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.
A blessing in disguise was the fact that Keith hadn’t been settled in his gifted building long enough to install cameras outside. She didn’t need to worry about him knowing in advance that Eli was dead. It was even more of a blessing that she had thought to snag his phone off of his still-warm body before fleeing. As she rolled up on the front door where the buzzer was, she opened his phone and sent another text.
’i’m here.
It was the second text she’d sent along the way back. 10 minutes prior she’d sent along one letting him know that ‘Eli’ was on his way back. She kept it simple, like all of the other messages she’d seen in Eli’s history. Keith had responded back with a ‘Good’ and that had been that.
She tapped the buzzer as she prepped the pistol in the pocket of her blazer, which she had been given to wear in place of her hoodie.
A moment later the lock clicked and she headed in. She could immediately hear James talking, loudly, from the back.
”... Bet she struggled… looked like a struggler to me. Good thing she didn’t have any of those fake claws all the girls wear these days.” She paused in the doorway, listening.
”Would have loved to have been there to see it, though. That moment as the light leaves the eyes is just-” He made a sound like kissing the air, and she couldn’t see the accompanying gesture that went along with it.
Keith chuckled, but it was an empty laugh. He didn’t seem to enjoy actually killing people as much as his companions did. Threw people away like broken tools, yes, but she hadn’t seen anything from him that led her to believe he was sick in the same ways.
… Still sick enough to warrant death though, that was for sure.
”You and Eli… man, you two really are cut from the same stone aren’t ya?’”
She stood there as a soft argument broke out, with James adamantly trying to prove he was ‘less sick’ than Eli was because he didn’t enjoy taking people apart. He just enjoyed the feeling of overpowering someone and dominating them, and if his B*tch of an ex hadn’t been so weak she wouldn’t have died from him roughing her up and…. blah blah blah. If she hadn’t been so focused on pumping herself up, she might have rolled her eyes. Sounded like someone trying to split hairs, to her.
Their gross conversation faded into background noise as she stood there and prepped the gun in her hands. Didn’t want it jamming or anything or all of this was in vain.
It was a small gun, so she had 5 shots. Technically six, since there was a round already chambered. All she needed to go was not panic and miss… and this was all over.
Juniper tried to ignore the fact that her whole body felt slick with a sheen of sweat, and a chill had settled over her.
...This was it. Once she crossed that threshold there was no going back.
”....Ay, Eli… what’re you doin in there?”
Her uncle's voice snapped her out of her spiraling thoughts, and her grip tightened on the gun.
Now or never.
A few quick strides brought her to the door separating them. She grabbed the knob, twisted it, and pushed it open. As soon as she rounded the flaking, white painted door she lifted the pistol and aimed it dead center on Keith’s chest.
He took too long to react, eyes widening in shock at seeing her instead of Eli.
She pulled the trigger three times, and the gun jerked in her grip.
He was hit twice in the chest, once slightly left of the sternum and in the ribs, and a second time three inches higher toward his armpit. Her last bullet hit him in the left arm as he was jerking away, and James hopped in her line of sight.
Without flinching, she re-aligned her sights and emptied the last three bullets in his direction.
The older man crossed his thick arms in front of his chest and face and took the bullets without even flinching.
Juniper knew she was in trouble when she saw the holes they had left in him, but no blood.
“@#$%.”
”@#$%ING KILL HER!”
Keith was shouting. He’d absolutely lost his practiced cool as he limped off to the side and covered his chest wounds with his hands.
James sprinted right for her, and on reflex, she hurled the empty metal gun at his head. It hit and bounced off harmlessly.
He closed in quicker than she thought he could have and dove at her in an attempt to get his arms around her and take her to the floor.
Her power listened to her for once and she was able to phase herself through him off to the side.
”Yes! I love the cat and mouse game!
Panic clouded her mind and all she could think to do was make a run for it. She didn’t have any weapons and her power was unreliable right now. She made a dash for the door-
...only to find it suddenly blocked by James. The older man was grinning from ear to ear. Once neatly combed hair disheveled from the sudden action, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Keith managed to collect himself enough to sit back down in his now blood-spattered chair, and he was furious.
”I don’t know how the @#$% you managed to get away from Eli with that collar still on-” He gasped and winced, applying more pressure to the wound in his ribs. ”....But i’m going to make sure you die here, you little @#$%^.”
James made a grab for her again and she tried to phase but failed. His larger hand fisted in the fabric of her blazer in the crook of her neck. He jerked her up off her feet and supported the rest of her weight with a hand on her stomach.
”Well, Keith, what do we do with her? You got any ideas, or do I get to get creative.”[/i]
Keith swore and forced himself up a little more. ”Find out where the diamonds are first…. Where Eli and Simon are…”
She tried to phase out of his grip again, but still couldn’t connect fully with her power again. A shoe fell off as one foot randomly phased, but that was it.
James easily carted her small body over to the old pool table they had played many games on, and with mutation boosted strength he hurled her down straight on top of it.
The old wood and board gave in to the assault immediately, caving in with a loud crash and the creaking of splintering wood.
The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, which made trying to scramble out of the pile seem impossible. Her chest seized and it felt like she couldn’t get a breath in. Splinters stabbed into the exposed parts of her arms and a few errant nails newly poked out left scratches through her jeans.
”You heard him, Missy. Better start talking now, before I really get riled up.”[/color] James stood above, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles.
Juniper grabbed one of the broken legs of the table and tried to swing it into the side of his knee. It hit but seemingly didn’t seem to do anything.
”Oh… girly, you are so sorely outmatched. You might as well stop while you’re ahead.”
She didn't have any sleeves to roll up out of the way for once, so she was just gonna go marching off back toward the mansion bare-armed instead. Zek distracted her long enough for her to stick around though, if only for a moment. She hopped up to high-five Zek as he passed and officially tag herself out... though she wasn't sure why because she was still pretty set on shaking some answers out of someone for the attack on Eisen.
And then, out of thin air, Smithers appeared. Blood all over his face. She didn't go much further than just connecting the dots to her poor rave buddies wounds.
Green man and vampire-romance-book lady put their hands in to tag out, and Juniper charged past them at the older man. She wasn't really sure what she was gonna do when she got to him. Like... pick him up and yeet him? Would he break a hip?
... Phase him into a tree and demand answers and the pool room key?
Throat punch?
She'd gotten better at throat punches recently.
Probably best to get that gun away from him first, since it was the real deal and all.
Juniper closed in and shifted her gaze from the weapon to his face, locked eyes with him as she pumped herself up to like... make a grab for him or whatever and-
...
Suddenly staggered to a stop.
The forest around her faded and tunneled away into fuzzy black, and all of the sound muted.
"I can't decide if you are a complete imbecile for dressing like that this time of year, and for a hunt no less... of if there is something yet undiscovered driving such an odd choice."
She could hear him perfectly fine, which was weird because it felt like she had cotton in her ears.
She was also keenly aware of how she could feel her own heart frantically beating but wasn't really sure why. What had she just been doing?
She wasn't quite close enough for him to reach out and touch her, nor did he make any move to, but he did un-sling his gun and get it settled in his arms.
It happened so quickly. One moment she was running at him, the next she was standing like she'd been rooted to the ground, unable to move and growing fully aware of it.
"Good thing this... game... doesn't involve tagging out. Though I had to admit I was certainly hoping for more of a challenge."
His finger settled on the trigger. She willed herself to move but couldn't. All she could do was watch through dazed, half-lidded eyes as he aimed the barrel directly at her chest and got ready to pull the trigger.
"Oh well, some hunts are more vigorous than others. All part of the game, my dear."
"THE HOLY TRINITY OF ENLIGHTENED ONES! WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED!"
The group riled up even more, and the sounds of chanting and moaning kicked up another degree. Oh Jeez! This was worse than a full-blown mating frenzy of toads in the spring wetlands back home. "TIME TO GO!" Juniper yelled, barely managing to get her voice louder than all the nudists around her.
She lost her robe somewhere in the frenzy, phased it off as someone grabbed it. Her backpack swung around into the face of one nake woman reaching for her, it started vibrating loudly and was lost in the swell as well. She was too short to see above the bodies surrounding her, so... that only left up!
Still almost completely phased, she clambered up onto the people around her like they were fleshy ladders. She could see Carrick having as much fun as she was, and Zek attempting to get to the naked staff lady... for some reason.
Juniper wobbled on her moving person perch, with greedy hands trying and failing to grapple her before she started hopping from one person to another. One person got a foot to the face and moaned in delight about it, another wasn't even aware she use his back as a springboard as she floor-is-lava'd her way over toward Carrick.
The winged one who had unintentionally started the whole frenzy roared, and it did legitimately work to scare away the desperate nudists near him. Juniper landed in the nicely vacated circle as they all scampered into the dark corners like lusty, frightened hampsters.
"Right, SO, this was a bust. Everyone wanna- Hey, where's Zek going?"
He was still on a mission apparently.
Staff lady, nude as the day she was born, lifted her staff high and shouted a bunch of stuff that sounded like some kind of magical incantation and... then pushed a little button on her staff and the large gem on the top started glowing in a rainbow of colors. Was that like... a staff disco ball? Kinda.
The top started spinning, casting beads of color all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. Funky music started playing from somewhere. It really was turning into a dance party, just like... the horizontal shuffle.
Staff Lady started dancing at Zek as he neared.
Juniper got ready to grab Carrick and physically haul his nude butt out of there, when, suddenly.... it all died down.
The piles of bodies who had previously been writhing around were now laying prone. Lots of snoring was happening and wheezy heavy breathing.
Juniper paused mid grab at Carrick.
"... Huh." She pulled her phone out and checked the time. "That was... like a minute, tops. Holy @#$% that's sad."
For a bunch of people who appeared to be built like Greek Gods, their stamina was like... nonexistent. Absolute Zero. Maybe even in the Negatives?
She didn't shrug. She did stick her tongue out at him because she was absolutely still that much of a child in a lot of ways. They could cheat if they wanted, but she hadn't ever been able to play games like this when she was younger. She would absolutely not be cheating! She did that enough in like, every other aspect of her life, anyway!
And then Zek was there, and he said she could pet his horse, but then said she shouldn't. She ended up standing there awkwardly with her hand out, fingers wiggling because she really wanted to .
"Whaaaat? We could have joined the hunters? No way! Why would anyone want to be the hunted, then?"
He came up with the MOST brilliant plan ever, which she absolutely agreed with. "YES. POOL PARTY!" He inched forward, she sprang with as much gusto as she could muster right into his reaching hand. A pool party was much more fun than tromping through the woods, anyway. They had enough people to play Marco Polo!
... And then a shot rang out from back the way they had come, back toward the house. One she recognized.
Why... was someone using a shotgun? Did they make Nerf guns that sounded like that? Maybe a gun with blanks?
That didn't make any damn sense.
Juniper, who had turned to look at Elliot and Bella as they dropped even more questionable comments. She blinked.
Whelp.
Juniper left the group, sprinting away at full speed through trees and foliage alike and abandoning her pool inflatable beside Zek's horse. Speedo-man Eisen, who had all of the glowsticks for the rave, was still missing from the group. Had he joined the hunters as well? If so... who was shooting at who?
It didn't take her long to find him, and she didn't like what she saw. Glowstick guy was there, looking like he had been mauled, and there were spatters of blood all around. She spotted the shotgun, recognized it as being real... almost the same model her daddy had back home, and suddenly felt like there was a lot less fun to be had.
Damnit, why did dip@#$&'s have to ruin her fun all the time by being as$holes?
"Hey." She squatted and patted at Eisen's face gently, before giving up and deciding to just hoist him up, fully phased, onto her shoulder.
She used a toe to peek at the mess under his coat, cringed, and grabbed the empty, blood-soaked gun.
It was a hurried, quiet sprint back. She didn't like having to think about these kinds of things.
She emerged from the bushed with a frown on her face, a bloody gun in one hand, and Eisen prone over the other shoulder.
"... Triplets are dead, probably. I didn't stick around to check. Looks like they scratched the @#$% out of Glowsticks."
She went to set him down, as carefully as she was able, and pulled her power away once he was settled.
"... I don't know how to... fix all that. Is he gonna die?"
The gun in her hands fell into chunks as she selectively phased off different parts, rendering it useless.
With a sigh, she kicked her flipflops off, visibly annoyed, and linked her fingers to stretch them, cracking her knuckles in the process.
"You want the Zebra floaty too, Zek?" She looked for it- it was already gone. Heh.
"I'm gonna go find some people and kick some asses."
"Wh-...what? But they have guns! Lots of guns! And Jacob-!" Bella piped up, still hiding over by Elliott.
"Don't care. They can't hurt me... but I can hurt them."
The gun was heavy in the waistband of her jeans as she walked back to the place this had all started. Well… no, actually. This had all started years before, way back in Ohio in unfamiliar woods and with a heavy hand on her small shoulder.
This was years overdue.
Her dad had taught her how to shoot at a young age. Always be prepared, he had said. He’d meant for her to be prepared for the eventuality of some kind of war. A split between the people and the government, maybe, or maybe just when everything went to hell and resources were short. He hadn’t exactly been a drill sergeant… her daddy was a bit softer than that. He didn’t often raise his voice with a lady around unless another man was present and posed some perceived danger.
He’d taught her how to hold one in her small hands, how to aim without shaking, not to squint one eye when focusing. He’d taught her how to dismantle a lot of the guns he’d had. How to clean them and put them back together.
She was confident in her aim even if she hadn’t ever actually killed anyone or anything with a gun before. She was confident she could do it.
…. Right?
The walk there was quiet. Even the noise from the city seemed muted. People weren’t yelling as much. Cars weren’t honking. It kinda felt like she was marching toward the climactic end of a movie… the final confrontation. Only… she wasn’t a hero. She wasn’t swooping in to save someone or stop the city from being destroyed. She wasn’t even swooping in to save herself.
Yeah, she still had the collar on and her damn power shorted out before she could get it off… but that didn’t stop her from running, right? It was locked on, but off. All she needed to do was leave.
… But Simon’s damn words were ringing in her head.
You deserve the satisfaction more than I do, kid.
Did she? She supposed she did, but… there were others, too. She wasn’t the only one. Could she shoulder all of the pain of every other child who’d ever been ruined by that man and carry out their collective revenge for them? She… wasn’t sure. Maybe she had to though. She could recall, with vivid clarity she didn’t want or ask for, the face of a young boy who had committed suicide just before the proceedings three years back. He’d been one of the three to testify against Keith. He’d chosen to take himself out before he was forced to confront all of the horrible things that had happened to him again, in front of everyone.
Maybe she owed it to them, all of them, because she had been given a chance.
The pistol was warm, sweaty. Tucked up against her body as she moved, both determined and terrified to get back.
Her Uncle was waiting. Not for her though, for Eli. She could imagine him sitting and waiting, lounging in his chair with phone out, waiting for a call or a text. She knew James was supposed to be there, too. He was a problem, but she supposed it didn’t matter much as long as she could take out Keith first.
She paused at a crosswalk, running one hand through her short choppy hair.
Yeah. She supposed that’s what it really came down to then? There wasn't really an expectation of surviving this. She couldn’t go in assuming she’d come out breathing in the end. She was going into this knowing full well it was a suicide mission. She didn’t have her power to rely on faithfully to get her out of this one.
Her brows pinched, but she smiled ruefully through the fear that bloomed in her chest.
It wasn’t gonna be pretty, but at least if she could pull it off the world would be a slightly better place, right?
Getting into that van felt like a death sentence, but since she didn't have any other options really, she had to do it. She slid in after Simon, settling herself on one of the back seats, and immediately curled in on herself. The pain was up there... not quite as bad as like... a kidney stone or a ruptured organ, but pretty high. Every bump in the road only made it worse, too.
As Eli drove and her anxiety rose, she uncurled in order to look around. She caught Simon's nod and grimaced. It was almost time.
When they pulled into the alley and stopped, she did as directed. Felt like puking as soon as her feet hit the ground again, but she managed to keep it all in. She supposed having a mostly empty stomach helped in that regard.
She paused two steps away from the van, turning back around the same time Eli pulled the gun.
... Ha. That was almost funny if this all didn't suck so much. Should she bother telling him it'd be a fool's errand trying to forcefully separate her from whatever diamonds were currently merged with her organs? Hope he liked useless liver gems.
She was too tired to respond to him at that point anyway. Not even when he called her Sweety and threatened her knees. She hazarded a glance at Simon though, maybe out of habit, since she was more or less useless right then.
"Now now, Mister Bier... No reason to be so bitter. For you, it's nothing personal. Just business."
That... almost made it sound like it was personal, for her. What had she ever done to piss this dude off?
Of course, she didn't have access like Simon to hearing the bits and pieces of information floating around Eli's head. Including the bit where Keith had asked him to make her suffer.
Even after all Simon had told her about Eli and all of the things she had heard first hand, she looked away when he pulled the trigger. She... still didn't like that. Didn't like seeing it. Hearing it. Being around it in general, but... oh well, she didn't really have a choice right now.
Eli's body fell to the pavement with a heavy thump, and only after Simon turned to her did she look back. She just would avoid looking down if she could. Her collar had beeped, signaling that it was off, and thus she was temporarily free.
She didn't waste any time focusing on reaching on into herself to dig the bag back out and missed all of the tension in the air. She didn't want to be pooping out diamonds for weeks, or god forbid having one get lodged somewhere.
She handed the bag to him and eyed the gun warily. She hesitated for a moment before ultimately taking it.
"Yeah... Thanks."
She was still standing there as he got back into the van and left, looking down at the gun with a frown on her lips.
A week passed in the blink of an eye. They were back in the vault, deep in the process of the actual heist, and she was... worried. The first part had gone off without a hitch, but she hadn't had to use her power yet.
... Of all the times for her power to start to give out!
Simon was aware of the trouble, she was sure. She hadn't vocalized it out loud but she had made sure to think about it once he was around. Everything kinda depended on her from this point on.
She nodded and then felt dumb for nodding in the dark. Juniper headed for the locker her pointed out with the lights. Her nerves almost got the better of her as she approached. Her palms felt sweaty. Normally this wasn't a big thing... but now? @#$%, she didn't know.
"Right... here goes." Taking a deep breath to calm herself and focus, she pressed her fingers forward into the metal door. It protested at first, almost like it was refusing to give way as her power flickered. She held her breath, sweat dripping from her brow, and then suddenly her hand popped on in. She snagged the bag full of diamonds with the utmost care, pulling it back out and carefully storing it away inside of her before she lost control of her phasing again.
... Hopefully, she could get it back out, now.
"We're good." She shifted, waiting for her collar to click back on and the uncomfortable feeling of something alien to settle in her gut.
The vault door started slowly swinging open only a moment later, and Juniper was standing dutifully at her Grandpa's side, holding onto one of his arms gently. She covered feeling absolutely sick to her stomach with as much of a worried expression as she could.
A few moments later they were walking back outside, shuffling away from the rest of the workers and patrons who had been in the bank. The poor managers were getting an ear full from wealthy patrons who weren't very happy.
Bee-beep
Juniper winced. Ah... there it was. Pain and discomfort erupted immediately, and she might have stumbled slightly before recovering. Nothing quite beat a punch to the gut from the inside.
At the end of the block, she could see the van Eli was waiting in, and her trepidation started to grow.
... Now they were getting into the messy parts. The dark parts.
Her smile crawled back a little. "I did." Juniper had no clue who this kid was, but she was adorable that was for sure. "That's not how it happens for everyone, but for me it did. Most people think it's pretty young." Herself included.
She shifted on her feet again, stuffing one hand in a pocket of her coat and encountering the gooey lid again. Whelp. That hand wasn't coming back out until she was away from people. "I haven't. I feel like- uh, for me at least, it's hard to stop loving? Like... It's still there, but the person I love died, so... it just hurts... Because I still want him here. You know?"
She forced a wide grin to keep the feelings at bay, the ones that were etched on the inside of her ribs, close by her heart. "Yup! It's gotta be something that you feel. It's not something that anyone else can make you feel." She paused, reflecting on her current feelings and the general sense of Bleh that came with them.
"Yeah, you can stop loving. That's normal. People fall out of love all the time, too. It's not like a... uh... lifetime thing, all the time. Not like in fairytales."
"...Annnnd, even if you do fall in love sometimes, you don't have to like... act on it? Sometimes people like to love someone without being in a relationship or whatever. Sometimes people fall in love and they don't wanna be. You don't gotta do anything you don't wanna, and anyone who tells you different sucks and shouldn't be listened to."
She heard someone call out her name behind her and full-body flinched.
"Gottagohopeithelped!"
And then she took off in a sprint, very obviously trying to evade the one who had spotted her.
She was nodding along, poking at her food, up until the kid pointed one out. A CAPITAL P in the school?! Her head whipped around at breakneck speed. Was she gonna have to put some pervert through a wall and then have one of the teachers flay him alive?
After a moment, she let her hackles back down. Maybe she'd run it past Saph or Becca or something later, just in case. "A ten? Oh. You met a chad. They try to place like, a value on women with a number, like... based on looks. Still sounds like a creep though."
She chewed on a mouthful of delicious cold ravioli as the girl explained. Valentine's day? Oh @#$% was that coming up again already? Did that mean she'd have to make cards and stuff? She didn't wanna.
Her expression slipped into a little bit of a frown with the next question, and Mason's face jumped to the forefront of her mind.
"Yeah... it can hurt." She forced a little bit of a smile around it. "A lot of people will tell you a lot of things... but it's different for everyone I think. I was about your age when I fell in love...I... I think, anyway."
"For me, it hurt a lot. I lost mine though. Probably doesn't hurt like that for everyone."
She shifted uncomfortably, "...Was that.. uh.. helpful?"
Misson of the day: Get into the kitchen, get food, and get out without talking to anyone. There was a can or two of Ravioli in the cupboards screaming her name and her stomach was starting to get angry at her.
Juniper succeeded in the first and second parts of her mission went off without a hitch. She slunk in like a short shadow, reached through the cupboards, and grabbed for the cans she knew were there (that Xavier had explicitly forbade her from eating) had snagged a clean spoon from the dishwasher, and made a swift exit before anyone could catch her.
Mission accomplished! Now she just needed to get back to her room. She was currently in the process of peeling the metal lid off, when someone spoke up and caught her attention. She turned, already looking guilty like X would pop out at any second and catch her in the act of eating one of the forbidden fruits of the school, but it was just some girl. A very colorful girl. Holy @#$% Her eyes were pretty.
"...Huh?" She responded intelligently, dropping her spoon into her open can and shoving the sharp, goopy lid into the pocket of her hoodie. What had the girl asked? Something about being in love and-
...
She blinked a few times, temporarily stupified. Pedo...philes? She... actually didn't know how to spell that.
"Oh, uh. Yeah, sure. It's spelled D-E-A-D. Like they all should be." She smiled, perhaps a bit too pinched, and popped a sauce-covered spoon in her mouth.
....What had the kids other question been? Oh. Right... Something about love.
"I... have, actually. Yes." She dropped the spoon back in the can and blinked. "Why you askin?" The phaser leaned in a little to try and peek at what the girl was scribbling down.
No power stealing creeps? Yes! She was more than happy to hear that, even if it wasn't a permanent thing. She'd had enough run-ins with nulls in her life than she cared for.
She didn't bother to vocalize her thoughts, though. He could just lift them from her mind anyway.
The idea of Keith being a cold-hearted killer still through her for a loop, honestly. It was weird going from a place where he was just a creepy abuser, to... something much worse. It helped to solidify how she had felt all those years ago before her power had set in. That if she hadn't done what he had asked she would have ended up dead. Apparently, her past self had been pretty on the mark.
Still, it did make her wonder other things. About how much her mom really knew, and how long he had been like that. How many people had he already killed? She zoned out for a tiny bit, reflecting back on the second year she had left home and how she had strongly considered driving back to visit him in prison and making sure he never got out herself.
... Maybe she should have tried to hype herself up into that idea some more.
With a blink she shook herself out of it and sipped at her can again. Jen had led them all the way back into the secure nest of the vault. It was huge. Bigger than any she had ever been in previously. She stopped before their assigned number, held out a key for them to take... which Juniper reached out to grab for her 'Grandpa'. She didn't pocket it though, just waited for him to direct her.
"You'll be able to come and go as you please after this! One of us will just have to let you into the vault. Oh, and there are always at least two guards in here for guest security. Hi Steve! Mark!"
Jen waved and shot a brilliant smile at a fit, well-maintained man in a suit just inside the vault's massive door. Mark got a smile, but not nearly as bright.
... Juniper tried to keep her thoughts to herself.
When directed she slid the key in and opened the safe, taking note of how thick the door was. She'd be able to get her arm through there no problem if she had to. Same with the heavy vault door when shut. If she stretched far enough she'd be able to pull herself through with a few fingertips to spare.
Odd statement indeed. She shot him an odd look to go along with it.
"He will. He's always paranoid that I'm plotting against him." Which was fair, seeing as she was. The number of times she'd thought about dropping him into the earth never to be seen again was... too many to count, really.
She clammed up as they approached the doors and a woman appeared from inside push them open.
"Welcome! You must be Mr. Cargill?" The woman's brown eyes slid Juniper's way. "And you must be Mia?"
She nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She offered a bright smile, which the woman returned.
"Please, follow me right this way. I've got everything set up to get your accounts squares away swiftly."
She swept an arm out and stepped to the side, holding the door open from them to come inside.
"Would you like anything to drink? We have water, or coffee, and a few types of Soda."
Juniper waited for the "adult" to answer first since she was playing the part of his granddaughter. Once he had replied she gave hers. "I would love a Soda, actually. Thank you!" She'd just sip at it, she didn't think her stomach could handle anything in it after a few weeks of not really eating a whole lot.
They were led to a spacious, well-lit office. It was snazzy, not like the cubicles you'd find in lesser banks. It was very clear that lots of money moved through this place often, and they liked to keep up appearances.
The woman, who introduced herself as Jen, left to go get drinks and Juniper sat in the comfy office chairs beside Simon. She was very aware of the camera pointed down at them, and so controlled her urge to look around and snoop. She needed to seem like being in a place like this was normal. Boring even. Her family came from money, after all.
"Are you doing okay grandpa? The walk wasn't too much, was it?" Appearances, appearances. Cameras in snazzy places often had recording equipment too. She chatted a bit more about boring things, nothing too specific until Jen came back and handed her a cold can of soda. "Thanks!"
She already knew she'd be leaving with that whole can. No fingerprints left at the scene.
"Alright, Mr. Cargill. I want to start off by saying thank you for choosing us for all of your banking and safekeeping needs. We greatly appreciate your patronage!"
Asskisser. Juniper thought, unable to stop herself. Her pleasant expression never shifted though.
"I noticed that your account is pretty much all set up. We just have a few documents for you to officially sign, and I will notarize them, and then we can head off to the vaults to squirrel away your..." Jen leafed through a stack of paperwork for a moment.
"...watch?" She read a bit more of the notes she had there. "Oh my, that is quite a piece you have. Vintage! It must be lovely."
She prattled on about a few more things, the weather, various offers the bank was running, interest rates on credit cards, ect... all the while sifting through papers to stamp and organize things. When she was done she slid a small stack across the desk toward him.
Juniper sipped her soda, letting the flavor wash over her tongue and gradually vanish down her throat.
"How old are you, Mia?" Jen asked while waiting for Simon to scratch his fake signature on stuff.
"17, Ma'am."
"Oh, I have a daughter your age! What school do you go to?"
"I'm homeschooled, Ma'am. My mother wasn't terribly impressed with the schools in the area and we couldn't find a good enough private Catholic school. She teaches me and my siblings instead."
"How interesting!" Jen smiled. A perfect customer service face. "My daughter attends Stuyvesant High School. Second most prestigious school in the city!" She puffed up in a prideful manner, a bit like a feathered bird what with all of the ruffles on the front of her blouse.
"That's lovely, Ma'am. I'm sure it's a great school."
Juniper absolutely made no mention that she was pretty sure she had been to at least one kegger at that school before, after hours, and that her daughter was probably one of the preppy girls there trying their hardest to black out as soon as possible.
He wanted his own gold pile? Sure. They had time after all, right?
She squared away his own bag, not really putting too much thought into it, and spared one last look and thought at the wall safes and what could be inside of them, before clambering back onto the bee with Gnat. It was time to go according Gnat, and the sounds of people coming back. She tried not to linger on the anxiety that spiked at the thought of those security people all being adapteds. It was shiver inducing.
Her stomach dropped as the bee took off and she tried not to let on that she'd sunk her feet partially into Mr. Bee to make sure she didn't fall off at some point. Paranoid, yeah, but it made her feel better.
Juniper was concentrated on keeping them phased whenever they need it, which was a task all by itself considering all of what they were carrying. She glanced back briefly when he started speaking, barely even catching the way his voice had dropped. She did notice what he was saying though and it caused her to lose focus on what she was doing. Turn off her comm? Cut Zagan and Gary out?! Whaaaat?
Oh man, was he suggesting they betray the rest of the team? She didn't know how to feel about that.
No, wait, she did.
This @#$%ing sucked. She'd JUST gotten comfortable with the other plan!
"“It’s uh, lot of gold. We could go anywhere. Do anything.”
Annnnnd, just like that he lost her completely. For a myriad of reasons she would have disagreed with his offer, but the idea that she was gonna run off with this guy she just met and the gold? Sweet baby Jesus no.
Zagan's voice popped up in her ear and she battled back a flinch expertly. She needed to stay calm. Maybe.... maybe go with the idea until they were on the outside? She didn't want to get included on this plan and backstabber while he was literally sitting beside her. His arms on either sides of her hips suddenly felt like a cage.
"Uh, gimmie a sec." She said to pretty much everyone involved, including herself. Juni reached up to fiddle with her helmet. She... she didn't know how to turn her comm off! Not that she wanted too. but if she was gonna pretend here she needed to at least look convincing! "How do I- uh- This- no- wait-" Click She turned something off. Wasn't sure what, but she didn't think it was her comm.
After she felt like she'd fiddled enough, she dropped her hand back down to the bees fur and resumed her iron grip there. "Okay... I can't hear him anymore... but he knows your comm is off." She turned slightly so she could peer back at him, glad that her helmet at least hid her face a bit and made it easier for her to keep her anxiousness hidden.
"...Do you have someone to sell all of the gold too? I don't use fences. I don't like involving more people than necessary."[/i]
@#$% @#$% sonofa@#%&$ @#$%-ity @#$% @#$%!
"...and go where? Like.. outside the states?" Maybe if she kept him talking she'd figure out some way to extract herself from the situation.
"I know a guy." Gnat said, after giving her a long look for fiddling with her helmet. "A few states over. He doesn't ask questions and has done a great job as a fence before."
He leaned onto her a little, and considering he was taller that left his helmeted head looming over hers and slightly off to one side.
"We could go anywhere you want. Paris? London? Berlin? Anywhere."
She wasn't sure if he was trying to butter her up, or if that was a genuine offer. Either way it still had the effect of making her skin crawl. Not from him being overtly creepy necessarily, but from the idea of upending everything and running off to some foreign country with a criminal who was fine with betraying people. The few crime documentaries she'd watched told her that that was like, the best way to end up a murdered "missing person" or a cold case.
".... I've never been outside the states. I don't know what any of those places are like."
He chuckled, and the bee they were on suddenly slowed. "I can show you. You just need to come with me."
She paused before she said anything, listening to what was going on in her comm, and nodded before too long. "Alright. I trust you.... it'll be nice to have a bigger cut anyway. How... do we get out?"
She'd gotten the chicken sliced into a few irregularly sized chunks, and was about to move on to cutting up the sweet potato-like Blue had shown her, when the new cat mewed and she looked over at it. It was watching her in... was that concern?
She blinked, head tilting back a little and she pursed her lips for a moment.
"Hey, wanna see something neat?"
She looked around conspiratorily, as if someone was gonna catch her, and leaned toward the cat with a hand cupped over her mouth. "Don't tell Blue, okay?"
With a nod to herself, because clearly, the cat wasn't going to answer, she stepped on back and flipped the knife in her hand around with a little spin so that she could pinch it by the blade. A long time ago one of her friends had shown her how to throw knives... and while she really wasn't great at it sometimes she could pull off a neat little trick... or a prank.
"One... two... three!"
Juniper flipped the knife up and it arched. She tracked it with her head and as it crested and started to come back down, she flung a hand out and caught it in her palm.
No, literally, in her palm!
"AHHHHH!" She hollered dramatically, but not at the being-murdered level, and clutched at her wrist while doing a panic dance in a short circle.
Then she crouched and held her palm out, feeling like an accomplished idiot, to show the new cat that she was unharmed. She had just phased the knife through her palm and left it there. Not a drop of blood was in sight.
"Ta~da~"
Giggling, she pulled the knife out and sighed, perhaps a bit sadly. "Bet I gotcha, huh?" She went to stand so she could wash her hands and put the dirty knife in the sink.
Huh. So... weird chanting and fancy blood fire stuff. She'd seen stuff like this before a few times, but usually, everyone was on some kind of mushroom and naked, and there was an orgy going on in a corner. This had a little more of like, a religious flare? Maybe. She didn't know for sure.
She did know that the fire trick was neat. Was it a powder? A mutation? Some kinda science she was too dumb to understand? Who knew! She definitely wanted to try though.
"Oohme-"
Zek pushed Carrick in front and she flapped her arms indignantly, then crossed them and full-on pouted. Fiiiiine! She'd wait. Being last was fine.
Only, she wouldn't get the chance at all.
Carrick stepped forward and, being the showman he was, captured the attention of the gathered cultists. As soon as his blood hit the flames and they turned blue, a hush fell over the crowd. His bare-ass-flash of wings and tail and the sheer pride that rolled off of him at that moment stirred the gathered back into motion.
"A donatum est in nobis!"
"Illuminatus quis!"
"A mater donum nos!"
A roar of voices cropped up, each shouting different things all at the same time.
And then the crimson robed woman slammed her staff down, demanding quiet.
"CHILDREN, HUSH!"
Everyone fell silent and turned to her for a moment.
"We have been blessed with one of the chosen!" She raised her staff high, while one hand went to the velvet red sash at her waist. "Long have we dreamed of the day that we would be gifted such a meeting! Everyone knows what that means....!"
She yanked the sash off, as did every other robed member in the large, darkroom.
"EVERYONE DISROBE! LET THE ORGY COMMENCE!"
.... and in a cascade of red and white every robe in the place dropped to the floor, revealing nude bodies all around.
"It @#$%ING WAS AN ORGY!" Juniper screeched, throwing her arms in the air because she'd been right all along!
Every naked body lunged for someone else, which turned into the world's weirdest game of tag as people tried to find the usual partners in the chaos. A few someones jumped for their winged chosen one, one brave buck tried to swoop in on ole Murder Bucket head, and Juniper.... Phased herself right out of the arms of the Blonde boy who'd just been initiated into the ranks.
