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 was still off balance from Hades' laughter when the door broke down. She strained to see, but that pulled her cut. No time to stand, instead she pulled a cushion from the couch to block the first barrage of attacks. More bodies than she could easily count streamed into the room. Or maybe it was hard to count because they were all dressed alike and all moving.
A weapon popped out the back of the cushion and Noel twisted her fabric shield to divert the blade without having to touch the weapon.
She swept out with her gladius, sending the sheath out on the first arc where it spun harmlessly into ankles and feet. The next swipe was honed steel, but a slice made on the move.
There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver between the couch and coffee table so she went under.
An explosion sounded in the small space and Noel felt rather than heard a small rain of debris pelt the apartment, but she was used to working through disorienting situations. Finally! A time when the side effects of her mutation were a benefit. Her hearing was shot and she had enough time to notice that she could no longer see Hades' feet among the throng of black covered ankles.
Noel planted her feet on the underside of the table and launched it out and away. There were so many of them, the wooden structure didn't get far, but she'd needed the room. Following in the wake of the table, Noel swiveled up to a knee and then to her feet.
There were two teams. She could tell that much from her initial scan of the invader's grouping. Something clicked in her head. Recovery. They weren't out to kill them just yet.
Noel deflected a testing jab from one and stretched just barely out of range of another swipe when something silver zwipped behind her.
Distraction tactics. They'd been herding her toward the third and that silver thing... she tried to trace it back to its origin assuming Hades was there, but there were too many enemies to keep track of. Too many paralyzing blades ready to take advantage of any weakness.
Well. She didn't have to pull her punches here. It was time to start evening the odds.
She wasn't called the shadow of a god for nothing.
A quick deflection up let Noel duck under the guard of one enemy and she stepped in close, sheering through his neck shallowly enough to avoid getting her weapon stuck in the bone but deep enough to end his life. She turned and pressed her body against his, taking his weight against her back and taking command of his sword arm with her free hand.
She yanked his arm, using the meat of of her enemy to catch an incoming strike and then let the man go so that his weight would trap the weapon beneath him. Now Noel had a weapon coated in a paralytic agent and her own more familiar weapon, one in each hand.
Wait. What? Noel looked from his glass back to Hades. He knew what that meant right? Indirect contact was as good as guaranteeing she would get information from him.
Then he slid her the paper.
Now? The word was on her lips, albeit soundlessly. Like. Right now?
Okay. So suddenly not speaking was probably just as suspicious as speaking, but suddenly Noel couldn't quite remember what they'd been talking about. "Uh. I found a note here from before. Hold on." She took a swig of his water as she fished out the note, not sure what he wanted to tell her from that, but... his note indicated weapons locations around the apartment and now that she knew about the Davronskis she could dip into memories about that.
Her eyes went a bit vague as she essentially downloaded heaps of information.
This apartment had layers. Weapons stashed all over. Had she the mental capacity to comment on the information overload, she would have realized all over again just how dead she would have been if Hades had wanted it to be so. She learned about methods. Specific Davronskis he'd clashed against. And just how large a scope they really had.
Goosebumps marched up her arms even as she finished fishing the paper out of her pocket. Noel spilled the cup onto Hades' paper. Oops. Not really.
"I uhm..." Her head was aching and it took her a moment to focus. It was her handwriting. Just some notes on the trial and its result and her resolution that it would no longer matter if she drank alcohol or not. It could even been a convenient excuse if she needed it so she was going to try it now. "I think I was at the bar because I got fired. Or restructured. Mundane, really. Heh." He didn't have to see the note, but if he wanted to she would pass it over.
It explained why she had no guns. She always had guns. It was her weapon of choice before she'd ever picked up a sword.
Noel worked her fingers across the lower buckle of her gladius' sheath and slipped the remaining shoulder strap down over her arm. She slipped the whole thing under the couch, hilt next to her hand. A girl might do that to get more comfortable. Totally not because she knew it'd be difficult for her to draw the weapon in her current state. She was as ready as she was going to be without giving anything else away.
It made her think better of him that he didn't simply answer her question. He considered his words and what they might mean.
> "On that note, can I trust you?"
She gave him the same courtesy. Would her actions endanger him? Would she choose a path that might put them at odds? "I try to live my life honestly and focus on the positive. That's why I went protection rather than..." She made a motion with her hand to indicate Hades and the way he'd chosen to expend his energy. "Years ago, things might have been different here, but I'm finding a more diverse definition for what makes a person good." And maybe that was a very girl answer, but it was a very personal and honest one for Noel. She wanted to be good and for so long she thought that had meant lawful.
So she accepted her paper and slipped down to the floor so she could use the coffee table as her writing surface. Then, starting with her address and a brief summary of events, she outlined what she would need to know from today should she loose any more memory. It was brief but descriptive. She was practiced at it.
Once she was done, Noel asked Hades to write his name at the bottom and she jotted down a quick description of him to follow. She folded the paper and stuffed it in her pocket, but froze with her hand still in her jeans.
She noticed two things. Her inner-pants holster was missing and there was already a folded bit of paper in her pocket.
He turned pensive, no doubt thinking over their previous contact and re-examining their communication. Had he lied to her? Had she lied to him? In Noel's experience, killers were often polar: wholly liar or brutally earnest. Hades seemed to fall in the latter category.
"I have the capacity to lie," Noel pointed out, "but not without consequence." Besides, she did NOT want on this guy's bad side.
"I've never tried a mental message as such, but you could touch an item and talk to it. Put it to your lips, even, and I wouldn't miss what you've said."
> "In short, Noel, I am an assassin and hit-man. As well as a mutant."
With her forewarning, Noel was able to nod along as if this were a normal, everyday confession. Her power in conjunction with basic logic could confirm. "You don't get a name like Hades for winning "lawn of the week."" Definitely a killer and a mutant. She didn't fail to notice that he didn't supply what kind of mutant he was. Unfair since she'd been pretty much forced out into the open, but... well, she was rather at his mercy for the time being.
"One thing I need to know," before she could eat and now that he knew roughly what she could do, "can I trust you?" He had a personal moral code. Maybe even honor. She could tell based on his actions.
Everyone will betray you eventually. She had that tattooed on her skin as a truth she'd learned the hard way. So she had to mentally append 'for now.' Because tonight wasn't over. Because he knew the threat she'd fallen into and she didn't. Because he held the keys for surviving this.
Could she trust him?
She would measure his answer with her power and then ask for pen and paper.
Noel moved to see what Hades did with the information she supplied for him. She was having a good run of things lately. She even remembered her current address. She knew that she should probably start taking notes now.
> "Why don't you grab a drink and some food if you want, and come with me to the living room..."
Yeah. They had plenty to talk about. Like his ninja prowess and the fact that he could swallow a sentence like "I erase memories" without flipping out like so many others. He also worked hard for eye contact despite her trying her best to evade it. Not personal. Not even an evasion, but people really didn't like her after she'd applied that memory power to them.
She chewed these thoughts and more over as she went to inspect the kitchen fare and decide if she could stomach it. He didn't seem worried about her being in his space. Like at all. Noel decided that rice was probably as safe as it got for upset tummies, but she would definitely need to rinse her mouth. She got as far as turning the water on before she realized that her hands had touched his keyboard.
The memorymancer glanced back at Hades over her shoulder. She could have some answers now...
She licked the pads of her fingers and focused. Sure, she would get memories centered around the hands and that was a bit disorienting at times, but knowing what a man did for a living with those hands was invaluable.
Memories poured in. She saw plenty of technology. He was no slouch in that department. And weapons. And blood. So much blood.
Noel stumbled at the kitchen sink with the water still running and memories slipping equally fast through her mind. So many memories!
The oldest. She tried to hone in on it, but it was slippy and dim. And old. Not Sebastian old. That had given her a migraine only a unicorn could heal, but this... she rinsed out her mouth with water and hastily shut the tap off. It wouldn't stop the mental connection she'd made, but it did help her stank breath.
200 years, she decided. He was something on the order of 200 years old and he was an assassin. Suddenly nervous and feeling quite inconsequential, Noel scooped out some fried rice for herself and filled a cup. Her hands were shaking as she sat in the living room with a man that could kill her 50,000 different ways.
And he had video evidence of her in a bar starting the fight.
He had said they were good. That they wouldn't fight. That hadn't been a lie, at least not at the moment he spoke the words, he believed them. Now...?
"If I didn't see the video, I wouldn't believe it myself." Despite the fact that she was intimidated to New Jersey and back, Noel found the footage fascinating. Did she move like that? Why was she even in a bar to begin with? "I have no memory of this event. Uh, but that's quite normal after a fight." She met his eyes for a brief moment and then focused on his ear. She gave that ear some sincere eye contact as she huffed out a breath and reminded herself that a fight was not what this assassin was after at the moment.
A residual echo of some altercations where Hades had used his bare hands to squeeze the life out of someone flicked behind her eyes.
Had to be careful.
"I don't drink." She could say that because she believed it to be true, she'd never drunk a drop in her life... that she could remember. "Uh. Under normal circumstances. Usually. Ugh." Noel put down the drink and the rice and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. It didn't really help the shaking or the headache.
"You are asking if I targeted you. I did not. I work in protection for chrissakes." She dropped her hands and did her absolute best to keep her power on its leash as she gave Hades the eye contact he seemed to crave. She was honest and direct. "I blamed you, another anomaly for my behavior which is equally inexcusable. If you'd been a normal man, God!" He would have been killed. She would have been killed.
Noel chewed her lip and tried her best to think of what he needed to know about her abilities. "Psycometry and erasure. And lies. I... taste lies."
This woman did not operate on logic. Noel just couldn't figure out what the heck to do with her. A threat for a threat she understood, but when Noel got angry? The girl just got more docile. Maybe even helpful?
Noel grunted to acknowledge the help and went to inspect said fire escape. It looked like a tetanus trap. Prooooobably still usable.
She put a tentative foot onto the metal grating and when nothing immediately crashed to the ground, Noel figured it was okay. That didn't mean she wouldn't be checking on each window on the way down to see if there was a less-likely to-kill-her way.
"I suck at being friends." Unless there was Gelato to be consumed rather than thrown. Or violence. Noel understood violence. "But I hope you find one." And that wasn't even sarcasm. Just a quiet little goodbye.
She yipped once when the landing beneath her squealed loose in its moorings, but after implementing a stomping test routine, Noel started to make her way back down to the ground. Back to where everybody ignored everybody else like they jolly well should.
Noel took command of the computer keyboard like a starving man might take command of a sandwich. The light of the screen felt like it was singing her corneas and sent her eyes into a rapid back and forth, but this was important.
She'd always been rather good with her hands, a first adopter with new technology, and a natural with her smartphone. It was her lifeline. Photos, numbers, names. Literally everything about her life was carefully documented. She couldn't lock the phone for fear that she would forget how to unlock it. She'd been meaning to upgrade to one of those fingerprint phones, but.. well, it just seemed like so much marketing right now rather than actual, reliable security.
Quick fingers brought her through a version of the browser that wouldn't keep cookies, onto the internet, through her password protected cloud backup, and straight into the GPS locator and remote wipe functionality of her phone.
The phone was a few blocks from the bar. South. And moving.
Her blood ran cold. She was almost certain that they'd ridden north.
Noel hit the emergency remote wipe and trusted the software to handle itself. She turned to Hades, expecting him to be hovering. The memorymancer caught his eyes and realized her mutation was actively making her pupils shake so she re-directed her focus to his lips and talked toward his chin like that was perfectly normal.
She opened her mouth, but found herself hesitating. She just didn't want to spout out her every weakness to a guy, a dangerous guy, she'd just met. "I..." She rolled her lips in on themselves, a nervous habit that could easily lead to lip chewing.
"Oh hell, I don't even know where to start." Noel all but fell into a chair at the table and then winced out her regret. "Someone had my phone. GPS had it heading south. I erase memories and that's a power that cuts both ways. My backup, my life, is documented very carefully so I can fill in the holes." She tapped her forearm through the damp sleeve to indicate her tattoo. "I have to be thorough."
And now her mouth felt like it was full of sawdust and her head was throbbing full throttle. And somebody had her phone. "I'm not worried about the data I lost. I'm worried about how much somebody saw in the time between when I lost it and now."
Forehead met sun-warmed metal as Noel let her head fall forward.
Crap on a stick.
"I'm not sure why you feel the need to be so toxic." Noel dragged herself away from the door and turned to face the other woman, hands on hips. If this turned into a cat fight, so be it.
"You didn't get your man. Or your way. Boo-freaking-hoo. You've got your head too far up your own butt to see anything else." Maybe that would have sounded a bit more authoritative if she hadn't hesitated a beat before deciding on the word 'butt.' "Get over yourself. Geezus."
And, just because she could, Noel went to look over the edge of the roof. She was not above climbing down the face of the building if she had to. This is why she didn't get along with girls. To freaking unnecessarily emotional.
Black Ops? It was the first things that didn't taste of the full truth. Hades didn't have a military bearing. Not exactly. Something to think about.
He was courteous and gave her space, promised to bring her some things she needed. It was sort of strange. Did most people make instant allies like this? He seemed... kind. Well, at least polar. Brutal to his enemy. Protective of his ally. He probably wanted something from her.
One thing at a time.
Once she was sure she was alone, Noel took a moment to let herself hurt and explore her current limitations. She bent forward, lifted her arms, and tested her range of motion until it hurt. She was not pleased. She'd been incredibly sloppy.
Noel peeled her button up shirt off and shimmied her stretchy tank down rather than lifting her arms up to get it over her head. She had to find a mirror to properly inspect her cut. The wound was long, but most of it had stopped bleeding. It seemed deeper at her shoulder than at her neck. Probably didn't need stitches. Probably. Noel cleaned the cut with alcohol and antiseptic then closed it as best she could with butterfly closure bandaids. She plopped a large adhesive bandage on her shoulder where the blood was still seeping out and called that one good.
The bruising... Noel explored her ribs tenderly. As far as she could remember there wasn't anything that could be done if the ribs were cracked. If broken, they'd need to make sure the pieces weren't shredding her on the inside, but she felt that she was moving too well for anything to be really broken. She decided on some tiger balm. Noel had to dig for it, but she did find some. Anybody who came home with regular bruising kept some of the stinky ointment on hand. Especially ninjas.
Her clothes were so much scrap. Her bra strap held on by a few strings. Her shirts were bloodied and ripped. She kept her under tank (it was only missing one shoulder and minorly bloodied), but discarded the rest into the sink and doused them with hydrogen peroxide, not sure why, but that's what people did.
She needed to make a few notes on her phone just in case, but overall Noel was feeling a bit better. The memorymancer pat the back pocket of her jeans and hesitated. No phone. She checked all her pockets. And all around the room. She dashed out of the medical room so fast, she kicked right into the water Hades had left for her. "Crap." It spilled right onto the shirt she scooped up. Another button up. He'd taken her soreness into account, no doubt.
Noel was only half-way into the new, though damp, shirt when she found the kitchen area. It smelled awesome and did make her reconsider his food offer, but there were more important things afoot. "I need a computer." She held her side and grit her teeth as she tried to shrug her way into the damp shirt. "Need to remote wipe my phone. It's not here."
She let herself sag then. Good. Even better that he gave her a quick recap of what they'd just been through. Noel wasn't sure what the greater danger he'd roped her into might be, but... well, future Noel could worry about that one.
> "Come."
She followed him. It might seem weird that she trusted him, but she hadn't tasted a single lie thus far.
"So are you somebody's stunt double or..." or did she even want to know? Noel pushed the flyaways from her face that had plastered themselves to her sweat. She was going to need a shower.
> "Let me know if you need any help. I am medically qualified."
"I am not." She inspected the spread all the same. If things looked even the slightest bit used, she could see how it was used previously. Though medical equipment was usually well cleaned. Noel poked at the flap of cloth at her shoulder and looked back through the cabinet of supplies. She would need a shirt too. After that shower.
Food? Noel still felt queasy. After that passed, maybe she'd want some, but for now. "Maybe just water? Please." The please might have been an afterthought, but at least she'd remembered to tack it on.
> "By the way what should I call you?"
She'd already turned back to the medical cabinets so he didn't get the full force of her odd expression. In answer, she pulled back the sleeve of her left arm and showed him the first tattoo she'd ever gotten. It was a black tattoo on her wrist. Serif font. An inch or so tall. "Noel." That's all it said. And that was that. She went back to her poking about. Once he was gone, she would get that shirt off and see what she could do.
Noel's grip on Hades was in direct proportion to their current speed. Considering how very FAST they had gone, it probably wasn't only her ribs that would be hurting tonight.
Eventually they did slow and exit the highway. Eventually they slowed more on residential streets. Eventually they even came to a stop.
Hades was off the bike and had already plugged it in before Noel had the chance to loosen her fear stiffened muscles. Well. This was a bit embarrassing. She considered how awkward it would be to keep the helmet on.
"Uh. These are yours." Noel held out her hand with the few caltrops there were left. Only after he'd taken them did she nervously tug off the helmet and dismount from the bike. Nope. Still not a fan of the things. "Glad you're not dead." Hades. Not someone she knew before since he had introduced himself. Also. She was still pretty convinced he was a ninja.
Her legs were rubber. She had a slash in the shoulder of her shirt that gaped enough to expose tattoo covered skin. The ribs, of course, were of minor concern. She stood like it didn't matter and looked him square in the eyes, trying her hardest not to let her mutation slip.
"We're not going to fight, are we? I mean. We're okay?" Because considering her state versus his, she was pretty sure she'd lose. Didn't mean that she hadn't given herself room to react, though.
Could she ride? "I can avoid falling off." She flicked her eyes down and away from his because her power was potent and currently off its leash. Hades? Hades. Hades. Her lips mouthed the word as she repeated the name to herself. She had a higher chance of remembering if she actually tried to commit her memory to the task.
And if she was going to get onto a death trap with someone who was just introducing himself, her sword couldn't stay in hand. She wiped the weapon on her sleeve once, flipped it and wiped again. Then, reaching behind her back with her off hand, she caught the tip of the sheath to better position the mouth. Noel sucked in a quick breath then flipped her weapon up, over, and into its proper seating in a quick, practiced move.
Cruuuuud that hurt. If she was hunched a bit when she accepted the helmet, it was because of those ribs. She sure as heck wasn't about to complain, though. No time.
"Caltrops." So, she was getting onto a deathtrap motorcycle with a ninja? She'd had weirder escapes. She plopped the helmet in place, tucked her brad into the back of her pants, grabbed the spiked weapons and molded herself to Hades' back. She hated motorcycles. She'd refused the last person to offer and she'd actually trusted... who had it been again?
Didn't matter. Noel held on tight.
"Geezus!" She held on tighter once they were actually going.
It wasn't until she noticed the sound of the other motorcycles, that Noel realized she'd been closing her eyes. These things were SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS!
And apparently it was more dangerous to do nothing. She didn't bother talking and didn't DARE distract Hades as he was navigating already dark streets. He wove through traffic when there was any, taking turns tight enough to make Noel feel ill. At least she felt like he was in control of the vehicle.
He knew what he was doing, but it still wasn't enough to shake all of the others. When someone chucked a pipe at their back wheel, Noel decided it was time. They were too close. She tried to be casual about releasing about half the caltrops as they speed between two buildings in a space no car would ever fit. Quickly she snaked her arm back around Hades' middle.
Noel bristled in response to Tses' words, but once Noel reminded herself who those words are coming from, the memorymancer realized the girl was just (still) being a brat. In her world, there was plenty of blame to throw around. Respect, loyalty, and choice seemed to take no part.
They were so not ever going to be friends.
"Well then," since everything the blonde mentioned seemed out of either of their control, "I suppose you'll be chucking yourself off the rooftop next. Enjoy the ride." Noel gave her a little salute and turned to the rooftop access door. Noel most definitely did not condone suicide, but GEEZ. The whole good person thing resonated with Noel a lot. The self pity? Not so much. And Noel could prooobably out-self-pity her.
Noel pulled on the door handle. "Uh." Jiggle, jiggle. Was that locked when she came up here? Noel knocked on the door. "Hello!?" She slammed her open palm against the door next. No way someone didn't hear that.
Aaaand now she was stuck on the rooftop with someone she'd just told to jump off. If she were the cursing type, now would be the time. "Fartknocker."
She was SO not giving relationship advice to the person Ty had made her promise not to let him back near. It was just a bit too confusing.
The girl should simply go back and hit him. That was Noel's knee-jerk response. She didn't see what could possibly be stopping the girl. Ty was getting a bit better the last she saw, but for the most part, he wasn't a scrapper like this one. More like a punching bag.
But then she actually thought about the words she'd heard. Disappearing, disappointing man.
So. He ran off again. Noel was shaking her head before she'd even really registered her disappointment in the guy. He needed to make a decision and stick with it. That wishy-washy crap was not respectable in the least. "Before we met, he told me to keep him away from you. Not to let him see you again. And to hit him if he ever did." Or something along those lines anyway.
It had been important enough that she'd made several memories about it. Repeating the words. Setting alarms. "Then at Christmas time he up and changed his mind." All that effort wasted. For what? Him just to change his mind again?
Stupid. The brunette probably shouldn't have even told her THAT.
Noel eyed the girl. Their meeting had been too brief for her to remember more than the girl's face and attitude. She'd been more focused on her friend. The one that was now gone. "You going to let someone else make you sulk all day?" Get up. Move on. The undertone was there even if the words weren't spoken out lout.
