Marvel, Rebirth:

IC: Shiloh

Shiloh just held onto Rene silently, as if she was afraid she'd lose him again if she let go, even for a moment.

IC: Horace (Jackson's Show, Entering the Stage)

Horace chuckled, "While I certainly appreciate the offer, my P.R. Agent would have a nightmare if I missed a scheduled appointment, I suppose all I can hope for is to try my best to diffuse at least some of this mob's prejudice. I'll also see if I can get them to drop that ridiculous conspiracy accusation." Horace would have enjoyed speaking to Yuri some more, but a look from one of the stage managers told Horace that he was up. Bowing to bid Yuri a quick adieu, Horace left to enter the stage, but not before handing Yuri his business card with a small note instructing the general to call him about a small project Hammer Industries was working on.

Upon entering the stage, Horace internally frowned, already Jackson was spitting forth false information. As a representative of Hammer Industries, Horace felt it was his duty to try and set the record straight, regardless of how futile his efforts might be. "Good evening Mr. Jackson," Horace greeted with a bow, treating Jackson with a cordial respect Horace certainly didn't feel he deserved.

"Before we begin," Horace smiled as he took his seat, "I'd like to just clear up a simple misunderstanding, Hammer Industries isn't an extremely Pro-Mutant organization, we merely believe in peace and equality. I feel it best to point out that our industry was the biggest backer of the enforcers as well as current S.H.I.E.L.D anti-mutant crime technology. Our goal from the start has been to decrease danger caused by violent mutants and afford equal rights to all people. We aren't trying to push forth a mutant agenda of any sorts."

"I appreciate your understanding," Horace finished, hoping that his words had at least prevented any corruption of Hammer Industries repute. Horace that patiently sat and waited for Jackson to speak.

IC:

"I don't want you mad at me either," John said. "I know I've changed. I'll try to find help. Try to find a way to get all my old memories back and the pieces of myself that are missing."

Suddenly a memory came back to John. The memory brought him backwards a year. To the chaos of the Las Vegas battle.

“You aren't a monster. You need to stop this. Control yourself.” Julia said.

“You’re wrong Julia, I am."

"John."

In moments, Julia was right in front of John.

"You may be a lot of things: a fighter, a future husband, a mutant...an X-Man. But there is one thing you are most certainly not, and that is a monster."

"I want to prove you right. That I'm not a monster." John said suddenly as he turned to her. Not sure if she even remembered what she'd said in Las Vegas, but those words had never left his mind.

"You said something back in Las Vegas. I think it saved me. If you hadn't said that... I think I'd be even worse right now."

"Julia I just wanted to tell you that I..." he couldn't say it. He'd never said it to her. He'd never told his sister he loved her. And now he couldn't.

Everyone you love dies. John didn't want Julia to die. He wanted her to live a long and wonderful life. So he wouldn't say it. He didn't want to chance it.

IC: Julia

Julia moved over to John and hugged him again. She had run out of things to say.

IC:

"I had to fill them in. Fury wouldn't tolerate holes in the place."

"... Who is that?" Trinity asked, pointing at Persephone.

After depositing her new journal in her room, and making the mental note write in it towards the end of the day, Kristen was realized she didn't have anything else to do.

Lunch? She asked herself, glancing at the clock. It was getting close to noon.

Lunch.

And so, she headed off towards the kitchen, looking for sustenance.

OOC: Kristen, open to interact.

IC: (Vince Jackson Jr.)

"Emphasis on was Mr. Sunhammer," Vince said. "Your company abandoned them. Giving SHIELD laser proof underwear won't make up for it. "

He got up, and pulled up THE BOARD OF EARTH. Or else, a map of the world.

"Might I ask, where do you think we could make a seperate nation for your kind? I'm sympathic to the Sahara."

IC (Rene LeBeau)

Rene finally pulled out of the hug, and looked his sister straight in the eyes.

"I promise I won't abandon you again. Ever. That starts right now."

IC (Rachel Thomas)

The counsellor cleared her throat. "Your genetic mutation has given you powers over technology, assigning you the label of "technopath." You've played a crucial role over the last two years as a member of the team known as the "X-Men," in the defence of the Institute and of New York City, as well as in the running of the Institute in the absence of a headmaster. You have been, at different times, called both a hero and a terrorist. I've also heard rumours that you have travelled to an alternate dimension to participate in a war.

"Those are the basics of what I know of you, Alexander."

IC:"There were seven of us once." The non-sequitur seemed to leap out before he'd realized he'd spoken, but there was no taking it back now. The walls had begun to crack. "Two died, two left, and one went away without ever really coming back.""Others came after, but those were the originals. The Philadelphia team. The Enforcers were transporting a little girl to God-knows-where, so we went to rescue her. Three trucks, we didn't know which was the right one. I destroyed their tires, and we all rushed in. Uncoordinated, nothing but the mere skeleton of a plan to keep it from a simple berserker rush. The truck I opened was full of soldiers. Trained soldiers.""They hit me before I could really realize it, twice in the shoulder. I don't remember the scuffle too well, but Julia came to help me. Between us we knocked them out, but we'd both been hit." A momentary pause. "It's hard to describe the pain. I'd read all about that sort of thing, seen the movies, but there's no way to expect it. The others had defeated the other troops, non-lethally, all save John, who killed every one of his. I didn't notice. There wasn't time. The Enforcers knew what your presence meant, and they sent Sentinels.""We'd barely beaten one in a training program. The others rushed out to fight, but there wasn't much I could do. Until I remembered that they accepted wireless signals. So out I ran once again, back to the trucks, to use their tech for a booster. I put it together, but it took a while. My fingers were unsteady, my movements sluggish. And I passed out there. I woke up on the plane. I knew we'd won, because if we hadn't, I wouldn't have been alive. That was the first mission.""Then we went to save Nicole Binder. I found where she was, and for the first time, it was mutant on mutant violence. I fought two. Erebus and Nyx, I think that's what they called themselves. I tried to fight like in Pennsylvania, but it didn't work. They were stronger, better, faster, more ruthless. Finally, out if desperation, I severed Erebus's hand. Next thing I know, I'm staggering out of that warehouse, helping to support someone else while trying not to stumble myself."Another, longer pause, and the words came faster."Then Beast was nearly killed, and the Enforcers attacked the Savage Lands. Thousands of Sentinels, headed to destroy innocent lives. They were brave, foolish, but brave. They went to fight. I stayed behind. I told them I'd try to shut them down, that'd I'd be fine, that I'd see them later.""I lied.""Fighting thousands of those machines would have killed them all, so I made a call. A trade. I hacked in, shut most of them down, but I knew they'd trace the signal. My freedom, for their lives."For a moment, he stopped again, taking a deep, deep breath. His composure began to slip, the calm, collected facade shifting, beginning to crumble under the force of what it tried to hold back."Three days in an Enforcer jail, complete with electro-shock therapy. At least that's what it was reported as. Just when I couldn't take it, the Ultimates broke in, and freed me. I couldn't believe it. They were so close to the people I wanted to see, and at the same time... They weren't them.""Back here, Weapon X had already come and gone. There was nothing but a ruin, and in that ruin, I found the suit Dallas had been working on for me. And it was there that I found out why the Ultimates had come; their version of me was long dead. Killed by the same alien invasion they needed me to fight, needed me to save their world from.""From there, it was one chaotic event after another. A visit to my home. Teaming up with the Brotherhood. All culminating in one thing;""Canada. We hit the Weapon X compound like a storm, I hacked the gates, and slipped inside as the bloodbath raged. Despite the resistance, their control center wasn't hard to find. I opened the cells, began shutting down their systems, stealing data, anything I could do. But their power center was about to go. I found my friends, I found Julia, told them I was coming back, and then, I left with the Ultimates. My will was on my desk.""Dante died containing the explosion. He didn't have a will."The facade was gone, now. He was blinking quickly, and he seemed to have almost collapsed inward, many times smaller than he used to be. He spoke quickly, as if just trying to get the words out now, without any real care as to how they sounded."The Ultimateverse was HelI. I spent weeks trying to find another word to describe it, but there is none. The Phalanx occupied most of the planet, and each city we crossed through was infested. It was a war zone, with people who didn't give a whether I lived or died, as long as their world was saved. on earth, and I had no one.""Sometimes we liberated cities under siege, and it was worth it to see the faces of the people we freed. To them, we were nothing short of heroes, and you would have thought I was the messiah come again. But the worst days were when we were too late. Hundreds. Thousands. All dead, or worse, turned into Phalanx. This stretched on for weeks until finally, we understood how they worked. They were working to summon something far worse, and if we took out that base, we were all set. They'd fall apart.""So we did. One all or nothing assault, one last ditch effort to save a doomed world. We won. The cost was unimaginable, but we won. When the sun dawned again, the war was over. But my job wasn't. I spent countless hours tracking down survivors, cobbling together enough of a communication network for them to recover. Two months in, I finally got the dimension teleporter working again."A ghost of a smile."I could come home. Two months of , and I could finally come home. The Institute should have righted itself, everyone should have been recovering... It was Christmas when I got back, for God's sake!""But nothing was right. I came back, and all the superficial damage was gone, but at heart, everyone was in pain. Dallas had gone by now, Ashley too. They couldn't handle it anymore, so they left. Julia was in pain, everyone was in pain. And I wasn't back a day when it was time to do it again.""Las Vegas. The place where it all fell apart.""Ashlynn went Phoenix, killed Wagner, and ran. Aleks was landed in the hospital. Warren killed Ashlynn, stopped Alaric from saving her. Abbas had died in Weapon X. It was a cluster****. We finally staggered home, beaten, bruised, barely standing... And someone had killed Beast. John went nuts, cut off Kristen's arm, before we forced him to leave. Alaric was gone soon, and we had no leader.""There was no one left. Everyone was dead, gone, or worse. So I did what I had to. I kept this place as intact as I could, kept things normal, tried to keep their hopes alive, when I didn't sleep anymore. I took up residence in my broken dorm, and all I had time for was work.""Novocain came back, and I put him down. Permanently. I sent John away when he needed help, and it hurt. I made every call that I hated, but it was the right one nonetheless. And when the dust settled, they were all gone. Everyone I cared about, dead or gone. When Warren came back, I took up residence where the old base was, and I didn't come out. I still don't, except when I have to."Tye stream of words finally slowed, and the technopath was red-faced, blinking back tears. Every card, for tye first time, was laid on the table to be seen. Every emotional scar, every pain, every choice,every wound. The barriers were gone, and all that was left was a sad, empty, and alone teenager."...""Do you know why heroes used to wear masks?"He asked, in a small, quiet voice. "To keep their live separate. Because if you don't stop it, it consumes you. You give, and give, and give to keep people safe, and it destroys you. Family, friends, your own health, everything. I've been hailed as a hero, a messiah, a miracle.""And at the end of every day, everything I touch deatroys itself. My family disowned me, Julia left, and most of my friends are dead or gone. This is the closest I have to a home, now, and my chosen perch amongst the servers and wires the only peace. For all the victories, the heroic acts, what do I have left...?""Nothing. There's nothing left."

IC: John

"Get some rest." John said after she hugged him.

"I'm going to try to at least." he said as he laid back and grabbed a non leather suitcase and propped his head against it to use it as a pillow.

OOC: Want to time-skip them to the plane landing in New York or entering the grounds of the school?

Your post makes me wonder if Erebus and Nyx still live Alex. They are promising to return as future characters. I have a feeling Erebus died though. Can't remember he fought Alex more then once.

IC: Mimic

Christine had left Aleks and Matt chatting in the cafeteria while she had slipped away. She found Kristen heading her way.

"Hey you up for that shopping trip? We can grab some Chick-Fil-A on the way." she smiled at her 'sister'.

IC: Jennifer (Hellicarrier)

Jennifer waited patiently while her pilot radioed in and made contact with the hellicarrier. Her pilot told the SHIELD agents their buisness and sent them Jennifer's credentials to show she was legit. When they were given the green-light to land she tapped her finger on the side of her seat as the small plane slowly settled down onto the metal landing-pad of the massive air-born vessel. Jennifer grabbed her briefcase and then waited by the exit to the plane as the ramp extended. She walked down it and then began to stride across the metal surface of the hellicarrier. This wasn't her first time here. SHIELD and SWORD had to work together in the past.

Jennifer paused when she noticed a SHIELD agent moving towards her. "Who you looking for Ma'am?"

"I'm looking for Fury. Or someone in charge."

IC:

"So long as you have money," Kristen said, smiling back. Free day? Learning how to shop? Food? And my older sister? Yes please.

IC: Mimic

"Ah have some yes," Christine nodded. She didn't have much but she had enough to buy Kristen some clothes and food.

She smiled at Kristen. "Let's go then. We'll just have to take one of the cars out."

IC:

"Grand theft auto? From the school we attend?" Kristen asked, looking stunned for a moment, before a wide grin stretched across her face, "Christine, you're playing my song."

IC:

"Alright, kids, you all know the deal! Warm up with some Razzle Dazzle before hand-to-hand combat and free exercise time!" Aleksandr said, spinning a football around his hands as he slid off his TOMS, wearing just black no show socks, and peeled off his jacket to reveal a matching black Under Armour. "I'm Team Captain on Black Team. I draft Summers. You can have everyone else."

Matt chuckled as he walked towards Aleksandr before pulling off his already sweating white tank-top and tossing it into the grass. "Want to be skins? If not I'm still not wearing a shirt. Anyway I don't think that's fair to everyone else since we're obviously the best, but still I like winning." Matt said with a cocky grin.

"If you want to see me shirtless, Summers, just ask," Aleks drawled with a wink as he peeled off the exercise shirt and tossed it onto the ground. "We'll start out with the usual. You throw, I catch. We change it up whenever we get bored."

Maybe he could've worded that a little better, considering who he was talking to.

-Tyler

IC: Triblade

"Right. Throwing is my favorite anyway."

IC: Mimic

"Its not theft sugar if we intend to bring it back," she said with a winning smile as she threw open the front door and then hopped inside.

IC: Nicole

"Prisoner!" Nicole chanted with Ashley. She then turned herself into pure diamond and grabbed Dallas' arm. "You're not going anywhere Mr!"

IC:

Kristen hopped into the passenger-front-seat, "Perhaps... So, to the land of eating moar chicken?"

OOC long overdue replyIC Marianne"Black Queen," Marianne spoke in a reverberating voice, walking into Lynae's bedchamber. "I have already spoke to Mr. Carlisle about this, but we have reached our Terrigen quota. We do not have any plans for it at the moment; however, if you wish to use it for something, I coupd make a few spare jars off record." Marianne looked around the room. Walking in, she looked out the window to see quite a few security guards. "I guess that is the package the Black King ordered my team to safeguard," she spoke aloud to herself. Then she noticed what Lynae was doing. "Ms. Rosewood," Marianne asked, "Are you planning to go out?"IC PeterWalking along, Peter finally reached the registration office. "In there," he told Sierra. "Um, excuse me?" Peter called out to the secretary inside. "We've got somebody who wants to register for school."OOC and who plays the secretary...?

IC: Mimic

"Yep! In one second." Mimic said. She then disapered down low under her seat. She fiddled down below until she successfuly hot-wired the car. The engine rumbled to life.

"Its amazing what you learn when you're with the Brotherhood." she said as she kicked the car into gear and then began driving through the grounds towards the gate.

"Huh, I think this is one of Nicole's cars. I'm sure she won't mind."

IC:

"Not as if we've done anything bad to her before. I think there's room for a first offense."

IC: Lynae The vampire took another sip and then stood up, walking over to Marianne with a sly grin on her lips. "Indeed I am. I got the sense that I was not needed at the moment and frankly I'm bored... Bored vampires are never a good thing to have, if you catch my drift." She then turned to look at her, "Would you care to join?"

John Harken- Middle of nowhere Nebraska

IC: "That would be one of my co-workers, Persephone. Persephone, this is Trinity." He paused for a second, thinking. "Hmmm, now that you are here I think we should get moving. I was planning on bringing these two to the local safe house and report in my findings."

IC (Saphine Mark & Borte Khan)

As the procession filed up the stairs into the manor, the GoldPoint team fell into step behind their employer. Saphine walked at her side, hands on her weapon and yet, somehow managing to walk casually and nonchalantly. It was a gift really. "So boss, any reason you delayed your trip by three hours to grab some shiny toys? I mean, I know the look some o'them get in their eyes when they see something shiny but don't you think you're going a little overboard? You could just dangle your car keys in front of them or something. You'd get the same result, plus they make noise! Perfect for getting them to sign things without thinking about it." She didn't hold the higher-up parts of Hellfire in contempt, not really. She was just partaking in the proud tradition of grunts everywhere; Making fun of the commanders. It didn't matter if you had a Genghis or a Benedict. That was a constant.

Borte, for her part, was doing her best to avoid rolling her eyes. Saphine's rates were reasonable, she was dependable and loyal, if nothing else, while her bills were still being paid. All that said, she wasn't as amusing as she thought she was. "These prototypes could be the first in a future line of weapons. With the backing of the club, I would be able to open up new markets for them without lifting a finger on advertising. Our profit margins would double at the very least....but only with the support of Hellfire. I trust the quality of these designs will speak for themselves." Borte gestured torwards one of the boxes with her cybernetic arm. "The future has come calling Ms. Mark, all that remains is seeing who will answer the door."

"Aw, you know that buisness talk goes right over our little grunt heads boss. Say it a bit slower."

"Tell you what, I'll have some of the accountants put on a puppet show later tonight. With lots of bright colors."

"Ooh! You hear that boys? Bright colors!"

IC Marianne"My deputy can handle the security, so I'm free," Marianne replied.IC ReysonThe man had taken the two girls inside his car. Once he was sure all of them were in the car, he slowly (and as quietly as possible) crawled closer to the man's car. He couldn't listen to what they were saying, but he could observe. Safely.The safely part disappeared when some sort of robot dropped out of the sky."What if it spotted me?" Reyson thought. "Okay, get it together." Reyson tried to organize what he had found out so far.-There were two females he was tracking, plus an unidentified male and an unidentified... whatever.-One of those females was Project Trinity.-The man and the "robot" were aligned."Should I just feign ignorance, pretend I'm an ecologist, and hightail out of here?" Reyson thought.

IC:

"A 'safe house'?" Trinity interjected, mouth forming a perfect 'o', "What's a 'safe house'?"

IC:

About ten minutes later, Aleks was beginning to wonder if he should regret captaining a two-man squad. They were easily tearing the opposition, even though nobody really counted score anymore; Matt was like a tank when he tried to rush the ball, nearly impossible to bowl over, and the Russian had the grace of a dancer on his feet, nimbly weaving in between little gaps in the uncoordinated defense. It was no mean feat to bring them down - Aleks alone had bloodied a couple noses, given plenty of kids blisters from feints and jukes, and maybe even given a black eye during a particularly jolting blitz - but they had been brought down, and now he sidled up to Matt and clapped him on the shoulder once, pushing the ball into his abs.

"We could have planned the draft a little better," he admitted sheepishly.

IC:

Dallas felt something cold wrap around his arm and pull him onto the bed fully. With big blue eyes he looked up at Nicole and saw she had turned into one flexible, organic diamond; his eyes widened a little more and then his head slanted in momentary confusion.

"How long have you been able to do that?" he asked.

"A few weeks," Nicole said as the sunlight from the open window fell onto her and caused strands of colored light to reflect of her body like one massive prism. "Neat trick huh? My mutation changed, so did my power." she said as she shifted back into her normal form. "Now my body really is worth a million dollars." she winked.

"You look...exquisite," Dal said, blinking a couple times at the kaleidoscope of light Nicole had created out of herself. "You wouldn't mind if I did a portrait of you like that, would you?"

-Tyler

John Harken -Middle of nowhere Nebraska

IC: "It's a secret hideout where we live when away from home on a job."

IC:

"'Job'. What is a job?"

IC: Horace (Jackson's Show, Answering Questions)

While his face didn't show it, Horace was trying hard to keep a smile around this buffoon. "Once again," Horace chuckled, "I'd like to clarify the situation. Hammer Industries didn't abandon the Enforcers, we were backing them till the very end, the U.S. Government just didn't feel they were very effective at their job. When they made M.A.C.E. our funding for the Enforcers was transferred over."

Horace then chuckled, "Also I assure, that we are supplying S.H.I.E.L.D. with far more effective technology than laser proof underwear."

"They're also rocket proof."

The joke was added in as a way of diverting any building tensions, if Horace was going to be successful in eliminating at least some prejudice he had to be able to keep the mood somewhat light. Angering or boring the audience would not assist in that particular endeavor. "Anyway," Horace resumed, moving onto Jackson's question, "I don't believe mutants really need or desire a country all to themselves, most of them are just trying to get by in life. The one's that cause problems are the ones Hammer industries is devoted to stopping."

"Also wouldn't a country to themselves just give Mutants more of a voice on an international scale?"

IC: Mimic

"Ah think you're right," Christine smiled at Kristen. "Ah know that it wasn't your choice and all to be a girl, but ah think its kind of cool to have a sister." she said as they drove through the open gate and up the road towards the mall.

"There's a Chik-Fil-A in the food court. That makes less stops." she said as she drove off towards the mall.

IC: Triblade

"True, but this is too fun for me too care." Matt grinned. "You think they're about all tired out?" he said as he glanced at the students. Most of them were red faced, sore and a bit bruised.

IC: Nicole

"That sounds awesome! I always wanted a portrait. Could I hang it up in my room?"

IC:

"Well, it would be yours, you could do what you like with it," Dallas assured her.

IC:

"They look like they're on the verge of tears. They wouldn't last--"

"A second in Murmansk. I know, brah."

"You need to warn me before you finish my statements like that."

-Tyler

John Harken- Middle of nowhere Nebraska

IC: How long has HYDRA had this kid. Does she know absolutely nothing about the world?

"A job is when a person does work for somebody else in return for money. Money is what people use to buy things."

As he said this, John was moving towards the drivers side of the car, wondering where his partner for the case was.

OOC: Hubert, might want to do something if you don't want to get left behind.

IC:

Christine's comment about her current gender reminded her of her conversation with the doc.

"Hey Christine... I don't really know how much I like this body... Or even how to properly take care of it," Kristen admitted, her face flushing red, "So... Do you mind if I ask you some questions from time-to-time?"

IC: "Shoot. Sorry." Nick walked up to Lynae and Marianne, scratching the back of his head."It's amazing how long it takes to find a valet around this place."

IC: Lynae"Well... Marianne, if you're ready I suppose we can go." She smiled and stood up, glass in hand. "I'll drop this off in the kitchen and then we'll be off!"

IC: Christine

Uh-oh. Christine thought. Even thought she was a girl she'd never been to keen on feminine stuff. "Yeah, that's fine honey. I'm here to help." she nodded.

IC: Nicole

"Yay! Thanks Dallas!" She said as she hugged him.

"Hm, can you paint me a big portrait of yourself too? I can think of a lot of things I can do with that."

IC: Triblade

"But if I warned you then it wouldn't irritate you anymore." Matt grinned as he tossed the football back to Aleks.

"Want to get down to the real business? I'm sure half of these kids have never even used their power."

IC:

"I suppose that's what I'm here for, isn't it?" Aleksandr groaned, chucking the football over his shoulder and stretching out. "Get one of the nerdy kids to grab a couple cases of Powerade and some beer for after class. It's Monday; today's gonna be rough."

"But this is a school, we can't have beer!" one said nerdy kid shouted.

"This may be a school but it doesn't mean fun isn't allowed! It'll put some hair on your chest brah! Do you want to boring and sad forever? Now go fetch us some brews and some lime green gatorade before I make us play football for another two hours!"

"...Well played."

IC:

"They didn't exactly do selfies back in the day. I don't know how well I could paint myself without something to model off of - I'm not exactly Norman Rockwell."

Dallas looked up again and saw Nicole's face, wide-eyed and a little pouty, and he sighed. Even without pheromones she still had him around her finger.

"Fine. I could try," he said, trying not to sound a little sulky.

-Tyler

IC:

"Thanks!" Kristen said with a smile, "I know I've been like this for awhile... But I've been kinda... Unwilling to talk to other people about it."

IC: Nicole

"Why don't you just try to paint Showstopper but with your hair and less dark and angry?"

IC: Triblade

"He'll thank me for this someday," Matt said as he watched the nerd rush off. "I'll make a real ball player out of him." Matt then directed his dark browns onto Aleks.

"Maybe we should save the drinking for when we're not teaching a class. You know what could happen."

IC: Mimic

"Ah understand. Its not something most people go through. You're tough for sticking it out and not caving in." Christine said as they pulled up outside the mall.

"Right we're here. Let's get some food. Ah didn't eat much at breakfast. Matt and Aleks ate everything."