The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
The little Greek didn't know it, but she hated violence jut as much when she was younger, as she did when she was older. The child watched, peeking through her fingers as Vicente took one man off of his feet with a solid punch.
She also watched as the other took her friend down to the pavement. The command he had given her, to stay back, kept her rooted to the spot for a moment. Only a moment, until the part of her that wanted to him the nice man overwhelmed the part of her that her parents had instilled within. The mean man was going to hurt Vicente! She needed to help him, and though she knew she would get in trouble for disobeying a direct order from an adult... she couldn't stop herself.
"Leave him alone!"
The boy with the glasses flew past her as she started toward the fight, but she paid him no mind. Vicente did want to talk to him... but the scuffle was more important. She stopped at the side of the man who was on top of her friend and reached out toward him. One gloved hand latched onto the cloth of his coat, while the other- the one she had taken the glove off of- was slapped onto his ear. She pushed, and he hissed loudly at the pain she caused him, reeling a little from her touch. The ear and surrounding skin was ruined, dead and fully hardened by the time he lifted a hand and swatted her away sharply.
She came back at him though swiftly, unrelenting and just as determined as ever, and tried a new tactic by latching one hand onto his hair, the other onto his coat, and pulling and tugging with all of her might. Sloth decided to help, by suddenly striking out and sinking the many rows of needle teeth into one of the man's arm. His coat didn't stop them from sinking into flesh, and causing a decent amount of pain.
Anthony pushed himself up onto one elbow, rubbing his aching jaw, and spotted the scuffle. He knew that his cousin could handle himself in a fight, he'd seen it on many occasions. Dark eyes scooted to where his other companion sat, in a daze over having just been aged backwards. With a few choice cuss words, he pushed himself to his feet and staggered over, grabbing the kid up by the arm.
"Tony! Keep that guy busy, we're going after the kid!" He hurried off the way the boy had gone, dragging the young confused cousin with him.
She stood, dark hair dripping, and the snakes that lived within didn't look at all happy for their shared shower. Andrea stared at the man before her, his shirt clinging in various places, but loose enough that it wasn't restricting. She had donned the work out shorts that he had given her, and her gloves had been rinsed out and tugged back on.
Why was he holding-- ?
"It was great. I had an idea how we could spend the day... It's freakishly good outside for this time of year. Wanna go for a picnic? Catch up?"
...oh. A picnic! All thoughts of dragging back up the questions that had plagued her before the shower slipped from her mind, and she smiled. He had glasses for her, even.
"That truly sounds just... wonderful." Padding forward, she took the glasses from him gently, and slipped them onto the bridge of her nose. She locked eyes with him, finally... and stood on her tippy toes to kiss him delicately on the cheek.
The nine year old look up to him, in the process of removing the baggy glove from her freehand, large orange eyes wide behind her glasses. Was something wrong? Maybe he had seen something she hadn't... something scary? She glanced back to the darkness of the ally around them, and her serpents went oddly still. They were listening, not as you or I do mind you, but as a snake does. Many delicate tongue flicked out to taste the air, and they turned their noses this way and that to catch sight of the prey that eluded them Somewhere.. there was a small child. A boy, who's scent still barely lingered in the air.
One swift puff of wind and it vanished completely... but not before voices echoed out to them from further back in the darkness. Andrea tilted her head as the faint words reached her, and gripped Vicente's hand a little tighter. Boogie men of all shapes and sizes jumped to mind, and she shivered.
"Eh... Toni, we gotta be serious here. This' a big job ye know? So don't go @&^%in' it up, okay?"
The girls ears burned for a moment once it registered in her naive little mind what had just been said. Potty mouths! A bunch of dirty ole' potty mouths! Mother would have grabbed whoever had said that by the ear, and dragged them off to the bathroom for a good mouth washing with vegetable soap!
"Ey ey, why you always gotta talk to me like that Tony?" Another voice chimed in, as the owners moseyed closer. From where she stood, it sounded like someone was shuffling through things. Bangs and clanging followed each question, as if they were searching behind things for something... or someone.
"Why you always gotta make me talk to you like that?" Was the quip of a reply back. Three shapes became discernible to the Greek and her shaded vision, though her older companion would have probably spotted them much quicker than her. Andrea stared at the three men... of whom was barely more than twenty, in a confused manner. They spotted Vicente and his small green companion, and froze in the middle of the alley, some ways away.
"Ey, Anthony? Who're these a#$%&*es?"
Her ears burned again, and she took a half step forward, raising one small un-gloved finger to point at them. "You are very rude men! You are not supposed to swear in presence of a lady!"[/i]
The three shared a quick unbelieving look, before bursting into riotous laughter. "This freak serious?" Anthony cackled, and leaned against a wooden crate that had been stacked against the side of the alley. A lid that had been leaning against it haphazardly was jolted and toppled over... and someone squeaked in surprise. A small boy darted out from his hiding place in the shadows, panic clear on his face and fear in his eyes. He stood like a deer in headlights between Vicente and Andrea... and the three other men.
Andrea recognized him instantly. "It is him! We found him!" She tugged at Vicente's hand and bounced on her toes. The boy she was pointing at focused on her for a moment, then Vicente, and one of the men strode forward to grab him by the arm. "Whad'ya mean you found him? We've been chasing this little brat all day!.. and now that we found ya, ya little pest, You're comin' with us to meet the boss... Don't struggle or I-" A blob of saliva, the biggest the boy could possibly make, splattered messily smack in the middle of the Tony's face. Moments later, he released his grip on the boy and dropped to his knees as the pain of a very strange transformation overtook him.
Andrea found herself back behind one of Vicente's legs, peeking out from behind with horror etched on her face, and the two other Tony's raced forward to try and grab the boy and their newly transformed buddy. Before the the man and his green sidekick could.
The walrus didn't reply, but his ice cream, started to drip and fall off of his cone.
Andrea was just about to start pushing at him, to see if she could get a response from the giant round mammal man, since he seemed to be ignoring her statement, when she spotted someone who looked like the kid they were after off behind him. She pointed, the English words for 'There he is! Get him!' evading her in her excitement, and glanced at Vicente.
The nine year old moved around the walrus man, bare feet taking her swiftly toward the doors she had just seen the exit. The Walrus suddenly jolted, blinked, and looked up from the spot Andrea had been standing. He spotted the ...erg, giant man before him, and raised one whiskery eyebrow. "....um, hello? Do you need something?"
He didn't remember anything past the child capturing his attention, but since she appeared to he gone- replaced by this odd, imposing man- he struggled it off.
Andrea circled back around before she hit the doors, remembering that she needed Vicente with her, and raced back. She paused by his side, glasses once again righted, and latched onto a hand once more. The walrus noticed her, recognition flashed across his face... and then he noticed his ice cream too late. It slipped off and splatted on the tile floor. Andrea wrinkled her nose, stepped back from the mess before it could get on her toes, and tugged at Vicente's hand.
"Goodbye Fuzzy!... Oh... um... you have stuff on your face. There, and there... and there..." She pointed out each, being a very helpful child, then turned and headed for the doors. Outside somewhere, amidst the hustle and bustle of the street, she was absolutely sure that the boy they were after was wandering around. Of course, it had looked like he had been holding hands with some woman... but that was besides the point! It had looked like him, however brief a glimpse, and she didn't want to let Vicente down!
They hit the sidewalk outside, and Andrea spotted the back of the boys head, bobbing not to far away. She hurried toward him, dropping her grip on the man's hand. The Greek ran around the boy and his female companion, stopping right in the way, and threw her hands out to the side with a triumphant giggle. "Got you!...Now y-..oh... you are not him.." She blinked, staring at the brown haired boy who was staring at her in a shocked manner. The woman, who as it turned out was his mother, put herself protectively between her child and the wild mutant girl who had appeared out of nowhere, eying the snakes in her hair cautiously.
The woman's eyes turned to Vicente, and her face screwed up into a parental look of contempt. "Sir, please keep your child in control!" She huffed, collecting her boy, and stomped off in the opposite direction from them. Andrea was disappointed, if only until she looked around at the outside surroundings. The buildings were.... huuuge! It was so much busier than her quiet street, and there were soooo many people mulling about! She felt a pang of fear shoot through her at the prospect of getting lost again, and latched back onto Vicente. She didn't think she would be letting go of him anymore... Sloth and Ira picked up on the scent again, a tad bit stronger than before, and they turned together in one direction. Andre turned her head also, blinking.
"...I think.. he is that way?" She pointed, and tilted her head up the man helping her. Their target was a smart one, choosing to stick to the more shaded, darker areas , rather than walk around a busy street. He knew that there was the chance he could be spotted if he was out in the open. The serpents in her hair were following his trail, however. The faint smell of him based on places he had brushed up against. Unfortunately, they were being led further from light and people, drawn into darker, tighter places. Andrea gripped the man's hand tighter, unconsciously, and reminded herself again to stick close. After a while, Sloth and the others lost the scent... and she found herself suddenly lost in the search, for some reason. But! She was at least happy that they had stopped tugging a her...
She couldn't help but lean a little and attempt to look around him as he dug through his dresser. His comment of having requested the day off struck her as a little odd. How long had she been out? How long had she been in his bed?? Orange eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment, before she shrugged the feeling off. He had her clothes in hand, anyway...
A shirt she needed, yes. Boxer shorts...err, she'd probably live with them. Running shorts...? Sure!
.... no bra?
Not happening. She'd wear her's again, dirty or not. With a little nervous giggle, and a blush that covered most of her cheeks, she accepted the clothing and fidgeted her way toward the bathroom.
"...Um... thanks. I'll... I'll be back out in a few..."
With that, she turned and shut herself in the bathroom. Careful to avoid the mirror, she peeled her soiled clothing off and started the hot water. It would feel good to relax a little, and maybe she'd have her thoughts all straightened out when she was done. Yeah... then she'd be able to ask him things and not sound like an idiot while she was as it.
She nodded, a little slowly, and dropped her gaze to the floor as well.
It was probably best that they both.. uh, took some time to think of some things. There was a lot to talk about, after all. Much had happened since she had, well... left.
Andrea shifted on her feet, before turning to look toward the bathroom. A shower would do her some good. She would get clean, clear her head a little.... maybe try and figure out how the snakes had just sprung back up after so long.
"yeah... I... I guess it can wait. Probably for the best." She turned, and sighed. "...Are there, um... towels I can use... and, um... clothes for after?"
She squirmed, and chewed on her bottom lip. She loved him and all, but that didn't mean she would feel comfortable running around naked in his room...
Andrea turned and blinked at him, a chicken bone in her hand.
He poked her cheek, and she raised a hand. "Wat? Where?!" Said hand was pressed to her cheek, where she wiped it- and all of the sauce on her fingers- onto her skin. She blinked at her hand, slowly realizing what she had just done, and let out a bark of drunken laughter.
"Dreew! You got me! I... I have shtuff on my face now." The Greek laughed again, and looked around for her napkins.
Bubba watched the whole exchange with a growing expression of rage on his face. His gluttonous appetite was reaching its end. His belly was very near full... and the goddamn kids were still eating! He fully blamed it on the green one. She was the freak who had gobbled up more food than her body should have allowed, but the other guy hadn't stopped yet either.
He was sure it was some kind of nefarious plan... He had been lured in hook and sinker, thinking that the dude was his only real competition, and now that he had pushed himself to keep up with the green mutant girl, her partner would steal the show. He was sure of it!
With a growl, and the whispered urgings of one of his compatriots, he lifted his napkin.... and threw it onto what was left of his plate. "I fold... You lot *grumble* ... win." His buddies exchanged glances and fished their wallets out, as Bubba did the same. Three hundred dollars was tossed onto the table in front of Drew. Andrea stood, letting out a whoop of excitement, and wiped her face with a napkin, wobbling unsteadily on her feet.
Bubba stood as well, face red with anger and embarrassment, and turned. But.... then he turned right back around. "No, you know what? You lot cheated! Using that green witch to gain the upper hand!"
The smile was wiped from Andrea's face... and when he took a step toward them she acted without thinking. One hand raced up and tugged her glasses off, and she speared the man with a look. He locked up, his expression still red and angry, and tipped over into the table. Empty and full plates alike went flying everywhere, and his buddies rushed to help him. Andrea turned and grabbed Drew by the sleeve, before hauling ass out the doors and onto the street.
“Andrea, I don’t know what happened to you. But I’m also going through the same thing, which is why I need to find that boy, But, listen, calm down, okay? I’m your friend. And I promise, I will help you to get home. I swear I will.”
She sniffled, but nodded all the same. She was right, she need to calm down. If he had gone through the same thing and had been hurt too, then she needed to be just as strong as he was being! He wasn't crying or anything! With half of a pout, she stood again, and tried to pull herself together.
"...Okay. I promise not cry more." She slapped a determined look on her chubby face, and pushed her glasses back up. They were kind of annoying, but for some reason they felt right sitting on the bridge of her nose. Sloth calmed, as well as the other serpents, and the large white snake curled defensively around her shoulders. His scales on the skin of her neck made her jump a little, but she got used to it quickly.
After wiping her eyes, again.. for the last time, she turned and took a look around. The boy had gone somewhere, she couldn't see him... but she could easily remember what he looked like. With that image in mind, she turned back to Vicente, and smiled. "Will find boy... We help each other." Sloth's tongue flicked out, and he pointed his head in one direction. The other snakes followed, and she felt a sudden tug at her scalp. "Ow!"
The little girl huffed, reaching up to tug one of the snakes back, and received a little nip for her efforts. They tugged again, orange eyes and pink tongues pointed in the same direction. She didn't even realize what they were trying to do, but took a few steps toward the door that led outside to stop the incessant tugging. "Stamáta ! Stamatí̱ste na mou traváei to! Ponáei..! Tha akolouthí̱soun ... O̱ch! Eípa óti tha akolouthí̱soun.." She shouted, asking them as politely as a little girl with annoying serpents in her hair possibly could, for them to stop tugging at her. Since they were a rather... new... addition to her already strange looks, she hadn't quite gotten used to them just being there. It was just so shocking to wake up and find yourself suddenly in a far away place, with new things attached to your body. Mean, hissy things.
They tugged again, and with a wince she turned back to latch onto Vicente's hand again. She wasn't going anywhere with him, now that she trusted him. In such a strange place, she didn't want to wander around by herself. Surely there were mean people, bad people, who would try and take her away more. If that was even possible at this point. "I... think they want to follow. Boy went that way anyway..." She led the way, if a little more slowly than the large man she had a hold of.
"...How did boy hurt you?" She question after a moment. He didn't seem injured... but, then again, she didn't look injured either. In fact... the pain she had felt was already gone. She felt perfectly fine save for the obvious problems. Her eyes alighted on the strangest of sights all of the sudden, and she stumbled to a stop. Her question forcefully shoved to the back of her mind.
There.. there was a walrus. A walrus man... with floppy fins for feet and hands, dressed in a t-shirt and ill fitting jeans- with suspenders to hold them up-... and he was eating an ice cream. Andrea froze, and stared. She stared like she had never stared before in her life, at the other mutant who shared the pain of being different all of the time.
"....What is that?" She asked, and pointed, rather rudely, at the man. He was the first thing she had seen in her young life, that looked visibly different. Like her! Excitement bloomed in her chest, overshadowing the fear and pain. She let go Vicente's hand, and hurried toward the man, snakes bouncing as she ran. The small Greek stopped before him, glasses hanging off the bridge of her nose, and stared up with wide Orange eyes. "Hullo..." She greeted, voice full of wonder, and reached out to poke him in the belly with a finger.
Walrus man, with ice cream smeared in his whiskers, was startled by her sudden appearance. He locked eyes with her, tusks slathered with chocolate and vanilla, and froze. Andrea continued staring, and poked him again. He hadn't fallen over like the last ones, so she didn't realize anything had happened to him.
"....You are fuzzy." She stated, and giggled. And reached for one of his flippers.
With the burning sauce still coating her tongue, she glanced over at her partner. He was a beast, didn't even act like the sauce was hot! Looking back to hers, she scowled. It was obvious that she was just a sissy, and that the wings were in fact not that hot at all! She'd just have to push past the pain, and wolf them down as fast as possible.
Picking them up one by one, she used her sharp chompers to peel the flesh from the chicken bones, and swallowed them whole without chewing. She found rather quickly that this method made it easier for her to push past the burning, and she was soon devouring her pile of wings faster than Bubba was. The other plate filled up quickly with cast aside bones, and as they all pushed onward the waitress steadily brought out more and more.
Pretty soon, Bubba realized he was in trouble. Not only from the big guy who was easily working through his pile.. but from the green chick. She was eating more voraciously, like a freaking vacuum... not even bothering to chew the chunks of meat before swallowing. He was starting to wonder if the whole thing was a set up, that she, or both or them, had some wacky mutation that allowed them to suck down huge amounts of food...
Naw... He decided. They were just some stupid kids, and Mutant or no Mutant, he was going to put them in their places! His buddies rooted him on, standing behind him, watching intently as the other two ate.
**
Andrea paused, resting for a moment as she blinked tiny tears away. Gods! Her face was starting to burn! She made sure not to wipe any of the sauce on her fingers into her eyes, and leaned back as yet another bone strewn plate was taken away, and her pile was replaced. They had been nomming for a while now, and Bubba was finally starting to slow. Glancing over at Drew, she wondered how much he he was doing, before tuning her attention back to her sixth plate of wings... or was it the seventh? Eight? She'd lost count, somewhere in between the burning and concentrating on eating! With a giggle, she turned and points a saucy finger at Drew. "You... you have something on your *hick!* ...cheek!" Another giggle, and she wrestled down the urge to lean over and wipe it off like her mother had. Lick a thumb and ruuub until the spot was goners. She didn't stop giggling, either, as she dove back into the pattern of eating.
“I’m looking for a boy. With glasses. He hurt me too. I think it was the same boy that hurt you. I just need to talk to him,”
Her cheeks browned slightly, little mouth flattening out into a thin little line. Her mother often told her that it was a trait she got from her father, she honestly did not see it. "Yes! Glasses... He stared, was very rude." She nodded her head in agreement with herself, and pointed the way he had run. "Mother always say that when a child is bad, punishment is...re... required?... yes, required."
She tugged a little more, he didn't budge. Maybe he was tired? She turned back, snakes wiggling in her hair, and eyed him curiously.
“Andrea, You’re in New York City. Are you supposed to be here?”
The child stared for a moment, putting two and two together slowly in her mind. New York...? Where was New York?
She dragged up a mental map, and thought as hard as she could until all of the lessons in geography her parents had put her in paid off. New York was in the Americas... The States, as her father called them... The brown drained from her cheeks, leaving her looking even more reminiscent of a corpse than she had before.
"...New...York?" She repeated, willing him to shake his head and tell her something else. She didn't like that answer! She could feel tears welling up again, and curled in on herself, too shocked to even weep standing up. Her grasp on his finger slipped, and she curled her arms around her knees.
She was... across the world... There was a whole, huge, GIANT SEA between herself and her house. The Serpents in her hair coiled back, reacting to the strong wash of emotion flowing through her. The seven as a whole hissed and spat, too young for venom sacs to have developed, thankfully. She opened her mouth to say something, to ask more question maybe... but all that came out was an upset blast of Greek words, thrown together in hasty sentences.
Where was her mother?! Her father!? Had she really wandered off, and would she really never see them again...?
"... This is not home..." She sobbed, lifting her chin to stare up at him through tilted sunglasses. "Papa said not to leave the house... I must have though... He will be so mad! Ma'ma will be so worried! I... am supposed to be home, in Greece... not the Americas."
She rubbed at one cheek with the palm of her hand. "... I will not ever see home again... Papa warned me."
“No, mija, I’m not bad, just…different. Tell you what, help me find someone…and I’ll help you get home. Deal? My name is Vicente, Do you have a name?”
"...Meeha....Me-ha? Meeeha." She played with that word for a moment, casting her eyes down as she concentrated. It was an unfamiliar word... one she was sure she had never heard before. It felt funny on her tongue. "What is... Meeha?" She blinked, her mind wandering completely off subject, and she cast a curious look around herself, before quickly drawing her attention back. The fear of the whole situation she had found herself in was wearing off little by little, and her curiosity was growing.
"...Veh...ch.." She paused, before even finishing, and her features screwed up cutely. She did not like these strange words. Things that were hard to pronounce to someone so new to a language.... and she told him exactly so, with a few sternly mumbled sentences in Greek. "Vishentay?" She shrugged inwardly, struggling with her c's and A's a little, and gave up for the moment. Whatever she had just garbled sounded close enough to what he had called called himself.
"Me 'lene An-....um...no, I am Andrea...." She stated, dropping a little polite half curtsy, while still latched onto his hand. Everything inside her wanted to shift back to what she knew, her mother's tongue, but as of yet she hadn't heard a single familiar word spoken from any of the strangers around her. They all had the same dialect, the same funny way of shaping words that she aught to have been able to say. She was starting to wonder just how far from home she was. Maybe she had just wandered out into town, and her house would not be that far away? The Greek eyed the doorway the little boy had run out of, fidgeting on her feet. ... maybe it would smell like home outside? Like salt on the breeze, and she would be able to tell Vishentay where she was...
Turning her chin as a commotion started up behind her. Shielded orange eyes landed back on the forms of the man and woman who had first tried to help her. One had woken up, and was busy trying to wake the other. People still walked on past, their noses shoved in papers and books, with strange thin pieces of plastic help to their ears. The young Greek whined quietly, even though no one had yet turned to seek her out, and attempted to drag the giant man who was helping her away.
"Deel!" She wanted to leave those strange people behind, because the man who was helping her, who she would help too, (because that's what good little girls do!) was much nicer than he looked. "I am different too!" She stated, a little shyly, and looked back up at him once she was comfortable again. "Ma'ma say I am special... um, Aprosdióristos... Are you too?... Who are we finding?" She could feel question after question bubbling up inside. So many, that she was afraid if she asked them all too quickly they would come out as utter nonsense, massacred by her accent and inability to form words right... And if that happened, she knew Father would give her that look, shake his head and she'd have to start all over with her books again. and she reaaally didn't want to have to start over!"
"...Where are we? " She questioned, ceasing her tugging after a moment, as her attention turned to attempting to match how he walked with her much smaller strides. It was proving very difficult, but she was up for the challenge.
Across town, hours before, and far away from the salt factory and the antics of the Slug twins, a lone figure stood shadowed at the edge of a building. It was a hero... sometimes hero, at least, ... but mostly a not-quite-heroic-hero, the rest of the time. He fancied himself a do-good-er, but had a particular set of problems that prevented him from living up to the bar of the other super heroes that cavorted around the city. He was a leech. And not just the emotional, can I borrow your lawnmower kind either. Every fiber of his being lived off of the various lifeblood's of other living beings. Blue, green, yellow... red. It it coursed through the veins of something wandering around close by, he couldn't help but salivate.
It was a crippling weakness, he knew, and unfortunately it was the only thing her could eat. All other food simply passed right through him. He couldn't digest a hot-dog and be full. No, he had spent the majority of his life feeding off of homeless people... those that clung to alleys and side streets like moss on bark. His stomach growled, an ever constant reminder... and he looked guiltily back to his current target.
It was his own fault, for having staved off eating for so long. He had thought that by simply avoiding the urge to feed, he could right the wrongs he had done. How mistaken her had been. Beady black eyes landed on his pray... a lone boy, too young to put up much of a fight, and he readied himself. He had a rag and a small canteen of chloroform, and if he acted fast enough he was sure he could grab the boy and run before anyone saw him
It was just another of those things that he would have to make up for later, when gallivanting about at night under the code name; The Parasite. He thought it sounded ominous and threatening, and it made him feel cool when he was all dressed up in the expensive costume he had purchased. He had seen it advertised on TV, in some kids show, and had decided to use a good portion of the money he had saved up to pay someone to make it. He could swing between buildings with a little hook shot, shoot leech shaped blades at people from a modified gun attached to his forearm, and had two batons at his hips that had electric tips. Lengthy tasers. They were mighty helpful! Darting out from cover, the leech man licked at his mouth, lips that were circular when opened and lined with many tiny teeth with which to draw blood.
He didn't need to kill the boy, god he didn't know how he would have lived with himself if feeding ended lives!... He just needed a good amount of blood, and then he'd drop the kid off outside of a hospital. With his plan in mind, he raced toward his prey, chloroform soaked rag out and ready....
~~~~
Andrea could not help but grin at her new sister and brother. They were rejoicing just as she had! She felt elated, and the throbbing slug on her neck was pleased. The wriggling bundle in her arms was hard to hold onto... especially when it seemed like all of the little slugs just wanted to wiggle free. The few that had crawled onto her new sister, after she had stepped close and held out a hand, lessened her load a little.. But the others were harder to wrangle. It was getting to be a little much....
Wiggle, throb.
...but she would just have to wrangle harder! Setting her lips in a determined line, she corralled the lot of them back into her arms, or rather, on her arms, upper body, shoulders... and back. Another latched onto her for some reason, and she felt a rush of giddy excitement rush through her. Boy! The world was tilting a little! She attempted to tilt it back, in the opposite direction, and giggled to herself.
The Slug twins slithered away, toward the main doors. "Sister..." He motioned one slimy hand at Alli, "With your key, the cleansing will begin! Once inside your job will be the most important of all... You will go with one of us, and help to find evidence of other vile factories!... Then, once we are done here, we will sweep our righteous sluggy fury across the nation, and purge this evil from the land!" The emotion and dramatics portrayed by the slug rivaled that of a well paid actor, and his sluggish sister had the presence of mind to sniffle a little, and blow her non-existent nose into her smiley hands. Andrea shuffled on over, wobbling despite herself, and took hold on one squirming slug baby in each hand. She was prepared to deliver the love to anyone she came into contact with!... Now, if only she could focus on what was being said...
"Come my children! Awaaaaay!" They pushed in through the doors, leaving slippery trails behind. Andrea took one step and promptly fell on her rump, immediately giggling like mad.
~~~~
The parasite, or Leech man, rather, stared at the trails on the ground. He had just been about to dig in an eat, when he had heard people shouting, and moved in to investigate. Black eyes narrowed behind his mask. he would recognize that slime anywhere! It was... The Twins Those two vile beings that enslaved people and forced them to do their bidding. and like it! And what was worse than that?! It was impossible to feed off of them, because of all of that damn slime! He growled, feeling a swell of excitement at being the one who would get to take them down!... but first.... dinner.
The mutant turned back to the boy he had pilfered, clad in all black leather, and stalked closer. He had the boy harnessed to a tree with a little monkey leash that had been on hand, intent on stealing a quick drink before rushing off to fight the gross abominations who were surly up to no good inside the building....
The thing she had run into turned out to be a man. A very big man. A really, big, scary man!
She trembled slightly, kicking backward with her feet, but stopped when he knelt down to her level... err, at least, as close to her level as one sized like him could get. She looked at him, not really noticing that he was actively avoiding her eyes, and sniffled. He didn't immediately fall over on her... so maybe it was okay if she talked to him.
Then again, he didn't look as nice as the man in the suit had, and her daddy always told her not to talk to strange people. Her eyes widened slightly as a realization sank in... he had also told her never to leave the house, or she would get taken far away!
The fear that maybe she had disobeyed him, and that was why she was lost in this big place hit her like a sack of bricks, and she wailed. New tears streaking down her face. The man who was speaking to her, she could understand him alright, but she still didn't trust him at all! For all she knew, he was the man her father had always warned her about!
She muttered a few things in her native language, thick accent flowing off her tongue like water, and looked at him again as she wiped at a cheek. "..do not know where I am...." She worked to fit her sentences together properly, the effort showing on her face. Struggling for a moment with translating words that she was still in the process of learning, she went over them in her head like she had been taught and wrinkled her nose in disdain. . "A.. boy, he is mean! He hurt me..." She sniffled again, her small face filled with confusion, fear, and a tiny hint of anger, and pointed in the direction he had ran. It was hard to concentrate on both speaking, and crying. So she gulped once more, her lips trembling in a child like manner, and attempted to force herself to stop crying... at least for a little while.
The more she spoke, remembering the many lessons her mother and father were teaching her, the easier it got to form the proper English words with her tongue.... like she had already learned it somehow, somewhere. Andrea looked back at the offered hand, before reaching out to take it gingerly. Surely, the bad man her father told her about would not help her... right? Bad men were mean... and ugly, and they did terrible things... Not helped little girls to their feet and asked if they needed things. That was a good deed, as her mother had told her!
The many snakes in her hair, which had been shrunk to child like sizes with her body, wiggled and stared up at the stranger with beady little eyes. The once great white snake still sat around her shoulders, half hanging off. It was fully the length of her body, having shrunk less than the others, and was more interested in the various people shuffling around behind her to pay any attention to the man Andrea was talking to.
"Are... you bad man? ...I wanna go home.. ..Am not, um.. suppose'ta be outside." She didn't let go of the hand that had been offered, latching onto one of his fingers instead, once she was on her feet. The dark glasses in her hand once again caught her attention, and she lifted them up to look at them. They seemed... familiar, but she couldn't figure out how. They were probably something she had seen before, on tv or in a magazine... Carefully, as if she would break them by being too rough, she plopped them onto the bridge of her nose to make herself feel better, like she was dressing up, and looked around. They wobbled as she turned her chin, being too big for her head, and she tugged on the man's finger.
