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Post by Chance on Jun 14, 2006 23:52:27 GMT -5
"I think he wants us to help him," Eric said, his hands still fingering the bombs. "I'm going to use my powers to make your chip malfunction. It might sting a little, but other than that you should be fine." He was totally serious now, all signs of his lghthearted flirtacious nature seemed to be placed on hold while the tension rose. Concentrating, Eric envisioned the chip, deep within the mind of the man. It was small, square, and should work like any other chip he had seen. Just a simple short circuit, a simple short...come on, what are the odds?
Finally a small popping sound was heard, and Chance heaved a long breath. "There," he said.
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"Fool!" Locus said teleporting away to avoid the blast. "You think that can stop me?!"
Wildside laughed too. The woman with the claws did not know who she was messing with. "They say I'm crazy," he spit. "But I say your crazier!" In an instant everything seemed to change. Wildside used his reality warping powers to make X-T believe that he was Fallback and that Fallback was him.
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Post by Midnight on Jun 15, 2006 0:04:52 GMT -5
Marie looked confused, but remained quiet. She noticed the look of intense concentration on Eric's face, his voice completely serious. There was very little Eric ever seemed completely serious. Earlier in their relationship she used to wonder if the whole thing was just a game to him. Occasionally she would catch glimpes of his serious side. Some of those times, he would tell her he loved her. If Eric, while being perfectly serious, said that he loved her, she would believe that until the end of the earth. But for now, he was trying to malufunction something... a chip of some sort. Marie let him concentrate as she folded the long white wings behind her.
A stinging sensation was felt and Kartal put a hand to his head. For a second, his eyes seemed to go out of focus. Then he looked up at the young man. The one he had tried to kill and the one who had just given him life.
Kartal knew nothing of manners and 'please and thank you's, but he smiled. It might have been the first smile ever seen on the boy's lips and it was so filled with gratefulness and joy that it said much more than thanks could have ever done. Then Kartal thrust upward with his wings. His fists were forward, side by side and his claws shot out to cut through the concrete ceiling. It crumbled into a pile of rubble and dust and Kartal lifted himself through it, flying upward and out the fastest way he could. Freedom. It called to him. To taste the air, to be with people and care about them and not have to worry that someday they would die. Freedom.
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Post by Chance on Jun 15, 2006 0:15:07 GMT -5
Eric watched the man fly away and a sudden joy washed over him. He had done that...wow. But then he remembered where they were, and immediately he snapped back to reality.
"Awesome job Marie, now let's get out of here." He ran over to her, and hugged her tight, drawing her close to him. "Feels good to actually help someone." He kissed her on the forehead and then looked around for an exit. They couldn't very well go back the way they came...too risky. "Any ideas sweetness?"
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Post by Midnight on Jun 15, 2006 0:22:58 GMT -5
Marie clung to him, feeling the coldness of the shield separating them. "I'm glad you could help him, hon," Marie said softly. That was a pet name she had picked up from her parents.
He asked for ideas and she gave a slight smile. "Someday you are going to have to start thinking for yourself," she teased. "But as for ideas, we might be able to go through the computer room if the detonators blew a hole in the wall... if not, we can blow one for ourselves."
Back in the computer room, Marie switched on a flashlight. The blackness seemed to be closing in on her and she tried not to think about it. Soon the searching beam found what she was looking for. Marie knelt beside the hole in the scorched concrete to examine it. "You might be able to go through, but I won't fit with these wings. We are going to have to widen it a little if we want to use it."
She stood up to look at him, "So, what do you think of that idea? Worth it?"
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Post by Chance on Jun 15, 2006 12:04:48 GMT -5
((I didn't mean for Midnight to lose her wings. I forgot to say that Chance's shield was still on when he touched her, so really their skin never touched. If you want you can have the wings still be there...))
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Post by Midnight on Jun 15, 2006 15:42:05 GMT -5
((Ok, I gave them back. She isn't going to keep them forever, I just want her to be able to use them once before she loses them... maybe to escape.))
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Post by xt on Jun 15, 2006 18:45:58 GMT -5
Roxie put her finger on her lip.
"Let me think on that, darlin'," Roxie said, shooting her quickly after with a bolt of lightning.
X-T looked in front of her, seeing Patrick on the ground. She turned around, seeing Wildside behind her. She growled, her eyes narrowing in and turning a bloodshot red.
"You ain't gonna get rid of us easily!" X-T said through her teeth, taking swings at Wildside's chest.
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Post by Chance on Jun 16, 2006 23:34:08 GMT -5
Chance eyes Marie up and down, gazing at the white feathers that protruded from her back. "What about those babe?" He asked, using his own pet name for her. "I know you've always dreamed about flying. Try it out. I can get out of here through the whole in the wall, but you, well baby, you can get out through the whole in the ceiling."
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Patrick's eyes grew wide with fear as X-T started to punch at him, her claws coming towards his chest. "X-T, stop it's me!" He yelled teleporting behind her. "Stop this you animal!" He yelled running at Wildside. But Wildside just kept laughing. He knew that his powers would make it seem like Fallback was him, and so to X-T it would look like Wildside was attacking Fallback, not that Fallback was attacking Wildside. He laughed again. Fallback would die, and he wouldn't even have to lift a finger.
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Post by Midnight on Jun 16, 2006 23:45:33 GMT -5
"Really?" Marie asked, a smile creeping onto her face. "Think we can manage without each other?" She dug into her bag and gave him several explosives. Taking pen and paper, she hastily scribbled a map. "Here is the area you will have to place those explosives. I'll get the other area. That should make the building structurally unstable. Then we can use the seismic disrupter to shake 'em up enough to knock the place over." Then Marie reached out and squeezed his hand with her gloved one. "If my... powers... are what I think they are, I thought up a new codename. Mirror." She gave him a gentle smile and then jogged in the direction of the hole in the ceiling. Standing below it, she looked upward and saw the night sky several levels above them. Then she moved her body to imitate Kartal's movements, and thrust with her wings.
Like all her dreams, it took effort to fly. She kept pumping, feeling the movement of the wings force her body upward, like paddling a kayak forced the kayak through the water. Marie felt the wind rush against her face and the stars drew nearer. Then, suddenly, she shot out of the building and into the night air. She was flying. Even with all the danger, she was so happy she could have danced.
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Post by Chance on Jun 16, 2006 23:54:47 GMT -5
"See you later than Mirror," Chance smiled, watching her fly away. Man, she really liked the letter M. But, there were more pressing matters at hand. For one thing, Chance would have to actually think, something that he wasn't very good at.
"Okay, first things first," he said outloud. "Follow the map." He made his way out of the whole in the wall and into another room. "Ok, easy enough." He said through gritted teeth as he carefully placed the explosive, trying not to jostle it around too much. "Now, on to another room."
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Post by Midnight on Jun 17, 2006 0:25:12 GMT -5
((I don't have the change the monogramed handkerchiefs if I keep the letter M.))
Marie spiraled into the air, spinning in crazed cirles. This wasn't for any lack of skill so much as just the joy of three dimensions to move about in. The white wings shone brightly in the moonlight, making her seem like an angel on high. Or maybe they would think I'm just that escaped kid... I wonder what they would do to capture him. Flapping the feathery giant appendages, she made it to another part of the Weapon X facility. Swooping down, she stumbled into a landing of sorts and slammed into a concrete wall. Stepping backward, she examined her bloody nose. Good thing these flying powers come with healing powers. Creeping silently under an overhang of concrete, Marie found herself in an unprotected courtyard. It was the soft belly of the facility and yet an integral part of the building as far as the structural stability went. There, she planted the time bomb. 05:00. Hopefully, that would give Eric enough time to get out.
Clambering back out, Marie took a running start and leaped into the air again. As her feet left the ground, it felt like freedom had risen up to meet her in the air. Rising above the facility, she could look down on it again before heading to the meeting point where they had located the seismic disrupter. This was one of the most beautiful moments of her life. Freedom!
Then a spotlight flipped on. It was one of those air raid lights and was pointed straight at Marie's floating form. As she desparatly tried to escape the intense light below her, another one flipped on, tracking her movement across the sky. Then faintly came the words, "Fire!" Suddenly a stinging sensation entered Marie's side, right along the ribcage. It was followed by a painful jerk toward the ground. Marie cried out in pain and grasped at her side. A metal pointed object of some sort had lodged itself inbetween her ribs and was attached to a rope somewhere below. She screamed when another one entered her leg. Despite her flapping, she couldn't fight the pain for that long; the long wings drooped and she plummited toward the ground.
Marie landed in a heap and slowly tried to raise herself to her feet. When she had gotten to her hands and knees, she felt a blow to the back of the head and collasped again. Maybe it was the healing powers, but she remained conscious.
"Its... a girl?" one suprised voice said. A gloved hand touched her forhead, brushing the dark hair aside. "She's one of the ones who invaded the building... how on earth did she get wings?"
"Well, take her in," another voice commanded. "I guess Weapon Omega is long gone by now. We'll have to see what the Commander wants done with this one. Keep searching for the man... search the skies, too," he added with a little fear in his voice. The spotlights creaked as they were turned back toward the sky.
Marie cried out again as they removed the metal pieces from her side and leg. Blood dribbled out of the hole in her shirt and pants, but soon the flow had stopped. One man pulled her shirt up a little way and used his gloved hand to wipe away the remaining blood. "She heals too. Weird." They slapped something similar to high tech handcuffs on both her wrists and ankles and even had a harness to restrain her wings. Then, they proceeded to carry her away. At least I had my five minutes of flying, she thought as the doors to the outside slid shut behind her.
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Post by xt on Jun 21, 2006 15:51:02 GMT -5
X-T growled at Wildside, her teeth glaring.
"Yeah? Why don' ya prove it?" X-T said, getting ready to start stabbing at the beast in front of her.
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Post by Chance on Jun 22, 2006 12:08:44 GMT -5
Eric had just finished planting his last bomb when the sound of gun shots were heard in the distance. His head shot up immedietly. Had they found the angel man? Or was it...
"MARIE!" He couldn't control himself. If something had happned to Marie...
He tore down the hall at rapid speed, blowing up cameras with his probability powers as he went. Finally, he reached the door they had used to get in. It seemed like days ago that the two of them had snuck in through the cargo hold, but even now that didn't seem to matter. He pushed apart the boxes blocking his way and finally reached the outside. The air smelt funny. Something was wrong.
"Marie...what are the odds?" The numbers rolled through his head as he whispered his question. There it was, plain as his mind could see. The angel man had most likely escaped. But Marie, Mirror, had been shot down. Of course everything was relative, based on odds and probabilities, but it was a good enough hunch for him to go on.
"Okay, if you were captured where would you go? Inside, of course." Chance wheeled around and headed back into the building. However, in his rush he had forgotten their purpose for infultrating the Weapon X facility in the first place. Unknown to him the silent ticking of a clock revealed the numbers 4:20.
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Post by Midnight on Jun 22, 2006 22:41:09 GMT -5
"I have just located the Man. He came up to where the girl dropped from the sky, started talking to himself, and rushed into the building before we could get to him. Be on the watch. Over." The radio crackled with the reported message from one of the guards left on duty to hunt Eric down.
Midnight winced. Eric... She would rather he didn't know about her, that way at least one of them could escape alive. She was willing to make the sacrifice. For right now, she was securely restrained and everyone around her seemed to be wearing gloves of some sort, so she didn't know what would happen with a touch of their skin.
"Be alert," one man ordered several others and they fingered their guns. The Man had already proven he was powerful to some extent. They had lost multiple video cameras, one after another right before they could even catch a glimpse of him. But he was not perfect. Some cameras had been unnoticed until too late and a recording showed that Weapon Omega had come up to him, not seeming to want to fight. After that, they realized that both the tracking chip and the brain chip had been disabled. Did it have something to do with his powers? But they had caught a glimpse of the Man. He was young and had noticeably blond hair, along with a glowing aura of sorts. They weren't sure what that was at this point.
Marie was shoved in a cell, the door closing on her. Several men stared in a glass window at her, all rubber gloves and white coats. One spoke through a radio, saying, "What are your mutant abilities?"
An obstinate silence followed. Then another asked, "Who do you work for? What is your intention in infiltrating this facility?" Silence.
"Who are you?"
Her eyes that had been unfocused so far suddenly focused again on the man asking the question and the corners of Marie's mouth curved. "Mirror."
Encouraged by her response, another asked quickly, "Why are you called Mirror?" Sullen silence. Then he nodded toward a burly man, who rolled back his sleeves and prepared a syringe. The door clinked open and he came in slowly... then reached forward and grabbed her neck, lighting fast. His bare hands came in contact with the soft skin of her neck and she felt a weight sink from her shoulders. The wing-restrainers fell into a heap on the floor and the guard let go of her and leaped back. "What... what just happened?" he asked, keeping a safe distance.
"I think we just found out why she is called Mirror," one mused. "Change of plan: get an empty syringe and take blood. We will analyze it instead of giving the truth serum.
The guard stepped out of the cell, cautiously put on rubber gloves, and picked up an empty syringe and some disinfectent on cotton. As far as that went it seemed like a normal blood test. The similarity stopped when Marie was shoved against a wall and held there with his knee on her breastbone as he jabbed the syringe needle into the soft part of her arm where the elbow closed. He drew blood and then let her go, shutting the door behind him.
Well, at least I got to fly one before life imprisonment or whatever they intend to do to me. She hoped Eric would go somewhere safe. This wouldn't be the first time they had been captured by this facility.
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Post by Chance on Jul 10, 2006 15:44:21 GMT -5
Eric ducked behind a large crate, quickly manipulating the odds. The man walking by suddenly yawned, his eyes closing, and his mind currently thinking of a comfortable bed someplace else.
"Good," Chance said, slipping further into the darkness that lay beyond the crate. He could feel that he was getting closer, something in his mind was tingling, and he sensed that Marie couldn't be far. He cursed under his breath. How could this happen? It was only a matter of time before Weapon X noticed the tattoo on her arm, and then it was all over. They would look up her file, see what she did and then terminate her. Or worse. The thought made him cringe. He had to find her, he needed to get to her fast. His heart was beating out of his chest as he wheeled down the next corridor. His shield was on full blast, and the gun was clutched tightly in his shaking hand. The gold ring that was meant as a promise to Marie felt cold against his skin. His life. His love. Marie.
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Post by Midnight on Jul 10, 2006 20:49:22 GMT -5
Sharp eyes glanced up from the microscope to study the girl heaped in the middle of the holding cell, the peered again at the blood sample magnified below. "Well, she isn't a mutant... but she isn't human either. It is like that part of her DNA is missing. There are some shaky threads that connect the missing parts together, and those are human, but it seems they could be easily replaced..." The eyes looked up again.
Marie's own brown eyes did not meet his, rather they seemed to stare right through him. Unfocused, she had let her mind drift to her own personal 'happy place'. It was a defense mechinism that she had taught herself after her first capture.
Sighing, the scientist let another person take his place at the microscope and straightened. "Strip her, dress her in prisoner's clothes, and put her in a normal cell. I don't think anything more can be learned right now until we decide to do tests later." She wasn't dangerous, so therefore the normal procedures would suffice.
The burly guard, now safely hidden behind rubber gloves, barged in. Taking her slim wrists in his large hands, he released her bonds and started pulling off her boots. With a startled cry, Marie came back to the present and struggled, shame heating her face at the thought of being naked in front of these men. Her boots fell on the floor, joined soon by her shirt. Next, the guard grabbed the leather band around her left wrist and yanked it off.
Stopping, he stared at the markings underneath it, puzzled. "Hey... she has a tattoo that says X-24 on her left wrist."
"She's been here before..." the scientist mused, then motioned to a young man at the computer. Nodding, his fingers flew over the keyboard, entering in the search terms. Blip. A profile, complete with pictures shot up on the screen.
"Yeah, it's the same girl," he nodded, comparing the images to the half-dressed girl struggling in the other room. "Marie Adams, aka Midnight..." he trailed off as his dull blue eyes skimmed the material. "She escaped by somehow... absorbing... a sentinal and several of our hired security. Then she simply disappeared, although we have record of her two companions escaping on foot in the confusion. She was affiliated with Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters... there are also records of blood samples, but she was a documented mutant then."
"So what has changed?" the scientist muttered, staring at the girl. The guard had paused in his duty, waiting for the scientist to reinforce the command in light of tattoo. "How does a mutant simply lose being a mutant? It is not suppressed, it is not hidden, but somehow, from every cell she has lost that which made her a mutant."
"And she is the killer with a private bounty on her head?" suggested the computer man, his eyes still on the file. "We put out a bounty of $50,000 for her capture and return, but I guess nobody ever claimed it. Seems most people didn't want to go near her and even Chase Jordan couldn't get a hold on her."
"So... what to do?"
Having gotten bored of the debate, the guard had finished what he had been ordered to do and Marie stood there in an ill-fitting hospital garb of some sort, tears running down her face. She had always been modest in how she dressed, this just humiliated her. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody seemed to care.
There was a tingling in the back of her mind. She couldn't explain why it was or where it had come from, but she knew what it meant. No, Eric... don't come here. Escape while you can. She wasn't a telepath, so her own thoughts were no good either.
"I think we should start testing the abilities she has shown so far. Bring in another mutant, preferably one with an obvious mutation."
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Post by Chance on Jul 14, 2006 15:26:15 GMT -5
Eric stopped dead in his tracks. Something was happening. Marie was talking to him...somehow. "No Marie," he fired back. "I'm comming to save you, and I promise in a few months we'll get married, right there on the Institute lawn." He fought back tears and his throat felt funny. "Remember when I attacked the Institute and completely ruined the lawn. Then I joined the X-Men...and you, we, us..." His shield hummed to life, as if to protect him from emotional harm. He held his chest and cringed. He couldn't let this happen to Marie. He would save her. He would make sure that the two of them started a family.
"I'll get you out of here Marie, I swear if it's the last thing I do."
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Post by xt on Jul 14, 2006 15:37:11 GMT -5
Roxie looked over at Patrick, then to X-T.
"Wow! Dude, ya bet'er move 'less ya want yer rump gone!" Roxie yelled as she saw X-T foam at the mouth.
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Post by Midnight on Jul 14, 2006 17:24:57 GMT -5
"Eric," she whispered. She didn't know where his voice was coming from or how it was even reaching her. "It WILL be the last thing you do. Please, don't do this."
One of the men saw her and frowned uneasily.
"This one has sort of an obvious mutation," one of the men said, pushing a girl in front of him. She seemed Aisian with dark tilted eyes and straight black hair, dyed bright red on the ends.
Marie stood up, her arms wrapped around herself as if she was afraid she would lose the hospital gown. The unknown girl stared back at her, stark fear flickering in her eyes. But there seemed to be nothing obvious about her mutation, if she had one. They were using an inhibiter on her, but that wasn't known to change looks.
A guard grasped Marie's wrists while another one pushed the girl into the cell. Marie's hands were forced to touch the girl's skin. Suddenly, Marie's eyes flashed blue. She could feel her body tensing, even more than just her muscles pulling tight. She seemed to be getting colder, as if the fear that was so strong in her mind was rushing through her. And in front of her, her fingers turned a cold blue color and then became translucent... ice.
Stumbling backwards, Marie tripped and fell, still staring at her hand. Blue eyes flashed back at the girl, who was watching her, gaping. Then she was pushed back out of the cell.
Clapping filled the observation room. "It worked! She absorbes mutant powers!"
Another man nodded to the guard, saying, "Alright, touch her and make her human again. We can't really take a blood sample from an ice cube either, so we will need another mutant to test it on..."
The guard pulled his rubber glove off and grasped Marie's bare arm. Nothing happened. Within seconds, he pulled it away, slick water having melted on his palm. "Uh... it's not working..."
"Dammit. Maybe she needs to have actual skin to touch. Should we turn on the inhibitor or try and calm her down?"
"She's scared stiff," another one said, then chuckled. "That was Passion's most frequent attribute as well."
Pffft...We have spotted the man. He seems to be talking to himself in the middle of the hallway. Should we proceed? Over.
"Bring him down," one of the men commanded.
"No!" escaped Marie's cold blue lips. Her eyes flamed red with anger and she felt rage heating her blood, liquifying it again. Her icy skin stared to turn pink again, then as she felt her body warm up, it started to... flicker. And turn orange. In seconds, she was a blazing inferno. Human fire. The guard leaped away from her and scurried toward the door, yanking it open while another one rushed to turn on the inhibitor in the cell.
But it was too late. In the fiery form, Marie leaped through the door with lighting speed, setting a few things on fire in her wake. Then, as she took off running down the hall, fear turned her body to ice again. What was going on? Why couldn't she control it? "ERIC!" she screamed, running for all her worth with security close on her icey heels.
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Post by Chance on Sept 12, 2006 17:16:04 GMT -5
Eric continued to run, his heart and mind racing at the speed of light. He was getting confused, turning down corridors that he'd already been down, running in circles trying despretly to find Marie.
"Stop right there mutie" A cold voice spoke from the shadows. Chance sighed reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a pair of ninja stars. Were they seriously going to--
Bang, bang, bang.
Like roaring thunder bullets slammed into Chance, knocking him to the ground despite his impenitrable psionic casing. In seconds he was surrounded by ten, no twenty armed soldiers. He couldn't breath, his entire body was working one hundred times over to keep his shield as strong as possible. It was something he had never considered. The stronger the force, the stronger his psionic shell had to make itself. Right now it was working over time, because the soldiers continued to fire, he guessed they were hoping that in a few more seconds the shield would fail. And they were right.
Decimation. The word that everyone had been using to explain why over the past few months countless numbers of mutants had been losing their powers. It had happened to nearly 50% of mutants, and the number was increasing each day. So why, now when he was under attack, did Chance's powers suddenly disappear?
He choked up blood. They didn't want to kill him. The bullets weren't really bullets at all. They were filled with a paralyzing agent that rendered Eric's body a floppy sack of skin. He tried to focus his eyes on his attackers while his mind tried to figure out what had gone wrong. But he couldn't see, he couldn't stop his eyes from closing. He barely felt the guards lift him off the floor...
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