"I was never a good dad. Let's face it." Jace thinks to himself, as he is going out on a patrol with his new buddies in the Purifiers. "Sure I loved my daughter. But I was too busy for her, or for anyone else really. I was just not able to give."
"It's time to change all that. Now.. is humanity's time."
As Jace is dressed in the black with white cross cloak and sitting passenger side of the flatbed truck full of other allies.
They do this every day, scour the city streets for signs of... them. Somehow, someway, the need for regular folk to be safe has to be upheld. We can't just let it all get out of control, lines start to blur too much. Got to get it back to regular law and order, cleansing society of those who simply don't belong.
As the truck heads up near an open-air market, there is a shimmering golden glow in the crowd. Murmurs nearby turn louder and more frantic.
"I- I can't help it! I'm so sorry" as a young man begins to back off and hold himself shaking. It is the onset of a new mutant but to Jace and the crew, this is an abomination.
"Lucifer strikes again" Vin, Jace's partner in the Purifiers grunts out, Jace only nods, getting a bit sweaty. "Alright people it's go time, you know what to do!" he orders, so used to doing this in an official capacity, and in more reasonable times. Now, it's them or us. There is no going back to rights, lawyers, all of that. Them or us.
The truck screeches to a halt in front of the glow and crowd, Purifiers jumping out running towards "Clear out, we got this, it'll be fine, move move move" the crowd begins to disperse although a young woman walks right up to the assembled cloaked men.
"Just what the hell is all of this? Can't you see he just needs help? Just leave, you aren't wanted!" Others in the crowd begin to boo and jeer at her, Jace just shakes his head. He's had enough of the naive, the weak. The gene traitors. "Out of the way lady, we got work to do and you do not want to be here I tell you that right now" brushing her aside, pushing her back.
"D-d-who are you? Can you help?" the nervous young mutant inquires, as Jace, Vin, and the boys encircle. A few grins and laughter break out. "Oh yeah we gonna help for sure. Just not you, fucking freak" It's the last thing the young mutant will ever hear...
"Hiii! Hrah!" Esme and her "sisters" are training, performing hand-to-hand combat sessions with various of the security Hellfire has employed. They have realized they simply can't only rely on their mind control in every situation, and it's actually a lot more convenient to use just enough to sense what an adversary is intending.
A kick to Sophie's stomach sends her backwards , knocking against the mat hard. "Oops sorry maam" the guard is a bit afraid not wanting to actually do damage. Sophie spits out a bit of blood and gets back up again "No, this is good. Continue" with an outstretched open palm. Over time the combat training should instill in the Frosts muscle memory enough so that they can handle themselves against most regular attackers without having to always resort to telepathy, which can be quite exerting and draining.
Esme is dodging punches almost effortlessly, and sliding kicks underneath her partner, smiling confidently as he falls. Phoebe seems torn between two different impulses, perhaps the telepathy confused her natural instincts and as she hesitates between moving her head back just to dodge and doing an attack of her own, she gets a punch... right in the mouth. "Ugh!" covering her face.
"We have to be better than this" Esme is communicating with her fellow clones "These guards won't remember what we really are and they think this is a simple training exercise. What about our real enemies who will expect us?" Phoebe closes her eyes , feeling the mental "flow" of her opponent, not calculating so much anymore, but more on intuition, as she gets back to sparring.
"Level 1 class intercept has arrived" Sage's monotone voice booms out over a loudspeaker into the gym/makeshift dojo. Instantly all three Frosts eyes turn blue as they erase their sparring partners memories of this, the guards now believing the session has merely ended. "Thanks for the practice guys" the Frosts wink and wave off their sparring buddies, and after exchanging handshakes and ceremonial bowing they head up to another area of the large Hellfire Club complex they are based in.
A sealed door flips open as they walk in. Polaris, Andy, Fade, and Mark are already there assembled around the high-tech operations center Sage maintains at nearly all times. "What do you have for us?"
"The Guerra cartel's labor and construction ties have confirmed what we suspected, there is a Sentinel Services base operational in downtown Atlanta" she manipulates a touchscreen displaying blueprints next to classified satellite photos of the overhead. "They claim they can get us in. But..."
Lorna comments laconically "But you're worried. Something wrong isn't it?" Sage takes a breath nods. "Yes. We simply can't see into the interior of the facility, and the power signatures tracing to the underground suggest quite a large installation, roughly 1486.3% more than is normally required for a building of that size"
"So you sayin' the Sentinel Services ain't Exxon Mobil. Not exactly rocket science girly" Mark and Fade elbow each other cracking up.
"Shut up you buffoons." The Frosts glare at them and they immediately shift into a more professional posture. Her faces turn to Sage again and brighten "Please continue"
"... We know they have spider-class robots and drones. And their adaptability mechanism. For all we know, this building could have over 50x as many as we've ever previously encountered."
Andy grows impatient "So what? We just go in and destroy them all then. That's what we're here for isn't it?" Lorna purses her lips at this, essentially acknowledging Andy's point.
"No. I'm afraid the chances of success on this are nearly impossible to quantify. There is a distinction between battling drones one at a time where they may be isolated and contained. With multiple drones operating together, there is even the possibility of implanted machine learning or internet connectivity..." Sage is being her usual wet blanket self, and the Cuckoos do look concerned.
"We understand this will be difficult. However the mission to find out and take down this base comes from higher-ups. They would not send us out there without excellent cause. We will do it."
Lorna gives a wry smile not even looking at anyone, feeling her own excitement and devastating anger build. Andy pumps his fist and begins to beatbox. Fade and Mark high-five then chestbump, while Sage just stares... at nothing in particular, her brain a buzz of calculation and contingency. "We leave in one week, continue training until then" The triplets turn and exit the room having issued the call...
Caitlin exchanges pleasantries with the manager of this botany she is visiting with some members of the Underground/Morlock alliance. "Wow so these saplings can really grow even in a sewer huh, hahahahaha" feigning innocence as the manger is keen to impress potential customers.
"Yes indeed, the GMOs should provide for far less need of natural sun, and they will produce beautifully regardless. Now, how many would you care to buy?" Lauren's face is pale white at this question knowing full well they can't pay.
"Let's not get so hasty, this is just... we're just here to check around. But they do seem marvelous, truly" At this the manager is less impressed and has a skeptical eyebrow raise but accepts it "Well fair enough, take all the time you'd like, I'll be in my office" walking off.
"Ok now, we gotta get some" Callisto is there in shades and buttoned up, beginning to stuff baby plants into her coat pockets. "Whoa whoa whoa. Hey come on. We can't just steal from this poor guy" Eclipse, ever the saint, attempts his brand of moral persuasion.
"You're not fuckin serious right. Is he serious?" Callisto looks around, Lauren just shrugs, but Caitlin after rubbing her knuckles against her forehead and sighing, puts a hand on Eclipse's shoulder.
"Marcos. Yes it is important we not steal but how else are we supposed to get what we need just to live? Please listen to me, we need to do this ok? It doesn't make us bad people." Marcos lets go of Callisto's arm, but doesn't look especially enthused at this prospect. He has no interest in returning to anything resembling the lifestyle of criminality he has chosen to leave buried in the past, and begins to pace out of the botany.
As the three women surreptitiously scoop seedlings and plants into their clothes and begin exiting, three vehicles marked Sentinel Services park in front of the building as agents emerge heading towards the assembled group. "What? Impossible!-" Marcos turns to see the kind-hearted botany manager is using a phone and glancing nervously at the gathered humans and mutants. "Oh. Shit"
Callisto has no time for games but she is carrying precious seedlings, "Quickly we're out of here!" Hurriedly trying to run off, while careful not to spill anything from her overstuffed coat, she bowleggedly trots away, and is about to hop a fence when a stun round lands right against her back, shocking her to the ground. "Oh fuck me" she just mutters, unable to move laying there.
"Mutants! Halt at once. Resistance is extremely illegal. We just need to ask you questions, don't make this any worse for yourselves", assembled agents are opening briefcases to release spider-class drones as they point their stunguns at the group
"Oh no you don't!" Marcos immediately flips the switch on and his hand emit laser beams welding shut the briefcases, the agents dropping them to avoid scalding their hands, yelps of pain are heard
Caitlin appears panicked and trapped but know she has to run too "MOM! Go! I can take care of the rest, trust me!" Caitlin just nods and scurrying off, helps raise Callisto to her feet as the two totter away "Where's the tequila..." Callisto half jokes in a slurred voice as the stun works its way through her system, while Caitlin continues to nervously glance back at her daughter and Marcos.
Lauren turns to face the agents. Her face shaking, "Why can't you just ever leave us ALONE!" she condenses molecules in the air to make tight shields right around the agents, pushing them and knocking them back.
Lauren is crying, her face red "I don't understand. We never wanted this, noone did. I hate this!" Pushing agents back further with her shields, tightly constricting and choking one of them.
"Lauren! That's enough! Let's go, we got what we came for!" Marcos is pleading and appealing to the young Strucker, her eyes transfixed in a mixture of deep sadness but then bottomless anger, at fate for what her life has turned into.
"They'll never stop... we have to MAKE them stop" An agent gasping choking for breath now their face completely suffocated by the transparent shields.
"Damnit, no!" Marcos grabs onto Lauren carrying her up.
"Put me down! I have to stop this now, for all of us!" Lauren's fists pound at Marcos. Sounds of struggle are slowing as the agent whose face is covered in shields lies still on the pavement. Marcos can barely watch, but carrying Lauren over his back huffing and puffing , is struggling off to join with the other two "We... have to... leave" As they move away from the agents Marcos gently lowers Lauren to the asphalt.
Lauren begins to realizes what she just did "Oh god..." getting queasy she leans over and vomits.
"This... this can't be real" Holding the sides of her face tears streaming down.
Marcos is breathing heavy, saying nothing, not even sure what to say anymore. Shaking his head, "Over there, let's catch up with 'em" he points at Caitlin and Callisto staggering away slowly down an alley...
