Finally. Finally she was able to get enough dirt away from her face to open her eyes again, even if they were still stinging and watering. At least she could see now, and what a pretty sight it was. The wasteland New York has become always did look better with a nice splash of color here and there, and red was such a lovely color.

A short laugh escaped her as she took in the sight of the old man, now a little less of a person than he had been before. All that talk of his about taking her down and in the end he hadn't even come close to backing up his claims. She'd barely gotten a scratch on her. "You lose, old man. Time to say goodbye."

Isabel had been planning to arrange for the geezer's head to join his arm, but apparently someone decided it was a good time to crash the party. She heard some of her bones being uprooted from the dirt as they were pushed apart, one or two of them cracking under the pressure of a pair of large red hands. Briefly she debated knitting them back together and barring his path, but knowing the Abyssi, he'd just smash his way back in either way. She settled for adopting a pout and crossing her arms. "Mercury! You're ruining my fun!"

Mercury wasn’t happy with Markus, and he wasn’t happy with Isabel, He wasn’t sure who to be more made at, a man who knew strategy well enough to know that he was going to need whatever weapon he had available. He was fighting someone who he found to be scary at times. Sure he could probably win a fight against her if he was determined, but he had no delusions that he would come out of it unscathed. Most importantly however he had no desire to cause her the slightest bit of pain, nor to the old man.

Gramps had questions, but before he could answer, Markus was being attacked Bone spikes entered his arm and he hoped to get him out of here while he still had the chance to learn from those wounds.
His tail secured Ceaser and tossed him out of the hole he entered through moments ago, the old man’s body hitting the first of his grunts with a thud.

“I know, but you are ruining my grandpa.” she knew good and well it wasn’t his granpa.Mercury smiled at her. Missing that pout on her face, she could be worse than him about being childish at times. S “I miss you Isabel, if you guys would have made an exception to your rule, then we could be destroying them right now. Your goods have already left so we are just hurting each other to hurt each other. Lets call it a day? Seriously though, if you would just leave next time we wouldn’t have to do all this.”

His arm only hanging on by some chance, he was tossed safely over to his Legionaries who had arrived to his aid only to act as medics to carry him back to the town whilst the rest questioned if they should retreat as well, which they thought was the more reasonable choice, being that they should protect their leader and all. As for Markus's reaction to the brute extent of Mercury's toss, he had no comment or feeling of the moment that had transpired. He was lost in his mind, adrift in his mental plain of which that had never surfaced in his life, something that he felt as if he adjusted himself. The sounds continued to repeat themselves over and over, the helicopter, tropical birds, the sound of screams and the roaring of flames in the back of his mind.

Whilst the unknowable played out in Markus's mind, the men who had come to transport him, five and all, began to observe and treat the wound that was now the place that his right arm had been severed at. Discarding the Markus's arm somewhere halfway back as they ran to the Town for medical treatment and applied heavy pressure with rags and such. They questioned their leaders survival rate, his ability to make it through this would prove to be something that would indeed be tested not just by his physicality, but by his mentality. His skin grew cold and paler, his body trembled as if it were a child in the face of a boogieman of sorts. Their journey to the Town would be long, but perhaps he would manage to pull through, but even then will the things in his mind be able to do the same?

Goddammit. Goddamn Mercury and his goddamn smile. He knew Isabel couldn't bring herself to lift a blade against him. She knew that he knew that. And she was willing to be that he knew that she knew that he knew that. And that just wasn't fair.

If Isabel had any weaknesses in the new mutant-dominated world, it was the Reds. With the exception of a special case, they were the only ones she'd be reluctant to scuffle with, and not just because they could toss her around like a rag doll if they saw fit. And Mercury may have wormed his way to the top of the Abyssi list for all his help in the past.

Goddammit.

She heaved a sigh as the old man was tossed from her enclosure and hurried away, the tangle of bones soon retracting and disappearing back into her body as she let him be carried away. She could always finish the score later, provided he didn't bleed out on the way back to Town.

Her pout deepened the littlest bit in spite of Mercury's grin and the claim that he missed her. On occasion she missed them, too. She missed the Order. But she had a new Leader now and a new faction of sorts to be a part of. And the crowd she ran with didn't put up with men, nor with the trouble them and their friends brought with them.

"We have to eat, too. And it's not like these people can't grow more of what they've got. We wouldn't have hurt anyone if they'd just stayed out of the way and let us do our thing," she replied, shifting to fully face the red giant, one hip popping out as her weight shifted. "And if you Townies and that damn self-proclaimed Sheriff of yours would stop sticking your noses in our business we could have been in and out without a fuss. 'Gramps' might even still have all of his pieces. You guys know how the Amazons do things. You know how I do things. People that get in my way get hurt."

The levels of pout increased on her face and he had to fight a bigger smile growing on his face. He covered it with a hand and less than discretely pinched his own face until it stopped.

He shrugged. ‘We know you have to eat,you’d be welcome in town.” He dared to hope for a split second before she continued. “We told them we would protect them best we could, If we really did, we would have come knocking at the fort to do real battle.”

“The growers trade cheap, like you said they can always grow more. You don’t have to take it from them.a couple of bone hoes or shovels and I bet they would have traded the lot of what you got. I tilled the field for them once and they gave me a pie.”

He looked up at Isabel as innocently as he could and without the slightest trace of humor. He stated. “I’m in your way.” And there it was again that smile threatening to take over his whole face.

“Isabel! The world isn’t fun anymore.” He closed the gap between them.” I miss you and Syn and Aura and Alli and Kait and Kitra. You guys belong with us not some reporter that said mutants were just as stupid as humans for years. She even played that special on you year after year, how do you forgive that, how much crap did you get over that stupid calendar that she referenced enough to make it popular.” He didn’t want to play that card, but he was tired of his friends being hidden behind a wall and rules that said his testes disqualified him from being part of the club.

God, that grin of his was infuriating. All that childishness, that oddly optimistic demeanor in nearly every situation. She was fighting so very hard to keep her pout in place, and to stifle the giggles she could feel trying to bubble their way to the surface and escape. Mercury always had been able to put her in a better mood. She never could stay angry with him on the rare occasion that he raised her ire.

"I doubt the Amazons would get a very warm welcome in Town. We're kind of the bad guys now. Or at least, everyone seems to think so. Besides, what's the fun in trading? It's much more interesting raiding places, and there's the added bonus that we get to keep the things we have and add to our stock instead of exchanging." Not that making weaponry or tools really detracted from their wares. Hum. Maybe that was an idea she could pass on to Maxine. After all, if others were wielding Amazon-made weapons, Isabel could easily turn them back around on their holders.

She gave a huff at his innocent expression and his smartass comment that didn't sound so smarassy. "You know that's not the same thing. You and them aren't the same thing. You know I couldn't hurt you if I could help it." Not the same at all. That was cheating, making a statement like that.

His sudden approach nearly made her retreat a few steps. Her adrenaline from the precious fight was still balancing itself back out, and in this new world nearly everyone was an enemy. She was able to stop herself, but just barely. Big Red wasn't one of the bad guys right now. They were just having a chat.

Her gaze drifted away from his face and down toward his chest as he continued to speak. She could feel her face heating up a little. He wasn't bringing up points she hadn't thought about before. On some level she still hated Maxine for what she'd done in the past. She'd much rather be with the Order and with her old friends. But after the nuke hit, everything had dissolved into chaos and keeping up things like factions and law enforcement had fallen away to simple survival. She was filling a role the Amazon's needed, just as she had done for the Order. It was almost the same thing.

"Things are different. The media's pretty much gone now. No one has TVs or cameras anymore. People can't print things or share stuff on the internet. With any luck, the explosion destroyed all the evidence that any of that ever happened. It sure as hell destroyed a whole lot of people that might remember it." She looked away from him and in the direction the Amazon leader had retreated in. She'd have to follow suit soon and return to the Fortress. "I can't go and stay in Town. They don't like me, and I don't like them. Besides, the Amazons need me. I'm the one that provides the shelter they've got and protection. Weaponry if they need it. I can't just leave. Plus, Syn and some of the others are there. I don't make the rules. I just follow them."

Mercury smiled at the thought of isabel reluctantly poking him with a bone spike, spouting things like ‘don’t make me do it!’

He leaned in and whispered the most devious thing his mind had ever thought. “You could make the rules Isabel. Seven of us behind you, Syn, Aura, Kait and Alli would turn on them in a snap. And then you could change the rules and we could all live together again. We wouldn’t have to hurt them or nothing just let them know things were changing a bit, and then we could help protect them too. Instead of doing this.” He nodded over his shoulder and rolled his eyes..

He backed out of her personal space a little. Smiled brightly trying to win her over to the thought. He didn’t have much more to say, if she said no, that was that and they would go back to this silly game of don’t hurt your friends. Jorge and Muse did it to, he was sure of it.

Isabel allowed Mercury lean in close to her ear. She never worried about personal space around the Abyssi, though Venus tended to be the exception on occasion if she couldn't see his hands. She was in no danger from him, nor he from her. He never really had been, nor would he ever be, no matter how angry she may be at the Big Reds at any given time.

His whispers sent a shiver up her spine. For whatever reason, they reminded her of her favorite book, or promises the pages and the movies based upon it that were always offered. 'Forget them. Forget them all. Come with me and you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again.' She had to admit that it was a very tempting offer, though the smile she returned to him as he pulled away again was one tinged with sadness.

Isabel had never been leadership material, no matter how much faith he might have had in her. She was a follower, a soldier, not a commander. Though she could potentially persuade the others he mentioned with the usefulness she had proved to possess, it didn't quite sit right with her. It was sort of underhanded to try and assume command like that. To threaten to take away their home, their protection unless Maxine handed over control. She couldn't do that to her companions.

Besides, even if she was in control of the Amazons, she still wouldn't be on top. There would always be someone she'd have to take orders from. Absentmindedly her fingers traced the grey marks on her skin. They'd looked sort of faded even when they'd first materialized. They weren't that bright, solid black of most tattoos. It was sort of like an old scar that would be with her forever, a reminder of what she had to do. Always.

"I can't do that to them. They're all settled and they seem to be happy," she said, giving a shrug and trying to dismiss any depressing thoughts that had begin to crop up. "Though technically there's just no boys allowed at the Fortress. I don't think Maxine cares much what we do away from home. Maybe I can come to Town sometimes to visit you guys. Just as long as Sheriff Uptight and Deputy Do Good don't try to shoot me on sight."

A smile bloomed on his face that wouldn’t leave it for a long time. He then reeled it into a forced pout that wouldn’t be believe by anyone. “I’ll take it, though it would have been fun, its not like I wanted them to hurt, just to have somebody better in charge.” he sent a snarl in the general direction of Maxine, Isabel might have forgiven her seeing as the damage was undone, but the woman would receive a slap she’d likely never recover from if she found herself with in his arm’s length. “If she has a problem with it you tell her to come tell it to my face. And the sheriff can get his panties out of a wad because I bet he is off talking with Muse right this minute! Maybe we can work out some kind of treatise.”

Mercury grinned again forgetting that he was trying to pout. His eyes ran down to the dark marks along her waist and narrowed, they then popped right back up to her face, he started notice exactly how much of Isabel was showing. He didn’t notice stuff like that about her! Nope. Girls were for hanging out with, what the point to kissing them was, he did not want to know. “I’ll come knock on your door and invite you over? I can show you the playground I made for the kids.” Suffice to say, he played on the shaped girders he had salvaged from the wreckage of buildings over the years.”

That damn grin of his was too infectious. She couldn't possibly dwell on unpleasant thoughts with this particular Abyssi around. He was much too cheerful. His good moods were just too contagious, and in a place like post-apocalyptic New York anything to put one in a good mood was welcome. And entertaining thoughts of being top dog, while unlikely, were fun.

She had to laugh at the look Mercury threw in Maxine's general direction of retreat. The Amazons weren't a very well liked group and it made sense that the leader would get the larger share of hate from non-Amazons. She could appreciate his dislike of the woman, and it was flattering in a twisted sort of way that Merc disliked her so much on Isabel's behalf.

"Even if she has a problem with you coming to get me, there's only so much she could do without asking me to turn the Fortress on any intruders. She's got those dogs of hers, but I'm pretty sure you could handle them," she replied, liking the sound of a Red visitor more and more as the topic was discussed. It had been so long since she'd spent any kind of time with them, it would be so nice to get to do it again. And with the Red Seven on her side, she figured the Sheriff would have to behave himself. It wasn't exactly good idea to get on their bad side, especially if they were the main line of defense for the Town. Doubly especially if Mercury could actually convince any of them to side with Isabel in their imagined scenario.

A playground sounded like fun. She had always liked the swings and even if there weren't any already there, she could always make one for herself. She wasn't so sure about the kids, but if they left her alone she could probably tolerate them. It seemed sort of strange that there'd be minis running around when people were already fighting for what little resources there were, but then again contraceptives weren't exactly in large supply anymore and people had to entertain themselves somehow. "That sounds like fun. But don't be surprised if I get impatient and show up on your doorstep one of these days instead."