Sam did not seem entirely pleased with the change of location. Slate gathered this by the man’s frown, and continued searching gaze around the square. Under other circumstances, he may have held a similar opinion. Given that Sam did not know the true mission, however... He rested his own trust in Circe’s judgments. Perhaps they should have told the X-Leader. Perhaps the man would have agreed on things, given his own suggestion that they ‘deal’ with Pacifica. Slate did not know the man well enough to predict his reaction, though, and quite a few lives would be affected by today’s outcome for good or ill.

Perhaps he would tell Sam afterwards.

Perhaps not.

In any case, it was a thought for another time. Pacifica was here. He let Circe handle the initial banter, simply observing Pacifica and her man. Another thought: in the near future, he should ask someone to teach him how to read a person simply through ‘observation.’ He gathered that neither of them were pleased, but that was as far as he could read. There was more information there, though—the way they dressed, the way Gabriel stood silently at Pacifica’s shoulder while his leader spoke, the way they each carried themselves. He saw these things, but held no confidence at interpreting them.

>> “Well, I’m here. Let’s talk.”

“Please have a seat,” he gestured amiably, rising politely from his own chair to offer his hand. “I am Slate.” As she no doubt already knew. Likewise, she knew his own Faction allegiance, as he knew hers. Trusting in everyone’s respective information networks, he curtailed the introductions.

“The actions you and the Underground are partaking in are escalating this situation. We agree with you that the registration law must be overturned, but not through arbitrary violence.” Targeted violence was another matter, of course. Personally, he’d quite enjoyed her ordered destruction of the National Bank. A sudden gouging in state funding had rather helped his own Faction’s efforts. Those scattered political assassinations had not been terrible, either, though they could benefit significantly from forethought. And a decrease in quantity. A true collapse in government would require a complete rethinking of his plans. It would be inconvenient, to say the least.

“We believe that our three Factions could form a formidable alliance, if we could agree upon a common plan. At present, however, your efforts are hindering ours.”

Slate had an intriguing craving for a cup of tea: not so much to drink, as to hold while he spoke. Curious. His hands did feel strangely edgy, simply resting in his lap.

Sam couldn’t help but let out a small snicker as Alex and Pacifica exchanged pleasantries, however even though he let out a small laugh he still had enough sense about him to look at Alex with a raised eyebrow, ”Circe?” he mouthed in a hush voice so only those closest to him could hear.

Eyeing Pacifica as she spoke and Slate in turn, it was clear that Slate would be doing a large majority of the talking, everything Sam wanted to say Slate already said, so quietly nodding he added, ”Wish I knew who you both were before hand when we were running the group across the boarder, could have had a meeting right there, but to be honest I’m glad we have Slate here for the meeting as well, it seems that he and I had reached a mutual understanding of the situation, and we both wish you cooperate with us, everything will be far smoother if you help us obtain our mutual goal.”

Sam offered a smile and then looked to the man behind Pacifica and his smile faded. He didn’t know what he did to the man but it was clear he was upset about something and it was all Sam’s fault. Sam blinked once then twice and then spoke again, ”With the way things are now you are losing more and more of your followers, yes more and more keep pouring in to support you but that still doesn’t mean that you can win with the way you are doing things.”

He pulled both hands and placed them under his chin as he looked to Pacfica and then to the man behind her who was still staring Sam down and making Sam uneasy in the process.

Pacifica smiled at the Kabal leader as she moved toward him but not before nodding slightly toward Gabriel. Loki took another step back, ready to leave if his leader demanded it. Alexandra quietly observed this, while changing her own position in order to block Pacifica with ease when it would be needed. “Oh, yes, the sour face.” Pacifica replied while taking Slate’s hand.

Pacifica seated herself, the smug smile ever-so-present on her face. Alexandra imagined the satisfaction she would feel once she’d wipe that smile of her face. Slate spoke, as did Sam. Alexandra refrained herself from commenting. Pacifica took a hand to her chin, sporting a thoughtful look. “Well. You must be aware that I already have an allegiance formed with one of the factions in New York. One that shares my opinion regarding the position of mutants in the world.” Pacifica leaned back on the chair relaxing. “And you must be aware that this conversation had happened before, gentlemen. Someone else had tried several times before to convince me, as well as my allies that I have chosen the wrong path.” Pacifica’s smile widened as she glanced at Alexandra. The Underground leader was, of course, referring to the slightly temperamental exchange of opinions between her and Abyss.

Alexandra didn’t find this amusing in any way. Blue eyes were watching the two Underground members like a hawk ready to strike. Pacifica shifted her attention to Sam, sighing slightly. “As for our previous meeting cutie… Circe prohibited both me and Loki to speak the truth.” That gained a glare from Alexandra. Pacifica on the other hand wasn’t too affected by the molecule manipulator’s stare. “Besides, that was hardly the place where two leaders of factions could have a proper talk.”

Alexandra’s nostrils were flaring with anger. Was she flirting with Sam? Suggesting the two should talk in private about the well being of mutant kind? “Also, that wasn’t the reason of our presence within the group.” Pacifica grinned slightly while gesturing toward Loki with a wink. And that was the last drop Alexandra could take. She unfolded her arms and placed them on the table in front of the Underground leader, eyes narrowed in anger. “And me and Sam and the other four people in the group are really grateful but now cut the bullshit and get on the subject.”

Pacifica smiled, not even bothering to hide the satisfaction she felt as she looked at Alexandra. “You’re right. But you know me… how easily I become distracted.” Piercing green eyes shifted from Alexandra to the X-Men Leader, with a look that didn’t leave room for much interpretation. Alexandra growled, perhaps loud enough for others to hear while promising herself that she’d claw Pacifica’s eyes out as soon as she had the chance.

Confidence bursting out of her every pore, Pacifica shifted toward the Kabal leader. “The reason I had agreed with this meeting is that I hope that our goals are similar enough for us to create an alliance that would lead to the best of our kind.” Pacifica sighed as she shifted her eyes from Slate to Sam and back. “The thought of all mutants and factions united to stop the oppressing attitude of the humans, to crush them under our shoe like the cockroaches they are brings so much joy to my heart.” The Underground leader grinned slightly as she scanned the Kabal leader’s face. “Don’t you think we deserve this? It is time for evolution to take its course and the homo sapiens' reign over the world to near an end.”

Yes, he’d been aware of the Order’s involvement. He could follow a simple Twitter feed, thank you, as well as the evening news: discovering the true identity of the Underground’s ‘Red Liberty’ was something a two-year-old could do. Quite literally.

Frankly, he did not know how to convince the woman. It was a frustrating thing: she was here in front of him. They were speaking. Yet she did not seem to acknowledge the logic in his and Sam’s words, nor the counter-productivity of her own actions. How did you convince someone like that?

Fortunately, he could ponder that question another day, with another person. Pacifica would be ‘convinced’ soon enough.

“My thoughts on mutant supremacy are irrelevant,” Slate stated simply. “My thoughts on your actions are not. The humans struck the first blow, Ms. Pacifica, but it is you who are tearing your country apart.” Again: quite literally. He would, preferably, like something to be left standing at the end of this.

“We offer you an alliance, Ms. Pacifica. A powerful one. Please realize, however, that we have no intentions of letting you interfere with our methods. You can choose to ally with us or not. Your destructive actions, however, will stop.”

Not to make the woman feel threatened, or anything. Really, they would not want that.

As a side note: he did not have a sour face.

He felt the gaze of not only the man behind Pacifica upon him but now the eyes of Pacifica herself. He shifted slightly trying not to see uncomfortable, the last thing he wanted to do was offend the leader but he knew that Alex would have none of it. Almost on cue she let out a growl the way a lioness would protect a piece of meat. He grinned slightly and gave Alex a look to try and calm her down hoping she would see it.

His expression was still as smile as he looked to the woman, ”Still it would have been nice to know you were there I would have tried to meet you sooner than this, in private or in public.” he put his emphasis on the public so Alex wouldn’t misunderstand his intentions what so ever. ”Slate is right however, your actions are only becoming a problem, and the only other faction I can think of that resides in New York is the Order, and if anything they are simply using you as pawns.”

His expression still a warm one he cleared his throat and continued, ”Help us, help you!” his eyes shifted slightly to slate who’s comments might have come off as a little blunt, yes they would stop Pacifica but there was no reason he needed to mention it in the meeting.

Not only that but Sam didn’t want Pacifica to feel like she was backed into a corner, animals who usually are backed into a corner strike with all they have and considering they moved the meeting Sam wasn’t sure how much he liked the idea of a possible fight.

Pacifica tilted her head at the Kabal leader. It was fair to assume that both men’s words had hit deaf ears. “Slate. I prefer not to think that I am tearing my country apart. What I do, will result in a positive outcome for our species. My actions do seem violent and reckless at the moment but the results are thought for the long run instead of an immediate solution.” The green eyed Underground leader smiled as she turned her head to Sam. “And I do refuse to believe in your statement. The Order is our ally. I wouldn’t be a good leader if I let my people being treated as pawns.”

Alexandra snorted at this comment. Please. Pacifica was already considering her people pawns. What difference did it make if someone else did it?

Pacifica relaxed in her chair, a smile still plastered upon her lips as she spoke. “You will thank me in the end… when Romania is going to be a country for mutants.”

Alexandra smiled, moving closer to Pacifica’s side. “You don’t listen very careful, Lizzie.” Pacifica’s eyes narrowed upon hearing this name. Alexandra’s smile simply widened. “There will be nothing we would thank you for in the end. Because we will stop you. One way.” A hand extended in Pacifica’s direction. Blue eyes turned darker when Alexandra activated her mutation. Metal in the vicinity obeyed her command, advancing slowly to her hand, molecules aligning themselves to form a rather long blade, its tip standing only a mere inch from Pacifica’s face. “Or another.”

Pacifica’s narrowed eyes widened now. Alexandra found immense pleasure in reading surprise on the Underground leader’s face. Maybe even shock? The molecule manipulator grinned, satisfied with the outcome of her actions. She had promised herself that she’d wipe out the smile from her former leader’s face “Loki.” Green eyes didn’t leave Alexandra as she spoke to her second in command, not even for a moment. “Go take a walk. I need to discuss with Circe and her friends alone.”

It was playtime. Gabriel quickly complied with his leader’s command, his movements rushed as he sprinted toward the exit of the square. In response, Alexandra turned her head toward Sam. “Cutie. Would you mind keeping company to Gabriel?”

<<Remember what I have told you earlier Slate. Timing our actions is the key.[/i]>>

[OOC: Slate, feel free to use Pacifica as you like. CS, same for Loki.]

((ooc: Attack at the end edited slighty. ))

Sam was smiling quite a lot, Slate noted, perhaps in an attempt to rectify the situation. Circe was making knives, in an attempt... to do otherwise. A very effective attempt. Distinctly more effective than Sam’s, in fact.

>> “Loki. Go take a walk. I need to discuss with Circe and her friends alone. ...Cutie. Would you mind keeping company to Gabriel?”

Loki was running: Sam, hopefully, would be following on his heels. Pacifica was staying behind, still somewhat confident in her own abilities. Now was the time for the real plan to begin.

“Go, Sam!” He seconded. The speed at which Loki was sprinting left no doubt that the X-Leader and Circe had been right: Pacifica had her people, waiting in the wings. Clearly, Loki needed to be stopped. Go Sam, indeed.

<<Remember what I have told you earlier Slate. Timing our actions is the key.>>

He remembered. Circe was immune to Pacifica’s power if the Underground’s Leader tried to stop all attacks. If she focused her power on only Circe, she would be open to all other attacks. They simply had to force one or the other to occur, and act on Pacifica’s weaknesses.

Slate stood, and deliberately moved so that the table was no longer between him and their target. Pacifica had stood as well: it was not hard to predict where this was going. He slipped into one of the offensive stances he had learned at judo practice. The stance was perfect. The Underground’s Leader did not need to know how very unrefined at the actual martial arts he was: she only needed to think that he was a threat. Slate was not entirely certain how to knock the woman out: therefore, he planned only to distract her powers from Circe, and let his very capable employee handle the rest.

The teenager stepped forward, his body crouching low as he aimed to take her off her feet with a basic morote gari move. It wasn’t very good: his form left openings everywhere. The Labs secretaries would have him on the ground within moments, leaving his spinning brain to figure out how they’d done it.

As a distraction, however, it might just suffice.

Despite Pacfica’s clear delusional view on not only the order but also how she was viewing things Sam continued to give her a sincere smile. It was the best he could do for the moment given the situation. Both Alex and Slate seemed to be a little more egger to but heads he however was trying his best to avoid a confrontation all together. As Pacifica gave the command for the one known as Loki to run off Sam’s toes clenched in his shoes ready to lift him should he need it? The word ‘Walk’ could have meant several things but the fact that Pacifica asked for some extra time before the meeting Sam could only assume it wasn’t an actual walk.

Sam looked to both Alex and slate before the chair behind him shot back and Sam jumped to the side of the table and took off in a full sprint chasing the one called Loki. Alex could handle her self and Slate, well Slate was a healer so Sam didn’t really care what happened to the Kabal leader one-way or another he figured Slate would be all right. Besides Sam wasn’t big on attacking women anyways, even if there was a killing intent behind them anyways, something he could only assume was written into his genetic coding.

Leaving both Slate and Alex behind to deal with Pacifica to conclude what ever was left of the meeting Sam was already tailing the one called Loki quite successfully. Despite him getting a few second head starts Sam was already gaining which was either because he was faster or because Loki wanted to be caught due to a trap. Regardless he kept his speed constant and continued to gain on Loki.

Sam smirked slightly when he thought of Loki’s name if it had anything to do with his mutation Sam could guess most of them would be illusions or something. Loki after all was a trickster that led to the downfall of the Norse gods and started Ragnorok. Regardless of what it was Loki needed to be stopped before he reached who ever he was running for. ”Loki!” lifting his hand into a ball and forming a snowball Sam whiffed it into the air and nailed Loki in the shoulder forcing him to teeter and lose balance. Within a second Loki fell to the ground and landed to his side after he rolled a few times.

”Now let’s talk,” if he couldn’t appeal to Pacifica maybe he could appeal to her second in command maybe he didn’t believe in what his leader was doing, if that was the case he might have found someone to replace Pacifica with. Slowing his pace to the fallen Loki, Sam stopped a few feet out of reach on his toes so to speak if Loki was indeed a trickster.

“Go, Sam!”

Slate sounded like a cheerleader. Period.

Alexandra glanced at the Kabal leader mildly amused for a moment. No pompons?

There was a sound to her side, she recognized it as a chair being pushed aside and moments later Sam sprinted away to stop Loki from signaling the other Underground members that something was wrong. Wait.a.minute. Sam was following Loki. Oh sh- “Sam!” Too late. “Don’t touch him…” she muttered and yet Sam was too far to hear her. Alexandra sighed. Hopefully… Sam won’t learn why the Underground called him Loki.

But back to her priorities.

Slate stood up, moving the table so it wouldn’t be an obstacle between her and Pacifica. The Underground leader parroted Slate. She looked at him, head tilted to the side. Not that amused, Alexandra noted. Piercing green eyes shifted to the molecule manipulator. Or, better said the blade she was holding. Alexandra attempted to inch the blade forward but found herself unable to do it.

Blue eyes were shifted to Slate, hoping that he’ll use this chance to attack her. Maybe this dance could be done for a while but how long did it take until Pacifica made a mistake and left herself open to either her or Slate’s attacks? That, only time would tell.

Alexandra focused on something else while Pacifica’s powers blocked her. Instead of thinking of doing the Underground’s leader any harm, an innocent thought of moving closer to her rose above all others. While Slate was aiming to take Pacifica off her feet, distracting her attention and hopefully her powers, Circe moved behind the Underground Leader, blade still in hand.

Thoughts were shifted again, this time wishing for the harm of Pacifica. It didn’t really matter what she thought, anything negative helped her determine when Pacifica was open to her attacks. While for a few seconds, until Slate was almost succeeding into tackling the Underground leader, the molecule manipulator felt the familiar sensation that paralyzed any harmful moves, once Pacifica focused on Slate’s actions, Alexandra used the temporary freedom of movement to wrap her arm around Pacifica’s neck, blade only a mere inch away from the Underground’s leader’s throat.

Surprised, Pacifica flinched. Almost immediately, Alexandra’s muscles relaxed and while her hand remained around Pacifica’s throat, she couldn’t hold the woman into place if she had time to react.

<<Slate, now.[/i]>>

His attack was stopped. Or, rather, he simply did not attack her. While Pacifica had been focused on Circe and her knife, he had been able to start towards her: before he could truly start the move, however, it seemed she deemed him worthy of stopping. The Labs secretaries would be proud of him.

Slate froze, as her power demanded.

Circe attacked.

Pacifica's priorities changed, again. The knife at her throat saw to that. Still, Slate had no real idea of how to finish things: he required her unconscious, or willing. Willing, he doubted would happen. Unconscious... could yet be arranged. Slate finished crossing the slim distance between them, and grabbed the Underground Leader's wrist.

In Slate's eyes, time seemed to hiccup: things lurched forward, his mind no longer able to keep up with them. He rather needed the extra concentration, for what he was doing.

Ms. Pacifica would find herself sealed inside of her own mind. Her body would stay were it was; her breathing, her heartbeat, would continue. Behind her eyes, however, there would be only a dull glaze. He'd trapped her somewhere much deeper. And there she would stay, locked away from her powers, until his grip on her arm was broken.

He would be happy to oblige with that. First, however, there was a small matter that needed attention.

A long delay passed, as he gathered his over-taxed thoughts, and remembered how to form words.

"Ms. Circe," he said simply, when he could, "would you be so kind as to hit Ms. Pacifica's head with something heavy?" In the head, preferably. Other means were quite acceptable, as well: really, the Kabal's Leader was not picky.

Suffice it to say that Ms. Pacifica would feel like a new woman, the next time she awoke.

“Talk?” the mystery mutant said with a laugh as he stood up dusting himself off now facing Sam with a malicious grin on his face. “Time is of the essence and it seems your time has run out,” he said quickly taking another step backward but his back touching something solid… and cold… jumping forward and turning his gaze from Sam the one who stole his woman to see a thin layer of a crystal blue barring his path. Smirking slightly Loki cleared his throat, “Scared me for a minute, then again I have just seen what you can do, I am guessing you form various shapes with snow an ice yes?”

Sam smirked slightly and nodded his head, in the direction of Loki, ”Yes, talk!” Sam said with a smile as he crouched down his knees bent and his center of gravity was over his heels, which were keeping him upright. ”Think about it Loki, your leader is going to get all of you killed, this meeting for example, we knew she had no intention of actually siding with us, Alex made that clear, I didn’t want to think Pacifica was dumb enough to slap away a helping hand but it seems she is…” Sam stood up and stretched his arms getting ready for the possibility of a fight if talking wasn’t going to be an option.

Taking a step closer Loki frowned at the one called Sam and spat on the ground, “Who the hell do you think you and that runt are, you come in here and mess everything up, of course she wasn’t going to give up on her plan to take control of the country, we are the rightful rulers of not only the country but the world…” Loki frowned more and showed teeth this time, “Don’t say her name again….” The one called Sam had no right to mention the name of his angel.

Sam blinked and then raised his hands up into a guard and took a step forward, ”Pacifica? Or Alex?” Sam asked as he watched Loki cringe and his fists tighten when he said Alex’s name. Loki got into a fighting stance and quickly rushed forward yelling, “Don’t say her name, you have no right!”

Sam blinked again and took a step back as Loki charged at him, ”Sorry it had to come to this…” Sam said sidestepping Loki and threw an uppercut into his gut knocking the wind out of him. Waiting for Loki to fall to the ground Sam lowered his guard and slowly pulled away his fist, however this was the moment Loki was waiting for. Out of breath and quickly trying to recover it Loki placed both his hands on Sam’s right forearm and gripped tightly activating his ability.

Something happened.

Alexandra wasn’t exactly sure what.

She just knew that when she had given Slate the signal he touched the Underground’s leader and she stopped. Movements, powers, everything ceased. She blinked slightly confused at Slate. He looked focused, almost so focused that he found it hard to talk.

The molecule manipulator guessed that her hold on Pacifica was no longer necessary. Slightly reluctant and shifting her eyes between Slate and Pacifica, she moved away and to Pacifica’s side.

The dull look in the woman’s green’s eyes spoke volumes. The Underground leader was trapped … somewhere away from the real world. Alexandra looked at Slate again, and while waiting for him to finally form words, she wondered what else the Kabal leader was hiding from his employees.

"Ms. Circe, would you be so kind as to hit Ms. Pacifica's head with something heavy?"

Slate finally spoke and Alexandra found herself quite amused by Slate’s words. She smiled, shaking her head slightly. “My pleasure.” And indeed a pleasure that would be. Blue eyes shifted around, looking for something useful.

Where is a damn baseball bat when you need one?

But, without a baseball bat near her, Alexandra shifted her attention to the leg of the table they have previously used. A few seconds later, half of the said leg rested in her hand. This would have to do. She spent a moment to calculate the amount of force needed to quickly send Pacifica to the la-la land, instead of irrecoverably smashing her skull. Taking a short breath, Alexandra swung the bat toward the Underground’s leader’s head.

A perfect hit.

Alexandra grinned as she let the hand that held the half table leg to drop to her side. “She’s out. Do your magic, Slate.” With that being said, she let her eyes wander in the direction where Gabriel and Sam had disappeared. Well, now that Pacifica was handled… “I’m going to help Sam.”

The table leg was tossed to the side as she started to sprint toward the two men. And stopped a few feet away from them, eyes locked on Sam’s forearm and Gabriel’s hands.

Oh, sh-

Alexandra sighed, starting to move toward them again, this time walking. “That’s enough, Gabriel. Let him go.”

The man’s blue eyes shifted toward the molecule manipulator. “But-”

Alexandra rose a hand in the air to signal him to stop talking. “Pacifica has agreed with us. There is no point in continuing this. Let him go.”

Reluctantly, Gabriel let Sam go, looking confused and surprised at Alexandra.

Tilting her head to the side, Alexandra shifted her eyes from Gabriel to Sam.

Oh well, this was going to be interesting.

>> “She’s out. Do your magic, Slate.

Downed by a chair leg. Half a chair leg, no less. Some part of Slate’s mind hoped that this was not a foreshadowing of things to come, if Ms. Circe’s allegiances were to ever switch to yet another new leader.

The rest of him was feeling too satisfied to care. He released his grip on the woman as she crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The blue eyed leader found himself staring down with at her with a grin, as he stood panting. “Ha!”

>> “I’m going to help Sam.”

The grin was turned on Ms. Circe. He was not entirely sure what its purpose was, but his lips seemed quite intent on forming the expression, and he did not feel any particular urge to suppress it. This feeling, he suspected, was ‘victory.’ The use of the chair leg—the half a chair leg—somehow made it more satisfying.

“Very well, Ms. Circe. And good job.”

As his employee took off, the Kabal’s leader knelt at the felled woman’s side. Again, his hand lightly touched her arm. Her unconscious mind put up no resistance to his entry.

The usual swirl of memories surrounded him. As usual, he began pushing through them, seeking that particular spot in her mind where the loyalty command was best placed.

And then he saw the memory of Fausto Martense. One of the Underground’s newest recruits. Slate paused as the memory drifted past. In the world outside of their heads, his lingering grin turned into a slight frown. Iron Mouth had come here with the Kabal. Now he had infiltrated the Underground, it seemed. It was quite a good show of initiative. Curious, that he hadn’t thought to tell his Leader about it.

His own memory of surfaced briefly; Circe, taking out her former Leader. With a chair leg. Half a chair leg.

Mr. Martense had not told Slate anything about this. As Circe, no doubt, had neglected to inform Ms. Pacifica when she’d found new employment. Is this how such things worked? Shortly before they’d left the country for Romania, Iron Mouth had threatened to kill Slate. Repeatedly. Both with his mutation, and his knife.

Ah. Perhaps he should have taken that as a warning. His frown deepened. Once he’d left Pacifica’s mind, he would remember nothing of this: he never did. Another person’s memories were their own, it seemed, and he could not keep them. This was most inconvenient. There was nothing he could do about it, however. He pushed past the disturbing memory, and continued delving deeper in her mind.

That is where he found the plans for the Parliament bombing.

They were intensely disturbing.

Intensely useful, as well. If the Senators could be hurt, but not all of them killed; if he could be there in time; if he could heal them before he was imprisoned. If he could remember this—the date, the time, the plan—after he left her mind. If. It was not something he could do.

It was not something he had to do.

Slate pushed on, and found the correct location. He planted his loyalty command, at the seat of her consciousness: from now on, she would be his. She would obey his orders to the best of her ability. She would answer to him above all people, and she would keep her knowledge of the Kabal and its affairs safe.

Slate began to withdraw from her mind, doing one last thing as he went: he healed the minor concussion that had put her to sleep. It would not be long before she awoke. He could feel her consciousness stirring, drawing itself back to lucidity; its natural barriers began to come back, forcing him out. He stayed as long as he could. Until the first flickers of wakefulness started to truly drive up the wall between them. Then he gave his first order, to her waking mind, while he still remembered enough to give it.

Proceed with the Parliament attack, no matter what else I say. Send Iron Mouth with the bomber.

He needed the bombing to both succeed and fail: he needed the Senators injured, but he needed as many alive as possible. Iron Mouth knew he would not condone the bombing. If he was still loyal, perhaps he would try to stop it.

Slate had seen her memory of the true bomber, though. His face looked different than it had in Colombia, but no different than when he’d revealed himself to Circe at Sebastian’s wedding. Mr. Roland Turpit. A terrible employee, but competent. Iron Mouth’s distinct lack of professionalism would be no match for him. The bombing would succeed, in part or in full.

His hope lay with the former.

He could have simply ordered the woman to tell him all this, of course, out loud or through the telepathy they now shared. Then he could have controlled the details more fully. Slate suspected, however, that his advisors would not approve of a large-scale assassination of political leaders, on the chance he could gain control of a few. What they did not know, they need not disapprove of.

What he did not remember, he was not lying to them about.

Pacifica groaned, her eyes blinking open. His own baby blue eyes met her gaze. Slate found that, for some reason, his lips were set in a small smile. He did not remember why: something he had seen in her mind, perhaps. He saw no reason to remove the expression. “Welcome back, Pacifica. You will join the Kabal and the X-Men. You will immediately order all Underground members to cease their violent measures, unless so authorized by myself. You will join us in aiding the refugees for now.”

The woman returned the smile, her eyes still somewhat dazed. She sat up, finger-combing her hair. “Of course.”

When the others returned, Slate and Ms. Pacifica would be sitting at the table again, having a polite conversation about the best way to integrate the Underground to the X and Kabal’s plans. They were civilized people, after all, any unfortunate incidents aside.

((ooc: Tell me if I need to mod anything! Also, feel free to post for a few rounds without me, while you two deal with Loki.))

A tingling sensation passed through his forearm where Loki had gripped, one that caused Sam to try pulling back but was still caught off guard enough not to be successful. Needless to say his arm wasn’t going anywhere for a moment. His arm continued to tingle as it started to heat up to the point where he was becoming uncomfortable with the touch. Just as he tried pulling back again and readying for another strike Sam’s ears perked to Alex’s voice.

Her voice commanded obedience the way a general commanded an army and Loki’s plea fell on deaf ears for Alex was on a mission, and that mission was to get them to stop fighting before someone got hurt. His arm stopped tingling as Loki released his gripping and backed up a few steps before looking up to Sam and grinning ear to ear. Despite the pain it caused him Loki still managed to laugh about the situation.

Raising his arm and looking at it in the dim light Sam frowned slightly not exactly sure what had happened. Something defiantly happened he felt it what it was he wasn’t sure but he knew he didn’t like it. The sound of something moving in the distance caused his body to tense up for a second, had Loki already contacted his fellow underground members? Cause if so it sounded like someone was approaching fast.

The sound happened again and Sam jumped to the ground and covered his head as a bird of some kind flew overhead and landed off in the distance only to let out a small chirp before vanishing. ”What was that?” Sam asked in a panic voice as his heart started to race a mile a minute. Looking over to Alex he blinked once and then got to his feet wondering what exactly just happened.

As one who occasionally had been under the effects of Gabriel’s power, Alexandra thought that whatever would happen, she would be ready for it. And she wouldn’t laugh, no matter just how funny it was. After all, Sam was experiencing real fear.

Of course, that theory was proved wrong cause not every day you see the fearless leader of the X-Men toss himself to the ground, hands above head and all when a bird decided to fly over their heads. She blinked a couple of times, tilting her head to the side, face serious as she watched Sam. Then, a smile appeared on her lips.

Alexandra bit her tongue to restrain herself from laughing. Or widening her smile. However, Gabriel wasn’t that kind and his laughter reached her ears soon. Her head was turned to the Underground member while Sam got up to his feet, confused and scared. She took a deep breath, wiping the smile off her face. “Don’t laugh, Gabriel. You’re not the one who’s gonna drive him home.”

Gabriel however found that remark amusing so he continued to laugh while getting up too. Alexandra shook her head. Another deep breath and she turned toward Sam, taking his hand into hers in the process. “And that was…” A harmless bird. “Nothing to be scared of.” She offered a comforting smile. Not that it was going to do any good. “Come on boys. Let’s get back to Slate and Pacifica, yes?” She looked over her shoulder at Gabriel. The Underground member was still snickering behind the X-Man’s back. Boys will be boys, she concluded, shifting her attention to Sam.