Dorian had been putting this conversation off for too long. But you couldn't blame him.

The woman he was meaning to talk to had walked into fights with nothing more than the clothes on her back, and walked out not only having killed large numbers of heavily armed individuals, but having done so gruesomely and imaginatively. The guys who had to clean up after her often needed psychiatric help afterwards, and these were people who cleaned up after murderers for a living. Shooting her, he'd heard, only made her angry. In short, this woman was among the most criminally insane, violent, terrifying, and dangerous people in the history of mutantkind.

Her name was Aura, and she was also one of Dorian's new coworkers.

He could see the value in having somebody like this in the Order. It's far better to have someone like this on your side than against you. That didn't stop his jaw from dropping a little when he saw her in their roster, though.

Since he might, someday, have to work with this terrifying madwoman, he'd resolved to sit down and have a conversation with her. To him, Aura was unpredictable, and a possible threat to his life at any given time. He would feel a lot more comfortable working alongside her if he could stop feeling that way, and the best way he could see to make that work was to have a chat with her.

After Dorian made the resolution to talk with her, he realized that there were all kinds of things he could be doing at the time that wasn't that, and he would much rather be doing any of those things. So, he put it off. When he remembered that this was a thing that he was meaning to do, he put it off again. He continued this cycle for a number of weeks, because he liked having a throat, and didn't feel like getting it torn out by a madwoman would be a very pleasurable experience.

Now, Dorian was standing outside of Aura's room, having just knocked on the door, and feeling like this was a patently bad idea. However, since he lacked the mutant ability to un-knock on her door, he realized that he had already crossed the point of no return. He managed to look like he wasn't afraid for his life, telling himself that she would have gotten kicked out by now if she made a habit of killing other Sanctuary residents.

At least, he hoped so.

A few words, written in bright red marker, hung in the air on an invisible dry-erase board in front of him. Since we'll be working together, I think we should have a chat.

Aura's room had taken a drastic change in early January and Aura had maintained that. Gone was the bone furniture, replaced with oak furniture. Though Most of the furniture had slices or holes in them, they otherwise appeared in good shape, as if almost new. It was also clean and though some clothing wa son the floor, it was in a corner. In one corner of her room, was a clear plastic box, with a verity of gun's Aura had stolen over the years. Service revolvers were common, but shotguns and a rifle were visible to. Next to that Were a series of five swords, the top one looked damaged beyond use but the others looked well maintained.

Sitting on the shelf built into the headboard of her bed, was Solkat busily eating a rat. Aura heard a knock at her door, and her attention strayed enough where she stumbled forward and her aura ax, bit deep into the wall. Ignoring the damage she had just caused her room, Aura made her way to her door and opened it without a word. It took her a moment to recognize the fellow order member. She had never met him before, but Aura looked over Order records on each order member.

His request in writing, took Aura a second to consider because of the method it was delivered. "Come in, i enjoy getting to know other Mutants, even more so those i may need to trust my life to. " She said the entire time her aura was kept on, the axe still formed inches from her right hand. The ax lost it's shape and almost like liquid flowed back into the main aura around her body, which then died to an almost invisible line around her body. "What do you wish to chat about?" Aura asked, moving a few black locks of hair from her eyes.

Dorian peeked over Little Miss Omnicidal's shoulder, and found one piece of very good news. All those rumors about her making furniture out of the remains of her victims seemed to be just that. Rumors. Even so, the pet skunk, and its food, were a bit off-putting. Who the hell kept a pet skunk, anyway? And why did she have an aura-axe stuck in her wall...?

Anyway.

To answer Aura's question, Dorian quickly wiped off his invisible board with an equally invisible eraser, then wrote some more with his red marker. The mute's practiced script came out almost as quickly as the average person would be able to speak.

Your reputation, mostly. Also can we talk somewhere w/ fewer skunks?

Living in the Sanctuary meant having to deal with some unusual smells on occasion, and the mime had come to accept that. But... really? A pet skunk? He mimed a clothespin into existence and used it to hold his nose closed.

Aura watched with clear fascination as Dorien wrote quickly. "We can talk anywhere you wish, but i only own a cat" she said looking right at the skunk. Her firm belief Solkat was a cat had somehow become lodged in her mind. The skunk for it's part never even looked at Dorien far to occupied with it's food. Aura politely smiled unsure if Dorien wanted to come in, with his misconception in Aura's eyes of her pet fixed.

Aura then considered the part about her reputation. "Ask what you wish" she said. One had many reputation's, to some Aura was a demon, to others a hero. Aura had no idea which the man had drawn from, however she had no secrets from the order and few with anyone else.

"May i ask a few questions of you, in turn then?" She asked knowing what her first question would be already. She was very curious on the scope of Dorian's power and what he could do with it other then write. It paid to know what one allies could do, or you might hurt yourself saving them from something their immune to. Aura smiled and flexed her back slightly as she looked over Dorian again.

A cat? Dorian looked over her shoulder again. Yup, that was quite clearly a skunk. But this was quite clearly a madwoman. He shrugged, then gestured for Aura to follow him down the hallway. Calling it a cat didn't make it smell any less terrible. She could probably walk and talk, and he could write and talk just as well.

Ask me anything. He wrote this on a small, invisible dry erase board, making it seem as though the ink from his marker was floating above his arm. That said, you know what they say about you on the news?

Aura considered the question a moment and shrugged. "The news is run by humans" She said as if this was explanation enough, however she continued a few moments later. "But yes, Demon, Criminal, Murderer, psychopath. They call me a great deal of thing's friend and they say far more. They are human, their word's are but the cries of a dieing species that knows it is doomed. " Aura said simply as if it were a common fact. "Evaluation chose Mutants to replace humankind, Humans are nothing more then mere animals now" she said as she walked with him leaving her door open.

"What do you you think of Humanity, and our peoples place on earth?" she asked curiously. Aura realized her beliefs were more extreme then most, but the option to do much else then fight for her people, had been lost dozens of bodys ago.

The news is run by humans.

There was a surprising amount of truth contained within that statement. Syrian news media, for example, was largely run by government supporters in the summer of 2012; what outsiders would consider serious human rights violations, Syrian reporters would call "eliminating terrorists."

Syrian reporters were far less likely to talk about the number of government-issue bullets put through the heads of Syrian children by government forces. Likewise, to the best of Dorian's knowledge, American reporters were far less likely to talk about the concentration camps built for mutants back in 2007, when they were operating at their highest capacity.

What had the news media been lying about on the subject of Aura? Or had they even been lying at all? From what Dorian just heard out of Aura's mouth, he suspected she had performed an astounding mental feat by actually dehumanizing humanity.

He'd have to answer her question before he'd have the chance to ask his, though.

Mutants deserve respect equal to or greater than what non-mutants enjoy in most societies. I think the M drug could help non-mutants overcome their collective inferiority complex.

Dorian refused to refer to those without an X-Gene merely as "humans." Such terminology served only to promote dehumanization on both sides. The mime had gotten into bitter arguments with several other Sanctuary residents over that word. He didn't feel like getting into such an argument with a murderous madwoman, though.

Without stopping, he moved on to his own question: Name-calling aside, has the news lied about any of your actions?

Aura considered Dorians word's and then considered how quickly she had adapted to his strange way of communicating. Aura assumed it was better then the alternative guessing game however. As Dorian's words literally hung in the air, Aura smiled. It was quite true Aura felt that a mutant would never be treated fairly by the human's. "They get some of the details wrong and they don't seem to grasp the reasoning but No, i do not think they have" she said considering what news reports she had seen.

Aura brought her hand's up before her face as if considering them. "These hand's have so much blood on them it could never be washed away. I have lost track of the People i have killed, but i was responsible for several large scale human massacres. I routinely hunt down Gnag members and have killed a good number of police as well. I have also robbed bank's a weapon depot, A museum and a number of other places Aura said casually going over a brief glimpse of her past she could recall off hand.

"However unless Lori ordered it, i would try as hard as a could not to kill other's of our kind. I even called an ambulance for one of those mansion morons. Misguided as they are, they are Mutants. I try and keep my kill's to those older then their young teen's for that reason" Aura explained keeping her casual attitude toward what was likely hundreds of dead at her hand.

She was glad that he felt mutant's were superior, of course he likely would not have been order material otherwise. "May i ask, what lead you to join the order?" she asked curious mostly. She had, had no direct knowledge of the mime and so wanted to get to know him. Aura figured the mroe she knew the better she would be able to trust and understand Dorian when one day they had need to fight together.

So the 'humans,' as Aura called them, were mere animals. She could kill those and not even care, and she'd happily done so, many times. But the mutants, the super-humans, the ubermensch were a different story entirely; she wasn't so hot on killing those. Dorian found this frame of mind just as reassuring as he found it disturbing. Aura would happily kill over 95% of the human population, but at least Dorian was in the 5% that she wouldn't! Working with her wouldn't be too dangerous.

This 'Mansion,' if Dorian recalled correctly, wasn't such a bad place; they were a private boarding school up in the Bronx, and they claimed they were trying to teach their students about tolerance and equality. The one thing that bothered Dorian about them was their insistence on only accepting mutant students; it struck him as almost mutant supremacist. Even so, he could only imagine what fresh insanity might lead Aura to single them out for special mention.

The word "Order" made the mime throw some very nervous glances down each end of the hallway. He was less than impressed with Aura's decision to speak so openly about the Order. Somebody could have overheard them. Was she crazy?

Oh. Right.

He erased what was written on his board and changed course, leading her to a stairwell that, conveniently enough, was insulated from the outside world by a set of doors on each level. His answer came only after he had finished holding the door open for her, and that door was securely shut behind them. From here, he would lead her to the basement level, where he wouldn't have to worry about that.

I had one of those future dreams. In it, I helped that Order take over Australia, to help create a world where mutants didn't have to live in fear of nonmutants' hatred. Lori caught me telling people about that and now here I

He tripped. While he caught himself on a handrail, he lost his grip on the writing board, which clattered as it tumbled down the stairs. Writing and walking down stairs at the same time might not have been a great plan. With a sigh, he pantomimed picking up another nonexistant writing board off the ground. Once it started feeling solid, he started writing again.

She recruited me. Now I'm helping her change the world, one drug deal at a time. Yourself?

He didn't worry about the board he'd dropped. All that stuff about his future dream would be a lot less legible when the board faded out of existence in around a minute.

Aura only realized her mistake after Dorian started looking around like a mad man. It was an unusual mistake for her and one she did not enjoy having made. Luckily it seemed to lack any damage as she she two scanned the area. Aura saw no further reason to dwell on the issue at the moment and liked the Mime's choice in places to talk. It was isolated and the door's with mask their voices quite well. She smiled as she watched him write.

With the door secure behind them they began to descend. The Mime then mentioned the future dream, Aura considered her own violent future dream for a moment but pushed the thought aside to consider her friends word's. He had helped the order take over Australia, Aura recalled being vaguely having been a leader in that front, but the details were faded.

Her thoughts were distracted as the word's that hung in the air fell, to the ground and down the steps. Aura moved toward the fallen board and tried to pick it up. Strangely enough it did seem solid, and Aura picked it up and considered it before she realized Dorian was writing again. Aura nodded acknowledgement to his words. It made sense to recruit him if he was speaking of such stories. It implied to Aura that he was likely one of them. The complicated aspects of that analysis was a bit lost on her.

It was then Aura realized the board in her hand was gone. She had no idea why but the minute she had spent reading and considering Dorian's words, her fingers now touched each other. Deciding to ask later Aura decided to explain how she had become part of the order.

"I robbed a Gas station and Frosty of the mansion people cought me. He offered to take me to the mansion once he talked things over with the police. I of course ran and 3 dead cop's later I found Sanctuary, an order member who has since left brought me into the Sanctuary and introduced me to the order itself. Which was perfect, I needed a leader to follow" she said recalled the Dragon Mutant though she had never quite seen his real power. "Before that I lived ina forest where Human's shooting at me with automatic rifles and mortars was almost a daily occurrence." she said considering she might have over explained the question.

This 'Frosty' caught Aura robbing a gas station, and offered to give her not only amnesty for her crimes, but also free room and board, an education, and a future. Of course this made her want to run away, kill some cops and resent the mansion for the rest of her life. Then she broke into the mutant organized crime scene, and this, she seemed to think, was a pretty good way for all of this to end.

The mime raised an eyebrow. Aura could be called many things, but 'smart' or 'right-minded' were unlikely to be among them.

The part about the forest piqued his interest. A life spent like that might explain why she hated nonmutants so much, especially if they were trying to kill her just because she was a mutant.

They had reached the bottom of the staircase. Now they stood next to the door to the rest of the basement level, which contained lots of stuff that was important for maintenance people, but, as far as he knew, very few people lived down here. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and wrote another question: Why were they trying to kill you? Where?

It was a fair question and a long complicated story. "It is a long story, and if you wish me elaborate i can but the short of it was, The Humans used a mutant into creating an unquestioning strike force.That Mutant, Sayre, could manipulate memories. He is the reason i have no memories before the humans caged me. Sayre eventually realized he was being used and turned us against the humans. We believed they simply wanted to kill mutant's, but really they just wanted to end a project. Either way i watched almost two hundred people die in that forest" Aura said saying forest as if Dorian should know what she meant.

"Sometimes when i sleep just before i wake, i can swear i can hear gunfire not to far off. You get to expect it after awhile. Those are my earlier memories before i came to this city. " she said. Her Aura had kept her relatively safe, but many others lacked such fortunate mutations. Her life after had been considerably better and likely safer when she thought about it. The forest had only offered death, the Order had offered much more.

Aura firmly believed Humanity and Mutant kind would soon be at war. She had faith in her people, but also knew that humanity could end the world just to take them out. "The forest also taught me, it was how they trained my use of my power" she said recalling the now self restricted activity. It was simply much to hard to do discreetly. Many gangs had learned it was better to run away instead of trying to fight. Aura mused mentally about monkeys learning new tricks.

Dorian took a moment to straighten that out in his head.

This girl was part of a government program that manipulated the memories of children and trained them to become some kind of mutant super-soldiers. Aura had her memories completely rearranged by this man, Sayre, who later turned them all against the humans who made this program happen. That's why she hated the humans nonmutants so much. That's why her behavior was so bizarre. That's why she was so good at killing people. It was all because of this program she escaped from a few years ago.

He put on his poker face. The urge to write her off as some kind of schizophrenic was very strong.

But. On second thought, the story really explained a lot. Schizophrenics coming up with solid reasons for their own bizarre behavior wasn't anything new, but not many schizophrenics could back up their stories with utterly terrifying combat capabilities. As far as he knew, there very well could be a memory-manipulator named 'Sayre' somewhere who was directly responsible for turning this girl into such an enormous mess.

It all seemed so sketchy, though. Crazy mutant girl thinks she's a government project. Insane asylums were full of people with stories like that. However, this particular crazy girl could kill people by the dozen.

He erased what he'd written earlier, and replaced it with: Where is this forest? When did all of this happen?

"A forest in Canada i am unsure of the exact location but Abyss would know, he went with me earlier in the year and it happened before i came to Sanctuary. Five maybe six years ago, Please forgive me, i am not so good with longer measurements of time." She answered having a rough idea of when everything happened but she had only learned to process Month's and years recently. In the forest such things had not been needed and so had not been taught.

"I still have a few thing's from back then, Lambda's sword after that mortar struck her in the chest, that same blast pinned me under our barracks, i got to watch each of the people i cared about over whelmed and murdered . Miracle's laptop and records which taught me much of me the past i do not recall" she said honestly.

"Things were far more dangerous in the Forest, but simple. Fight humans, hunt food and train. From morning to night most days composed of those same three thing's. You either followed orders to the letter, or you were severely punished which is why i lost my command in the forest" she went on. The choice and her training had been clear, but like a few months back she had not been able to bring herself to kill Sayre.

"have you ever been able to talk? I met a few with no voice before" she asked curiously. The boy she recalled had never been granted voice at all and she wondered if Dorian was the same.

Dorian was happy to change the subject; he was probably bringing up all sorts of bad memories. Assuming absolutely anything she was saying was grounded in reality. He was beginning to think that there was some truth to it, but it didn't hurt to maintain a healthy amount of doubt. Especially with a young woman who kept a pet skunk and thought it was a cat.

Yes, he wrote. I even used to be in my high school's debate team and thought I'd be a politician when I grew up. My vocal chords went away when my mutation manifested, though. I also accidentally stabbed myself. Had to go to the ER.