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.
As Alex watched the young woman place a finger on Bob's forehead, he couldn't help but wonder why she was doing that, unless it was a form or interrogation that he had never heard of. However, after he heard her reaction to Bob's confession, Alex wasn't to sure what do think. They had the killer and the vase he stole, the drugs that were meant to go to the police, and there was a recording of them trying to defend the victim from Susana while Mr. Shin was being killed so they had proof that they were innocent. What could possibly be making this woman worried about that? She was clearly worried enough that his suggestion about how to leave the criminal and the vase had gone in one ear and out the other. What ever was bothering her though, he would have to ask about it when she was done with the criminal.
However, she just seemed to be kneeling there with her finger on Bob's forehead, and Bob seemed to be reacting to something that wasn't there. What the heck was going on? Didn't they have all the information they needed to be safe? With the sound of the sirens were getting closer now, Alex was starting to get antsy.
Finally, after what seemed to be another five minutes, the young woman shifted her finger's position till it was in Bob's hair, and Bob's entire body went limp before the young woman stood up. Seeing this made Alex do a double take on Bob's body, then glanced up at the young woman a little nervously. Clearly she had more then one mutation since she was capable of pulling a metallic object towards her as well as immobilize someone simply by touching them on the side of the head. That could also mean that when she was touching Bob's forehead, she could've been reading his mind for all Alex knew. "Remind me not to get on your bad side..." Alex mumbled as the young woman stood up.
As she explained to Alex that they needed to get that camera because it recorded her kicking Susana in the face, Alex slapped himself in the forehead, feeling stupid for not having realized that. That meant it recorded him nailing Susana in the gut with his extending malachite club. Just great. "Right. I'll see if I can get rid of any of our fingerprints off of the back door." Alex said and followed Lori back to the shop. As they walked, Alex noticed that Lori was sweating, even though she didn't have on a coat and then remembered that her arm had been lathered with Susana's poison, and wondered if there was a way for him to help her get over it if it was affecting her.
Little did either of them know that the poison was actually only capable of raising a person's body temperature in order to wear down a person's stamina. All someone had to do was rinse the poison off of them, in this case Lori's arm, and drink a lot of cold water to dilute the poison that had entered their system. What's more was that the poison was already starting to break down, meaning that even if she didn't wash it off or drink a lot of water, she would still start feeling better in about three hours.
When they arrived at the back door to the shop, Alex grabbed his malachite dagger and, with his cyan eyes glowing green again, he turned it into a sort of grasping claw so he wouldn't leave fingerprints on the door knob when he turned it. However, when he tried it, the knob wouldn't turn. "Locked. Give me a sec..." Alex stated, then removed the golf ball sized pommel from the malachite dagger and held it up to the door lock. While it didn't seem like anything was happening, the pommel had actually grown a small piece of malachite into the lock and that small piece was shifting it's shape into a key. A second or two later, Alex smiled and turned the pommel, which in turn unlocked the door, and using the malachite grasping claw, Alex opened the back door and relocked it so when they left, they wouldn't have to worry about it. He pulled out the pommel, revealing the key shape growth on the pommel, and gave Lori a shrug with a slightly smug smile. "After you."
When Tasean said that he was a social worker for mutants, both of Alex's eyebrows went up in amazement and he let out a quiet whistle. Very few people knew just how hard it was for anyone to work as a social worker, though Alex had a guess since his sister in law worked as a social worker and it gave her at least two ulcers that were both stress related, but she did love her job. If being a social worker for humans caused that much stress, then Alex couldn't wrap his head around how much stress this guy was under for being a social worker for mutants. Needless to say, Alex was impressed with this guy since he was willing to take on such a hard job.
When Tasean started to talk about the child he was after, and that the kid had vanished suddenly, Alex's face went from being amazed to being worried. He had seen with his own eyes how traumatizing it is for a child to become a mutant whom had parents that stilled loved them even with that mutation. For a child to go through such a trauma without parents that cared about him... the very thought of it instantly made Alex's heart sink. The moment that Tasean asked if he had seen anything, Alex quickly started to rake his brain cells, trying to remember if he saw anything along the lines of thorny vines while he was practicing with his malachite abilities. With a sad sigh, Alex shook his head. "No... I'm sorry I can't say that I have. If you'd like though, I could give you a hand in looking around here for him." Alex offered kindly.
If there was one advantage to having the aspergers disorder, it had to be that it was fairly easy to fall asleep when someone wanted to. If Alex wanted to fall asleep, all he had to do was close his eyes, which he had already done, and calm his thoughts down till they were completely still... and after that he normally would fall to sleep. And at the moment Alex was on the verge of completely calming his thoughts when something that almost felt like a rubbery substance struck him on the right cheek. If Alex's mind was an ocean, it went from nearly calm to a level four hurricane in the blink of an eye, which was followed by a slight twinge in pain as Alex's eyes flew open as he sat up, started. "Ow! Hey, what's the bright idea?!" Alex yelped looked around while rubbing his cheek with his hand.
It was only now that he finally realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Laying on the couch directly in front of him was a woman with beautiful long red hair, and she looked to be just as tall as him, maybe even taller. There was no one else nearby, so unless there was an invisible mutant in the room, she was the one whom had thrown the object towards him. Since she was only now rolling over to see whom was in the room, Alex guessed that she had only tossed the shoes in the direction of his voice when he had been talking before hand... and apparently she was rather good at throwing stuff over her shoulder, which turned out to be the pair of shoes when Alex glanced at the object that had landed in his lap.
Alex glanced back at her waiting for an explanation when she muttered that she couldn't get any sleep around here, and he realized that he had woken her up first. Oops. I guess I was talking to myself, but I thought I was only whispering... Alex realized, and then was worried if she heard everything he was talking about... mainly the part where his mom would want him dead. However that concern evaporated faster then water in the desert when the woman said a couple of things that struck him as odd... which was that she said that this was the second time that he woke her up, and she knew his family nickname. "Twice? And how do you know my nick..." Alex started to say, but his voice trailed off when he noticed the woman's wagging tail, and realized her red hair was the same red as the large mutant wolf that had shown him around the mansion the day before. That's when it clicked in his head on who she was. "Oh! You're that beautiful wolf that showed me around! Sorry, I didn't recognize you." Alex exclaimed as he removed his hand from his cheek to show a red mark where the shoe had lightly struck him.
Alex was about to apologize for waking her for the second time when he realized something wrong. He didn't know her name! During the entire time when she was showing him around the mansion, Alex had completely forgot to ask her that question. "Uh... sorry, what's your name?"
As Alex walked towards the woman and the shooter, he changed direction every now and then to pick up a small shard of malachite that belonged to his dagger. With each piece he picked up, he placed the broken piece of malachite back onto the dagger Defiance where it belonged, and ran a finger over the crack where the shard met the remains of the dagger. As his finger passed over the cracks, the crack glowed green for a second, then the glow faded revealing that the crack was gone and the shard was now a whole piece connected to the dagger. Alex had collected five of the six pieces of malachite that had broken off of the dagger and looked in the direction of the final piece, and shook his head when it saw it. It was on the ground between the gunner's boots... apparently it had flown passed the gunner's ear when he used his gun to break the malachite weapon.
As Alex walked towards the final shard, Bob eyes were crossed so he could focus on the finger that was currently resting on his forehead. When asked the question if he had a good reason for Lori to not kill him, Bob's eyes darted back and forth trying to think of a good explanation or a good excuse. However, all he could come up with was "Because I'm cute?" in quiet tone.
As Alex knelt down to pick up the final malachite shard, Bob started to shudder when Lori ordered him to tell them all about the vase, and glanced over at Alex and meekly asked "Help?" In response, Alex only gave Bob a glance that said 'are you kidding?' and took a few steps away from Bob and Lori so she could have her way with him. The sound of sirens were getting closer, but they were still a long way off and were moving rather slowly.
Seeing that Alex refused to help him, Bob found himself unable to resist Lori's will. "That vase is actually a fake. A large shipment of M-drugs were swiped right off the assembly line by a snitch worker and were delivered to Mr. Shin as a drop off point so the police could come and get the drugs. What Mr. Shin didn't know was that I had expected the snitch to go to Mr. Shin's store because the snitch had done it before, so I had hidden a camera with a microphone within Mr. Shin's shop. In order to hide the shipment until the police arrived, Mr. Shin placed every single pill onto the still wet vase he was making, then coated the vase with more clay and sculpted it so it looked like a master piece." Bob stated as he spilled the beans. Hearing this, Alex shook his head. "That means the customer that Mr. Shin had already sold the vase to was actually an undercover cop that hadn't arrived yet. No wonder he refused to give that vase to Susana even after all of that threatening." Alex commented, then shook his head. "That cop is bound to show up anytime now and find the remains of Susana's blood whip on the floor of the shop and he'll open a crime scene investigation. Leave this guy near Mr. Shin unconscious with the vase and they'll conclude that this nut case simply tripped and fell when he tried to make his getaway. The police will have their confiscated drugs, their murderer, and that camera in that shop will show us trying to save Mr. Shin from Susana which will show them that we're not guilty of this crime." Alex suggested.
As bullets zinged passed Alex's cover and impacted themselves into the brick wall, the malachite manipulating mutant frowned and tried to figure out how he could himself out of this mess. He could simply run and get out of there in one piece... but he would never be able to forgive himself for letting a murder get away. Another choice would be to head back to the fire escape, get onto the roof, and pounce the guy from above with a quick strike to the head with the Defiance in the shape of a club. Alex was about to resort to that when he realized why the shooter knew that Alex was still hiding around the corner and thus was still firing every now and then... there was a small mirror on the ground and Alex could see the reflection of the killer in the mirror... which meant the killer could see Alex in the reflection. The shooter would know exactly when Alex left that spot, so the shooter could run for it then. There would be no way for Alex to find that guy on the rooftops then.
A mirror... wait a tic! A crazy idea had entered Alex's head at that moment. He didn't need to move or go around the corner to get to that criminal when his malachite dagger Defiance could get around the corner with no problem! All he would have to do was grow the malachite till it hit the shooter in the head to knock him out. It was hard to tell, but the guy looked like he was only 20 feet away from the reflection in the mirror, and Alex could stretch the Defiance at least 36 feet with ease. Drawing his malachite weapon, he readied himself when he heard the sound of sirens. The killer surely heard them too, so Alex had a very small window to do this.
It was now or never. Alex aimed the sharp end of Defiance at the corner and focused. The dagger quickly grew around the corner and shot towards the shooter like a harpoon, but it was veering of to the left, and Alex could see this in the mirror. Without thinking much about it, he made the malachite grow slightly to the right as it continued to extend towards the shooter, but it looked like the dagger was going even farther off course. That was when Alex realized that he was trying to understand where the malachite was going from the reflection of the mirror, and mirrors always showed stuff in the reverse of what they really were. In reality the dagger hadn't been curving to the left, but to the right of the shooter, and Alex had just made it go even farther right. Idiot... Alex thought as he curved the extending weapon back to the left, and managed to line up the extending tip with the shooter's forehead.
However, before the rapidly extending weapon could reach the target, the shooter had fired at the malachite blade that was heading towards him, and got lucky. In order for Alex to get the Defiance to grow that far, he had to make the blade wire thin. While the blade would be extremely sharp, it was also rather weak, and couldn't withstand the force of a bullet. The round struck the malachite, causing it to break into six pieces... and Alex almost could've swore that he felt the malachite break when it did. He quickly recalled what was left of the Defiance, and found that he was holding only half of the weapon. He could only extend it roughly 18 feet now, which wasn't enough to hit the shooter. "Well, ain't that just peachy..." Alex muttered under his breath. Alex glanced in the mirror again, annoyed. He could hear all six pieces of malachite chiming, begging him to collect them before someone else did, while what was left of the Defiance in his hand seemed to be chiming in a softer tone, as if it was crying for being broken, and also seemed to be begging Alex to fix it. As long as the shooter was there though, Alex couldn't pick up the pieces to repair his weapon.
When Bob saw the look of defeat in Alex's eyes in the mirror, he knew that this mutant wasn't going to try that trick again. He checked his weapon's clip, and realized that the weapon was empty. The last bullet of his illegal 20 round clip had been spent stopping the mutant's attack. After checking the vase to see if it was still in one piece, the shooter turned the vase upside down and three spent rounds fell out of it. Well, how about that? Nice catch. He ejected the spent clip from his gun, but as he reached for another clip, an invisible force yanked the gun over his shoulder and towards something behind him, causing him to fall backwards onto his rear. Not knowing what was happening, all Bob could think of was holding onto the gun with one hand and the vase with the other as if his life depended on both. The invisible force kept pulling the gun backwards, and in turned dragging Bob across the ground towards the source of the invisible force. When he stopped, he looked up and saw Lori. Not sure of what to do now, all he could do was smile nervously with a dumb expression on his face, unsure of what Lori wanted to do. "Uh... hi..." He said, then glanced back down the alley and saw Alex coming out from behind his brick cover, having seen all of this happen from the mirror.
"Well, that puts what I can do to shame. Looks like I owe you a favor now, don't I?" Alex stated as he reached down and picked up the first two pieces of his broken malachite dagger.
Getting in Some Practice Newly arriving in New York, Alex realizes that practicing with his mutation in an empty alleyway isn't as secretive as he thought it would be.
Drug Chase at the Market While touring the market street, Alex get's caught up in an M-drug chase with a rather interesting woman.
The Ragged Rook Tired, depressed, and at his wits end, Alex accepts the help of a passing stranger to find a place where a new mutant can feel safe.
Looking for friends Having arrived at the X-mansion with the help of a new friend, Alex is greeted by two people that couldn't be more opposite of each other.
A Friendly Meeting Alex meets up with Emerald again and has a small chat with her... that ended on a sour note.
Well, this has been one very eventful month, hasn't it? Alex asked himself as he started to make his way through the mansion hallways, taking in everything as he walked, while thinking about how he got to the mansion in the first place. It had been quite an interesting month for Alex, ranging from chasing a drug dealer at the market while he was in New York City, to finding this mansion where he could possibly find a job. True, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he had arrived in New York to start over, but then again this was better then he could've hoped for. This mansion had it all... a large backyard and forest where he could climb, a nice kitchen with plenty of food, a place where he could practice using his powers that he was going to have to check out some time soon, and a cozy looking living room with some very comfortable couches and chairs. He was going to love it here... now only if he could find a way to rent a room here so he wouldn't have to stay in the musty motel anymore.
As Alex covered his mouth as a yawn started to emerge from his throat, he pulled his thoughts back to reality and glanced around some more, and found himself just outside of the living room. "Speaking of comfortable chairs..." Alex mumbled under his breath, and started to head towards the living room, and quickly turned to head towards one of the recliners, and as a result he didn't a couple of the couches in the room. Alex was so caught up in his thoughts that he wouldn't of even noticed if someone was sleeping on one of those couches. Still a bit zoned out, he walked over to one of the recliners and sat down with a small sigh.
"If only mom could see me now..." Alex muttered under his breath contently, then suddenly tensed. His mother... his mother was currently mourning over the loss of his father... whom he had killed with the malachite dagger named Defiance. Feeling depression start to set in, Alex reached down and felt the malachite dagger that rested against his left hip, and ran his fingers along the engravings of the dagger that made the blade look like a dove's win. "Mom... she'd want me dead right about now..." Alex muttered under his breath, then sighed and closed his eyes as he pushed those thoughts and memories to the back of his mind, still oblivious to the rest of the room.
Well, it's not exactly a love story or a documentary per say, but basically a story on how mutants and humans are capable of working together to survive, . The romantic scene was only filmed to show that humans and mutants can still have affection towards one another, and whomever caused the real explosion wanted to send a message that said "this is what will happen if humans and mutants try to live together... they won't survive."
Hm... on that note, there could be more problems during filming that could have resulted in disaster, but the extras ((that would be us)) prevent the problems from becoming a disasters. Several of these mistakes or problems happen until whom ever is causing these problems blows up the romantic scene because he's done playing around. An example of one of those small problems could be when a stunt double whom is flying through the air with the use of a zip line with a few safety features when the zip line and the safety fall backs all fail all at once and a random extra saves the stunt double, though how they save the stunt double is up to the extra. We could even have it so that the extras are even more heroic... or destructive, then the actors that when the chaos is over, the director chooses to use all of the behind the scenes filming to make a documentary about mutants instead of trying to save his original movie.
... I can't believe I'm thinking this stuff up on the fly!
Another possible idea is that if some of the extras don't want their identity known, they can have their nick name or some other random name be in the credits and their costume could have something else to protect their identity, like a synthetic mask, or CGI mutations so they can't be identified by their real powers or to hide their real powers, or something along the lines of having them play as something completely against what they would do in real life. An example of that last one would be what I plan on doing with Alex and his costume, having him wear a gas mask while wearing shock absorbing body armor and riding around on a Spyder, since the extra that Alex is acting out as is a wannabee vigilante human that gets killed when he interferes with a battle that the main heroes of the movie are in. Alex accepts this role since no one would think he would be a vigilante... ha ha, har har, yuck yuck.
Oh, and yes, every single extra would get paid a flat rate, and would get bonuses on how well they did.
Anyone else have any ideas of how we can stretch out the plot a bit? Like a possible scene the extras could act out, a point off set where the extras and the lead actors could interact, or a scene where the extras are trying to figure out what is causing these disasters?
Really? You guys like it that much? I didn't think you guys would like it this much because of how broken up it is... but then again, I haven't been here long enough to see the creation of a plot before. If you guys like it so much, could I have a little help in turning this into a plot? I'm not 100% sure how plots are run either...
Okay guys, I have a possible plot idea and I would like it if you gave it a looking over. It's rather rough and sorta incomplete, but is has potential.
Basically, a movie director says that he wants to make a blockbuster hit movie with a mutant and human cast in an attempt to bridge the gap between the two races. The movie is basically about a small group of humans and mutants that are at each others throats when they both discover terrorist plot to attack the United States, and it takes both the humans and the mutants working together to stop the terrorist attack. While filming in New York, the director asks the NYPD to stay close by since he has already gotten a lot of threats from anti-mutant groups and radical mutants groups for even thinking about making such a movie, but he is also looking for some mutants in New York to play the part of extras in the movie regardless if they are X-men, Order, or neither, which causes a bit of a tension while on set. A few scenes are acted out with some of the extras ranging from a few fight scenes in which that extras get 'pounded' by the human and mutant actors playing the lead roles, a few rooftop scheming scenes, and even a scene or two that are just meant for pure humor. Then, during a point in filming an outdoor romantic scene between the lead human and lead mutant, there is an explosion on the set which kills both lead actors and results in chaos, and it's impossible to tell if this was an attack from an anti-human group that wants all the mutants on the filming site dead, if it was a mutant attack that would not allow humans and mutants to work together, if it was a freak mistake, or some other possibility. Everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else, and it's up to the NYPD, the X-Men, and even the Order to figure out what the heck is going on.
Like I said, it's rough and incomplete, but it has possibilities. What do you guys think?
As Alex opened the door that led into the back alleyway, he was surprised to see just how long it was, and that there were several other alleys that broke off of the alley he was currently walking down, and he was wondering which one Mr. Shin had gone down. The old merchant was clearly not in the first alleyway, that was for certain, it was so well lit that Alex could see every nook and cranny of this alley. He only needed to take four steps to reach the first alleyway, which was on his left, and it was only three feet long, and it was mostly used to store fresh clay for the pottery merchant to use for his clay.
However when Alex reached the second alleyway, he nearly froze up when he saw a person wearing clothes similar to Mr. Shin lying on the ground in a shady area under a fire escape to hide the body. Not thinking about any possible danger, Alex quickly ran towards the downed body and skidded to a stop next to the body. It was Mr. Shin alright, and he wasn't breathing. With sorrow and pity filling his heart, Alex knelt down next to the Korean to check for a pulse. Nothing. Alex you fool. You should've finished that fight as soon as possible to make sure nothing happened to him. He could've panicked to the point that his heart stopped. Alex thought as he blamed himself for this man's death, and slowly closed Mr. Shin's eyes.
It was then that Alex noticed that the vase was missing, and there was some bruising around Mr. Shin's mouth and nose as if something hard had pushed up against it. Curious, he stood back up and looked around, and noticed the shadow of a person vanishing around a corner that led into another alleyway. Now a bit more cautious, he drew his malachite dagger and walked towards the corner and glanced around it. There, walking down the middle of the alleyway, was a man dressed in dark clothes with the vase under his arm. Did he steal the vase from Mr. Shin's body, or did he have something to do with the merchant's death? Alex thought as he stepped around the corner. "Excuse me sir. I need to ask you a couple of questions." Alex stated using a calm yet firm tone, not realizing how much he sounded like a cop.
When the man whirled around with a gun drawn, Alex wished he hadn't said a thing, and he barely had time to dive back around the corner before the bricks that had been behind Alex shattered a little as lead bullets struck the brick wall of the alleyway. The sound of the gun shots echoed through the alleyway and could be heard from the nearby street. Alex didn't dare to look around the corner as another shot rang out. "Rook, why the freak did you come out of the motel today?" Alex asked himself as he glanced around the corner, then jumped back as a bullet missed his nose by a millimeter.
After Alex had finished giving Hokee the friendly warning, it didn't take long for the kid to respond in a negative way. The first thing out of brat's mouth was that the truth about what mutants were hurts and that the new mutants would have to accept the fact that they were mutants, or at least that's how Alex understood what Hokee had said. Hearing that comment got Alex hot under the collar and he started wishing that he could put this kid in his place the way it needed to be done... with his fist. Hokee's next comment about Alex not working there and that he shouldn't get on Hokee's bad side really got Alex steamed, but he didn't show it on his face. It was true, Alex didn't work there, yet, but that didn't mean that Hokee had to ignore everything that Alex told him. Hokee truly was the type of person that cared only for themselves and the rest of the world could go to Hell for all they cared.
Alex couldn't get his head off of the mutant 'freak' comment, and he had to address it. "Mutants aren't freaks pal. They're people with amazing gifts, and they should be judged on how they use those gifts, not because they simply have them. Judging them simply because they have a gift is wrong and that line of thought has gotten people killed, and you know it. I'm not trying to get you to change your line of thinking, I just want you to be more careful so you don't piss off the wrong person, alright? My nephew died in my arms because of that, and I don't want that to happen to you too." Alex stated as he started to scratch the wolf's neck in hopes that it would keep her calm because, if Hokee kept this up she might lunge at him, and Alex didn't want her to get in trouble.
He glanced down at the wolf when she spoke up, and was a little surprised that she could talk with her mouth in that shape, and wondered how hard it was to do so. She also had a point, since Hokee was a mutant just like the rest of them. However, Hokee just seemed to shrug off the comment and mentioned that there was an old woman that was in charge of a class for controlling mutant powers, and Hokee recommended that Alex have the wolf escort him there as soon as possible. That was the last straw. Alex couldn't stand this anymore, and it was evident when he stopped scratching the wolf's neck and had curled both of his hands into fists, each one capable of bashing a person's skull in. If I don't move away from this knucklehead soon, I'm going to cut him to pieces. Alex thought and shook his head. "Thank you for letting me in Hokee, and I think I'll be alright on my own for now. I'll let you know if I need you again." Alex stated dryly, before trying to think of how to get rid of this kid without offending him even more. His stomach gave him the answer by growling, and he glanced down at the wolf and shrugged. "Come on. I think we've taken up enough of Hokee's time. Think you could show me where the kitchen is?" Alex asked as he already started to walk away from Hokee while keeping his eyes on the wolf.
As Mr. Shin rounded a corner in the alleyway, a dark figure suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled the poor Korean into the shadows. Trying to struggle, the merchant dropped the vase, which oddly enough didn't break when it hit the ground, and tried to pull away the hand that was covering his mouth and nose, but his attacker was too strong. As he struggled, only one thought was going through Mr. Shin's mind. Why me? It wasn't long afterwards that the dark figured lowered the Korean's lifeless body to the ground and picked up the vase will pulling out his cell phone and dialed a friend's number. As the phone rang, the dark attacker ran his gloved fingers over the hundred of bumps that covered the vase's surface, counting each bump as he did so.
The man frowned under his mask when the message asking him to leave a message played, since it meant he was going to be taking a little longer this way. "Hey Tony, it's Bob. I just recovered that shipment of M-drugs that the two of us bone heads lost. You're not going to believe this, the old coot had put them all into the lining of a vase he was making. It's almost flawless. We're gonna need another potter or a mutant with control over clay to get all 500 pills out of this vase so we can finally sell this stuff. However I saw something rather bad in front of the shop before I chose to go in through the back. Lori was there, and she had another guy with her whom is clearly battle hardened judging from the look in his eyes, and they were fighting someone else whom could've been an undercover cop for all I know! I thought you said you were gonna keep the loss of the shipment quiet! I don't know who that guy is, if he's either another customer of ours or if he's just another mutant, but his eyes glow green when he uses his power, and it causes something green to grow out of his hands. Freaky, eh? I'm just glad I'm a normal human. Ah, see you at our chick pick up spot. Peace out!" the killer said, then closed his cell phone up and quickly darted into another alleyway.
*******
When the woman said that she looked more like her father, something about her voice made Alex believe her, though he still had high doubts that she was Susana's daughter. However in truth it was none of his business, and he was actually starting to wonder why he asked that question in the first place. "Ah, okay. Considered the question dropped." Alex stated politely as he reached into his back pocket to grab a clean hankie so she could wipe the poison off of her arm, but as she moved to pick Susana up and then seemed to be able to swing her over her shoulder without much effort, Alex realized that she didn't want any of his help and seemed to be doing fine on his own.
When she told him to find Mr. Shin and tell him that the struggle was over, Alex nodded while stuffing the hankie into his back pocket. "Alright. It looks like you have things handled... and that you want me to leave you alone. Later." Alex stated as he turned around and walked around the counter to head towards the back door. "Nice job by the way." Alex stated before he opened the door that led to the rear half of the shop.
Once Alex was through the threshold of the door, he closed it behind him and leaned against the wall next to the door, trying to regain his composure. What it the world was that back there? Alex asked himself as he looked down into his empty palms. He couldn't figure out why he had acted that way when he nailed Susana in the stomach with his malachite. He wasn't one for trash talk, never had been... so why did he do that while she was down? It didn't make any sense to him. Sure, he was trying to protect Mr. Shin and his store, but doing that to someone while they were down didn't have any purpose, other then to rub it in, and that wasn't his way. Must be because I'm a traitor. Traitors don't have a code of honor. They don't even have hearts. Alex thought as he remembered some of the stuff his father taught him as a child when ever they talked about the duties of the Keepers of the family.
With a sigh, Alex got off the wall and headed towards the door that led into the alley way behind the store.
As Alex let his arm hang down over the wolf's head in his own way of asking permission if he was allowed to pet the wolf, he noticed that Hokee was clearly unhappy with the whole situation of a mutant in the form of a wolf showing up... or for that matter, Hokee seemed completely annoyed with the whole idea of mutants all together. Earlier he had referred to all of the people in this as 'freaks,' not as people or as mutants, but freaks. Alex had already come to the conclusion that Hokee had a very low opinion on mutants, but after the kid called the wolf a mutt and mentioned that Alex was going to have to clean up after the wolf, he was starting to get a little hot under the collar with that kid, and was considering knocking him down to size, crutches or no. However, it was the wolf that he had insulted, so Alex had chose to let the wolf mutant discipline Hokee in what ever way she wanted to.
However, it was when Hokee has said that there was a rule about not hurting people that lived here that made Alex narrow his flawless cyan eyes in annoyance. Sure, it was a good rule, but it was the way that Hokee has presented it that was wrong. Alex had interpreted it as Hokee telling the wolf mutant that she wasn't allowed to discipline him or he would try to get her in trouble. Was all that this kid cared about was himself? Did he view everyone else in the wrong and he was the only one that was right? Was he the only person that wasn't a freak in his eyes? Did he have no respect for anyone else, at all? Hokee badly needed an attitude adjustment, although Alex wasn't allowed to do it since he didn't work here. However, he was allowed to give the kid a warning.
And after he started to scratch the wolf behind the ears, that exactly what he chose to do. "You know Hokee, you should start watching your mouth. If you told some of those comments to someone with a bad temper, they would've beaten you to a pulp already... with your own crutches. Be more careful." Alex stated as he continued to gently scratch the wolf behind the ears. "And about the rule of not hurting anyone here, I'm guessing that rule goes further then just physical pain. That comment about calling all mutants 'freaks' would've left a deeper wound in a child's mind then any knife could do in their body. Wounds inflicted by words don't heal, no matter how much time has passed." Alex continued. He wasn't quoting any teacher or physiologist he knew, he was actually speaking from experience. Alex had been beaten up several times as a child, but he could recover from that. The constant verbal teasing on the other hand still affected him to this day, and no amount of physiological help could help him fully recover from it. He was going to carry that pain for the rest of his life. Alex was hoping to stop Hokee from causing that same pain to another person... or at least try to stop him from doing any more.
As Alex continued to scratch the wolf mutant behind the ears, he waited for Hokee's response.
