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 Jul 24, 2022 10:35:37 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
”Cabinet. Left side. Got it.” the wall of ice caked in frozen water and guards started to break apart. The golem who had been catching guards started to hit anything that moved after they thawed. He was about to open the door when the raven spoke again.
”What? That’s fine! Just add it to the list. We get you stable first. If I take too long, I’ll meet you out front. Bruno. Stay with Liz.” Sam looked up to the scientists, ” keep her alive! You all get a ride out of here.” he didn’t wait for a response.
Next to the Nazi’s office. Great, where Liz got shot. The last place he wanted to revisit. There were guards running in the hallway confused and on edge. They didn’t get a shot lined up before Sam and his clone were upon them. He went low and his clone went high, all of them ended up stuck to the floor in ice one of them now short a radio. Turning up the volume he tried listening for keywords he knew in German. The words Odin kept coming up.
There were two doors next to the office. Great. Sam kicked open one of the rooms and ran towards some cabinets. It was the wrong room, unless a small armory was the doctor's idea medical supplies. It had to be the wrong room. Grabbing a hand gun, and two grenades Sam started to exit and then got shoved back into the room by a massive fist. Why couldn’t he feel him? Where was his golem?
After he stumbled backwards a very large guard charged into the room. One without a heat signature. “I look forward to killing a god!” he said in a thick German accent. The man must have stood a foot taller than Sam. ”.... **** Gonna be a minute...” he said to himself and attempted to throw a blast of ice at the giant.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Aug 7, 2022 14:56:15 GMT -6
X-Men
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Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
The ravens sputtered in sync as Sam sidelined Elizabeth and left the room. “Sam? Sam! Sam!” she shouted, but it was no use. Doors slammed open and shut and Liz was left alone with the scientists and the animals.
“The ice shelf is far more important,” she thought, the birds dutifully repeating her words aloud.
The mousy woman didn’t bother making eye contact as she kept applying pressure. “Be that as it may,” she said with all the clinical removal of a practiced professional, “There’s nothing we can do about it at the moment, can we?”
“We can try to evacuate,” Liz shot back.
“Most personnel have already evacuated,” one of the other scientists chipped in helpfully.
Elizabeth cocked Zorro’s head and fastened canine eyes on him. “What do you mean, most are already gone?”
“They’re already on the ships,” the guy said, glancing down at the dog. “Everyone was told to pack up quickly and board the ships. Happened right after that hubbub earlier. Something about a god on base? I don’t know, you hear all kinds of things.”
Zorro stalked forward and Liz listened closely to the man’s heartbeat. “Why are all of you still here then?”
“We were told to stay,” the mousey woman said simply. Liz turned her attention to her and deflated a bit.
“To be hostages.”
“I don’t know about that,” the woman said, nudging her glasses further up her nose with her wrist. “Herr Weltgeist just told us to stay behind and we were more than happy to do so.”
“Even if it meant getting killed by those guards?”
“I’m sure Herr Weltgeist had everything in control,” the scientist replied in an unconcerned tone.
Elizazorro prowled around the table. From what she could tell, her own heartbeat wasn’t decreasing. Didn’t smell right, but that was from the bullet entering her chest and allowing inside stuff to be smelled from the outside. Then she heard the commotion outside. Sam was encountering resistance. At the same time, Hunnin and Munnin were getting restless as the keen senses of the animals continued to trace the imminent demise of the ice shelf.
“You know what? I think it’s time Weltgeist and I had another chat,” she told the scientists. “Did he say where he was going? I’d love to talk to him.”
The professor squinted at one of the ravens. “Hmm, I don’t see how that can hurt anything. You can probably find him on his submarine.”
“Where’s this submarine?” Liz asked.
“Probably in the harbor,” Sam’s friend mentioned helpfully. “He’s probably on it right now and leaving. It’s part of our escape plan. Two boats and a sub, enough for everyone here. Except us of course!” The scientists laughed at his joke.
Elizabeth just felt sick. “Well then, could one of you open a window for me, please? I could use some fresh air.”
“Certainly,” another scientist said and moved to a window to do just that. As soon as it was wide enough, Liz stepped over to Muninn and called the bird down with her thoughts.
“Keep working on me and tell Sam where I went,” she said. She slipped into the bird’s mind and with a last psychic message to Zorro and Bruno to guard her body, she and Huninn darted out into the darkening sky, heading toward the bay.
Posted by Cold Steel on Aug 11, 2022 5:06:40 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
“Do God’s bleed?” the ice didn’t happen. Performance issues... Was this guy adapted? Did his powers work like Gemma? Was that why he couldn’t use his powers? A fist came in on his blind side and Sam brought up his arm instinctively and blocked trying to catch the arm. ”I’ll ask.”
The massive man had no problem letting himself get trapped in an arm hold as Sam wrapped his arm around his and threw a knee to his chest. Sam was strong, he knew that. Usually he had no problem overpowering someone on the streets but this guy was built like a Greek demi-god and last time Sam fought against one of them he didn’t end up winning that one either. Even if there were no punches thrown.
“Good! This should be fun!” he laughed taking the knee to the chest and pushing forward lifting Sam off the ground with his trapped arm. ”Don’t have time for this!” Sam threw another punch to the side of the man’s jaw who turned his head with the punch then looked back. ”What are you made of!?!” Sam shook his free hand feeling a knuckle break from the punch. It was like... punching the Berlin wall.
“Herr Weltgiest said you’d be fun!” the man smiled and then threw his trapped arm and Sam in the process. Off the ground he went! When he landed into a cabinet with more weapons he found a stun gun and grabbed it. The rumble of the building wasn’t lost on Sam as he jabbed the electrified weapon into the arm of the adapted. “No toys. We fight!”
Finding himself in the air again he braced for impact as he was tossed across the room like a rag doll. ”Didn’t want to do this.” Sam coughed exhaling the air from his lungs trying to prevent himself from trying to catch his breath. The Berlin wall was upon him and hefted the icemancer off the ground again this time by placing his hands around Sam’s neck. “Fight!” he said clearly upset with Sam’s performance.
”Yeah... I heard you.” reaching behind him and pulling the small handgun from behind his back he pointed down feeling his throat close up. Pulling the trigger he shot into the man’s foot. Sam dropped and the giant faltered releasing his grip on Sam’s throat. “What! Why would a god need a gun!?!” ”Because...” Sam started to cough, ”I.. Don't... have... time...” Sam pulled the trigger again into the man’s other foot. Both bullets connected and now the wall was stumbling towards him clearly in pain every time he stepped.
”What are you? ****ing terminator?” Sam threw some papers onto the floor in an attempt to slow him down and distract him, to his credit the adapted was still stumbling towards him. A pin was wrapped around Sam’s finger as he tossed the grenade near the giant as he ducked out of the room.
”No killing...” Sam coughed as he went for the next room as the explosion happened. ”If only that would kill you...” the cabinet of medical supplies seemed to light up as he entered the second room.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Aug 14, 2022 18:49:58 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
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Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
The carrion-feeders flew across the icy and shuddering landscape like the harbingers they were so commonly known as. They could see massive cracks emanating from the edges of the bay, where it looked like a massive section had erupted and shattered. They arrived at the crumbling docks just in time to see the top of a submarine vanish beneath the surface.
<<No!>> Elizabeth shouted, expecting no response. A wave of frustration burst from her as Huninn and Muninn swept down just over the surface. Surprisingly, she caught a tiny counter-wave reflected.
<<Hullo, what’s this?>> she asked herself before focusing her thoughts. She tapped into the minds and a trigger memory later, she laughed in her mind. <<Those scientists didn’t lie,>> she thought.
Down below the water, near the middle of the submarine, she was in connection with several weevils, the same weevils she’d picked up from underneath the ice when falling outside the base when she still wasn’t sure what Sam’s plan was. It was actually an idea she’d gotten from Sam, when he’d misreferenced the works of Homer. She’d decided to enact her own little Trojan Horse, just in case Sam had truly been compromised.
Those same weevils had spent the journey inside the base on their own little odyssey, traveling down from her gloves to her boots, and while she and Sam had been engaging Herr Weltgeist in conversation, she’d been nudging and guiding the weevils across the floor and into Welgeist’s boots and pants.
Now she had spies on the inside and a living colony of location chips telling her where Weltgeist was.
The other two ships were already underway, but they weren’t a concern. They could always be tracked later on the open sea - the sub was going to be hard. The X-Jet might be fine for hunting things from the air, but underwater was a whole different animal.
….now there was an idea.
The ravens circled aimlessly for a moment before Liz returned from her own thoughts. <<Oh Weltgeist, you should never have kidnapped those scientists! Those sweet, amazing, competent, and highly detailed biologists! Or you would’ve been able to make a clean getaway!>>
The ravens darted out over the ocean, a woman cackling in their minds.
Posted by Cold Steel on Aug 25, 2022 5:29:29 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
The medical supplies were lifted from the cabinet. Gauzes, tweezers, rubbing alcohol and a few other items Sam knew could be used for a quick and easy surgery. Sterilizing was an issue though. Freezing everything and holding it close Sam darted from the room again. His thermal senses were back in operation making his ability to avoid and surprise anyone he ran into quick work.
Two more guards were pinned to the walls as Sam skated through the halls. Finally he arrived, the scientists managed to keep Liz alive long enough for Sam to return, it was all he could hope for. The pulse was still there. That was all that mattered. The raven’s however were gone. Meaning she could have been elsewhere. ”Where are the Ravens?” Sam asked de-icing the medical supplies and scattering them on the table as he pet both the dogs who greeted him.
“Dunno. They left a few minutes ago.” one of the scientists said pushing up his glasses to the bridge of his nose and studied the utensils Sam had recovered. “I think this will be adequate.” Looking over to the one who had sent Sam on the medical run, “You think this is good?”
“It is more than enough. I’d prefer a sterile environment but this will have to do.” the building shook again. This time Sam was already moving towards a clear area of the room. ”We have to move!” pointing to the open doorway an ice sculpture of his own design formed.
It was similar to a medical cart you’d see rolling into the back of an ambulance but instead of wheels it was a sled. Two golems formed next to it one in front and one behind. ”We are moving her!” they needed to get out of the building and onto the ice. Sam could stabilize the shelf from there. At least the area he was on. He didn’t care too much about who was left in here. Everyone in the room was the reason he was here anyways.
“I can’t perform surgery on her on the move! We need to be in one spot.” the woman shouted placing some gauzes on Liz’s entrance wound. A sympathy pain in his leg could be felt as he watched. ”You’ll have to! We just need to get outside and, on the ice, then we will be fine!” Sam shouted walking over and gently scooping his friend up. ”Not gonna here the end of this.” Sam thought out loud.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Aug 25, 2022 18:39:54 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
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Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
The cold winds of the waves sapped the ravens’ strength quickly. They weren’t albatrosses or skuas, birds designed to take advantage of cold, wet winds. They were land birds, their wings were better tuned for soaring over heated asphalt expanses or gliding down gentle mountain breezes. Fortunately, however, they were still ravens and not hawks or falcons, or Elizabeth’s plan would’ve dashed before she could even begin it, for unlike those birds of prey, ravens were strong enough to even hover if they chose.
Yet even these mighty birds would tire soon. They had flown a lot in the past day, and she could feel the strain in their wings and they began struggling to keep up with the psychic’s directions.
<<Oh, where are you?>> Elizabeth said. She knew time was running, for herself, the ravens, and everyone still left on the base. The ice shelf was collapsing, at least locally, and Sam was the only one who’d survive any length of time in the frigid waters.
Sam was also the only one who could not only defend and protect everyone, but also repair the shelf or get them out of there as needed. She could do none of those things, so instead, she’d focus on the things she could do.
She could read charts. She could crunch data. She could understand scientific jargon as pertaining to ecological and biological scientists. She could be very nosy and inquisitive and skim a lot of papers even as she’s searching through them for traces of why a group of scientists went missing.
She could therefore remember the charts and data she’d read where the scientists had been tracking the movements and patterns of a pod of killer whales.
<<You’ve got to be out there!>> she said, casting her thoughts wide. She flew the ravens as close to the water as she could without getting them drenched by the spray. It meant her mind only penetrated maybe a hundred feet below the surface. She didn’t detect much of anything, just a few errant fish and what seemed like small arthropods. None of which could help her.
Minutes more passed and Liz realized she needed to turn back. If not, the ravens would exhaust themselves before they reached shore.
<<Let’s go back,>> she said, and went to wheel around in midair, when a faint brush of bemusement caressed her mind. She froze, even as Huninn zipped back over the water.
Liz stopped that very quickly. Fish had never felt “bemused” to her before. That was always a mammalian or avian trait, in her experience, and a few times a terrapin trait. They were far too south for terrapins, there were no birds in sight, which meant….
Posted by Cold Steel on Sept 17, 2022 7:05:04 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
The ground shook, it was like an earthquake on a soft patch of land. The very ice they were standing in sifted to the point where the buildings started to sink into the snow. Bursts of frigid waters erupted upwards. The table they were wheeling around with his friends injured body seemed to float above the ground. It was now on sleds, along with the surrounding snow. “I can’t work like this!” the female scientist shouted looking around preventing her hand from entering Liz’s skin with the surgical knife.
”On it!” his foot slipped into a small pitfall of snow and water before he pulled himself upwards onto sure footing. A watcher tower at the edge of the ice shelf sank into the ground. Without much thought or effort he willed the frozen water under his feet to solidify. Instantly everyone around him felt a sure, but slick footing. One of the scientists slipped. If it wasn’t the situation or the fact that they were about to operate on his friend Sam would have busted out laughing.
”Traction! On it!” Sam said as the ground developed small uneven bumps to help. ”Jet’s that way!” he pointed off a ways, “We won’t make it in time!” his scientist friend shouted throwing up his hands. His friend was never good in a crisis. ”Why not?” he pointed, another cargo container building sank into the Icey depths pulling a few of the guards running for their lives.
”Nah, we're fine!” the sound of a loud motor caught his attention, one that was stalling out a bit in water as it propelled forward on the soft and breaking ice. ”Found us a ride!” Sam ran towards his ice clone who turned instinctively and hefted the icemancer into the air as the vehicle rounded the building. Two guards were met with shoes to the face as Sam knocked them clear off the vehicle. “You can’t drive that in water!” ”It’s like you nerds aren't’ paying attention! Laws of nature don’t apply to me!” up righting the snowmobile the ground under it solidified.
-----
It was four minutes since he had grabbed the vehicle and exited the shipping container building and two minutes since he had hitched a sled made of ice and snow to the back of it. Both clones stood to the side as he drove the think at breakneck speed towards the jet. It was far enough away right? No reason to suspect the jet was sinking as well. It could float worst case.
”How’s the patient?” Zorro and Bruno barked loudly. “It be easier if you had a smoother ride!” the woman shouted. ”Getting to it!”
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 17, 2022 9:06:16 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
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Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
Two black specks could be barely seen on the horizon. The sun was rapidly descending. Soon the aurora australis would erupt, but at the moment only the two specks held any iridescence.
Huninn and Muninn powered across the icy ocean, now froth with more chunks of ice as the ice shelf began breaking. The heatless-air made every wingbeat more draining than normal but they powered on. They had a mission.
The very quickly found their target, the Ice Man Without One Eye. He was easy to spot and they knew him well. The birds dove down and landed on the snowmobile, one in the human’s lap and the other behind him, both taking advantage of windbreaks to rest.
“Awk! To Sam! From Liz,” one croaked. “I am going after Weltgeist in his submarine. Killer whales. Can’t let him escape. I’m fine, do what you need to do.”
Mission accomplished the raven in Sam’s lap poked around for a treat.
----------------
The waters were filled with ice and cold, yet Liz had never felt warmer. The parka-like X-Men coat had done wonders against the Antarctic environment, but it was perfect. Her face had still felt half frozen. Even the ravens were quite designed for these levels of cold, despite their natural range extending to the arctic circle.
The killer whales felt none of it. It was like they were swimming in a glorious temperature-controlled swimming pool. Each powerful thrust of their tails send them gliding through the water as powerfully and effortlessly as a falcon diving. Visibility was next to nothing in these dark waters, even as close to the surface as they were, but it didn’t matter. THey were relying on something else to guide the way.
Elizabeth fired off another set of ultrasonic clicks and the Etch-a-Sketch image that she felt in the whale’s brain revealed the position of the other whales around her and their proximity to everything.
<<This is amazing!>> she thought. More bemusement echoed back.
The orcas didn’t know English of course, but they could get the jist of the moods and impressions Elizabeth was freely sharing with them. Those they understood. The other twelve orcas fired off their own echolocation bursts in turn as the predators stalked through the frigid waters after their prey.
As soon as Elizabeth had found them, she’d lured them to the surface with promises and cajoling. When one of them breached the surface, she’d flown down and landed on it just long enough to slide out of the raven and into the orca’s mind. Then she’d given the ravens a firm message to repeat to Sam and sent them on their way. For once she didn’t have to worry about her body - it was in safe hands - which meant there was nothing holding her back.
It had been relatively simple to explain her plan to the whales. Like the ravens, they were very adept and intuitive creatures. A simple series of imaginations of what submarines looked like and general impressions of attacking it, along with some emotional compelling, and the whales were on board. She framed it as a big predator trying to eat them but promised they could fight back. ]
They agreed.
There was a reason orcas were also known as killer whales. These were creatures that regularly hunted and defeated great white sharks. They were unparalleled in their hunting and killing prowess. They were intelligent and capable of devising and learning various tactics to take out their prey. Liz had even read articles about a recent fad of orcas attacking sailboats and the like, destroying rudders and flipping boats over, sinking them.
It had given her ideas and she’d shared them with the class.
The boats were the first things the orcas detected, as the ships containing the majority of the base’s personnel had launched before Liz and Sam had returned to the base. They weren’t what she wanted. THey were tertiary targets at best, and easy to find from above. No, the submersible was far sneakier, hard to find from above, and had her targets on board.
And there it was. Just emerging from the bay that had once been attached to a now-shattered ice shelf, the submarine was in the process of diving down. It was moving slowly, dodging debris and the occasional falling building, but otherwise started to pick up speed.
Posted by Cold Steel on Sept 22, 2022 5:17:05 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
The wind smacked the icemancers face, even he knew it was cold and that most of the scientists behind him weren’t dressed for the occasion. Two huddled around each other and suck close to Bruno and Zorro while the others worked on Liz as best the could. He was going too fast, but timing was everything. Get everyone to the jet, get to the air and then go after Liz and the ravens.
There was a squawk and a message. The ravens had returned and their message was clear, surprising but clear. She was fine, and going after Weltgeist. How? Killer whales. Orcas. One of the icemancers favorite animals. Kings of the sea and apex predators. Sam had spent his childhood escaping to the dream of riding one. Sadly the timing couldn’t have been worse. Maybe after all things were said and done he’d get to live out the dream.
The raven pecked into his lap and Sam snapped back to the present and shifted, ”Ow. Careful. Nothing for you there. Wait till we get back to the ship.” the other bird was behind him. ”You both did great. Liz, do what you can. I’ll be there asap.” there was a mound of snow in the way, one that Sam blasted and reformed into a tunnel that they could all fit through.
”Everything is going to be fine.” he said to himself out loud so the birds and everyone else could hear him. It was more for him than anyone else. Killer whales.... this was quite the rescue.
The dome of Ice covering the jet was now covered with a thin layer of snow, one that made it difficult to see unless the person knew exactly where he landed. Thankfully Sam did. The heat was still coming off from the jet. “Where is you plane?” one of the doctors asked. Sam answered by slowing down to a crawl as the ice and snow shifted from around the jet revealing the black metallic vehicle.
”There.” Sam said flatly and hopping off the snowmobile. The sled that held Liz and everyone riding along kept moving up to the ramp of the jet. ”Boys and birds, go lay down.” Sam said pushing Liz the rest of the way up followed by the scientists.
“We're free? We can go home?” one of the older men asked who had been less than helpful in this situation. ”Yep. Just stuck here till she’s okay! Like I said. Otherwise I’ll be dropping you back where we just left.” a few of the scientists grumbled to each other and went back to working on extracting the bullet from Liz. “Do we have fresh towels?” the one leading the operation asked.
The jet hummed to life and the ramp closed behind them as the jet started to hover. ”Warm clothes are in the back, towels are there as well. No one relaxes till she is fine!” Sam warned again. He really couldn’t lose a friend again.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 22, 2022 17:42:50 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
Over two dozen monsters of the deep rushed at the submarine. They came from the side, at an angle, guided by the psychic presence of a woman who might not be an expert on submarines, but had done pretty well in physics. And the killer whales were fast learners.
Reaching into the lower 20s in length for the females and hitting just shy of 30 feet for the males, each brute was about a tenth the length of the sub and the largest of them easily surpassed 18,000 pounds. The raw power mixed with their innate intelligence and their natural aptitude for pack tactics.
They hit the sub hard. The first dozen struck it at an angle and then skimmed along the side to get out of the way of their family as the other whales quickly followed up. The sub was repeatedly struck near the nose and very quickly the groaning of strained metal echoed through the dark waters. A surge of victorious hope blasted from Elizabeth to be disseminated through the pod, a small balm to ease the impact on their heads. Still, there were dents in the sub.
But that was it. The sub had been shoved to the side but even as the orcas wheeled away to regroup, the Etch-a-Sketch of echolocation revealed it was getting right back on track.
<<Curses!>> Elizabeth raged. Turns out, her physics work hadn’t covered subsquatic maneuvers. All that force, that would’ve torn open vault doors or trampled 18-wheelers had barely inconvenienced the sub. Frustration bled into the psychic waters and the orcas feasted on it.
The black and white shapes began breaking formation, variously bumping into the sub or full on charging it. There were satisfying shudders and groans of impacted metal, but the submarine kept going.
<<It’s too big,>> she realized. It’s length didn’t matter. End to end, the whales were far longer. But mass to mass? She bet each whale only displaced 1/100th of the same mass. Even though the whales were far faster, it was just too much.
So how did you take down something that much bigger than you? She sank into the whale’s brain she was possessing, opening her mind fully to it in return, impressing her research question upon it. <<What would you do?>>
She couldn’t find anything. <<Oh. You never attack anything larger than you, do you?>> she asked. A small bundle of satisfaction and disappointment answered her. <<Of course. You’re apex predators. Even the sharks are smaller than you, and the big whales don’t spend a lot of time this far south.>>
Elizabeth thought. She knew this was possible. Nature was excellent at killing, even without a human’s help. Orcas were called the wolves of the sea, they had an incredible kill rate. Unparalleled in power for their weight class, only solitary sperm whales surpassing them.
And then Liz got an idea, an awful idea. Liz got an awful, wonderful idea.
Posted by Cold Steel on Sept 26, 2022 5:06:41 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
”No! You can’t get off! I don’t care how afraid of flying you are!” Sam shouted at one of the scientists who was standing far too close for Sam’s liking. A chill in the air warned him and he seemed to get the message. Bruno walked over and all but sat on the man when he found a chair. ”Good boy.”
The jet shook slightly from some turbulence. “Easy!” the woman shouted as the knife almost nicked something important on the woman they were operating on. Another chill in the air, followed by a ”Working on it!” the jet listed to the side a little and he regained the controls looking out in the horizon for Elizabeth. He wasn’t looking for a human mind you but rather signs of her in the form of something else. Orcas.
The sub wasn’t in view and neither was the pod she captivated into helping her. ”Any idea how close we are?” Sam asked Huninn... or Muninn. It was hard to tell them apart. Though he was pretty sure Muninn was the one who attempted to stay closer to Sam. Not wanting to verbalize the name in case he got it wrong he added, ”Shinnies when we get back. How far off from she self did you dive?”
The chaos that was the former base was quite clear there was no saving it. Well, no one but Sam could save it at the moment and he wasn’t interested. The cargo container sank into the sea, followed by some inflatable rafts appearing from below the water. The jet hung low over the water for a moment till a bullet hit the hull of his jet.
”That’s enough of that.” they had a sub as well, meaning they were subject to being a target until he could get out of range. The air shifted again due to the open ocean so close by. The jet turned and Sam flew out of range from the handguns that the water-logged henchmen wielded. ”Anyone see a sub?”
“Got it!” came from behind him as the bullet was hoisted into the air via a long pair of tweezers.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 26, 2022 7:28:17 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
Apr 12, 2024 15:17:35 GMT -6
Zek
>>”Shinnies when we get back. How far off from she self did you dive?”
Huninn looked at Muninn. “Kra?” she asked. Silly human mouth sounds! Why couldn’t they speak a proper language?
Muninn shuffled his feet. “Awwk,” he cooed. Not all species are as enlightened as we, dear heart.
Hunnin extended a wing and nibbled at a feather. Wisdom indeed. Thank you. It should be our place to teach and uplift them. We’ve done so well with the one with hair of straw!
Muninn bobbed his head. “Koo,” said he. She’s a particularly bright one, but nevertheless, she is not here so we must make do with this simpleton. Let’s repeat it’s words so it knows we acknowledge it so we can try to figure out what sort of esoteric and gibberish-type language these humans speak.
“Awk,” Huninn replied. Let it be so. ”Shinnies when we get back.”
----------------------------
The submarine was back on course but not for long. Elizabeth’s next Wile E. Coyote scheme was unveiling itself. It has taken moments to convey and disseminate, the actions being simple and the orcas being smart. Fierce pride filled her, although she wasn’t certain if it originated from her or the mind she was inhabiting.
The whales were effortlessly keeping up with the sub, especially as their attack had cost it a lot of momentum, which was far harder to get underwater. It gave Liz more time to act.
The first whale struck fifteen second after Liz created the plan. This time it wasn’t aimed at the broadside of the sub, where they’d dented the metal but hadn’t done any particular damage. Of course they wouldn’t have hurt it there. A moose or a deer was strongest at the torse. IT was their extremities that were weak. And since submarines didn’t have eyes or ears to attack, she went for its feet.
Or rather, its propeller.
Two dozen killer whales took turns dive bombing the propeller, smashing and hammering it witht heir bulks. The propeller was made of the same material as everything else, but it didn’t have the mass or reinforcement to back it up.
Within minutes, the propeller was banged up and unrecognizable. The torrent of bubbles behind it swiftly failed and inertia was all it had left.
<<Breathe,>> she told the whales. The pod rapidly ascended to the surface and began sprouting from their blowholes, exhaling the carbon dioxide they’d built up and breathing in that life-giving oxygen.
<<Now dive.>>
The black and white monsters dove. They easily outpaced the listing sub and swam underneath it. There they shoved their faces (far more gently this time) against the armor and began slapping their powerful tails against the water.
Against the weight of the sub, the behemoths slowly but surely pushed it to the surface.
Posted by Cold Steel on Oct 6, 2022 5:33:59 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
“Curious” one of the scientists said out loud when he watched the ravens copy Sam’s words. ”What now?” Sam asked overlooking the horizon trying to see any sign of Orca w’s or a sub with the very real threat that it could shoot the jet down if they weren’t careful. “Do they do your bidding?” Sam smirked and then deadpanned his head to the side for a moment and stared at the scientist ”Sure.” and left it at that.
”Found her!” the icemancer said to the ravens as if they’d be able to communicate with Liz. He still wasn’t exactly sure how she communicated with them other than feelings but now wasn't the time to ask that question though. Water sprayed upwards revealing the pods location and he listed the jet towards that direction checking the radar for any incoming projectiles.
Sam was half tempted to open the ramp of the jet and jump out into the freezing waters below but then who would be able to fly the jet?
The submarine emerging through was all he needed to tell him the main threat was there. Hitting the autopilot on Sam stood up. “Where are you going?” one of the scientist asked clearly nervous and no longer studying the ravens. ”Out.” he looked back to the tray with the bullet in it and grabbed the item. ”Got to return this.” he said giving one last look to Liz’s body before opening the ramp. ”Birds are in charge!”
With a dive Sam leapt from the lowered platform and entered the frozen waters.
Blessed air filled their blowholes as Elizabeth and the whales finally surfaced. Glorious spouts of water arced into the air as they forcibly exhaled. The waters around them were a frothing, churning mess due to the cascades of water running off the sides. Orcas swam in circles around the sub, monitoring it and occasionally taking short runs at it, just to listen to the thumping against the hull.
The presence of a plane overhead was only momentarily alarming, but a burst of clicks from Elizabeth’s host scanned the air and matched a familiar model. The X-Jet had arrived.
A wave of relief washed over Liz and spread through the psychic tendrils into the other whales. Sam had gotten out safely and the ravens had accomplished their mission. She was going to stuff those birds with boiled eggs when they got back to civilization!
Etch-a-sketch drawings filled Elizabeth’s mind and revealed a shape falling into the water.
Her orca host, the pod’s matriarch, grinned widely, a fearsome, toothy grin, and they ducked under the surface, beelining toward the splash.
Seconds later, a six foot fin breached the surface behind Sam and Liz rose out of the water underneath him, the epitome of the friendly whale helping a swimming human stuck in the ocean. She immediately started to ferry him toward the sub.
<<Beat that, Free Willy.>>
-----------------------
Meanwhile, Huninn and Muninn were left overseeing the dogs and the humans. They perched on various high things, staying well away from the open bay door. It behooved their newfound responsibility and power to be above everyone, even if the icy human’s words were gibberish.
There was a brief moment of silence and shock amongst the remaining humans as the cold one leaped out of the plane. Muninn and Muninn took the opportunity to practice the human language, using one of the things the straw-haired human had just recently taught the birds.
Posted by Cold Steel on Oct 8, 2022 6:18:40 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
The splash was minimal, he’d done this jump a hundred times. It was part of the scenarios in the danger room for obvious reasons. The frozen waters would have been enough to sap the air from the lungs of anyone else but the cold never bothered him anyways.
Erupting from the frozen water covered in his ice Sam floated for a second feeling the large apex predator approach him from below. Feeling his feet find ‘ground’ under him Sam stood and then raised upwards with the massive creature. ”Might be the greatest moment of my life.” Sam said recalling the first memory he had of wanting to ride on a whale. The bullet in his hand felt heavy and he was reminded why he dove in. To return it.
”Let’s see Odin ride an orca.” Sam bent down and patted the whale once before hopping to the sub.
Three holes opened when he landed and he acted quickly before they could fire off the missiles that started to appear. ”Nope. That’s enough of that!” Sam said as a wave of ice pulled outwards from the surrounding water effectively sealing and seeping into the vessel.
”Weltgeist!” Sam walked over to the entrance for the sub and knocked loudly a few times. ”You left your bullet behind!”