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.
Posted by Cold Steel on Sept 26, 2021 10:48:01 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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The snow started to build up around the jet covering the metallic surface with white making it that much easier to hide for anyone that flew over head. It would look just like a giant hill that seemingly appeared overnight. Thankfully there were other small hills nearby all of which were just rocks covered by a thick layer of snow. Soon to be thicker under the cryomancer’s control.
”No, most of them hated me. I had more control at an earlier age. So much so the older kids often tried killing me so they could look better.” he said dryly and truthfully. Liz knew enough about his background hoping to not ask more about the subject. That was a slippery slope of questions she might not want answers to.
”Yeah, sorry. Hardly noticed.” he said looking over to them. The dogs had the fur and now that he looked at her she was pretty bundled up. Even the birds seemed to be bothered by the cold. Sam however was still in his classic rock band T-shirt and pants. The cold never bothered him anyways. With a slight wave of his hand the cold seemed to recede around them. The snow however finished covering the jet hiding their escape for when they needed it. Hopefully it would be hidden enough from the crew that no doubt would come to search for them after they fired the rockets.
Bruno being more used to Sam’s powers and the colder environments jumped around in the snow trying to coax Zorro into chasing him. Pointing his hand some snow reformed into a box large enough for a group of people to climb in. Or in this case Liz and the animals. ”Climb on in, should block the wind and cold some.” a door formed and dropped creating a ramp into the box as some of the details started to form. It looked almost like an old timey stage coach one that would be pulled around by horses. They didn’t have horses though, they had a Sam.
”I’ll take us over to research facility. It should be faster and safer for you all in there anyways. If you could do your zoolepathy thing and see if there are any critters around that have seen anything? Maybe get the ravens scouting? I can’t really feel too much around here. Pretty empty.” he said trying to search the frozen landscape for anything that stood in his thermal field.
”Bruno, get in!” Sam said still downplaying that someone just tried to shoot them down.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 26, 2021 20:20:48 GMT -6
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Elizabeth winced at Sam’s tone. Ah. Right. She’d momentarily forgotten that Sam’s childhood was...not typical by any means. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” she said softly. Normally intensely curious by nature (and not just because she was linked to two ravens) Liz usually saw evasion as a challenge and would dig into people until she found answers. It was something she was trying to become more aware of - not everyone appreciated being interrogated. And some people had very good reasons for hiding their pasts.
Sam had many good reasons.
“Appreciated,” Liz said with a shiver, refusing to look Sam’s way. Just seeing him in short sleeves like that was enough to make her long for a fireplace. So many times did she wish her powers granted her attributes of animals instead of just control over them - it would be far easier to deal with life if she could just sprout fangs, fur, or wings whenever needed.
Such as in the midst of Antarctica, where every scrap of warmth was vastly appreciated.
But Sam at least could extend his power to the benefit of the others and they collectively relaxed as the Antarctic winter diminished to a New York winter. Far, far more bearable. Still, Liz would need to keep awareness of Zorro and Bruno’s paws - eventually the snow and ice would get too much for them.
Liz smiled as she caught wind of Bruno’s intentions. <<Go play,>> she thought to her dog, not bothering to fight the wind. <<Just stay close.>> It didn’t really matter what he did as long as he stayed within range of her mind, so she could keep tabs on the dogs as well as utilize them as needed.
She changed her commands not a minute later as a stagecoach emerged from the ice. She couldn’t help it. She laughed. “My goodness, Sam! You’re a regular fairy godmother! Now can you make some ice-horses too, or would that be pushing things?” she teased as she pulled herself into the coach, the ravens still riding on her shoulders. For a brief moment she contemplated asking for ice slippers but decided they’d be far, far too impractical.
“Sounds good,” she said, settling onto the bench in the back. The transparent ice windows were a nice touch, giving them protection and still crystal clear vision. Bruno and Zorro climbed in behind her, aided by her psychic compulsions. “Out here though, my power is practically useless in detecting anything. Not much lives out here in the winter. We’re going to see anything long before I feel them. Fortunately I happened to bring along a couple pairs of binoculars.”
Liz tilted her head at each of her shoulder companions and winked at Sam. A raven wasn’t quite as keen-eyed as a hawk, but it could still zoom in at distances far in excess of the human eye. “Besides, I’d rather get a little more distance between us and the jet--and the little blizzard you whipped up -- before sending these two out at black beacons on a white wasteland. But keep us nearish the coast and I may be able to pick up something along the way - that’s where most animals congregate this time of year.”
Posted by Cold Steel on Sept 29, 2021 4:50:50 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
Sam didn’t need an apology, nor did he want one. His past was something he couldn’t change the only thing he could do now is make up for it. ”It’s fine.” was all he could manage on the subject before he dropped it like the temperature around them.
”I was going to make the dogs pull it.” Sam lied as he decided to nix the horses made of ice. It would have been overkill. at this point and the amount of references to a fairy godmother at this point was a bit much. Instead some figures behind the stage coach started to form. All of them copies of himself. After they formed they placed their hands on the back of the vehicle and started to push. Couple that to Sam’s control the frozen transport started to move.
There wasn’t much to look at. The frozen wasteland of white revealed nothing to the icemancer. Nothing standing out. Even looking over to the coast line something Sam waited a bit to head towards as they were recently shot at from said coast line. Surely they couldn’t have anti-aircraft missiles everywhere right?
After some distance the snow storm stopped and it was the six of them. No thermal images, no corpses half buried in the snow nothing. It was dead to Sam until he spotted a group of small buildings gathered together around a large one. All of them were temporary buildings that the researchers lived and worked in. ”I see the facility. You got anything?” he asked hoping some of the aquatic dwelling animals were feeling talkative.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 30, 2021 18:07:54 GMT -6
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Elizabeth let out a short bark of laughter. “I’m sure you thought you were,” she said as sweetly as cyanide. There was no way two dogs were going to be able to pull the end ice contraption - although part of her would’ve been entertained by his attempts to try it.
But alas, even the ice horses were not meant to be. Instead, Sam chose to do things a slightly harder way and they were soon skimming across the land of ice and snow. “You know,” she calmly remarked as she kept the ravens’ eyes directed over the empty wasteland. “If you could sing, you could be an instant boy band with those icy homunculi.”
The blonde frowned even as she kept her eyes shut. It was difficult enough looking out through two pairs of avian eyes - she didn’t need to use hers and get a migraine to boot. Fortunately they’d left the blizzard and rough winds behind and so the birds could actually see.
Not that there was much to see.
They spotted the buildings easily and then she turned their attention in opposite directions, Huninn and Muninn then ambling around the coach and changing their perches to peer out of other windows under her direction.
“I’ve got movement by the coast,” she reported, urging Huninn to focus on the motion. “Looks like penguins. Wintering fathers, I imagine. Too far away for me to get anything - I’d need to take a bird in close.” Assuming that they had been in the area when anything happened. Still, if all else failed it was worth a shot. She’d used animal eyewitnesses to solve cases before.
“Probably easier to sniff around with the canines,” she added, her eyes still shut. There was no point maintaining social norms of eye contact in a situation like this. Better to have all the eyes watching the skies that they could. At least this close to the coast, the ravens wouldn’t be the only birds around, so wouldn’t be as likely to draw attention or seem out of the ordinary.
“They’ve only been out of contact what, a day or so now?” she said. “Should still be smells, especially out here with nothing messing it up.” Zorro wasn’t specifically trained for tracking, but training had more to do with making decisions, not so much raw ability. Liz was pretty confident together they could find any trail that was there, and then see if they could unearth anything else. “Just try not to whip up another snowstorm until we’re ready.”
Posted by Cold Steel on Oct 12, 2021 4:56:54 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
”We tried in the early 90’s they said to be a boy band I needed more than just one boy in it.” he lied. Sam was never interested in being famous. He didn't even think his singing was particularly that great, it was just enough to get him by and not afraid of going out for a night of karaoke.
”Hold off on the penguins for now.” Sam said eyeing the direction she was looking with the two birds that flew overhead. ”We’ll head that way if the trail leaves that way. I want to get a closer look at the base first.” he said trying not to think what would happen should they arrive and find corpses.
”More than twenty-four hours now.” he said counting in his head. Sam hoped it was just a malfunction with the equipment. Maybe a solar storm? Shifting of the magnetic poles? Was he just grasping for a better reason?
”We’ll head to the camp first, hopefully mother nature has prevented too many shifts in the wind.” he’d hold off on storms for now unless they needed the cover. Thankfully with this armored carriage of ice he’d be able to protect the group well given that this was where he was strongest.
The closer they got the more he realized not everything was missing. Just the big stuff. There were a few storage containers that generated some heat, some equipment laid out in the snow partially buried and a few other signs of life that was quickly uprooted. The pod he was looking for however wasn’t there. Where were the living quarters. ”We’re here.” he said loudly scanning he grounds for thermal images of life. There were currently none.
”It’s clear.” he said hopping off the frozen carriage. The door opened up and a ramp formed for the three inside. ”Keep close and stay ready. I don’t know what to expect after the greeting we got flying in.” he said now worried he was going to have to investigate who was shooting at them. ”Bruno, find them.” he said calmly hoping his dog would pick up the meaning and start sniffing around.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Oct 13, 2021 19:51:45 GMT -6
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There wasn’t much to see or hear. The ravens could see amazingly far on the flat, icy desert, but there was nothing out there. Nothing sticking out against the constant whiteness. The coast was clear, it seemed, other than the actual coast itself. With a thought and a desire, Liz oriented Huninn toward coast watch, just on the off chance that something was using the penguins as cover.
The ice carriage stopped and Liz was quite grateful that Sam’s powers included mastery of ice. She was the last one out, Zorro and the ravens having charged out on Sam’s heels. “Aye, aye,” Elizabeth acknowledged Sam as she kept close to him. <<Keep watch, stay alert,>> she told Huninn, impressing upon her images and intentions. It wasn’t a perfect method of conveying information, but she’d been working with the raven long enough to reach an understanding. If the raven saw anything different, she’d raise a ruckus or Liz would feel a shift in her mindset.
She cut off the visual feed and opened her eyes, just enough to keep behind Sam but not enough to risk total snow blindness. She copied Sam’s command to Bruno over to Zorro, adding additional impressions and focus to both dogs. She called up her imagination of scientists and mixed it with memories of scents of people, all tied together with an urge to find people. With that package implanted in both dogs, she turned her mind toward Muninn.
The raven spiraled into the sky, a hundred feet overhead, soaring in slow loops that enabled him to see miles in every direction. Through him, Liz could see the jet off in the distance, or at least where she knew the jet to be. Covered in ice and snow, it was merely a white mount barely distinguishable from the white expanse around it.
Liz left him similar commands as Huninn and thus, with the aerial scouts on the job, Liz set her mind to the dog squad.
Almost immediately, they had relevant data. “There’s nothing fresh,” she said, frowning in concentration. She didn’t dip far into Zorro’s olfactory senses but focused more on a stream of consciousness from him, occasionally comparing notes from Bruno’s mind. Raw data didn’t do her as much good when she didn’t personally have the datasets to help her interpret the data, like the dogs did. So she picked their brains for the info instead. “Although all of the smells are very recent. Like, this week, recent. But everything mostly dies off….I want to say about a day ago.”
Elizabeth frowned harder and she stopped for a few seconds as she struggled to piece together what they were sensing. “How many people were on the team out here? We’re picking up a sudden influx of smells nearer the end. Unique smells, en masse, all….” she paused. “I think all from one direction? I’ll need a deeper dive or more time to be sure. And it definitely wouldn’t hurt getting inside the buildings where the scent trails won’t have eroded as much. Seems to me like a group was here for several days until another group of people appeared and then they all left.”
Posted by Cold Steel on Oct 18, 2021 5:21:29 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
The icemancer slowed as Liz kept going in and out from closing her eyes and following him. He turned slightly grabbed her hand and put it on his shoulder then turned back to the scene of the vanishing. There wasn’t much sign of a struggle a few things scattered in the snow around them covered by a layer of fresh ice that he was quickly adding to. He slowed to a spot where there were the snow stood a little higher. It wasn’t noticeable to the naked eye but when he had been manipulating snow as long as he had you notice things that stand out. Small bumps odd shapes the snow had a tendency to fill in the gaps.
Bending over Sam picked up flare gun, one that was cold to the touch. It was also bright orange. He sniffed the barrel, someone fired it. Where he couldn’t tell but it was defiantly fired. ”Keep close, I’ll go in first.” he said getting them to the nearest pod then moved away from Liz as he checked the container for any thermal readings that meant it was occupied.
No such luck. Sam entered slowly and then saw the sign of a struggle. Papers scattered, mechanical equipment damage and tilted over. Some chemicals thrown to the ground, beakers shattered. A grow light flickered a few times over some plants growing in pots.
”Clear.” he said sighing. With his visual investigation and with what Liz had said the dogs were picking up their indeed was a struggle and from the lack of people an abduction. ”Smart money is on whoever shot at us.” he said looking around glad he didn’t see any bodies or blood. That meant they went somewhat willingly.
”Whoever took them were looking for something...” he said eyeing the papers scattered throughout the pod. He was sure the other pods would look similar to this one. There was a white board with some information hastily erased. Key words and numbers were missing. To him it looked like coordinates to somewhere.
”Six from what I was told.” he said walking around careful where he stepped. ”My friend made a habit of calling his wife daily. It makes sense I got the call then if he vanished the day before.” he said looking around more.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Oct 19, 2021 22:00:41 GMT -6
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When Sam acting as her guide (and if she hadn’t been concentrating so much on deciphering what the dogs were smelling, she would’ve totally been teasing Sam for being her Rudolph), Liz was able to pick up her pace, trusting Sam even as she shut her eyes again. She couldn’t cut herself off from her own senses, but she could block out sight at least. One less source of stimuli to deal with.
She remained outside, just off to the side of the door as Sam entered the building. Just in case something were to suddenly rush out. Liz opened her eyes and relaxed her concentration on the dogs’ smelling. <<Stay,>> she commanded them silently, an effort of will backing it up. Best let Sam take care of this scouting. As he did, she turned her attention to the ravens. She stared at the roof of the pod and focused on it’s image. <<Land. Be on lookout.>>
Pride seeped from her as the black birds whirled out of the ice blue sky to land on the pod. Her powers didn’t lend themselves to actual control over animals, merely tricks to manipulate them, but even then abstractions like being on alert was something not all animals could do. The ravens’ autonomy was a testament to their intelligence and the work she’d put in with them.
From the roof, they were well within Elizabeth’s range, so they could continue being her scouts even when Sam gave the all clear and Liz entered the pod with the dogs.
Sam’s words seemed to confirm something both dogs immediately picked up on. “Sounds right. We’re smelling...gun oil. And cordite,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Not much, but since there isn’t supposed to be a military presence on the island and hunting the wildlife is illegal, I’d say there isn’t another option.”
Liz shook her head. “That’s all I’m getting in here. Without anything more specific to search for, they’re not going to be able to pick up anything else.” She backed off from their olfactory senses and mostly limited herself to her own senses, keeping just a light touch with the animals. Zorro and Bruno started milling around as dogs did.
As the blonde stepped over to a desk in the opposite direction of Sam’s search, she heard a creaking underfoot. She looked down and nudged some papers out of the way. A cracked tablet appeared. Liz arched a brow and on a hunch, bent over to pick it up. She grabbed a tipped chair and righted it, planting herself on it and thumbing a button on the side. The screen had a spiderweb of cracks on it but miraculously, it still lit up as it woke up. And there wasn’t even a password to protect.
“God bless you trusting fools,” she said. It was just possible there was something on it that could give them a clue as to what the gun people had been looking for. Then again, that kind of coincidence probably only happened in movies. As it booted, she glanced around at some of the scraps she’d nudged aside.
“You said your friend was out here studying animals, right?” she said, frowning down at the papers. They were just charts on skua and orca movements in the area. “I can’t imagine he or any of these scientists could have anything anyone would want.” At least, not enough to be kidnapped for. “Maybe they stumbled onto something instead. There’s clearly a military-grade setup around here, and not too far, I should say. That’s breaking a lot of international laws. Maybe...the scientists got too close?”
The tablet finally finished loading and Liz was staring at a report on recent penguin activity. As she skimmed over the document she frowned again. What was this about unusual movement patterns? She checked some of the collaboration notes on the doc. The last entry was from the day before. “I think I’ve got something here,” she piped up. “Don’t laugh, I think this might be an actual clue. But the penguins out there? Apparently this is a group they’ve been studying for years. Normally at this time of year they return to a particular wintering ground just a few miles from here but this year they suddenly abandoned it. And they’ve been acting agitated and tense ever since.”
She tapped the tablet several times. “And if I’m understanding this correctly, and if my sense of direction isn’t completely messed up, but it looks like the regular wintering ground is located somewhere around where we were attacked.”
Posted by Cold Steel on Nov 2, 2021 14:46:22 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
Liz appeared shortly after in the room with the dogs. His own eye was searching the room for anything that might lead them to why they were taken. The board with the coordinates were his first focus trying to recall his training and matching up to a mental map. He hadn’t memorized all coordinates but rather determined what side of the globe they were on. One was closer to the north pole and the other was close to the south pole... where they were.
>>> “God bless you trusting fools,”
Bruno walked close to Sam and he pet his dog on the head. ”Good boy.” Bruno’s tail wagged flicking the desk and a few more papers close to where Liz was sitting. ”Makes sense, if it was a team of researchers why lock anything? Got to be able to review everything right?” he wasn’t a researcher. Sam used to be the guy that stole the research and left a bloody mess after he was done.
”And the effects of global warming. Two separate coordinates, both near the poles.” he said pointing to the whiteboard in front of them. ”Maybe. Or it was a cover. Announce what you are doing and then do something else? I’ve been apart of the team to collect research before....” he said not giving anything else. She knew enough. All the staff knew enough.
”International laws don’t mean much Liz. Hate to break it to you. If there is no one to enforce the law when it is committed... it didn’t happen.” he said pulling his phone snapping a photo of the board then a few of the papers under his foot that looked important.
”With the firepower we saw it probably isn’t a large presence. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here to talk about it. One set of rockets. Either they were over confident with everything or they just aren’t too familiar with the equipment.” Sam said shifting papers and pushing Bruno from his face as the dog tried to give him licks.
”Why would I laugh? You’re the expert on the subject matter. Otherwise I would have just stumbled around till I found someone to question.” he paused, ”And that’s odd? They go back to the same place every year?” he asked.
Bruno’s ears perked. Sam’s lone eye caught and felt the movement. Sam stood up. ”Liz...” he moved to the door. It was feint at first but then he heard some engines. It was almost drowned out by the wind. The snow outside shifted up the shelter giving it a thin layer of protection. ”We might have company...” he said walking to the edge pod and looking out the window.
”Anything?” he asked tensing up after seeing a few ‘black specs’ amongst the snow. ”Bruno... Ninja.” the command word seemed to trigger his dog as the hair stood on end and his teeth started to show.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Nov 5, 2021 19:14:29 GMT -6
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“So it would seem,” Elizabeth mused, taking Sam’s correction into account. “Although anyone with illegal weapons out here would still be a good place to start.” At least that’s what common sense suggested. Then again, common sense would also suggest that it wasn’t wise to hop onto a plane with only five minutes of prep time and jet off to Antarctica to track down a group of missing scientists.
She bowed to Sam’s expertise in this area, even as she hid a smile. It seemed Sam valued her expertise as well. For once, she didn’t have something flippant to say in response. Straight to business then. “Yes, it’s very odd,” she nodded, scrolling through the documents on the tablet. “It’s a harsh land out there - penguins don’t have the luxury to waste time finding new locales every winter that may not even exist. Once they find one that’s good, they always come back to it.” Liz scanned another report. “Only two things would scare them off like this - massive environmental disturbances, which the scientists haven’t detected - or some kind of predator. And the penguins are the only natural land predators around.”
Then Liz felt a spike of alarm and her head snapped up as she focused in on the surge. Something was disturbing the ravens. A moment later she felt similar concern and wariness hit the dogs. Sam was already on the move.
She closed her eyes and after a quick mental command to Zorro, who immediately shifted to guard position, she stared out through Huninn’s eyes. “About a dozen snowmobiles on the way,” she reported, sliding into something like a stream of consciousness as she tried to pick up and process all relevant details. “Handful of...6x6s too. All packed with people in black. And...some kind of red armband. Looks like a uniform and...I’m getting something else. I need to redirect a bird.”
With a mental nudge to “turn to the left”, Liz continued, “...there’s a helicopter inbound from the other side as well. Judging by the speed and distance covered, it will get here the same time the snowmobiles do. Looks like a trap to me, or a planned ambush.”
Without opening her eyes or severing the visual link, she asked, “What’s our plan?”
Posted by Cold Steel on Nov 10, 2021 6:09:55 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
The low rumble of Bruno’s growl faded out as the sound of a helicopter started to echo out over the frozen tundra with a handful of snowmobiles. Sam eyed the horizon as more ‘specks’ came into view. Luckily for the icemancer Liz was already getting into position with her birds giving them some eyes in the sky. ”Plan?” the icemancer asked his body icing up covering his body giving him a somewhat ‘ancient armor’ type look while his black eyepatch was still visible under said armor.
”You stay put with the boys and keep an eye on everyone with the birds.” he said tapping his ear piece. ”I’ll go ‘greet’ the welcoming party.” he said confidently, ”After all, how often am I in my element?” he said with a thumbs up and a smirk.
”You sit tight, I’ll call you if we are fine and if we aren’t you’ll need to head back to the jet and make a call for back up. Gawain and Becca will know what to do.” he said then stopped, ”Actually, just call Gawain.” not wanting to give Becca any more reasons for the Sam to be on her **** list.
”I’ll leave through the front and you guys take the back. Only if there is a problem.” he said pointing to the back exit. Ice under his supervision already started to climb up the research pod they were in creating a more durable exterior in case anyone wanted to shoot.
”This is gonna be one hell of a show.” he said stepping and forming a spear of ice in one hand. Normally he didn’t want to look threatening but with the overwhelming force that they were sending to the facility it was good to show them he meant business. As the wizard of winter exited the pod the front sealed up with ice barring anyone from entering.
”Seriously though... we should have put some cameras on the birds.” he said walking down the stairs and feeling the ‘crunch’ of snow under his feet. While he stepped a golem of ice crawled out from the frozen landscape followed by another and another. ‘Protect’ he thought to them as they formed. They lined up in front of the dome of ice covering the pod. Everything here was a ready to use weapon for Sam.
Hoisting his hand and raising the spear into the air jagged spikes of ice erupted from the ground standing fifteen feet high, most of the spikes of ice formed a wall while some appeared in a single pathway. One for the vehicles to maneuver around. This was his world. If they weren’t friendly they were going to wish they were.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Nov 13, 2021 21:13:29 GMT -6
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Zek
Elizabeth opened her eyes long enough to roll them but smiled anyway as Sam quipped. “Somehow I’m still a little worried,” she said breezily, as if over a dozen gunmen weren’t converging on their location. She aimed a finger gun at Sam. “Just don’t kill anyone and I’ll have no problem keeping Becca out of things.”
Liz didn’t allow the dark contingencies to put a shudder in her tone. If she had to contact either X-Men, things had reached a level of south the pole had never seen. She nodded in compliance with Sam’s instructions, even if they were merely placebo plans. If Liz and the dogs had to escape out the back, there was no way they were going to outpace snowmobiles or a helicopter and absolutely no way they would stand a chance in any fight, not even considering the sheer cold outside. Only Sam’s presence made the Antarctic spring bearable for her and the dogs and the trek over the ice would be brutal and deadly without him.
So Liz didn’t allow those thoughts to take root. She locked them away and buried them deep, like Zorro was want to do with a choice bone in the mansion’s back lawn. Time to keep her mind on their mission.
She allowed wariness and a surge of protectiveness to soak into the dogs, sharpening their focus and readying them for as much as she could. Then she turned her mind to the ravens.
It was amazing how easy it was, really. In this frigid wasteland, there were almost no other lifeforms splashing against her mind. She knew a type of weevil hibernated beneath the ice, but the faint minds of so many sleeping bugs were barely even white noise. All there was in the white world were her, the dogs, and the birds.
Locking into Huninn’s mind, Liz watched Sam begin his fortifications. She made sure the door was shut behind him, even as it iced over, just in case. In the minutes left before first contact, Liz rifled through some more sections of the pod. She found the fire extinguisher and a toolbox. She sat both beside her and upended a table to serve as a crude barrier. She opened the toolbox and knelt, pulling out several tools and making quick plans. She had no intentions of going down without a fight, if it came to that.
“That would be a terrible idea,” Liz said over her communicator. Although they’d communicated through ravens before, the earpiece was far more effective and meant the birds could stay out of Sam’s way. “I can’t imagine a shakier cam than a bird on the wing on a windy day.” She kept her voice light and blase, as if this was just a walk in the park. As it was, she opened her mind further to Huninn and Muninn and found no alarm, but curiosity and excitement instead. Maybe those old legends of corvids and battlefields had something to them after all.
Then the helicopter swooped by. “Attention! Attention! You are unauthorized to be here!” said a voice through a loudspeaker from the helicopter in crisp English with only a vague accent that Liz felt was something European, but too indistinct, as if the person had learned English fourth or fifth hand from only non-native speakers with various accents themselves. “Surrender peacefully and you will not be harmed!”
“The snowmobiles are circling the pod,” Liz reported. Eight of the twelve had split off from the main V, four to each side. There went the exit strategy. It also meant Sam would be harder pressed to defend everything at once. The other snowmobiles and the 6x6s remained in front.
“You have ten seconds to comply. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven…” the speaker continued, blaring out over the snow.
“I’m not seeing any identification or symbols on any of the vehicles, people, or the helicopter,” she told Sam. “I think you’re clear of any international incident.” Weren’t all military forces supposed to identify themselves, especially if they expected to have any kind of authority?
Posted by Cold Steel on Nov 23, 2021 6:18:35 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
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Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
Sam did have control here but even he had his limits, if it meant keeping everyone safe he’d have no problem explaining to Becca why he did what he did. The icemancer was always on her **** list anyways. How his younger self and her got along he had no clue. Just goes to show he was charming when he was younger.
”What about a camera on the head?” he asked curiously, ”Or the stomach. I’ve seen cameras on birds before, the little ones. I’ll bring it up at the next budget meeting. Mansion security maybe? Search and rescue. Possibilities are endless, or I’m gonna have to start bringing the Irish kid along everywhere and I can’t imagine being alone in a jet with him. Kid likes to talk.” he said poking fun at the fact that they used to date when they were younger. A ‘let’s try to distract from the fact that I might kill some people’.
”Let them.” Sam said watching and feeling for everything around him. He didn’t move. The ice golems did though, two of them spread out around the pod forming a triangle. Sam didn’t have much better control the further they went but if need be he could center himself on top of the pod. ”Golems, should keep them busy long enough for me to get there.” he paused, ”It’s gonna be fiiiiiiinnnnneee....”
Sam ignored the warning. They had no jurisdiction to be here either. ”I’m more concerned that they think they can fool me. You think that was how they got the researchers? And when am I ever worried about an international incident?” he talked into the mic before clearing his voice. His armor shifted revealing his mouth, slammed the spear down then raised his hands into the air not to surrender but to bring them closer to his mouth. ”Pretty sure I still have immunity in three countries.” the icemancer half joked. It was crazy how much blackmail he had still that was relevant.
”You don’t have any jurisdiction here either!” nailed it. ”Who is in charge? I was sent by the U.N.” Sam lied, ”One of the researchers is married to a diplomat!” he said lying again. ”This is your last warning.” he said shouting doubting anyone could hear him other than Liz. At least she knew he was trying. Was he about to fight with a small group of mercenaries? The air got colder and he focused the cold towards the helicopter. In particular the rotor the kept the blades spinning.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Nov 23, 2021 8:33:31 GMT -6
X-Men
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Straight
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Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth gave no further comments regarding cameras on birds. She thought she understood what Sam was doing, but she felt the window of time that allowed for banter in all of this had eclipsed. Perhaps he could keep it up even on a battlefield, but Liz did not have the practice or training. As it was, she was already of two minds about the situation, three minds if she tried looking out through both ravens. That alone required most of her focus.
Through avian eyes, Elizabeth saw the battlefield taking shape. Sam and his golems moved to cover all sides of the pod, sheltered by the ice barriers he’d made. Sam himself was looking so much like the golems himself, except he’d altered his ice to form some kind of ancient armor system, complete with helmet and spear. Elizabeth frowned, but who was she to judge his tactics? If he was playing around, that meant he had things under control. Right?
“....three, two, one!” the ravens heard. As the final numbers rolled out, the helicopter oriented itself on the man with the spear, completely unable to hear Sam’s taunt. IIt opened fire and the raven’s watch a torrent of flames burst forth from the front of it. Radiant streaks of light stabbed into the ground, quickly chewing up rock and ice as thunder filled the air. The military-grade rounds streamed their way toward the man with the spear, shattering several of the icy fortifications along the way even as some crystals of ice began to form on the copter’s body.
The people who’d stayed out front did not advance, fearing to cross the line of fire of the helicopter, but the people in the back had no such reservations.
They advanced on the golems, some dismounted from their snowmobiles, others remaining mounted. They began firing their semiautomatic weapons at the ice monstrosities and the hail of missed bullets upon the exterior of the pod rattled the interior dogs to hellish degrees.
“Gaah!” Liz cried in sudden alarm before catching herself. She quelled the dogs with a wave of serenity and turned back to the battle. “Squads at the back are advancing!” she said.
Posted by Cold Steel on Nov 23, 2021 15:16:27 GMT -6
X-Men
Team Leader of the X-Men Teacher of Self-Defense
color=48D1CC
4,359
104
Feb 2, 2024 6:24:13 GMT -6
It was clear that his rebuttal fell on deaf ears. The counting continued and he stepped back out of his armor and launched himself backwards then upwards as an ice spire shot him out of the way from the spray of bullets that picked apart his ice armor and spear. ”So.... you want to tell them about Becca’s no killing rule or does this mean I get a pass?” he said not joking.
Sam was supposed to be X-men, they didn’t kill. He also knew that not everyone played by the same rules. You offer a flower, they offer a bullet. The icemancer was trained give them a knife before you can get a bullet. ”I’m conflicted.” he said aiming his hands forward and shooting a beam of ice at the front of the helicopter.
The bullets continued for a moment as the helicopter’s view was obscured by a clump of ice. The helicopter turned and flew around for a moment seemingly losing control. Helping Sam shift his interest as he fell. Turning his back he formed ice armor again this time less showy. ”Who offers a warning then shoots? My hands were up. I wasn’t attacking.” he rolled his eye still muttering as Liz’s bubble was being attacked.
Launching himself in the air he shot two beams of ice to the snowmobiles hitting the treads with each shot causing them to flip and launch the person from the vehicle. One of the vehicles landed on someone else. ”No dying!” he shouted willing the snow to rise up and catch him.
Two of the clones were being shot at while the other one was already destroyed. ”Everything’s fine!” the one eyed winter wizard zoomed forward on the snow avoiding the gunfire from some of the gunman on guard. They weren’t ready for him and were already frozen in place as he passed them. A golem rose up behind them and took care of the guns. His attention shifted to the bubble and he touched it as he circled healing any damage it sustained.
”So if the cold kills them does that count as well?” A snowmobile caught up to him and the passenger aimed a gun at him. Responding with appropriate force he pointed forward, the flat surface before them shifted to ramp then he stopped instantly as the snowmobile kept going launching ten feet into the air.
”How’s everyone holding up?” Sam shouted. Blasting a few more beams of ice changing the landscape again. Jagged spikes rose up from the ground reinforcing their position and making it more difficult to circle around the pod.