September 07, 2016:
Nate returns back to X-Force HQ and fills Rose in on Apocalypse.
Lot 80 - New York City
Brooklyn waterfront Lot 80 sits between Gowanus Industrial Park and the
Gowanus Canal (across that watery divide is a Roxxon Oil storage facility).
On the corner of Halleck Street marking entry to Lot 80 is Gabby's Gas N'
Grub beyond the convenient store and gas station looms a disused and
abandoned tower from America's gentrified industrial era. A daunting
monument known as the Elevator.
This monolithic dinosaur stands above the burrough of Red Hook, a place that
in the 90s was declared one of the worst neighborhoods in the United States
and even infamously for a while the crack capital of America. Things have
changed since those times but not by much.
Ownership of the Elevator and it's immediate grounds has changed hands from
the Port Authority, to a wealthy "Toxic Sludge Baron" to a new mysterious
owner. In that span of ownership swaps it's layout has changed very little.
A cement barricade now surrounds most of the peninsula at the mouth of the
Gowanus Canal that the Elevator sits upon. Any access to the actual Elevator
itself requires bypassing that, coming in through Gowanus Bay or the strip
of gated road behind Gabby's Gas n' Grub. A convenient store and gas station
that sprung up in recent months.
The Gas n' Grub sits like a bright distracting sentinel before the abandoned
Elevator. Drawing eyes and attention from that graffiti covered sleeping
concrete, brick and steel giant of an age past. No trespassing signs are
located here and there diverting the many tourists and urban explorers who
used to freely visit the Elevator. A hobby the newest ownership of the
Brooklyn landmark apparently frowns upon.
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: chip
Mentions: ripclaw zakura andy lunair
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Nate came back to the X-Force base just a few minutes after talking to Xavier. He stopped at the school just long enough to take some painkillers and wash away some blood. Because really, good purposes and all go to hell in the face of Apocalypse. He needs to be as battle-ready as possible, and spend a few hours crippled by pain wouldn't be good.
The X-men need reinforcements, but Ripclaw is not here. Or Nadia, Andy, Luna or… the doctor is around, but he can hardly help. Rose is here, fortunately, and Nate lets her know he is back, and that he is looking for her.
Metal meets metal as Nate's reach out touches her mind and the curls of the large bar and ample weights is tossed and landing in the rack with a loud shuttering clink. Rose has been pushing herself, to the point of bordering on tearing (if even possible), but there is nothing left to do in spare time really… Although temptation is there, and after some breaking on the bench a bottle of vodka rests beside the water bottle. One for one. That's not cheating!?
Taped fingers, hands and braced wrists sweep up to push away the awkwardly growing hair of white that hangs in ribbons from the tiny splayed pony-tail at the back of her head. Growling she rips it down, returns her location to Nate as she drops to straddle the weight bench and double fist her drinks. She can tell something is wrong, but when isn't there?
"Fuck…" One word drawn out on exhale to whoo-sahh her nerves.
Nate looks angry, yes. That is not as normal as it was a few years ago, he has calmed down quite a bit. There are bruises forming on his cheek and jaw, too. But that is not uncommon, he gets into fights often enough. "Rose," he almost smiles at seeing the white-haired girl. But that fades quickly, "The X-Men have found Apocalypse again. He has kidnapped McCoy and he is gathering an army."
There is no comment about the vodka. He could use a drink, but he is not going to mix it with the painkillers right now, so he starts pacing.
No comments necessary. This had been discussed. Rose looks at him, focuses upon the bruises and a brow tic's at a corner but she knows he will elaborate… And when his paces pick up, not bringing him to her, instead into a flurry of to and fro and names come forth she does not break her mismatched gaze from him while she takes another drink, this time negating the water from chasing…
It is needed, it does not totally take from her reaction when Hank is mentioned. Her fist around the neck of the bottle shudders, the liquid quivering inside and the neck cracking beneath taped and braced hand. He might be a big blue beastial wet blanket, but he is outside, what they all are inside and handles it far better… Ravager remembers him….Her friend even if they did not agree…
"So I see you found his army." Commenting on the bruises while focusing on him and double-checking. "When do we go back?" So non-chalant. So pointed. She hasn't the slightest on Apocalypse, and doesn't seem the slightest bit plussed.
"Yeah, a big Russian guy and a group called the Dark Riders or something," confirms the young man. "I saw him, I was going to try… oh well, a guy called Blaquesmith pulled us out. Gambit and me. The odds weren't good." And still, he is not sure he is happy about it.
"Now Xavier is gathering the troops. I am supposed to wait. Hate waiting," something they do have in common, definitely. "I came here to look for X-Force. We also need to be ready."
Rose looks away finally, the neck of the bottle broken into fissures and spider-webs that she simply handles with a delicacy before she takes another pull of the bottle without touching lips to mouth.
Her shirt is one of a halter that brandishes crossed guns, brass knuckles, and says 'Talk Shit, Get Hit.' Shorts are simply black lycra and it resembles gymnasts attire over that of a woman just lifting weights. The look that creases brow is frustration mingled with exhaustion, already, fingers reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose while her whole body bows slightly in upon itself as if to hide, but every breath surges her chest and shoulders - a wild animal in wait.
"Gambit? The Frenchie? He okay?" Although okay is a relative word for -them-.
"You have to wait. I. Don't." But with the drop of Ravager's hand from bridge her bionic eye is a glowing optic blue, showing Chip being cue'd up.
"You rang mon…" Pause. "Hello, Nate! Gather Cyber… X-Force. Got it! Updates running. Members informed." Another beat. "You owe me round two, Captain Tenderizer." And Chip was out.
"How deep do the bruises go?" Rose watches Nate, she knows better, and so does he.
"I am fine. I mean, nothing is broken," replies Nate. "Gambit is about the same, he was angry with me because he wanted to run earlier. But they human prisoners they were killing." And Nate saw everything red the second Apocalypse got mentioned, anyway.
"Yeah, our X-Force," agrees Nate. "But I don't think anyone else is in the New York area. I am going to attempt to reach Lunair tonight, though," as soon as his headache recedes a little more, basically. "Cable too. Blaquesmith said he wasn't around, but I gotta try anyway."
Rose looks away with a slow exhale. The relay is coming from Nate in pieces, but his own words prove he has more at stake in this 'when he saw red'. But then again, when it comes to members of this team, seeing Black is more fitting.
"People die, we will too." A roll of shoulders and her hands lower, the bottle set aside as they press upon the bench between thighs and she eases herself forward with fluid motions that glide her across the poly-vinyl seat; closer.
"Who is Apocalypse?" Queried s she comes to the edge of the weight bench, splaying arms across the bar she had braced there and staring with her chin perched upon it now, at Nate.
"He is the mutant that destroyed my world, Rose," Nate is quite sure he talked about it years ago. But the memories of Rose's world are not as clear as they should. World jumping would do that. "He presumes to be a god and thousands of years old. He is super-strong and a shapeshifter, and has an armor I am not sure why he needs. But mostly, he is a murderous megalomaniac that wants to rule mutantkind and exterminate humankind. And he will try to kill anyone in his path."
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
Rose remembers more emotion with flashes of imagery, faces… Not words. the emotional attachment and the 'moments' are what held fast despite the world-travel. Apocalypse is not a name she recalls, but a name is not enough as there are may versions of (an) Apocalypse, to anyone. Some wish for it…
Rose is still looking down when Nate talks about his world, and she remembers being trapped in his mindscape and there… The test tubes, the loneliness, the vast emptiness in land and in the home… A deep breath in and her head shakes, the bottle brought back to her lips.
"So… He is yet another world leader bent on extermination and elimination? I saw, I recall some, but riddle me how it is much different then the current run for leadership in the human world?" A shake of her head and she pushes to a stand, straddling the bench before stepping over it and approaching Nate, fingertips running along bruises.
"Semantics don't matter to me. They hurt people I care about, took my friend, and seek to eventually kill all the same. I wont be anyones tool. So. Where do I… We.. Go now?"
"He already did once," points out Nate. Most of the would-be world-conquerors seem failures. Sometimes dangerous failures, but they never get even close. Nate has seen what happens when Apocalypse wins. And the hatred and rage are very obvious.
"Where to go? If we get enough people there is this island north of Japan, where the Russian had a portal to some other dimension. That is a start." Also paying attention to what Xavier and Blaquesmith will say, though. But just waiting seems a bad, bad idea.
Rose did not bother to inquire much more on the bleakness of the situation, as a whole, or as far as Hank is concerned. As far as -she- is concerned it is something that has been escaped and overcome and can be shifted again.
"Welp," A glance up and that eye flares a light blue again and then settles back to milky white. "Let's find everyone, then. We have family that needs help from the extended branch." A small smile and she pokes his jaw along the line of black and blue.
Nate stares Rose for a few seconds. Yes, simple. How many of his family did Apocalypse kill? All of them. He sighs, then offers a hand to the girl to help her stand. "Yeah, lets do it. Those assholes need some killing."