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.
Posted by Noel on Sept 23, 2017 16:26:20 GMT -6
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Ghost
Since he got back from the hospital? Noel realized that she didn't even know how long that might have been. She would have to remember to ask. And speaking of remembering, she really needed to take notes on all this. It seemed that bed was a long way off still.
And it was a long way down the hall and to the elevator with two rambunctious puppies. She got them both to sit while the elevator made its way up to them and each girl got a half a treat for sitting (mostly) still while she attached leads to the collars. For all of Dammit's energy, she didn't really wander. She stuck close to the people she knew, but a leash was a guarantee that she wouldn't change her mind.
They made it down and back up with Noel's impatience building for every second that passed. When she was paying attention, sure, nobody wanted to do their business. Look away for a second and they'd be pooping on the floor. She made sure to run them back and forth a bit. The more tired, the better. It was only a few more bribes later that the elevator door dinged and three exhausted ladies were walking back to knock on Michael's door.
So, he hadn't popped a forehead vein yet, but he was still assuming that Noel's copy was a lady who'd been in duress. Not that he'd been the one making things worse for everyone over the rip.
And once the door was open, the smells made her knees weak. "Oh man. You know the way to a girl's heart." For Noel, apparently, that was protein. Sizzling, fatty, and it couldn't get in her belly fast enough. The veggies she would eat since she knew they were supposed to be good for her, but they were not what made her heart skip a beat.
She could get used to coming home to a scene like this... Ranger in his usual pantsless state and smells like that? Revvie and Dammit were set loose and Noel went to hover until things were done.
"I took the shot on Combatant, the girl that messed you up good. The windage was off and your scope's choked way the hell up. I saw black until I figured out where you stick your face, ya weirdo. I could have adjusted despite all that, but before I got off another shot, I got a message from Muse, the power booster we have here at Haven. Only, she wasn't in Haven. She was in trouble." Noel did her best to filch something to nibble without getting burned.
"I don't know anybody over there, but I did pick up that Combatant was dangerous and had a serious grudge against the people holding Muse. So I twisted her arm to get her to help. We went in just the two of us and Muse boosted Combatant into a weedwhacker. Fedwhacker? Anyway, I got us out of lockdown and once we got across the rip, the rest is history." Or, it felt like it. Some of that was only hours old and yet it felt like a week or more. Okay. That was a little bit of a summary, but it was over and done with. Nobody was breaking down the door looking for her just yet. This was the quiet after the storm.
Sveta was taking off her clothes when Blair came in bearing gifts. To his credit, he only hesitated at the doorway. He set his pile of goodies down on a chair and started to put some of the pieces together.
> "It's under the skin?"
"Yeah and we can't touch Muse. She'll make your power go kaboom." The murder seemed optional, but Noel wasn't quite prepared to test that theory. "Even with gloves?" This was going to be difficult.
> "It's good practice to wear gloves anyway if there's blood." He disappeared out into the hallway and came back with a box of latex free gloves, size L. Noel hesitated, but gloved up.
"I don't know the first thing about cutting people open."
> "That's okay. I do. Grab that ice."
Noel shoveled the ice out of a cup and into a glove and tied it off. At Blair's direction, they looked closely at Muse's back until they found a small scar. She pressed the ice against the spot without touching anything more than the ice. Meanwhile Blair was getting set up. The knife he'd grabbed was obscenely large, but she assumed sharp since Noel'd asked for that. He wiped it down with an alcohol wipe and motioned for Noel to remove the ice.
> "As little touch as possible?" He hesitated waiting for Muse to answer that she was ready so he could swoop in and get it done. The tip of the knife hovered just over the spot where her skin was pink from the cold. Probably not nearly numb enough, if at all. They'd tried, but they were also in a rush.
Their get away was a clean-ish break across the border, so to speak. Noel expected a bit of reprieve as far as the action went. They split up as needed and drove around while they debated the best course of action. Sveta had mentioned a tracking nodule and that was jogging some distant memories for Noel. Like a copy of a copy of a VHS: the pictures were there, but it just wasn't quite clear enough to understand.
"Blackforest Tactical is Michael Hunter's company. He runs security for Hadden. I don't know if he's got a secure room, but I'm not so sure about running straight to Haven." She ran through the basics while they maneuvered into the company's garage. Noel had codes for days. It paid to date the guy who set 'em all up. "They're not all powered, but enough are. I'm not on great terms with the kid in the office, but it's after hours. He shouldn't be there." Actually, Noel wasn't too sure who would be in, but it'd be someone. She'd have to ask that they not tattle to the Ranger. That wasn't fair to any of them, but Noel wasn't yet sure if she'd made the biggest mistake of her life just yet.
The car shuddered to a stop and Thomas Blair was already at the door, ready to scope out whoever'd just arrived without warning. Shoot. She should have called.
"Blair." Noel nodded to the former special ops man. "Please tell me there's a secure room and medical supplies."
> "You call the Ranger 'bout this?" He didn't seem keen on moving to help or moving to unclock the door to Blac-Tac proper.
Noel cringed and that was answer enough. "Please? Special circumstances. Let Muse tell you what a bad man this Nolan is. I need what's in his head and to get it, I need him patched up and tracker free." The most Noel was willing to do to help Sveta out of the car was opening her door. Noel walked around to grab Nolan. She didn't expect help, or want it, even. This was her copy, her decision. She was going to pick his brain clean as soon as she had the chance.
> "I'm not taking responsibility if this goes wrong."
Noel hefted Nolan over her shoulder and stopped after closing the car door. She met Blair's eyes and paused to make sure she understood. If she jeopardized Blac-Tac with this? Yeah... it'd be bad. But it'd be better than jeopardizing Haven.
"It's on me. Text him if you need. I need us to act fast and I can't think of a better guarded, or better manned location."
> "We have a room for questioning. I'll grab a med kit."
"Blair?" He turned back with one raised eyebrow. He was about Ranger's size, maybe a bit less muscle, but it was all too easy to imagine the same disapproval on Michael's face. "Something real sharp? And ice?"
> "On it."
How refreshing it was to work with professionals. It wasn't that the Havenites were bad, they were mostly just untrained and untested. Blac-Tac Alpha team members had some serious discipline. These guys were just that much better. Noel breathed a sigh. It was the best course of action to come here. She was sure of it now.
"Sveta, I think my phone's on the seat still. Can you get a message to Tempest? I've done a crap job of keeping everyone in the loop. There just wasn't time before..." And she still felt the urgency. They needed to get those trackers out. Noel hefted Nolan on her shoulders and led the way to a small secured room. The table was bolted down, but not the chairs. No windows. Noel tipped Nolan on the table.
"Do you know where the nodule went in, Sveta?" If they knew where hers was, maybe they could find it on Nolan too.
Posted by Noel on Sept 22, 2017 19:25:19 GMT -6
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She couldn't tell if Ranger approved or disapproved of her not taking out Combatant. He was right, though. They needed to prioritize the door.
"That'd be a negative. I, uhm, I picked up my copy in the other universe and we're holding him at Blac-Tac. I hope that's... I mean, I didn't want to implicate Haven and I figure your security guys are way scarier than the people here." She was tripping over herself to explain, but this wasn't even the beginning.
"You can put your birthday back unless you think that's a security problem. I didn't get a good taste, but he's secure and I doubt he knows you or whoever you are over there." She cleared her throat while Ranger worked his keypad magic. She did need to tell him. "I sort-of helped raid a Federal training facility. So. Probably we'll never be taking a vacation across to the other side."
And, still, that wasn't even the whole story...
But it was easy to let that sit for a bit when Dammit came bounding out. She was bigger now, almost up to her knee, and that surprised Noel. Had she been that big when she left!? Her puppy got the full scritch down: face, ears, back, and that special spot on her side that made her leg churn like a locomotive. Dammit got Noel kisses and Noel got Dammit kisses which were both cute and gross.
"How did you get out, Dammit T. Gage?" The cage looked intact, thank goodness. The room smelled incredibly doggy. She saw only one puddle and no other indications that Dammit had gotten into any of the other closed doors. Dammit and Revvie did the doggy best friends dance while Noel grabbed a towel and then threw that towel straight into the washer.
"Come, Dammit." She grabbed a treat from way up almost too high for even Noel to reach and then snapped and did the hand motions they had practiced to get the puppy to follow. It worked for about 4 of the 17 steps it took to walk from her door back to Michael's. Once Dammit saw Michael's door was open she was in like Flynn.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I got a treat—! I'm just grabbing my bag..." Aaand she was on the couch.
"Since when can she get up there?" Noel cast an envious look at Revvie. Noel was sure that Dammit's behavior was mostly her own fault. She hadn't been here a lot this last week. Noel grabbed up her bag. Now that the rifle was out, it was only some clothes. She stopped to touch Michael again. Because he was real and here and whole.
"Okay. Game plan. You deserve a better explanation than all that, but I don't trust these pupperonis. Do you have food? Let me take them both down and they can do their business. I'll be right back. Way quicker than last time." That was all one cohesive something, right? Noel tossed her bag on her couch and went back for a doggie bag and a handful of treats.
Posted by Noel on Sept 22, 2017 13:26:35 GMT -6
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And there he was. All in one piece. Ambulatory. Smiling despite the fact that she'd shown up unexpectedly. She felt stupid for a second. She'd just taken it for granted that he'd be here and that he'd be whole. That he'd be happy to see her. That he wouldn't be mad. He could still be mad. That might come later.
"Hey." She wasn't yet comfortable with howdy. Maybe some day. Her eyes pricked with moisture when she got her hug. Geez. She didn't realize what it was like carrying around so much worry for somebody else.
> ”Welcome home.”
Revvie snuffled around their feet and up Noel's legs, clearly interested in what was new and exciting.
"You're... I..." She dropped the bag and just gave in to the hug for a moment. How could it have only been a few days? A sharp whine echoed down the hall from the little black nose that was trying to squeeze out from underneath her doorway. Revvie bumped her way past the Noel/Michael door block and went to help try to break Dammit out. Noel breathed a laugh and after one more squeeze she stepped back. She trailed her hands down his arms, which were whole and totally unmarred as far as she could tell. She definitely owed Jude a Christmas present.
"I can't remember my door code. Isn't your birthday in March?" She grabbed up the duffel and pulled out the rifle case that she'd taken without his explicit permission, anxious to get it back to where it belonged in Ranger's care.
"I didn't kill her. She also tossed your SIG in the river. Oh darn. You'll have to get your hands on another." Somehow she thought he might not mind that. Since the dogs were liable to break her door down for her, she settled for sticking the case behind the door rather than risk the integrity of Haven's doors. "She's on this side, now. Which turns out to be a longer story than I thought it'd be. I didn't expect to be gone so long."
Dammit whined and threw herself against the door, but neither one of them could get the darn thing open. Of course, Dammit was supposed to be in her crate... It was hard to fault whoever'd put her away, though. Noel hadn't been back in a few days and whatever Blac-Tac security mook had run that training exercise with her little puppy last hadn't secured the gate well enough. Hard to be mad when she'd been taking advantage of someone else's good graces.
"I know, Dammit. Just. Please hold it until I can get in."
It felt like she'd been gone forever with the whirlwind hospital stay and then her quick jaunt over into enemy territory. Michael was back home now according to Jude's last text. She probably owed that kid a Christmas present now.
Noel dropped her duffle and tried Michael's birthday again. It was March, wasn't it? She probably just had it wrong. It'd been awhile since she'd done that, but it wasn't totally unexpected. She pulled out her phone to call and realized that she probably should have called earlier. She could have called him earlier, but with everything that'd happened it honestly didn't cross her mind. She wasn't used to being courteous or conscientious of other people's feelings. Was this going to hurt his feelings?
She was pretty bad at that kind of thing.
So she pocketed the phone, grabbed up the duffle, and knocked on his door.
Dinner time on a Thursday? He should be home. (At least, she thought it was a Thursday. Noel double triple checked her phone.) She'd been hoping to grab a shower and make herself presentable before they met again face to face. That just wasn't in the cards this time. She at least tried to finger comb her hair real quick.
What had Noel's counterpart done to deserve Sveta's wrath? That was the question that rankled the former agent as she stepped over the fallen. Geez. She'd figured they would go for stealth, and that the s*** would hit the fan, but she did not at all expect this.
If anyone deserved it... but as the man on her shoulders proved, it could have been her laying on the ground here if things had gone even just a little different.
> "Who is she?..."
As it turned out, that was a very good question. Noel had thought she'd known the answer to that question when she crossed the rift to kill her. Now she wasn't so sure.
"She's... a friend. And an X. Apparently over here they're... different." That was more than a little obvious at this point. Noel tugged Sveta's shirt back when she heard gunshots ahead. Over the sirens it was hard to heard much, what was a little extra hearing loss like discharging a weapon in close quarters? Once there was only silence ahead, she went first. She'd played bodyguard for too long to just let those instincts go.
Around the corner, Combatant was kneeling over the bloodied face of what used to be a person. She was confused and as much empathy as Noel had for her disorientation, they just didn't have time for it. Sveta filled their third in with a terse few sentences while Noel went to the desk and found a set of keys to jam in her mouth. She tapped a few keys on the keyboard, flipped through the keyring, and stuck a key into the security desk. When she turned the key, the alarm stopped. A few more keystrokes and the heavy metal shutter pulled up from the door that kept the three women from the garage.
"This way, ladies." Her voice sounded too loud in the sudden silence after the alarm. She dipped again to pull a pistol from a fallen agent and ushered her friends into the garage. It all felt familiar despite her never having been here. Noel walked to the wall and typed in a code that unlocked a sliding valet keyring system. Every car that was checked into their garage was a key and a label. "Pick a car, any car."
Posted by Noel on Sept 20, 2017 22:39:09 GMT -6
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Ghost
> “I’ve the same vulnerabilities, though I manage them differently,”
Yeah by walling up, medicating, meditating. It was lithium, but that took time to cycle through the body. If party Devon wanted to behave like Hadden, he would need a host of other medications in the meantime and he hated every one of them. She had that experience and she hated it because he hated it. To some degree, Hadden could debate his alternate self without him even being here.
"Putting down roots isn't the same as building walls, Hadden. Roots grow. Walls decay.
I'm not even talking romance, Hadden. I'm talking..." A lot. Too much. Noel hesitated, distracted for a moment by a memory of Max in Latin class. Vulnerare. To wound. The English word vulnerable came from that root. Nobody could land a hit, physical or emotional, on Hadden. He wasn't open to wounding. He wasn't vulnerable.
Party Devon didn't care about being perfect. He'd come to terms with that and in way it had set him free.
"I'm talking about balance. Between the walls and vulnerability." Noel set the mirror down. She hadn't realized that so much of what Devon felt resonated with her. Or... was it just his memories that made it feel that way?
He wasn't unlikeable. He was unavailable. Gay, straight, bi, or helicopter-fetishist, nobody assaulted Hadden tower. Not even friends.
> "...The tower could crash if the foundation’s not good. I’m probably building that tower pretty high now.”
He admitted to a date, which was surprising to Noel. She didn't think he had it in him. In a way, he hadn't. However Devon stole it, she was sure that had Hadden been really invested, he would have been there to prevent that. Maybe that was unfair, considering how little she knew. Either way, it was... raising the drawbridge? Opening the door?
> "... I figure a little trust helps build that strong foundation… Or should I say helps root that tree?”
Rooting a tree. Her analogy. She smiled with reservation. Maybe they could climb it over those walls.
"I got a dog." Noel picked up the mirror and pulled the sunglasses up on her forehead so that they could be out of the way while she cut out some of those memories... starting with Christmas. "I've never done that before, but once I thought about it I realized that puppies only get older. Because I have a stable environment to come back to, the dog's age is an automatic validation that time has passed and to look for other clues.
And besides. It's nice to have somebody be excited when I come home."
She honed her focus and the world around her eyes narrowed down to what she could see in her own reflection and then it went beyond what she could see with her eyes and Noel moved into what she could see with her mind. Her eyes began to flick rapidly back and forth, too fast for normal focus.
She gathered up every little personal detail about the other Devon and told herself to forget. She kept the details that helped her know about the other world, even tainted as they were by Devon's bad attitude. She made herself forget the fight, the kiss on his bed, and the fall, though she didn't expect that to stick until she healed up from the bump on her head. Reminders could jog even her memory and help reforge mental connections.
When she was done, the headache was just a headache. The bump on her head, just a bump. She no longer felt like her skull was an overripe melon, ready to burst. Her eyes stopped shaking and, though harried, it was her in the mirror. As her vision expanded back out, she knew that she'd done it. She'd wiped her own memory.
She set the mirror down and the movement jarred the sunglasses from her forehead. Noel settled those into place over her tired eyes. Apparently she had this all planned out. Sometimes present Noel was jealous of past Noel's forethought. She was feeling pretty scrambled.
"You hurt, Hadden?" Noel could tell she was stiff and hurting, and based on their location, that was a known issue. If she was hurt and he was not, then apparently she'd done her job. She tucked her hands around herself and settled back in the chair, ready to doze. "Is this quarantine or can I go home?"
> "No. Nononon-!" Through the last words he got out before taking a solid hit to temple, Noel got a confused blast of memories: sad puppies, torture, a grandmotherly figure begging for her life...
Noel couldn't help but cringe at the hit that Sveta delivered. She felt it down the length of her arm where she had been wrestling to hold him still. She didn't normally empathize with people to the degree she was now, but it wasn't every day when you meet yourself and then help someone knock you out. She sucked in a breath through a grimace.
"Jesus, don't break him!" It was at that moment when Noel noticed the bomb that was Combatant. An agent hit the wall a few feet from where Sveta and Noel were standing and slid down to land on their neck. It was a literal carpet of fallen agents that Combatant was leaving in her wake. It took Noel a second to pick her jaw up off the floor.
> "We should take him. He knows things."
Noel didn't have to be convinced, she simply propped the unconscious agent up as best she could so that she could take his sidearm and phone and ditch anything else that looked like it would be traceable, even his coat and belt. The gun she handed to Svetlana.
"I think I remember hearing that you've had enough training to use that. Glad you're still in one piece."
Why did she discard his belt? The buckle was too shiny. Clearly a plant. She debated ditching the shoes too. Had she ever seen her agency stuff things in shoes? Unfortunately she couldn't remember and they had to move.
The Havenite dipped to maneuver Nolan across her shoulders and picked up her duffle. Combatant had paved the way. They needed to hurry and catch up enough to stay a safe distance away.
"You touched her...?" That wasn't an accusation, that was a thread of fear in Noel's voice. Combatant was scary enough without a boost. She swallowed hard, already knowing the answer. "I don't know what to do to talk her down, but for now, I guess we ride this out all the way across the rift."
Posted by Noel on Sept 19, 2017 15:46:51 GMT -6
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He wasn't mad, he was just worried. Noel wasn't sure if she tasted bile or if Hadden didn't quite know his own feelings. Either way it was hard to get a read on the veracity of his words. It had only just happened. He might have still been processing. That was a concession she was willing to give considering the fact that his first statement was resoundingly true. He wasn't mad. She hadn't totally destroyed his trust.
"I have Schrodinger's memory. At any moment I both know nothing and everything." She rubbed her eyes. There was no point in pointing out that she was known for not knowing things more than she was known for knowing things. It wasn't worth the syllables that would each make her skull pound.
He didn't have to trust her with his secrets. She was greedy to want them. It didn't really matter that he knew almost every secret of hers, she didn't make a point of keeping many unless they weren't hers to keep and the secrets Noel had to keep, she entrusted to Haley, Haven's Secret Keeper.
"He's not even the only emotional roller coaster I've tasted. Some people just feel so much." And she didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. Emotions were fickle and terrible and they needed to stay buried in the deepest and darkest of holes. Emotions led to assumptions and unfathomable reactions and all around stupidity.
> “As for dating, no... I’m not."
And then it was his phone that got all the attention again. Noel took her dismissal for what it was, but she couldn't help but offer one last observation.
"You're like an impenetrable tower, Hadden. Unassailable and all the synonyms. I'm just..." Confusing herself? Tired? Rambling? Giving out unsolicited advice in an area of life where she had too little experience? Ugh. "Devon has vulnerabilities." Bad example. Her head was making this difficult, but she was determined to say it before the thought potentially went away. "I... don't want to. But I'm trying to put down roots and grow. Don't not grow, Hadden."
Noel'd thrown herself at the big man who juked. That was good. It gave Combatant a chance to ninja star up the alarm and that put Big Red off the idea for good. Unfortunately, it put Noel up against the psychic and lined Big Red up against Batty. Despite what he'd done, Combatant had to deal with her man first. Noel had to keep him from raising the alarm, though it almost felt like the entire building shook when Red hit the door.
> "You look familiar somehow... Have we met?" When he talked, Noel saw it. They really had met. Or. No. They hadn't. She just remembered that they had. The memories fat like oil on water and when she shook her head, they were even less believable. Noel advanced and he danced back. Dangit, she needed him put down before he did something they'd all regret.
But... there was something in the line of his brow. The way he rolled his lips together... He made a grab for something at his waist and Noel threw her bag at his face. Her fist wasn't too far behind the duffle, but he managed to duck the bag and tuck his shoulder. That meant her trajectory was off.
She adjusted. So did he. The man ended up driving his shoulder up toward Noel's midsection and the memorymancer had to use her hands to catch him and keep his aim off. The big difference was that he hadn't grabbed a gun, as Noel had feared. He'd grabbed a phone. Noel had directed his hands upward so any shots would be fired into the ceiling and the floors above. Now it was just a dramatic way to show off that the man was inputting some kind of alarm code.
> "I really hate to fight X-men."
Despite tasting the veracity of his words, Noel still jabbed him viciously in the throat to cut off whatever thought had been brewing next. His eyes went wide, but it seemed that the damage was already done.
Alarms sounded. The hallway lights dimmed. Far off, the sound of steel sliding forcefully home signaled the slow cut off of their escape options.
Noel grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. There had to be a way out of a lock down. There had to be.
While Noel scoured his memories, certain similarities kept popping up until suddenly the truth was unavoidable. They spoke at the same time, both wide-eyed.
"You are me." > "You are messed up."
He was her if her job with the government hadn't fallen through, Noel realized. And this... this could have been what their universe was like...
He tried to shove her off and Noel tried to turn his arm into a chicken wing submission. Neither succeeded, but both were having a hard time focusing.
Noel needed more time! She needed to cut off their connection and do her thing intentionally and with purpose. And for now, that meant she needed to get the hell out.
Posted by Noel on Sept 18, 2017 13:26:52 GMT -6
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Noel had been debating how she should introduce herself to the mother of Nate's child when the other woman broke silence first. There was plenty in her notes about Natalie, but it wasn't like they were friends. Noel felt like she'd never actually met the woman. Not as herself, anyway. It didn't help that Nate had feelings on top of feelings that she had no place harboring. She'd tried her best to cut them out, but seeing Natalie up close and personal was always a very different thing. She expected some amount of familiarity, however strained, but outright vitriol was unexpected.
Of course, there was that little note that Noel had bitten her. Apparently it had been more than a footnote to the other woman.
"Forgive me, if you can. I understand it wasn't pretty." This was going to be an obnoxious mission if Natalie was a petty woman. So far her tone was less than friendly and exactly the reason why Noel didn't get along with most women. She just didn't understand what that kind of tone was supposed to accomplish. Was Noel supposed to apologize? Was she supposed to bite back? Did she not realize that they had an objective to complete and that her frivolous emotion was a big, fat, stupid, selfish waste of their time?
So long as they could stick to the mission, Noel would strive to let whatever stupid, b*tchy remarks this stupid, b*tchy woman made roll off of her. She would just have to expect it.
"From the briefing it sounds like stealth and deception will be our best bet. It's safer to go in and get the information and get out unless we deem it necessary to take command of their space." And, as they'd already discussed, taking command of their space would be needed to deny them the use of it, but since that was bound to be costly in the way of lives, for now they were to avoid it. Natalie, with her standing in Haven, was in a position to override that directive on the field. Hopefully she wasn't too scared to make that call. Or too... the other way.
"I can't deceive people directly. Or won't. It amounts to the same thing. You'll have to do the deceiving. I'll be honest, I don't really know how your ability works, but if we can take someone outside I can get what we need to get in. Can you... I dunno. Make people think you are whoever we take? I'd prefer if we could both go in, in case something goes wrong." Because something always did. The biggest assumption underneath all of this was that they would be able to trust one another. This was life or death. Hopefully it wouldn't be, but it could...
Posted by Noel on Sept 18, 2017 11:54:25 GMT -6
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S.U.P.E.R.
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yellowgreen
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Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
Wiping passwords and codes? Ugh. Noel had only just gotten the hang of her current one. She'd probably be locked out at least once in the near future.
She thanked Hadden for the mirror, but felt weird about wiping her own memory in front of him. It was oddly personal and a definite moment of weakness where she would be even more vulnerable than she was at present. She trusted him —this Hadden anyway— but Noel hated leaving herself open more than almost anything else. She had made herself a promise once upon a time that was powerful enough to persist through to the very core of who she was. Memories or not: Noel would not be helpless ever again.
"Would you watch the door while I do this?" There. Compromise. It wasn't asking him to leave. It was trusting him to double down on defense. She could live with that. Noel leveled the mirror with her face and was a little started by the woman who looked back at her. She didn't look well. That jived with how she felt, but she'd at least been trying to present herself in a way like she would be okay. The woman who looked back looked scared. No wonder Hadden seemed a bit overprotective.
> “…is there anything you would actually like to ask me?”
Noel tugged her hair free of its ponytail and smoothed it back from her face. It did relieve some of the tension in her scalp, but didn't really fix the mess inside her head. Her mouth watered in warning that any movement was potentially too much movement.
"Does it bother you...? That I have something that might be like your memories?" She would wait to erase based on his answer. She might end up cutting out more if it did bother him. After all, he hadn't wanted her in his head for whatever reasons he had and she tried to respect that even if she didn't understand it.
"And... this is stupid personal, but Devon is dating. Or whatever he calls that. Are you?" She'd never seen his control slip. Not once. Not a sliver of the vulnerability she felt around that one particular person she liked. So was that the trick? To stay safe, you just... don't?
Noel's mouth was covered after she'd tugged her impromptu ninja mask back into place so her smile was hidden, but her soft snort was still audible. It was an acceptance of the reality of the situation. They definitely made better ninja than they did ladies. It was difficult to find blouses that fit Noel's traps anyway.
"Guess not." Noel chuckled at the idea of being comfortable for her brain reassignment. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
Maud walked these halls 20 times a day, easy. She wasn't supposed to smoke out back, but she knew that Jim unhooked the fire alarm to that door just so he could smoke out there. She figured it was safe if her boss had been the one to do the tampering. Noel slowed as they approached a cross in hallways. The back of the facility was mostly for holding and it didn't get a ton of traffic, but that wasn't true for the rest of the building.
"This is the end of the easy part. Get ready for things to get messy."
And if she was Svetlana where would she be? Noel could start licking doorknobs, but the risk and distraction probably wouldn't prove worth it.
As they rounded the corner, a pair of men were walking down the hall and looking pretty grumpy. Noel tried to play it cool and just keep walking, but once they pair looked up, they both startled and stopped in their tracks. Noel, too, stopped and followed the looks one of them was making in the direction of what looked to be a fire alarm. It was closer to them than it was to Noel and Combatant. She didn't like her odds.
> "Agnes?"
Noel got a quick blast of images: a rooftop, parkour, Combatant with pink in her cheeks that had nothing to do with physical exertion and everything to do with how adorable she was... if she wasn't so used to fastforwarding through other people's memories, she probably wouldn't have decoded that. But one thing was obvious. Batty and this guy had history.
"Psychic." Noel growled. The second man who had yet to speak made a mad dash for the alarm and Noel threw herself at him. Batty could deal with the other guy.
Posted by Noel on Sept 15, 2017 14:57:58 GMT -6
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Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
It was a dirty trick, but Noel toasted Hades to get him to drink that vile spicy shot first. Hades seemed to be choking, but before she even had time to panic or help or anything, he found a way to sort himself and collapsed forward against the table. Oh. It was that good huh? Not exactly the most ringing endorsement.
She galvanized herself and tried to tune out the rowdy table behind them before she brought the shot up to her lips and hesitated.
"How do you make a Kleenex dance...? Put a little boogie in it!"
She inhaled involuntarily to chuckle. She couldn't help it. It was a good one as far as stupid jokes went, but inhaling with a shot of burning hot moonshine at her lips turned out to be a big mistake.
Noel thought that the last shot had stung her nostrils. She thought that her tongue was sort of numbed. She thought that her eyes had watered before when she held the other moonshine on her tongue. Knowing that this one was spicy, Noel had wanted to strategize and swallow it down quick at the back of her throat, but that wasn't at all what happened. She accidentally inhaled a bit, her eyes bugged, and she realized that her moonshine challenge might be forfeit if she didn't finish the shot.
She tossed the remainder of the shot back right in time for the next dad joke bomb to land right on target.
"How do you make holy water...? You boil the hell out of it."
It shouldn't have been that funny, but somehow it was. She hiccurped, a hand flung to her mouth to try to keep it in, but it was too late. A fine mist of spicy moonshine erupted from Noel's mouth. It wafted up, caught some air flow and a good portion of her shot came back down in the form of a fireball lit by the antler chandelier. Apparently those were real candles. Apparently it was a good thing that Hades didn't usually keep any hair.
What little sat in her stomach felt like how she imagined a hot poker might feel. Her wide eyes were stinging and hers weren't the only ones entirely irritated. The whole group on the other side of their booth reacted poorly to both the airborne irritant and the fireball. Noel breathed and tasted it in her mouth and up through her nostrils. She was crying full out which was an odd sensation considering the fact that she wasn't even sad.
"Milk." She breathed the word because somehow it seemed like talking would have made fire come out her ears. She grabbed and chugged and swirled the milk in her mouth, but it didn't. stop. burning.
Sugar next. What was sugar? There was only burning.
Noel realized with a start that she couldn't taste the sugar. Did that mean this shut off her power? She really wasn't sure it was worth it, but... no. It really wasn't worth knowing.
And, she figured considering the damage and the irritation they were causing, that her challenge was over. Noel dug around and tossed a few twenties on their table when a mammoth of a man loomed over them.
She was sooooo not in a state to fight. How stupid of her. How vulnerable. She grabbed the pronged fork that she'd used to eat bits of pineapple and went for the eye of the man she thought was a threat. How was she supposed to know he was friendly when he was laughing like that?
