His first thought was that his head pounding was what had woken him up. Then he realized it was just music. It didn't sound like any music he'd ever listened to before. His second thought was that Mikey was experimenting with new music.
"Why does he have to play that music so loud?" Leo groaned to himself, his eyes still screwed shut.
"Oh, sorry, that's kinda my fault. Didn't mean to disturb you, Rookie. Well…O.K., I kinda did." A young voice said, very close to Leo. His eyes flew open. A young, bracken colored, mutant wolf with storm grey eyes was standing over him. He didn't look too much younger than Leo, at least ten years old. Leo sat up, wincing as pain fired down his broken arm. He was only slightly surprised to find it bound up in a cast. A quick look at his leg revealed it to be in the same state. He looked to the wolf.
"Who are you?" Leo asked. The younger mutant grinned.
"Name's Xavier. Currently apprentice to Jarak, Head of Technicians. I'm also the one in charge of music, so again, sorry about it being so loud." He answered. Leo shook his head.
"No, it's fine. Just woke me up." Leo replied.
"Xavier! Leave the turtle alone and come help with the new supplies!" A strong, female voice called out to them.
"Coming Kirs!" Xavier called back over his shoulder. He turned to Leo and smiled.
"That's my older sister, Kirsa. I'll see ya later, Rookie." He said, turning and racing away to his sister, a tall, jet black mutant wolf with storm grey eyes like her little brother and what look like a silver braided band around the middle of her tail. Now that Xavier was a distance away, Leo could see he had a similar silver band around his own tail. He also realized that both wolves wore dark, slightly faded and holed jeans, Kirsa also wearing a back tank top while Xavier was shirtless. As Xavier reached her, Kirsa picked up a box of supplies and set it in her brother's outstretched arms before grabbing a larger box and leading him off through a doorway.
Now that he was fully awake, Leo began to watch as more mutants, and humans, walked up to the stacks of crates and boxes, and headed off in all sorts of directions. Among the mutants, he sighted a female, mutant, black fox with a dark red tail tip and patches of dark red fur going out like comet tails from the corner of each eye. He could see she had three, dark red stripes going down her back, starting from the top of her head between her ears, which had dark red tip and three gold earrings through the bottom, upper side of each ear. Her left ear had a small, ragged triangle torn out of the top corner. She had chestnut brown eyes and a pinkish scar across her muzzle, suggesting the scar was fresh. She wore a dark pair of worn jeans with a hole for her glossy, black tail, with a gold looking, braided band near the base of her tail and she wore fingerless, leather gloves, revealing a silver-braided ring on her right little finger. She also wore a dark purple, almost black, tank top which revealed a brand on her left shoulder in the shape of a police badge, with the word Outcasts in the middle, written in neat, calligraphy script. She was armed with two, old fashioned looking revolvers, each in their holsters, one on each hip, the belt slightly raised up on the right hip in a none too comfortable looking way. Thrust through the gun belt were two, heavyweight looking, fighting knives with braided leather hilts, looking worn after obvious years of use. The blades were about five or six inches long and looked deadly sharp. Beside her stood a young man, around the same age as her, most likely older. He had tousled, jet black hair with dark red bang tips, obviously dyed, similar looking to the fox's fur. His eyes were the same, chestnut brown. There were almost exactly the same height, the fox barely and inch shorter. The guy wore the same, dark, worn pair of jeans everyone else seemed to wear, as well as a grey t-shirt with torn of sleeves, revealing the exact same brand on his upper left arm as the fox had on hers. The guy's was clearer since he didn't have dark fur blurring it. He had darkish tan skin and had a scar going down his left arm, white now and obviously very old. The fox and the guy each had a badge, like their brand, hanging around their necks by a silver chain and resting on their chest. The guy's was gold and the fox's was silver. The fox was helping a couple of mutants, two massive jaguars, to lift a long, obviously heavy, crate. The human was helping on the fox's side.
"Come on you two; get a good grip so we can get this into the Smithy. Dig your claws in if you have to." The fox called out. The jaguars did just that, grunting with the effort as they lifted the box and carried it towards an open doorway with the glow of flames on the walls and the sound of hammer on steel. After a few minutes, all the boxes and crates had been carried off to wherever they belonged. Now that there was less activity, Leo began to examine himself. Other than his broken limbs, he was virtually unscathed save a bruise on his upper right arm. He didn't notices the small cluster of needle marks within the bruise. He'd already realized that his mask was gone, as were his knee and elbow pads. He was also unarmed.
Leo carefully stood up, leaning against the earthy wall. Earthy? Were they below ground? He looked around, noticing there were no windows, the only light coming from the glowing bars that hung from the ceiling at least twenty or more feet above. Between him and the ceiling were two balconies encompassing the whole, vast chamber, each with stairs leading between them. The lower balcony was just a few feet above him with the second about ten feet above that. Set in the walls along these balconies were the occasional doorway or door. The balconies and stairs were made of steel.
As he was taking this all in, a bell sounded throughout the place. All those who were in the main area, mutants and humans, headed through another doorway on the bottom floor. However, a lot of them came down from the first balcony. Leo guessed that was where the rooms were. Xavier came down with the others and headed towards him.
"You ready?" he asked.
"For what?" Leo said. Xavier snorted slightly.
"Dinner, duh! It's almost eight." He said, taking Leo's hand of his good arm and leading him towards the doorway that everyone else was going through.
"Xavier, where exactly are we?" Leo asked as they walked through a stone covered hallway, trying to keep to the side and out of everyone's way since they had to go slow for Leo's leg.
"The Outcast's base. I'd suggest saving your questions until after dinner. Shade and Tristen will fill you in during the chamber meeting." He said. Leo nodded. He could wait. He was also starving. Xavier laughed as Leo's stomach growled.
"Hungry much?" he joked. Leo laughed.
"Can't really remember the last time I ate. I'm starved." He replied. Xavier grinned.
"Well, get ready to stuff yourself. We go the best spread this side of the Mississippi!" Xavier answered.
"What kind of food?" Leo asked.
"See for yourself." Xavier replied as they headed through a pair of double doors to enter a massive room filled with the smell of food, making Leo's stomach growl louder. Hundreds of humans and mutants sat at long tables, eating and talking. Along one wall was a long table, full of what seemed to be the high ranking humans and mutants judging by the respective glances and the fact that, whenever someone passed, they would either salute or stop to have a small chat. There were four empty seats, two between Xavier's older sister and the fox he's seen earlier and another beside the guy he'd seen with her. The last one was in the direct middle between the fox and the guy. Xavier led Leo to this table, taking the seat beside his sister, sticking Leo next to the fox who was in deep conversation with the human. The human glanced up as they sat and gave a welcoming, if slightly hardened, smile.
"Nice to see you about. Wonderin' when you was gonna wake up. I'm Tristen. This here's my little sister, Shade." He said gesturing to the fox who turned and smiled, warmly and less hardened than her brother's.
"So, what's your name, Rookie?" Shade asked.
"Leonardo, but I go by Leo." He replied. Shade smiled again.
"Well then Leo, I hope you're hungry 'cause here comes the grub." She said. Leo turned as a tall, slim human with bright, almost white, blond hair and faint pink highlights, walked up bearing trays of food.
"Evenin' Chiefs." She said, smiling warmly at Tristen and Shade. She set down the food, dishing it out. She smiled at Leo as she set down his food which consisted of a steak, mashed potatoes, beans and a bowl of something that smelled spicy with a visible hint of beans and meat in it. Beside that, she set down a bowl of something covered in butter.
"And a good evenin' to the Rookie." She said before walking away with her empty trays, back to the clamor of the kitchens.
Leo picked up the bowl of meat and beans and his spoon to take a bite of what the bowl held. It was amazing! He quickly took another bite, licking his lips appreciatively. Shade laughed.
"So, you like chili? Emma makes the best." She said, taking a large bite of her own. Leo nodded.
"Never had chili before, but it's amazing. I'll take you word for it on this being the best." He said, swallowing his previous bite.
"You gonna eat your grits?" Xavier asked. Leo shrugged.
"Think I'll try some first." Leo said, taking a small bite. He shrugged as he swallowed.
"Pretty good. All yours Xavier." He said, handing it over. Xavier took the bowl and shoveled a fairly large bite into his mouth. Kirsa chuckled and gently forced her brother to take smaller bites. Leo turned back to his food, quickly finishing the chili before beginning on the steak. It was well cooked, with spices spread evenly throughout the whole piece. He finished it quickly. Shade leaned over and mixed his potatoes into the baked beans. He looked at her questioningly.
"Trust me; they'll taste a whole lot better that way. Emma gave the beans over to Kyler again and while he is a good cook, beans ain't his strong suite and that's a fact. Also, we're on a bit of a clock today, so it'll be quicker." She said. Leo shrugged and began to quickly eat them. Shade and Tristen were already done. Some of the other members had already finished their meals and left, back to whatever they did normally after dinner.
"Alright, everyone meet in the chamber room in ten minutes." Tristen said, standing. Shade stood too.
"See you in a few, Leo." She said, smiling at him before following after her brother who was already walking out of the mess hall.
"You ready?" Kirsa asked him. Leo nodded and the older wolf stood, Xavier jumped up beside her and leading the way out of the mess. Kirs and Leo followed after him. Leo's thoughts were a little scrambled. He hoped this meeting would help to clear his head and maybe put his worries at ease.
