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.
Jude was a light sleeper. Not knowing what exactly had woken him, he stayed face down on the papery hospital type sheets. At least he did until Zaid got his breathing back to normal and came close, forehead to forehead. He wanted to jump up and wrap him up in bubble wrap, or at least his arms. Instead he planted a smooch on the other boy's forehead and sat back so he could stretch. If his hand found Zaid's in the middle of that and wouldn't let go? Well, he couldn't be held responsible for that.
"Welcome to Xavier's Sister School for the- no wait. Gifted Youngsters is in there somewhere. It's the school. They've got a healer on staff."
Zaid had made a soft little hiccup that threatened to break Jude in two. He hadn't the foggiest idea of how to pick up the pieces. Zaid even started shaking.
What was he supposed to say? That it was okay now? That he could leave that experience in the past?
He tugged at Zaid's arm to pull him off his current balance, to stop his current mental track, and he wrapped him up in his arms. Jude tucked his chin over Zaid's shoulder. If he'd been on the bed he would have wrapped his legs around him and gone full on octopus tackle, but unfortunately, he had to stand to make it work.
"We were really afraid, when my powers first took hold. Seemed like everybody and their dog wanted to figure out the mechanic of how my mutation works. To make a cure. To make a booster. Whatever, they all had reasons." He didn't have a plan, exactly. He'd just started talking. "I brought you here because these are the people that helped me. They taught me to defend myself from humans and mutants. I'm not... I wasn't good enough... for them. So you know they're good. And since it's a school full of kids, they're like super prepared." In other words, it was safe in here.
He put Zaid in the van, but it didn't feel like it was over. Maybe because he wouldn't look at Jude.
Evelyn seemed to know what to do and even said as much. For the moment, Jude climbed inside the van with the two non-combatants. He hadn't shot anyone. Jude had done plenty, but his weapon hadn't been discharged. He found a place for it in the glove compartment in the front. Not that Evelyn couldn't get to it, but it seemed prudent to get it out of sight since the police were arriving.
His hands fluttered uselessly as Evelyn soothed Zaid to sleep. As tempting as that hand was, he couldn't accept. He ran the back of his hand along Zaid's cheek and pulled the string of his power until it met his own.
It didn't feel good, exactly, to have his ears rearrange themselves into rabbit ears, but he was not subjecting Zaid to questioning right now. Jude hesitated at the van door, instincts telling him that in here was safe, but leaving would keep them all safer later.
"Watch him... please."
And he went to field questions. Jude had enough knowledge to pretend he'd been the one in that cage. The bunny instincts did a bang up job helping him feel paranoid and ready to bolt so he leaned into that. He refused to go in for additional questions, but dd supply his number. They probably let them go despite the violence they'd used because no one died. And the inside of the taxidermist was horrific enough to warrant a little roughness.
Eventually everyone was back in the van.
"Was a pretty good show, all things considered." Sideshow stretched his legs on the way back to BlacTac.
"You think the Ranger'll go for a new hire?" Blair mussed Evelyn's hair.
Jude let them all go since they'd been on the job for longer than they'd originally payrolled for. BlacTac was close by anyway and he made sure they took all their luggage, guns, and assorted weaponry. Then it was up to him to drive the van back to the Mansion. Sometimes it sucked having to be the responsible one. He helped Evelyn down and carried Zaid inside, depositing him on one of DocProf's beds and melting into the closest chair. He'd wait all night if he had to until Zaid woke up, though he was wrung out. Once the adrenaline was gone so was Jude. He slept face-down on Zaid's gurney, forgotten ears tickling the other boy's cheek.
He had to pause longer than was pretty, supported as he was by two juicy mutations. His power pointed and whispered and cajoled, but he wouldn't give in. Not while he was still in charge.
"Just a sec." Jude was sweating with the effort of the day and the effort of wrangling his mutation on top of that just made it that much worse. It wanted something else, but something else wouldn't make Jude's first problem go away. It would just make it permanent. Or as permanent as powers were with Jude.
Jude took a stubborn and wobbly step forward once he was ready. DocProf slid his door open before they'd gotten all the way down the hall.
"What did you do this time?" The doctor nodded to Celeste and to his sometimes assistant to indicate that his ire was not for them.
"Turned my legs into screen doors?" There wasn't must point in joking when the truth was weird enough.
"Huh." He stepped aside and let the young ones help Jude onto a gurney, pulling back both pants legs until the offending property of his legs was revealed. "You can stay or go, kids, but don't get in the way." The lizardman backed off into a nearby chair, close enough to watch but no longer a body in the way. The extra space made Jude breathe easier.
"I'd like you to be here in case whatever happens when I let go of the power..."
"I understand." DocProf dropped a heavy hand onto Jude's shoulder to indicate that he was ready.
To Jude every power stretched like a guitar string at the core of who they were. His own was no different, only that it presented to his mind's eye like a bundle of strings. He plucked at the power that wasn't his and more of his legs transformed. That wasn't right. Jude closed his eyes and worked to separate the power totally from his own. He pulled it away, bending it to its limit until the invisible string snapped.
And his legs snapped back right away. Pins and needles didn't cover it.
Jude was sorry, Zaid was sorry. Everybody was sorry except the people who really should have been. He put his hand on the back of Zaid’s head and just held him for a moment as he felt a surge of healing leave. Jude knew he was near his limits. He couldn’t heal much after what he’d already done, or he would risk unconsciousness. Jude regretted wasting any healing, but the information had been valuable, the action necessary.
At least Zaid was ambulatory. They needed to get away. The other contents of the room were really, really freaking Jude out. He could only imagine what state Zaid was in mentally. Jude moved his hand away from Zaid’s hair, cutting off any healing for now.
He shushed him and escorted him out. "You did good. You called. If you hadn’t called..." He squeezed the other man through his coat and didn’t finish that statement. "You did well.” He insisted.
Where was Andrea? The other man had said they were destined to go to different places, but Jude hadn’t realized it was a true statement. Andrea had protected Zaid and from the little snips he’d seen, the attempted protection had been mutual.
Jude resisted the urge to kick anyone on the way out and opened the van door, again surprised that Evelyn had done as she’d been told.
"This is Zaid.” He helped the bunny into the van, unsure if he should sit between Evelyn and Zaid or not, but the girl had been nothing but helpful and well mannered as far as Jude had seen.
"The scene is clear. I don’t think you want to go in, but it’s safe enough now.” He would leave it up to her.
Posted by Jude on Jan 18, 2020 22:50:33 GMT -6
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Any attempt at conversation fell flat, not only because Evelyn was holding Jude's hand again and the information was just this side of too much, but also because the tension was mounting. They could be too late. He tried to let the whispers take his focus, but his own internal clock was ticking and every second was one more second where he didn't know what would happen. He didn't know what would be behind the door when they kicked it in.
"I think you'll want to stay in the car or cover your ears." Jude had started at BlacTac as a secretary, the paperpusher who kept things organized and reloaded magazines for mission. They trained him to shoot in the range, thrown tomahawks together, monitored the firehouse, but this was the first time he walked out of the van with a gun in his hand shoulder to shoulder with the ground crew. They'd egged him on for years to take missions. Until now, he hadn't really seen the appeal.
"You will not run point, that's what I'm for. Don't cross your line of sight with anything you aren't willing to shoot. You're running drills instead of just watching them if you want to do this from now on. Sideshow?"
The illusionist merc took second and gave Jude's shoulder a heavy pat before he he dropped the pretense of humor and kicked the door in for Bird of Prey to start the sweep, invisible shields up. They'd done this before. He'd seen it before. It was still different in person when the first shots were fired.
The outright threats were shot, non-lethally where possible. All others got illusions overlaying the here and now that took people out of the action long enough for them to be disarmed and zip-tied.
It wasn't fast enough. It was the safe way, the smart way, but it was slow going.
Especially, especially when they heard some pretty hefty thunks in the back rooms.
"I'm going." He broke formation. It was stupid. He could hear them complaining and changing to cover him, but he did it anyway. He kicked down a door and saw a cage, a Zaid, a downed opponent, a Zaid in boxers, Jude forced himself to sweep the rest of the room before calling back about the door on the far side and clicking his safety on.
He almost didn't want to look at him, Jude felt like his face must have turned every color of the rainbow as he bounced between fury, embarrassment, and sympathy. "I'll get you out." He was careful not to touch skin as he jerked teh jacket off the downed guy and went through the pockets for the keys. Jude passed the jacket through the bars and worked to get the door unlocked. He only fumbled the key ring once.
Calls of CLEAR! were ringing through the building as the stragglers were rounded up and collected in one place.
It felt like forever, too long by half, until he got the cage door open and looked at Zaid, really looked at him. Hurt, scared, angry— he had the full deck of emotional cards too. He let Zaid get out of the confines of the cage before he launched into a hug.
"I'm sorry that took so long." But Jude really needed that hug.
Evelyn behaved and stayed in the car when asked. Jude wasn't sure he would have been that good at that age, even with promises to the contrary. Hell, even now he was waiting in the wings, essentially useless until the all clear was called. Jude opened the van door and escorted Evelyn to the scene, hand-in-hand he got a first row seat to the commentary. The unfiltered truth was hard to compartmentalize when it was in torrential flow.
He hoped Andrea was alright, wherever she was. For now, he could only chase one.
Juse let Evelyn go and asked her not to wander. The warehouse was large. Cleared once meant clear for now. It was not a holdable position.
Mr. Snakebite spit fire in his words as Jude approached. The mercenaries at his arms clamped him down and became taut like bow strings. No one really liked this part...
"You don't have to tell me." He put his thumb on the man's forehead and cupped the front of his head with his hand. Immediately icy cool tingles of healing ran from his fingers, first to the snake bite—
He had the mongrel rabbit on his back still, otherwise he would have been faster. A warning to her friend was as good as a warning to him. The largest snake of her head's nest lunged at him, and he couldn't get out of the way fast enough. He did catch it in his hand, and ripped it away when the electric shock hit.
"Wh-what are you doing to me?" "Healing you, dumbass."
The various bruises weren't deep enough to give more than a struggle, a wall hit, a kick he landed funny, but the bite on his hand and an unseen one on his shoulder had broken skin—
The thing had gotten his back and was like a squid with ten million arms, and teeth. He roared and dropped the damn remote. He got another bite for the trouble of it.
Jude stepped back, taking his hand away and wishing he had something to wipe it on.
"Is-is that it?"
"Not exactly. You see, my father was a healer. He taught me a very, very important lesson." Jude's arm flashed in the space between them and the man roared and struggled anew with a fresh bruise against his jaw.
"Healing isn't always a blessing."
A break here, set incorrectly and healed to immobility. A cut to a tattooed place, healed askew to ruin the picture, and repeated. He knew what he was doing. Sebastian had modeled just how incredibly cruel a healer could be. It wasn't the tattooed man who spoke at all in the end, but the man who'd been watching it happen.
By the time they had their information, Jude was torn between the desire to throw up and the desire to light the whole place on fire. They left the man with the now jagged tattoos on the floor and the squealer threatened to call the cops as they walked away. The warehouse wasn't exactly squeaky clean. Hopefully their team wasn't the worst they'd find here.
Jude offered his hand to Evelyn, unwilling to talk freely until they were alone again in the confines of the van.
"You're leaving loose ends."
He was probably right. "It'll just be more paperwork for me if this comes down on our heads."
They'd all heard about the taxidermy, that was no surprise. But Jude filled them in as best he could about Andrea, who they'd also keep an eye out for, and the electro-shock collars. This team had barely escaped those same collars, choosing to throw their military careers aside, instead.
"Watch out the windows, Evelyn? I don't want to miss it." He also couldn't stand their eyes looking at him. Old or not, judgemental or not, he couldn't stand it.
She looked around curious, no doubt, about the caution against sound. "When you shoot in close quarters, it's loud. That why we have to shout at the old guy to get him to get the van moving."
Wahl snorted and started them rolling forward at a glacial pace. Malicious compliance. "I don't know where to go just yet."
"Not here. Quick! Before any more children insist on endangering themselves."
Evelyn insisted that it might be easy to show him. Did she know he was a copier? But, she qualified quickly that she would be sharing her own power. Considering that Jude had just settled on DocProf's powers— Jude took a quick internal once over. His power was sated, curled up like a cat who'd finished playing with its prey.— he actually couldn't change again so soon.
She projected her power and it wasn't dissimilar to the future sight power he'd carried for a year or so, but he wasn't driving. He had zero control. Maybe Evelyn didn't either, but that was a serious informational dump.
He closed his eyes to process for a moment. "It's like... subtitles or the extra audio descriptions for the blind." Just a lot of them.
Her breakdown of the scene seemed to shut up further objection. That was good. Jude had let her stay without knowing how useful she'd be. The fact that she was extremely useful made it that much better.
> "...Do you have access to vehicle registration?”
"I'll rerun the partial plate within those parameters."
"Anyone can, it's a pay to play database." Jude was careful to keep himself disconnected for the moment. He fought back was a lot less to worry about when it was about 'the asset' instead of someone he knew and cared about.
"I'll be damned. Er- darned. We've got a potential match already." He turned the laptop around from the back seat so that Evelyn and Jude could see.
"That's not far from BlacTac. Wahl?"
"On it." He may have looked like a grandpa, but he certainly did not drive like one now that he had a destination. Jude read him the address, it had to be one of the warehouses on the run down waterfront. Places like Blackforest Tactical, the place that employed all but one of the people in that van, had started moving in years past. They brought a certain amount of stability to the area, but they were by no means police.
"So we're just doing this blind?"
Jude glanced at Evelyn. Not totally blind... "With the audio description on."
Posted by Jude on Jan 17, 2020 23:03:42 GMT -6
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The monkeys were restless. Something beyond the usual tomfoolery was going on here and it had made Jude feel anxious and vulnerable in his little cubby of an office. So, rather than be distracted by the tomfoolery, Jude had brought the dreaded files and paperwork along with his laptop into the conference room. It was soundproofed and ready for murdering a stack of papers. So it was a complete surprise when Gerhart walked some rando into the conference room. This was definitely not on the conference room schedule...
He looked at his computer and figured the tickets he was booking to get Alpha Team to Venezuela could wait. He had to make sure they weren't scaring the guy to death.
Jude scooted his papers out of the way becoming rapidly more alarmed as they spoke... until, that is, he figured it out.
The man wasn't a mutant. Jude could tell that much through his power, but what was odd was the way Sideshow kept registering as mutant, not mutant, mutant. He felt stupid once he'd finally put two and two together. Adapted. They'd found an adapted to keep the playing field level for their stupid dick measuring contest.
Or maybe it was brilliant. It would stop them from bickering about it later.
"Ten bucks on the Ranger."
"I will end you, shortstuff." Charles flexed, as a properly threatened alpha may want to do in the face of a challenge. Jude had to admit, his arms were pretty huge...
"I'll take that bet." And just like that, everyone else found a way to be invested.
Evelyn turned it around and reframed the problem in a way that sparked a decision. It was what he had planned from the beginning, but he’d had doubts. Now he put his doubts to rest at the feet of a candy van full of mercenaries. And once he’d made a decision, he wasn’t one to sit on it. He left with a small wave. He was definitely coming back to talk with Evelyn more, at a later date when he had more time.
DocProf, surly as ever, held out his hand for Jude to high five without question. Contact wasn’t necessary, but it did make things more certain in a house full of mutants, and Jude had been by to borrow the power enough times that the old man had stopped asking why. Easy-peasy. Just like that Jude was a healer and his power settled down for a time, well-fed with its change.
He stopped by the living room to thank Evelyn, but the girl was gone.
That was when he got the text.
You invited a little girl?
Oh. Oh boy. He jogged out the front and threw open the van door to see that Evelyn had invited herself inside. She was wedged between Bird of Prey’s biceps and Sideshow’s discomfort. Jude rubbed his forehead. Would he want to be told no? No. But what he’d wanted and what he’d needed were often at odds when he was young on the outside and old on the inside.
”You will find a way to minimize your personal danger.” He told Evelyn as he slapped Sideshow’s knee and motioned for him to take the co-pilot’s seat. Jude slid in beside Evelyn knowing that this was a risk, but also knowing that it would be hella hypocritical for him to deny the help. ”If we tell you to cover your ears, it’s to protect your hearing.”
”You have got to be kidding me.” Jude ignored that. He had already complied by moving, he was allowed a little lip.
”Anyone get anything while I was out?” Shrugs and excuses. This was his rodeo. They were great tools but they were just that. They had to be organized, pointed, used.
”Tell me what you do, Evelyn. I’ll put you to work.” He had his phone out again to listen to the voicemail one more time.
Posted by Jude on Jan 17, 2020 11:21:40 GMT -6
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He'd been afraid that she might bolt, but she seemed every bit as relieved to have found him as he was that he'd found her.
She nodded her assent. Okay. They were going to be okay.
Jude wondered what she had done with her voice box. Or had that just been an app on her phone? There was no way she was on the streets and had a phone. It just didn't happen like that. He ushered Chief over to the nearest bus shelter and tried to make sense of the schedule that flapped in the wind. Not too long now, assuming he was reading it correctly.
He sat them both down on the bench and the woman who had been sitting there previously got up and gave them space. That was probably a good thing, but it was likely that the shelter would only get more crowded the closer their bus got. Jude kept his arm around Chief in the meantime. For warmth, so she wouldn't get away, and to claim her. This Chief was his to protect, smells and appearances be damned.
He got out his phone to find a text-to-speech app, and in the meantime tried to talk through nothing important and nothing alarming. He just wanted her to know that he was still there and he didn't know what she knew and what she didn't.
"I don't know if you know but I still live at the honeycomb collective. Some people have moved in, there's a new girl. I forget her name-- it starts with a z I think-- anyway she already doesn't like me. At the last potluck-- did I ever invite you to a potluck? I should invite you to a potluck. --At the last potluck she tried to make a move on the guy I invited which was uncool..."
The bus arrived with a sigh of breaks and Jude ushered chief to her feet. He made sure she got on first and then double scanned his bus pass. By the time they were seated, the text-to-speech app he'd been installing on his phone was ready. He opened it up and passed the phone to Chief.
Wait? Jude had to reign Dammit in as Zaid left with Revvie. She whined and he sympathized. They'd left him too. That did give Jude a chance to text the photo over. Since it seemed important, he didn't want to wait and forget even if it meant he had to sacrifice all that wonderful warm ramen bowl warmth.
Jude got a pair of cream-colored faux fur ear muffs. Not at all his style, but they were a gift.
"Well, they're no ears..." but he would have to find a way to make it work. 3/3 of his comrades agreed. So he put them on and tried to think warm thoughts.
"I am not shivering." He protested, but may have been on the verge. "Besides, walking helps that." So obviously they should start walking. He picked a direction at random, his favorite way to explore, and off they went.
"Have you done any college? I'm... I'm not sure it's for me."
"Well, I think we've all been there." He chuckled at his own joke, but was more than anything intrigued. He came closer for a proper chat. He couldn't take too long, but… Another kid like he had been? He watched and listened and he believed her every word as she explained why she would not shake his hand. Why wouldn't he? He'd had the same age conundrum. He'd also held a power that looked to make touching hard.
"I see it's true. Nice to meet you or re-meet you, Evelyn." He still couldn't place her, they must not have known each other well. A chance meeting maybe?
"I don't mind hearing voices, I've done the psychic thing before. What I'm more interested in is your opinion." He looked around to check, but the mansion had entered a period of quiet, or rest. Or maybe everyone was still in class. Either way, no one was paying attention to the two of them.
There was no kneeling or getting down on her level, none of the usual adult to child talking tactics. This was a chat man-to-man, professional to professional.
"I need to recover an asset, a person. I can take anyone's power who lives here… copy. I won't take it away." He corrected himself. "Healing for the asset? Or something to bring the pain in order to assure I can get to that asset?"
He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Who do you recommend?" Frankly, after this Jude wouldn't be surprised if he was banned from the mansion. It wasn't supposed to be his personal shopping ground.
He hadn't realized that he'd been leading with his chest, hands fisted and face scowling until he got called out by a little girl. He hadn't even gotten to DocProf's office yet.
> ”You look like you’re having a bad day... and are about to make someone have a worse one.”
Jude stopped in his tracks in order to relax his hands and his jaw. That was a timely reminder not to go in too hot.
"Yeah." He admitted with a glance toward the girl. White hair. Maybe 6? 7? He had a good memory for faces so something tickled at his memory, but no name supplied itself.
"Yeah." He admitted with some finality. The same weird but a totally different tone. He was absolutely going to make someone's day worse. Jude looked toward the hall where DocProf was likely to be in office, and figured he wasn't going anywhere. Jude could ask the girl for help in choosing the best mutation here. If she'd been here for any amount of time, she would know.
And still there was that part of him that said she might be familiar somehow.
He waited in the van at the landing strip while Alpha team sorted out their luggage. He’d come prepared, but this mission had gone a lot smoother than they’d thought. No one was even hurt. And as a result Jude was learning that Swimmy Penguin was proving to be a much trickier game than Flappy Bird. Cell service was spotty out here so that must have been why his phone only notified him of a voicemail and had not notified him of the actual call.
He waved to Jonas, callsign Whirlwind, as he opened the back of the van. Jude exited the game upon his penguin’s utter demise, and held his cell up to his ear to see what Zaid had to say.
It… wasn’t what he expected.
> "Andrea, what street is this? Between the coffee house, and the ice cream parlor, like five--"
Had he been butt dialed? He looked at the phone to see how old the message was— only a few minutes. Not too bad. He would just have to call Zaid back and get the full story himself. Jude put the phone back to his ear and went from mildly amused to incredibly concerned.
> "Stop talking you little vermin! Someone, shut off that phone!"
“What’s up, bossman?”
Jude held up a “just wait” finger to Wahl who always enjoyed ribbing Jude for being over 30 years his junior and technically his boss. He tried to focus his hearing and pick out every detail.
> "Black van, license plate number GTR3--"
That was it. There wasn’t any more. He looked over his phone and listened again, by now the whole team was laser focused and had picked up on Jude’s distress. The last time he’d been this alarmed, one of them was in the hospital.
”Someone else drive. This is a—” He debated about what to say, ”This is a personal matter. No one’s hurt too bad yet.”
”Blackmail?” ”One of your mutant community things?”
”No. Someone’s missing and it’s an abduction most likely.” He swapped out of the front seat and started scouring the resources available to him on his phone, settling into the business mode that protected his feelings from getting in the way of getting s*** done.
Only, he’d recently spent a lot of his social credit while trying to track down Chief. Gwen was in the wind. He’d tried to bring her an apology bribe and get her to rejoin polite society, only to find that she’d skipped town or was doing a too good job of avoiding him. At the Honeycomb Collective there weren’t any powers that helped him track, though some would be good for quick movement should he need that. The guys in the van all had physical powers, good for a fight. He knew they were all safe options for now so he let his power run free, licking its way across the van and inspiring goosebumps as it roamed.
The Mansion? They’d had an influx of Atlaneans and Jude hadn’t yet cataloged them all. Also, it was possible that he would need DocProf’s power, for both healing and for tracking down whoever dared hurt Zaid.
When he finally looked up from his phone, he was met with 3 very high strung and dangerous mercenaries.
”What do you need?”
They waited outside the Mansion while Jude put his code into the pedestrian gate and walked up to the Mansion proper. None of them argued. It didn’t feel right for them to be around kids.
Jude chuckled at Zaid's complaint. "I'll send the photo to you if you like."
The owner sent a kindly old woman out with two bones for the beasts. All that difficult sitting and staying practice was thoroughly tested as she put them in range of the puppers. Dammit whined, but ultimately refrained from bowling the old woman over. She did pepper her with licky kisses of gratitude that could not be stopped. Another round of thank yous and all-in-all it hardly broke the pace of Jude slorping up his share of noodles.
His ears and nose were tinged with red, but his previously chilled hands were now quite warm. And as an added bonus, the dogs were too preoccupied to make trouble or test boundaries.
"I guess the guy was right." Jude pushed a lone noodle around his bowl, but couldn't seem to get it with his chopsticks. "Hot ramen on a cold day is perfect."
They had to clear away so the next group could eat. The shop was just that small. Jude called to the dogs and they both picked up their treats to take along with them. Hmm. That wouldn’t be fun in his tiny little apartment.
”That sorta concludes the whole of my evil plans. I dunno. Maybe we walk around a bit more? If it’s not too cold, that is.” Though he seemed to be suffering worse than Zaid.
