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.
So... he needed something of someones in order to be able to look like them? The native briefly considered wandering over and simply taking something from the kid she had pointed out. But.. she didn't really have anything on her person that she wished to exchange at the moment. Frowning, she turned her attention back to Chase and blinked. Dark eyes wandered over to the duplicate still running in circles, though... she was clearly beginning to run out of wind. "Nope." She answered curtly back, stuffing her hands into her pockets.
"They all come out really dumb... I dunno why, but it's kind of funny at least." Her fingers brushed over a small bag of marbles in her pocket, and Elke felt a light click on over her head. She turned an excited, slightly devilish grin back to Chase in an instant as she pulled one of the shiny glass balls from her pocket.
"If I give you this can you look like me?" For affect, she added a flash of pouty bottom lip, and drew her eyebrows together like a kicked puppy. Off behind her, the clone had finally exhausted her supply of energy. With a whump the duplicate toppled over onto the ground, legs and arms flopping dramatically, and gasped as she re-caught her breath.
He was swinging the makeshift weapon, and in doing so, Elke clung to keep herself from falling off of him. Hair pulling didn't seem to be working, and the twin hanging from his arm wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. The girl managed to dodge, so effectively that Elke blinked (or squeezed her eyes shut in fright, whatever) and she had managed to avoid the blow. The jolt of the concrete meeting metal sent a shock wave up the pole and through Badger's arms. Elke took the brief pause that came after to re-affix her arms around the boys throat. Her tightened her grip, locking her fingers together, and leaned back as far as she could in an attempt to pull him over backwards with the added weight.
...of course, him holding onto a heavy light pole hindered any such attempts, but she wasn't aware of that. The twin set about gnawing resolutely on Badgers arm, while the explosive girl shouted at him.
"Arrow!"
The voice belonged to Rabbit, who was being dragged by the arm over by the last duplicate. The duplicator blinked at them in an upside down manner, having extended herself as far as she could backwards. "Quick, Rabbit! Do it!"
The timid child looked from Elke, to Badger's large, angry form, and back. He knew what to do, but every time Badger got into one of his moods it was... terrifying. He'd seen their leader send people flying through windows before when in such rages. Still... his power did seem to calm him down, and the girl was pretty dangerous.
With a wibble of a bottom lip, he stepped closer while Badger was recovering, and extended his arms out. A warmth started radiating from him, followed swiftly by a light pink hue... and sparkles.... A moment after it started, a blast of the glittering pink color shot out and enveloped Badger whole. Elke and her twin were caught in the blast as well. All three people stiffened up momentarily, struck silent. Then... Badger started to relax. The street lamp slipped from his grasp, clanging to the ground at his feet. His knees wobbled and he dropped to the ground as well. Elke felt the sensation of... calmness wash over her and with a stupid smile slapped onto her face she slipped from around badger's neck and flopped into the pavement.
After a few seconds in the pink shimmery glow, Badger relaxed completely. The anger vanished, though he still looked rather annoyed. The moment it looked as if he was through fighting, Rabbit dropped his hands and the pink glow vanished. The boy looked thoroughly embarrassed (especially because a strange girl had just seen him use his pink power), he shuffled over to help Badger up when the boy lifted out a hand to him.
"Ah... S-sorry Badger.... Elke told me to--"
"I know, Rabbit."
Stupid grin still in place, Elke giggled childishly as Badger pinned a glare on her. If she hadn't been struck with a delirious sense of warmth and happiness, she would have cringed. That glare spelled trouble for her. Trouble when there wasn't an explode-y girl hanging around.
"Come on, let's go home... Arrow, it's best if you get lost for a while." He stomped off with Rabbit trailing along behind him, and Elke watched them leave. The twin flopped over on the ground beside her scratched her head in confusion, while the other twin shuffled over to join them. "I dun get it, boss... Why's he mad?"
Elke sighed, shifting her eyes so she could look at explode-y girl. "Because he's a jerk, that's why..."
The other twin, the one who had been helping Elke, raised her hand guiltily. "...I also bit him..."
Badger wasn't fazed by the show... Elke, however, was. Her eyes widened drastically at the spectacle. This girl was Amazing! She could not stand by and let badger try and pummel her into meat paste... or, on the flip side, let the girl explode Badger. Then Shameless would be leader, and he sucked!
Speaking of shameless, she turned her head and glanced around until she spotted where the rest of the group had gotten off to. She spotted them off in the distance, grouped together, watching as Badger raged. Shame had mute on his back, to make up for the extra weight he had lost, and he looked rather disgruntled because of it.
A roar from Badger had her whipping her head back to the current situation at hand. He was in rage mode, and only two things had ever stopped him before. Being knocked out cold, or having someone forcefully sooth him. Elke started to split, her body dividing on either side. As Badger roared again and looked around for something else to throw. His eyes landed on the street that had been sitting beside the bench. The berserker boy set about tearing it from the layer of cement it was embedded in. By the time he had it free of its anchor, Elke had split off to complete duplicates of herself. "You!" She pointed at one as she pushed herself to her feet. "Go get rabbit! And you!" She pointed to the other, as she slung her bow around her shoulders. "Help me fight this guy!"
One nodded and sprinted off, heading toward where Shameless and the others waited, while Elke and the twin that was left bolted for Badger's back. The twin jumped and latched onto one of his arms, kicking with dangling legs as the boy straightened up. Elke on the other hand, took a running leap, grabbed ahold of the back of his shirt and used it to haul herself up until she could get a skinny arm around his thick neck.
"Badger! Badger! Calm down!" He ignored her, even when she grabbed his braid, hooked a leg over his shoulder and pulled with all her might. Much like trying to steer a raging bull. The fifteen foot lamp post was lifted and then swung with all of his might in the explosive mutant girl's direction.
She grinned. Yup, she was a mutant alright. She preferred the term Homo Superior, though. It sounded better, and more honest. She couldn't remember which of her friends had informed her of the title (which she still didn't understand the full meaning of) but she liked it all the same.
Her grin drooped a little and she tilted her head at him when he admitted that he was one also. Her twin copied her after. He was a mutant as well? Her gaze shifted to one of scrutiny for a moment, as if she were evaluating him, before she nodded her head.
He agreed with her on the other kids being loud and annoying. Obviously, he could be trusted. There was no reason to assume he was lying. "You mean you're homo Superior too?"
Her twin glanced over at her, an eyebrow raised. "..Wassat mean, Boss?" "It means we're more important, dummy." The clone blinked, before a look of happy realization flashed across it's face. "So.. I am important too?"
"No." Elke states matter o' factly. "Because you are not a real mutant, you are just a creation of a mutant." Elke tried to brush the clone off, who bunched her eyebrows together and lost herself in thought.
"So... you can look like other people? Can you..." She glanced around, before her eyes settled on a kid not to far from them. "... can you look like him?" She was interested, that much was obvious. There was an excitement in her voice, and a small grin on her face. If there was one thing in the world she really truly loved, it was the vast variety of different mutations that were scattered throughout her kind.
After a moment, the clone reached out and tugged on Elke's sleeve. "...I wanna be important, boss.. can I be important too?" Elke blinked, rolled her eyes slightly, and leaned over to whisper in her clones ear. A moment later, the girl grinned and took off around the playground. Sprinting in wide circles around the monkey bars.
The rest of the car ride was tense and silent. Neither wanted to say anything to the other, and it was probably best that way. The sky was dark, street lights were out, and other people were on their way home.
...to their families. In their nice houses... with their happy kids.
Screw em'.
She didn't need a perfect family. She didn't need a carbon copy mom and dad. She was just fine with what she had.. it worked for everyone that way.
The truck rolled along, until finally they reached their destination. Only... it wasn't her home. Black eyes landed on her Social workers office, and her heart sank a little. She... she really should have known better. Without a word, she turned and looked at her father. He refused to meet her eyes.
"Go on... You know you're not allowed at the house. We'd get in trouble if they found you there." He didn't even bother shifting the car into park, or unbuckling himself. This wasn't a happy goodbye. Her eyes settled on her feet, dirty sneakers of mismatched colors, before she slowly unbuckled herself.
Elke let herself out of the car, pausing before she closed the door. Her face contorted, and with the grace of a fifteen year old boy, she hawked a glob of spit through the trucks interior at her dad. It struck him on the shoulder, earning her a curse as a reward. "Goddamnit Elke--!"
"I HATE YOU!"
With the final word in her court, she slammed the door hard enough to rock the truck slightly, turned, and ran off down the side walk. It was just another average day, with another average argument, ending in the average way. Her father stepped out of the truck briefly, to yell something after her, but notice Susan (Elke's case worker) wandering toward the front door of her office, and decided against staying. The girl wasn't his problem anymore... he wasn't her keeper. The truck shifted into gear again, and with a roar from the engine it rolled off down the street before Susan got out onto the sidewalk.
She peered both ways, then watched taillights vanish around a corner. With a frown, she cuddled her sweater closer to her, shook her head, and wandered back inside.
Elke nocked another arrow, stopped, turned on her heel, and raised her bow to shoot once more. Only..
The guy was gone.
She stood in silence for a moment, before letting out a crow of excitement. "YEAAAH! You better RUN! Homie don't play like th--Urk!" A hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt, hoisting her back before she could finish her statement.
Ksshckt "We've got a 1-8-7, suspect's whereabouts unknown. Believed to be armed and dangerous, proceed with caution..." Ksshckt The crackle of a voice over a radio vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and she was turned to face her captor. It wasn't the masked man from before, as she had expected it to be, but rather and Officer of the law.
"...Oh, snap.. cops." The clone froze like a deer in headlights, staring at the officer who was looking pointedly at her, before he dropped his gaze to Elke.
"Ah... Miss Crawford. Funny place to find you this late in the evening, isn't it? What are you doing out here, hm?"
Crap.... He'd heard of her before. She attempted to shrug. "...Dunno."
The flat stare he leveled on he told her that he wasn't impressed with her answer. He switched from gripping the back of her shirt, to her upper arm. "Come on then, I'm sure your Social worker would just love to know where you have been."
The girl whined, but didn't protest as the cop dragged her along with him. As if the fact that she had been caught wasn't bad enough, he had all sorts of annoying questions to ask her as well. He also didn't seem to think her reply to 'What were you doing here?' was very funny. Apparently "I was rescuing the guy that got pushed off the building" wasn't a great answer to a cop?
...or, maybe he just didn't believe her. Either way, he filled her in on a few key things. First of all, that she had put herself in a very dangerous situation-- which she honestly didn't care about. The thing she did care about, and which kind of blew her mind, was the little tid-bit of information on who exactly she had just attacked.
The Judge.
The twelve year old was boggled. Awed... and kind of star struck. The Judge? REALLY?! Mr. Cop wasn't all to impressed at the squeal of excitement she let out, and she got a very serious, very strict talking to because of it. Basically, blah blah blah dangerous blah blah trouble blah blah blah responsibility blah donut.
She spent the rest of the ride in glee, staring happily out a window, as she was driven to her social workers office. She'd met the Judge! Oh my~
Her clones were left behind. She didn't know what form of punishment awaited them, but it probably involved cops, and or the boxing of ears and a strict finger waggling.
Her own punishment, however, was far more severe. Her father tugged her by the arm toward his car, ignoring her stubborn protests, and upon reaching the vehicle he opened the door and pointed. "IN."
The temper in his voice told her not to screw with him. So she relented and climbed in, but she didn't have to like it, damnit! The protruded bottom lip and wrinkled, angry brow was enough to tell anyone looking at her that she was not happy. The passenger door slammed shut, and her father circled the car to climb in the other side.
"Seat belt."
The abrupt command only made her scowl more, and she refused to budge. Arms crossed, eyes pointed out the dark tinted window of his truck. "No." Her answer was curt, sharp, and saturated in stubborn.
With a sigh, the man didn't even bother arguing. He simply leaned over and buckled her in himself. Elke didn't bother adjusting it so that her arms were over rather than under, nor did she move the upper park of the belt from resting against her chin. Nope. She. Wasn't. Going. To. Move.
Unless you counted as tightening her arms across her chest as moving, that is.
"Why do you have to be such a pain in the neck, kid.. really." She stayed quiet for a few moments as the engine roared to life, and her dad backed the truck out of it's parking spot. She noticed a ticket on the dash, the kind you get from pre-paying for overnight parking. It looked as though he was leaving a lot sooner than he had wanted too. Hmph. Served him right.
"...Why do you hang around women like that? Why don't you take mom out anymore?" Her question met silence, until they ran into the first red light of many.
"You already know the answer to that." Was the muted, lazy reply back. She turned in her seat then, uncrossing her arms and wiggling into her seat belt properly. Her dark, angry gaze landed on him. "You never do anything with her anymore! She just sits at home all day... maybe if you would just take her out with you we could be a real family aga--"
"That's enough, Elke."
"But dad, I--"
"I said enough!" The man stomped on the breaks again, stopping for yet another red light, and turned to face his daughter. She had averted her eyes, scowl still present, and her arms were back to being crossed over her chest. "Nothing in this world is ever going to put this family back the way it was. Things are different now, and they always will be. You need to get used to that, and grow up."
She remained silent as the light shifted and they started to move again. The man glanced at her from the corners of his eyes, and muttered muffled curse words under his breath. If there was one thing in the world he hated dealing with most, it was children. "Your mother never should have sent you out here. A bar is no place for a child."
"...Grandpa thought there was hope for us..." She muttered finally, ignoring his comment. Her father sighed again. "Your grandfather had Alzheimer's.. he didn't know which way was up and which was was down by the time he passed. I hardly--"
"NO HE DID NOT!"
Fury rose in her the moment he accused her grandfather of such a thing, and if it hadn't have been for the seat belt she forgot was on, she would have launched herself at the man. "TAKE IT BACK!"
One giant hand pushed her back into her seat, and her dad's equally angry eyes met hers. "He's dead, Elke! DEAD. Nothing is going to change that! He was wrong then, and still wrong now. The sooner you stop moping around over that, the sooner you will become less of a pain to be around!"
Angry tears stung the corners of her eyes, and she slapped at his hand until he withdrew it. Then she proceeded to wiggler her way across her seat until she was pressed into the door. As far away from him as possible.
She tilted her head at him. If he got out so much, why was he so skinny?
... Maybe he was one of those kids that didn't like climbing trees, or wrestling in mud. The brief handshake was out of her mind the moment he let go, and she grinned at the boy. Chase was a kind of cool name.. not as cool as other names, like... like nick names and stuff. She still thought her friends names were the coolest, especially Badger.
"Why are you playing all by yourself?" She questioned, adding in a suspicious squint over her shoulder after a moment. Leaning in, she lowered her voice and brought a hand up to cover her mouth from view of any spying kids... or adults for that matter. "I mean... I know the other kids are kinda funny looking, but they can't be that bad, right?"
Another squeal of "COOTIES!" shot up from behind her somewhere, and the twelve year old flinched. Point. Proven. ... But still! Even Elke didn't like being by herself all of the time, and when she was, she almost always had a few twins with her.
... that still counted as being by herself, right?
Speaking of twins, she went ahead and started a split. Since the other one had been captured.. or whatever, she was alone, and therefore a target for prying CPS lady eyes. It could not stay that way. Thus, while waiting for him to answer her, she split off a twin. The whole process was relatively quick, but not exactly instantaneous. For a moment, there would be the illusion of muddled vision, then doubles of herself, until the connection between the two broke and a perfect duplicate of herself stumbled away.
Said duplicate then proceeded to pick her nose, and Elke was forced to elbow it smartly in the ribs, hissing something hypocritical about manners at it. She then proceeded to go back to smiling at Chase, like nothing insanely weird had just happened.
The duplicate meanwhile, pouted, huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest indignantly.
No. It was a small explosion. One that sent Rabbit flying back into Elke, as she tried to tip-toe away. Badge tried to brace himself, but the surprise of it all had him stumbling back as well. Owana, barely able to keep herself on her feet, shielded her eyes, and clung to Mutey.
"Gah! Rabbit, Gitoff!" Elke shoved the younger boy off, struggling to get back to her feet. Once she was able to stand, she set her eyes back on the girl... and then on Badger. She'd blown the weight out of the air like it was nothing, she hadn't even moved! Badger looked more pissed than ever though... "Everyone, scatter!"
The words were out of her lips before she could stop them, and even though no one usually listened to her, Owana and Mute grabbed Rabbit and made a run for it in the direction Shameless had flown off. It took her a few moments, before she realized that they had listened to something she had said. When it did, a burst of energy hit her like a ton of bricks, and she couldn't get the smile off her face.
Of course... her elder leader did not agree. In fact, he probably didn't even realize she was behind him still, or that the others had run for safety. "Dude, badger! She's a mutie... Calm down, she's one of us!"
The large boy swung in her direction, and the anger written on his face made her cringe. "She isn't one of us!" One big hand planted swiftly on her chest sent her flying back and rolling like a tumble weed. With her group broken up, off making sure Shameless didn't float off into the sky, she was by herself against an unknown girl and... an angry badger.
Only... unknown girl could make awesome explosions happen! It was a plus, in her mind. While Badger growled and grunted, turning to rip a park bench neatly from it's home, she wiggled her bow from around her shoulders and reached back for an arrow. While badger turned, and hefted the thing in the other girls direction, Elke nocked her arrow, pulled back on the string until she couldn't pull anymore, and let it fly.
Plop!
A second later, the wooden shaft of a toy suction cup arrow waggled comically in the air, sticking pointedly off from the side of Badgers forehead.
They waited for stuttering, shaking, and eventual running away. Badger was already turning to giggle bellow with manly laughter at his fellows...
...only, the girl didn't budge.
What's more, she shrugged off the immature threats like they were just immature threats! How dare she! A stunned silence fell over the group, which Elke took advantage of.
She was getting little electric signals all up her spines, telling her that something was off here. If she were in the girls shoes, she might have mouthed off or something, but with the odds stacked in her gangs favor, she definitely would have turned tail and run for it.
She'd be stupid to stick around with six to one odds bearing down on her!
But... the girl didn't look stupid. She didn't look... anything, really. That silly little voice in the back of her head told her to casually slip to the back of the gang while Badger was distracted. Out of sight, out of mind... right?
"Um.. Badger?" Owana tugged at his sleeve, dark eyes pinned on the girl in a strange, unblinking manner. "This doesn't feel right... She isn't displaying any sights of fear." Badger shook the tugging hand off, veins bulging in anger upon his brow. If there was a downside to his own particular brand of mutation, it was anger. Once the boy saw red, he couldn't focus on anything else. Mouse recognized the signs of a growing temper tantrum, and reacted appropriately.
Squee! One moment she was there... the next, poof! She was gone. A tiny white mouse circled Badgers feet once, then scrambled off into the darkness. Without paying any attention to the mouse mutant, Badger spun and grabbed one of the weights from around Shameless' waist.
"H-hey--Gah!" The unfortunate mutant flailed as it was ripped from his person. He rose a few inches off the ground, and hovered, flailing like a cartoon character as Badger chucked the weight in the girls direction. Owana covered her eyes... peeking through cracked fingers, and covered Rabbit's eyes for him.
Elke stopped, dark eyes watching as girls in expensive looking sundresses and clean sneakers ran from boys in tidy clothes and combed back hair. None of them looked like her. Hand me down clothes, dirty shoes with holes worn through.
Obviously, none of them knew how to play right.
A boy ran past her, a girl hot on his heels, screaming about cookies... and the twelve year old wrinkled her nose. "Pssh, cooties. Cooties don't exist..." ...Right? Yeah... Of course. She was nearly thirteen, she knew everything there was to know about... well, everything! Snorting to herself, she snubbed her nose at all of the other, younger, children and wandered toward a slide. Not many kids were loitering around over there, so she didn't have to worry about lording over them with her vast wealth of knowledge.
If she was lucky, her clone would throw the adults off her heels some how... Maybe it'd drag them all the way back to her house, or some equally funny thing... and then she wouldn't have to deal with them for a while! Yeah... maybe.
The slide was empty when she finally got there... but she wasn't the only person around. While the other kids were clambering around on wobbly wooden bridges, and messing with letter blocks, another boy was being a loner around the monkey bars. He was also pale... and skinny... and that dismount? Ugh. Elke eyed the slide for a moment, before she decided to abandon it for other ventures. The Native marched over to the kid, looked him up and down, and pursed her lips.
"You don't get out much, do you?"
It wasn't so much a question in her mind, as it was a fact. She was assuming this because she was young and she knew everything. Obviously, he was one of those sheltered kids who's moms only took him out of his bubble once a month.
Obviously.
...It was also the worst greeting she had probably ever given, but she chose to ignore that fact. Her momma hadn't exactly nagged at her about manners at any point in her life...
"I'm Elke." She shoved a semi dirty hand out in his direction.
"Ow!" Pavement met face. Elke scrambled up from her failed tackle, and drew an arrow from her quiver. Her twin was busy staring at the masked man, who was now angry at her for reasons she couldn't fathom. "Huh? But.... she's right there?" She poined, dropped her hand, then pointed again with more energy. "Right there!"
"Bow! NOW!" Elke's shout snapped the clone out of her confusion, and she lobbed the bow at the girl. Elke caught it, nocked her arrow, and fired!
... and a toy arrow, suction cup tip and all, bounced off of the back of the Judges head. "Ah... hell..." Scampering to her feet, she pondered sticking around and trying to fire another, but decided against it after a moment. "SCATTER!"
A moment after the word left her lips, she turned and made a run for it. The twin froze on the spot, looking from Elke, to the judge, then back, before she turned and attempted to flee also.
The phone rang, and rang and rang, before someone finally picked up. "Hullo?" Great... she sounded like she had just woken up from a coma. "Honey, what the #$%&'s the idea? Sending her out after me, at this hour!"
The woman on the other end of the line sighed, the sounds of movement and rustling overshadowed her grumbling, before she spoke clearly again. "She's a big girl, John.. she's out there all the time. S'not like I can control her anyway... Just, just pick up the usual stuff on your way home, okay?"
The man growled, running a hand through his hair, before he relented and agreed. The both of them hung up without so much as a goodbye, which was more normal than it seemed to outside ears. The affection in their relationship had died long before Elke had been born, and had vanished completely when Honey had been in the accident.
John returned to his table, eyes already busy looking around for where his date has run off too. "Where'd Susan go?"
Elke glanced up from the small puddle of red on the table, to her father, and shrugged without comment. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened, once he spotted the mess. He knew her well enough to already assume it was her fault. "Jesus christ..." He muttered, latching onto her arm before he turned and dragged her toward the door.
"Aren't you going to wait for Susan?" She asked, unable to keep her tone of voice civil. The resulting angry squeeze of her arm, and silence from the man told her that she'd gone and pissed him off pretty good. With a huff of her own, she yanked her arm away. "I'm sure Susan isn't going to be too happy that you're just going to leave her here!"
"Damnit, kid... " The tall man turned, and for a moment the shadows cast upon him made him look like a demon. Anger written all over his face, shoulders tense. Elke gulped, but stood her ground. He was a mean, stupid, annoying lunkhead of a father... but he had never been the violent type. "Why can't you just keep your nose out of trouble and leave me the hell alone, like your brothers?"
A commotion by the door caught their attention. John and Elke turned, as well as a good portion of the bar, and caught sight of the security man in charge of checking ID's and tossing out drunks, as he stumbled in with a child on his back, and one latched onto his leg. "Arg! Getoffame!"
"Sonofab--" Her father was cut off as she let out a whoop of glee, and raced around him to join in on the fun. The three, both twins who were already trying to pull the guy to the ground and the one now joining in along side her, latched onto where ever they could and tugged. All of her twins managed to find proper holds, but before Elke herself could climb on, or so much as let out a war cry, she was scooped up from behind.
Her fathers muscular arm gripped her around the waist, and try as she might she couldn't wiggle free as he carted her out the door.
Now her butt hurt too! The twin sent a rueful nose wrinkle up at the guy, and patted at her sore backside. "Ver...ci..vi...mill...wha-- Urk!" And... then she was being held up against the wall again.
Her legs dangled limply, and she blinked at the guy. "I'm not apposed to say nothin... but no one never said anythin' about taking you nowhere." She pondered, probably something she should have done before speaking, but... clones were slow, what do you expect? A little whine issued from the back of her throat at the thought of leaving all of her soon to be stuff up on the roof... all alone... but if she was dead, it would be of no use to her! Dead people couldn't have things!
"Okay... I will take you... can I get down now?"
Once she was set properly back on her feet, the twin set about taking the stolen shoes from her shoulder, and putting them on the staircase that led up to the roof. After squinting at the Judge, she knelt and covered her mouth with her hands to whisper to the shoes...
...but forgot the whispering part. "You stay here! And if anyone tries to take my stuff, trip 'em!" With that task complete, she gripped Elke's bow tightly to her chest, and held her hand out for the man to take.
...and held it...
...and held it some more....
...And then her arm started to hurt, so she dropped it. Apparently he didn't like holding hands while walking places, which confused her to no end. "...Boss always holds my hand..." She grumbled, lower lip protruding out childishly. With a huff, the girl marched on down the stairs, only tripping a few times. Before she knew it, they were outside, and she was heading in the direction of the alley that Elke had told them to meet up in.
"...Should be in here... over where that light is, coz it's so bright and Boss is afraid of the dark." She pointed up ahead of her, grinning to herself in a very proud manner. She was going a good job, after all!
Behind them, in the shadows up above, Elke struggled to hold back a groan, and continued crawling along on the metal walkway of a fire escape. Of course... Of. Course.... The clone would gab about her fears. What else has she told the guy?
Also... why was she alive and unharmed? If he had pushed her other twin off the building, why was this one so lucky? Dark eyes squinted. Maybe... he had figured out they they were just clones and not actual people? If so, that probably spelled danger for her. She would need to be very, very careful....
Silently, she climbed over the rail above them, positioning herself so that if she jumped she would land right on top of the guy, and grinned. He may have magicked his way out of getting and arrow in the shoulder, but there would be no escaping her this time! The twelve year old tensed, let go of the railing, and lept!
"Man... d'you see that kids face? I bet he won't stop cryin' for a week. What a baby."
Tucked away toward the middle of a gang of six, Elke shifted her eyes from the back of Badger's braided cranium, to where Mouse sat at his side. They sure had taken a liking to each other. Gross. The twelve year old wrinkled her nose, obviously disgusted with how much time the leader of their group had been spending with... her.
"Yeah, *snort*, I bet he wet himself too... when you threatened to kick his teeth in. Pssh, and he had the nerve to threaten us. What a loser!"
The young mutant refrained from rolling her eyes, not even bothering to glance at the boy who has just spoken. He was a mutant, like her, but with an annoyingly useless power... and by far, the biggest damn mouth in the group. Inteus, as the kids called him (seeing as they all went by nicknames in the gang)... The boy with no shame. His only power seemed to be that he was weightless. An assortment of weights and heavy objects needed to be worn at all times... or he'd just float away.
Elke was pretty darn sure it was because his head was full of nothing but hot air. "I didn't see you jumping to throw any fists, Shameless... " She threw in, smirking as he pulled his finger from his nose and glared at her. "Shut up, Arrow"
Onawa cleared her throat, ever the voice of reason within the group. "Whatever the case... he didn't stand a chance. His eye twitched twenty three times while we had him cornered, I counted... and he couldn't stand still. He knew we had him outnumbered... I don't think there was any fight in him." The boy next to Onawa nodded, ever the silent brooding time. "See, Mutey agrees."
"Man... it's creepy how you notice crap like that.." Badger muttered, stopping on the sidewalk to stare at the young mutant girl. Her power was just about as useless as Shameless', cept her's had the added downside of keeping her awake... forever. Since Elke had met the girl, she had never seen her sleep. No naps, no shut eye, no passing out or fainting. She was just always.... awake. That's where she had gotten her nickname from. The girl shrugged, wide eyed stare proving to do nothing more than creep Badger out. The group moved on, toward a park that they had loitering in a few times before.
"Arrow?" Elke glanced behind her, to the youngest of the group. "...Yea, Rabbit?"
The kid, who was taller than her by four or five inches and yet younger, avoided her eyes for a moment, before black locked on brown. He looked nervous, as always. "When do you think we can go home...? I'm tired.... and it's cold out here."
The girl sighed, glancing at Badger momentarily. It was up to him to decide when they were done making rounds, and she knew that if she asked he'd noogie her or something equally terrible. "Man up, Rabbit. It's not that cold." She shivered, despite her words, and Shameless cackled at the younger boy. "Yeah, man up!"
Badger stopped upon entering the park, having caught sight of someone else wandering around. Elke bumped straight into his back, face first, and ended up on her rear. A short, whispered conversation between Mouse and their leader popped up, before he stepped forward.
"Hey! Hey you! You should leave, we're hanging out here tonight." As big as Badger was, being the tallest and most visibly threatening, Shameless barked from behind him, "Yeah! Better run off if you know what's good for ya!"
