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 that was why she was so cold, soaking in sewer gunk couldn't be very comfortable, but it certainly made her blend in better down here. Again Sylar was impressed with her clever tricks. "Sanctuary huh, an inviting word for mutants I'd think." He mumbled in response to her as she fixed her clothing. Some might think a woman changing her shirt would be an exciting moment for a teenage boy, but Sylar was blind, physical beauty or even lack of clothing meant nothing to him really. "If it keeps the cops away, I'd call it a sanctuary."
Sylar knew people were afraid of him, and that he could hurt someone if he wanted to, Sylar was fairly certain he was entirely deadly. But he'd never felt powerful because he was always afraid of normal people killing him for what he was. Though it might be obvious to other mutants, realizing it was a double edged sword was a new thought for the boy. "I have power." He mumbled softly to himself as he lead Alma to their exit to the surface. His entire experience with her was entirely different than his night with Serena or Kiva. So many new thoughts to process on top of his already excited past week.
Sylar himself was very bothered by Alma's spirits, her power was entirely invisible to him, and that scared him to death. He spent most of his life not being able to see, but only being able to hear and feel her spirits made it very very hard to fight them. And not being able to fight was the worst fear for somebody who was a predator at heart. He hadn't thought about warning her he was going to jump, or force a man hole open. It was just how Sylar lived down here. Sylar didn't smile at her statement, but he saw the humor in it none the less. "I don't live down there cause I want to. It's just...I feel safe down there." He didn't ever want to live down in the sewers. And the story as to why he spent 3 years living down there was complex, but after so long, it had become a home to him. Down there he was top of the food chain, nobody could best him in his home. That confidence was the only thing that allowed him to keep going on with this life style of fear and thievery, the only way he could sleep was knowing the dark was that much scarier than he or anybody up here was.
"After three years, I've just gotten used to it." He finished, staying near the manhole as Alma caught her bearings and finally made her way towards the edge of the alley. "Oh, uh yeah, I don't really wanna kill anybody." He affirmed to her. He wasn't sure how to feel about following Alma to her home after their encounter in his. After all, she'd threatened she had friends who would defend or avenge her. But after learning about the mansion, only to learn now that there was another home for mutants as well. He should at least learn where it was, in case he needed to avoid it. He had no idea the girl might be uncomfortable after her experience, or of the various reasons she might have for the offer.
"I uh...I guess I should at least know where it is." He crept forward towards the mouth of the alley, surveying left and right to see if anybody was around. He spoke his next words bluntly and without reserve. "You aren't just gonna have me killed if I go with you are you?" Sylar and Alma weren't friends, and he remembered how the entire night had gone. He might trust her not to run to the police on him, but Sylar wasn't an idiot either.
Sylar hadn't been to a library in years, he used to enjoy reading when he was still normal. A calming experience that took you away from everyday life, but now even if he wanted to read again his hands wouldn't allow it. The claws covering the tips of his fingers meant braille was unavailable to him now. Sylar also had no idea what fashion was, obviously he knew the word, but a blind person has no real need or understand of whats fashionable outside of whats given to them, or said to them. Her life sounded so alien compared to his own, which was funny considering he was the alien to most normal people.
As he neared the building, anxiety began to stir in his stomach once more, this was a residence, filled with people, and that meant he might have to interact with others at any point. He came here hoping to possibly speak to Serena, but just like with Kealey, Sylar's first impressions were often hostile and intimidating. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with a bunch of strangers in their home. He was a stranger here, and he was suddenly remembering just how strange it was to go inside a home again.
"I'd describe her too you, but all I know is her voice and scent. Which is hard to describe to a normal person." He exclaimed, for Sylar, scent was as integral to his life as sight was to everybody else, but at the level his was, it'd boggle the minds of a regular person. Sylar stopped as they neared the door. His anxiety peaked for a moment as he stared towards the home, the open door and inside quite intimidating. He crept forward slowly, still crawling low to the ground, his claws clicking softly against the floor in the foyer. He wrinkled his nose, sniffing the air, picking apart various smells that were new to him. Residents, various objects in the house, dozens of smells he wasn't used to. But he could still pick out the one that mattered.
He felt suddenly nervous and uncomfortable as Kealey mentioned trying to live here. This entire experience took alot out of Sylar, building courage to purposely try and interact, the idea of trying to live here scared him quite a bit, at least at this moment in time. "I...I um..No I just wanted to see the place." He stopped, realizing that he hadn't mentioned that he couldn't actually SEE the place. "Well no, that's dumb, I'm blind so I can't see the place, but I wanted to find out where Serena lived." He was fumbling a bit with his words, his urge to hide starting to really bug him. He reached up and pulled his hood forward a bit, trying to hide his face more.
He remained in the hallway, kind of peaking into the living room where Kealey was leading him. "I never really liked school anyway." He told her. It wasn't that Sylar wanted to turn down the offer, a home with a warm bed and food was almost a dream to the sewer dwelling teenager, but he was a timid boy. The confidence of normal people intimidated him, even now when he was far more dangerous than most people, probably including the woman before him.
Once she'd taken ahold of his tail, Sylar continued on through the tunnels. Though he wasn't looking at her now, he'd already noticed how much softer her thermals had become since the chase had started. So long as she would keep him secret, he didn't care what she did, the everyday happenstance from above ground wasn't his business anyway. He stopped briefly, so she'd ditched her stuff in his lair before running, he was impressed by her clever ploy. "I don't care, it was pretty smart to ditch stuff there, your scent was broken up pretty well." As a hunter, being outsmarted kind of bothered him, but it also meant this girl was intelligent and tougher than appearances suggested.
"And I don't really care, everything in there is stolen anyways. I"m something of a serial bugler." He mentioned as they turned through some tunnels and came back out in the junction. Sylar didn't have one set home, but this junction was one he often used, it was large, spacious, and best of all entirely ignored by the workers who came down into the sewers sometimes. "Your body heat has gone down pretty bad, you might want to keep the extra shirt till you get back top side." His voice was stoic, no hint of concern in it. Sylar was just stating simple facts.
She wasn't from the mansion? How many mutant homes were they're up there? Sylar was so used to hiding he never expected to just learn of multiple shelters for muties that were public knowledge. Sylar himself was mildly weak to other mutants, in that his curiosity subsided his instincts for preservation briefly. However, after the novelty of meeting mutants wore off, who knew how the boy's attitude would change.
After she'd gathered up her things, and anything else she might feel like nabbing from the Predator's den, Sylar continued on, heading back towards the first intersection where their chase had begun. He'd take her to a manhole a few blocks from where he kidnapped her, that should be enough distance to keep him safe, as well as not disorient her too much. "I'm going to take you up a few blocks from where I brought you down." He told her, as he thought on her explanation of her home. "So it's a safe house for criminals or something?" Sylar didn't really care if it was, after all, he was quite the thief himself, though he'd only ever stolen food and clothes. A sewer dweller didn't really have need for money, or violent crime if it could be avoided. "The police aren't very fond of me either." He mumbled, his mind caught on her talk of free food. A normal person might feel bad, but Sylar realized he'd kind of come upon two opportunities for free meals, both the Mansion and this Shelter, even if he didn't move to one of them.
Sylar felt slightly pleased by her statement, no matter how animal like he became, hearing anybody state they wanted him, or at least wanted to talk to him kind of tugged at him. He was still a lonely kid underneath the grime and weaponry. "It's easy to intimidate when you're a living weapon. I started changing three years ago, and I look like this. I'll be all monster eventually." Sylar never imagined viewing his mutation as having power, for him it just meant having to live underground, and stealing food to get by. "I never thought of myself as being powerful." He thought, in reality Sylar was tremendously deadly, he'd just never had the will, or the guidance to make use of it.
After some time through the tunnels, he came underneath one of the man holes. He jumped from his crawling position onto the ladder. "We're here." He said as he thrust his hand forward, and popped the manhole up into the air like it were made of plastic. He peaked his head above ground, no real activity to worry about, an empty street. Looked like a probable residential area, everybody asleep at this time of night. "Come on." He said as he climbed upward and waited above ground.
Sylar had never been lucky enough to get charity, a local legend, a creature that his neighborhood viewed as both a monster, and a tale to tell, he'd had to spend his last three years forcibly carving out a living. All that kept him man instead of creature was the bits of humanity he clung onto, and those bits were quite happy to meet Kiva, someone who truly knew how it felt to be a physical mutant, to be a person wearing a monster's skin. Sylar didn't smile, but he did feel quite comfortable here, in fact he was a little joyous talking to Kiva. He'd never had friends as a normal person, but if other mutants were like Kiva, maybe he didn't have to spend an entire life without one.
"You've met a few people with open minds." He marveled at how Kiva managed to meet people who could look beyond her differences, his entire life had been filled with petty human beings. Part of him liked knowing there still existed people who weren't shallow. Tattoos? Sylar was confused for a moment, being blind it's not like he'd ever had interest in them, but he remembered what they were. "Oh, body art." He thought aloud, his eureka moment slightly endearing. "You draw things on skin right?" He wondered how difficult it was to draw with inhuman hands, his own claws made it difficult to be precise with anything that wasn't carving something to pieces.
Sylar wondered what her artwork looked like, he kind of wondered what any art looked like, but a mutant who'd been through hard ordeals must have had some good inspiration. "Are you a good artist?" Sylar's questions were tremendously blunt, but his voice was always sincere, he just didn't know how to word things properly. "I wonder what art looks like." He said aloud, his hands moving from his knees. Sylar often did bits of maintenance on his body when spending alot of time at rest, an instinctive behavior to keep his weapons in proper shape. He flexed and extended his left hand, scraping his right claw against his left, a cleaning and sharpening motion.
He looked down at his hands as he did it, even though he couldn't see exactly what he was doing. "I never had a job, too young, and well blind. I hear work isn't very fun, or at least that's what my Father used to say. He was..." Sylar stumbled on his words, he realized he couldn't really remember what his father did. He thought so little about his past that it was starting to fade from his memory. "I guess I don't know what he did, but he didn't like it...I think." Sylar felt a bit confused about his sudden fuzziness.
Sylar felt a bit uncomfortable knowing he couldn't hide himself from her, but was impressed by her power. He had to rely on given signals, which some people were quite good at hiding or skewing, but that wouldn't work if you could just read internal emotion. Mutants as a whole impressed him, having spent years only knowing his own mutation. He didn't really react to her mention of a husband, normal people fell in love, got married, had kids, something which Sylar had never thought of, especially not since his mutation.
Born blind, Sylar had never known physical beauty, and his timid personality never allowed him to have female friends either, in his entire life he'd never pursued any type of companionship with real intent for friendship or more. "I've wondered what kind of jobs other mutants have, but I guess mutants teaching mutants makes sense." He thought aloud, as Kealey turned to move towards the school, Sylar finally crept from the safety of the shadows. Kealey might not notice now, but Sylar was very slim for a man, a victim of malnourishment from years of mostly eating stolen left overs, and more than his share of snack foods.
His claws dug softly into the earth as he followed behind, an odd image of a woman followed by a giant cat like creature. His hood remained on, his face hidden beneath it's shadow, still leaving Sylar with a somewhat thug looking visage. He spoke softly, his voice losing it's harshness and sounding quite young as he dropped most of his defense mechanisms. "So you've met Serena? Or is she just another student here." Sylar wondered what student life was like as a mutant, he'd never finished regular schooling, and he wondered if mutant schooling was similar to a regular school.
If every mutant was different, he couldn't imagine it was easy to learn how to use their abilities together. It'd taken him months to learn just how to move his tail properly, and nearly a year to master using it as a fifth limb. But his life was an excellent teacher for his physical mutation, turning him into a ferocious creature when need be, but stunting his humanity deeply. "I live underground. I met Serena once when she was near a sewer man hole. Scared her pretty good." Sylar smiled very briefly, for some reason scaring people kind of made him feel content, feeding his inner predator's tastes.
Sylar's look was all about hiding things, he couldn't hide his tail, or his exoskeletal limbs, but he hid his face easily, and his crouched posture often made him hard to properly judge. However, as Kealey attempted to see more of him, he remained focused on her, his senses staying in tune with each of her reactions and movements. Her power was weird to him, sensing emotions? What purpose would that serve? Sylar had devolved somewhat, his life run by animal instincts, primal urges, his emotions played little part in his daily life.
He realized it must be useful living amongst normal people, and normal looking mutants. "I read people by the sounds they make, and the movement of their body. So you can read even deeper than that, must be helpful." He was blunt, but his thoughts were honest. He wondered what kind of emotions he gave off. "Can you sense mine?" He exclaimed. He felt he was devoid of most emotion, he didn't' really feel joy to be here, or as fearful knowing this was a home for mutants, really he just felt content to know Serena was here. That and he'd eaten before coming, leaving his hunger dormant deep inside.
Part of him wondered why this woman wasn't asleep, he realized it was late into the night, since he'd chosen that time to sneak into the grounds. "Why are you out here, I can't imagine you don't have a comfortable bed to return to." Sylar felt only slightly jealous realizing all these mutants had rooms, beds, basic amenities. He'd grown used to his lifestyle though, and even found himself missing his underground lairs sometimes. But he did remember how it felt to sleep in a proper bed as opposed to make shift ones.
Sylar swayed his head back and forth a bit, his tail matching the rhythm. He'd come here to check the place out, get a feel for it, but now he could possibly go inside and find Serena. The bait was a little too juicy for him, and he had to take. "I...Yeah, I'll go in. But if she isn't awake, I'll be leaving." Serena had tried to urge him to seek this place as home, but he didn't trust the idea, not yet. For now he simply wanted to meet the first person who'd treated him nicely again, his attachment to Serena slightly bothering him at some deeper level.
His arms rested on his knees, his form so much smaller when he crouched, Sylar truly was a small man. Part of Sylar wanted to laugh at her response, but he didn't. Serena had told him the same thing, but even if he could act human, deep inside, part of him was monstrous. Serena nor Kealey had ever seen him at his worst, his hunger driving him to dark thoughts. But he intended not to show them that, not when he could actually talk to people, even have friends. Instead he simply continued to talk, his voice much harsher than Kealey's.
"There are now." He whispered, his tail swaying back and forth, the lengthy appendage the main way Sylar showed his mood, as opposed to his face like most normal people. Serena had also told him some of the mutants at the mansion were like him, clearly different than normal people. He wanted to see others, mutants who had been dealt the same hand as he had, to see if any of them were truly like himself. The fact that Kealey was a mutant calmed Sylar a bit, and made him feel comfortable talking to her. His instincts began to disperse, and he could truly think on all the information he was attempting to gather.
He smiled briefly, the faintest enjoyment at her statement of being monstrous herself. "The normal monsters are the scariest." To Sylar, normal looking people would always be the worst, especially his parents, whose words confirmed for him his monstrous nature years ago. He wondered though, what her power was. His own abilities were obvious, but normal mutants were a mystery to him. "What exactly makes you different lady?...Er Kealey?" Sylar was blunt in conversation, but he figured he should at least remember to use names given to him, especially if he was trying to visit this place. Acting like a person again was getting taxing he realized.
He noticed her movement, her arms wrapping around her slightly dimmer signature. "You're cold." He exclaimed, anybody would assume a person doing such would be cold, but Sylar could actually measure a person's temperature with his eyes, making it a bit more obvious for him. He spent so much time outside, he basically ignored the temperature around him, focused more on food, and staying out of sight. "I sleep during the day. Too many people outside, too dangerous." For him, daylight was a mortal enemy. He was a creature of the dark, the Boogeyman no less.
Kealey's reaction actually played off of Sylar's instinct, her fear meant he was dangerous, and that meant he had power. His senses focused back onto her, having heard or smelt nothing else besides her close enough to them to worry him. His body remained darkened in the shadow, but his voice calmed a bit, and steadied as he spoke back to Kealey. He felt a slight bit of joy knowing he'd found the right place. "So this is where she lives." He mumbled to himself. Her statement confused him slightly, enroll? His thoughts and words came out exactly the same. "Monster's don't go to school lady." His voice had lost it's anxiety, but gained a rather blunt tone. His weapons rested a bit, his tail beginning to sway behind him.
He'd only come here to check the place out, maybe find and talk to Serena again, but for now he'd have to get his answers from Kealey. "I heard about this place from a girl, she told me it was a home for mutants." His voice was at it's more human during these sentences, his longing for Serena fueling him, not a romantic attachment, but more like a bond of trust. "She said I should come here, and see it for myself." She spoke her name, and he remembered again that he had a name when dealing with other mutants. "Oh um..I'm Sylar." He responded.
More important than names, or further questions, he had to ask if she was a mutant. He could talk to mutants, at least so far it seemed. "Are you...a mutant too?" He was still a bit surprised to learn many mutants just looked like normal people, when others like himself and Kiva were dead give aways. "The girl's name is Serena, she told me it was ok to come here, cause everybody here was a mutant too." Sylar didn't mind other mutants, but he was terrified and hated regular people, and part of him was still afraid he was chatting up some normal girl who would freak out at any time.
His body eased a bit, moving from a tensed standing position to crouching, which might strike normal people as odd. But for Sylar, crouching was more comfortable than standing, and meant he'd be staying still, for the moment.
Sylar's senses never turned off, but sometimes he'd get lax in thought, and it was only then that somebody could surprise him. His mind had wandered, and he ignored the soft noises around him, his serenity shattered by Kealey's "Hello". His head turned, and his body immediately tensed, his tail swinging to aim it's point towards where her voice came from. His surprise sent a rush of fear through his nerves, his instincts screaming to flee from sight. But this mansion was supposed to be Serena's home, a home for mutants, he at least had to know. He backed away slowly, retreating a few feet back into the shadow of a tree, his senses locked onto Kealey.
His instinct held in check briefly, Sylar took a moment to "look" Kealey over. Small stature, slim figure, and girlish voice. Clearly a woman, though he wasn't sure of age. Her thermal was also clearly normal shaped, meaning if she was a mutant, he couldn't tell. Though Kealey could read emotion through her power, Sylar could read people through subtle cues in their body language and voice. He could sense the slightest bit of hesitation, or more likely nervousness in her voice. It was late at night he was sure, and having backed off he'd be harder to see, a favorable position. He took a breath, a hissing noise, his own sign of anxiety escaping his throat as he let the air leave his lungs.
He swayed a bit, before finally responding. His voice was tense, and stern, but not as deep as a man's voice should be, the only sign of his youth. "Stay away!" He ordered her "Is this the school for mutants? The mansion?" His voice was almost belligerent. If this was the place Serena lived, he could probably calm down a bit, but if it wasn't he could quickly flee from a lone woman. A bad way to start a conversation, but Sylar really wasn't an expert at socializing, his natural anxiety was a powerful instinct, fueled by a timid personality and animal mind.
The girl clearly before him, he took a moment and let himself scan the area around them, listening for footsteps, shouts, any signal of other people who might converge on the area if the woman screamed, or somebody else saw him.
Sylar sat hunched over a bit, his arms resting on his knees, his form more relaxed than he normally ever was. For now his animal side rested, and his human side got to embrace Kiva's chat with him. Sylar didn't smile though, his face remaining mostly stoic, a characteristic that might make him a tad difficult to talk with, since he was often hard to read. Though his voice had grown softer and a bit friendlier as he spent more time talking to Kiva. He thought about the local cats who would follow him around, or congregate when he stopped above ground. He'd have to get some food for them next time he was out.
He wondered aloud. "So if you don't live with other mutants, how do you get by up here?" Sylar wasn't sure what kind of job a mutant could have, considering his own mutation made him adept mostly at breaking or killing things for food, a talent he didn't remember any career as wanting. And if she didn't live in hiding she probably didn't steal, so he felt curious. "I can't imagine most normal people wouldn't be afraid to work with mutants." Sylar was slowly accepting perhaps the surface was different than how he imagined it, but normal people scared easy, hated easy, and his own resentment lingered.
Sylar wasn't sure what he'd wanted to do with his life even as a kid, being blind limited a person quite a bit, but being a mutant must have made a job even harder to find and keep. At least for mutants like himself and Kiva, who were clearly monsters at a glance.
Some distance away from the Xavier School for Mutants, a sewer tunnel opened into the Hudson. A run off tunnel, it was easily large enough for a certain sewer dweller to venture from his underground home. Sylar stood, his form facing the river under the moonlight. He wasn't sure how many nights it'd been since he'd spoke with Serena, his mind too focused on other things to keep track, but after meeting Kiva as well, he'd decided to pay this home for mutants a visit. He grasped the top of the tunnel, and pulled himself up, leaving the safety of the sewers and hitting the land above. This property was huge he realized, his vision pick out the massive wall surrounding the place.
He pulled his hood up, hiding his scraggly hair and dirty face, and crept to the wall. It was faint here, but he could smell various scents on the air. And he could pick out one specifically, Serena. She'd been near here, he must be near the mansion. His claws dug into the brick of the wall, forcing footholds for him to swiftly climb. He dropped down, his claws landing into the grassy earth beneath. Perhaps breaking into her home to find her wasn't his best plan, but breaking and entering were kind of his habit after all this time. He was sure she'd forgive him. He let his senses scan the area, his ears picking out every gust of wind, crickets chirp, and various other sounds he could. His vision struggled with the cool earth in the night, but it meant he'd be better able to spot people as he crept closer to the mansion. And finally he let his nose latch onto the smells of the park area surrounding the mansion, Serena's scent acting as his guide.
He dropped to all fours and began his journey deeper toward the mansion. He couldn't just head to the front door, but perhaps he could find a side entrance, or an open window. His claws dug softly into the grass as he crept towards the mansion, leading himself deep into it's courtyard and various shrubbery. The smell of this place, was so natural, so serene, so alien to him. His lairs in the sewers were so very different, sometimes putrid, often humid and dank, but this smell somehow pleased him. Perhaps his inner beast craved nature, it reminded him of when he hunted in other parks. He turned and entered what must have been a garden of some type. He could pick out various flowers, and plants, and could see Hedges than ran along like walls, the Mansion beyond the hedges, and getting closer with each step. Sylar stopped for a moment, feeling somewhat timid again, afraid he'd cause a lot of ruckus before he found Serena, but he'd told her he'd come here, even if he had to settle for just checking it out in the night when all the mutants were asleep.
Though he couldn't see it, nor would he ever, Sylar still looked up, he wondered what it looked like, this garden before the mansion. Was it beautiful? He let himself get distracted, the moonlight showing him against the darkness of the woods behind him. If anyone saw him, he'd probably look half like a thug or mugger, the other half entirely demonic. His black carapace glinted softly with the light, revealing the obsidian coverings on his hands and feet, and most of all the large tail swaying behind him, bladed tip hanging lazily and reflecting it's sharpness into the night. "I'm here Serena, but I'm not sure if we'll meet again. But this place does seem great, just like you said." He mumbled to himself, his voice calm with a hint of longing to it. He took a deep breath, and let his mind begin to think on how to sneak into this massive building full of mutants without getting himself killed in fright.
Sylar wasn't sure how to perceive Alma, he knew, if he'd really wanted too he could have murdered the woman at various points in this chase, even at the start. His entire body as a weapon, and all the woman had was a knife, and her gibbering little monsters, which had freaked him out, but had they ever actually hurt him? But coated in weapons, and driven by instincts, Sylar the boy still didn't have it in him to cross the line, Alma's gambit had worked. Her resolve, body language, and spirit had scared off Sylar's animal side. Animals were all daunted by human resolve, even that animal was part man itself.
His voice remained soft, having lost the roughness it had when they'd spoken above ground and earlier, now it was just the sound of a boy. "I can trust you?" He questioned her, Sylar didn't trust anyone, not anymore, but at this point all he could do was trust Alma. He watched her retrieve the knife, and yet he felt no fear in letting her pick it up. At the moment, he just felt tired, exhausted from this little standoff. Sylar turned, looking back the way they came. The reservoir wasn't a place he liked to be, workmen sometimes showed up around here. He wanted to get back to the abandoned tunnels quickly, but he realized as she spoke, he'd have to escort her out of here, she probably couldn't see anything down here.
He took a breath, settling his nerves, and thinking of where to let the woman out of the sewers. "I'll take you back, to the surface." He'd never had to navigate someone through the tunnels, so he thought for a moment how best to guide her. Then his tail extended, the length beneath the blade gently pressing against Alma's left side. "Grab on, I'll have to take you a few blocks from where I brought you down." He crouched down and began to crawl back along the path towards his junction. "And avoid the big part at the end, I'd rather not slice your hand open." His voice had become stoic again, the shakiness gone, leaving a simple matter of fact tone to him. The tail he offered was covered in plating, with ridges and little spines protruding from it, feeling more like carved bone than any other substance.
Before he started moving though, he listened to her explanation and offer to go with her. He'd been made this same offer before, and questioned it. But it seemed to keep coming back to him, every time he met a new mutant. She was right, most of his break ins were done with just brute force, but now he'd clawed his way through metal, something which was obviously mutant done. "You mean that Mansion for Mutants?" He asked, unaware Alma was from an entirely different mutant home. "A mutant girl mentioned it to me about a week ago, a school for mutants or something. A family of mutants, the offer keeps coming back to me." He began to move forward, walking down the path towards his lair, his tail giving a tug as he crept along. "Maybe I do need a pack, I just didn't think normal looking mutants like you or her would want something as dark as me." His voice grew a tad lonely, and he found himself suddenly missing Serena, the kind who had only offered him gentle words and friendship. And that longing made him feel slightly more interested in Alma's words as well.
Sylar was entirely captivated with this moment, his fear of her, of what he needed to do to be rid of her. It left him weak, following Alma's every word. Though she was on the sharp end of a blade, in reality she held the power between the two at this point. He'd never held a knife, a weapon which was useless to him, his eyes unable to see which end was the killing one. But now he firmed grasped her blade in his claw, the dulled feeling through his claws entirely new to him. His eyes couldn't perceive her scar, all he could see was the cold void in his hand, pressing against the yellow of her body.
Her grip caused Sylar to try and pull his hand back, her resolve terrified him. Sylar was a creature of fear, always afraid, or hoping to scare everyone away. He wasn't ready, who was this woman, why did she have to attack him, why did any of this happen. It was a nightmare of attention he never wanted. Sylar was a timid boy before he was a mutant, and even with strength to break down a brick wall, speed to put Olympians to shame, and a tail that could slice through metal, he was still timid at heart. Within him was the instinct of a ferocious predator, a born killer waiting to escape, but he hadn't crossed that line, and until then, he didn't have the will to compete with Alma.
He listened to her every word, her name, her relatives, her personality. He knew she was a mutant, that he shouldn't need to kill one of his own kind, but he'd been so confused he had no idea what to do but kill what threatened him. He responded, his voice shaky and without confidence. "I...I'm just a kid" Sylar only just turned fifteen, he wasn't even old enough to have done any of the fun stuff in high school. "My parent's abandoned me, I have no friends..." A depressing but true statement, Sylar had always been alone, even the mutants he'd met so far weren't friends to the boy. "All I have is my life, I..I couldn't let that go." He'd been furious to be attacked, and had wanted to terrify her to get rid of her, he'd never wanted to hurt her for the sake of violence, but only defense. He couldn't help his instincts, his nature, no one could.
"I just want to be left alone. Safe in the shadows." Sylar's grip on the knife weakened, and the blade dropped to the stone below, the sound echoing through out the room. "I can't live up there, so I just wanted to hide down here..." He'd lost the will entirely to hurt Alma, she'd shook his mind too much, shattered his killing intent and left him confused. Sylar hated normal people, and didn't like that other mutants looked perfectly normal compared to him, but most predators won't hurt their own kind, and Sylar didn't want to kill a mutant, not because he was just a stupid scared kid.
Sylar was giving into his instincts, his urge to maim Alma was nearly intoxicating. He flexed his muscles, prepping his body to launch forward at her until she changed her stance, and became defiant. Her acceptance confused him, holding him still for a moment. Life was a series of fight or flight responses, even when he'd kipnapped her in confusion, and planned to end it without violence it ended up like this, but now she had changed her stance, her indomitable stature reaching Sylar and unnerving him. Part of him listened to her words, intimidated by her voice, but the other part crept forward, crawling forward slowly, each step echoing a soft clacking sound into the tunnel.
Sylar was terrified of normal people, and to be honest, he was still even afraid of mutants since they could look just as normal as everybody else. But he knew, all mutants shared in the pain and fear he had these past three years. Her speech was reaching that part of him, creating a split between his mind and his instincts. But still, he advanced, coming ever closer to Alma as she made her last stand. Though Alma couldn't see him, Sylar felt too exposed, meeting her head on like this, all predators were really quite timid at heart, never able to stand up to prey that had a chance of winning a fight with them. And Sylar was no different, he was a creature of shadows, thriving in the solitude his image protected him with, but Alma was standing her ground, demanding his attention.
Sylar came within killing distance, his tail could easily strike Alma down even from five feet away, but instead he stood up, walking the last distance between them instead of crawling. At this point, he was close enough, she'd be able to sense it, hear his ragged breathing, his steps, the swish of his tail in the air. He reached forward, her words dominating his actions, but his hand was starting to tremble, Sylar wasn't sure who exactly who would be the winner here. His right hand was a weapon far more dangerous than a simple knife, claws sharp as razors, and completely covered in armor, a cool black bone like feel to it.
His mind was reeling, screaming at him to leave this woman away, unnerved at her courage to stand her ground against something that could tear her apart within seconds. Sylar tried to speak, but he stuttered, his voice no longer a cruel heartless animal. No, at this moment, as Alma commanded, Sylar was not but a frightened orphan boy, backed into a corner and unsure how to escape. "I..I...don't" He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, He just wanted to feel safe again, to be done with this woman who terrified him so. His left claw, less morphed than his right, but still an inhuman claw reached toward her other hand, unsure of what would happen next. "I..I'm afraid..." He whispered, Alma's resolve having shattered his haze for a moment.
Sylar could kill her a dozen ways right now, his body a living weapon, but he was an orphan, a kid. Alma was older, and her experiences and acceptance of this situation made her will stronger than his. She'd won this battle, but the war wasn't over, she was cornered, with all of Sylar's weapons right on top of her, even if she calmed the beast, she was still all alone in his lair.
Sylar crept along the tunnel, moving briskly but focusing on the smells and sounds of the tunnels. Once he found the tunnel she was in, his vision would seal the deal, but now he had to depend on the senses that had most saved him through his monstrous life. His nose wrinkled repeatedly as he moved, searching for any trail, but he could no longer find her scent anywhere past that intersection. How could she have just lost her scent? It was impossible...unless she hadn't gone past the intersection, had he missed some other turn or hole in the walls? He cursed himself for trying to talk to her, he always knew he might have to get ruthless to protect himself, but he'd grown to soft since meeting other mutants.
He turned back, making his way to the intersection and preparing to head down the right tunnel, but then he heard it. Alma was lost in a labyrinth, a vast network of stone tunnels that acted like a big amplifier for any sound down here. Her curse, her scream, her jump, the rat hitting the water, even the rat's frightened squeak, they all bounced along the bricks, and made their way to Sylar. He hissed, turning his head back toward his lair, "Reservoir." She had to be heading towards them. He bolted down the tunnel, making his way into his lair. Her scent was still here, but didn't leave the room. He didn't know how she'd covered her tracks, but he wasn't giving up. Her escape, her efforts to hide, she was stimulating Sylar's instincts, specifically his instinct to hunt. It was getting hard to think, harder to keep his thoughts away from grisly ideas. He found himself trembling when he realized he was starting to wonder, just how would the woman taste?
He crossed the water in his lair and made his way down the same path Alma had taken, following the pathway to the door, and making his way inside towards the reservoirs. He quickly surveyed every path as he came into it, scanning for her, hunting down her heat signature with a growing hunger. As he grew closer, the sound of his claws tearing into the stone would be growing louder, a distant clack turning into a murderous pounding as he closed in. He passed through an archway and turned to what he guessed was the source of the echo he heard. And a hiss escaped his throat, further down the tunnel he could see her, a humanoid bloom of yellow, thinner than than before, and smelling of the sewers, but quite obviously the prey the monster was hunting. His voice echoed down the tunnel, giving Alma moments to think of her reaction to giving Sylar her location. "Found you..." The words were cold, with no hint of the previous anger or fear Sylar had possessed. Instead, he spoke with a hollow tone, oozing cruel intent. "I can't...I can't stop..." He whispered into the musky air, his voice echoing off the stones, "I think I'm gonna...eat you"
Sylar was losing himself, the chase and fear having backed him into a corner, spurring his instincts to take over, and causing the boy to struggle internally, his mind terrified, but his heart pumping so hard his blood was boiling. Alma was about to have a fight on her hands, or she was going to have to figure out how to cage the Predator in his own world. Less than twenty feet separated them, and both Sylar and Alma were aware how quickly he could cover distance.
