Erik strode back to the tower, arms swinging at his sides and cape fluttering behind him. He’d be lying to say if he wasn’t concerned. Outsiders already knew about Genosha’s rescue—an entire crew of ships knew something was afoot. Large ships filled with supplies; who wouldn’t be curious as to why this island was so important? Not only would the crewmen be curious, but as would anyone else that monitored the oceans. Magneto had a chance here at Genosha. He had the element of surprise for whatever he could do with it. But now that surprise was in jeopardy. What was he to do?

He could destroy the ships, but that’d raise suspicion. And what was he supposed to do about the crew? Leave them as prisoners on Genosha? Taking his helmet off once inside the tower, silver hair fell along his shoulders as he tried to nod to the few occupants that began to fill the building. He had just come to Genosha, saved its people, and already he was faced with an ethical decision. It was a shame he wasn’t a telepath. He wouldn’t have hesitated in a moment to erase the thoughts of Genosha from the crew’s mind.

To keep themselves from contacting their original source, Erik closed his eyes and swam through the magnetic spectrum. He touched their ships, felt for their radios, and scrambled their signals. Once he opened his eyes, he was surprised with how simple the effort was.

He did, however, feel the ache to destroy the cargo ships. He could lift them into the air and crumble them into metallic balls with ease now that he had the power to do so. He wanted to test what he could do, see the limits of his powers. A wormhole almost felt like child’s play now. But Erik stilled himself. It wouldn’t do to flaunt his powers when he was keeping his new found strength to himself. Instead, he used a hand and stretched his abilities out to the ship. He shifted their course, turned them toward Africa, and scooted them along for them to get the message. There would be no sign he was the cause of the movement.

Shaking his head, he let them live. The risk of being exposed was high, but he hoped the blindfolded one had said nothing to them. With his conundrum solved, he turned to those that stared and smiled. Some smiled back, others blushed in embarrassment. Who knew the world’s must well-known mutant terrorist could be so cordial and nice? A façade or not? He’d let them make their own conclusions. All he wanted was to make sure Genosha kept safe… and to secretly make them a formidable power should any of them be attacked.

But until then...

"Problems, Mr. Creed?"

Water dripped from his hide like pellets of glass as Victor finally managed his way to the shores of Genosha. All the time he spent festering in Sinister’s pod of shit, Sabretooth let his anger at Magneto grow. In his strange, twisted logic, Magneto was responsible for all the problems Creed had been through. Erik was the reason why he left the Brotherhood; he was the reason why he was left with Weapon X; he was reason why he went to Sinister for more power. While flickers of besting the runt were also present for his adamantium upgrade, Victor ignored them. He wasn’t here for the runt, he was here to right a wrong. It was time for Erik to know what real pain felt like.

What Sabretooth didn’t expect was the assault on his senses. As he jumped ship from the boats Blindfold had gathered to give provisions to Genosha that he stowed upon, Creed reached a point where everything in his ears seemed to explode. He could hear every wave of the ocean collapsing upon itself; he could hear the ripples his body created as if they were seismic waves exploding from his body. The stench of fish, salt, rain, metal, it combined into a punch of nausea. He could feel his eardrums popping, then healing, then popping, then healing as if his head was damn popcorn. But he forced the pain aside like he did in Sinister’s vat and when Apocalypse made him a monster. All the pain he felt when Sinister ripped off the adamantium and snapped away his bones that didn’t go back to normal after returning to his normal form was nothing compared to the pain he felt now.

He kept himself focused and swam to the shore.

His balance was off. His eardrums kept popping. So many scents hit him at once he struggled to keep on his feet. People, voices, heartbeats, breathing, he growled in pain. Walking deeper into Genosha like a drunken fool, people walked away from the tall, wet man, but despite his stupor, he caught a single scent with his enhanced sense of smell. It burned in his nose like ammonia. Stumbling and falling to the metal citadel, others parted as he reached the entrance… and there, standing in front of him, was the bastard who was going to get his damn stoic face clawed off.

“Problems, Mr. Creed?”

Sabretooth growled, a sound that seemed far louder and deeper in his ears as it merged with a, “Fuck you!” The gasps, the sounds, the stench of fear, even the pheromones of those who were attracted to his built form coalesced into a sweep of nausea that Creed could barely keep down. He grunted in pain and disgust, no longer capable of finding footing to launch himself at Erik. All the trouble in traveling here, and he couldn’t fucking swipe at the guy. He was prone to the Master of Magnetism and he hated every minute of it.

“Fuck you!”

Erik sighed. “Such a charmer, Mister Creed.” Creed was still the same man, through and through, with his lovely way with words. Sabretooth had fallen to the ground in a kneeling position after moments of wavering on his feet. Thoughts flickered in Erik’s mind—how he enjoyed people bowing before him—but he quickly erased the thought in lieu of other ideas. He knew what others were thinking. Here, Erik was a benevolent leader. He cared for the people of Genosha, truly. It wouldn’t do to allow them to see their potential leader showing not an ounce of acceptance. With a wave of his hand, an invisible bubble formed around Creed. The enhancement field was severed and Creed could now stand in an upturned bowl of protection.

A shield of protection or a prison—there was no difference.

Magneto turned his back to the feral, clutching his hands behind his cape while staring at the ornate detail of the metallic tower. Parts were lined in decoration to break-up the monotony of smooth, silver walls. Exceptional detail—he was curious if anyone else on the island could control metal to bring about such fine decorum. Still, even as he looked at the detail of the tower, his thoughts shuffled to the many times he had faced Creed. He could be a fine soldier, though unpredictable, non-malleable, and carried the loyalty of a cat. One swipe, one shove, and the feline would curse its owner to hell. But still, he was willing to do things Erik couldn’t do while shoved in such a public eye.

He turned back toward the blonde feral and slid his fingers to his waist. The belt he wore to teleport to Asteroid M and back slid off and floated by invisible strings to Sabretooth. “Attach that around your waist. You may take it off at any time.” With a flick of fingers, he changed the fixtures within the buckle. Instead of acting like a teleportation device, it now acted like a barrier against the enhancement field. “It’ll allow you be as you usually are without my interference.” Whether or not the lumbering mutant put on the belt was Creed’s decision. Either way, Erik's bubble dispersed. “I’m sure you’ve come to right the wrongs you so desperately think I afflicted upon you. If my memory is clear, you were the one who ran away from me—not me from you.” No matter what acts Creed would have spewed in response, Erik continued. “But now is not the time for petty squabbles. I need you, Victor. You’re a man willing to do what needs to be done; if nothing else, it’s a commendable trait.

“Join me here in Genosha. In return, I’ll see what I can do for you. You only have to ask.”

((CMF: Chimera: Genosha: Defense: Lesson One))


It had been a productive day of evasion. She had shaken off Blob - twice - and escaped that solemn little girl too. Midori dropped Chimera off on another portion of the island. If she was lucky, there wouldn't be any more babysitter-spies loitering about, just so happening to locate her. Genosha wasn't the largest island Chimera had ever come across - not difficult to believe considering just how..well-traveled she was. She was skeptical, this mysterious ability of people just finding her. She was being watched specifically, as the outsider, she just /knew/ it. It wasn't necessarily true and it'd likely be little more than a bonus if it worked out that way. However, Chimera's inherent paranoia and mental instability led her to believe that she was truly the subject of espionage.

Oh well.

In any case, Chimera went about inspecting structures and getting a feel for terrain. At every location - very suspicious! - she was approached by islanders. They were simply curious as to what she was doing, wanting to perhaps assist the woman who had personally finished off the Leper Queen, this 'heroine'. Chimera wanted to lump them into the group of spies, but they were spared by doubt that even Magneto's eloquent charmer's tongue could infect the whole of the island and convince them to keep an eye on her. Didn't mean that she wanted them hanging around though. The alien opted to try and capitalize by saying she was interested in the island's - no, the /people/'s ability to defend themselves in the future.

"Being free now is great, I'm sure, but wouldn't you like it to stay that way?" Some were on the same page, others lagged behind. "You must know that the humans won't leave it at this? It isn't over; there will be retaliation." She gestured around. "This island is in no shape for retaliation of any kind. Counter measures need to be prepared immediately if you don't want the humans to just come through and enslave you all over again - though you can count on it being worse the next time around."

Oh, but Magneto and the Brotherhood are here. The humans don't stand a chance against an island of angry - Self-righteous, she substituted mentally - mutants /and/ the Brotherhood. Tch. "Is it really alright for you to be so dependent upon the strength of strangers?" Magneto had a nice little fan club going, they argued that of course he would help them. Chimera smiled vaguely and left them behind.

Another location and she got a completely different reaction. They balked, saying they didn't need outsiders' help to do anything and they could all just go now thankyouverymuch. "Now that's just ungracious. Your homes are in shambles and there are still families still in pieces - can you really afford to be so callous?" They don't need outsiders, these islanders insisted. Go away, go away, we can take it from here. "Can you?" /Yes/, the people insisted. We'll destroy all traces of our enslavers - weapons, that damn field, everything. We'll destroy it and rebuild our home and we'll be ready next time.

"Destroy the field?" Oh..this was what Magneto wanted to avoid. Yes, the islanders said flatly. Everyone agreed, even Magneto's fan clubbers. That barrier is the ultimate reminder of our suppression. It, most of all, has to go. "Hm..are you sure that's a good idea?" Outrage, of course it was! "Oh..so are you feeling..repressed right now?"

Pause. "Suppressed," that was the right word was it not?, "do you feel like your powers are being muted right now?" Well obviously not, the Brotherhood took care of that. "So if the signal, which you said muted your powers, is clearly out of service - what is it you want to destroy?" All traces of human presence, they said. It all had to be destroyed, working or not. "That rather seems a waste of time and resources, shouldn't you rather being finding your strongest fighters and placing them on guard?"

Guard, guard...like an army? "...yes, an army. Or are you all just going to indiscriminately attack whoever washed up on shore? You need organization - people who build, people who organize, people who /defend/." Right now? "Yes, /right now/. You could be attacked at any moment; the humans could be sending forces right now to stomp this rebellion in the mud. Logically, they would conclude that the longer you are left to your own freedoms, the harder it will be to seize control again."

Why was she so paranoid? They couldn't mobilize forces that quickly. "You are running out of time even as we speak." Whatever; they were getting aggravated with her presumptuousness, her insistence implied that she thought them too weak to take care of themselves now. Armed forces, organizing, defense - what did she know about it anyway? Oceanic orbs rolled. "I was born and bred for war - I know it because it is /all/ I know." Chimera was growing irritated; this was all very simple in her head. If these people were just more objective then they'd get it. Outsider, heroes, leaders, tyrants - ugh! "But you don't have to believe me. Take your time, by all means, and just /wait for the humans to show up/."


===


The tall pirate had managed to circle all the way around to..somewhere. She noted a big metal tower and tagged it as a landmark for future reference. Chimera also noted Magneto standing near...a drowned tabby cat. A really big one. No, wait, it was a person - mutant - with a lot of..hair. He didn't look happy, but Magneto didn't look concerned - she wondered if his face could even form the expression to convey it - and so her approach was slow. There were some islanders still stalking her, wanting to argue the point, but she just turned around and smiled. "Well good luck then," she said dismissively. "I do hope nothing...unfortunate happens."

Not that she cared. Strawberry blonde locks flew and she spun back around and headed for Magneto. Maybe he wasn't mad at her anymore for being so tight-lipped. Teehee, or not. She didn't know what they'd been talking about, could only read body language. When she did get close enough, it was Magneto talking.

“Join me here in Genosha. In return, I’ll see what I can do for you. You only have to ask.”

Wow, the man just recruits left and right doesn't he? Chimera sidled up, having no problem just barging into the scene. "Who's your friend?" She looked the angry feral over again. He looked really pissed off...like he hadn't even heard Magneto's offer. Or would like to ask to slice Magneto's head off. And in front of Magneto's fan club too!

Chimera smiled the smile of the unhinged, evidently unfazed. "Oh..or maybe you aren't friends at all." He looked like he wanted Magneto dead and buried - yesterday. They buried dead people on this planet right? Yeah, dead and buried. Did that mean the soaked guy here had to die? Would she get to kill him? She eyed the feral. He looked like he'd be hard to kill. He might even make her bleed a little. How exciting! Focus, focus! One thought at a time. She had to remind herself to do that sometimes or her mind would really just take her for a ride. Chimera folded her arms beneath her bosom. Maybe he'd do something foolish and she could eat him. He seemed like a lively one.

“Such a charmer, Mister Creed.” That damn elitist shit again. Sabretooth growled in response, a sound drowned out by the pain that moaned from his throat. His head was fucking killing him. Snapping his hand into a fist and slamming his knuckles into the ground, he heard the shattering of bones in his fingers and relished the pain that swam in his head. A masochist? Hardly. He knew how to center his pain to lessen the load of it. A self-inflicted wound was enough to ignore the sound of popping in his ears if only for a second. It was a second Creed took advantage of by jumping to his feet. He leaped, only to slam into something hard. He rebounded with grace, but his now prison fueled the fire in his veins.

The popping had stopped in his ears after the last one. The scents that were overpowering his olfactory sense were dulling into something manageable. He glanced quickly at his hand—realized his bones had instantaneously healed. Tiny scratches were closing up before his very eyes. Glaring at the man again, did Erik expect a thank-you? A hug and kiss on the cheek? Creed snarled exposing his yellowing teeth. Victor would give him a kiss, only when he was done shredding the highbrowed carcass into a fine pink mist. Erik was caging him—he’d seen it done before. With nothing left to do except growl and hiss, he’d wait until he was released, and let the anger build up until it exploded.

“Attach that around your waist. You may take it off at any time.” The belt floated over to him. Creed glared. He didn’t trust the man. “It’ll allow you be as you usually are without my interference.” What the hell, did Lensherr think Victor was dumb? Without his damn interference? He interfered by doing whatever the hell he did to the thing! But as the thoughts struck him, so do the popping in his ears, the overwhelming smells, and the nausea that mixed with vertigo. Again falling to his knees, Creed hated submitting to anyone, but this time… Victor eyed Magneto then the belt with blurry eyes. This time he’d suck it up and wait for a better opportunity. He snatched the belt and already felt his ailments lift. He wrapped his fingers around the buckle and slowly stood to his feet.

“Join me here in Genosha. In return, I’ll see what I can do for you. You only have to ask.”

“You left me to rot,” Creed spat. His chest huffed with every word. But he also realized Erik helped him just now. Given the people around him, he doubted it was because he meant so much to Lensherr. He knew this was going to be like Mister Sinister all over again. Sabretooth would help, and he’d get something in return. Allowing his upper lip to curl, maybe he could work this in his favor. “I know what Sinister has.” Creed’s eyes narrowed. “I know what he got from Chuck, and I know you don’t. You give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want.” Creed wasn’t going to let the famed Master of Magnetism get the upper hand in this deal. Not at all.

Victor finally turned toward the blonde woman, looking her up and down with an appraising eye. His snarl turned into sickening grin. Now that Creed felt as if he had the upper hand in this meeting, he suddenly felt… intrigued. He glanced at the woman, glanced at Magneto, and smirked as he spoke to the girl. The woman felt as if she “belonged” being so close to Creed and Erik. That either made her an idiot or someone Magneto knew. “You pumpin’ that man’s dick?” He threw a thumb toward Erik. “He shoots out dust, Goldilocks. Yer better off with someone who can make you scream.” In an instant, he gave her a passing growl—one to signal for her to fuck off. He wanted to hear would Erik would say to his deal; not to be distracted by some damn blonde.

At least, not yet.

[Continued from Singularity and Solidarity]


Kuan-Yin considered himself to be very intuitive man. A majority of his life having been lived trying to outsmart the likes of Feng Tu's guards as well as those of the other prisoners (both mutant and non-mutant), he had learned well early on in adolescence to never walk into any situation blind. Once he'd made his way from the Rotunda to the Observation Deck to run his diagnostic scans of the progress of the Brotherhood's mission to Genosha, he deduced two possibilities. The Brotherhood had either succeeded in overcoming what or whoever that had lured them to Genosha with their "distress call", or that they had been overcome and rendered mute. Further analysis showed the island was broadcasting a vast amount of electromagnetic output, and when Xorn tried to analyze this with his own brain, he sensed the star itself reacting to a slight spike in magnetic activity coming from the earth. It was much like how sunpots affected electronics when they grouped together on the Sun's surface. He also was able to sense a slight irregularity in the waves. It was minute but still detectable...as though it were trying to maintain it's own output. He wasn't sure what to think, as such activity could mean a wide variety of things. A weapon could be at the ready, a powerful EMP could have gone off.. He could tell based on the affect it was having on Earth's magnetosphere, that if it spiked too far the earth itself would feel the damages. At that point, he reasoned that he had to investigate what was going on.

Making his way to another part of the Asteroid, Xorn gathered what he would need to take: A teleporter belt that would take him there instantly, A combat suit of unstable molecular military grade alienware (compliment of the Warskrulls), and a means to shield himself from the Enhancement wave produced on the Island to keep mutant powers in check. The wavelength was a unique one that he'd taken the time to thoroughly analyze and then adjust some of the alien technology in the battle room to his needs. It seemed that the Warskrulls had similar technology to shield them from any enemies who'd want to render them unable to utilize the abilities of those they'd mimicked. This device, which he would wear on his wrist, would keep his already unstable situation from escalating to one that would further jeopardize the people on Genosha. He needed to know he'd be able to maintain control of his star's energies before we went anywhere near the planet again.

Fast Forward to only moments later...


The quick suck and rush of air that accompanied his lightspeed travel from Asteroid M just outside the Citadel Tower on Genosha gave him the feeling of being thrown from one side of the room to the other at breakneck speeds, but what had really thrown him off was the shift in EM Spectrum from the bend in space! The flash of colors and the tingles of changes sent goosebumps across his back. A real "thrill" as they would say. He'd picked up the tail end of a conversation between Chimera, Magneto and Sabretooth and honestly wished he hadn't. The device on his arm having been active before he'd left the Asteroid, he didn't sense the Mutagenic Wave immediately, nor did he have the slightest clue it had been reversed.

He started to try and assess his situation and surroundings when he was overcome by a massive wave of Electromagnetic energy. The star in his brain reacted so strongly that he turned his head in the direction of Magneto almost instantly before his eyes had time to register anything else. The amount of energy the man was giving was impressive, and the very least much stronger than what Xorn had ever felt even when the Master of Magnetism was exerting actual effort (traveling through space via Metal Sphere). This was the type of energy that Xorn's star emitted when he allowed his powers to flow freely... and it was this thought that made his mind make a very interesting observation... Magneto was emitting a lot of anxiety... It rolled off of him in waves, as though he were overwhelmed, being driven high and trying to restrain his own power output.... The irregularity in the wavelength.

Xorn, knew that he had to keep himself cool, and actually relinquished some of his Star's gravity so that it spun faster and countered the level output Magneto was radiating enough that he could focus himself. He needed to be able to think about what was happening who he was with. Chimera was one he hadn't had the time to meet, though he'd sensed and observed her many times on Asteroid M since her decision to take sanctuary with Magneto. He didn't know what her abilities were but he could sense a strange bend in the electromagnetic spectrum around her... Something was moving in and out but was barely visible around her.. While studying her on Asteroid M, he deduced the best way to deal with her would be to attack her directly instead of even giving her the chance to reveal to him the nature of her powers. He could blast her with Radiation (an invisible weapon of his as well) til she fried.. long before she even knew he was harming her. If he needed to be quick he could crush her in a gravity well before the thought could travel from her mind to her body... Ah... Crunch.

She stood there intrigued by the interaction between Magneto and Sabretooth. Her emotional responses made him twinge as he recognized a lot of her feelings as being his most of the time. He wasn't sure of her reaction to Sabretooth's statement, but he knew his was definitely not something the feral inbreed would want her aloud. He was a feral surrounded in a field much like his own. The technology was a little different.. based on teleporter technology... but the general idea was the same. Was he a member of the Brotherhood as well? His emotional responses didn't seem to say so...

And then there was the Lord of Magnetism. He was the threat he'd come down to stop. Though, given the fact Magneto had somehow gained an increase in power, he was amazed at the man's ability to keep his power levels in check. For Xorn, managing such power was as simple as consciously trying to keep a steady pace of breath while jogging.. but that was because his powers were directly related to his brain.. Magneto was using his own will to supress his powers like trying hold back a sneeze or a cough. It was amazing he'd managed at all. Normal men would cave under such pressure, and Magneto was able to even maintain his usual composure.

"Lord Magneto. It is good to see you in good health." He said in a gassy hiss of ionized air. "Considering what had happened in Egypt, that is." Thank God, he didn't have an actual voice! The sarcasm of his first statement would have shattered any illusions of trustworthiness he'd wanted to maintain.

"I apologize for not having taken the time to welcome you back aboard the Asteroid. When I didn't receive word that your mission had been a success I came to assist directly." It was the truth. No amount of disdain he had for the Master of Magnetism would have stopped him coming to see the outcome of their mission. He hadn't come for noble reasons but no one needed to know that. "I see, however, you managed quite well, though not in such good company..."

His minds eye shifted to Sabretooth's presence in the room. Aggression continued to come off of him in waves, spiky and tingling.

"I did not mean to interrupt your... meeting."

He remained exactly where he was just on the outskirts of the conversation without making a move. There wasn't any need to be anything more than an observer. The only one he needed to be wary of was Magneto, and not because of anything he could or would do consciously, but simply because the two of them being so near to one another could set either of them off and destroy everything.

"However, I shall not interfere if you feel it isn't necessary for me to do so..."

“An associate,” Erik answered Chimera’s inquiry, letting it know Creed and him were in fact not friends. She echoed his sentiments soon after. At least the lumbering canine decided to do what was suggested with the belt in his over-sized claws. He thought Victor would realize Erik wouldn’t do anything stupid with so many eye-witnesses around—giving him no reason not to believe Magneto was trying to help him—but then again, Creed didn’t know these people any more than Magneto did. Maybe he thought they could all be Brotherhood members. A tempting idea, really, but an unrealistic one. The Brotherhood was always a small association. It was easy to maneuver with smaller numbers.

Creed carried on how Magneto left him to rot. Erik wasn’t going to correct the man. Creed was simplistic minded and failed to see the bigger picture. But what came next out of Victor’s foul mouth piqued his curiosity. This man knew what Sinister took from Charles? Erik’s eyes suspiciously narrowed. This could all be a ploy, he realized. Victor had barged in on his meeting with Maggott; it wouldn’t doubt the older man he could of overheard the conversation. No longer carrying the device and no longer seeing Japheth, it seemed Creed would be his only option to know what Sinister had taken. He’d have to tread on careful waters. Sabretooth was unpredictable, and could be lying.

“And what would you like in return?”

Creed didn’t respond, choosing to slight Erik instead. Magneto puffed out his chest, knowing eyes were still watching the trio carefully. Best to appear as if he looked in control of himself than to let such wonderful words dig underneath his skin. But then Erik felt it. There was no other way to describe the sensation in one word. Something was going to appear nearby. The magnetic field was getting ready to “pop,” so to speak. Something was going to fill the void to Erik’s right. In less than a second, Xorn appeared, and Erik’s brow wrinkled. Magneto barely processed Xorn’s appearance, slipping into his own thoughts. If Xorn was here, then who was…?

Ionized words filled his ears, but their meaning barely made sense in Erik’s head. He was in another place, searching for something that… didn’t make sense. By the time he came to, Xorn had finished speaking, and Erik turned toward the man’s metallic head. “Were you not on Genosha before?” When Erik’s powers had exploded within his perception, he could see nearly everything from the view of the magnetic spectrum before he reigned in his abilities. There was a familiar presence he picked up—he figured it to be Xorn's. Yet that presence, he determined, was still there, even though Xorn was before him. "It seems you're in two places at once, Xorn."

---------------
OOC: This is the second appearance of Appraiser. Her first appearance was in the Pyro/Bruiser thread.

Appraiser stood on the outside of the tower, her back against the cool metallic wall as a set of knuckles rapped against the barrier in beat with the music from her headphones. A blue light disappeared from her hand before she rewound her tape, listening to the piercing hum of the portable cassette player click to signal it was finished. Pushing play and sliding off a single earphone, she listened to the music, lifted her hand, and allowed the blue light to display yet again.

“His helmet could fetch a pretty penny if we weaken his fugly ass.” Magneto’s entire frame floated above her hand in a blue hologram, twirling around as the hologram zoomed in on the helmet. “So how do you suggest we get it without having our asses handed to us?” A response didn’t come immediately, not that she expected it do so. Beginning to bob her head as pink hair dangled in front of her eyes, she blew back her bangs and began contemplating what to do. According to her sources, there were quite a few people that thought the Brotherhood were indeed trying to occupy what wasn’t theirs. But they also knew how powerful the Brotherhood was if they single-handedly wiped out the Leper Queen’s forces.

Her companion stirred beside her. Long black hair flowed from the man’s head, tied back with a red bandanna. A road-strip of a goatee nestled underneath his bottom lip and he flexed his metallic right hand. He turned his glowing green eyes toward Appraiser and frowned. “They need to be debilitated.” He pushed himself from the wall, pacing back and forth. The swish of his pants added to the beat Appraiser was listening to. “How do you weaken a man that controls an element of life?” Stripmine stopped, tilting his head as a smile peppered his lips. “Where’s Shen?”

Appraiser shrugged. “Probably off meditating.” The Leper Queen had used him as an energy source to power up certain machines on Genosha. Appraiser remembered seeing him chained to a wall, tubes coming out of his metallic helmet, a fine blue mist seeping from the holes of his alien-head. And she remembered the scent of cologne. A man wore the cologne that dragged her past the captured “Xorn.” His spicy smell would turn into sweat as she was shoved over a chair and torn open. He was one of many that made her bleed night after night.

She knocked her knuckles against the metal harder.

“I think I may have a plan on how to weaken them to take the helmet," Stripmine said. "Make sure none of them leave the tower.”

Appraiser shrugged. "Whatever." Trying to sedate the anger that threatened to boil within her, the flesh on her knuckles began to scratch off. Stripmine walked away.

Creed looked at Xorn as if something from hell shit-out an ugly, oblong piece of crap. He didn’t even know how to describe the man. What in the hell was on his head? Amber eyes squinted, trying to see if he could see what was inside the helmet as the man called Magneto “Lord.” Sabretooth snorted. Lord his ass. Studying the man, Creed may have looked like a drown rat, but at least he didn’t look like an over-sized vibrator. Snorting again, this time he let it known the newcomer should go sit in a hole and die. The man interrupted his conversation with Lensherr. It was an important one too—one Victor didn’t like to see hijacked by a man with a lumpy, gray penis head on his shoulders.

Words. More words. Mystified looks. With a growl that rebounded off the walls off the citadel, Victor demanded attention back on him. Screw the little fucker that popped up. What Creed was about to say was important; more important than anything else he’d said in years. “What I want in return Erik, is you. Seems like you’ve got an island full o’mutants here. So use ‘em. Get yer best and kill Essex. That’s it.” Victor smiled, his large grin misshaping his face like the Grinch’s on a good day. “You do that, I’ll get ya the files he’s got on the X-Men. I'll even stick around.” Creed raised a single clawed finger, signaling he wasn’t finished. “Don’t believe me? Go ask yer fuck buddy Chuck what the Xavier Protocols are. I bet he’ll shit his pants then and there.” Creed chuckled, already visualizing telepathic freaking out Magneto knew about the files. Too good to give words.

Easing his stance, he turned back to the blonde woman, letting his amber eyes carefully outline every curve the woman had on her body. His tongue licked his bottom lip before his eyes settled on her crotch. He didn’t need anyone to read his mind, but like a cat distracted, he turned back toward dick head and grunted. “Where the hell you come from, anyways? And take that damn helmet off yer friggin’ head! It’s pissin’ me off lookin’ at it!” What in the hell was it? He could see the blue glow emanating from the openings, but beyond that, there was no visible shape of a face hidden within. But of course he saw the gathering of people nearby, eyeing him with wide eyes still. He slowly turned his head toward them and glowered. Dipshits didn’t have a clue what they were over-hearing.

The angry tabby - an 'associate' of Magneto's apparently - was looking at her now, taking it all in. Chimera, for her part, remained by Magneto and only blinked in reaction. What should she do? Strike a pose? Smirk? Maybe he'd appreciate a little boob play. He was..she guessed that was his version of a grin. Most people, especially a woman, would feel very concerned. Extremely concerned. Victor didn't present the image of a gentleman. Chimera remained either oblivious, indifferent, or some inconceivable mix of the two. He looked back and forth between her and Magneto, his brain putting something - an imaginary something no doubt - together.

“You pumpin’ -- “He shoots out dust, Goldilocks. Yer better off with someone who can make you scream.”

Dust? Chimera sort of peered in the general direction of aforementioned ...'dust'..shooter. Chimera wasn't familiar with how things worked on this planet, 'things' here being the male anatomy. It wasn't really something she'd taken the time to research. It was something she figured could be discovered the fun way. Hands-on research. But dust..hm. Creed was, in fact, insulting Erik's..advanced years, but Chimera took it literally. She didn't have time to reply, as the tabby was growling at her now. Not let's-go-do-something growl, but a go-away-men-are-talking growl.

She was a distraction, a problem. Chimera was used to both. She smiled pleasantly and didn't budge. Oh, but a new playmate had come! Um..not a native she was guessing.

"Lord Magneto. It is good to see you in good health." Oh what a strange sound. He was..just covered in technology. Chimera moved around, wanting a better look. How interesting! If only she could study him on her ship. He looked like he could do all sorts of handy technological tricks! But that was wrong. He wasn't a piece of technology she could use. He was a person. A human of this planet [or maybe not?] Oh! He could be an alien like her, but that'd be hard to confirm without blowing her own background a little. Hm.

"I did not mean to interrupt your... meeting." -- "However, I shall not interfere if you feel it isn't necessary for me to do so..."

Oh..so this was a wayward member of Magneto - no, /Lord/ Magneto's group? Were there more scattered about, she wondered. Hm.

“Were you not on Genosha before?”

Eh?

"It seems you're in two places at once, Xorn."

And the plot thickens. "Oh? Is that a power you have..'Xorn'?" She wished she could do that. Do you know how many people she could rob if she could be in multiple places at once? WHOO! There was no universe or dimension or time period in existence ready for multiple Chimeras. Unless there was a dimension or universe or time period that already had multiple Chimeras. Maybe in another time, another place, she /did/ have those powers... Oh! She could be a multiple right now! Must investigate, she noted in her hopscotch of a mental plane.

Meanwhile, the tabby was stewing, unhappy. Angry. Sensing a trend. He was naming terms to some deal, negotiations or something. Creed wanted someone named 'Essex' dead and in return he'd give Magneto some sort of files on the 'X-Men' [oh, Pyro had mentioned them!] and join the Brotherhood while he was at it. He even had a means to prove that he was holding legit goods.

Chimera was aware of being stared at again and let her eyes drift over to an apparently-distracted Creed. He'd said his piece, laid his terms on the table, so there was no reason why he couldn't let his mind [or something lower] focus on better, prettier things. I think he likes me! Debatable. She was easy on the eyes and hadn't really done or said anything to tick him off yet. What's not to like right now? But it could just be a matter of time..

And then his attention shifted just like that again. Focus problems? He yelled at the interesting techno-person she'd be studying and then turned to Magneto's worried fanbase. Who had Magneto allowed to wash up on their shores? Why was he talking to their great and wondrous Magneto that way? What would Magneto do?! OH the suspense! ... Or maybe that was Chimera's unstable persona indulging in a little bit of exaggeration.

For the life of him! It was nearly impossible to concentrate on what all was going around him what with the dazzling display of electromagnetic power, and emotional aggression flowing across the room. The tension in the room died to a low haze, however, when it became clear that he wasn't contributing to the argument or posing any kind of real danger to anyone. Chimera didn't make a move and honestly, other than an intriguing sense of curiosity emanating from her body, he figured she wouldn't be the type to come to someone's aid if there wasn't a good reason. She wasn't a member of the Brotherhood because she aligned with Magneto's ideals, so it made sense she wouldn't behave as such. Victor Creed on the other hand...

“Where the hell you come from, anyways? And take that damn helmet off yer friggin’ head! It’s pissin’ me off lookin’ at it!”

Xorn finally resolved to turn his attention to the feral mutant, and for once wished he had the means to spit something at him in disdain. He was a brute and one with a mouth. He'd seen the type before, the prison had been full of them... Pawns. They were nothing but loud and lumbering creatures who hid behind broad displays of sheer strength. They were ammunition to be aimed but hardly tools to be manipulated. He'd only but remove his helmet for a mere second to dispose of the man, but where would the fun in THAT be? There were so many other ways to depose of your nuisances that didn't leave as big a mess. You don't pull a gun out on a fly, but you want to make sure that you don't want to spend your day swatting at air...

ZAP! Much more effective.

He reasserted his focus to the feral again, and away from the idea of electrifying Sabretooth. Should he even dignify him with an answer?

"If I was to do that, it would be the same as releasing the explosive force of a nuclear bomb. I doubt that you would live to enjoy seeing my... face as it were."

Despicable. It was no wonder that this man hadn't ever managed to be more than just a means to someone's end. From Magneto and back again doing nothing more than barking and offering half-hearted promises. As a matter of fact, who did he think he was blackmailing? He'd already mentioned more than enough information for Magneto to back to Asteroid M and locate all and any data pertaining to the "Xavier Protocols".. but the Master of Magnetism is no fool. No need to put on a bad show for the audience.

The sky around them was bright the the different auras of many people. In fact, startlingly so... Especially since there was supposed to be a suppression wave in effect...

“Were you not on Genosha before?”

The words broke his concentration. He glanced back at Magneto, completely puzzled. True, he may have assumed that Xorn would come to Genosha to assist them on their mission, since he hadn't made himself known on the Asteroid...

"It seems you're in two places at once, Xorn."

.... Pause. His mind began to whir with explanations, and none of them seemed to make sense. As a matter of fact, the whole situation from where he was standing, didn't make sense. It was as though he'd been taken for as much of a fool as Magneto had, by the doctored message the base had received. From where he'd stood only moments ago, the island and in fact, the EARTH was in danger.. but even in his diligence he hadn't stopped to FULLY analyze the situation.

Two places at once?

Could it be possible that the danger he'd sensed and seen on the monitor screens wasn't being caused by Magneto, but by....

"Let us hope, that it isn't the case..."

He couldn't make a proper analysis from here, Magneto was causing too much interference, but it wasn't going to stop him from making some more calculations and mentally go over precautions that would need to be taken. The danger had just tripled from Magneto's power spike incinerating Earth, Xorn's own star exploding and engulfing the island... to the Earth being swallowed by a black hole. Even at his strongest, Xorn's power wouldn't be a match for his brother, Shen. A black hole's gravitational properties can distort time, bend light, and would negate any form of energy his own star could throw. The gravity of it was even greater than that of a star... There was only one way to stop his brother... and it was possible that Kuan-Yin wouldn't be able to survive it.

None of them would, really..

Xavier Protocols, was it? Magneto raked his mind with anything he knew of such files. Nothing was coming to him, but perhaps that was because he was distracted. Closing his eyes while shaking his head, how could he possibly agree with the feral’s demands when others were around? Erik hardly wanted the Genoshans to think he’d run off at any moment and behead someone just because of a slight demand. By the time he opened his eyes, he ignored Creed completely. He instead glanced at Chimera, knowing what a conundrum he was placed within. He was surrounding himself with unknown individuals; people he didn’t trust enough to watch his back. A woman who refused to reveal her past, a man who’d just as easily decapitate him than befriend him, and another who was seemingly in two places at once.

"Let us hope, that it isn't the case..."

How peculiar of the man. Erik wanted answers, not a comment that could be taken any which way. Inhaling an annoyed breath, he finally looked at Creed. “We’ll discuss your wants at a later date. Until then…” His eyes cut to his right, an energy surge drawing his attention. There was nothing there except metallic walls and decorations. Narrowing his eyes, what was the energy then? It forced the magnetic spectrum to stretch and nearly collapse upon itself, yet at the same time there was nothing harming the magnetic spectrum. Furrowing his brow, he turned toward Xorn again, pondering if it was the man’s doing. Not until Erik felt the energy did his eyes grow wide.

-------------------------

Xorn shuffled with Stripmine at his side. Dome-brain, as Appraiser thought of him, had his hands in each sleeve with his creepy helmet spewing mists of blue. Appraiser stopped knocking her knuckles against the citadel, rubbing the torn skin in an attempt to massage the pain away. Plucking the headphones from her ears and allowing them to dangle around her neck, she pushed herself from the wall and walked toward the pair. “Not a single one came out.” She was watching here and there—she figured she’d notice anyone suspicious exit the place. “But there’s a lot of us in there. You sure you want to do this?”

Stripmine dismissively waved his gauntleted hand. “If they’re Genoshans, they wouldn’t be in there.” Appraiser frowned. Standing in awe alongside the Brotherhood didn’t make them traitors. That made them easily swayed, but they were still Genoshans. “They won’t be killed, Appraiser.” Stripmine’s glowing green eyes narrowed at the woman. Appraiser shook her head, decided not to voice her objections to Stripmine’s idea.

“Whatever. Just have him do whatever it is.”

Stripmine looked at Xorn, and dome-head merely nodded. Xorn took his hands from his sleeves as the blue-light within his helmet began to intensify. Appraiser could nearly taste the energy around him mold into something… thick. She honestly couldn’t explain what he was doing—science was so beyond her she was lucky she could name three elements on the periodic table. As the energy powered up in Xorn’s skull helmet, Stripmine walked to the entrance of the citadel, with Appraiser not far behind.

-------------------------

Erik had little time to react to the energy wave that permeated into the air. Those that gathered within the citadel began to collapse like dominoes. Not until the wave hit Erik did he find himself on the ground as well. His entire body was paralyzed, collapsed face first onto the cold floor. Struggling to regain his bearings, he finally saw a pair of clawed feet with pink toenails come to his side. A woman knelt down, mumbled something about Xorn relenting the gravity on Erik’s head, and plucked the helmet from Magneto, walking away with ease. He managed to see another pair of feet looking down at Chimera, Creed, and then finally Xorn.

“Don’t tell Shen about this one,” the man spoke. He finally walked away too.

OOC: Everyone can “stand up” after a few moments if they were affected. Gravity was just warped to an extreme degree for a few moments to force everyone to collapse.

Ah, in-fighting.

Well, an actual fight hadn't broken out yet, but Chimera could tell that it wouldn't take much. A step forward, a roughly bumped shoulder. Time bombs, these two. Magneto had to play long-suffering savior, dealing with ruffians. Well, Xorn seemed less prone that the tabby cat, but a little encouragement or provocation and he'd be into it. See? This was part of why she flew solo - except for the plasma wraiths that is. But that was a race, a bonded race united in species and suffering and her. Their devotion was weird and certainly unexpected, but she wouldn't deny their usefulness. Some days you just wanted to kick back and watch the destruction from afar, or start the destruction and watch the rest. In any case, there was no team there, they were self-admitted followers, servants even. And by their own choosing.

The Brotherhood was a gathering. No, a recruiting. These were individuals that wouldn't be anywhere near each other if they hadn't been individually found and recruited in some way by this man here - Magneto. And that was the danger in working in groups - the individual. People didn't get along, people were violent or stand-offish or uncooperative or rebellious. It was like playing with chemicals, volatile elements. Useful in their individual capacities, but put them together... Some mixed and some didn't. Chimera's masked-but-not eyes drifted between the pair. Indeed, some didn't.

Sabretooth wanted to rip off Xorn's helmet, and probably more than that. Xorn explained, calmly, why that was a horrible idea. Though if it ended with a fried tabby cat, she imagined that he wouldn't be crushed. There seemed to be some dispute, or just confusion rather, Xorn being or not being in multiple places at once. See? Now you had to go wondering where people were or had been and why or why not and if they were or weren't lying. When you fly solo, there was no questioning of the sort. Tch. She hoped Magneto's big end game was worth the mind-numbing aggravation that was known as working with others, or leading others rather.

Chimera had a little time as anyone to react before she found herself getting quite familiar with the ground beneath her. She hit quickly and roughly, grunting under the sudden pressure. Something, some force, was pinning her to the ground. She couldn't move at all, not so much as a twitch. It was enough to draw in air to cause the rise and fall of a chest that wouldn't accommodate such things like it was supposed to. She couldn't even turn her head to see the owner of the pair of feet that had come into view. Who was standing over her? She couldn't spare the air, the effort, to question their assailants. An attack? This was highly effective, but she could retaliate still.

But before Midori could aid her, they were gone. And some moments after that, she felt the pressure ease and it became easier to breathe. Chimera drew in deep breaths, looking all around her. Nothing. She surveyed the others and found them equally unharmed. Probably equally annoyed too. The woman slowly drew herself to her feet, dusting off her attire. No injuries.

"So what was that?" she asked no one in particular. "A threat maybe," she mused a loud. She scanned around again, but all that was different was...Magneto. They..stole his helmet? Really? Chimera almost laughed - what the heck did they want that for. "Or it could be a taunt." They could have done more than steal a helmet no doubt. Chimera wasn't happy, but not particularly threatened either. She hadn't been able to move, but she could summon help whether paralyzed or not. Midori had only been a breath away, completely unaffected by whatever had pinned them all to the ground.

"If I was to do that, it would be the same as releasing the explosive force of a nuclear bomb. I doubt that you would live to enjoy seeing my... face as it were."

Amber eyes snapped to Xorn, glaring at what he thought was the dick-head’s eyes. He thought the threat of a nuclear bomb scared, Creed? There was pure silence from the feral until a twinge of humor sparked on his lips. Canines flashed in absolute amusement as he let out a raspy laugh from the gut up. This guy thought he was being intimidating! The fact that dick-head thought it’d work was down-right hilarious. Excuse the guy if he was too full of himself to think a nuclear bomb would stop him from tearing the helmet off the other guy’s head. Who cared about the rest of these sorry shits? Half of them didn’t pose a threat to him all, and for it, they could die.

By the time he calmed down, chuckles still grating from his lips, he looked at Xorn and lifted a single claw to his own neck, quickly scratching his throat side-to-side. “Sleep with one eye open, tin-ass.” Still laughing as the scratch healed, that was pretty damn amusing. Hell, his own joke was funny knowing Xorn couldn’t close his helmet eyes! Now if everyone else would say something to trigger Sabretooth’s humor, he might enjoy his current company more. But as it stood, the only person he was particularly enjoying was the blonde, but that was because he was sure he could think of many ways to break her while having his way with her.

“We’ll discuss your wants at a later date. Until then…”

Hm? Oh, right. Well look at that! Creed was actually distracted for a moment. Lifting a side of his nostril, did Erik actually think he could be so easily dismissed? Creed pondered such thoughts, ready to snap his disdain in the form of claws and bites, but something held him in place. The hairs on his arms and neck were beginning to stand on end as the energy within the room was beginning to shift. Furrowing his brow, he snapped a growl to the people behind him, hoping to intimidate the person doing it, but nothing happened. Before long, that energy exploded around Creed, and he found himself on his back, unable to move.

He struggled, flexing every muscle in his body. His skin, his muscles, his organs, they were weighed down so much he couldn’t even find his voice to growl. But at the same time, he still had his senses. His ears picked up the foot falls and the erratic breathing from those also stuck to the ground. His nose picked up scents—a lot of them—but some were stronger than others. Unable to see a damn thing except the ceiling, he saw nothing like the others may have. But he did hear words of a woman. Damnit. Fucking gravity. Attempting to growl again, nothing came out. By the time the scents disappeared, Creed was capable of moving again, and stood, more agitated than ever.

The words that fell from his mouth were hardly pleasant. He turned around, shoulders hunched and fingers spread. He could track their damn scents to wherever the hell they went. “Dumb broad,” Creed snapped, turning his attention to Chimera, “where the hell you come from not knowing that was an attack. That’s a frickin’ invitation for us to draw blood!” Funny how he said “us.” He considered himself a Brotherhood member, now, or maybe just he thought of himself aligned with those attacked as well. Either way, he was in the mood to bloody his claws. And the guy that slowly got on his feet… was looking mighty tasty right about now.

Sabretooth's answer to his response, as foolish as it may have been, was left unattended. Best to let the idiot believe that Xorn had been thoroughly put off by his crude remark, and easy to do since he didn't HAVE any face with which to convey his obvious abhorrence to the virile monster. His mind caught the faint instance of a gathering pinprick of energy, and had Magneto not been in the room compromising his ability to properly analyze the forms of energy around him, he'd have been able to counter and respond to the gravitational wave that suddenly crippled him and pinned him to the ground. Had he lungs that functioned, his breath would have been crushed from beneath him, yet instead he found himself unnerved by the irony that not moments ago, he'd been imagining doing this Chimera had she raised hand against him.

Now, however his mind was racing. Gravity? On an island full of mutants this could have been caused by anyone, but he knew better. Magneto's assumption of his having been in two places at once and their having been brought to their knees, quite literally by a gravity well, only worked to confirm his assumption. Shen was on this island and apparently under the employ of those who'd managed to maintain it. Kuan-Yin wasn't sure how exactly he was to tread upon this information. He hadn't seen his brother in years... quite a few. The two of them had been taken prisoner shortly after the manifestation of their colossal powers. Where Kuan-Yin had manifested a sun for a brain, his twin brother had become a black hole. They were Yin and Yang. But, why was it that HE had been sentenced to live in Feng Tu, where Shen had been given the luxury of living on the Island?

In Paradise?

They could have made paradise together... "Heaven on Earth" he used to say.... if only they'd LET US.

He sprung into action almost immediately at the mention of his brother's name. His star's gravity worked to fight against that of his brother's blackhole. It made sense if one understood that in order to DEFY gravity, one had to simply exert an opposite pull equal to or greater than that of the gravity being exerted on them. However, by the time he managed to wrench himself free of the gravitational pull, the intruders were gone and they were standing by themselves... all but Magneto who had been stripped of his helmet.

"Where is HE!?"

He shouted as he sprang up from the ground almost as though magnets had repelled him from the Earth's surface. Energy rippled from his frame, which he had to reign back in as the device on his arm was starting to strain to stay operative with the electromagnetic interference coming from both he and Magneto. They were alone, but the intruders couldn't have gone far... even with Magneto so close to him, Xorn would be able to track their energy signatures... ESPECIALLY that of his brother, if he'd been able to warp gravity and fire a pulse... Even if they'd thought they could get the best of Magneto, they most CERTAINLY wouldn't make a fool of Kuan-Yin Xorn.

"Lord Magneto... I suggest, if you have a plan of action we execute it immediately. The one responsible for that gravitational warp could pose much more of a threat for this planet if left unchecked.. especially if he is to be our opponent."

Erik didn’t immediately stand like the rest. He knelt on the ground like a child crawling, his head down with his silver hair dangling to the floor. His powers were wildly fluctuating around him, expanding like a balloon only to deflate back to nothing. Scratching his fingers against the floor before balling his fists, he stood, wobbly at first, unable to gain his bearings as teeth gnashed against each other. While the others were standing as fine as could be, he barely heard Chimera’s response about an attack or taunt, and barely recognized Creed even speaking. He noticed Xorn’s immediate question, but his following words were lost. Magneto wasn’t just ignoring others… He was still being attacked.

---------

Appraiser ran, shoving others out of the way. Magneto’s helmet was in her arm, cradled like a newborn. Stripmine was behind her, grunting as he was forced to shove more people out of his way unlike the slender pink-haired woman. Behind him was Shen, apologizing to most of those he may have accidentally knocked into. They ran further and further, Appraiser cursing as she was sure others may have recognized Magneto’s helmet. She should have thought ahead to hide it, but it was too late now. Pass the house Bruiser had toppled and to the outskirts of Hammer Bay, she skidded to a halt in front of a door and shoved it open with a kick.

“Come on, come on,” she urged as Stripmine jumped in and Shen behind him. Appraiser slammed the door shut. “Fuck me like a flamin’ Irishman, you asshole!” Appraiser went to Stripmine and shoved him in the chest. “You didn’t tell me someone like that would be there!” She was livid. She had seen only Magneto, the blonde, and the wet man go in the citadel with confidence. Everyone else she knew to be apart of Genosha, but that man with the helmet?! “Damnit! He could ruin everything!” Appraiser turned and looked at Shen, but the man had remained silent, setting himself upon a mat on the floor and slowly crossing his legs.

“He’s nothing Shen can’t handle,” Stripmine replied, shoving Appraiser’s hand off him. “We did it, now get rid of it!”

“I am masking our trail,” Shen replied. Energy was leaking from his helmet, but that was nothing unusual. “You may expose of the helmet without being found.”

“You better be right about that,” Appraiser sneered to both of them. “Assholes.” Appraiser stomped her way through the room, her jewelry clinking together like the toll of a death march. She shoved her way into another room where a lone woman sat. Her blonde hair was cut short and her frame was deathly still in the plush chair. Appraiser stopped, stared at the woman, and whispered, “Olivia?”

“He’s resisting. I told Bruiser I’d trust the Brotherhood, Appraiser. Don’t make a fool of me!” Olivia was the woman Bruiser had approached to restart the Brain Trust to keep Genosha safe. Even though she lied through her teeth, Olivia knew what it was like to be used. She wouldn’t allow the Brotherhood to use the Brain Trust like the Leper Queen had done. Quite unexpectedly to Appraiser, the blonde woman screamed in pain and dug her fingers into the chair. Olivia’s head snapped forward, chin resting on her chest, and she continued to squirm.

---------

A trickle of blood was running down Erik’s nose, slipping down his lip and filling his mouth with the iron-like taste. He wobbled on his feet again, hand clutching his head, fluctuating his abilities to limit the telepath’s ability to enter his mind. With no helmet and caught off guard, Erik was prone to be attacked. Just like everyone else on Genosha, a telepath’s abilities were equally heightened. With the rare few seconds of being able to think combined with the pain of a telepath attempting to rip his head into pieces, he grunted in acknowledgment what the group was trying to do. Show a god could bleed and they’d cease to be a god. The civilians stood on their feet and witnessed the Brotherhood’s sudden disarray.

If the Brotherhood were attacked and so easily beaten, who could possibly protect Genosha, if not them?

The civilians within the citadel began to cry with the dreadful realization. Erik ignored them, grunting in pain as more blood flowed from his nose. “Find them,” he said, “and stop them.” He couldn’t issue a kill order without being heard. He could barely hear his own voice in his head let alone execute a plan. Wobbling on his feet again, he refused to give in to this telepath! He was Magneto, Master of Magnetism. He only needed a few more moments, enough to gather his energy and wipe out the telepath from a distance. Shivering underneath the strain on his body in keeping the mutant out, he was slowly pinpointing where the telepah was. With the rest of the Brotherhood hopefully out to the stop them, he could eliminate the one who may give them the most trouble.

"Where is HE!?"

What. The. Hell. “Quiet the fuck down, ya damn woman.” Screaming like a damn pussy and Xorn didn’t even have a mouth. Did he even realize how much that grated the ears? With his ionized voice and funny sounds, Xorn’s vocals weren’t exactly the nicest thing to hear every second. Especially with him yelling. Huffing, Sabretooth looked at the crowd, analyzing each and every one of them. Oh yeah, he got the scents of the perpetrators, but somehow, he didn’t have the gung-ho attitude to lead the pack and gut them with a vengeance. Why should he, when someone else could do the work for him by leading him there? Smirking at the thought, his attention turned back to dick-head and “Lord” Magneto.

Magneto wasn’t looking too well, really, with his teeth gnashing and all that. Well tough shit. So the “Lord” had a headache. Rolling his eyes, Creed wasn’t going to put up with any whining. The first person that whined was going to a get a lashing in the form of words, spit, and should the urge arise, claws. Xorn was already dangerously nearing that point. Listening with a quiver of his ears, Sabretooth looked at Xorn. So the dickhead knew who created the energy? Well isn’t that funny. This whole go-out-and-get-‘em thing should be pretty damn easy, right? Creed’s simplistic mind was almost making him think getting the “bad guys” really was going to be easy.

Still, Xorn knew a hell of a lot. Suddenly glaring at the man, Sabretooth took a step closer to the faceless-fuck and pointed a thick, clawed finger in his direction. “Funny how this shit don’t happen until you show up. Now you go off spittin’ at the grates like you know what the fuck is gonna happen. So who the hell are ya and how in the hell do you know so much?” Excuse the feral if he wasn’t the trusting kind, even if someone gave him a fancy-shmancy title of “Lord.” How did he know if Xorn wasn’t responsible, huh? Given what he had seen, Xorn could have easily done something like this. “Bullshit. They took Mags’s helmet, but not yers? Either they’re morons or yer playin’ us. And I don’t like t’be fuckin’ played.”

Chimera picked at her nails idly, bored at the two men getting worked up. The kitty insisted that she was dumb for ever thinking this was a taunt or message and the other one just seemed upset on the whole. She was a little surprised that the cool, collected one there had lost it. He had sprung up with a shout and she was kind of waiting for him to start pacing about in a big fuss. Maybe he and the tabby cat could pace together, forget that they would rather gouge each others' hearts out. Supposing they had those? Earth people had those, she remembered reading up on typical anatomy and the like. Mutants weren't composed of much different. Unless that was a mutant alteration? Mm.

Anyway, Chimera wasn't happy to have been pinned on the ground, but she wasn't about to go on the prowl over it just yet. That was assault? An attack? Invitation to war? It must just be me; I am used to much more forward declarations. Bloody ones.

Upset as he was, the rational guy had a plan if only Magneto would hear him. Magneto's reply wasn't immediate, but Creed's was. A reply of suspicion and accusation. It /was/ pretty convenient timing. It was all good until he showed up and now he seemed to have an idea of who they were dealing with? Aaaand, they only took Magneto's helmet and spared Xorn's. Coincidence? The crude kitty didn't think so. "Maybe they're not interested in you?" she mused in Xorn's general direction.

But what of their fearless leader? There had been no immediate response, no retort. Eyes shifting to Magneto, she beheld him still kneeling and showing no interest in getting up any time soon. She stepped closer, curious. Maybe they'd done more than steal his helmet after all? He was making this face, one she'd been responsible for on so many others. Pain.

And then came the dribbling off blood, nosebleed. A shaky rise to his feet, supreme headache even. What all did that helmet of his do anyway? He was putting on a brave face for his worried public though. Chimera paid the gather Genoshans no attention. His nose really was bleeding quite profusely. "Hm." The alien was the only one lacking any apparent sense of anger or urgency. You'd think the 'attack' really had stopped with the theft of Magneto's helmet.

“Find them,” the man finally managed to order, “and stop them.” Magneto didn't say kill, couldn't, but lucky him! He had people who would automatically take that as a license to kill anyway. Chimera almost confirmed her intentions out loud, but didn't. Not for propriety, she just didn't want to chance him saying something like bring them back alive. The most effective form of 'stop' was 'kill'. Nothing would stop someone in their tracks like death could. Chimera could tell you from years of experience!

And so the cheerful pirate smartly saluted the struggling Master of Magnetism. "Will do!" She started to move in the direction she believed their targets had gone in, but stopped and turned to Sabretooth. "How good is your nose?" The kitty could turn out to be more of a doggie you know.

Perhaps it was his lack of any real sound of emotion in his ionized voice that made the people before him react to his rather ominous warnings with anything but the attention it was due, but Kuan-Yin didn't really care. There wasn't very much a Feral, and Chimera would be able to do (from where he was standing) to stop Shen if he'd really wanted to kill him. Another, thing that stood out to him, right away, was that whoever it was that entered the room to take Magneto's helmet, wasn't Shen. It meant that he was following orders, but the question was: Was it against his will? His thoughts were jostled by the gruff voice of Sabretooth. Did the man ever shut up?

“Quiet the fuck down, ya damn woman.”

He didn't acknowledge the feral, instead he did his best to focus on his plan of action. A black hole wasn't something that they could just run up against or even comprehend trying to disable. Magneto was the only one present who had the sheer power to stand a good fight, but we were talking about a force that could trap light. All the magnetic might in the world wouldn't be enough to reign in the force a black hole could muster.. however, they weren't completely without a way to fight back. The enemy wasn't the only one who had a Xorn.

"Funny how this shit don’t happen until you show up. Now you go off spittin’ at the grates like you know what the fuck is gonna happen. So who the hell are ya and how in the hell do you know so much?”

"It seems you are just as stupid as you look. The rules of simple reconnaissance suggest that they could have been lying in wait spying on the whole lot of you WELL before I showed up. After all, it wasn't me they came after. Besides, if I desired Magneto's helmet I would have no problem taking it from him, myself."

Bold words, but they were truthful. Magneto in all of his masterful manipulation of magnetic energy, couldn't defeat the power of a sun, let alone a black hole. Xorn could fry Magneto before he could even have enough time to blink, and all by simply removing his OWN helmet. There was no need to waste the time in having someone cripple them and then taunt him by stealing an important piece of memorabilia. The fact that Victor Creed would suggest Xorn would waste the energy in executing such a shoddy scheme was just downright insulting.. but it was also another sign... Shen DEFINITELY wasn't the one pulling the strings here. He couldn't really see his brother's need to take a stand against Magneto unless Magneto brought the fight to him.

“Bullshit. They took Mags’s helmet, but not yers? Either they’re morons or yer playin’ us. And I don’t like t’be fuckin’ played.”

"Maybe they're not interested in you?"

Again with the shoddy assumptions of his own prowess.

"I can't imagine it'd be very difficult to "play" one like you. Like I mentioned to you not seconds before this, removing my helmet would have done nothing but kill the whole lot of you and whoever would be foolhardy enough to remove it."

He turned to Chimera, and then (for the first time since standing) took note of Lord Magneto who seemed to have something going on all on his own. He wasn't sure if it'd been caused by the abruptness his fall to the ground, but he knew that it probably had something to do with Xorn.

"No, clearly they knew who they were coming after and the cards are looking to be in their favor. You storm in and topple the only form true stability.. You mustn't be fooled by the grandiose scenery of our environment. Island or not, this is a prison and you all just took out the Warden. It only makes sense that people are going to try to retaliate. THAT isn't a matter that concerns me."

“Find them,”

A glance in Magneto's direction.

"and stop them.."

This was complete foolishness and something needed to be said.


"The reason I know so much about what's going on is because the person responsible for that gravity well is my brother... my TWIN brother. His powers aren't identical to mine but they are very similar in nature. His powers manifested as a quantum singularity in place of his brain... In lamens, it means he now has a black hole for a brain. He could collapse it and swallow this entire planet whole if he so chose. It allows him tremendous control over gravity, he can pull even ambient lightwaves into his blackhole, even distort one's perception of time."

"We were both prisoners of anti-mutant sentiment from the day our powers manifested. I was confined to a prison in China for years to be kept as a weapon and then harvested for body parts, and it seems he was placed here on Genosha for a purpose that escapes me. However, from what I know of my brother, he is not operating as a machination of his own will. It looks as though he's following orders but he is just as ruthless if not as calculating as the most malicious enemy. It would be very unwise to attack him without some form of plan."

"How good is your nose?"

"My brother wears a helmet similar to my own. It is designed to diffuse the dangerous levels of energy he produces so that he doesn't indirectly cause harm to those around him. It's the same principle that allows you to stand before me without being turned to instant slag. You'll want to track the smell of burning ozone."

Erik walked away. Or so he wished he could say. His confident steps were plagued with limbo; his hands rushing to the metallic walls to catch his balance. He wobbled like he was on a capsizing ship, unable to get to his position without a zig-zag of footsteps. Pulsating his abilities to befuddle the intruder in his mind, his attention was split into three segments: One, to prevent himself from falling underneath telepathic assault; two, to find the person responsible and attack them from a distance; three, to get to the meeting room where he could have some peace and quiet. Several Genoshans rushed to his aide, but he waved them away, knowing they’d do nothing except get in his way. He made it to the circular table and collapsed his body weight forward.

Hands fell on the table; spit gleamed from his lips as a trail of drool fell to the metallic surface. There was no way to describe what he felt except knives tearing at his skull, trying to dig deeper and deeper into his gray matter. The blades were nearly plucking at the other end of his skull, threatening to find its wanted source as Erik wildly began to fluctuate his powers. The assault receded, but only momentarily. It was a respite Magneto didn’t have time to relish in as his awareness of the situation went further. Not only was there a battle of will, but a battle of cat and mouse. Erik was searching for the person, expanding his abilities like a ship’s radar. He could only go so far until the assault on his mind enhanced, forcing him to fight back to keep the ground he gained while attempting to find an opening to allow his powers to go further.

The silence of the room was helping him. He wished he could think as to what the intruders had done with his helmet, but he could barely think about walking let alone ponder where his belonging went. Hoping he could trust those he ordered to stop the thieves, Erik’s fingers dug deep into the table. Literally. The metallic surface was parting away underneath his fingertips the wilder he fluctuated his powers. Soon enough he was gripping portions of the table like handlebars, squeezing them as if to force himself to focus. The blades were meticulously chipping away again and again. Erik hoped he could last long enough to find the person and destroy them before the others found them.

Sabretooth glared toward Xorn once he finished his response on Creed’s accusation. Call him paranoid, but he didn’t like the way Xorn said he could take Magneto’s helmet at any time. Not even Victor went around gloating about how bad-ass he was. He just did things that made him bad-ass. But Xorn, he talked game, but didn’t show one piece of it. Raising his middle finger toward Xorn, he ignored the trash-head as he turned his attention to Chimera. Now he knew she acted excited about getting to hurt someone. Squinting at her, that was quite the revelation. While Victor wasn’t about to side-step to the woman and spank her on the ass to rev up her blood thirst, he did let his canine’s show in amusement. There was a “fuck yeah” on his lips, but he contained himself and turned completely toward Xorn. There were words ionizing the air. Creed heard them and barely listened until he aimed to interrupt the living motor-mouth.

“Shut the fuck up! Ain’t no one here interested in listenin’ to yer motherfucking history!”

"How good is your nose?"

Creed would have answered, but God, the man kept talking. All Creed heard was, “Blahblahblah.” Fuck this shit. Xorn could stand there and keep talking to himself. Magneto said find them and stop them not Xorn should stand around and give a spiel about his life and everyone should fucking group hug afterward. Done talking to the lot of them, even as Magneto walked off, Creed pushed his way through the crowd and collapsed to all fours. He sped away, hands and feet launching him through Genosha, ignoring those who screamed for him to watch himself as he dove further into Hammer Bay. There were too many God damn mutants in this place, especially with ones that could mess up his senses. But he had a lock on a certain scent. He didn’t care about any fucking burning ozone and the scent of bourbon. He cared for the scent of fear.

He followed the trail the lone bitch gave. Creed was at least smart enough to snap on the belt Erik had given him before he took off running. Narrowing his amber eyes in focus, he picked up his speed, claws scraping into the surface for better traction as the scent died off. No other way but through the house they were in, right? Beginning to laugh with the thrill of adrenalin pumping in his veins, Creed leaped, tore through the air and flexed his muscles to slam into a window and rip it from its holding. But much to his surprise, he was expected, and a blur of green slammed into him from the side. He was sent skidding in a ball of yellow, brown, and green before his feet found purchase in the lizard-like Mellencamp’s gut as he pushed the beast off of him. Claws raked at his legs, but the wounds were ignored as Creed launched again.

Claws dug into Mellencamp’s chest and Creed leaned down, sniffing the scent of fear. “Time to die, midget-shit.” Nah, Creed wasn’t going to kill him. But it was fun to see the lizard-man trickle out piss.

OOC: Stripmine, Xorn, and the telepath are in the house still. Feel free to NPC ‘em as ya need, and feel free to do whatever with the house they’re in.

Chimera was no longer suspicious of Xorn's involvement, but rather wondered why he'd arrived here at all. He didn't seem to think much of anyone, perhaps didn't care for what had been done here, and proclaimed himself as most powerful. She'd question whether Creed got along with anyone, but this 'Xorn'... Maybe he's the type only moved by power. Xorn, that is. Mr. Kitty was likely the sort that couldn't be moved by anything. If you were powerful, he'd think you were going to try and rule him with it. If you actually did beat him in a 'fair fight', he'd probably get mad and just come after you until he managed to kill you. If you lost..well, that's kind of going against the point.

There was just no winning with the tabby cat. Oh! Except if you had a nice body. Mr. Kitty seemed to like her appearance. Or her breasts? Her hair color? Did she count as attractive here on Earth? She'd been to places where the standards of attraction varied and changed by vast measures, so it was hard to tell sometimes. Or maybe she was just appealing to him? Not like she could strip and see how Xorn or Magneto would react. Well she could, but Chimera had the distinct feeling that it'd offend their noble senses long before she could get a decent read on what they thought of her physically. Eh..who cared anyway? It wouldn't help her at the moment anyway...right?

Anyway, it seemed Xorn was the moved by power type. Defeat him or something and you had his respect. Which, hearing him talk, would be impossible as, allegedly, no one else could compare to his amplified power. The strawberry-blonde tagged and filed away the comment about freeing an island of criminals. Perhaps that was the incorrect interpretation of his analogy, but that's how the female alien was taking it. She also tagged the stability comment. He called that tortured slavery...true stability? She wondered if these people would agree. Maybe we should ask! If they hadn't liked /her/ comments earlier, she would love to their personal thoughts on that.

Xorn also gave them a history lesson/explanation. One of the culprits was his twin brother, who - she'd admit - had a very solid power. They had been separated at some point and he didn't know why that was or what his brother was to be doing here on Genosha. His brother wasn't leading, allegedly, but he'd be a pain to deal with so they needed some plan. "If things are you say, a plan won't help us by much. They must be expecting retaliation and," gesture to Magneto, "we don't have that kind of time. They're waiting." Or she was too impatient, whatever. A green painted mouth formed a pretty smile. Pretty if you were into the mentally disturbed, but who could tell that from a smile? ...heh. "We shouldn't disappoint them."

Mr. Kitty didn't care for any of the talk and took off just as Magneto had, but faster. He had a scent? Great! Well, he hadn't said so, but surely he wasn't going for a leisurely stroll. He'd been so wound up about this 'attack' thingie, so of course he'd go hunt them down regardless. "See you there!" He didn't seem pleased. Chimera shrugged. "Or not." She assumed Xorn would make a decision and summoned Midori to the physical realm. "Let's go have some fun Midori!" She climbed aboard and had Midori follow the running Sabretooth. He had an interesting travel mode..all fours? She smirked.

Coming to the house, Chimera licked her lips in anticipation.

"Midori..I smell blood.." It made her smile. Chimera walked about the house as though a passing visitor curiously peeking around a friend's new home. Or a tourist in a museum. What would she find in here? What secrets..what technology would they have cast about? Maybe it was a big trap and there'd be am exciting explosion! Chimera wandered some more..until she hit the jackpot. Now Chimera had a mission - find the telepath and stop them. Kill him/her/them. Fine, sounded like fun.

But how could she possibly do this when there was this delicious looking fellow in here! Long dark hair, a promising-looking physique, and - oh! - he had an interesting-looking piece of weaponry right on his hand. He had a rugged appearance..powerful. He was pretty hot. Oh..but he didn't look happy to see her. Nope, those piercing emerald eyes were zeroed in on her, just like that gauntlet he had on. You know he was kind of holding it up like a gun...

The hole decorating the wall that she'd been standing in front of confirmed that much. Couldn't identify what exactly he'd shot out though. "Aw, so you only want to fight like this? I was hoping we could have a different kind of fun." A disgruntled 'are you serious?' look was her reward. "Why are you looking at me like that? I was serious you know." Another blast, which she artfully dodged, and she still couldn't quite name what she was being shot at with. Or her opponent, couldn't name him either.

I'll work on that. Tsk, it was a real shame that he was supposed to die. Maybe she could just keep him tied up on her ship...

Creed pulled his fist and slammed it upon lizard-man’s head. The mutant’s skull ricocheted off the cement with a sickening crack as the more-animal-than-man went slack. Pushing himself to his feet, Creed looked at the house, no longer feeling the urge to barrel in. He no longer had speed on his side to slam himself into a window and rebound without any physical detriments. His skin finally sewed itself shut from Mellencamp’s assault. Rolling his head, amber eyes darted to Chimera’s position, and Victor found himself raising an eyebrow. Where the fuck does he find these shits? Where was the fun of just striding right into the house as if she owned it? No destruction? No roars of delight? Sabretooth wasn’t sure if he was impressed or annoyed. It’d been so long since he’d be impressed by anything, he decided he was feeling “annoyed.”

Truthfully, the annoyance came from preacher-boy not popping up like the savior he acted like he was. Xorn the almighty was too busy seeing how much further he could shove his thumb his ass. Now Creed felt impressed with himself. That was a pretty damn good analogy! Grinning, a raw laugh left his lips, just as a hole appeared in the house. Huh, so much for grand entrances. Kicking Mellencamp out of way, the green man flew into the air and rolled to a halt as Creed stepped into the opening. Some guy with green eyes faced against Chimera. Whoopy-de-shit. Minus the second hole he put in the wall, he figured blondie could deal with it. Sniff. “Helmet’s not here,” Creed said as if the pirate-man was already dead and nothing was left to fight against him. Oh he knew there were two others—Xorn 2 and some chick in the back—but meh, whatever.

Creed glanced down at the meditating Xorn 2. He rolled his eyes at the other lumpy penis head of a helmet and walked into the next room. A woman was in a chair, grabbing the arm rests as if she could tear them into two. Looked like to him she didn’t even notice he was around. Raising a hand as his claws flashed in the light, he approached the woman and purposely placed his crotch against the woman’s leg as he “slid” down and knelt. Distraction in place as the woman looked at him with bloodshot eyes, Creed smiled. She had the opening to kick him in the junk, but somehow, Creed knew, the woman wasn’t in the state-of-mind to do so. Creed slashed as blood spewed from the woman’s neck, but in front of his eyes, the wound healed and the woman kept living.

“Fuck,” was the only word he could say as he saw lumpy-penis head approach behind the chair. The man’s helmet was glowing as if he was responsible in healing the woman. Xorn 2, apparently, didn’t like violence, as a massive burst of energy lifted Creed from his feet and slammed him to create yet another hole in the house. Funny thing was, Creed was no longer Creed at the moment. While miraculously his belt was still in one piece and functional, Sabretooth’s entire front side was nearly slag, burnt to a crisp. He landed on the ground in a whump and barely twitched a leg as he fell silent.

The house now barely stood on its foundation.

((OOC: Don't know if this is okay or not; yell at me for edits if I'm messing up some plan I don't know about!))


Creed was joyously trampling his opponent. She guessed that he didn't have the benefit of an attractive opponent! Unfortunate, and worse..it appeared that there wasn't much of a challenge going on for the bloodthirsty feral. Personally, outside of the fact that she'd really rather do much more enjoyable things with him, Chimera was a-okay with her opponent. Well, that and the fact that Mr. Pretty Green Eyes was in fact quite intent upon killing her. He'd made some sort of hand gesture or something a second ago. She didn't quite know what it meant, but it likely wasn't anything pleasant.

The strawberry blonde was right and - tada! - a pair of new meals arrived. She addressed them as meals because she was a little hungry and so was the ever-faithful Midori. Chimera could tell her dragon friend was quite famished as, just minutes after being summoned, Midori went about biting one minion's head off. Chomp, chomp, chew..ah..Midori must not have liked it. The shredded remains of the head were on the floor. "Midori! You shouldn't be wasteful or play with your food - it's considered rude." Right? That was rude on this planet. Maybe considered as an indirect slight to those who didn't have the benefit of food to eat. Minion #2 was looking between herself and Midori, apparently deciding that she was off her rocker. Chimera could tell because she'd gotten that look many times before and, sometimes, the person would manage to tell her why they were giving her that look. And then they'd die.

Minion #2 went down in a wild tackle that, from the sounds of it, broke a lot of critical things. Midori, rather than see if this one would taste better than the last, had opted to just break him instead. You're useless when most of the bones in your body are broken right? Between the walls of this place and the force behind Midori's train impersonation, Chimera supposed that was the end of the line for the minions. She called them that, minions, because Mr. Hotness there didn't seem too concerned. In fact, he didn't seem particularly concerned about anything. Not mad, not panicking - nada. Maybe he was annoyed because of she was fighting seriously either. Maybe he was frustrated because he actually did want to have some 'fun', but couldn't because it'd look bad to his teammates or was really dedicated to his cause. ...whatever that cause happened to be..

Or it could be because, as Creed just found out, the helmet wasn't here. Even so, shouldn't he be worried about dying or about Creed reaching the troublesome telepath? Apparently as, again, poor Creed had just found out. Creed and the rest of the house and everything and everyone in it. There was a charge in the air, the smell of ozone, blood, and burning flesh. Wild as she was, the smell of burning flesh is really nasty you know? And ozone? Not the freshest of scents either. She didn't mind blood, not at all. She even liked it on some weird level, but all of that was drowned out under the rest of it.

Who was burning? Midori swooped by to block a shot from the guy - she really needed to figure out his name. "Do you have a name? I keep calling you these various names that you might not like in my head." His expression said he was gauging her seriousness; asking something like that after what'd just happened. Chimera remained where she was, expectant. With an air of slightly disbelieving exasperation, he gave it to her. "Stripmine." Her mind tore it apart. She heard 'strip' = fun and 'mine' = of course he is. "Does your ally know that you're still in this house? He'll kill you all with that sort of output," she said. 'You' all, not 'us'. You. Stripmine corrected her, saying that she'd die too. Chimera smiled. "You think I'll still be here by the time it comes to that." And leave her teammate? "Team? I am not aligned with the Brotherhood."

Blank look. Maybe he didn't believe her. She'd come here for the helmet after all. Chimera shrugged. "Believe what you want," she chirped. He'd likely be resistant to her tearing his soul to pieces, maybe his mind was susceptible. And the element of surprise always helped. She smiled slightly as Yume materialized on the plane of minds, astrally. Midori, ready to feign an attack on the physical plane, was all anyone would see. Oh, unless that telepath wasn't too busy. Oh..but I don't really want him to die. Be nice Yume! Assuming all went well, Midori would work as a decoy and Yume would just gently...cause a damaging ruckus in Stripmine's mind. No killing intent or goal of turning him into a vegetable. He would be, however, out of action for some time while his mind tried to cope with the 'violation'. Pending no interference, he'd crumple to the ground with a little twitching. Good call, she thought in congratulations to herself. Stripmine, indeed, would have posed a problem if she'd tried to shred his soul. He wouldn't have died outright, but the existence thereafter wouldn't be much of one. As it stood, he might have some memory problem from here on out..might need some psychic assistance to fully come out of what Yume had done.

She nudged him with her foot. "Ah Yume..you were too rough. He better not die from this." She had to figure out a way to keep him. He'd make a lovely accessory on her ship. <3 Her plasma wraiths would keep him trapped company. She'd try it now, but there was some guy around and the ever-lingering sensation of paranoia was starting to rise in levels within her again. That guy..Xorn's twin brother, right? He was going to be every bit the problem that Xorn said he'd be. She was standing on the scene of a woman who didn't look so good in a chair, Xorn's twin standing, and Creed..not. Or what was left of Creed. She couldn't even probably describe the mess that was Creed's front side right now. It wasn't anything nice. Bleh.

"Oh..you must be Xorn's twin..ah..oh. He didn't say a name so I'll call you Xorn #2, okay?" Speaking of which, Xorn was quite absent. Must have opted not to come along without a plan in mind. Or maybe he just didn't want to? "Hm, he'd seemed really 'excited' about seeing you, but maybe he changed his mind. He seemed...concerned," she said. So 'concerned' was the wrong word in this context, but why argue semantics? The alien pirate was doing pretty good for using a radically foreign language right?

Chimera's eyes drifted over to the vulnerable woman in the chair, to Creed, and then to Xorn #2. Obviously, that lady was the source of Magneto's suffering - not that she looked completely at ease either. And Xorn #2 was her bodyguard. Glance to Creed - a very effective bodyguard with the benefit of the amplification barrier on deck. Oh..but was he powerful enough to reach even to planes beyond this one? Reaching out to the different energies of this realm was one thing, even feeling them and the disturbances there was just one thing. But what of others? If she had a dragon on the Astral Plane, would he know? Could he do something? If she left one on the default of the spiritual plane, what then?

Experiment time. Chimera called for Yume again, but with a different activity in mind. She sent the dragon towards the woman while on the spiritual plane, with every intent to eat right through her soul. Failing that, to cause as much damage as possible. Failing that, distracting her from her task long enough buy Magneto the time to do what he had to do. Meanwhile, Midori loomed on the physical plane, investigating Creed. Then Midori wandered over to a now-motionless Stripmine.

"Don't eat him Midori; he's not food." You'd think that the dragon was giving disobeying some thought, what with the pause of motionlessness. The way that Chimera talked to the dragon could, at least, make one think that these were sentient beings of some sort that Chimera summoned via some sort of sorcery or something. Not so! She was just..ah..well, it's a mystery why she interacts with them in such a fashion. Perhaps she truly believes that these are individuals that understood her words and reacted. Or was it an elaborate rouse that she never got tired of?

After a few seconds, the dragon moved to drag Stripmine a 'safe' distance away. What? She really did intend to take him you know. And if she couldn't have him, well then she was just going to have to go about killing him. Tch, it'd be such a waste, but that's how it goes! Another dragon was summoned to Chimera's side and, materializing on the physical plane, faced Xorn #2. "What is it that you want with Magneto? Is this some overkill measure to get the Brotherhood to leave? Kill the leader and they'll all go?" She didn't really sound upset or concerned about it. "There are faster ways you know." Where was the viciousness? The blood lust? The action? The attack, kill, die?? Chimera wasn't stupid. She lived and breathed war; attacking this man head on would be a mistake. Plus, this house couldn't really take much more it seemed. And honestly, she did kind of want to know if the object of all this was to get the Brotherhood to leave.

"Oh..or maybe this isn't it?" They took a helmet and were mentally bombing Magneto. But only some of the Brotherhood was around. Were there more members to this crew running around looking for the others? Causing trouble elsewhere? She tilted her head and smiled. If you could call it a smile. "A diversion?" Hm. "Maybe that's where your brother went then, to head that off. I wonder." Stoic one, this guy. He was so uncooperative. And was that lady dead or distracted yet? She had things to do!

Stay on guard, stay on guard, he'll roast you! Or whatever he just did to Creed. Xorn said, Xorn said! Why are you even staying here? Take your loot and go like you always do! This place is about to fall apart; this not what you came to Earth for! These thoughts ran on repeat through her mind without cease. Good thing she excelled at multitasking.

Creed was cursing age inappropriate slander as he lay on the ground. His muscles twitched where they were blackened to a crisp, forcing more pain to ring in his mind. There were times Sabretooth allowed the pain to get to him, but there were times he was imaging such horrific things that pain was pointless. He was going to rip Xorn’s head off his shoulders—the guy couldn’t live if his whatever-the-hell-he-had for a head wasn’t attached to his body, right? He’d pluck a disc from Xorn's spine, snap it into splinters, and pick his teeth with it. Then he’d grab a rib, gnaw it down to a fine point, and dig out Xorn’s stomach to toss at someone like a water balloon. The heart, the kidney, even the prostate had events reserved just for them as Creed’s body slowly but surely started to heal.

As his ears finally started to hear things again, he heard some sort of battle take place in the house still. At least Blondie was still going at it. Feeling was slowly starting to come where his nerves were fried. He heard footsteps—dainty footsteps as if someone was afraid to walk, coming toward him and the house. They were nearing his body and he lay as still as a stone. They said something—Creed didn’t care what it was. All he knew was when the foot neared his head, his eyes flashed open, his claws dug into the ankle, and the girl screamed. Bones shattered underneath his grip and pulled the girl toward him, hugging her into a bear hug as his cracked skin bled on her clothes. Her rump was wiggling against his pelvic area as she tried to free herself. He in turn tried speaking, something sexual in content, but only a satisfied gurgle bubbled up blood.

He had the pink haired woman in his grasp that stole Erik's helmet. Imagine that. He recognized her by her scent now that his nose was working. Smelling his own burning flesh was mildly revolting, but the disgust was replaced with satisfaction in knowing Xorn couldn’t try the same trick twice with troll feet in his arms. Loud suctioning noises echoed in his ears as skin popped back into place. Finally he bared his fangs and laughed. “Harder,” he howled. “Harder! [i]HARDER[/b]!” He was grinding against her on purpose, hearing her screams of horror before another pair of light footsteps came toward him.

-----

"I must deal with your friend," Xorn stated to Chimera as she subtly spoke about his brother.

-----

Dilated eyes turned to Xorn. The man’s helmet glowed again. Sabretooth had just enough time to say, “Fuck,” before another wave of heat crushed over him. This time, it wasn’t as bad. The woman blocked most of the blow as her blackened body sizzled on top of him.

Damn. The man was willing to kill his own people. Creed was dancing on the brim of unconscious again.

-----

Xorn walked back into the house again, just as the woman in the chair he aimed to protect thrust her head back and screamed due to an invisible attack by the blonde. Xorn ignored the scream and sat down on the ground, meditating again.

He sat silent, listening to the enemy's questions, but answering none of them. She was speaking about her brother again. While his helmet wisped out smoke at the mention of the other Xorn, he ignored his feelings and cleared his "mind." He would not betray the others of speaking ill toward them after killing one of them. This was to be his penance; silence in the wake of chaos, purity against his transgressions.

------

A few moments passed as Sabretooth spread his hands out as if he was being crucified and allowed his body to heal. He didn’t pay attention to any other battle sounds. He was, in truth, rather disappointed. He was all aroused and didn’t have anything to play with anymore. Blinking as the odd sensation of his eyebrows growing back interrupted his thoughts, he slowly lifted himself to sit up. He looked at the house, still outside of it, furrowing his still darkened brow. The place was getting ready to come down. Might as well help it, right? At least he’d get some damn kick out of it. Plucking the charred body from his stomach, he flexed his muscles and threw it into the wall. It burst into ash, hardly doing a thing to dent it.

Lazily getting to his feet, his stumbled back into the house, claws clumsily slicing against walls as he kept his balance. He saw Xorn and Chimera. He stopped at a support beam still intact and doing its job. He smiled at Chimera. "I'm bored." His claws splintered the wood and down came the house, cradle and all.

Someone was coming, but she didn't feel that weird, prickly feeling that made her thoughts go on overdrive (e.g. paranoia courtesy of her powers trying to tell her someone was planning something bad for her). She could tell because she had telepathy. Very weak, nothing you'd be wary of, but enough to help her out sometimes. And egg on her mental instability. Maybe she was better off without it? In any case, Chimera opted to ignore whoever was coming. Midori would protect her anyway..assuming Midori was actually paying attention--!! "Hey!" she called over. The dragon froze. "I told you he is not food, /not/ food. If you eat him, you'll be very sorry Midori." Geez, that Midori..weird, since Midori was usually the reasonable and responsible one out of the two of them. Hmph.

There was a ruckus coming from where Sabretooth's roasting cor--oh, look at that! He wasn't dead after all. Chimera was simultaneously fascinated and repulsed. All that screaming from some person and..what was Creed doing? It looks like he's..humping her? Something that was usually associated with the 'dog' creatures of this planet, but there Creed was..just humping away. Really enjoying it. Probably not as much fun for that girl there, if her shrieking was any indication. Creed had a shield from Xorn #2 and someone to jag off on. The girl had what had previously seemed to be a corpse suddenly rise up, grab her, and hump away as Creed's body sewed itself back together again. Ugh..the smell of reforming internal organs - that was just nasty. Death in reverse. Of all things, that was what actually disturbed Chimera. Seeing the dead, or near-dead as it turned out, 'return to life'. It was wrong.

"I must deal with your friend," Xorn #2 said solemnly. Meh, he hadn't said a word and that was all he had to stated to say to her now. He was one of those quiet types. Tch.

Seemed Creed was wrong about having a shield. Not that the girl got away or anything. No, she was screaming right up until Xorn #2 fried her and Creed. Again. Creed, that is. Fried Creed again. The only purpose the girl served was to make it a little less severe. Not that it helped the smell. Bleh. Xorn #2 returned just as Chimera's ploy hit gold. The lady in the chair hadn't been doing so hot to begin with and with Yume ripping her apart on another plane, well, it just wasn't a good day. Surprisingly, Xorn #2 wasn't alarmed. Didn't even react or try to fry Chimera, who'd been bracing herself. No..he just sat down on the floor of the weakened house. Was that smoke? No, she must be imagining it.

Outside the house, Creed's body was pulling itself together again. Chimera was puzzling over her..ah..well they seemed to just be hanging out here. Maybe he really was doing something else, he had that helmet.. Tch, men of Earth and their helmets.. Speaking of, where was Magneto's helmet? All this fuss and they still didn't have it. Chimera was getting ready to ask - not that Xorn #2 would answer she bet - as Creed stumbled back in. "You're a persistent one, aren't you?" And he had that nifty self-healing ability to help that aspect of himself along.

"I'm bored." It was poor warning for what came next. Mr. Kitty had said that after giving her what she assumed was a smile before wrecking the house. Well, he wrecked a key structural point, and /that/ wrecked the already-teetering house. Lucky her, Yume was done with the woman in the chair and had rushed into the physical plane and over the short remaining distance to shield her. Midori dutifully protected Chimera's staked 'loot', Stripmine. Well, assuming that Xorn #2 hadn't moved to protect what remained of that mystery woman in the chair, she had to be dead now. But that was only half of the point.

"Hey, where's the helmet?" It didn't really matter who answered. "Your charge is dead; is there a point to you not giving it up now? Oh, unless you don't know." It wasn't a taunt; she really was considering that he didn't know, that his only task had been to sit here with this woman. Helmets, helmets - maybe Xorn #2 wanted the helmet for himself. Something new. Well she wanted Stripmine for herself, but she was stuck.. Stuck? Chimera paused to herself. Since when was she stuck? Why? For Magneto? What she'd said was truth; she hadn't joined the Brotherhood. So what obligation do I have to stay here instead of something else? Something fun? Something I actually want to do..for /me/. Chimera never claimed that she wasn't selfish. And just like that, thoughts of an abrupt A.W.O.L seized the alien woman's mind. But what to do? Earth was such foreign territory.. She'd think of something, and when she did... Heh.

Maybe Creed could officially call himself dumb now. While Chimera managed to shield herself with her whatever-the-fuck she controlled, Sabretooth was pummeled with debris, brick, and wooden beams alike. He groaned underneath the rubble, and waited for his strength to return before digging himself out. What little he did see, however, was Xorn sitting cross-legged, floating above the ground with debris orbiting his body as if he was the sun. Growling underneath his breath, what didn’t the shit-face just fucking die? It’d make Sabretooth’s life so much easier. Flexing muscles, he realized something tore into his arm, making it useless. Muttering, he flexed his good arm to give himself enough slack to move around.

"Hey, where's the helmet?" Xorn didn’t answer. He was still in his self-induced penance. Creed only grunted in response. "Your charge is dead; is there a point to you not giving it up now? Oh, unless you don't know."

“Then torture him,” Creed said, pushing a large chunk of plaster off his body. He stood, matted in blood and sweat while glancing at his arm where a wooden stake pierced his bicep. He grasped the stake and ripped it out of his flesh, leaving a large, gaping hole in its wake. “Dumb shit knows something, so use yer powers and fucking rip it out of him.” Some people just didn’t think straight. Why ask questions when tortured people would so easily scream out the answers to begin with? Creed had lost a few people that way—you know, torturing people to death. He might have failed in what answers he wanted, but at least he had fun. Sabretooth grinned. Real fun. Like this one time, at band camp, he met some chick who played the flute. She managed to slap him in public once--he wanted to know why. The rest was history, messy, and bloody. Very bloody. Who knew the vagina could split like that?

Xorn dropped the debris and continued floating, leaving Creed to look at him with a roll of his eyes. Victor didn’t have an answer as to where the helmet went. Everyone was accounted for, right? He smelled two distinct people at the citadel. One, he assumed, Chimera had dealt with. The other Creed rode long enough to see her burned to death. Some chick in a chair had to be dead now, and that left only Xorn. Though the more he thought about it, the pink-haired chick did just come out of nowhere. He turned to where she came from, realized how close they were to the shore, and mumbled underneath his breath. “We got two choices here. We piss off the strongest ass-hat on this island, or we go that way,” throwing a thumb over his shoulder, “where pink-haired bitch came from. Yer call. I’m done makin’ decisions.

He didn’t care which way Chimera decided—or what she did with Xorn. Kill him or leave him, her call.

While she managed to protect herself, and her treasure, Creed took yet another hit of debris. Xorn #2, of course, remained completely unharmed. Chimera made very important notes from all of this. Sabretooth didn't like to dodge, but it didn't seem to matter with that very handy ability to heal himself up. And it was a really strong, impressive ability too. He wasn't just splinters over here. He'd been cooked from the inside out, blasted through, and buried under tons of debris. And every time, he survived. He either laid there or sort of wiggled about in faux death throws until his body healed. He wasn't just persistent, or a glutton for punishment, he was just very hard to kill.

She asked about the helmet, adding that it kind of didn't matter at this point. It was just a matter of time and it'd save so /much/ time if he'd just say where it was. Predictably, Xorn #2 opted to say nothing. She dismissed the notion of him not being able to hear her. Chimera knew when she was being ignored, though it didn't happen often. Hard to ignore someone that was trying to kill you. That tactic didn't seem wise in this case. Creed suggested torture. The strawberry blonde turned to the feral, eyebrow raised. "And how do we do that?" Creed ought to know, first hand, why that was a bad idea.

“Dumb shit knows something, so use yer powers and fucking rip it out of him.” Subtlety and tact were clearly not terms in this guy's vocabulary. She could stand here and tell him why that wasn't going to work out for someone who didn't have a healing factor or amplified powers, but got the feeling that it would only sound like an excuse. A weak one. She didn't fancy being called weak, knew it'd provoke something nasty inside of her and she had better things to do. More fun things to do. Speaking of which, this was no longer amusing and her momentary interest in seeing how this played out was waning fast. Her enthusiasm had waned ages ago, see how non-violent she was being? Reasonable even? Those were the signs of a Chimera that had lost interest in favor something else. That something else was laying just a short distance away, protected by the ever-faithful Midori.

“We got two choices here. We piss off the strongest ass-hat on this island, or we go that way,” -- “where pink-haired bitch came from. Yer call. I’m done makin’ decisions." What decisions? Decisions that nearly got him killed? Maybe he can't be killed. That supreme self-healing could be something else.. For some reason, Chimera was more put-off by the idea of immortality or auto-resurrection. Wrong; it was wrong. You're supposed to die and stay buried. Or unburied depending on the situation. Either way, it was the end of the story, end of the line. Done. Over.

No do-overs!

Sabretooth appeared unconcerned either way. She was supposed to choose? It felt like a trap. She'd choose something and he'd lean the other way, instigating an argument. A fight. That was the paranoia talking, but who was going to inform the alien pirate of that? Chimera mentally duked it out with herself a while longer before choosing. It didn't take all that long really. "Well if the pink-haired one has helmet," because Xorn #2 clearly didn't, "then we should obviously go after her and be done with it." Creed had had some poor pink-haired female in his grasp earlier had he not? She must have gotten away...why didn't he take the freaking helmet right then?! Her eyes narrowed. Ugh! So pointless.

"Midori, bring him with us." Him, being Stripmine, her 'loot'. Xorn #2 didn't seem to care, no one was around to stop it, and Stripmine was kind of drooling a little still. Midori had definitely been too rough with him. She hoped her friend hadn't made him into a vegetable... Midori dutifully picked up the mutant's limp body and followed Chimera as she started walking in the direction that Creed had indicated.

He had come. With his cape billowing around him and his silver tresses fluttering about, he was like an angel falling from the sky. His wings were his powers and his halo was a sign of a missing helmet. He landed in near perfection on the rubble of the fallen house. A scowling face looked at Chimera, looked at Sabretooth, then looked at the second Xorn. Magneto had the mind to rip the man’s vertebrate from his flesh and toss it out to sea, but that was a darker side he wasn’t allowed to show. In truth, he tried to fight such strong urges. He didn’t deal well with people who attacked him or his Brotherhood. Erik noticed another body amongst the chaos, one Chimera seemed particularly fond of as she ordered her “dragon” to take the man.

Keeping Xorn in his sights, Magneto flung his cape away from his arms and trekked across the rubble. “It was taken to the seaside.” He wasn’t aware of what Sabretooth and Chimera already suspected, but he had tracked his helmet once the telepathic woman was disposed of. He could have ripped his possession from where stood at his citadel, but he needed to come in person. He needed to be here to see with his own eyes who he thought he sensed. A Hellion was the last person he’d ever suspect of sensing. Perhaps an X-Man, perhaps an Acolyte, but never, ever, a member of the former Hellions. Walking past those who might have stood in his path, he walked further, motioning for the others to follow, and navigated the land as it dipped into a shore line.

Sand crunched underneath his boots. He stopped in the middle of the small beach, glancing at the sea beyond. Once his Brotherhood members gathered, he spoke only a simple command. “Expose yourself.” And expose themselves they did. They came in the shape of a black cloud that seeped from behind them like a flying snake. They twirled around the Brotherhood in a spiral before the end struck the sand. Slowly the thin line began to create a shape—a man—by the time it’s head was completed. The second had formed beside it, its shape more petite and slender. It was only when he realized that the second form was wearing a cloak did he realize her form was complete.

“We only intended to borrow it,” the woman said with a touch of a smile. Even now Erik could hear the faint traces of a French accent. She produced the helmet from underneath her cloak, holding it in both of her hands. Erik’s eyes swept toward the first figure, his body whirling and twirling like the blackest of smoke from fires. “You can have it back now.” She tossed the helmet up. Erik caught it in his gloved hands. By the time he turned back toward the woman, she had reached into her cloak again. Magneto once more turned his eyes onto the first figure.

“What is the meaning of this, Tarot?”

Pink lips smiled. The woman raised her hands to take off her hood, exposing long red hair and a medallion on her forehead with a large eye in the center of it. “You let one of the guards escape. Specifically, Mystique and Pyro. She notified the U.S. government, and now,” Tarot twisted her lips, “now Mystique has to pay for her error in judgment. Chimera and Sabretooth did their jobs well. You should congratulate them. For what little its worth, Xorn won’t bother you anymore.”

“A word of advice, Master of Magnetism." The first being began to disperse, shifting Tarot and itself into a cloud. “You should never send an operative alone when the Mutinels still stand.” The being known as Smoke and Tarot disappeared into a fine black mist and moved out to sea without even the slightest disturbance to the island's magnetic barrier Erik created himself.

Magneto stood in silence, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves before facing the Brotherhood members. What was that about? A sign that they could bypass his defenses? Erik clenched his jaw and twirled around. “I trust they’ve all been punished, except for Xorn and him." He swept a hand toward Chimera’s prize. “You’re free to do what you please.” He slid his helmet back onto his head, too much information swirling in his head to figure out. “Thank you for the assistance.”

OOC: Magneto will stick around should anyone want to talk to him. If not, this’ll be his exit post.

How in the hell was he supposed to know how Chimera could torture someone? Be creative, he should have said. He settled with an eye roll. He could come up with hundreds of ways Chimera could torture Xorn. There were plenty of pressure points on a person’s body. Sure Xorn could heal, probably, but blondie had that weird power she could do at a distance. Some beast thing she kept ordering around like a bad puppy. Still, despite the excitement, this was ending up to be a rather dull day back on the job. Sure some people died, but there was nothing here to keep Victor’s interest. Everything was done, and Creed was waiting (impatiently) for Chimera to make her decision.

Finally Chimera made her decision to head to the coastline, but oh… Magneto had come. Exciting, yet? Not really. Creed and Chimera did all the work while Erik sat back and came out once it was all over and done with. Fucking typical of the man. He could see nothing had changed with the Brotherhood. With half a mind to walk away from the event and go find a mutie bar to try and get shit-faced at, he trudged behind Magneto, muttering underneath his breath, ‘No fuck it was taken to the seaside.’ Before long, Erik called out some hidden people and they emerged like smoke. Creed sniffed. He didn’t smell smoke. He barely even caught the smaller form’s personal scent. If they weren’t smoke, what in the hell were they?

Erik and “Tarot” had a back and forth, and Creed casually raised an eyebrow. Pyro and Mystique let someone escape? Those two fuckers were still around too? Creed smiled, flashing his canines. He couldn’t wait to jump in Raven’s face and expose what a moron she was in letting a guard escape to contact the government. There weren’t many times he could see that woman truly riled up. Anyways, Tarot took out Erik’s helmet and tossed it back to him. That was a bit… odd, even for Creed. He sniffed again, checking for the typical poisons and crap that might be on the helmet. He didn’t smell anything noticeable, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t there.

Mutinels, huh? Creed shrugged. When everything was said and done, the two disappeared and Erik let them leave. With a thanks. At least that was an upgrade. “So, you in or out?” Creed still wanted an answer if the Brotherhood would truly try to kill Mister Sinister.

Magneto had arrived, descending from above all clean and pristine. There was no sign of the man that had been brought to his knees by a pesky telepath and no helmet. Chimera supposed that either the effects of her killing the telepath had not been immediate or the man had taken a little time pulling himself together. The strawberry blonde recalled the man treading lightly of violence in front of the masses whilst contending with an unhappy Sabretooth. Image was important yes? He must have been getting it together before gracing them with his immaculate presence. Even his 'Idiots, I had to come here instead of you just bringing me the damn helmet' scowl only enhanced the image.

Or maybe that was all in her head?

He informed/confirmed that his helmet was near the sea, Creed grumbling that they had already figured it out, cursing the man for showing up after all the legwork was done. Chimera followed along, curious to see what would happen to the holder of Magneto's helmet. Maybe more people would die? Maybe she'd find a new treasure? Maybe she'd get paint the shores and coastal waters a murky, copper red. It'd be so pretty!

They were standing around and Chimera was a little disappointed. But then, as always, Magneto delivered. He commanded the unseen to be seen and - poof! - there they were! Like magic. The alien frowned and wondered why he couldn't have done something like that earlier. In any case, there was a big show of a swirling dark mass. Bodies formed from the darkness and Chimera admitted it was a cool trick. Seconds later, she was pondering if striking out at the black mass would have caused sprayed red across the sands.

“We only intended to borrow it,” one body - female - said. She talked differently than Earthlings she'd run into so far. At some point, Chimera would come to identify accents..or dismiss it all as unimportant. Probably the latter. Chimera waited for a show, no masses to keep Magneto from shedding blood now right?

Well that was correct, but no such show occurred. The woman calmly - Chimera swore there was amusement in there somewhere - said that the man could have his helmet back. And, just like that, she tossed it back to him. Boom, done. "How anti-climatic," the woman said. All that just so she could give it back like this? Was this all just to prove a point? Maybe they'd done something to the helmet, left a nasty surprise. This was just, well beyond the initial part, too easy. You could say its the paranoia talking, but it didn't mean she was wrong either.

“What is the meaning of this, Tarot?”

Tarot. Tarot? Earth people have weird names. Or it could be that codename thing again. Hm.

“You let one of the guards escape. Specifically, Mystique and Pyro. She notified the U.S. government, and now,” -- “now Mystique has to pay for her error in judgment. Chimera and Sabretooth did their jobs well. You should congratulate them. For what little its worth, Xorn won’t bother you anymore.”

"So this was all just to get Magneto's attention and tell him that?" People on this planet weren't fond of the more direct methods of communication were they?

“A word of advice, Master of Magnetism." -- “You should never send an operative alone when the Mutinels still stand.”

They left and Chimera almost struck out at the cloud to satisfy her earlier curiosity, but Magneto distracted her by talking. “I trust they’ve all been punished, except for Xorn and him." 'Him' being her treasure. The man indicated that she could do what she wanted with him. Chimera blinked, unaware that it would ever turn out differently. It hadn't even occurred to her that Magneto might want him dead or interrogated and then dead or held captive...and then dead. Or just captive. It didn't matter, as all routes meant she'd be deprived of her sexy plaything. Oh well, no harm done here.

Well that warning was all well and good for everyone else, but it meant jack to her. "What is a Mutinel and why did she indicate that they would be a problem for solo operatives?" Alias Mystique? Creed seemed as suspicious of the helmet being given back as so easily as her, so she flatly asked, "Do you think she did something to it? Surely she wouldn't just give it back to you after going through the trouble of robbing you." That's what I would do anyway.

Creed posed another question, but Chimera couldn't say she knew what he was talking about. Her mind had run on waaaay past the first Mag vs. Creed conversation. She only recalled tension and no blood being spilled in front of Magneto's faithful masses. With effort, she could give you words, but the key word is 'effort' and Chimera didn't give that easily to anyone without a good reason.

Magneto stayed silent only long enough to take Chimera’s questions to heart. He was asking himself the same questions. What was a Mutinel? Erik’s powers were constantly “on” since he was in Genosha. He was capable of winding them around himself to constrict their area, but he could nearly taste the metal that was within that… black creature. What concerned him was the metal wasn’t… effective, as if his powers slipped and slid around it, never truly capable of grasping it. Annoyed by the prospect of a creature being untouchable by both his powers and physical prowess, Erik swallowed his pride and answered best to his knowledge.

“The first word that comes to mind is Sentinel, robots with the soul of purpose of hunting mutants.” Magneto frowned after saying the word “mutant.” Surely what he was thinking wasn’t viable… “Perhaps that man was a mutant Sentinel.” But how? What kind of technology could be bound with a mutant? True he thought of Cameron Hodge, but such a thing was beyond his capabilities. Weapon X? Not enough time. There was nothing known to man that could repel magnetism and be metal at the same time. “But I believe we can confirm they’re working with the human government. Mystique can take care of herself.” Though that wasn’t to say he wasn’t concerned. If mutant Sentinels were hunting her… Erik would have to search for her in a few moments in some way.

“No, I don’t believe she did. What she did was show me her and her comrade easily infiltrated Genosha’s defenses.” And he was preparing to say he wasn’t sure what to do. If all Mutinels could do that, the Brotherhood would be forced to be on alert at all times. Magneto looked at Creed, the sour taste of exasperation on his tongue. “Protecting Genosha is my focus, Victor. If that doesn’t fit within your plans, you’re free to leave whenever you please.” And that was the end of the conversation for the Magneto. With mind in other places, the group was surprisingly disturbed by a lanky teenager with a beam of a smile on his face. Several others followed behind, too timid to approach further.

“I-I’m sorry for… Um,” he turned towards his friends and they urged him on at a distance. “Sirs, ma’am, are we going publiclikethatgroupintheU.S.did?!”

Erik looked at Chimera, to Creed, judging their expressions, then back to the teenager. “What group do you speak about, my boy?”

“Excelsior! There was a group of mutants that have gone public, trying to make good to the media! Emma Frost was say—”

Erik raised his hand. “No more, but thank you for bringing it to my attention.” The boy smiled, nodded, and ran back to his friends. Emma Frost… a peculiar name to bring up, especially with the mention of Sentinels thrown into the mix. The woman was a part of the Hellfire Club, and was it not the Hellfire Club that had endorsed Sentinel technology? “I believe it's time for me to speak with Ms. Frost.” He looked at Creed and Chimera again, still judging their expressions. What he was searching for, he couldn’t exactly say. “We’re all free until later. Think about how to better our defenses for now while I gain information about the Mutinels.” With his mind entering a different subject, Erik twisted around and walked away from the pair, heading back to the Citadel in hopes there was something there that could help him contact a certain Emma Frost.

TBC: Magneto - TBA

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Chimera stated some good questions, he guessed. Blondie was curious, and… Huh, a new though struck the feral. He raised a thick eyebrow, looking at Chimera from head to toe with a studious eye. He wondered if the carpet matched the drapes. He glanced at the man her dragon was holding captive, curious if pirate-man was going to find out. Turning back to the blonde, Creed smiled, fangs glistening and scant blood on his body hardening. “Anytime ya want a play-thing, gimme a call.” He nudged forward, hunching slightly to show his bestiality, his Cheshire grin large and prominent. “Yer the first bitch I’m lettin’ have a choice.” Stepping back to mark his distance, he winked, and turned back to Magneto.

Sentinels, huh? That sucked. How unfortunate he didn’t have adamantium on his bones anymore—he’d make quick work of them. The thought of the metal, however, forced him to sneer. Too many bad memories of red, pain, and manipulations best left forgotten. Creed wasn’t exactly the most emotional man on the planet, but when he was angry, it wrote all over his face. He was attempting, slightly, to keep his expression in check, but he failed to keep the agitated way his lip twitched from showing on his face. Mutant Sentinels weren’t that much better. That’s kind of what he was, right? A living experiment for Weapon X, a machine for their benefit? Oh, he loved the machine part—the enhancements to make him stronger and faster, but he didn’t like the controlled part. No person alive could control the Sabretooth. They tried, they died.

It was a nice thought to ease away his agitation.

Creed let a slip of a snarl form next. Fucking typical—protect the people and forget those that did the friggin’ work. Unable to form coherent words, he kept himself silent, allowing the claws in his hands to curl into his palm. He needed to get some aggression out… He looked at Chimera again, curious how hard he could thrust before he broke her. As more people came, and spewed out the name Emma Frost and Excelsior, there was only group insane enough to put an X their name. Magneto took the information in stride, yet again leaving them amongst themselves. So now, Creed had a decision to make. Stay here as apart of the Brotherhood, or go find something interesting to get himself into… Hm. Cheshire grin intact, Sabretooth looked back at Chimera and stayed in place.

He didn’t say anything. Only stared, and imagined plenty of things.

“Anytime ya want a play-thing, gimme a call.” Creed moved to show just why he'd make such a good 'play-thing'. Chimera pondered what provoked this for all of two seconds before her gaze shifted to her little treasure. Well, if she was lucky, he wouldn't be a little treasure at all. But anyway, this was interesting. "Really? No one's ever offered such a thing to me before." Usually, they were wanting /her/ to be the captive, the treasure, the play-thing. Submissive or some such. Then people started dieing and they only wanted her dead then. Tch, so sensitive.

“Yer the first bitch I’m lettin’ have a choice.” She was? Does that equate to approval from his species? He seemed to like her, or her body anyway. Workable, lots of people liked her body. Hey..that masked man from the park, he liked her body too right? He might want to be her play-thing too. Goodness, she was just racking up on this planet wasn't she?

“The first word that comes to mind is Sentinel, robots with the soul of purpose of hunting mutants.”

Interesting. She presumed that these robots were conjured up by humans. Well, if you can't beat someone, build something that can, right? She wasn't impressed by the concept, just interested. After all, it was giving her more of an idea of where this planet was in terms of planet-engulfing war. And that was, if you recall, the entire point to coming to this little, confusing mudball. She had come to Earth, to this dimension, to this time, to see the truth birth of war so all-encompassing that a planet - in its entirety - took part. All people, regardless of age, gender, and usefulness. Well, the useless were often the first to die. In some cases, at the hands of their own 'allies'. Useless people were dead weight, as in weights that would cause you to be dead due to their uselessness. Better them than you right?

Anyway, Magneto didn't seem to like the concept. No, wait, he didn't like the concept of that mysterious shadow man being one of these 'Mutinels', or 'mutant Sentinel'. “But I believe we can confirm they’re working with the human government. Mystique can take care of herself.” Oh? What confidence! Chimera liked the sharp blue-skinned woman, she was just so interesting to look at and Chimera could practically taste war on the woman's skin. Though maybe the shape-shifter wouldn't like being licked? In any case, that was a woman accustomed to bathing in blood with no problems. Chimera could sense it.

She asked about the helmet, but Magneto seemed convinced that she had done nothing untoward to his precious helmet. It was all meant to prove a point - as Chimera had stated/queried at the very start. The point was that the amplification barrier did not make them unstoppable. Their defenses could be breached, not just the island, but the mutants personally. Of course, this breach was accomplished by mutants who, by virtue of being on the island at all, were also boosted, but that was besides the point. It was a taunt. A 'Hah hah, I did this and you couldn't do jack'.

Magneto then addressed Sabretooth, saying that the priority was to fortify Genosha and that if he couldn't get with the program, then he needed to be moving on. At this point, Magneto's groupies opted to come close. The leader was a rather young looking mutant - she guessed - who looked rather cheerful. He had a question! Going public? 'We'? 'Group in the U.S.'? Magneto looked to her and Creed before facing the teen. Chimera wore a semi-bored expression, she didn't really consider herself part of any 'we', so she didn't care at all. Honestly, she didn't even know what the kid was talking about.

Problem solved! Apparently, he meant 'Excelsior' - sounded weird to her - and then he rambled on with some explanation. Erik halted him before he could get too carried away. Magneto didn't really answer the question, just declared that he would have to speak with 'Ms. Frost', the leader of Excelsior if Chimera had to guess. Chimera's expression still held that taste of 'so what?'. 'Going public' didn't really mean much in her head. As a pirate, she was a mover and a shaker. A loner. There was no 'going public', only hearsay and horror stories. She was a myth in some parts, dark legend in others. A warning, a threat, a big ass problem. She had never truly stayed put long enough to have to think of such a thing as 'going public'. And even if she did understand what all that entailed, she certainly wouldn't go for it.

'Going public'? She could define terms and piece together what she supposed that meant, revelations and putting yourself out there. And that didn't sound like a good idea at all. That was hanging up a big, neon sign that said 'come and get me'. Chimera frowned at the thought. Why would anyone do something so stupid?

“We’re all free until later. Think about how to better our defenses for now while I gain information about the Mutinels.”

And with that, Magneto started to walk away. Midori edged over, treasure still captive. Seriously though, she hoped he'd snap out of it or she'd really have to kill him. Tsk, it'd be such a waste too. Her mind chose to remind her that she had another prospective treasure wandering about on this planet and that she should go get him before someone else did. The alien got the sense that she was being watched and looked over her should curiously. Ah, Creed was looking her way..or in this direction. Lower? Oh... She smirked, minx, and raised an eyebrow. "So are you staying or going? Or maybe you'd rather just stare at my ass all day?"

"Really? No one's ever offered such a thing to me before."

Oh really? Creed’s smile grew larger. Did that mean blondie was a virigin? He would have never guessed, having a rack like that, an ass to slap, and girls-gone-wild attitude at times. Strangest thing was, Creed didn’t detect a lie from Chimera. So that really meant she could, possibly, be a virgin! Damn, that’d mean she’d be really tight, too. A single fang crawled over his bottom lip, but a thought struck him. What about her “play” thing. He figured sex toy. If Chimera wasn’t going to have sex with pirate-freak over there, what in the hell did she plan on doing with him? If it involved blood, Creed was going to get extra excited. It was nice to see a girl ready to bloody herself because she felt like she had to. As long as she didn’t do that funky shit in cutting herself or drinking her own blood, he’d be okay.

With Magneto up and gone, it was just Chimera and Creed left. Oh, and “Midori” and pirate man. "So are you staying or going? Or maybe you'd rather just stare at my ass all day?"

“It ain’t just yer ass I’m staring at.” His smile faded, but the dangerous gleam in his eyes remained. There was some rubble left up ahead. It shouldn’t be any problem in dragging Chimera by her throat, slumping her over a concrete slab, then chisel away at Chimera’s tightness one hard thrust after the next. But he’d have to contend with… Midori… Sabretooth ended up laughing. “Fuck my dick and call me a bitch! Why have the real thing when you’ve got fun stuff over there, amirite?” He threw a thumb towards Chimera’s pet and guffawed again. The chick was a virgin to humans! That damn dragon probably had its tail up in her doing all kinds of crazy stuff. “And that’s why you want him, huh? He ain’t no good to ya unconscious, Blondie. Why not take a ride on somethin’ more… frisky.”

Creed took a step closer, smile slowly reappearing. “I promise ya it won’t hurt. I’ll be soft and gentle, like a pussycat, just fer you.” He gave a rough purr-like noise, like a male lion enjoying his meal. He was lying through his teeth, and he wasn’t attempting to conceal the truth from his face. He’d enjoy splitting her open and pulling her hair to expose the soft skin upon her jugular. Just thinking about it caused a stir in his pants. “What d’ya say? Me, you, the ocean?” He attempted to get within a hairbreadth away of her personal space. “I’ll show ya what it’s like to be with a real animal.” His claws ached to shred her clothes and have his way, but like he said, he was going to let Chimera make the choice. Either way… he was going to get what he wanted.

What was happening here, was a case of miscommunication. In several, okay, many...most cases, this could be a problem. A big problem. People did things, said things, and it couldn't be undone. Naturally, the problem was /always/ that the miscommunication resulted in something that needed to be undone. Or done in some cases? All was unique. However, this was different. It made sense that it'd be different, being that the miscommunication was between a feral and an alien. That had 'different' written all over it.

The miscommunication, or a series of them, wasn't really doing anything harmful - unless you counted Creed's growing [I mean that figuratively, I swear] interest in the strawberry blonde standing nearby. Chimera was just curious. See? No harm done. Chimera wasn't a virgin, but she wasn't some loose floozy either. Arguably, Creed wouldn't care either way. The virgin thing was a bonus, not a necessity right? She didn't really plan to use her newest acquisition as a pin cushion of sorts. She wanted him for sex, little else, though she could probably come up with something.

“It ain’t just yer ass I’m staring at.”

Eh? He was giving her a funny look again, expressive one this kitty cat. She wouldn't know that he was plotting, in advance, where he was going to do more than just stare at her ass. Then he started laughing. She'd done similar things. Maybe they were kind of alike that way - messed up in the head. “Fuck my dick and call me a bitch! Why have the real thing when you’ve got fun stuff over there, amirite?” The pirate looked puzzled as she turned towards what he was indicating - or who. Midori.

"I don't have sex with Midori." She stopped to give the dragon a considering looking that Midori seemed to be politely ignoring. "I have never thought about it either, but it sounds interesting." Creed had concluded that she wanted the man she held captive in order to experience sex with a person for the first time. It'd be a solid plan. Actually, it was more to experience sex with a man from Earth. So maybe Creed was correct in a sense. Chimera was a virgin..to Earthen men. But no one save Deadpool knew she was an alien, for sure, though Magneto seemed to at least suspect she wasn't entirely human.

“I promise ya it won’t hurt. I’ll be soft and gentle, like a pussycat, just fer you.” She kind of doubted that. Actually she rather hoped he was lying. Soft and gentle weren't two words she often applied to sex. They certainly weren't words she'd apply to Creed. Chimera pulled a face. "Oh? I should hope not; there's no excitement in that you know." While she didn't typically care if it hurt, she had a high pain tolerance and likely wouldn't be able to tell, soft and gentle were strange words. Not that it mattered since Creed had already decided he was going to have her and he certainly wasn't going to be soft or gentle about it.

“What d’ya say? Me, you, the ocean?” Chimera didn't stop him from drawing closer, but there was no telling when that might change. "Oh? In the ocean?" Maybe all Earthen men were such sexual creatures. This could be normal on this planet? She didn't want to stand out as an oddity, well, not by too much. “I’ll show ya what it’s like to be with a real animal.” Another dragon would appear between Creed and Chimera as soon as he got within a foot of the pirate woman. It bore spikes and rows of spiked teeth. "Oh, move out of the way Shiroi, you ruin all my fun. Your scales will fall off from all your worrying." 'Shiroi' seemed to leer down at Creed before dissipating according to Chimera's wishes.

Chimera moved forward on her own before stopping. She couldn't just leave her prize on the beach, even with Midori. Poor Midori would get bored..might eat her poor little pirate man. "I'll be back!" she said cheerfully. And just like that, the woman was gone in a dark portal, Midori and their captive gone too. It that startled Creed, Chimera returning in the same fashion, roughly three feet behind him, likely wouldn't help. The tall pirate didn't seem to think anything odd or suspicious about it. She just picked up where he'd left off.

"In the ocean you say? That sounds like fun." And Chimera did so love her fun.

OOC: FYI, I have no intentions of them actually doing the dirty, no matter what this post... might... suggest. *coughs*

She didn’t have sex with dragon-thing, huh? Yeah. Right. Even if he still didn’t detect Chimera lying, Sabretooth knew his freaky chicks. This chick could get down and dirty if she even knew what down and dirty meant. He supposed it was like calling a murderer a murderer when they didn’t know what the definition of what a murderer was. Ignorance was always so refreshing to see, especially when Creed knew he would be a wonderful teacher. The thought got him all tingly inside, like the need to belch. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what he did, abrupt and loud. Sometimes organs that got baked just needed to release the pressure.

With a Cheshire grin growing wider, Chimera was up for some rough rumbling? That’s certainly what it sounded like. So she truly wasn’t a fondling kind of chick. Well good, because Creed wasn’t either. Why pet when he could scratch? Why rub when he could penetrate? Freakin’ pansy-ass men had it all wrong nowadays. Respect the woman his ass. It’s the men who got off every time they had sex. Who cared if women didn’t, as long as Creed got his play time. He’d be the type to buy a hooker off the road, slam her against the wall, and leave her in a puddle on the ground, spent, while he walked away zipping his zipper and throwing a wad of cash at her (if she was worth it).

She sounded pleasantly surprised about the ocean. Just as Creed neared, he was meant by an opposing force. Another dragon with spikes alongside its body, and thick, piercing teeth joined its eyes gazing down at him. Creed smiled wider—more than before. “I don’t fuck dragons.” He wasn’t scared at all of this “Shiroi.” Hell, there wasn’t a lot of things Creed was scared of. If he wasn’t scared of being burned alive when burns were the worst physical pain a man could endure, then staring down an ethereal dragon was nothing. He found out something useful, however. Chimera had more than one dragon. And they were all invisible.

Just as abruptly as Sabretooth got his tingles, Chimera disappeared, leaving him to stare and taste the air where she once stood. What in the hell was that about? Midori and slave-man were gone too. Did Chimera just ditch him? Victor growled. No bitch on this planet just ditched him. If she wanted to make an enemy out of him, so be it. She’d never had an enemy like Creed—he was damn well sure of it. She appeared, moments later, behind him in the same abrupt fashion. Victor twirled around, listened to her words, and approached Chimera in a very, physical kind of way.

One step after the other and he aimed for his massive form to be inches from her own. Sadistic grin returning, dirty hands attempted to slide up her sides. He didn’t say anything, only breathed and grinned as he tried for his hands to go higher until they rounded her chest. If he got that far, Chimera would have gotten a little surprise in the form of his claws digging into her breasts like tiny daggers. “So what’s yer game, blondie?” He aimed for his claws to dig deeper, penetrate further the harder he grabbed. “Why you here and what’s the deal with the fuckin’ dragons?” He tried to lean down and inhale the scent radiating from the side of her neck, his tongue aiming to dart out and take the tiniest of tastes. She didn’t even taste human, but he waited for any answers before he spoke again. “The Brotherhood ain’t gonna be fucked with anymore by any damn stragglers now that I’m here. Consider this yer warnin, blondie. I won’t just fuck you. I’ll fuck you over the first time you step outta line.”

Sabretooth tried to whisper in her ear.

“Now spread ‘em or scream.”

She left and came right back and it seemed that Creed's mood had changed just as quickly. She knew when someone was mad at her; it happened all of the time. That quiet sense of 'someone is thinking of doing something bad to you' were whispering in her ear. Her sixth sense, the 'omen' sense. Creed was looking at her and you'd say it was no different from any look that a predator would wear upon his face. But it /was/ different/, she could sense it was different. This wasn't strictly sexual, as it had been before. Something had changed, snapped, in her short absence.

He took steps towards her, unhurried and deliberate. A smart woman would run, fly, teleport away. A smart woman that was scared. Chimera was not afraid. A smart woman would, if not run, evade. That twisted grin, those eager hands - eager to hurt she bet - were telling signs. If she wouldn't get away, then she should ensure that he stayed away. A smart woman would invoke the 'keep away' game. A smart woman that was sane. Chimera wasn't sane.

She was smart..and aggressive. Creed had detected that to an extent perhaps. Detected it and liked it. This will be fun, the alien thought to herself. Something had shifted in Creed when she abruptly left and returned without warning. Now something had shifted in Chimera. We'll see which is more unpleasant.

So Chimera didn't run, didn't have Midori carry her away. She didn't even use an Imploder to teleport away. She didn't evade either. The strawberry blonde just stood there as his clawed fingers slid up her sides with a malicious intent. It was kind of exciting really. They grazed her and it tingled a bit. He grasped her boobs, or his claws did. It wasn't stabbing outright, there'd be more blood and she wouldn't have just stood there in that case. But it was like having needles pricking her boobs in a weird half-moon alignment. Someone had done that to her once.

And then, for no apparent reason, they died.

“So what’s yer game, blondie?” Not done, the needles pressed in more. Chimera smiled a disturbed smile and didn't bother to hide the amber flooding her irises. “Why you here and what’s the deal with the fuckin’ dragons?”

"The dragons are my friends." Was he sniffing her? Seemed like it. He even gave her a little lick. What an interesting Earth mutant! Animalistic tendencies. It didn't surprise her. He had a sort of animalistic appearance. She almost thought he'd bite her with those fangs of his, but he didn't. Instead, he whispered sweet threats in her ear. Warnings. He was a great deal more direct than Magneto wasn't he? "So protective of the group led by a man you seemed to despise." Her own hands had been drifting, nails grazing that belt he'd retrieved earlier. Hadn't he been utterly miserable, a writhing mess before, without it?

Her 'friends' were afoot. But not the big imposing, I-know-you-see-me-now kind. These were her baby 'friends'. Little baby dragons that writhed and wriggled and were full of energy. Energy and sharp teeth. They wormed about, ghostly kisses until she brought them onto the physical plane. This plane. Now they wormed about Creed's waist and Chimera wouldn't pretend to not know where they were interested in going. He could stay put and allow the nibbles to the navel, nibbles at the waist. Well, Chimera called it nibbles. They were more like bites. Like how Creed's claws bit at her breasts, drinking crimson. He could stay put or let go. Maybe he likes it.

“Now spread ‘em or scream.”

"You play very rough with me, my dear play-thing," she purred. The 'baby' dragons grew more insistent. And her fingers were still too interested in the protective belt secured around his waist. "I like to play rough too." And then she'd try to yank the belt away.

Dragons and friends. That’s not what he wanted to hear. He wanted to know more—what they could do and how. He might not have been the smartest man in the world, but he did know knowledge was power. The more he knew about blondie, the better off her life would be.

"So protective of the group led by a man you seemed to despise."

Sabretooth chuckled, getting off in being so close to the woman with blood slowly trickling across his fingers. “If there’s anyone that’ll fuck ‘em over first, it’ll be me.” His tongue leaped out to coat his teeth in a fresh coat of saliva. Creed never knew Chimera had more friends with her, and he probably wouldn’t have cared. Not until they started to nibble on his abdomen did the first flecks of pain appear. He smiled further, liking how this chick knew how to play rough. He got closer, enough to press his pelvis against hers, just as the pain began to increase and Creed too began to bleed. Pain was nothing new to him during sex, neither was blood. But Creed was also never the one having to live with the pain.

Letting anger fuel his lust, he was two seconds away from ripping the woman’s clothes off with his teeth until Chimera spoke again. Victor didn’t care what she had to say, but the moment his belt was off, all hell broke loose. The bites didn’t even matter anymore. Where the baby dragons bit, the wounds would heal instantaneously. His head exploded in voices. His ears burned in sounds. Unfortunate for Chimera, the moment the intense pain crushed over him, he squeezed out of instinct. As far as he could tell, his hands were still on her breasts, seconds away from forming a breast reduction. If he had a chance, that’s exactly what he tried to do. He grabbed and yanked as hard as he could. He shuffled several feet back then collapsed to his knees.

Even while he howled in pain, he was rumbling in laughter. He was laughing because blondie was a cop-out! She couldn’t do shit to him that’d actually hurt him without using outside resources. She was a fucking blow-up doll ready to be pierced by the right set of claws. The moment he did it, she retaliated like she had the upper hand. But anyone who crossed Creed would realize their folly in time. No one fucked Creed—he did the fucking. Because of it, Chimera was going to wish she spread her legs and let his meat dive into her further. Her future was going to be hell. Despite blood running down his ears and throwing off his balance, Creed launched like a cannonball straight at the woman, either to topple her over, get the belt, or get her the hell away.

He’d live through this, he knew. He lived through everything. Chimera would get what was coming to her in one way or another, now or later.

Chimera wondered if all the males on this planet pursued sex in this fashion. Or maybe he hadn't intended to have sex with her at all? But he'd been so very convincing! "If there’s anyone that’ll fuck ‘em over first, it’ll be me.” See? See?! That sounded like a sexual thing to say right? She had been absolutely certain that they were going into the ocean and she'd discover how the altered humans of this planet really had 'fun'. But no, no, no, it dissolved into a skirmish. This was a skirmish right? He seemed upset with her now and she'd only been playing along! What was there to be upset about?

The pirate nearly pouted. She had leaned heavily into him when moving to yank the belt away. That spared her a very brutal, very complete breast reduction, but the way Creed had spaced his claws still meant that she had missed a claw or two. That left her with a painful tradeoff and some nasty, deep gashes. Now she was bleeding and it was not a very arousing sensation, she had to say. The strawberry blonde had the belt though and now Creed was apparently very unhappy with her. She called her dragons off, sending them 'home'. He'd been fine until she took this belt. The dragons had been okay, but this belt was apparently something he wasn't ready to do without. But wouldn't it be an awkward thing to wear during sex?

Perhaps that was irrelevant to him. She noted, still grimacing and bleeding - damn it, she'd have to go to the ship to fix this - that she was being charged. Creed wanted the belt or her or her and the belt. Chimera was under the impression that this sort of pain did not arouse the man, which was fair since her almost breast reduction didn't really arouse her either. Lesson learned for them both. Chimera put those legs of hers to use, using some swift leg play to move out of the way and give the belt back in the same motion. She sort of stepped back while turning, threw the belt far to her left, and spun/jumped further away. Nothing too involved, she /was/ still bleeding everywhere.

"You have a very odd way of pursuing sex," she informed him, sounding annoyed. "This all seems very unnecessary." Some sort of ritual among the more bestial Earth mutants? It was rather off-putting and Chimera had put up with quite a bit when concerning sex. She tore strips from her dress and awkwardly wrapped them around her bleeding bosoms. Ugh, that was quite un-arousing indeed, what a strange man this was. "You didn't have to squeeze so much." And, /and/, he should have indicated that the belt was off-limits in this game. Of course, Chimera wouldn't know that this was a one-player game and she wasn't allowed to harm the player.

Chimera dodged out of his way—lucky for her. He skid to the ground on all fours, teeth snarled and eyes closed. Deep wrinkles webbed from the corners of his eyes with how hard he had them closed. Despite being blind with his vision suddenly enhancing beyond his comprehension, he was using his senses to at least figure out where the blonde bitch went. He could smell her like she was a skunk enhanced by one-hundred more skunks. Her scent was nauseating, and he could hear her heartbeat, her breathing, her lungs expanding and contracting, her intestines working on whatever food she might have eaten, and the way her red blood cells collided with the white ones. On the verge of vomiting despite wanting to kill her, Sabretooth crumpled into a ball, crawling to the belt when euphoria crossed over him.

Victor had a strange way of describing euphoria. The pain was gone, but his anger increased. He opened his amber eyes as slight pupils narrowed on the view of the woman. His lip was bleeding where his canines had poked in. Letting blood drip from his mouth, red-coated teeth glistened in his snarl before he unsteadily stood himself to his feet. "You have a very odd way of pursuing sex," she said. "This all seems very unnecessary." Creed didn’t bother responding. He only wanted to see what Chimera’s skin looked like inside out. Even as she went about bandaging her wounds, the blood stopped bleeding from Creed’s orifices and his nausea was washed away like the tide hitting the beach. He wanted to attack her—no, gut her was more appropriate, but he had a weakness now. Without this belt, he was worth shit on Genosha.

"You didn't have to squeeze so much."

Oh, he had to squeeze alright. He wanted Chimera to know him, and the Brotherhood, weren’t meant to be fucked with, and he was sure his point got across. Taking a step back, his mind was flickering from one action to the next. The bestial side of his brain wanted to claw the bitch to slivers, but the human side wanted to stay away from her for now. Taking in one heavy breath after the next, he finally closed his lips and flared his nostrils. “I’m comin’ fer ya. In yer sleep, in yer dreams, in yer showers, I’ll be there to screw up everything you like. Then I’ll follow you wherever you go and make yer life a bitch.” He said his words in-between gritted teeth before turned around. His yellow eyes glared from the twist of his shoulder before he started walking away.

“Yer dead, Chimera. I’ll even follow you in death.”

Why such hatred? It was simple. Creed needed someone to hate, and Chimera had become an easy target. It was how he thrived and lived. There was no one on Genosha he could target without feeling as if he had to better himself. But now, he had prey he was going to best. She had proven formidable, but Creed liked overcoming challenges. He smiled, walking out of view.

Exit Creed