people were constantly coming and going and becoming emotionally invested in anyone was unsound.  The nature of the prison population itself implied a general lack of respectability that made putting one's trust in someone else a roll of the dice.  Sound investment said don't get attached.

"I got sloppy and I got caught," she said with a grimace.  "Word of advice: You're not invincible and caution is always warranted no matter how many things you've gotten away with in the past."  Aura was one of the best she'd ever worked with but if her experiences had taught her anything it was that you couldn't be too careful and you couldn't plan too much.  When you got cocky you got careless and when you got careless you got caught.

"And you know my blades are yours as well," she agreed.  God, it was so good to be back again.  "A permanent place to stay would be a good start.  I've got a room in a hotel, but that's temporary.  I've got money"  More money than she'd ever had in the past, unless you counted access to the Order credit cards.  

"What do you way we grab a bite to eat and plan where to go from here?  I'm starved!"  She gestured towards where she knew the kitchen was.

She could relate to the getting sloppy, it was arguably the thing that landed her in jail awhile back herself, however Abyss had been around and Aura was unable to be held long. It seemed Mage did not have the same luck, partly because Aura's trial has been very public where as Meld's sounded hidden. " It is a hard lesson to learn" she admitted leaving out most of her lack of caution was often du to her mentality she would not live long, which she knew no longer seemed to be the case. Aura was surprised she had made it this far.

"You won't need it where we will go. Do you know a mutant known as hades?" she asked curiously. Hades owned the Hotel and if like Amber Meld had heard of hades it would eliminate a step in the process. "I moved away from Sanctuary awhile back, I was attracting to many metabots" she explained.

"Food sounds good to me. I have not eaten today quite yet. How long you been out of prison?" she asked as she began torward the kitchen. it had been so long since she had eaten here and even with the changes Nostalgia poured into her from the location and the company.

"You know the order is dead right?" she asked making sure, she was pretty sure meld had heard of it, many had at this point. Though with Tempest ruling the place the old hijinks in the halls had calmed considerably. She glanced at foyer wall before entering the hallway and thought. 'I went through that wall once'.

"Only by reputation, I'm afraid."  Even then she hadn't managed to dig up much.  He was dangerous, very good at his job and a mutant was about the extent of the information she possessed about the man.  If Aura vouched for him, however, that was good enough for her.  She'd never work with anyone incompetent or prone to betrayal.

Walking towards the kitchen, she continued speaking.  Sanctuary had always had excellent food given the presence of a chef with the power to create food. Hopefully he still lived there and continued to offer his services, despite the many changes.  "I've been out a little over a year.  I needed to re-hone my edge after my release and gather some resources before coming back, otherwise I'd have been here sooner."  

In her opinion, it had been time well spent.  Not only had she managed to amass a rather respectable amount of capital, but she now had several worth while contacts across the country and up into Canada.  It paid to know the right people and have the right people know about you.

"Ya, I know," she shook her head sadly.  "It's really too bad.  We did so much good work.  But even without the Order, we're going to do good work again."  She couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't been in prison if it would have continued to live, but there was no point in dwelling on such things.

She nodded, she had at least heard of Hades which was nice and a decent enough start. "Im staying at a hotel he runs, we have had plans to start something new from the ashes of the order. Hades believes in our cuase and that we neeed a new group." she said with a smile and sense of self comfort in her voice. Aura despised not belonging to some group, it made it hard for her to focus.

"I was in a coma for three months shortly after the fall of the order. Prison can certainly ruin some of our more finely honed skills." she agreed recalling her own time locked away in prison. She wished she had been there for Meld, broken her out sooner even if things seem to of worked out.

"You can stay there with me if you like, the Hotel I mean. Their are a series of underground tunnels leading to it, hidden here and there because as Sanctuary showed to any people seeing the likes of us entering and exiting might be attract to much attention you know?" she said even as she placed an order for chicken fingers with hot sauce. It was tame compared to what had used to fill her diet but she was trying to be good and not attract to much attention by raiding the local zoo.

"Whatever you're starting, I want in on it."  The two of them had worked together extensively in the pas and although she'd worked with others before and since, no one knew her like Aura knew her and no one could operate by her side like Aura could.  Although it had been years since the last time they'd be partners, she knew it would be like putting on a pair of old shoes.  You never really lost the chemistry.

"A coma.  Rough.  That must have been some encounter for someone to put you down and out."  She cringed at the thought.  She knew that with her aura, she was extremely hard to hurt and for someone to put her into a coma, that someone must have either been extremely strong, extremely lucky or a combination of the two.  "I'm glad to see you came out of it."

They arrived at the kitchen and she placed an order for a sandwich.  It might have been simple fare, but in Sanctuary even simple was good.  She then stepped aside for Aura to find her own food before finding a table to sit at and continue their conversation.

"I'd appreciate it and that sounds smart.  Of course, I'd also like to meet Hades in person."  She trusted her friend's judgement, but one couldn't be entirely certain until they were able to make that judgement themselves.  "Hey, one of the advantage of being in prison is at least I've been out of jail long enough to be off the radar."  She smirked.  

"Yea, I don't know what hit me. I was attacking a medical facility working on a cure for mutant kind. The doctors who looked after me believe it was something explosive, maybe an rpg" she said not really knowing what had made the impact but her Aura had been strong at the time and the marks that had made it to flesh had left burns.

"I think you will like it, a bit like the order but more focused on taking out humans who matter compared to the street thugs and randomness of the old order. I came to the realization no matter how many of those worthless gang members I kill they will never make a difference. " she said knowing she ha killed hundreds of gang members and yet more always filled the gap, like weeds.

"that's helpful. And since you actually served out your sentence your in the clear" Aura said considering the implications of that. Had Aura tried serving out hers she would have been still sitting there from her sentences but 140 murder counts tended to that.

She sat down with Meld, it felt like old times sitting here with her. "Hey, you recall that time we raided that church and got our butts kicked by that vampire?" she said with a smile she had no greater reason for the question but being with Meld made her recall it. "and six years later maybe seven we are still alive and well" she said taking another bite.

"I'm glad you made it out of that alive."  It didn't surprise her that her friend had to have been taken from behind nor that it was something explosive in nature.  In a straight up fight, no matter the odds, there were few that stood a chance against her and she couldn't remember a time when Aura had been taken unaware when she expected a fight might be coming.

"Like the Order but with direction and purpose," she nodded thoughtfully.  Truthfully, that was largely what the old Order had been lacking.  Their hearts were always in the right place, but they didn't have any idea how to actually achieve their goals.  Sometimes it felt like they wandered in circles, attracting the worst and most violent of mutant kind but not knowing how to best put those skills to use.  Wanton killing was not the answer.  "I like the sounds of where this is going."

"Well, clear in the yes of the law anyway," she laughed.  "We both know I've done far more than they ever caught me for and there are people in power who know it.  I'll be able to lay low for a little while, but it won't take long before they know I'm back and active again.  My work and my image are kind of distinctive."  She smirked.  How many other mutant cyborgs bristling with blades could there possibly be in the world, let alone in their fair city?

Her sandwich arrived and she took a bite of it.  "I remember the church well.  One of our more public bloody moments, wouldn't you say?  No idea what happened to that vampire but I can't say I really expected to live this long.  Guess we both must be damn good at what we do!"

"yea that is true, you are hard to miss" she said glancing at the Meld's she currently had. Meld was visible and drew attention, Aura could at least hide until she used her powers. But her face was well known as well as the hair color switches rarely lasted her very long. "We do seem to leave clear trails of distinct carnage behind us" she admitted recalling the courts had linked her to many deaths based off the wounds inflicted. Not much cut through bone as clearly as her Aura.

"Yea it was. No idea what happened to the vampire either. Yea I expected to be dead long ago, the idea its been eight years since the forest is hard to grasp." she said considering that she has been raised to believe she would have a short life span and was disposable. "We are very good at what we do, their are not many willing to do what we do though.

"I still have the sword you made me as well, I have kept it close. Its come in handy a few times but I have learned it is a bit hard to carry without drawing a lot of attention" she said having not quite known how hard the sword would be to keep on her person without someone spotting the beautiful piece of work.

I also learned killing gang members as fun as the practice was would never solve the human issue. I have been trying to lay low, keep the cops and the metabots not knowing im back around. You know about the metabots" she asked not sure if Meld had seen one but they were no public secret and she had a feeling Meld had looked into them. "I left Sanctuary because of the bots awhile back, people got hurt trying to help me fight some off in front of Sanctuary. The police were not willing to lose their own bot the robots they could harass my daily with" she said recalling how frequent the attacks had become.

The had been some consideration in the past of crafting somewhat less obvious melds, of course.  The beauty of her power was that she could design and craft almost anything imaginable.  Some experimentation had given her a good idea of her limits.  As long as it was possible by modern science and could be attached to her body, chances are she could make it work.  There was just something slick and beautiful about blades, however, that she had fallen in love with early in her career and her time with Aura and her beautiful pink slicing implements had only served to reinforce that.  Still, maybe it was time to start pursuing more subtle options, like retractable blades.  If nothing else, they would help her blend in.

"Carnage is kind of what we do," she agreed with a smirk.  But maybe it was time to diversify now that she was back.  Pick better targets and do away with said targets quieter and with more finesse.  She took another bite of her sandwich.  "We do the messy stuff that no one wants to get their hands dirty with."

It was good to hear that her friend still had the sword she had made for her.  Only Aura would be surprised that it was hard to carry a full sized sword in public, and she laughed good naturedly.  "Ya, cops tend to be a little uncomfortable with live steel.  The only reason I get away with it is  because I'm a mutant and they can't take my blades away from me."  At least not easily and even at that, the cops didn't need to know how her power functioned.

"Oh ya, I know about the metabots.  Haven't encountered them myself, yet, but I've heard of them.  More than a few of those who ended up in prison got caught because of the foul contraptions.  They'll be dealt with too, in time."

They do messy and terrible work. It was also true most people even those who were supremacists for the mutant cause like them were not fond of the work they did. Their were a few strange ones out there who broke the mold but not many. It was one of the reasons Meld and Aura had enjoyed such success together. It all seemed from so long ago and yet Aura knew it been only a hand full of years.

"Yes a cop disarming you would be fun to watch, for us of course" she said with a smile. It would not end well for the cop unless they had her restrained somehow or knocked out. Aura shared the issue to a large degree, but knew Meld without her Melds was likely. She had no idea on Meld but she knew cops mostly ignored her unless they had metabots or an adapted near by.

"The bots are a logical result of actions like our own. Hard to replace experienced manpower quickly. Their real issue is they sometimes misidentify mutants and pursue innocent ones. Unfortunately not all our brothers and sisters are handy in a fight" she said considering the vast array of powers she had seen over the years.

She ate another bite of her food and looked around again. "A man named Devon owns Sanctuary now, he let in the humans but he also saved me and looked after me while i was in my coma, so he seems like a good idea even if his ideals are a bit misplaced" she said having met the man a few times now and having a fairly good impression of the man

She smiled at the comment, although the truth was that with enough effort and knowledge of how her powers worked she could, in fact, be disarmed.  It was bloody, horrible and involved literally chopping off her limbs and replacing them with new, non-armed and armored limbs, but it could be done.  It had been done.  In the special mutant prison she'd been kept in, they knew how her powers worked and how to make them harmless.  Never again, she vowed, would she be caught and kept behind bars.  She'd rather die.  Fortunately, that wasn't a concern when it came to regular cops or even metabots.

"I've heard the stories," she replied with a grimace.  Too many stories about too many mutants attacked, pursued and arrested without reason or provocation.  The corrupt human justice system didn't make things better, often incarcerating innocent mutants with little or no evidence even knowing about their faulty bots.  The system was rigged against mutants.  It was one of many reasons she chose to fight for her people especially in light of the fact that there were many mutants unable (or unwilling) to fight for themselves.  

"I guess change is inevitable."  She took another bit of her own sandwich.  "I may have to meet this 'Devon' and judge his character for myself.  If he helped you, though, he can't be all bad."  She'd learned long ago not to judge her fellow mutants by their association with humans.  Not all humans were the enemy, just those that perpetuated the power imbalance between humans and mutants.  

"He has a private island though im not sure as to where but it was where he took me to be cared for. I would recomend seeking him out, if just to know who he is" she said agreeing with her friends idea of meeting the man. It was the best way Aura knew and would hopefully establish a good relationship. She was sure no matter what it would not end poorly however, they were both reasonable people in Aura's eyes.

"Change is inevitable and some times tough to deal with. It's never been opne of my better suits outside of combat" she said though even there Aura tended to rely on the same Aura constructs she always had, adding in one here or there but her inventory had stayed the same for a long time.

"The bot attacks have toned down since a group called raganarok fell, i don't know how it happened but i know the leader of ragnarok wanted to kill every human and mutant and start entirely over with his chosen" she said considering she might have joined up with the guy had he kept that part of his agenda hidden. SHe was glad he had been honest though as it would have caused her a lot of regrets.