EOD MANSION GROUNDS
The mansion grounds are no longer the idyllic, grassy hills they used to be. Every day, APCs come in from Salem and Company soldiers run drills through them. The basketball courts have been replaced by dirt, mud, obstacle courses, firing ranges and explosive test sites. A workshop for APCs have been set up on the far side, complete with gasoline and oil supply trucks and tents for the company's mechanics and gun techs. Most of the grounds have become a giant training yard for Company and X-men operatives alike.
X-Men EoD Time
Wednesday, August 13th
Going further out,
Catherine felt like taking a peek at those working in the grounds. It also got her further from the school, which gave her mixed feelings. She wandered about, nosing at any open tents, making sure people were working if they could be.
There were actually several things to see or places to go in the grounds, namely the firing range where one could get some practice with different types of weaponry, an obstacle course, a tent akin to the barracks where a field lab station had been set up and the mechanic tents when one could go spend some time with the grease-monkeys that kept Company equipment running.
Looking around,
Catherine certainly wasn't in the mood to run an obstacle course, she was barely functioning, and cursed her hatred of coffee. She preferred not to waste bullets on the shooting ranges, never sure if the humans would supply ammo to her. Peeking into a tent, she saw a few mechanics, and decided to enter, carefully. "You busy? I can leave if you want." She was expecting this to be the case, especially with her being a mutant. Her blue hair making her easy to remember as a mutant, even if the color came from a bottle, and not a mutation.
Heading for the mechanic tent, Catherine passed some out of service APCs, the massive tank that supplied the company cars with oil and other assorted equipment in need of repairs. Peeking inside the tent, the mutant girl could easily see half a dozen grease monkeys in grey company jumpsuits busying themselves around workbenches, fixing everything from engines to guns. In the middle of the tented area stood "Vic" or Victor Tucci, head mechanic. The man was in his early 30s, with short black hair and a permanent stubble. He was well muscled and nearly as tall as Vlad, his arms dotted by eventual tattoos and his hand permanently in a pair of heavy work gloves. The man wore a company jumpsuit, a tired up bandanna over his head and a pair of goggles usually pulled over it. Unlike the rest of the company men, he wore his jumpsuit with the top part tied around his waist, revealing a tight fitting white t-shirt. The man was currently slaving over a massive 50 .cal machine-gun, a gun that could probably topple Vlad over from sheet force of impact, similar to the ones that flanked the entrance, when Catherine entered. "Morning Quartz." he said simply and affably, it was customary for company employees to refer to the X-men by their codename. "No need, jus' tryin' ta breathe some life back into this 'ere ol' girl." he replied in a typical New York city Italian accent.
Lire yawned subtley as she walked through what had once been beautiful green covered lawns. Her sharp eyes glanced around studying the activities available. She wasn't quite in the mood for an obstacle course and guns just annoyed her... suddenly she smiled to herself and wandered slowly towards the
EoD Barracks.
Catherine wondered if they really needed all of the guns, but knew better than to say it, and knew deep down, they really were needed. "Just be careful. Don't want anything to backfire in someone's face, yours or a gunman's." She had some respect for the big engineer, to take what was broken, or even just raw materials, and make something, even something so destructive, it was an art. "Sorry to bug you, just needed to get outta there, feel weird around the kids, y'know?" As much as she put on a happy face and joked around Katie and Ivan, she wished they weren't involved.
"Well we don't fix these loaded you know?" replied 'Vic' with a smile and a hearty laugh. "So don't worry, no one's gonna get shot." he continued. When Catherine mentioned the kids, however, the man gave her a slightly puzzled look. "Now really, but I mean, kids aren't everyone's cup o' tea." shrugged the large man as he began to work on the mechanism that let the gun rotate independently from its base. "I grew up with guns and engines too, an' didn't turn out too bad eh? Sometimes that lil tyke... what's his name... Ivan? He sneaks out here when his parents are out and asks 'bout the guns, reminds me of a little me." he added with a big grin and another bout of laughter. "Don' tell 'is parents, though, rather not get on the bad side of the big mutant honchos, you know what I mean?"
A second later, the built in communicator on Catherine's X-men badge went off and Vlad's voice could be heard coming through, albeit a bit choppy; "Team, meet me in the war room in an hour. Be suited up and ready to go."
Covering her badge after Vlad spoke through it,
Catherine sighed. She wanted something to do, but still, the war room wasn't exactly a happy place. "Let's hope he didn't hear you then." She shook her head. Sure, this big hulk of a man was fine after growing up with guns, but did anyone want Ivan turning out like that? "You just be careful with him, okay? Don't care if these aren't loaded, they're still dangerous." She smirked, before continuing. "Oh, and don't say that no-one's gonna get shot...That's kinda the point of guns." She really wasn't feeling all too great today. Talking with him had helped, but then added worries. "Sorry, I'm a bit...I should head in to get ready." Giving a small salute, Catherine headed back to the
EoD Mansion Courtyard.
Lire came trotting up from the barracks a few moments after Catherine left. She was quiet and serious but there was a type of excited tension in the air around her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely glanced at th sexy mechanic as she passed and went to the
EoD Mansion Courtyard
Like Moses parting the Red Sea,
Vlad's bulk and status gave him a cueball effect on most of the humans and soldier running about, most of whom were content to give him wide berth. The large man half wished that he didn't command so much respect, and then maybe he would find someone who he could actually
talk to... but those days were behind him. The majority of his friends went to MLA, leaving him with no one but his ferocious wife to talk to...and she was one person Vlad didn't want to get a hold of the truth too soon. With the firing range as his destination, Vlad made his way to see about this Leon character.
Leon DeRue was a common sight in the firing range, always practicing with his powers. The man was in his late 20s, of medium height, with an athletic build, short black hair and a Mediterranean air to him, reinforced by his naturally tan skin. The man had a small stubble and a noticeable scar over his nose, and left cheek, running parallel to his eyes, however his most striking feature were his green eyes which seemed just like a lynx'. He was wearing a company suit very similar to Glint's but his had the sleeves which the older mutant's lacked. Leon's powers were, interesting, to say the least. From afar one could assume he was practicing with dual pistols, jumping left and right and quickly turning to blow some of a large line of cans propped atop of a chest high wall. The weirdest thing, however, was that there were no gunshot sounds coming from his practice, instead, each time he 'fired' Leon let out a cartoonish "Pew! pew!" and a can invariably jumped up in the air, pierced with a perfectly circular, clean hole.
It was impossible to miss Leon, even from across the grounds as
Vlad was. His animated jumping paired with the flying cans were almost too comical for a dystopia like this one so he stood out like a sore thumb. Unable to stop a small grin from tugging at the corner of his mouth after hearing the "PEW! PEW!" Vlad approached the firing range and the interesting man within. "Nice 'shooting'" Vlad commented off-handedly, aware that there was no gun in his hands now that he was closer.
Leon seemed to be ignoring Vlad at first, but as soon as the large man took a step closer to him, the man turned towards Vlad and aimed both his index fingers at the larger mutant, letting out one last "pew!" as he cocked his right hand upwards, pretending he had just fired a gun at him. For a second, Vlad could see the effect of Leon's power. Mere inches away from one of Vlad's eyes and in the span of a fraction of a second, a tiny bubble, about 3 centimeters in diameter appeared encapsulating one of Vlad's rogue bangs. Then an instant later, the bubble was gone, taking with it the tip of the Russian man's bang, cutting it perfectly as if it had never been there. "Ah, Mister Invalesco." replied Leon. "Good to see you. What can I do for you today." replied Leon, codenamed Snapshot, with a cocky grin.
Vlad blinked down at Leon as the lynx-eyed mutant aimed one of his finger-pistols at him and then 'shot' it, looking a little confused as he waited for the impact. Since there was no noise that accompanied Leon's sharpshooting, Vlad's bushy brow started to raise until he caught sight of the little bubble right as it disappeared and took the tip of Vlad's hair with it. All of a sudden, the holes in the can started to make a little more sense since it seemed this man had spheres like Daniela that acted instead as an eraser...or something like that. "Leon," he replied, indicating that he knew exactly to whom he was speaking and therefore did not need further introduction. "I am a man short today and could use your help," he said, shaking his hand through his bangs and eyeing the cans that had been shot as they rolled around on the concrete slabs.
"Snapshot" corrected simply the Mediterranean man as Vlad addressed him as Leon. It was true, ever since the war, regular names had become rarer and rarer among mutants, reserved usually for people who knew each other intimately or had known each other before the conflicts. Most mutants had taken on 'mutant names' or code-names to differentiate themselves from humans. Additionally there was an element of safety in the mutant name, since a human name usually had a last name, and a last name usually came with a family attached to it. "Of course, Commander Bruciano told me to help you if you needed me." he continued, a little bit of french and a lot of cockiness in his pronunciation of words, even if his grammar was perfect.
"My mistake, Snapshot,"
Vlad amended without any real conviction. It was a noticeable shift from name to moniker, one that Vlad understood but didn't always follow since he didn't like to be called Invalesco exclusively, as if he were
only a mutant and didn't have human emotions. Invalesco was a persona almost, a mantle that he could wear and take off instead of identifying with it in lieu of his name, though it was that very name that had led his mother and father to slaughter and driven his brother and nieces into hiding in Siberia. That very feeling was what had kept him on the side of the X-Men throughout all the turmoil and bullshit and bloodshed: mutants evolved from humans and were not that terribly different, despite how much the MLA and the frightened humans wanted to believe otherwise. "How's your power over long range?" he asked, getting right down to business as he nodded his head towards the remaining cans, clearly asking for a demonstration.
"Ah, well..." said simply Snapshot, obviously reluctant to share too much about his abilities, lest someone find an easy way to counter them, a feeling that was prevalent among mutants. After a second or so and punching a hole or two on one of the cans on the floor, the man realized he was outranked in this case and simply explained. "Company has me clasified as Mid Range Offense. With a special note for Precision Strikes." he droned academically, obviously the company had come up with special designations for their mutants. "No collateral, high precision. Meaning the shots won't go through the intended target and hit something else, and if I miss, nothing happens. Damage is less than ideal, however." he continued with a sigh and a wistful expression. "I can shoot up to 100 feet very easily, after that I don't lose power but I lose a lot of precision. If I can't use my hands, though." he continued, pointing them playfully at the large mutant. "I have no precision whatsoever, it's just wild firing. They're a mental focus for my power, a sort of mind's eye, so to speak."
Vlad waited while Snapshot mulled over the idea of answering his question, knowing that he would eventually get an answer. Whether or not it came straight from the lion's mouth was immaterial, and truth be told, he had expected a lot worse of a man who willingly served under Glint, of whom Vlad had heard any number of stories about. As the smaller mutant finally obliged to answer, the larger one listened, sitting down on the low concrete wall that separated the firing range from the rest of the wasted grounds. "Hmm," he replied after hearing the rundown. "So if you were on a moving vehicle...?" he asked, though the drop in his tone indicated that he didn't assume the sharpshooter would thrive in such a situation.
"Actually wouldn't be too bad as long as we're not too far away." replied Leon confidently as he 'holstered' his imaginary guns. "I may not hit hard but I hit fast and as long as I can aim these..." he added, putting his palms in front of his body and wiggling his hands lightly. "I can hit the eye of a fly in the sky."
Pleased to hear that he was incorrect,
Vlad loosely folded his arms over his chest, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck and into the black collar of his Colossus grade armor, followed short by three more. His brow and neck were peppered with the little droplets but he ignored them as they fell, watching one fall to the concrete and then almost immediately grow dry next to a small patch of grass growing quite out-of-place in the old cracks. Briefly, and sadly, reminded of his sister, Vlad lifted his head and then squinted as a sweat drop fell into his eye. Rubbing it, Vlad swiped his brow and then stood up. "You're hired," he said at last, finally confident in the information he'd been given. The more mutants he could get on his side to help the 'poor humans' of Salem, the better things would look for them in the end, after this awful war and the end of the MLA. "Any last disclaimers I should know about before I tell you to suit up and meet me in the War Room?" he asked, looking down to his cocky peer.
"I was under the impression I was already hired, commander." replied Leon with a grin as he cleaned some dust off his hands and headed to the back wall of the shooting range, still within clear earshot of Vlad. The man grabbed a bottle of water and took several quick gulps before he put it down and wiped the mouthpiece. "Nothing much, if you're a man short you can just ask me to go to over to the War Room, 3 to a mission tops, gotta remember that, company rules, you know." he said with a small shrug. "I have a communicator, same as you guys." he continued, putting his hand in a small bead-like object fixed to his shirt's collar. "Frequency 102.5 reaches us Mutant Affairs lot. 101 to get in touch the the Company people. 100 for X-men."
A chuckle escaped Vlad's mouth as Snapshot quipped, grinning a bit less reluctantly than usual as the casual mutant hydrated himself. "Well you've got me there," he admitted, shrugging a shoulder, a glimpse of lightness peeking through his learned facade of strength. His grey orbs flicked to the little pin on Snapshot's collar, then looked down at the X-Men insignia on his chest and then programmed it to the frequencies Leon had indicated via a small dial on the back that clicked twice forward to 102.5. "Thanks," he said, coughing into his first as a bit of dust burrowed into the back of his throat. "Get ready and meet me in the War Room in thirty." He then gave a genial nod of conclusion and then bid him adieu with a "see you in half an hour," before he started to walk towards
EoD Barracks to see if Sarah was available in case Liz wanted to stay with Ivan.
Coming back from the tent moment later,
Vlad purposely walked by Snapshot to discreetly tell him "I will use the frequency shortly to let you know if I need you or not," and then proceeded into
EoD Mansion Courtyard.
Making her way across the remains of the grounds,
Elizabeth headed towards the workshop and general location to find someone that would allow her access to transport for their mission.
Lire shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked behind Elizabeth. She could feel the hilts of her knives on either side and her fingers stroked the worn leather as she glanced around.
Soon enough, Elizabeth and Lire ended up at the mechanic's tent, Vic's domains, much like Catherine had earlier that day. If someone could give them access to a vehicle without much red tape, it was definetely the mechanic. as they walked in, they saw Vic still working on "Bessie", the 50 Caliber Machinegun that he had taken a liking to. Looking up, his eyebrows raised a bit, he certainly wasn't used to having so many mutants over in a single day. "Mornin' ladies." he said, wiping some grease off his hands. "What can I do ya for?"
"Vic."
Elizabeth offered to the man, trying to retain some form of pleasant tone as she said it, as there was no point starting off on the wrong foot when they were needing his help. "Hoping to borrow some transport from you for the mission, enough to hold three of us." It may be a long shot, but damn if she wasn't going to try. The faster they were gone, the faster the job was done, the faster she was back, that all her team was back, and safer behind the mansion walls.
Endelyn came running up and quickly caught her breath, standing and looking between Vic, Lire, and Elizabeth. She cursed her day dreamings and felt a little bad about getting left behind so easily. It was something she wasn't planning to do again.
Lire glanced at Endelyn curiously as she came jogging up and then back at Vic with a smile. The greasy mechanic was not one who had achieved a place on her bad side although she was still mostly indifferent she did consider him to be one of the more attractive humans on base. The thought of the impending trip actually helped calm her active mind and she was avoiding the thought of coming back to the mansion that she felt was far to suffocating.
Putting aside the rag he'd been using to clean his hands, the large, muscled man took a step towards the trio of mutant women who had just walked into the mechanic's tent and leaned against the 50 Cal gun, 'Bessie' he had been working on. "If ya really needed it, I reckon I could arrange somethin', but I need to know exactly what ye ladies are doin' with one of my babies, 'fore I let you have it, you know?" he added with a shrug, figuring they had plenty of old surviving cars they used to scrap parts for in a pinch, and they had oil. As long as the group didn't need an APC or some heavy duty equipment, Nemecek wasn't bound to miss an old El Camino lying around the grounds. Still, he wasn't about to go blind into it, he liked the X-men all right, but he didn't want to put his ass on the line if it wasn't absolutely necessary.
"Just hoping to cut out a couple hours of walking towards the Plank. Anything you got that runs half decent would be a help."
Elizabeth answered, not minding Vic, for a human that is. "Don't plan to take it all the way there, store it far enough away so it's out of view, but prefer to take something you wouldn't mind losing in case someone does come across it." She was trying to focus her mind on the mission, of what was to come and how the hell they were going to pull the kind of information out of people they needed without it being known the X-Men were hunting around... but Elizabeth kept coming back to the thought of getting it over and done with and back home. Fast.
Vic stood quiet for a second, trying to come up with something to say, but it appeared the woman had put some thought on their plan. They were walking the last leg of the way so they wouldn't arise suspicion and they weren't asking for some fancy armored transport or 4x4. "I can do you for one then." he finally replied with a sigh, crossing his arms. "Now, roads are a mess, I trust you know, and a car working car is a juicy prey for raiders. rarer still is oil, I'll put you a full tank ought to be enough for the way back, but can't guarantee it. Just make sure you don't get seen climbing out of that thing if you don't want any undue questions as to... whatever yer doin' down there by the plank." he continued as he jerked his head in the direction of one of the mechanics, who quickly walked out of the tent. "It's an old, beat up thing, but it'll hold, just don't go doin' anything too daring with it. And watch yerselves ladies, it'd suck if ya didn't make it back and the mansion were to turn into a sausage fest." he joked with a big toothy grin.
The ladies' uniform insignia's crackled a tiny bit and the hollow voice of Vlad came through. "Hey, you guys hit the armory yet? We don't want to clean out the place before you get a look."
Ignoring Vic's joke,
Elizabeth gave a nod of her head as he spoke the useful part of his comments. "Keys for it?" However, as Vlad's voice came over their radio, she struggled with the layers of clothing she had on to answer. "Not as of yet, trying to go for inconspicuous,
" She paused to glance at her team, giving them a chance to correct her if they wanted a chance to get any extra arms.
Lire paused thoughtfully as she thought back to what she had stashed on her person at the moment. She already had two combat knives hidden on her and she could always use more throwing knives but they didn't have any in the armory. She shrugged, "I'm good." She said; her hands still in her pocket. She wasn't to worried; between the knives and her poison she didn't need to stab anyone; all that seperated them from a painful death was a scratch.
Endelyn gave a light chuckle to Vic's joke. When asked if they would need anything, she shook her head. "No. I have everything I need as well." she said and politely bowed her head to Flame.
Not three minutes after Flame had asked for the keys, the same wrench monkey Vic had nodded towards earlier came back into the tent and walked to the large Italian man, handing him a set of rusted old keys. Vic held the keys up, the keyring around his index finger, as if to show them to Flame, "Two of 'em, car is parked out in front of the mansion, full tank... or as much as we could spare anyways." he said, turning his hand so the keys fell into his palm before he tossed them at Flame, "I suggest ya give one of the pair to one of yer me-... one of your girls there. Also, jus' letting ya know, out in the wastes, NOT packing heat is the weird thing. Could jus' get people a mite jumpy."
Lire shrugged, "I can't stand carrying a gun." She answered, although she did fidget for a second with one of her hands before the sound of velcro sounded faintly and she pulled out a rather large combat knife from her hoody, complete with the sheathe and velcro straps dangling. She deftly reassigned the weapon's placement to her upper left thigh where it was in plain view but the worn leather hilt did not hint at the superior quality of the blade.
"We're good this side." Elizabeth offered into the com before shutting off the connection. She offered a nod of thanks towards the other tech, forced to catch the keys between her two covered hands. "Thanks." The combination of the sleeves of the hoodie and her nails made it troublesome for her to adjust them, but they finally came to sit in her palm. "I'd rather not have someone try and take any visible weapons off us," Before angling her head to catch Vic's eyes from beneath the hood. "Plus, I'm sure we can appear more than dangerous without extra pieces on us." Between her claws and the other girls blades, she was confident anyone trying to take a piece out of them would live to regret it, or maybe not...
"Roger that. Do you need any First Aid?" Vlad pressed, clearly concerned about their level of preparedness.
"Don't think we'll need it, but won't turn one down just in case." Elizabeth spoke once again into the com, pausing to think over Vic's advice. "And two handguns and an extra clip for both if you can spare them." Better to have the two girls outfitted to look well armed, as she was sure her claws would be enough to not cause questions to why she wasn't carrying weapons.
Lire snickered quietly when Vlad rang back asking if they needed first aid. She actually found it very sweet that the pair had managed to stay together and even had some semblance of a family going but she would rather go to her grave than tell anyone. She was starting to feel fidgety impatient to leave and start a mission she knew she would enjoy. Plus she was hoping she would have the opportunity to slip away and maybe do some recon on her own for her private mission.
Endelyn stood silent and quiet, listening to everything that was going on around her. She was glad about the car at least, it would make it a little easier to move about. As for the gun when Flame asked for it, a small smirk formed on the girl's lips. She never really used guns, but when she did, she had a pretty good shot. She didn't miss all as much as she thought she would. Perhaps it was because of her using a shotgun when she was back home in Maine, a long, long time ago.
Getting no response, Elizabeth motioned Lire and Endelyn to follow after her. "Thanks again, Vic." She added before stepping back out into the open air and heading into EoD Mansion Courtyard.
Lire turned and followed Elizabeth to the EoD Mansion Courtyard.
Endelyn followed them both after giving Vic a small wave, going into EoD Mansion Courtyard.
ACCESSIBLE AREAS
EoD Mansion Courtyard
EoD Barracks
X-Men: End of Days * X-Men EoD Characters
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