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.
Noel stayed close, stopped when signaled, and then waited with surprise all over her face. Combatant had lept at the smoker like a bat out of hell. Or a cat out of a sack. Or a person with pogo sticks for legs? Before Noel had properly settled on a way to describe the action, the other woman was back and had their smoker in tow. The woman was older and absolutely reeked of cigarettes. No wonder they had smelled her from so far away.
> ”Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast.”
Noel shook herself from her judgy glare. "Right." She tugged down the faux ninja mask and captured one of the woman's flailing hands and popped it into her mouth. She struggled and wriggled and used her free hand to attempt to hit at Noel's face but between the memorymancer's vise grip and Combatant's choke, they had decent control of the woman.
The layout of the building wasn't complicated, but there were a few security check points: everyone had a security badge with an RFID chip and a photo ID, they had numerical codes to type in and this woman almost always flipped a few of her digits, each coming and going was recorded and some hallways and rooms required additional security measures that this woman wasn't aware of, but she had seen them and wondered. That was all well and good, but Noel delved into the trainees and where they were and what they were up to today... she was in luck. This woman was one of the training staff... One of the crueler parts of the training staff. She liked to use pain to reinforce her lessons.
Noel sat back on her heels and removed the woman's fingers from her mouth. The fingers were wiped clean on Noel's ninja mask before she pulled it back into place.
"I'm going to be confused for a few seconds. Drag me away. Get us to the door. I might need you to remind me to use the code and what we're here for. Just as a precaution." Noel dug her hand shamelessly into the woman's blouse and pulled out her TIC, trainer ID card, and made sure she could recell the number pairing that went with it. She looked around and grabbed the cigarette that had been dropped and then helped Combatant position the woman back onto her feet just around the corner from their entry door. From there Noel grabbed the woman's chin and got in her face before letting her eyes off their leash.
"I need you to forget, Maud."
Noel's irises vibrated back and forth in her sockets and her vision narrowed down as if she was looking down a long tube that ended in the other woman's eyes. Noel elected to erase the last twenty minutes of both hers and Maudline P. Talmadge's lives.
While her vision was still dim, Noel felt a nudge. Combatant. It didn't take more than that to get her moving around to the door. To the music of a smoker's harried coughing, Noel swiped the card, entered the code, and opened the door.
"Should have dressed as office ladies." Noel grumbled. The ninja mask was nice and all, but once someone noticed them on camera this little waltz through government property was gonna be done.
There was nothing left to say so they they started doing. Noel wished she hadn't brought the rifle by now, but was unwilling to leave the bag somewhere that they may or may not get back to. The two pretend ninja crouched and moved on cat feet through the little bit of grass cover between the tree line and the building, which wasn't much. If Noel hadn't moved the majority of her focus to watching Combatant, she was sure she would have lost the woman. As it was, Noel did her best to emulate her. She recognized many of the principles and techniques from her memories from ancient China in the way Combatant distributed her weight to avoid making sounds, in the way that she moved fluidly so that they might flow like the grass around them.
Noel didn't have the practice for this kind of stealth exercise, but she had the memories of an assassin that she'd visited time and time again. If anyone needed to be quiet and careful to avoid detection, it was someone trained to assassinate a target.
Her senses were on high alert and so the memorymancer jumped when Combatant breathed her question back to Noel. Nothing like infiltration to put a girl on high alert.
"Yeah. Take them quietly and hold 'em for me. When I'm done, we put a cigarette in their hand—" That was assuming they didn't already have one "—I wipe their memory and we're gone with them none the wiser."
She smelled it then, that caustic ash smell. So. It was close. And just as gross as Noel remembered. Blech. She would probably take a lick from their hand, then, rather than kissing an ashtray. Noel could use the cigarette transfer, but then she'd have to put a cigarette in her mouth and a that point, she'd rather kiss an ashtray. Noel nodded to the other woman indicating that she was ready. This was their first test.
Posted by Noel on Sept 11, 2017 22:07:57 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
S.U.P.E.R.
S.U.P.E.R. Agent
yellowgreen
Ranger
1,751
532
Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
"I think I would have noticed some scheme to break into another universe, but without asking him, I dunno." She was the answers guy so it really bothered her not to know. These kinds of things went better for her when she had some time to prepare. Noel puttered after Hadden once the elevator doors parted.
The hallway was dim which made sunglasses just that much extra, but they were really for Hadden's protection rather than her own. She assumed that if there was some pit to fall into, Hadden would go first since he was leading the way. Or maybe not since he was constantly on his phone.
A break-in would trigger a control guy like Hadden to go a bit overboard, wouldn't it? But it wasn't exactly a break-in.
> “How is your heading feeling?”
"Full. I need a mirror and to decide what to dump before I sleep otherwise, I don't get to choose. I didn't go too far. It's not like I think I'm him and I'm not bleeding from my nose or ears. I am uncomfortable, not broken." And here she thought she never learned. An ocular migraine, while disturbing, was vastly preferable to her other options.
"Hey. Last Christmas you didn't...?" Uh. No. Of course not. Noel definitely shut down the question about strippers before it got off the ground. And, she had to remind herself that she hadn't hired strippers either. That she usually treated Christmas as just another day or missed it wasn't sad in her books. It was much preferable to indulging the frivolous lonely void that Party Devon had been trying to spackle over.
The medical room Hadden had brought her to was obviously for smaller injuries-- stitches or maybe they did blood drives or something-- because there was a chair and stool rather than a gurney.
It was nothing like the hospitals she could recall. More like... a dentist? That made it easy to just climb up and curl up so that could lay her cheek against her knees. The sunglasses bucked, but she hadn't thought to remove them first. Now it felt like it was too late.
She was operating under the assumption that she wouldn't have to worry about protecting herself if there were other infiltrators.
Shoot. What if there were other infiltrators?
"If anyone's acting weird..." What? She would polygraph them? "Ugh. I don't like this. Haven's supposed to be a safe space for all of us." And there it was again. That feeling that puke was just over the horizon.
Noel watched as Combatant covered her face and frowned. She had a tee shirt stuffed in that duffle to pad the gun case. Several, in fact. Should she be covering her face as well? So long as she didn't cover her eyes, Noel figured she could get away with it and it would shield her from being identified by camera. Noel's power only worked on people, after all. So she followed Combatant's lead and pulled a tee shirt ninja, making sure to tuck her hair under and give as little away in how to identify her personally as she could. Too bad she hadn't thought to bring gloves. She felt totally ridiculous, but then, this whole scheme was a bit hairbrained. Noel also figured she could tug the shirt opening down when it came time to gather information. No big deal, really.
To Combatant's instruction, Noel only had one thing to say. "Hey." She hesitated, debating if she could say it given that she'd pressed Combatant into this position, but in the end relented. "I'm going to do my best not to screw this up." A thanks might have been more appropriate, but Noel wanted Combatant to know that Noel was in this 100% and that she could expect that, if nothing else from the woman. Her trust was in Combatant now and the fact that she believed the other woman wouldn't give her up to the people here.
When the other woman was ready to move out, Noel made sure she was too.
Posted by Noel on Sept 5, 2017 21:00:12 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
S.U.P.E.R.
S.U.P.E.R. Agent
yellowgreen
Ranger
1,751
532
Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
She was not going to throw up. This was the hope Noel desperately clung to as she began to look ashen beneath her tan. Every word she spoke and every step she took throbbed through her forehead. She frowned, and that too hurt her head. There would be no respite until she dumped some memories or slept and if sleeping was off the table, Noel needed a mirror.
"You shouldn't have to apologize. It just took too long for me to figure out, is all." How much trouble would she be in if she just sank down right here for a nap? She wouldn't. She was far too stubborn for that. But it was at least a little tempting.
> “Here,”
A glasses case entered her field of vision and Noel accepted with thanks. She hadn't lost time exactly, just been zoning out.
"Should invest in sunglasses stock." There. See? She could make a joke and lighten the mood and maybe then Hadden wouldn't look like a puppy whose soul she'd crushed when she got the chance to get those sunglasses in place and look up at him.
Once she slid the glasses on, Noel tried to relax before she hazarded a look. Err. No. His puppies were still kicked. Or maybe he was just that busy. Noel trailed him to the elevator and was glad for the dark lenses against the stark electric lights. It was a long way down to CLASS from here. Noel leaned against the corner of the elevator, folded her arms, and let herself rest her eyes. Just for a minute. The feeling of falling that the elevator generated was gentle, sure, but still enough to remind her that throwing up was still an option.
"S'good." He had a good plan. It'd be fine. No big deal. She was quiet for a long moment before she realized that she should probably prove she hadn't fallen asleep just yet. "Think they're all evil twins?"
Combatant caught the rifle and worked the oversized bolt to clear it with movements that were practiced and smooth. Well. That confirmed that. She tossed the rifle back and Noel put it back in the case. She would have loved to thin the crowd a bit. Or have Combatant thin the crowd. That would require trusting a woman she'd already told she would kill if she didn't have need of her... what a strange alliance they'd come to.
"I'll take you close and we can check it over, but I want this done and over as soon as possible." The rifle was packed into the case, the case into the duffle, and the strap for both slung over Noel's shoulder. She would feel more comfortable if she had that pistol that was sitting at the bottom of some river somewhere. "That's probably just as well that you want to stay in close. It gives us the option for stealth. Plus, I don't know where my friend is and I'm gonna need a little touch time to find out." Touch time sounded nicer than tongue time... They needed a plan, most importantly an exit strategy. Worst case scenario, when they got to Muse, they had a whole new set of options on how to go nuclear.
It was kind of a miracle that Combatant had agreed. Sure, Noel'd threatened her, but the woman had a choice. She could have pummeled Noel before she'd had a chance. But she didn't.
Working from the few Party Devon memories she had left in combination with what she'd picked up just across the rift, Noel knew where to go: the training facility for new recruits. And she didn't really care how they got there so long as they stayed off radar. She had plenty of cash to get them a taxi ride or two for doubling back and throwing off any potential tails. It was enough to get them out to the middle of nowhere, but from there they had to go on foot. Noel lead the way through a wooded area without a thought as to the fact that they hadn't managed a single bit of small talk. That was 110% okay with Noel. Apparently it'd been okay with Combatant too.
The sun was just starting to dip down low when Noel stopped them from walking further. She had to trust that the memories she was following were correct at this time. "There's a facility ahead." Noel's eyes became distant as she described it. "There's a small area where the trees are clear, that'll be tricky. The front door is facing west. Not many windows." Noel blinked the memories away. They were too vague to know what they really needed, but it had been enough to get them here.
"I need to grab one of the security agents. Doesn't matter so long as it's done quietly and they're alive at the end. I'd prefer a smoker. Smokers know the best ways to sneak out when they're in a hurry. If we can leave them conscious, we won't put ourselves on any kind of timer. They won't remember us when I'm done."
His accusation about the sunglasses was so far out of left field that it sent Noel mentally reeling. Sunglasses? Was she meant to have his? Noel pat the top of her head in case she'd forgotten and pushed them up. Did they get smashed against the door? She thought it an odd thing to erase from her memory, but for all the precision she had in controlling other people's memories, she had very little control over what her own mind did. She was nonplussed by his disappointment and momentarily crushed until she realized that it didn't quite taste right. She processed his slowly spreading smile.
A joke.
She put her hands away, elbows on her knees. The joke wasn't exactly at her expense. He must have needed to lighten the mood. She was just so bad at that kind of thing and she'd just been in an adversarial situation with a man wearing his face. He didn't even get a twitch of a smile. She was already battling emotional whiplash.
"I don't know your mind from the inside, Hadden, but I feel like I know you well enough to say that you're not him. Take it as a cautionary tale or whatever, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd try to kick your butt if you started down that path." They were only similar by way of looks. Even then, party Devon had some serious circles under his eyes. Noel might have just been talking herself around to make sure she didn't put any of the fear that came from the evening's events onto the Hadden that was here and now. She was pretty sure she was right.
"I don't think I'll confuse the two of you again and now we can make sure everyone else is prepared as well. Not just for another you. Who knows who else might show?" She wasn't going to get emotional about any of this, no matter how bothered she'd been... or continued to be. It was Hadden's cross to bear, and only hers until she was allowed to put it down and walk away. "You can't be held responsible for what's already happened. Just be responsible for what we now know is possible."
Noel stood stiffly. Sitting down hadn't been the greatest of ideas. She made sure to keep her eyes down as they shook in her head, just one of the ways her body and power let her know she wasn't feeling great.
The Muse thing only made sense. She was a powerful asset whether she wanted to be or not. Too bad Noel hadn't seen her around in a bit. They could leave a voicemail or something.
> "Any idea how long he’s been on our side?”
Noel closed her eyes to more closely review some of the most recent days she may have captured snippets from. "A few days at most, I think. I wasn't grabbing memories chronologically." It was willpower that made her open her eyes again. A quick glance at Hadden and then back to the floor. "You wanted to go down to the CLASS area?"
Posted by Noel on Aug 31, 2017 21:06:00 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
S.U.P.E.R.
S.U.P.E.R. Agent
yellowgreen
Ranger
1,751
532
Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
"The conflicting information is fine. For the most part, I know how to separate out what I know from what I know from someone else." For one thing, her memories couldn't be manipulated by her power. Noel could fast forward, slow down, or topic jump between Devon's memories. The same could not be said of her own memories. Those were always chronological and painfully slow by comparison. Context clues were the other best chance she had to identify who believed what. Maybe someday Noel would get a nose piercing, just so she could see it and reference it in her own memory.
"What scared me was that I can't be in two places at once. I could crawl through his head or I could pay attention to my body, but not both. The more inconsistencies I found, the deeper I wanted to go into his memories. Lots of mixed signals. Add to that the fact that I can shut my power down, but I can't keep it from kicking on endlessly. A long kiss is a trap. I wish I could just shut it off. Instead, I just don't kiss people who mean something to me." Noel continued to report in a flat way, just too tired to get upset about it. This was nothing new and her adrenaline had receded like the tide sucking all the energy she had left back out to sea.
The one thing that did get some emotion was the thought of going down to CLASS. The siren song of bed was strong and she could only keep her leash on her eyes for so long. She sighed softly, but longer than was polite.
"If we're going anywhere I'm going to need sunglasses."
> “Do you think he’s simply sick? How dangerous? How much of him do you think is malicious?”
Noel found a spot just to the side of Hadden's mouth to fix her eyes. Safe. It was always better to be safe rather than scared.
"I don't actually think he's malicious. Dangerous? Oh yeah. To himself as much as anyone else, but a lot is aimed at gaining advantage." Wait. Was that conflicting? "I just mean... I looked for some good in him, some redeeming quality. There's some lines he won't cross." There was that at least.
She hadn't realized how close she'd been standing to the threshold until the door very nearly knocked into her nose. The memorymancer took a full step back and tried to think through what her options would be as she heard the footsteps march away.
The woman tossed the SIG into the river and that was a crying shame, if only because Noel knew Ranger would be wasting his time finding and customizing another. Hell. Maybe he'd enjoy that. So Noel couldn't exactly hold that against Combatant. The other woman could have gone on a crime spree with all the barrel marks leading back to Michael. From the few snips Noel had of her life, Noel didn't believe Combatant would, but she could have.
So what if she didn't come back?
Noel shifted her weight and thought about sniping her way through at least some of the guard around the SUPER facility that was Noel's best guess. They'd probably have time to ramp up security in the time it took her to get in close. Of course, there was the issue that Noel had missed. Probably the scope. Why'd Ranger stuck it in such a dumb spot? Maybe she should adjust...
She had the case open and was fiddling with it on the floor when she heard Combatant stomping back in her direction. Calmly she finished her adjustments, not at all bothered by the other woman's vitriol. Noel had put her in a difficult position. And Noel was mad. Combatant could just be mad too.
"Why would I want to meet you face to face? You wiped the floor with a man that can benchpress a fire truck. If I need to kill you, it'll be at range and before you get a say in the matter, thanks. I'd rather have you on my side today." Wait. Combatant got things from the people she touched and Combatant had punched Michael's guts out. Did that mean she could work the rifle and adjust the scope?
"Catch." Noel tossed the Remington 700 Police at Combatant to see what she did with it. Noel'd already cleared the weapon and had all the .300 Win Mags in the clips in her pocket. The worst Combatant could do was hit her with it. Which she'd probably deserve.
"The SUPER facility we need is out in the weeds a bit. We can have one of us at range, one up close, or we both go in close. I only have the one rifle." She shrugged. "When I said I want to kick in their teeth, I meant it. No holds barred, I want in that facility and I want to release all the people who are there against their will." And Noel would just have to pray that was the right place. She couldn't know for sure based on the information she had. It was a best guess sort of scenario.
Noel cracked her wrists in anticipation. "These guys are a boil on the *** of the earth." She wasn't normally one to curse, but she'd been munching the memories of those who did recently. "Let's go make them hurt."
Posted by Noel on Aug 28, 2017 19:45:59 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
S.U.P.E.R.
S.U.P.E.R. Agent
yellowgreen
Ranger
1,751
532
Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
She didn't realize how many scratches she'd had until each one had a little something to tell her. Noel wasn't entirely present in her body when she was viewing memories, but here and now she was feeling each and every one while she waited for Hadden to process. Her head was the worst part. She was likely to lose more than just flux time, she realized. There'd just been too many avenues of information to follow. There was no way she got it all and yet there was still too much crammed in between her ears.
Hadden looked as wrecked as she felt.
"I don't think that man plans, to be honest." She could feel every word resonate in that gash on her forehead, but they had important things to discuss. She could lick her wounds later. "I don't have a lot of his dealings from today. My power is memory and he won't have a lot in his state." Noel was getting distracted explaining the things she understood best rather than answering the question. She rubbed at the edge of the bandage on her head.
"He had no idea who I was. I'm not in his memory, that I can confirm. As for where he was, Devon was at a gay bar this evening. He had chicken for dinner which he ralphed onto a pool table in the dive I picked him up from. He told me 'the gays were too nice,' and that along with the inebriation was more than enough to let me know it wasn't you. But he had your codes. He had the number to get ahold of Haley and she called me. We both thought you might have just... had a really, really bad day." Noel couldn't help but glance around at the office. This door had been locked and as a result the office remained immaculate, but the door to his bedroom was open to the chaos.
"You... he was drunk enough that I told him kissing should be off the table. He wasn't in a state to consent, really. But a kiss from me doesn't mean anything." She could trace the logic back now. Without the context of her power it did sound like she was soliciting him for fun rather than offering a clinical dive into his memory. "I can see now how that sounds without him knowing me or what I can do." Report of the evening's events done, she looked to Hadden for further questions.
Alright. So the puppy was a flop. The American dream seemed a flop too. He had to figure out the right leverage and in these cases, a threat was not it. Big bad dogs would be big and bad if pushed, but even attack dogs still appreciate tummy scratches. In all honestly, Nolan was convinced Lenna would be an asset. It was the belief that put him on a plane and that belief that made him the one to throw the pitch and try to scratch the itch.
Nolan just needed to find the magic spot.
He started with what he knew and believed in. Lenna could be an asset if she wanted to. They didn't want her, if it wasn't voluntary. He didn't have to list her accolades, but it was impressive that he could know as much as he did, even if it was boosted by a psychic bit of cheating. He didn't delve into anything too personal, though he would have loved to ask about the rooftop ninja showdown. He stuck to things that any intelligence office worth its salt should be able to know, plus or minus a layer of detail.
From there, he explained how mutants were making a prolific change on their world and nobody seemed to know what to do about it. For now, they were limited to observations and limited removal of blatant problems. She could take from that what she wanted considering her specific skills with problem removal.
They got to travel, they got to observe, they got to make decisions of their own agency on the field which was practically a miracle considering that they were a government agency. The rub was that they had to maintain their objectives and the agency's secrecy. So long as they maintained their secrecy, the level of freedom agents were given was impressive.
All the while, Nolan wove in memories between his words. Subtle interactions that could build Lenna's trust in the government if she happened to remember them, things that might help her feel inclined to like this offer.
"Here's where I need you to give me something." Nolan had the decency to look abashed. "Remember? From the bet?" There was no way she didn't. She wasn't dumb or drunk enough despite the depressants and alcohol she was on. Just watching Lenna's reactions to his words gave Nolan some insight into how the gears were turning behind those eyes.
"Give me a week. I'm a trainer for the agents. You can come into my gym and kick my *ss up and down for the next seven days. Or go to someone else if I ruffle you wrong. All I'm asking is that you don't go lone wolf. Give the pack a chance. One week. See if we can't fit."
> ”***hole,” she grumbled. ”You hit me in the boob.”
"Shoulda been your face." It was interesting to note the woman falling into and out of her defensive and offensive stances. Noel made no move to defend herself. She was counting on the confusion to some degree, but also just too pissed to care. Somehow, she actually ended up in a position where she needed this woman on her side.
One big breath in. One big breath out.
Noel couldn't count on Combatant if Combatant didn't know anything. As much as it pleased Noel to hold the upper hand as far as information went, she needed Combatant's help more.
"On the other side of the rift, in defense of an old lady, you beat a man senseless and took his pistol. I'm not talking a couple punches and then you left, you systematically broke him down like a rotisserie chicken. For that, you are on the hook. I need the SIG you took off him if you still have it." According to Jude, he wasn't sure why she'd stopped. Noel was glad she did, but for all that Jude could see, she been on her way to hitting him more times than he could have taken. And then she stopped. No rhyme. No reason.
Noel shifted the duffle bag on her shoulder. She would wait here in the hallway if she had to. "As far as SUPER goes, I know you have a chip on your shoulder about them. I came across the rift to get intel and assassinate you at range so you wouldn't be breaking anyone else. Instead, I got a text message from a friend that needs help. I need you alive so that you can help me kick in SUPER's teeth. For that, I will let you off the hook." Noel clicked the screen of her phone on and turned it around to show to Combatant.
//Prisoner other side rift SUPER help
"I'm a cleaner, Combatant. I learn everything and eliminate what's no longer needed." Implied threat delivered, Noel clicked the screen of her phone back off.
Noel tried for a tight smile and whatever showed on her face didn't feel friendly in the least. Combatant, on the other hand, was perfectly friendly considering that Noel had shown up at her secret clubhouse.
Ah. Screw it. Noel wasn't going to be able to concentrate with the other woman's face being all in one piece so rather than bother with words, Noel acted. Noel's fist snapped out in something between a backhand and a straight out punch. Her stance hadn't been ready to transfer the whole power of her body, so it wouldn't do as much damage as Noel wanted it to, but it would mask the fact that it was coming.
Yes. Actually that was quite cathartic. If Noel didn't think know Combatant would wipe the floor with her, she would have done it again. As it was Noel had to settle with a very large heaving sigh.
Right. It was time to negotiate.
"I know where SUPER is and I need someone to help me beat their asses. If you die doing this, you're off the hook. As it is, I'm pissed at you for punching first and asking questions later. You coming or not?"
Ranger wasn't going to die and that fact brought the brunette mercy. Mercy in the form of a Remington 700 Police in .300 Win Mag. If she could put Michael down at close range, Noel knew she had no chance. So, it was Noel's idea to go long distance with this relationship. Michael had his stuffed in a case under the bed. Noel noticed because she'd tripped on it in the dark. Twice. Now it coming with her for a little personal revenge.
The memorymancer started where the fight went down. While it wasn't a great idea to go around licking the asphalt, Noel had seen the places where the brunette had touched the ground, where drops of sweat had fallen, where the other woman had pinned and pummeled Noel's beau. It took some time and it wasn't pretty, but eventually Noel got a faint hit.
She called herself Combatant. She lived across the rift in the upper levels of a hospital. She'd been trying to do the right thing too, but sometimes she got carried away.
Noel pondered these details as she packed a bag around the rifle case. Combatant wouldn't be getting carried away any more.
In the weeks since the rift opened, the powers that be had set up a rudimentary check system: metal detection wands, pat downs, visas, and all the kinds of things a girl who had murder in her heart didn't want to see. Noel had packed a duffel bag around the rifle and that would have to be good enough. One on one was her best and only chance to take Ranger's rifle across the rift.
It didn't pain her to lie, but Noel had never been very good at it. She lost plenty of time for all the times she answered wrong and erased the memory of the question and her answer, or she may have erased the discovery of the rifle from both her memory and the memory of her security agent. Eventually, Noel's pat down had happened so many times that a supervisor came to shuffle Noel along with an apology.
Thanks to Party Devon's visit, Haven knew cell phones didn't exactly work right across the rift, so Noel had gotten a signal booster in the hopes that if she stayed within a certain radius of the rift, she'd get a relay to her own universes' towers. The extra antenna made her slim cell phone fat and dorky, but it was worth it when Jude called to let Noel know that Michael was very nearly healed and trying to get himself discharged from the hospital. He also caught Noel up on the end of the fight with gory blow-by-blow detail that ended with the girl taking Ranger's hand gun. Great. One more thing to collect and smuggle across the rift once the girl was gone.
Noel found the hospital, knowing the name made that easy. She cased the upper floors from the tops of nearby buildings until she found a spot to set up across the way. There'd been an earth mutant that wasn't her target and a few others that rotated through, but once Noel saw her every hair stood on end and she pulled out her choice of weaponry: a magnificent beast of premium penetration and long range stopping power. It was obviously Ranger's gun with a Nightforce scope and an oversized bolt for better lock up. That man couldn't resist customizing his toys. It was just plain gravy that it made them a joy to shoot. Poetic justice that his rifle would be the thing that put Combatant down after she'd put Ranger down.
Because Combatant had to be stopped... didn't she?
Noel choked up on the stock in order to see through the scope. Why Ranger had the scope positioned that way didn't matter. Noel just had to use it like he would. It'd been a long time since she'd operated at range and there were so many things to remember. The temptation was real to take a taste and get a refresher course, but she was pretty sure she remembered enough. At this point his trust was more important to her than even Combatant's life, which was was now observing at 25 times magnification.
She looked... normal. Small, brunette, female. Noel recalled the look on Combatant's face when she was breaking Ranger's arm and the memorymancer adjusted the height of the stock to account for the changes that would occur after firing. Really, she should sit down and do the math for all this, but Noel was impatient. She just wanted it to get done. To be done and to feel... safe.
That's what this was about, she realized— Ranger was the biggest, baddest guy she knew. He was her rock. It was unsettling that this tiny lady lady had broken him down like a rotisserie chicken. Noel followed Combatant's path through the upper levels of the hospital, tracking her from window to window.
The girl stopped and looked around. Was this it? Noel thought she might have a clean shot and if the girl was onto her, she had to take it. Now.
Combatant put her hand out and a tiny kitten rubbed against the girl's fingers. She smiled, the faintest of smiles.
****.
Noel took the shot.
And missed. She missed by so much, Noel doubted the upper floors had any idea what had just happened.
Pissed was an understatement.
She packed it up in a hurry and jogged down the stairs, through the front doors of the hospital, and up a million gazillion more flights of stairs until she couldn't go upstairs any more. She knew there were more levels. She knew it. Noel circled around to the elevator and took a long moment to taste and then ruminate on the fingers that had pushed the upper level buttons.
Combatant. There. She found the girl's memories and copied which buttons she'd pushed to get to the correct level.
Only, now Noel was seeing what this place actually was. What this place meant to Combatant. And who Combatant was running from...
Ding.
The elevator doors opened to a small hallway and doors that Noel now knew were locked.
This was always her problem. The more she learned about others by getting into their head, the more she sympathized with them. No! Combatant was dangerous. And she had to be stopped.
Noel's phone buzzed with a text message and she suspended her moral quandary while she read a garbled message from Sveta.
//Prisoner other side rift SUPER help
The elevator doors started to close and that prompted Noel to slap her hand against the doors to reopen them enough for Noel to step through. Combatant knew more about SUPER than Party Devon had.
If this was real... If this wasn't some kind of joke or a trap... She might just need Combatant alive.
Noel knocked on the metal security door that kept the X-men hidden away.
Posted by Noel on Aug 22, 2017 11:17:27 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
S.U.P.E.R.
S.U.P.E.R. Agent
yellowgreen
Ranger
1,751
532
Dec 21, 2021 8:26:40 GMT -6
Ghost
On some level, Noel was glad that her power was not a showy one. Flying was a terrible, totally out of control experience. Motorcycles were bad enough, but add in the third dimension of elevation and a storm of wind, rain, and lightning? The memorymancer shivered as they crossed the threshold inside and had to pick their way over the wreck of Hadden's room. It wasn't just the chill of centralized air conditioning that had touched her. This entire evening had gone terribly wrong, really fast.
Now things were considerably more in control. Everything was locked down tight and Noel was glad to follow Hadden to his office. She just needed to work to put herself in a similar frame of mind. It was difficult after crawling through the head of someone so... emotional.
Paper and pen in hand, it took Noel a moment of closed eyes and concentration to pull up the memories she needed to review. She had both an outsider and an insider's perspective and it was sometimes difficult to separate the two. By the time she had, Hadden was back with some first aid.
> “This may sting…”
She nodded once by way of acknowledgement, words already going on paper. It did sting, but mostly because her brow was knit in concentration and the cleaning agent pooled in the creases. Every now and again, Noel would pause to close her eyes and review. Her hands, while left unsupervised, trembled against the paper. Her shoulders were ratcheted up tight, her whole body taut. These were not pleasant feelings nor pleasant memories. She was distilling years worth of information and writing the best summary with the most salient points.
When finished, she'd jotted down a full page and half of bullet points with a few scrawling notes of her own commentary off to the side: things from the two Devons' pasts that didn't match. Key moments where Party Devon had made a decision. Differences in the other Haven and this one. Notes about their key codes being the same, phone numbers, police involvement, etc. Noel gave Hadden a moment to scan the information. It was weirdly personal for him, no doubt. She spent her time watching his face and huddling in on herself.
"Would you like to ask me anything specific? I'd really like to dump this information once we think we're finished so it's important to ferret out what's important now, while I have it still."
