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.
Posted by Rico on Jan 26, 2017 7:21:47 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
Delta Mutant
114
16
Nov 25, 2020 20:50:47 GMT -6
"This is taking to long." The older fisherman grumbled. "C'mon you silly creature. Inside." The humans pushing on the animals backside seemed to do little if anything. "I said git!" At barking that remark the man gave the large reptile a strong firm smack on the rump like one would a horse and the creature finally squeezed its way through the large sheds doors. "Inside." The fisherman said to Devon and looked both ways before closing the door and locking it from the inside.
It was dark inside and the sounds of some metal being moved could be heard. Out of the pitch blackness a match was struck casting light in a flash. Pushing the lever to raise the glass of a lantern the old fisherman lit the wick and waved out the match. "We should be ok in here." He said with a tired voice and hung the lantern up from a metal chain hook on the ceiling.
The shed was full of various tools one could expect from anyone in the business of fishing. Nets, rods, various lines of tension strength. More importantly a table with more buckets of fish from there days catch. The dragon was on the far side with the younger man hand feeding it. For the moment at least the creature seemed content and not as ravenous as before in its need to eat.
Rubbing his left knee the old fisherman pulled up a wooden chair and sat in it. "Tis a unnatural fog out there. Some kind of weather is moving in. My trick knee is acting up something fierce." Taking out a pipe and filling it with some loose tobacco he struck another match and puffed on it. "The names Bruno. And that there is my boy. Lance. Been living here all my life and never seen weather like that come out of nowhere. I wonder if it was caused by the explosion on that there island."
He paused and listened as the sirens started to grow weaker. It seemed the path of destruction was leading them elsewhere. "Or do we have you to thank for it?" Bruno's voice did not hold any type of venom to it. Just a curious old man that judging someone by the honesty of there words. When you got to be his age mutant and human rivalry seemed stupid and petty like a lot of things that folks got all riled up about these days.
"Your a mutant?" The other man Lance asked. "I wonder if he is a mutant as well." He as in the dragon. Giving the creature another fish from out the bucket he leaned over to get a look between its legs. "I think its a he anyway. I cant tell."
Lance tugged at the straps of the body harness and then looked to some kind of small brass plate with words on it attached to the mask jawline that was hanging off to the side. Níðhöggr. "Can you speak?" lance asked the creature. If it could it did not do so. It just finished swallowing another fish and turned its long neck and head to examine the room and flicked out a forked tongue so its olfactory senses could analyze and memorize the new smells.
Its yellow piercing eyes were wild. But yet there seemed to some kind of dulled down intelligence behind it. It made some deep noises and garbled words that could not really be understood. But there was one word that came out clearly. "Lost."
Good evening. I have a open topic here. Pretty much anyone is welcome. Good guy, bad guy, folks just living day to day. My character is as innocent as a child with is memory gone and like a child he is easy to influence depending on who he meets.
Posted by Rico on Jan 22, 2017 19:21:47 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
Delta Mutant
114
16
Nov 25, 2020 20:50:47 GMT -6
OCC: Just a open continuation of my other solo post
Rico almost did not want wake up. The gentle feeling of being rocked in water soothed the pain and aches of the body. Stirring he found himself partially washed up on a beach coast. Like the other things experimented on plum island Rico had washed up on the shores of Montauk. It had been a few hours since the plum island research facility exploded. The wyvern found he was not alone. There were some locals taking pictures of the dragon like creature with a body harness and breathing mask of some kind covering its entire head.
Grunting through the mask system he stood up and stumbled out of the oceans gentle waves and collapsed on the beach. Again more flashes of cameras. You would think seeing a creature like him would make the locals run away. But common sense did not appear to be so common. Forcing himself back up on his feet the black scaled beast the size of a large draft horse moved towards the crowd and they parted to both sides out of his way like the waves of the ocean that had washed him here.
He was confused and moved as such. Darting his head here and there and breathing with labored breaths through the mask. Entering onto a road a car came to a screeching halt and beeped its horn at him. His reaction was quick. Rico swung his muscled tail and slammed it into the drivers side of the small car causing the side to cave in with a explosion of glass and sending it flying onto its side. With the perceived threat taken care of he continued to cross the road in the general direction of the residential areas of Montauk.
The world was like a ghost to Rico in his dazed half drugged state. He walked through the residential area leaving a easy to follow bath for any wishing to follow. Picket fences were mashed apart from yard to yard in a clear path. Even a few cars were mashed as he walked over them. The wyvern ventured through the residential area and doubled back towards the coast and finally arrived at the fish market. With Montauk being a fishing community, fish was a ready commodity. A young man who had heard the news of Plum Island was talking to his dad at the stall.
"I told you that island was up to no good. Remember those mutated creatures that washed up on shore a few years back?" He told his father as he emptied a bucket of fish in the stand on a fresh layer of ice to keep them cool. His father had grey whiskers on his face and the leather like skin of a man who had spent years under the sun with reel and rod in had on the ocean scoffed at his son. "Again with the conspiracy's boy. Thinking about those kind of things is for them college kids who's folks are rich enough to send them."
"Get your head out of the clouds and down here to earth in the present." At that some trees parted as Rico appeared and walked over to the stand. Time seemed to freeze for the elderly fisherman but for his son he was in the present. Looking over the dragons body it was clear to the young mans eyes Rico was some kind of escaped experiment and as news of the plum animal research facility exploding traveled fast the man only connected the dots. "You hungry?" The young man asked.
If Rico understood he did not reply and lowered his head to the fish on display on the ice and nudged them with his mask to no effect. Who was to say what possessed the young man to do what he did. But there was sympathy in his eyes. Reaching up he unbuckled the straps of the mask over Rico's face on one side and it fell free to hang limply at the right side of his torso still attached to the body harness. At being freed Rico dove his head into the pile of fish on display and started to eat away.
The dragon like creature showed little interest in the lowly humans as he ate away but that did not stop the sons father from picking up a meat cleaver ready to strike. The son put a gentle hand on his fathers hand and the meat cleaver lowered. After that the young man put out the hand slowly to reach for ricos muzzle as he ate the fish in front of them. Rico stopped to look at the young man for but a moment but continued to eat. With a great deal of bravery on his part the young man put his hand on top of Ricos long snout and started to rub it as if it was a horse. "What have they done to you?" The young man asked with a voice full of emotion.
His father who had been holding his breath the whole time crept forward and extended his hand to the dragons long snout. Only after resting the callused palm on it did the elderly man release his breath with a smile. It was a amazing feeling hard to describe. Almost like a scene out of Jurassic park. This was no monster. Just a poor creature half starved.
Rico's mind had gone feral a good while back. But this young human had the special animal touch. The gift to tame him. There was no other explanation why the dragon had just not devoured him like it had so many others in the past. But a dragon walking its way through a residential area and leaving ruined property in its wake did not go without attracting attention. Police car alarms could be heard in the distance and with police reputation about shooting first and asking questions later the young man could not just stand by. Grabbing fish off the ice near the dragons jaws and throwing it into a bucket he watched as the last of the wish was eaten. "Dad, help me." He said and the elderly man walked out from behind the stall to go ahead and open there personally owned shed large enough for a horse sized dragon.
Shaking the fish filled bucket Rico let out a rumbling purr from his chest and followed without question as they led the large mythical reptile to the opening sliding door of the shed. Halfway in though Rico got stuck with his ass and tail still hanging out and the elderly man struggled to push against it in attempts to get Rico inside the large shed and out of sigh of the rapidly approaching police that they feared would kill him without any other reason then they could.
Rico opened a eye and moved a little. His whole body felt bashed and broken. Using a wing joint to push himself up onto his feet a few joints and bones popped loudly in protest as his mutation of healing was still trying to fix the damage the explosion had done. The building was also full of smoke and scattered fires in the various rooms and offices of the administrative section of the facility. The bodies here were not like the ones in the lab wing. These poor souls looked like support staff. Technicians, electricians, mechanics. Bread and butter folk that kept things running.
He had tunnel vision at this point. His thoughts focused on escape. Proceeding through the doomed facility Rico made it to the main entrance. Hopping over the railing on the third level the wyvern landed near the reception desk. The impact causing the tiles on the floor to crack and shatter in a modest shaped impact crater from the weight of his draft horse sized body. He looked to a woman slumped over the desk with a phone off the hook and beeping then to the giant glass entrance.
Rico shook his masked head as his vision grew white a bit more and made some heavy footed steps towards the exit only to be blinded by spotlights and darkened figures just out of his ability to clearly identify. It quickly became evident the figures were holding weapons as green beams started to appear through the smoke.
It all became hazy after that as Rico went feral at the threat. All he could remember later was charging into the blinding light source through the glass entrance and greeted by gunfire. He would wake up much later back on the mainland near Montauk. As for the facility, it no longer existed as the self destruct sequence erased it in a mushroom cloud of destruction. The only evidence it was ever there was just a crater.
The public would be left with more questions then answers. Whatever secrets the aging plum island research facility had was lost.
The corridor past the giant door like the lab was filled with more bodies in orange biohazard suits. The hall sprayed red from gunfire. There was a lift at the end with a body slumped down with there back against the wall near a keypad system. Rico limped onto the lift and his vision grew white. Staggering for a moment he leaned against the wall of the lift for support and then heard a muffled voice from the body near the keypad.
"Níðhǫggr" The man said an coughed. With what little energy the human scientist had he punched in a code and the lift hummed to life and slowly rose up. Again the dying human in the suit repeated the name and reached out a arm towards Rico as the lifted went up and fell limp dead. Níðhǫggr. Was that his name Rico wondered. The dying man in the suit seemed to recognize him by it. With no name and no memory Níðhǫggr would have to do.
As the lift went up it passed by many levels until it came to a stop at the top. Weakly the dragon exited the lift and stood before the sky way. Limping along the walkway connecting the two main buildings of the research facility he lifted a wing to shield his eyes from a giant spot light that came out of nowhere. There was a black hawk helicopter hovering feet away and turned itself showing a mini gun. It started rotating and reacting out of instinct Rico folded his wings tightly to his body and ran down the glass skyway on his legs as the bullets started to rip through the glass.
A explosion erupted as he neared the end and was sent flying into a wall knocking him out. Perhaps the explosion was a rocket, perhaps explosives fixed on the skyway. In the end It did not matter. He escaped the collapsed walkway into the main evacuation route of the facility in the A wing. The weak and dying dragon only had to muster a bit more strength to fight off these mysterious attackers and make his escape.
Rico felt weak an confused as he floated in the tank. But one feeling was rising that was overpowering. Heat. The glass started to crack and eventually gave out and Rico washed out of the tank with the solution liquid. The tubes hooked into various veins in his body ripping free and spilling white nutritional fluid everywhere. Rico struggled to raise his masked face to look around the fire consumed room. There were bodies in full biohazard suits all around him. Spots of read littering there bodies as if shot to death. Orange rotating lights on the ceiling were flashing casting a synchronized wave of light in the dimly light room. The voice Rico heard before in the tank now loud and clear.
"The self destruct sequence has been activated. All Manticore project personal are to evacuate the B wing via the skyway to A wing and proceed to minimum safe distance."
The woman's voice only repeated after that. Rico could not remember what had happened or even who he was for that matter. But basic things remained. This was some kind of lab and it was about to blow up. That was all he need to know. Forcing his heavily sedated body to stand up the hose of the breathing mask on his muzzle and face broke free and a figure flashed before Ricos eyes. The same old man. "This way" He beckoned with a hand and with a flash of light vanished.
Ricos wings were dragging limply at his side as he walked or rather limped in this case. His tail dragging behind him. He stopped for only a moment as he neared a heavy door that opened at sensing movement. He examined the room and found it was full of tanks like his with creatures looking like him. Or heavily deformed and almost like him. "What is this place....." He thought for a moment before the droning voice of the woman on the alarm system remind him he needed to evacuate. Whatever answers existed here. They were about to go up in a mushroom cloud. The research facility on plum island was about to be destroyed.
What was the beginning? What was the end? I don't remember anything anymore. Experiment and experiment and finally I was promised my freedom. It came in a piece of paper. Something the human scientists called a none disclosure agreement. I signed it an submitted myself to one final promised act of experiment. Memory. My memory. Like a shattered mirror the pieces tell me. But is it memory? Or dreams? I cant tell the difference anymore. All I know is that I exist.
I remember something cold being wrapped around the ankles of my feet in dragon form. I remember voices. Being dragged along the ground like cattle being taken to slaughter. My wings catching on surfaces. Corridors maybe? I do not know. More voices. Like a dream of blackness. Aware, but not of time and its passing. A dream one could not wake up from. At least until the old man. A man. His face and words holding kindness spoke to me. I cannot remember of what. But I felt at peace. He spoke of a school. Of safety. A place free of suffering and pain. But it not a place I would ever know unless......
"You wake up"
With the words in his mind Rico's eyes opened. He felt weightless. His vision blurred. There was muffled sounds and flashing lights. He took a deep breath and exhaled. The bubbles of the mask on his muzzle floating upwards to the top of the tank in the solution he was floating in. The dream washed away except for the voice in his mind and the faint memory of a woman. Both comfortable in his presence and at times terrified of him as if he was a monster. A woman with a canvas and paint. But was it just nothing. Or another piece of the fragmented shattered memory's of the mirror.
OCC: No interest? Well if I cant have fun with others I will just sit here and play with myself. Feel free to watch. At least until others decide to participate.
Rico found that life at Plum island was pretty boring. Wake up, help the lab coats with tests, and take time in the evening to fly around the island in his dragon form for exercise. Not only for his body, but mind as well as each time he did so he felt more control. It was boring, but there was comfort in routine. Roach was not giving him any calls asking for bad things for him to do and Rico having to grit his teeth and pretending to like it.
There was no expectation other then existing. One day he landed outside the loading dock of the facility and watched with hungry eyes as some cattle was being herded inside. "Can I eat them?" Rico asked a lady he came to know as Jody. She gave Rico a serious look as all the personal here always did to his jokes. They always took things so seriously. "No" She replied blankly devoid of emotion like the META bots Rico hated so much.
"They are needed for testing." Always it was the same thing. TESTS, always tests. "So what is so special about me?" Rico asked her and let out a rumbling sigh from his deep chest and hooked the two talons on his bat like wyvern wings together as he put that chest on the ground to lie comfortably.
Perhaps it was she was busy or other factors that caused a slip of the tongue. But she answered truthfully. "Your cells hold alpha properties. When left alone they attack and consume themselves for energy leading ultimately to there own destruction. But when others are added to them. Say disease or human cell cultures they attack and consume them. Not only for energy and cell replication. They adapt and change, your body is like a living flu virus. Adapting, growing immune, evolving." If he wanted any more answers he would not get any as she went inside. Not that Rico wanted any answers. She might as well have been speaking Latin to him. Rico was a simple man and her words confused him.
He was good at healing. Rico knew that much. He had to be as he body literally ripped itself apart from the inside out in a bloody and very painful manner a lot like the creature from the THING movies in order for him to be in his dragon form. But being like a living flu virus? All Rico knew about Flus was each year they needed new vaccines because each year the flu was never the same. If he did know just exactly what she had meant he would have left the plum facility right then and there. His body could be used to cure almost anything if they wanted to. And his cells could even be turned into a bio weapon if so inclined.
He was both life and death depending on the intentions of those with the knowledge. With his mutation being on the cellular level it was easy to believe.
As I was just playing around on YouTube I came across some vids. Not a conspiracy person myself but still a interesting island none the less. Here are two vids for a general idea.
No immediate idea where I want it to go from here but if you think its a interesting location and topic idea feel free to share ideas or express interest in joining. I put up a thread here.
Plum Island NY was the home of a animal disease facility and a topic of many conspiracy theorists. Including accusations of unethical practices such as biological weapon research and genetic manipulation. Rico was not exactly the conspiracy wrap tin foil around your head type but the thought of going to that island made his skin crawl.
It had started off innocently enough. He had volunteered to donate blood during a drive and was later contacted by some G man types. Rico was told his blood was special. Something about having genetic bases unknown to science. Whatever that meant. That and they suspected he was a mutant animal shifter and were concerned of diseases that could damage the country's agriculture and economy.
While Rico had considered being the governments guest at the lab on plum island the moment they referred to him as a invasive species Rico cut off the men right then and there. Playing as a pet lab animal for the sake of patriotism seemed pretty stupid to him. Worry of unknown diseases or not. Rico had considered that meeting at central park over and done with.
Governments and there various branches are never any different from country to country. They all liked to get there way and did not react well to rejection. Rico could expect to see these Plum Island representatives again in the future at the apartment complex he was residing in. Only this time they would be more pushy.
As the Plum Island facility was controlled by US Homeland Security the building was cordoned off and raided. Rico was caught literally with his pants down as the door to his apartment was bashed in and he was incapacitated by electricity. It would be hours later before he woke up on the island that would be his new home.
At least until it was figured out if he posed any kind of biological threat to the country by the lab staff from the department of agriculture. As good as the intentions are. It was a public display and it would require some kind of damage control. Rico woke up on a examination table and the sounds of a heart rate monitor.
Had he not be drugged with enough sedative to take down a herd of elephants Rico would probably not have been so relaxed and calm as the situation was explained to him. Rico was to stay on the island at the facility until he passed screening. Somehow when he entered the country he was not flagged as a animal shifter mutant by immigration and customs. And like any animal entering the country. He could carry disease that could wipe out crops and livestock causing mass famine. It was pretty standard procedure. Well, as standard as you could get to being taken against your will.
He was promised freedom to leave after the long lengthy tests. Even given freedom to move around the island and the facility. But until then he could not leave. Rico understood in a way. But that did not mean he had to be happy about it. That or the testing and things they injected into his body. Plum Island had a bad reputation. What Rico could tell was it was all just conspiracy theory's of crazy people. From what he could tell anyway. But lots of things in the world could never be judged by how it appeared.
At one point during his stay the scientists wanted Rico to shift so they could examine his body. While reluctant of going Feral he did as requested and felt a little bit more then special as the agriculture egg heads examined his dragon body from head to tail. But he supposed most animal lab coats were like that. Otherwise they would not have take years of veterinary school to specialize in the animal field.
This place seemed pretty legit though shady at times. He was treated well and promised freedom. Besides, if they did not keep there word he could just fly right on out like a bird.
It seemed a foolish question to Rico and he did not answer right away. "Well...." He said and trailed off. "Not really. How exactly can I bee happy dangling my tail out there for everyone and waiting for these cats to take a bite. Even if I get there attention and they are interested in me joining I can imagine they have some kind of security screening process."
With that thought he added. "Like a psychic having there way with my mind. Pretty sure I cant hide my intentions from that. My cover would get blown and my skull will probably be decorating somebody's wall. Or drinking out of it like some trophy." The more he learned about the group he was trying to infiltrate on the streets the more they scared him.
"No offense boss, but I really think you should leave these guys alone. They probably have folks on your payroll watching you already." Rico cut the conversation short as the food came and was put on the table among the clutter of plates from Roachs meal before. He did not waste time in eating it either. Rico's appetite was about as ravenous as Roachs if not more. At least the two of them had that in common.
"I aint the type for this cloak and dagger stuff." Rico paused as the stuffed more food in his mouth and swallowed seemingly without even chewing. "I'm a matter of fact kind of guy. You point me at someone and I will get the job done. May not be pretty as I aint no trained fighter. But it will get done. Been practicing some things in my other skin and still pretty rusty. But I'm sure I could give a good ass kicking to anyone you pointed me at."
"That there are METAs guarding the META facility, and they only want you to think it's two men. That kind of technology wouldn't be guarded by any old Dick and Tom."
Rico could not deny the logic and said as much. "I thought so as well. But these aint your average joes. They got the smell of PMC all over them. Private military contractors, Black Water types, mercenary's. Had a few run ins with there outfit already." He paused in thought and fragmented memories from his time in feral dragon form came back. Memories of a warehouse at the docks and a PMC ambush. It seemed more a nightmare then a memory and Rico forced it from his mind.
"How sure are you about this intel? Also, do you have a nickname you want me to call you? Or do I just call you Bandit? Tag? Bob Ross?"
"Sure enough to try it. There are risks as with everything." The last bit of the green guys comment made him chuckle a little. "Smart ass, you can call me Razakel." Rico did not remember were he had heard that name before. But he always found it fitting. There was something mysterious and foreboding about it. More so then the name Malakai that he used from time to time.
." There are some who call me... Tim."
"Tim?" Rico asked. It was definitely not what he was expecting. "So I take it this is the part where I spit out a witty comment." Rico paused and added. "I will get back to you later on that." Rico at least made the attempt to be friendly with this Tim guy. Maybe he might end up saving Rico's ass if things went tits up.
The phone rang again and he listened and cursed just as the woman came and spoke. "Fine, just drop it by the secondary place." Turning off the phone again he looked to Tim. "They had to drop off the gear adjacent to the warehouse. They almost rolled up on one of those random police checkpoints. I think it best we split up and meet there."
Having ignored the woman for that exchange he finally nodded his head in her direction. "What you think Tim? Another body could always help. Especially if the shooting starts. It gives them another person to aim at besides us."
"Rico, my good man! Come, come! Have a seat! I've ordered you something already! I may have eaten it already. Oh well, I'll order you more. You always look so skinny."
His boss had seemed happy enough. But with the things Rico had hard on the streets about his mysterious employer Roach was good at hiding his mood. He could act friendly and kill you seconds later. That made him dangerous as far as Rico was concerned but he still went along with it. But the boss was right about one thing. He was skinny today. The problem with that was he was at risk of shifting to his dragon form if the hunger took hold. Human, mutant, it mattered not. Meat was meat.
"How are you? I hope the money I have been sending you has helped some."
It seemed a normal enough question. But again, what Rico had heard of his boss on the streets nothing was ever normal. "I am pretty good boss man. I am above ground, have a roof over my head, and have good company. So I have nothing to complain about." The good company could be assumed to be Roach. But that was not what Rico meant. Good company was the lady that entertained him last night.
Rico was a bit nervous about the roach watch dog as it conversed with Roach in there own way. He had ditched the thing on more then one occasion. All those occasions were so Rico could learn to control his shifting. And in truth all ended in disaster with some poor souls bones being picked out his teeth except for one. It was a encounter Rico did not regret. A encounter out of chance and depending on who you asked. A encounter of fate. Rico was generally concerned the roach watchdog had managed to follow him and find that out. But the next statement put his mind as ease.
"I wanted to talk. To ask you questions. To allow you to ask me questions. These are things you should do when forming a working relationship in the criminal underground. Understanding, I've found, is terribly important."
Rico listened to his boss and nodded. "Fair enough." He said flatly. Rico was a reasonable creature, but was Roach? Rico opened his mouth to speak but not quick enough before his boss flagged someone down to serve them. He took it as a blessing to collect his thoughts and form the words he wanted to say. He had made some progress. But it was probably not the kind of progress his boss expected.
Rico ordered a heavy meal mainly made of meat and pasta. Heavy in calorie count to replace what he had lost in last nights vigorous activity's. As they waited for the food to come Rico finally spoke.
"These guys you are looking for are not exactly recruiting in booths on the corner like the army and marines. I have been spending some of the money you gave me on food and the basics. But most of it is spent in funding what I am doing on the streets. I have been tagging buildings using the groups mark. I came in contact with some low level members but they are very secretive. From what I have gathered these guys are not the kind of people you go looking for......" With that he paused. "They come looking for you." It sounded ominous, but it was the truth.
"I am trying to climb the ladder at the lowest level to get there attention but it is proving difficult. I am about to do some drastic measures. Some friends of mine in little Kingston scoped out a warehouse storing un programmed META bots. Its low key and under the radar for obvious reasons. I plan on hitting the place tonight and blowing the place to hell."
"With any luck they MIGHT take notice of me. These guys are not easy to impress." It made sense it was so hard. They did not survive this long by accepting just anyone. But would Roach understand that?
Rico hated drinking, yet he loved it. Every time he woke up feeling like death he swore never to drink again. Yet he always did. Such was the routine and this time was no different. "Mmmm" Rico groaned and stuck a hand out blindly to beside table. Cracking open a eye he examined the message and sighed. The boss man wanted him and he had a good idea why. The way Rico figured it he was getting impatient for the task to be completed.
Rico was pulled out of his thoughts though as the memory of last night came back to him. He turned to look at the human woman wrapped up in his bed sheets and sleeping right there with her back turned to him. He had gotten what he wanted and she was of little concern to Rico at the moment. But such was the way of things. Sleeping with someone and sleeping with someone you love were two different things.
She would wake up to a empty bed and a apartment with scarcely anything. Not even anything worth taking accept perhaps a few half full bottles of Jack. It was just the way Rico lived. It was easier to move around when you had little to anything and never put down some roots.
Rico arrived later at the diner wearing some old boots, jeans and a white wife beater. Upon entering he looked to the guy behind the counters with tentacles coming out there back and collecting up dishes and coffee cups. While it was not exactly a mutation Rico would have wanted it sure looked like it came in handy when you ran a diner. "I'm here to see Frank."
No other words were spoken and he was led to the corner booth in the back room. "Wow, and I thought I had a appetite." Rico said as he slide into the seat opposite of roach in the booth. Tilting sideways Rico pulled out a VHS tape that said "Joes apartment" and put it on the table. "Got this for ya bossman." Rico found the movie ok on his old TV with a built in VHS player but it was really only a watch once and forget kind of film. At least for him. Somehow though Rico thought Roach might like it.
Pulling out a altoids can Rico opened the cap to present Earl. It was safer to carry him around this way. That way Rico did not sit down or shift and squash him. "So what was the big rush for me to get over here boss. I am getting close to finishing that job you gave me and....." Rico went quiet and stared at the new hat on his boss's head. "You know what I don't want to know."
Rico kept his end of the deal. He was working his ass off and made progress in the job his boss assigned him. But If there were change Rico intended to break away as the deal as far as Rico was concerned was known and void. Deals did not change. Rico kept his end and expected Roach to keep there end.
The toothy confident smile threw Rico off right then and there. "Kinda." Rico blurted out his confidence now shaken. "Yes." He said more confidently now. "Once." After that he paused in thought trying to remember the fragments of his memory last time he went feral. "I remember fighting one. Large. I remember the feeling and the sound of its head giving out as it caved in..... in my mouth." At that Rico crossed his arms. "You ask to many damn questions."
He was getting defensive now and wondered if this guy was even with the group he was trying to join. Cops asked a lot of questions and Rico was getting suspicious.
"We'll need to stop somewhere to get the type of toys we need to handle resistance."
"Resistance?" Rico asked with a restrained laugh. "The place is a storage facility run by a couple of guards made of flesh and blood. Damn husks have not been programmed yet. They wont put up any kind of fight." At least Rico hoped not. His intelligence could always be wrong. But the opportunity was to good to just pass up.
"But let's see how your contacts do."
Rico was insulted by that comment. The black market held a lot of state of the art tech. Including a nice bundle of RDX as his contacts described it. Research development explosive. Very powerful and unknown to Rico, Unstable at times. "Whatever you prick peddling dog faced catepilar." Rico muttered and dialed on the phone. "Wa Gwon. Ya man. Buck up same place. Bless." With that Rico hung up the disposable phone. "Now we wait." He said blankly and leaned against the wall all the while keeping a close eye on the green guy.
At least until others decide to participate.