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 Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
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.
Each foot fall echoed on the stairwell as Jacen's combat boots slapped against the concrete steps but beyond that it was strangely silent. This deep within the building, the battle sounds from outside had virtually dissapeared. There was a strange crackling or humming or something from up above but even that wasn't very loud.
Vaulting over some crumbling drywall, he continued his pace upward, following the white haired female that was leading him. Why in the world he was suddenly so trusting of strangers was beyond him. Sure, he had met this woman once, but that was not nearly enough to establish any sort of real trust. "She's got a good face, yeah, that's got to be it." Jacen assured himself, trying not to over think the situation. Outside his friends were dieing at the hands of other muants while he did his best to protect both his friends and those mutants from the dangers of a collapsing building. Could life be any more ironic?
Things were changing the higher he went and he just knew they had to be getting close. Suddenly he was skidding to a stop next to the white haired woman as she stood staring at an orb that was seemingly floating at the end of the hallway.
"What the hell is that?" Jacen breathed quietly as he stared at the item. He had seen mutants that didn't look human but this was ridiculous! A metal ball? Was there really a mutant that was in the form of a metal ball? Suddenly the weapons and equipment that were in his belt felt entirely inadequate. How was he supposed to stop something like that with equipment that was designed to apprehend humans?!
"I'm open for suggestions... how many are there? Just the one?" Jacen asked, his eyes focused on the strange sight. He almost felt like he'd been fixed with the stare of Medusa. He couldn't tear his eyes away.
Good question. As they watched the ball of metal moved. It rotated, the pieces moving like something more animal than inanimate. The sphere wasn't perfect and there were glimpses of something lighter underneath all that moving metal. Whatever it was, it was eating the building. And it had to stop.
"I dunno. I uh-- I can go around it and push it maybe? Everything that gets close to you will stop, right? It won't like...?" She made a zapping motion with her hand to fill in the rest of the question. There just weren't words for what they were seeing. it was like a tornado of metal and Ghost wanted to be sure it wasn't going kill anyone accidentally or do more damage to the building for her to move it closer in.
She waited for some kind of nod or something before turning back to the thing and swallowing.
This... was most likely going to hurt.
Ghost took a slow step forward and then another. With each step it seemed to get easier and before she knew it, she was jogging toward the lip of the destruction where the building ended and the floor was opened to the elements. A quick inhale and she was a ghosted version of herself and moving downward quickly.
There was no lightning. Or at least she couldn't see it. But she did feel it. Power. Golden and glowing and warm and wanting. It pressed in at her mind until Ghost was unsure of what she was supposed to be doing. Something large pushed through her form and stretched her mind. Floating? What was floating? Ghost summoned a wind until she was even with the sphere. This was power. There was more to be had here, but she wasn't sure how to add hers to the mix.
To the human eye it would appear as if several tendrils of lightning had latched onto the ghostly form. She would certainly feel that when she was solid, but for now it was only the touch of power, the brush of the mind that she got.
But Ghost didn't want power. The temptation was there... but beyond it, Jacen stood helpless to stop this until Ghost... what? Moved it. She had to move it toward him.
With great effort Ghost summoned a great gale to push anything and everything toward Jacen. She didn't stop to think what that might mean for the floating toasters and beams and pipes and file cabinets. She just had to get it to him and let him nullify the temptation.
"Uh, yeah. As far as I know, everything will just stop but..." Jacen's voice trailed off as the young woman began to move away. Apparently she didn't really want to here the whole explanation, she just wanted a simple yes or no.
As she continued forward and changed into a ghostly apparition, all Jacen could do was stand there helplessly and watch. He wasn't used to being in a situation where he couldn't cat and he found himself gritting and grinding his teeth in frustration. What was the use in being an, what he they called him in florida, an adapted? Was was the use of being an adapted if he couldn't he step in to help out in a situation like this. The whole thing was depending on the young woman being able to push this large object toward him so that his aura or whatever had a chance to kick in.
"I'm about as much use as a power tool plugged in to an extension cord that's to short." Jacen muttered under his breath, "Mutants can reach out over hundred of feet or something. Me, I'm stuck at like nine or ten!"
He could feel his muscles tensing up as he watched lightning suddenly flash out and apparently wrap around the white haired woman but her reaction wasn't what Jacen might have expected. There was no thrasing from electricity or even stiffening from power flowing through her muscles. It was like the lightning couldn't even affect her.
And right then more things began to happen. Jacen could see objects beginning to shake and he could even feel whatever was left of a breeze as it entered his field and then slowly dissipated. The wind was growing stronger and already some of the objects were beginning to move in his direction though the larger object was still remaining stubbornly in place. As more of the objects approached him, picking up speed, Jacen could feel a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. Why had this mission suddenly changed to be something like target practice?
Diving to the side to avoid some of the pipes and debris, Jacen did his best to find some sort of cover but it was pretty much useless. The hallway had been stripped clean thanks to whatever that metal orb was and now he could do was dodge. Dodge and pray that he didn't die before he stopped whatever that thing was.
((Since I control both characters I'll be posting for both. Hope ya don't mind. Just trying to get it rolling.))
It was amorphous. A small fleck of power on her radar. But every bit of power had its place. The problem was, she couldn't touch it. Her tendrils of electricity curled around it and through it and around it again. There was a brush of mind. A whisper of fear. She could whisper too.
Power. She said. Power is what you crave. And for a moment the desire seemed to take hold. Power will make you whole. She could not plant impulses, but the mind was weak and wanting. She knew just what to do with it, if it would only come closer.
And it came closer.
~~
It wasn't moving. Or if it was moving, it wasn't moving all that much. Whatever it wanted, Ghost knew she shouldn't listen. She shook her head even though the movement didn't do much in her incorporeal form. It especially didn't do much since the whispers weren't an external event.
She needed more power... to blast this thing toward the nullification man.
So she dug deep. And changed the blast of wind flowing torrentially past the orb. Before, the blast was wide and all encompassing. It had mostly knocked away the asteroid field of junk that was close in to the thing though there were still larger pieces floating about. Now, she focused the flow of air tight and tighter. The closer she brought the stream, the faster and harder it flowed.
Move! And it did. Slowly. And piece by piece.
~~
It was a hard choice. Keep generating power, or keep the defensive shield in place. To defend against the stripping of her placement, one had to go. The power chose the shield. Those larger, airborne chunks started dropping through the annoying breath of power that was slowly taking away her toys.
Power was everywhere, streaming through the air like multicolored fireworks, flying around like flocks of birds. It was raw electricity with no hand to contain it or order it about; it was simply power, everywhere. Or at least... most everywhere. From beyond the shield of moving metal, she could tell there was a vacancy.
The air sort of took a breath, a sharp sound, almost a sound of fear, then it exploded. The air became electricity and it was like trying to breathe a flare or a star. As if the power had pooled before it could strike like a snake. Multicolored sparks jettisoned toward the void.
(OOC: Sorry about being MIA. Work just put on a new Internet Monitor that blocks MRO. I'll be doing my best to post in the morning before work and in the evening after work. Sorry about the hold up!)
IC: The dodging was becoming routine and Jacen could feel a change in the wind. The movement of miscelaneous items was slowing while instead everything was focused on the large floating orb that was slowly beginning to move in his direciton.
He knew what his ability was. Mentally Jacen had gained a rather firm concept in what he could and couldn't do. Mentally he knew there was absolutely no reason for him to be afraid but understanding something mentally and knowing it internally are very different things. As he crouched there, Jacen could feel the fear building. It was as much of a monster as the creation that floated before him. It wanted to make him freeze and give up but that just wasn't an option. Even thoughts of surrender were shoved aside over and over as Jacen thought about the innocent people that were outside of this building. If this thing had its way then they would all likely die from the building collapsing.
Large pieces were suddenly flying his direction once again but those were much easier to dodge than the huge number of smaller piece that had come his way earlier. Ducking aside Jacen felt something wet dripping down his left arm and glanced over, eyes widening in surprise. "Blood? When did I get hit?" In the heat of the moment he hadn't even realized it but some piece of shrapnel had clipped him pretty good. Now that he was paying attention he could feel his arm slowly getting weaker as the blood flowed freely from the gash that ran from just below his shoulder to almost his elbow.
Looking back up, Jacen's eyes widened even more if it were possible. In those few moments of distracting the scene had changed. Suddenly the air was lit like a miniature sun and whiplike tendrils of raw current were shooting toward him. In that moment of amazement, fear momentarily grabbed ahold. Yelling in shock Jacen ran, moving a good fifteen or twenty feet down the hall away from the creature. He took cover in a doorway and pressed his back flat against the wall, eyes shut in terror. His conscious mind was screaming at him to remember his ability. To remember that fact that he could cancel out mutations but it wasn't enough. The subconscious fear and will to survive was currently in control and it would be a battle for his conscious mind to regain its power.
"H-hey!" Where was he going? If they didn't have him... that meant it was just her. And she had no idea what to do to stop a rampaging metal ball. "Why the heck are you running away!" It was technically a question, but she was panicky and starting to feel the first echoes of anger.
He was abandoning her! And he was the man! It was his job to be brave! There wasn't even anything different from her perspective to frighten him away. Energy, light? It was all a wash for her. But Ghost was starting to feel funny. Which was an accomplishment all on its own. Haywire. She'd felt it's dulled effects before, the only other time she'd ever felt anything while incorporeal.
She felt... prickly. Almost like someone was striking a match somewhere nearby and the automatic tenseness that came around the threat of fire. Her face felt tingly. But. She was an X-man. It was her duty to stop this threat. Ghost gathered her strength for another grand push. She considered twisting the air, but since the thing was round it wouldn't spin.
Brute force won out in the end. Maybe her cure-all for the Haywire was gone, but Ghost was determined now to break through the ever-moving sphere.
~~
The vacuum was gone as soon as she'd struck it. The power bubbled inside of Lori and came out in a whole hearted belly laugh. It was good to be power. The pinprick of amorphous power tried again, pushing her closer to the building, the base of the sphere actually clanked against floor. She had been negligent in victory. This time the sky would light up around the annoying fly.
~~
The air was like fire. And fire was Ghost's nemesis.
She couldn't even see it coming, but boy did she feel it all throughout her body jumping between molecules.
This. This could be what he was running from.
That about summed up the whole of her one cognizant thought. Later she might wonder if his power (or whatever he had) would have spared them both had he just stood his ground. For now, she couldn't even begin to be disappointed in him.
Ghost screamed and it echoed through and around the building magnified by her mutation. Her pain reverberated through the air molecules for as far as her power extended.
A part of his mind was struggling to regain control over the panic that was overwhelming his senses. His eyes were shut tightly, his breathing rapid, and his knuckles were turning white from how tightly he was clenching his fists. He could feel movement shaking the air around him and he could hear the banging and scraping of metal on metal. The creature was still alive and it had to be coming closer. It wasn't going to just accept its enemy escaping like a rat set loose from its trap. Seconds ticked by, extending into one and then two minutes. Jacen was just beginning to get used to the sounds he could hear when suddenly his eyes snapped open in surprise.
The scream was like a knife, slicing through the dread and fear and searing into his conscious mind with all the force that pain could provide. "I ran away..." He whispered, shock momentarily overpowering all other emotion, "I left her alone."
The idea that something had been able to push against his instincts so much that it would make him leave an innocent young woman behind was something that Jacen would never have considered possible but yet here he stood. Sheltered in a hallway while outside his friends and colleagues fought for their lives and this brave young woman put everything on the line. At that moment, he was acting more like the frightened school girl while she was the former Ranger. That would not do.
Looking down, Jacen snatched up a piece of torn metal debris, about the size of a garbage can lid but more oblong and ragged than perfectly round. Lifting it up with both hands like some sort of ugly shield he turned and charged back out into the hall. The pain as the metal slowly cut into his palm helped to center him on the situation, holding the panic at bay.
There in the hallway, the creature remained. Floating and pulsating with an internal power that Jacen couldn't understand, nor did he want to. All that mattered was pushing in close enough that he could do some damage. His steps quickened as he lifted the shield to provide extra protection for whatever he might collide with. No way was he going to let some white haired girl outshine the military... no way.
It screamed. Lori's body didn't like the sound. Not for what it was, but because of how very loud it was. The screaming should stop. Now. The power focused down to the mind in the pin prick. Tearing through layers of nothing until it was there, bare and open and ready.
The screaming stopped. Abruptly.
Ghost was no longer a formed body of wisped cloud. She was a puddle. Nothing more than a thin trail of fog that settled along the uneven, exposed floor supports. The wind had died with the screams and now everything became very, very still.
Except of course, for the little vacuum of power that was trying to sneak back up to Lori.
It had gotten quite close before she finished quelling the tumult. Freaking annoying. If the expense of that much energy only bought her a small window of time, it effort was not worth repeating. Instead, the power pulled at the closest chunks of metal, a wayward industrial air conditioning unit that had dropped from its rotation around her metallic shielding and a twisted remainder of a failing cabinet, and flung them toward the void.
If energy did not prevail perhaps a more physical answer was required.
((OOC: I think Ghosty is just going to sleep for a few days after this. If Jacen starts wading through the fog that is Ghost, for sanity and health's sake, let's just say she implodes and re-materializes where his area of effect first touched her incorporeal body. 'Cause... otherwise she'd be coming back as pulp. >> <<))
(OOC: I think imlpoding and re-materializing is a good plan. She can of course remain unconscious but at least she'll be alive.)
IC:
The screams abruptly ended and all that was left was the eery scraping of metal against metal. For a moment, a very brief moment, Jacen thought that maybe he had been able to escape the creature's attentions as he charged forward but it was no to be. Looking over the top of the shield his eyes widened in shock as a huge industrial air condition suddenly filled his view. Leaping to the side he managed to twist away but there was no way to avoid the cabinet that was coming behind the larger unit.
The power and strength behind the throw was more than anything that Jacen could even imagine an as he fell backward, his metal shield was torn from his grip. His gasp of pain was loud enough to be heard even over the complaining metal as he realized that his left palm had now been cut deep enough to reveal the white tendons and even barely nick one of them.
Gritting his teeth against the pain Jacen stood back up on his feet and charged the metal monster. He was beginning to doubt whether he would survive this encounter but that really wasn't important. What was important was stopping this thing before it brought the whole building toppeling down on the people outside.
For no discernable reason a scream or roar tore its way out of Jacen's throat, echoing up and down the hallway. It was the sound of defiance in the face of something that he didn't know how to defeat. No matter what happened, this thing would not see Jacen cower in fear ever again!
Physical attacks seemed the way to go. Nothing else had slowed the void, but now... well, now it just seemed angry. The power called to another mass of metal, but a shout echoed loud enough to resonate inside of her metal protection.
It should have registered long ago what the void of power was, who the void of power was. Even now her head tilted vacantly as the lack of power smashed into her metal guard, through her metal guard, and into her. He crunched through it like it wasn't held up by magnetic force at all. Because for him, it wasn't.
"Oomf." Just about summed up the feeling when a cascade of metal followed by Jacen's weight landed on top of her. She was smashed, trapped between the floor and Jacen.
The power which had free reign previously was suddenly forced into a very small vessel and sealed in tight. There wasn't enough room for it all and Lori writhed desperately to accommodate it. It felt as if her skin might split open and let the power back out as soon as it could.
She wasn't thinking yet. Her eyes rolled around glassily as she fought with tooth and nail and body to remove the obstacles on top of her and let the power back out. If she didn't let it out, it felt as if it would burn her up from the inside. There just wasn't enough room for the both of them.
The metal seemed to fall away as Jacen rushed through it and suddenly he found himself diving onto a pile of now useless scraps that helped him to hold down whatever person was the cause of this disaster. On autopilot his hand reached back to grab handcuffs but instead he only found the empty holder. Looking down, he watched the female form thrash around, blonde hair flying wildly as she struggled to get free. For a moment there was no recognition and then out of nowhere his eyes widened in surprise.
"Lori?"
She looked like a person that was high on speed or coke but he just couldn't accept that idea. Lori had never shown any indications that she might be into the drug scene. What could have set her off?
Suddenly the shifting of the pile was to much and Jacen tumbled off, rolling away and coming back up to his feet just a little ways off. He knew she had to be right at the edge of his field but couldn't say sure if it even still covered her.
"Lori! It's me, Jacen! You need to stop this right now!"
The first time he said her name it had no effect. There was no Lori home to talk to. But after some good solid thrashing that got the extra weight off of her chest. It didn't help the building pressure inside of her.
The metal that had once been a formidable barrier lay around her, a discarded and broken shell. She was vulnerable. Power-full but that power was locked deep inside the cage of her body and useless with no means of escape. The power was not happy thus she was not happy.
Something changed. The void receded just a hint. Just enough that her fingertips lay outside of the no power zone.
A spark of hope. A conduit of escape. The tips of her fingers danced with hot white sparks like a 4th of July sparkler. With some avenue of release, finally she lay still. Her eyes were unfocused and glassy, un-blinking and not seeing. The rise and fall of her chest sounded heavy in her ears, but past the rushing blood she heard her name.
She blinked.
"--eed to stop this right now!"
Lazily like a cat with cream Lori hooked a bit of loose and frizzy blonde hair behind her ear. It was like waking up in the middle of a dream when it was cold outside. She was brain sludgy and slow, but happy with her interior warmth.
Lori rolled toward the sparking hand and pushed herself up onto her arms. She kept her face toward the ground since she felt a bit woozy. "Jacen?" What was she doing again? The non-pyrotechnic hand eased through her blond hair wicking away the crazy amounts of static. If she'd known she was going to have company she wouldn't have... something something. "What are you doing here?" And why was she so hoarse?
She did look up then. And blinked at the husk of a setting they were in. A building, relatively high up and open on two sides. It was nothing but a big skeleton of rebar and concrete.
She was laying so still that for a few moments Jacen thought Lori had passed out. He was still trying to get his mind around what had just happened and how it could have happened. Sure, Lori wasn't exactly the most law abiding citizen in the world but he had never seen this sort of all out destruction before. Was this from an over dose of something? Maybe he had hurt her with the breakup even more than she had hurt him!
"Jacen?"
He breathed a sigh of release as she began to move and even managed to speak. A small smile pulled at his lip and whether he would admit it or not he was glad that Lori was OK. Things hadn't worked out between them but she wasn't a bad person, she was just Lori.
With his attention focused on her face, Jacen only saw the sparkler affect on her finger tips from the corner of his eye. Anyone else might have immediately focused on that sign of danger but not him. He was to busy watching Lori pushing herself up with the slightest tremor moving through her arms. Whether she was going to admit it or not, she looked exhausted.
"I came up here to stop whatever or whoever was tearing this building apart." He replied quietly, momentarily forgetting about the battle that continued to rage outside as well as the mysterious white haired woman that had led him here. He would more than likely remember them both in a few moments but for the time being he was to focused on the blond minx that had been his friend and lover not that long ago. "What happened? I've never seen you lose control like that. Did someone slip you a Mickey?"
She wasn't ready for this confrontation. It wasn't a confrontation yet. It was hardly even a conversation. But it was going to be. Last time she'd seen him, he'd been yelling at her. Her gift was a complete dud.
"I came up here to stop whatever or whoever was tearing this building apart." [/color]
She nodded and turned to clear off the debris from behind her. Her hand outside of the field was doing a miniature version of her full-body song and dance. A small shell of metal had formed around the spark show. It was fascinating to watch the rotating metal fail as it went through Jacen's field. But the magnetic field seemed strong enough to drag it back into rotation beyond Jacen's field. And so the cycle went.
Lori pulled her hand inside of Jacen's field and all the metal fell away. No more song and dance. Immediately she started to feel a pressure building inside of her chest.
"What happened? I've never seen you lose control like that. Did someone slip you a Mickey?"
What had happened? She put her stiff hands to her head. "I got shot." She spoke the words and knew them to be true. A hand went to her chest near her heart to the tank top she was wearing. There was a loose spot in the weave of her knit top and it all sort of crashed down like a thundering wave on the beach. "Haywire. They shot us with a drug that increase power level and removes control."
And to think that she had joined the Order to escape this fate. Lori gripped the front of her tank top with increasing strength. Her fingers creaked as the stiff wire inside of them stretched and her fingers went white and bloodless from the strain. The power was still building. The smell of peanut butter filled her nostrils.
What had happened to Sammy? She looked around again more careful of the details. There was only one corpse up here and it was female.
"Who's the girl?" Her voice came out a little strained. The power was going to have to go somewhere eventually. But for now, they could pretend to be civil. Pretend like they were acquaintances. Or friends. And not whatever they actually were.
Lori's silence spoke volumes and Jacen waited somewhat patiently, somewhat impatiently as Lori seemed to be focused on what was currently happening to her hand. From the glimmer of curiosity in her eyes it seemed clear that she wasn't completely sure about what was happening but after a few moments something must have clicked.
"Shot? Haywire?" Jacen murmured, trying to remember if he'd ever heard of such a thing. Sure, he'd heard of people getting shot with tranquilizer darts and such but a drug that increases a mutants power level and removes their control of the ability? That was an extremely scary proposition.
"Is there more of this stuff out there?" Jacen asked, his stomach sinking at the very idea. It was beginning to look like R.U.P.E.R.T. was going to get very busy very soon. After all, how could they clean up after mutants that were high on this Haywire stuff? How could they keep something like that out of the public eye?
Jacen's mind was covering all sorts of horrible scenarios when Lori suddenly reminded him that he hadn't come up to this floor on his own. Turning to look where she was indicating, Jacen's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Vega!"
Momentarily forgetting that his field seemed to be the only thing holding Lori in check, Jacen darted away and crouched beside the white haired woman. Reaching down he felt her neck for a pulse, hoping behind hope that there was still signs of life. "I shouldn't have run away." He muttered, condemning himself before all the facts were even in, "This is my fault!"