RIIIIIIIIP![/b]

The sounds of grunting and growling and ripping clothes echoed out from one of the alleys behind the Apple store on 56th street. Anyone passing by would have heard it, but few, if any people, would have been brave enough to go trudging into the dark, grungy alley in search of the source. This was New York and people learned to keep to themselves; leave games like playing Hero up to the people who worn the uniforms or danced about the city with their own brand of superpowers.

But, had something wandered down the dark expanse, through the tipped over trashcans, over the puddles of stagnant water, passed the slime covered walls, they would have definitely beheld a sight.

Curled up, against one of the damp, brick walls, was the small body of a young girl. Dark-skinned, curly-haired, and with a face that could light up a room, Penelope Pepper was in the throes of an internal battle as she fought hard against the invisible enemies that shouted inside her head. Dressed simply in overalls and with a tie-dyed shirt, she definitely looked out of place amongst the much and grossness of the alley. But, quickly, that vision began to fade.

Tiny dots, as red as crimson, dotted her brow and began to pour down all the features of her face and hands. Before long, the liquid that erupted from her pores like sweat flowed with such ferocity that one would have assumed she was a child possessed—well, in a manner, she was. Possessed by a creature power from mutation, a personality that wanted to come out and play and did so at any price necessary—even leading a young girl into a dark, dank alley, away from her only family, just so that she could have a night or two of fun.

Soon, encased in crimson, the liquid hardened into a substance resembling flesh that soon covered her from top to bottom. The substance quickly grew taller, more defined, taking on the shape of a muscular, seven foot tall, Amazonian woman that would tower over the tallest man. Thick, glossy black hair crept out from the scalp and grew to a length that reached just past her hips and hung loose about her twenty-five year old looking, naked body.

Within moments, the transformation was complete. Standing, barefoot, in the empty alley was a true beast of ferocity. Flashing, yellow eyes darted about, eyeing her surroundings, while her full and provocative lips curled into a most twisted smile. One deep breath and she sighed with the satisfaction of a prisoner just released from jail. She could taste the crisp freedom in the air as she flexed her powerful muscles to loosen and ready them for the hellish night that she looked forward to having. The heat from her belly grew and fended off the cold as she leaned over, plucking up the small bag that she had forced Penelope to carry. Instantly she pulled out set of black leather clothing, the type that a biker would wear. It hardly took a moment for her to pulled on the tight pants that conformed to her body (revealing a tear tastefully placed here and there), the black top, and a black leather jacket that she got from someone who attempted to get fresh with her.

With heavy black boots on her feet, the tall, powerhouse of a woman grinned wide as she exited the alley and peered around the corners. The harsh white glow of the Apple store irritated her eyes, but that irritation only served a wicked smile across her features. Oh…she would have fun out tonight. Maybe she would start there…

"Hehehehe...oh goodie..."

Mercury was a bit frustrated this was the tenth ipod that he had crushed; they had humored him thus far about skirting the return policy. He attributed it to good service, they however put it under the, loss of an ipod was better than dying in a red rampage. They even loaded up all of his songs for him again, he turned down a new pair ear buds though, and those were still working perfectly fine.

He grinned at the little white rectangle as the storage available display dwindled. He snatched the device from the apple employee’s hand. And turned to leave without any more to do. his Jaw then dropped as he looked out the store window. He slide the white rectangle into his pocket and bounded out of the store. A large toothy grin on his face.

“Hello!” He said too loudly and too closely to the woman in front of him. his head tilted slightly up, that was new. “My name is Mercury, What’s yours?” He was a big red puppy that had found a littermate his tail wooshed about behind him excitedly. He didn’t recognize her, but he knew an Abyssi when he saw one. She dressed like Syn, but no, Syn wasn’t taller than him and she wasn’t such a perfect shade of Red either. No, this wasn’t Syn. He was almost absolutely positive, probably.

Jezebel cracked her neck to the side as she raised herself into a fully upright position and looked into the glaring, bright white store. A place like this shouldn’t be so garish and offensive to the eyes. On top of that, it was teeming with humans who shuffled about, picking out the latest and greatest forms of technology, adding to the growing trash that they refused to clean up after themselves. Jezebel sniffed disdainfully at this. Humans were like locusts, chewing up anything that was new and leaving only ruin behind them.

She sneered as a particularly “trendy” looking human female, a blonde with think sunglasses, large earrings, and clothes that left little to the imagine, as she wandered throughout the store. She fished around in her purse and pulled out a variety of devices, evidently looking for the one that was ringing. So many cell phones; such a waste.

Jezebel shook her head. It would do the world a lot of good to just level this entire store. It was only glass and plastic, after all. It couldn’t withstand her.

But, just as she was about to make her mind to do so, her vision was suddenly impeded on a rather LARGE man who peered at her through the window. Jezebel…found herself awestruck; the man was red-skinned, muscular, and almost as tall as her. She really felt, in that moment, that she was staring at a male doppelganger of herself.

Shock was evident on her face as the male bounded out of the store, iPod in pocket, and smiling the biggest, most infectious, smile she had ever seen.

>> ”Hello!”

The announcement was so cheerful that Jezebel couldn’t help but giggle madly at the sound of it. She was not condescending to him, far from it! She was simply as excited as he was!

>> “My name is Mercury, What’s yours?”

“Hi Mercury!”[/b] she announced with great pleasure. Her smile was unfaltering as she looked down (only by a little) at the massive creature. “I’m Jezebel!!”[/b] She couldn’t help herself so she started to slowly bound from side to side, eyeing the man up and down, peering closely at his skin. She was nearly the same shade of red as he was! The coincidences were just too much to make sense of. “A-Are you like me? Are we related?!”[/b] she asked in a happy and giggling voice.

Off to the side, the blonde who had just made her latest purchase, was exiting the store and suddenly screamed in fright. She dropped her new purchase of the latest iPhone and dashed back into the store, looking as if she were about to faint. Jezebel, of course, ignored her since she was much too interested in this newfound person, a friend she dared to hope.

Mercury held out his arm and compared the skin tone next to hers. It was a pretty solid match. He looked at her and nodded. He gently held her arms as he took a peek at her back side. And popped back around her to face her. “I am like you, and you are like me, but You don’t have a tail?” his tail wiggled above his shoulder to confirm that she knew what a tail was and that his eyes were not playing tricks on him, leaving it up to her whether she had a tail or not..

‘Still, I think you must be related to me and my brothers.” He put five fingers on one hand and one on the other up. “There are Six more. Pluto, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Abyss.” He nodded. “ They all look exactly like me though. “And well You’ve definitely got sister parts.” Not finding it the least odd that he might be pointing out the obvious.” He tilted his head. “ Still,” his hand went to one of her arms again. “ You look more like us than our other sisters.’ He nodded. “I think you are my sister. Are you My sister?” Hmmm. He tilted his head. Raising an eyebrow at the woman who shrieked and fled. Looking around the area to see if there was something scary about, He didn’t see it. Oh well. It was unimportant.

“If you aren’t, do you want to be?”He was pretty sure that’s how the order worked, You went out and found a mutant that you liked and you brought them home and then you were family.

Jezebel eyed the excited man has he bounded around her (if he was checking her out, she didn’t know) and returned to facing her front. He was an excitable guy but it was not something to over look because it was obvious that he was strong. Was he stronger than her? Jezebel eyed him, an equally excited smile on her face, and even though he noted that he was shorter (not by much), he seemed filled to the brim with muscles. She would have to stay on his good side.

But, judging by his excitement, she doubted that she was going to have much trouble with that.

>> “I am like you, and you are like me, but You don’t have a tail?”

“Uh, no,”[/b] she confessed as she tilted her head and eyed the monkey-like tail that wagged back and forth. It was almost like this guy was a puppy but she was not going to judge. She was still marveling that she found something that looked almost exactly like her!

>> ‘Still, I think you must be related to me and my brothers…There are Six more. Pluto, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Abyss…They all look exactly like me though…And well You’ve definitely got sister parts… Still…You look more like us than our other sisters.”

Her eyes went wide with surprise. There were more? The wheels in her turned at the possibilities as she tried to take everything in! The simple fact that there could be more than just her was overwhelming! Did her parents lie? Was she REALLY their daughter or did she get separated from people like Mercury? The simple fact that there was someone who looked almost exactly like her couldn’t just be a coincidence, could it?

>> “I think you are my sister. Are you My sister? If you aren’t, do you want to be?”

The smile that crack her face was so wide and bright that it showed she couldn’t be happier. The red skinned Amazonian giggled a bit madly as she nodded her head up and down with enthusiasm.

“I…don’t know if I am your sister, Mercury,”[/b] she said honestly. The grin never once evaporated. “But I would love to! My parents are gone! And I’m stuck with a human for a fake sister! I need a real family! We should celebrate!!”[/b] she squealed a little as she suddenly hugged the massive red man in front of her. This was going to be fantastic!

Slightly manic laughter was the very best kind. Mercury closed the red woman in a hug and spun them in a circle, they were reunited! Even if they had just met, he was sure they had been estranged at some point. He set her down and only backed away a little. “It is settled then Jezebel, Let’s Celebrate! Afterwards I can show you the sanctuary and introduce you to Abyss and Jupiter and Saturn and Mars and Venus, Pluto doesn’t live with us anymore, he’s confused about stuff, but that’s ok, I’ll introduce you to Syn and Isabel and everyone else we can find at the Sanct. Oh, Watch out for Venus, I think he will think of you in a different way than a sister. He tends to make googley eyes at pretty girls.”

He grinned at Jezebel and let his eyes wander the area. “But, what should we do?” He looked around the area, there were restaurants, Café’s, Bars, nightclubs, Gyms, street performers, theatres or heck, traffic was always fun to play in.

That’s when it caught his eye protestors outside of a medical clinic a few blocks down with signs proclaiming, such things as ‘Go home freak’, ‘Mutant free is the way to be!’ and ‘Xgene means Unclean’. Mercury tilted his head. “Or we could go have a…friendly debate.” The crook in his smile and the anger in his eyes said that he intended anything but friendship. He wondered how long they would chant once they had arrived.

He glanced in the window and sneered at the frazzled blonde that had dropped her electronics., She had a white shirt with a red X on it, over that there was a black circle with a slash through it. It matched the shirts of the people down the road at a medical clinic.

Mercury nodded at the woman and motioned to Jezebel. “ Bring her?” If they were smart they would disperse the moment they saw them coming. Humans were rarely smart.

As he marched toward the clinic he shook his head, he had read about recent protests calling for segregation, not between different colors of human, but of Homo superior and homo inferior. Which was fine with him, they could all leave.

>> “It is settled then Jezebel, Let’s Celebrate! Afterwards I can show you the sanctuary and introduce you to Abyss and Jupiter and Saturn and Mars and Venus, Pluto doesn’t live with us anymore, he’s confused about stuff, but that’s ok, I’ll introduce you to Syn and Isabel and everyone else we can find at the Sanct. Oh, Watch out for Venus, I think he will think of you in a different way than a sister. He tends to make googley eyes at pretty girls.”

Jezebel blinked as her smile stretched wider than she could have imagined. Syn? She remembered that saucy little red-and-black haired woman from almost ages ago. She had appeared at the doorsteps of that place and Syn had been the one kind enough to bring in Penelope and allow her test out of her home’s training system. The place was so magnificent that Jezebel had always promised herself that she would go back; unfortunately Penelope had her on a pretty tight leash lately.

But, here she was, reveling in this oddest of coincidences; she simply could not pass up meeting seven brothers! And she even remembered that Syn had mentioned having brothers; brothers that were a lot like her.

>> “But, what should we do?”

Jezebel had to admit that that was the million dollar question. What could possibly be the best way to celebrate this chance meeting? She just made a friend, no, more than a friend, a brother. Whatever they decided to do, she knew that it would have to be huge! Something like this did not happen every day.

But as she thought about it, turning her eyes to roam over the surrounding streets and businesses, she was finding a significant lack of options. What could be good for a couple of chuckles around this part of town?

>> “Or we could go have a…friendly debate.”

Her eyes settled on the protestors across the street. A glance at Mercury proved that he too had seen them. Lips stretched into a wicked smile, she licked her lips and practically tasted the hurt and pain she would cause these pathetic excuses for living beings. Fists formed, knuckles cracked, she began to step forward but was paused when Mercury nodded back to the apple store.


>> “ Bring her?”

A look of pure, malicious joy swept across her features as she nodded eagerly.

“Oh, happy to do so,”[/b] she muttered as she stormed up to the store and smiled at the woman that was cowering on the other side of the glass. Balling up her fist, she reached back and suddenly lashed out, striking the pane with everything she had. Instantly the glass crumbled and shattered, raining down onto the ground with thousands of tiny, reflective shards and leaving the woman on the other side whimpering and shaking with fear.

“N-No! Plea—MMPH!!”

Jezebel was quick to seize the woman by her face, causing her to scream muffled screams into the palm of her hand. The Amazon giggled at the tickling sensation, turned on her heel, and sauntered out of the store. The woman flailed and struggled but there was no escaping her grip.

Upon catching up to Mercury, she grinned as she saw the look of fright on all the protestors. Those that were the true cowards she believed them to be, ran off, while the stupider ones remained behind. Mixed were their expressions of shock, hatred, and terror. But men were always braver in groups. All it took was one person, a man with a glass beer bottle in his hand to ignite the powder keg that was Jezebel and Mercury.

The shiny glass hurtled through the air and shattered pathetically against Jezebel’s chest. Her brow raised, she lifted her gaze to man in the midst of the group and narrowed her eyes.

“MUTIE GO HOME!!”

“Shuddap! They’ll kill us!!”

“We have a right to peaceful protest!!”

“FREAKS!!!!”

Jezebel’s smile only widened with every derogatory word…

He watched the bottled fly through the air. “I was going to give you a chance to run.”

He hoped forward and his fist collided with the Man that screamed “Mutie go home.” Famous last words anyone? He batted the man into a woman that was trying to escape the both rebounded of the clinics wall and crumpled to the ground. The male more damaged then the female from the direct hit. His tail wrapped around an ankle and he flicked the protestor like a Frisbee across the sidewalk. A slap sent another woman to the ground. They weren’t yelling anymore, at least not intelligibly. They were scrambling like cockroaches in a freshly lit room.

A man at the back of the group was waiting for some of the others to disperse. He brought his fire arm up and would have fired if it wasn’t for the fact that Mercury wore his shoes lose and he kicked a shoe off with such force that when it collided with the gunmen his ribcage crumpled.

He wondered for a moment what was going on inside of the clinic; surely if the people weren’t being dealt with someone there sympathizing might be harassing every day church goers.

>> “I was going to give you a chance to run.”

Jezebel was very glad that that chance was never taken. Humans were stupid, especially scared ones all gathered together in a group. They think that just because they are in a group that they don’t have to worry about being harmed, that there was strength in numbers. Did she mention just how stupid they all really were?

Their cursing continued and soon pandemonium broke out. Mercury was a beast out in the battlefield. He struck out, slamming a fist into a man who flew into another two and sent them both skidding across the ground. His tail sent another one soaring, even his own shoe was enough to disarm a gunman that had attempt to get the jump on them. Before he could even squeeze off a round, Mercury’s shoe was quick to dispatch the man.

Jezebel was more than impressed. But she was not one to be left out of the festivities either. Grinning at the woman that she held, she watched as a trio of men attempted to approach her, all of them brandishing a weapon of some sort (baseball bat, glass bottle, a knife). To most anyone else they would have looked dangerous. To Jezebel, they were just more playmates.

“Hey sweetie,”[/b] she said as she glanced to the blonde she gripped in her fist. “You wanna go for a ride?”[/b]

“Mmph?!” asked the captive.

Gripping her long, bleached hair, the woman screamed as Jezebel laughed hysterically and easily lifted her up and began to swing her around like a ball-and-chain. She spun fast, spinning the screaming woman around as he legs and arms flailed around, striking each of Jezebel’s oncoming attackers. They either fell to the ground in pain or were knocked unconscious since the woman was being swung rather quickly.

Unfortunately, human hair was not meant to withstand such a g-force. There was a loud tear and quite suddenly the woman in pink was gone, sent sailing off to the nearest rooftop. Jezebel blinked and chuckled to herself as she lifted up the torn out hair was the tinged red near the root.

“Oops,”[/b] she cackled.

She turned just as another man ran up with a crowbar. With a swing the hunk of metal struck Jezebel in the ribs. She blinked, glanced at the bar, and then back up to the man. A wide smile she suddenly struck at the man with a fist wrapped in fine, blonde hair. The man gasped as blonde hair was forcefully shoved into his mouth with enough force to sending him stumbling backwards and choking.

Another sound of rushing footsteps and Jezebel spun quick, stomping with all her might on the man that had been running up to take her from behind. Her boot slamming onto the other man’s shoe instead caused the shoe to burst like a full tube of toothpaste. Red and pink flew out of the toe end, causing the man to scream most horrible and stumble away, cursing and crying under his breath as he collapsed to the ground.

Jezebel laughed all the louder as she turned to make sure that indeed her newfound brother was okay…

Mercury clapped a hand over his mouth in shock, he hadn’t ever seen something like that before. That woman no longer had hair and instead was…a red head now. He didn’t have too much time to stare though idiots were escaping. He released the lady that he was holding against a pole that had tried to taze him. Her hand was still gripped around the tazer with his much larger hand around them both and holding it to her chest. His tail had a man that was just hanging there swinging at him and cursing but after seeing the blonde go flying over the building he thought she must be lonely and in pain. His captive would go check on her. He leaned forward and flung his tail up ward launching the man with a fair trajectory after the woman that was sailing toward the roof.

Mercury’s eyes fell on the man that was inciting all of these people to anger, he was the one with the megaphone on his wrist, up until moments ago, and before the slaughter and subsequent abandonment he had been shouting about their ilk being the wrong in the world. A smirk of his lips acknowledged his carefree adopted sibling. But he had something to attend to before they left the scene. He pounced on the man with the bullhorn, clutching his sweat shirt in his fist, making it lose every bit of slack it had afforded him. He lifted him by the scruff.

“I suggest you name three things, you love about mutants, Tell who ever you are bothering in this hospital how sorry you are, and then I suggest you prey to your gods that I am merciful.”

The man for his part stayed true to his cause, a foolish mistake if ever there was one. He raised the Megaphone and put it in Mercury’s face. “There isn’t one good thing to name about mutants, much less three, that filthy Mutant in our clinic should apologize to us, and if there were gods, they would have freed us of your kind. There isn’t room enough for both Humans and you demons on earth.” The words rang in his ears. Brown eyes met red and the man knew those would be his last words, poorly chosen at that.
“I couldn’t agree more.” The growl wasn’t as nearly as loud as the humans, but the action that came after, wouldn’t likely be matched in the world of debate anytime soon.

Mercury lowered the man and threw him as hard as he could into the air. The force and speed with which the man flew from his hand might just make him leave the earth. If in fact he didn’t manage to leave the atmosphere perhaps he would think about what he should have said before impact.
He rubbed his shoulder and slowly surveyed the area. Not only was the immediate vicinity beginning to clear, everyone in sight was leaving the area or getting inside buildings. He turned to his sister to see if she had managed to catch any of the stragglers or if some fool with a death wish still pursued.

Apparently Mercury was having just as much fun as Jezebel herself. The large woman laughed as he the big man moved and left nothing but a trail of destruction in his wake. She had to take a moment to admire him; he moved with a grace that seemed ill fitting for someone so large and muscular. But Jezebel chalked that up to the fact that the man probably enjoyed what he was doing. He enjoyed the mayhem and the carnage. And only when you truly enjoy something can you move with that kind of joy as you do it.

Face stretched into a long, wide smile, she watched as Mercury seized another man, apparently the instigator of this whole affair. He looked defiant towards Mercury. Another man attempted to run past Jezebel to save him but the raven-haired woman was quick to lash out and seize him by the throat.

The man flailed and gasped for air, but Jezebel ignored him, instead opting to listen to the interaction between her new adopted brother and the bad man…

>> “I suggest you name three things, you love about mutants, Tell who ever you are bothering in this hospital how sorry you are, and then I suggest you prey to your gods that I am merciful.”

>> “There isn’t one good thing to name about mutants, much less three, that filthy Mutant in our clinic should apologize to us, and if there were gods, they would have freed us of your kind. There isn’t room enough for both Humans and you demons on earth.”

Jezebel growled. Just hearing a human talk like that made her completely on edge. Fingers curled into a tight fist, the red Amazon took a step towards the man, ready to wring his neck herself when he was suddenly pulled closer to Mercury’s face. The look of anger on her face melted away to glee as she relaxed in her posture and waited to see the show.

>> “I couldn’t agree more.”

WHOOOOSH!![/b]

“Wheeeee!!!!! HAHAAHAHAH!!!” she cackled as she watched the man disappear into a dot in the sky.

She wondered if he would ever come down. She hoped so. Such a splat he would leave behind would be oh so pretty. Grinning wide, Jezebel walked up to Mercury, dragging the man from earlier, now limp because of her grip on his throat. It was sad since most the rest of their playmates were running away now. Oh well, there was always a chance to find more. A bright, beaming smile to Mercury and she had to pull him into a hug!

“That was fantastic! Hehehahaah! You are fantastic! I…I couldn’t have a better brother!”

His eyes flicked to the man who suffocated, he got off easy.

Mercury grinned to Jezebe as he hugged her and spun her in a brief circle. “ You’ll like the rest of the guys to, and I think you’ll love the Order to, you should join! Jupiter does this stuff all the time. I don’t typically throw people that hard.” He glanced skyward, not regretting his actions in the least. “ I couldn’t listen to it and stand aside though.”

A blue man with some rather bird like features peered out a third story window and nodded down at the pair waving half heartedly with feathered fingertips. Mercury would see if Otis would swing by and relieve the man of needing a hospital all together. He then wouldn’t be here if there were repercussions from people who knew these people. He memorized the address and name of the building.
“Come on! We should go to the sanctuary and introduce you to everybody!” Mercury all but skipped away from the blood bath.

Jezebel was twirled! She had to admit that it was a pretty good feeling. She had never come across any stronger than her before and to feel herself being lifted in such a way, such a dainty away, was such an incredible feeling. It was also terrifying. This man was stronger than her; he had six other brothers. The concept was more than a little sobering. But, hopefully she could remain on the good side of all of them. After all, that is what a good adopted little sister should do.

>> “ You’ll like the rest of the guys to, and I think you’ll love the Order to, you should join! Jupiter does this stuff all the time. I don’t typically throw people that hard. I couldn’t listen to it and stand aside though.”

Order? Jezebel weighed this thought in her head. It sounded like some sort of organization or something. Though she couldn’t imagine what their purpose was, the very idea that Mercury and his brothers were involved only meant that she would have to be. She loved to play along. If she could really do this kind of stuff all the time, she would be more than ecstatic.

She nodded eagerly in response, giggling all the way as she thought about the possibilities. A family of people just like her? Who loved to cause mayhem? Who loved to stomp down on the plague of humans that were rising every day? Oh, she was totally in!

She would just have to convince her pathetic alter-ego that whatever this place was…it was for the both of them.

>> “Come on! We should go to the sanctuary and introduce you to everybody!”

“OKAY!!” she bellowed out happily.

Dashing forward, she grinned as she skipped along with Mercury, kicking over trashcans, punching in the windshields of cars, and breaking whatever else she could along the way. She was too happy to care that she was drawing attention to herself. She was on her way home!