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.
He was not the correct person to answer her question. He thought that, but Lenna absolutely did not agree. With what she knew of his past (and he had told her quite a bit this day), he seemed someone who had experience with these sorts of questions. But she let him think what he thought. And listened to what he said.
‘Hands need lots of washing. With lives like ours.’ That was basically his message.
He still saw people he had killed, hurt. And he thought she was better than him because she was asking.
She had used tranquilizer darts on flying people. They had surely fallen. Some had surely not gotten up. Some had surely been hit by falling debris or explosions from within their own ranks. She was thinking of this. But all the other stuff existed in her periphery.
>> ”I found when you stop asking that question you stop caring. Better than me.”
Lenna furrowed her brow. ”Okaaaay.”
This sounded like he was still dealing with his own demons, and wished her to focus on dealing with her own. And that it was a constant process. And all this other stuff. Or at least, she made a lot of leaps of logic and assumptions to get to those thoughts.
”The people that fell. The mystics. They were trying to kill children and summon a dark God. Their own people killed them. And bad luck and bad choices helped. I will not dwell on them. I will not call my hands clean. But they really never were, even if I cannot recall all the things all the “me” have done. That was simplistic thinking. Wishful thinking. I will continue to be careful, as I have. And I will keep doing good things to make up for any bad things in the past. Yes. I think that is the best both of us can do. That, and eat.”
Lenna ate more of her corned beef hash and eggs. These were complex matters. They would not be solved over breakfast.
For a moment, Lenna has the confusion. None? No need? The rain became apparent as he woke the man. No secret powers, no mind reading mike had hidden. Just technique and time.
He aimed and threatened education.
The man met his eyes for a moment, then glanced away as the shame took him.
“Mask room,” he said hurriedly. “Top floor office, go round out of theses rooms to the catwalk and up a corner flight of stairs that turns up. 3 mutants guard it. One is hidden. And hurry. He’s using it.”
”Using what?” Lenna asked.
He kept staring at the same spot on the wall.
“I didn’t know,” he muttered. “Swear I didn’t. Some mystic artifact, changes them. Kidnapping is old hat, now he’s building something. An army. Under his control. Magic Fucking stone Mask. He thought it was funny, see? When he first got it. Stone faces stone face. Had his right hand man wear it as a joke. Then blood got on— shot why am I talking, you should be going. Now!!”
She made eye contact with Mike. Lenna’s Jaw was tight. Then, she stuffed the gag back into his face.
>> ”So you’re still trying to piece everything together...”
Lenna shrugged her shoulders. ”It is complicated.”
She forked herself some corned beef hash, and mixed it with eggs. Had herself a good few bites. Slurped coffee.
>> ”Thank you. For telling me all of this. It sets my mind at ease a bit. I don’t like being surprised with information like this later down the road and from now on you don’t have to deal with the repercussions alone. You’re an X now. You have the team to help you if you need it. Myself included. I can help you finish putting the missing pieces together if you want.”
When he looked back, A piece of bacon was missing from CS’s plate. He had probably witnessed her theft, and she had her own. Lenna also had his missing piece, too. She quickly and crunchily disposed of the evidence.
>”So I take it you know all about SUPER and those working for them? Take it you met Sabine then... Nice lady.”
She frowned.
”It is also very complicated. You see, I ran into them after I first woke up. I went to an address previous me occupied, they attacked. I fled, then fought them and beat them with the help of another. They stole the apartment, I stole their wallet and phone. I lived off Kyles company card for a while, until Skye took me in at the mansion.” Lenna said. She waggled a piece of bacon at him pointedly. ”They contacted me, after the mansion blew up. They saw me, and hunted me down. They hate me. Spent so much of their money, before they cut me off. And I injured their agents. They have information. I Learned some things from items I got when I returned to my apartment later. My boyfriend back then had a power. Read memories on things. Ex-boyfriend, now… SUPER has more information… I want it…”
She glanced away. Frowned at Sam again. She paused a moment, to drink coffee. ”It is a complicated ongoing process. I will talk to you about it later. When I know more… something more pressing bothers me though… Sam, are my hands still clean?”
She did not show him her hands. It was clear she was not speaking of dirt.
It was perfectly timed. He took down the first man at the same moment that Lenna choked out the second one. In a perfect world, Lenna would simply have been the appropriate height required to reach up and choke somebody. It would not have been necessary for Lenna to extend her mind outwards, and add one more point of focus to the telekinetic activity she was currently exuding. Two points, two separate areas where her mind bubbled things in orange: The bat, and the man’s neck.
She reached out with her mind, and mentally applied crushing pressure in a force choke maneuver. She wished she had not been holding the gun in two hands, at her side. Had she had one hand free, it could have raised in a perfect mimic of Darth Vader as he did the classic move he was known for, the force choke. But it was not so, for she held her gun at one side, pointed low and away. It was merely her mind which reached out and momentarily reduced the flow of blood to the criminal’s brain such that he made the usual muffled choking, gagging sounds, then went limp within her mind’s grasp. She did not kill him, she applied the Exact right amount of pressure for the Exact right amount of time. This maintained her prodigious kill count of zero. The end result was that two people fell unconscious.
Lenna removed the point of focus, then replaced it by holstering her handgun at her side. She reached into a pocket of her hoodie, and extracted a bundle of plastic zip ties.
Zip ties are wonderful. They are lightweight, comparatively, to the large amount of rope one would be required to achieve similar results. You bound specific points, and they just worked. Barring super strength, they held most people in a position of weakness. They would be unable to rejoin efforts to kill intruders, should they recover from their state of unconsciousness. Lenna briefly added a third point of telekinetic control to the first two, which split her weight limits three ways. This was fine. She levitated the split bundle of ties his way, and removed focus once he had taken them into his control.
Lenna briefly waxed upon how useful her training at the mansion had been for fine control of her powers. Starting out, she had been wholly horrible in regards to focus. Splitting focus points would have been difficult. A level of control like that would have been beyond her, and levitating? Indeed, not. But several years of classes at the mansion, one-on-one training with mansion psychics such as Shard and… others… yes? She was doing fine for herself.
Lenna zip tied the goon, then tore his t-shirt into some rag-like strips, which she stuffed into his mouth. Then, she realized she had wanted to keep one of the two people conscious, for interrogation. She had completely failed, in the moment, to uphold her end of that bargain.
Inwardly, she cursed. It was not Mike Hunt’s fault. It was her own. She had wanted too much to look cool, and thus had focused on the timely dual takedown maneuver. Rather than… something useful, such as keeping one person conscious.
Oh well. He would likely have been impressed.
Why did she wish to impress him?
An excuse. Her otherworldly self had held weight for his approval. She wished to meet his standards, as set by herself… her other self. Rather than to miss them entirely, and be a disappointment. There was no romanticism in this excuse. None existed. More and more, she felt she did not need romance in her life. Nor was she attracted to most people. Thank you, Ty. For wholly poisoning that well, with the bad feels.
Both men were unconscious, zip tied, gagged. They could move on. Lenna gestured for him to once more take the lead, but whispered to him:
”We take one conscious next time. Need to find where prisoners are kept.” That had been said, and now it was his turn to lead the forward movement.
Lenna drank coffee. It was piping hot, and black, unpopulated by sugar or cream. Perfect.
She listened. Sam talked. He talked a lot. As she listened, Lenna thought about her life. About life choices, like being seated across from a kidnapper, mind control or no. One who helped her kidnap a friend back from rival kidnappers. Okay.
Complicated was an understatement.
TATMAH was a mouthful. And not a tasty one.
The only good mutant was one who could be controlled… interesting philosophy. Lenna wondered if organizations such as SUPER would have agreed with it.
His life story had a sad beginning. She felt a bit of kinship, a connection, with the tragic early start “trope.” Except he grew up in a cell, and she grew up in an extended family of children and young women, taught to kill.
The lie they told him felt similar to her own childhood lies… except she never had any illusions about her being trained to help people. No, she had been trained to help exactly one person, and that help extended in The direction of power. Money.
He took out half the organization when he left them, and she had… not. She honestly knew little about this world’s version of that place she grew up. Lenna knew her reality, her home, was now separate from this realm, and she could never go back. So they were good as dead. She simply had not done anything to cause such a thing.
Sam finished, and Lenna was halfway through her cup of coffee. She set it down gently, but it still made an audible clack against the table. She exhaled slowly.
”Yah,” She said. ”Mine is kind of like that. One moment while I think how to shorten the story…”
She thought. As she thought, the door opened with the sound of bells. A glance was cast that way, similar to the one Sam had spent. Middle-aged man and woman, thinning hair on one, brown, with beard. Curly blonde hair, in shoulder-length ringlets on the woman. Doris seated them with polite nothings. Neither had a familiar face to Lenna. The place was started to feel more crowded. Would Sam grow uncomfortable with this?
”A lot of this, I have pieces together after the fact. Learned out of order. I met this world’s Lenna’s aunt, and she taught me about this world’s Lenna’s parents. I can only imagine my story was similar. But I was young, so I cannot remember most of that childhood. Basically… when I was young. Probably 5, like you, my parents went on a boat ride somewhere they should not. And they were killed for it: I was taken in by people loyal to their killer. And I do not think the killing was personal. Just bad location and time. My story is like yours.”
She traced her finger across the tabletop, head bowed as she spoke. Her brow was furrowed in thought.
”I was basically raised by my “big sis”, Eliana. And teachers. In Colombia. Taught things like you were taught, to be part of an all-girl army for a man named Cortez. He was a crime lord. Cartel stuff, and worse. I was taught to fight, and kill… but never did a kill mission. I—“
She made a face. So complicated.
Also, their food chose that moment to arrive.
She waited until it was down, and the woman had left. Then, she continued.
”From my perspective, I never did a mission like that. Because I was turned young again, at the moment my mutation activated, mentally. For me. Lot like time travel. But my other self had done everything for years, and worked for SUPER, and I have had to deal with the reperc— repercuh— the shit— from that. I learned about her from various sources, and will have to share with you. About her: about the version of me from this reality, the one who came before, and died. But I came here from another world, and do not remember the trip. So, yah. Yay.”
>> . ”We don’t talk about this place got it? I like the fact that it is hard to find.”
>> ”I like the fact that no one really knows me here and I won’t bump into anyone else I know.”
Lenna made a zipping motion over lips, a locking motion, and then pretended to eat the key. Which made zero sense. Why eat the key last…? Hooow? ”My lips are sealed,” she stated, through unsealed lips. Ones she had just mimed sealing. Literally the worst. what was she even trying to say.
She nodded. Yes. That was it, exactly. Her point had been clearly made.
He did not wish to be compromised. The way he checked locations and angles, it was telling.
She sat where directed. Then, took off her heavy yellow rain slicker and balled it up on the seat next to her. Function over form. Beneath it, she had worn dark blue jeans and a classic Star Wars tee. The one with Leia at Luke’s feet, with him holding his weapon aloft. Heavy yellow galoshes clompleted her Look. Completed. But yes, they did clomp.
>> ”I know it’s a trek here but the coffee is always fresh and the food is always good.”
Lenna nodded. A thumb went up. ”I cannot wait.” She smiled.
The waitress approached and was like ‘the usual,’ so Lenna held up 2. She would take one of his Usuals as well. What would this be, bacon and eggs and bacon, with black coffee and heavily buttered toast and hash downs? Perhaps pancakes the size of an American child? Whatever his Usual was, she was ready to be happily surprised. Unless it were baked beans and toast. Then, his obscure diner would hide his corpse nicely. Nobody would ever know where to look.
Her feet shifted in the tiny puddle she had brought.
”Long past time?” she asked. ”You can start.”
Had he shared his past with her? She could not recall. This likely meant it was long last time he shared.
He was up, and he was in. An action figure toy contract was forthcoming.
Lenna scooped up the bat and the gun, then focused on her own body. She mimicked the path Mike had taken, but with a bit more care. She did not need to worry about broken glass grazing her, because she could see it and hover above it all… rather than deal with it whilst being levitated by someone who could not. She was also smaller in frame than the man. Fit easier.
Her feet touched down on the ground, and her focus turned to once again sheathing the bat and the gun. They returned to their places on her back and her hip. She scanned the area.
Empty office room, doors on either side. She signaled for him to wait, while she checked the first door. Her door had no sounds behind it when she pressed an ear up to listen. Lenna turned to Mike, and drew her gun, holding it down and away by the side of her body. Ready for anything. She nodded for him to check his own.
When he checked, he would find a creaking sound. Footsteps on old boards. There would be two men with flashlights. They were bored, and one would be talking about a sporting event he had lost a lot of money betting on.
She would follow his lead, to take down the second man if he took the first. Silently, if at all possible. No need to attract attention. They probably wanted at least one man conscious for the moment, to learn where the prisoners were… but she had not told him that detail. She really should have.
Coffee, it was. She would have to find the time. And figure out a summary. Perhaps, his thoughts about her were flawed, based on his idea of another person from this side of the universe. Someone with enemies and past. Her past was on the other side… mostly. But—
Thoughts for another day.
Sam did not seem to like her miniskirt comment, which was surprising. Started talking of tactical suits and cold weather gear and practicality. Perhaps, he was too old. The young Sam would have loved the comment.
Lenna nodded. A wardrobe, then. Not one uniform.
”Tactical gear, and armor. Smart enough. No mini skirts. No cape.”
He said some more, and she nodded.
”Hope. I get it. Well. I will talk to you later. We seem to be finished here. Thanks, Sam,” Lenna said.
When the door opened, Lenna entered the building. The lobby area seemed generic. No fancy signs to give clue to identity if the person seated in the waiting area.
”Sorry for my impatience. The last few days have been… but this is no excuse for my rudeness. Miss… who do I have the pleasure of addressing?” Lenna said, smoothing away earlier roughness best she could. Not perfectly, but it was a much more reasonable tone than before.
She did not like being at someone’s liberty, in their power. Of all Lenna’s, was this theme common.
The chair seemed comfortable and serviceable enough. As she sat across from the woman, Lenna’s mind focused her power on the chair beneath her. Her own chair, of which she had close knowledge. As a result, colors came back into being in her mind. She could see the paint on the walls, the color of the other woman’s clothes, her eye color, and so on. Lenna did not do this to ready an attack. There was no visible cue she was doing it at all. It simply was done to get a better look at things. If it kept a readied weapon at hand, that was just a plus.
”Can you please tell me why I am here?” She requested politely, face a — well, ‘calm mask’ is cliche. It was more a study of self control, to cover trepidation. She looked calm because she was trying to, polite because of effort. From earlier attitude, it was clear she was not okay. But she was trying to be. She did not care if that had been the goal of the woman, from her comment. Patience was a virtue Lenna could display,, when she wanted to.
>> ”Two-hundred feet, upwards of two to three-hundred pounds. Tha’s not too bad.”
Lenna nodded in acceptance of the compliment.
—
Lenna noted Mike’s equipment. A SIG, a tomahawk. She had not asked about extra ammunition, but with how often she was planning to utilize the gun, extra might have been the wrong term. Excess was the better word.
He lacked active camouflage. Okay.
He also lacked a robot. She explained.
”You were the green ranger. He had a green dragon robot. He was from some kids show I have been told of, about rangers with powers… It is a joke. As a side note, when I do not focus my powers, they make everything dark orange in my head, so when I met you… you were the orange ranger, with hellcat machine. So there. Anyways…”
Her face was serious, not a joking smile present, as she turned her attention to the warehouse.
”No visible cameras or guards. Security is inside. Building appears rundown, broken window on second story. I think it leads to a catwalk. Do you know Hand signs? Fingers for number, look, all clear, go? You do now, I just showed you while we talked. Are you willing to be levitated up there? You can peek, scout. Sign. Enter. Then, I will follow.”
She would have gone first, but if she lost sight of him while within, she could not have lifted him up. He could lead. With such heroics, they would get him a toy deal yet.
She made a note to set her bat and gun down before she would lift him. To split her power between targets was to lessen total lifting strength.
Ooc feel free to control Lenna lifting you if you want to enter in your post. Orange ranger plus accessories should not exceed 300lbs.
Sam had told her they would have to arrange a meeting with their tailor, to help design an outfit for her, as an X-trainee. With the Atlantis stuff, and the mystics invading the mansion, and the mansion needing to be rebuilt, everyone had been so busy she had completely forgotten to arrange things.
She supposed costumes were important. Her mindset had placed them lower in value, because at times, people choose garish costumes. Form over function. She wished the opposite, and Lenna would have to describe it to the tailor. Of course, she also had the option of simply choosing a basic form for the costume, like a body suit, a jumpsuit, throwing a few design elements onto it, then adding her own equipment kit over everything. A protective vest, a utility belt, and so on. That might meet everyone’s demands. All of this, she would mention to the tailor.
She knew very little about the tailor. She knew he had helped when the mansion was under assault. This spoke positive to their character. Everything else, she would gather from actual interactions. The only thing she knew other than that? Javier did excellent work.
Lenna asked around, and was able to track down their number. She left a voice message explaining that she would like to meet to discuss an X man costume she wished designed, and was flexible. All Javier needed to do was check the schedule and find the best time for him. Then call back.
They arranged a time, and she went to the location. She had set the location, and it was her aunt’s mansion in NYC. She wore her best mismatched outfit, because all-orange vision due to her powers just made picking out her own clothes great. The shorts were blue, the socks one white and one light blue. Someone had said they were all the same in the pack. They had lied. The light jacket was dark orange. The top was white, and had a rainbow on it. Because rainbows go with everything when your whole outfit is a rainbow. Okay. It was not her best mismatched outfit. She could have done better. Oh well.
”Thank you,” She told the cook. Her aunt had a live-in cook. He had just brought in smoothies for the two of them. Hopefully, Javier liked smoothies. He could have his when he arrived.
How far could she move things? And he liked her spin.
As they drove, she focused out as far as she could. While they were at a stop light, she got his attention and pointed. 200 feet away, a burger wrapper spun in the air. It flew right at them, then landed in a trash can.
”200 feet? Not more.” she said.
—
They drive a bit more, then reached the place. Well, close.
>> “Let's head the rest on foot.”
She nodded. It was a good idea. Lenna turned, and grabbed her bay from the back seat. Then, she got out of the vehicle.
He had not given her a holster. She had the gun and she had the bat. That was TWO things, but she was no complainer. She was a problem solver. Lenna placed the bat diagonally across her back, and focused on the location of the physical contact. With telekinesis, it locked into place. The handle was up, like the hilt of a sheathed katana. She did the same for the gun, placing it the correct way against her right side, where a hip holster would be. As a last touch, she dug the domino mask out and put it back on. Raised her hood.
Lenna passed Mike, and took the lead.
—
It was a several blocks walk. It was mostly done in silence. They spoke of who her friend was (Rachel), who Stone face was (he was not made of stone. His face was rigid, due to a seizure in the past. Locked muscles). They spoke of what to do if there were many guards (sneak), or few (sneak harder). Finally, as they neared the place, she asked if he had any active camouflage powers he had hidden.
They could always pretend she was a prisoner, and him a thug who caught her escaping. That seemed dumb.
>> ”Good sense that makes.” Ranger said with a small smile.”
She met the smile with a small one of her own. Nodded at his joke. Listened to his own problems, and just how he could relate to those she had. Yep. These things were quite the fuster cluck… at least, she thought that was the phrase someone had tried to teach her, for when things went FUBAR, sideways, pear-shaped, awry. Bad. Their lives seemed to be messy.
Oh well.
—
The car impressed her with its speed and mobility, but Lenna focused more on the man, and less on the city lights blazing by.
His power was complicated. Fast, strong, durability, utility. But out of his control. She clenched the knees of her pants as Lenna digested the information. This made his powers largely reactionary. Or else, a wild card. He was a joker. But also, a former ranger, whatever that was. He had a gun.
Fun.
They stopped, and she met his eyes. She did not glance away. He seemed to be reading something about her. He decided it was good, whatever it was.
>> ”There’s a Glock in the glove box ‘r a Maxim PDX-S under y’r seat.”
She thought on it a moment. A bigger gun was tempting to the old Lenna, who she had been before she had woken from being deaged, and made a decision about starting fresh from who she had been. No kills. The Glock appealed to who she currently was. Smaller. Still deadly. It was more limited than the Glock, but they weren’t getting into firearms comparisons or psychological analysis any further, that specific night. She reached into the glove box with a quiet thank you.
Glock, acquired.
She did a routine check of the firearm, to make sure she knew the status. All the important details, loaded or unloaded, etc. She was careful, textbook safe. It was clear she respected the weapon. Not some silly person who ‘wants a gun!’ No, she was someone who knew about guns, and would be careful. Someone who used it for self defense, and had put in time to know how to use the gun well. Someone he could seemingly trust. As far as this gun went.
He asked what her power was.
>>”If y’r not an adapted like the you from this universe, what can y’ do?”
If she had wished to be secretive, Lenna would have said an age-old refrain. ‘Luck manipulation.’ It told everything, and nothing, about what her power could do. Make shots go wide, by subtly shifting aims. Bump objects and events in her favor, with her mind. By funny coincidence, this was the same lie OG Lenna told members of the Order when she lead. The ones who could not handle the truth. ‘Oh, power stopped? Unlucky.’ Lenna did not know this detail.
They were being honest, this night. She did not give the lie.
”I move things with my mind. I can levitate. I carry up to the weight of a grown man. 200? 300. I prefer to use this on the small scale, though. To nudge things in my favor. I call it ‘luck manipulation’, to trick idiots. They get overconfident. Think small. They don’t expect it, when big things happen. Just sooo lucky. I swear.” she shot him a sarcastic smile from across the car.
There was one more thing she could do, but she was kind of low on energy for that. Should not use it more, so why mention it at all? If she did wind up using it? Look, a miracle! So lucky. Suerte.
”Some character from a game. Looks like him,” she supplied.
He was a real person, it had really happened, Sam was really aware of the danger the man presented. He would not have thrown just anyone up against the man who was not a cartoon. Lenna felt flattened. Not flattered. Run over by a steamroller. Crushed. The flattered feeling came after. But first, she dealt with having misnamed an Enemy from Sam’s past. Someone he respected enough to avoid pairing off against mostly everyone. Mostly Everyone, but not her. What a nice thought that was. She should feel touched, not rolled over.
She blushed a little. ”Thanks.”
Then he went “oh good! I’ll tell the tailor! We will get you suited up,” to paraphrase. And her mind went “suit, costume? Oh no.”
History, she could do. She thought they had already shared that, but what she knew, she could share. And what she did not know, she could put on a cork board for him, with the strings simply placed by pins everywhere!
”History, I can do. Coffee some time. Will need a lot. It is a lot. Costume? Be sure to request a mini skirt so when I levitate, bad guys see my ass. Wait. No, the other thing. Opposite. Pants, Sam. No mini skirt.” She said gravely. She pointed one finger for emphasis. It was a dangerous finger. ”As plain as clothes can come. Why be flashy, when I can blend in?”
This was the same person who wore a domino mask and black face grease and black on black with hoodie and pants to try and intimidate thugs to help rescue a friend. Perhaps, a lesson had been learned.
He once again insisted he had no such power, and added an interesting detail. Or at least, it would have been interesting if the detail had been new. She knew aura, who knew the original her. She had asked. Aura had shared. Lenna 1 had been a Null. That was a special human who nullified mutations in a small area around themselves. It seemed a useful power, but with some baggage. Identity issues for those around her who dealt with it often. It cancelled who they were. Aura disliked Nulls. However, she had liked Lenna. Being aware of how one’s presence works on others is important, and Lenna had been self-aware, respectful, and had tread with care.
She nodded at Mike, to confirm she understood the statement he had made. She uttered a quick word: “Null.” That was all she said on that subject, for the moment. She grew thoughtful.
Her other self was interesting, and reconfirmed details were good. She could ask more later. It did not tell her what she really wished details about, mainly her self before the deaging process, a self which had seemingly been SUPER, a good dancer (according to Aura), and a woman with few friends.
Strange to know more of a woman you never were, than to know details of who you once had been… hell, she even knew more of Lenna 1’s mother than her own mother. Or father. She had a large gap between her past and that woman’s present (past tense). A gap of ten years. She supposed maybe a lot of details between the two women were similar, but… she shook out of her reverie as she approached his vehicle.
He had unlocked his vehicle with a roar. It was most assuredly a vehicle. Car was not the description word. That roar had been a sound of fiery steeds, nightmares.
He opened the door to let her in.
>> ”Not sure how y’r ex’s power worked, but the power I know t’ see memories can… Alter y’ a little. I was close t’ the Lenna from this universe f’r a while. Might’ve picked up some of that.”
She shrugged one shoulder. She did not think his power could do that. ”I do not think I saw this world’s Lenna. I learned of her from Ty, and Aura. I saw my old self, and a second face she had worn to conceal her identity.” Lenna said.
Loads of things were interesting about that one, and maybe the change had been to hide from people who knew the other her. Like him. This was Movies levels of shit.
”Three different versions of me, in two bodies. ‘Plum loco,’ to use a phrase.” She made a face, and sat down in the vehicle. Buckled herself in. Turned and slid the bat into the back seat. She had really leaned on the Spanish accent, there, had she not? She kept it up. ”Phrases like ‘things transcending time and space’, similarities… dios mio, how stupid. I grew up watching westerns, Mike. Conditioned socially to trust a Texan, right? Like Star Wars, too. If you were small and green, I would probably call you master and try to carry you on my back.” She laughed at herself. She could be such an idiot.
She looked at him, and told him the address. Some warehouse in some area that was shadowy, my, how original. Near the water, and shipping lanes, she probably should have suggested it first, without thinking too hard. Almost blindingly, dumbly obvious.
”I am so glad I checked first, for a location soooo obvious.” She said scathingly, giving herself shit as she covered embarrassment. ”You probably know the way already. Been there two, three times? Not even going to think about it. Here is a distraction. Two questions. What is your power, and can I borrow a gun?”
Crazy, that is what this was. ‘Plum Loco.’ She would not kill, if it could be avoided. A gun was still a good tool to have.
