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Tristen was her oldest friend, and the idea that he would make an appearance at The Rock Bottom Pub was nothing shocking since it was his self-admitted favorite haunt in the city. She never reached a point where she stopped enjoying his company, even if they might give one another a hard time. It was not his fault that he did not know what she was struggling with. He showed up with that confidence and that smile and that charm like he always did, unaware that Rebecca was unequipped to be handling those things.

He was a patron and she would grab him his bottle of Boston Lager from the fridge next to the bar. ”Be more New England, Tristen,” she teased. Rebecca popped the cap off the bottle and grabbed the glass specifically designed for this particular beer. As someone pretentiously reminded her, if she was going to serve the world’s best beer, she should be serving it right.

Instead of acknowledging the way he took advantage of his momentary anonymity to ask for her number, she rolled her eyes. It was safer not to engage, she was sure. Instead, she focused on the cute little nickname he was using for her, and how wildly inappropriate it felt, given her mood. ”Oh, I’m just beaming,” she replied flatly, embracing the pun.

”My girls can’t show up for work, and I’m pretty sure I spilled tequila on my t*t.” When Rebecca was in a mood, her word choices could be historically indelicate. ”I’m just glad I wore black tonight.” The last thing she needed was to make it easier for the old men at the bar to ogle her in a transparent white top. She learned that mistake long ago.

It occurred to Rebecca that, almost immediately, she had drawn the conversation to her chest, and she mentally rebuked herself. She had to consciously watch what she said, and that was never something she was good at with Tristen. They were friends because she was comfortable around him; never shy, and never afraid to say anything. She sighed, pouring herself a rum and coke, (since there was no one to keep the boss from drinking on the job,) and decided to turn the conversation back to him. ”Late night? Flirting with some saucy English teacher? Or maybe a cute substitute that doesn’t know better yet?” she teased. Tristen would still flirt with her, but it was nothing she took seriously, because in her opinion, he was one of the most notorious flirts in the city. She was not special, so there was no reason to overthink things.

Hi Karrl, at this time this is a plot taking place in the Alternate Verse with characters in that Universe, and the teams themselves are open to the current X-Men of the AV.

If you are interested in jumping into the AV plots that are going to be around the site for the next year, I definitely recommend checking out the Ripples In Time Plot Summary for more helpful information.

Rebecca was already missing her coffee and her burger and the cake that was taunting her from afar. The universe saw her longing for a decent meal and threw a rat into the mix, which reaffirmed her long-standing belief that the universe was an a**hole.

As much as she wanted to be frustrated at all parties keeping her from lunch, Rebecca could not hold it against Raine that she stumbled upon a rat in the office. The young woman was trying to do her a favor and got hit with a surprise rodent, which left her justifiably shaken. Part of her wanted to remind her that she would be faced with more terrible things than a rat in the line of duty, but she could not bring herself to drop that kind of reality at the moment. There were some difference between anti-mutant zealots and rats, and while the former was worse, the latter was more slightly more likely to bite and carry disease.

The intruder was unconscious and suspended in the air, where Tristen mercifully grabbed it. She was incredibly thankful for that man at moments like this. He went out of the conference room momentarily to grab a box, giving Rebecca a chance to tend to her rattled team member.

At least Raine was still herself, prioritizing the need for a hug above all things. Rebecca smiled and rolled her eyes, handing Bijou over to the crouching woman who had not yet been formally introduced to the “team mascot” thanks to the cat’s antics. ”Bijou will hug you for now.”

Tristen returned with a box for the rat and suggested they avoid bringing up where Raine was bitten, which was a smart idea. The last thing she needed was an argument with her nurse friend about whether the rat was the hospital’s fault, or if the team invited this problem to the hospital in the first place. Her priority right now was making sure her team mate was taken care of, and that meant being cautious. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and typed out a text.



Rebecca looked up at the two people she was sharing the conference room with. It was time to organize the chaos. ”Zero, get up, you’re coming with me to my office and we’ll get you looked at.” Before she could assign a task to the more veteran X-Man, he was suggesting what he would do with the rat, even adding a trip to the store for some preventative measures. ”Thank you, Geo. If you could please go take care of that.”

Tristen was the first one to leave the conference room, but before Rebecca and Raine followed suit, the team leader stopped Raine in her tracks by holding her hand up to signal her to wait. She reached for Bijou, taking the kitten from Raine and temporarily placing the beastie on the table. Rebecca stared Bijou down for a moment to make sure she would not run off, but the cat only looked up curiously.

Turning back to the second-youngest X-Man, Rebecca’s expression softened and she wrapped the blonde up in a big, consoling hug. ”I’m sorry, Raine,” she apologized quietly. ”That sucked, but we’ll make sure you’re alright.” It was not typical of Rebecca’s style, but she honestly felt all the medicine in the world would not make Raine feel better than an honest to goodness hug.

When she separated from her subordinate, (possibly lucky they had no HR department,) Rebecca grabbed the kitten from the table and headed for the door. ”Come on, let’s get to my office and wait for Jules. Oh, and Raine,” she added as her hand reached the door handle, before turning to the girl and staring at her seriously, ”Tell. No one.” Really though, who would believe her anyway?

Rebecca was one step away from firing all her bartenders and starting her staff from scratch.

Okay, so maybe she was not going to take things that far, but she was growing tired of the unreliability of some of her girls. Life happened, but when one girl called out, it was rare that another of her bartenders would jump on the vacated shift. Since leaving the bar unattended was an unwise business move, Rebecca ended up picking up the slack.

It was not the worst thing; she knew the job, it saved her from paying a bartender, and she could cash some extra money on tips. All those logical benefits did not change the fact that she was stuck being sociable with patrons while they drank in her tanktop-exposed cleavage along with their beers and shots. Rebecca could charm her regulars, and some people even enjoyed her snark, but she would still rather be home with her spouse and daughter.

Not that it was easy being home. Rebecca was still coming to terms with the idea that she would never touch Jesse again. No hugs, no kisses, no sex. No strong arms to wrap her up or soft hands to caress her cheek on rough nights. And she loved Jesse, really and truly. The changeling was the only person she ever loved (besides Astrid, of course,) and she would work through this and find happiness in their new reality. Jesse’s smile would ease her heart, and Jesse’s voice would caress her, and that could be enough, she was sure.

But for the moment, it was not. She was aching for a loving touch, knowing it was the one thing she could not have. This longing was making it harder to focus and be as strong as she tried to be. Moments of weakness and shameful thoughts were crossing her mind more frequently, and she was hating herself for them.

She was caught in these thoughts when a new customer arrived at The Rock Bottom Pub, and initially, she was in a fog, not registering who had pulled up a stool at her bar. ”Welcome, what’ll you be having?” she asked, before she turned and looked at the man properly, feeling her heart skip. That damn weakness again. ”Tris?”

Kendra wanted to know if Rebecca was aware they would be fighting a dragon at the end of the maze? Of course she did. Honestly, the last room came up more quickly than Rebecca anticipated, given the procedurally generated nature of the program. There were some nights when she would end up making at least two circles, or catching a genuine dead end. The more she adjusted to the program, the easier it got to recognize possible right paths. She liked the idea of “speedrunning” through the dungeon, but the less rooms she went through, the less equipped she was to take on a dragon. Rebecca had intended to bring Kendra through more challenges to give her more resources, but they had simply hit a fast path to the boss.

So instead of answering, she grinned, and her apparent confidence rubbed off on Kendra, who stopped questioning the absurdity of their situation. There was a dragon, they were going to fight it, it was go time!

The axe moved, and Rebecca guessed she was watching Kendra switch from one arm to another, then she... yelled at the dragon to roll over? Rebecca was admittedly confused, wondering if there was some plan the girl had she was unaware of. She could not devote much time or thought to questioning it, because the massive dragon was flying in their direction, and unlike Kendra, Rebecca could not teleport. She jumped out of the way, but the jaws were targeted at the invisible woman who had the wherewithal to move.

On the way away from the dragon, the spinning bones she was using as a shield clubbed the beast across its blue head, but this did not deter it from the interest it had in Kendra. Maybe it was programmed to find a stealthed target as a higher threat? Rebecca did not want to take a passive role in the fight, but with her partner’s cloaked presence, she wanted to make sure she did not accidentally impale her. Luckily, she could follow the axe Kendra was carrying…

CLATTER!

Well, so much for that plan. Kendra decided to toss away the one weapon she had left, leaving her completely “unequipped.” The pro to this idea was she was not completely invisible. The con was she was completely invisible and still totally at risk of being Rebecca’s collateral damage. At least she could be steal—

Nevermind, she was yelling. She was trying to draw the beast’s attention. Interesting… As much as Rebecca was prepared to help, she was curious to see what Kendra’s plan might be. She remained at the ready with her sword hovering in front of her body, ready to fire like a cannon at the first opportune moment. The dragon moved closer to the point of origin for the shouts, and at the last moment, one of the heads slammed into the wall in an attempt to chomp at the invisible morsel.

Very resourceful for a girl whose only two resources were her powers and her mouth. Knowing how agile the dragon could be and how unwieldly her weapon was, this seemed like a good chance for Rebecca to release the sword, aiming for the recently wounded head. She was hoping it might be stunned longer, but it was able to move quickly enough that the massive sword only nicked its neck. The wound was a start, but certainly not her goal; Rebecca wanted to behead the neck and cut down their problems by half.

And then Kendra exclaimed on instinct when she honestly should have been silent. Rebecca jumped forward, running to her new friend as quickly as possible. As an X-Man and the one who let her stay, she felt responsible for Kendra’s safety. She jumped between the dragon and the spot where the shout had come from, and she felt a shoulder in her grasp letting her know she found her counterpart. She shielded Kendra’s body with her own, her back toward the dragon.

Just before the breath attack started, Rebecca’s bone shield got into place, and she could just focus on spinning the bones as quickly as possible. The dragon’s breath was sub-zero air, so the fan-like motion deflected some it, but air was not an easy thing to divert completely. Rebecca sharply inhaled and grimaced as the frigid blast hit her mostly exposed back and shoulders, causing the equivalent of instant frostbite. If she stood there, taking the attack, it would progress to more serious frostbite, which was of course not ideal.

Of course, she was not one to go on the defensive without a reason. With the breath attack focusing on her, the frost dragon head was focused on one spot, giving Rebecca an easy target. Her sword had been able to hover yards above them, and by the time the fire dragon could notice and shriek a warning, the blade was already coming down like a guillotine on the spot she had previously nicked.

Her vorpal blade went snicker-snack! She left it dead, but left its head on the ground as she grabbed Kendra instead and went galumphing back, away from the dragon who was flying into the air to recuperate and adjust to life with one neck stump.

”Nice plan,” she panted, still feeling goosebumps across all the skin that was not red and numb from direct contact with the icy attack. ”Bit know when tae hold yer tongue, lassie.” When being invisible was your one weapon, an untimely “mother flip” could spell the end for you.

Rebecca eyed the flying beast as the hilt of her sword returned to her hand. ”One down, one tae go…”

Congrats and welcome to MRO, Karrl!

Lord Atlan’s presence was… weighty. Ancient. This was Rebecca’s first interaction with a monarch, and the Leader of Atlantis did not disappoint, looking over their group with kindness, but above all else, authority. They were in his kingdom and in his throne room, so he had every reason to feel in control of his environment and all meetings to happen within.

Rebecca tried her best to play the role of the diplomat despite her concerns, well aware that the team was seeming… off? Yes, things had been off since the arrival on the island, and until further notice, their plan was to put their best foot forward. Thankfully, Masochist might have realized that as well, as he kept his silent meeting Lord Atlan. It was nothing against Saph generally, but specifically since they arrived on the island, he had been irritable. At this moment, he was not their best foot. Moose was also quiet, and that was a general comment, since Elke had a smart mouth naturally. Meanwhile, counter to her father, she might have been one of the only people in their group acting “normal” for the entire trip.

As for Ghost… after showing nothing but enthusiasm on their walk to the citadel, she was surprisingly quiet. In fact, in the corner of Becca’s eye, she could have sworn their Team Leader was flickering. Hold it together, Ghost… please… she thought to herself, wishing the white-haired woman could hear her. Depending on the turns their mission might still take, Rebecca would feel much more comfortable with the wisdom and tenure of Ghost on their side.

And then there was Jorge. Rebecca’s tone was tinted in her uncertainty, regardless of the elegance of her words. The veteran detective, meanwhile, sounded wholly reverent speaking to their host. It was a small slip, but at this point Rebecca was acutely listening for anything out of place, and calling Atlantis “home” was certainly out of place. Did this have to do with “the call” Rebecca was missing?

Atlan graced the group with his presence, moving down to their level while always remaining somehow above them all. He had words for, of all people, Masochist. Why? Had Lodestone missed some comment made under Saph’s breath? No, she was listening to everyone too closely to miss something like that. All she could think was everything went back to “the call.” Atlan could telepathically extend a call out to the nearby mutant population, so maybe it was possible the power was not one way and he could read thoughts as well as send them.

This was new information. That made Lord Atlan a truly powerful “demigod” to be sure, but they already knew that. What Rebecca wondered now… was if she was immune to this power as well. Maybe the king tipped his hand a little too far?

His greetings made her think she was onto something. He greeted Jorge and Maya as though he was glad to welcome them into his kingdom, whereas his greeting to the magnetic manipulator was brief, as if to let her know he was impartial to her presence. Your city is sae pretty, an’ yet yer th’ ugliest thing here, she thought to herself, smiling warmly to the leader, wondering if she would earn a response like Saph, or at the very least a grimace.

Lord Atlan questioned the name of their team, and while Rebecca felt the urge to educate him on the advances in science since his time and the identification of the X-Gene, she held her tongue. Something told her “informative” would only come across as “condescending” in this instance, and she doubted condescension was appreciated by royalty.

The stated purpose of Atlantis’s message was reiterated, but Rebecca’s growing suspicion had her wondering if the mission statement was coming across as rehearsed. He invited them to stay the night and indulge in whatever pleasures they wished. If he could glance into her mind, he might disapprove of the brief flash of thoughts Rebecca had, all featuring the Monarch’s daughter. Extending their time there could be a problem if the island was having some effect on the team, but could they really leave without knowing if Mirror had anything to report?

Rebecca was not the Team Leader, and it was not her place to make the call, so all she could do was smile. ”How very kind ay ye, Your Grace… thoucht Ah’d hope we’re nae overstayin’ our welcome?” Of course they weren’t; Lord Atlan was looking to invite them to his kingdom as permanent residents, so how could they overstay that? Still, she turned to the woman in charge, hoping she was still just that. ”Ghost?”