Winds of Change (Lori)

Three days had placed since Shade had escaped the prison he had made for himself. The shadow mutant had had fellow mutant and teammates fall before, but never one he had valued so highly. The death of his leader brought with it the sting of mortality. If a mutant such as Syn could fall, so could he. The hundreds of brushes with death seemed suddenly to overflow at that time. One wrong move and he could have been like Syn, a lifeless corpse. Nothing more than a memory of a brighter future for mutant-kind. However, there was absolutely nothing he could do now. The only thing had could be done was to move on. And move on he had.

It was early in the night, fifteen minutes to midnight, when Shade stepped from the dark shadows casted by one of columns supporting the roof above the foyer. By this time of night, Lisa had found rooms for all the occupants that would have filtered in that evening. However, several small groups remained. Some chatted carelessly with one another while others played cards or board games. Shade played no attention to neither as he strolled through the center aisle towards the pathway up to his quarters. He had been making sure to show more of his 'face' around lately, just to ensure anyone knew wouldn't try to move into his room. Also, the shadow mutant used this time to gather gossip which he usually caught from the random conversations floating around.

Tonight, one group was having a discussion about their favorite type of clothing while another debuted about the quality of a new picture released. However, the third conversation caught his interest. It had to do with the destruction of the King Pharmaceutical company. Supposedly it was now under new management and getting a complete make-over. And they were designing a vaccine for mutants? The thought made Shade's face turn to stone. He would have to talk to their new leader about that.

Continuing on his path, Shade's eyes locked with the human eyes of the Sanctuary's secretary. If Shade had his way, Lisa would already be gone from a mysterious disappearance. However, this human knew her place, and any secrets she might know of the Order would follow her to the grave. Giving her a nod of recognition, Shade began to make his way to the stairs which led to his room.