Cuckoos for Genosha

March 18, 2018:

Three of the Stepford Cuckoos visit the X-Men in Carrion Cove, Genosha, to offer their help to the X-Men team there.

Carrion Cove, Genosha

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Cyclops, Magneto

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

The weather outside was the same, warm, balmy heat that was typical of Genosha.. Though there were storm clouds not too far off. A typical thunder storm that would sweep in and be gone in moments doubtlessly. People came and went in Carrion Cove as usual, though Lorna walked the streets without her body guard entourage of Acolytes. They wouldn't be pleased when she returned, her mental and emotional state more than a little questionable in the past week or so. She'd been in a manic upswing, sleeping little and obsessing over details. From details about her wedding, supplies for refugees, and studying everything she could about Riker's— Darcy's warning to stay away or not.

The green haired mutant slipped into the safehouse, frowning darkly as she shut the door behind her with a flick of her wrist. "Nate?" She called, boots treading lightly on the floor as she stepped further inside. Shadows clung beneath her eyes, heavy and dark from lack of sleep.


It might be overly optimistic to assume the safehouse is still unknown to Magneto, but definitely Lorna has been asked to lose her Acolyte bodyguards before coming to the beach cottage. If nothing else the stepping circle to Limbo should remain a secret.

If the Acolytes have the safehouse under watch they are subtle about it. Nate does frequent telepathic scans, and all the X-Men on duty are watching for drones and check for surveillance devices pointed their way. So far so good. But Carrion Cove is a quickly growing town full of refugees, businessmen, smugglers and mercenaries. A very chaotic place at the moment.

With Iceman leaving the school for business elsewhere, it is usually Nate, Illyana or Piotr watching over the safehouse. Today it is Nate’s turn, but he is not upstairs, but in the basement. The young man got a message from Xavier they were going to receive visitors. « Downstairs, Lorna, » he projects to the green-haired woman.


"Well, this is positively charming. We love the decor. Polaris, are you joining us?" The girls who have appeared downstairs haven't really changed. They're dressed cutely but smartly, having exchanged shorter skirts for longer ones to match their blazers and form a fairly professional sort of business wear that still shows off in typical Cuckoo fashion. They're standing more or less side-by-side, each with an identical haircut and similar expressions. Three of them.

"Don't tell me you've been having fun while we were away?"

"I like what you did with the place."

Visitors indeed.


Lorna came down stairs with a great gusty sigh falling from her lips. Her green eyes fell first on Nate, then on the Cuckoos. She grimaced, her lips pursed together as she folded her arms and arched a brow upwards. She was wearing a loose fitting black tank top that hid the swell of her stomach, and a pair of ripped jeans. Not exactly what one would expect or hope for from a woman on Genosha's council, but she was loaded down with enough cheap metal jewelery to make a Hot Topic store wince. She'd heard the news about Scott, but whether not she cared to do something about it was up in the air. "Joining? I dunno, pretty sure I'm still not an X-man anymore." Her voice dry.

But she made her way to find a place to sit and slumped down into the nearest chair. "Sure, I've had loads of fun. All the fun. So much fun I'm choking on it. What brings you three to Genosha?"


Nate has seen the Cuckoos a few times at Xavier's in the last few years, but since until very recently he has been somewhat of an outsider there, he never got to knew them. Their arrival to Genosha as part of the X-Men group is a bit of a surprise. But not an unwelcome one, since they really could use the help.

"Hello, ladies," greets Nate, standing up and inviting the blondes upstairs. There is not much in the basement of the building besides the eerie glowing teleportation disk. Upstairs the beach house is actually pretty nice, and Genosha's weather is usually pleasant despite the occasional tropical storm.

Nate seems to be wearing jeans and a short sleeved grey shirt, but that outfit is part illusion and part telekinetic reconstruction. He wears his armored outfit almost all the time. Genosha is not safe yet.

"I suppose we had a lot of fun," he replies to the blondes, climbing up the stairs, "things are quieting down now Zealot is out of the way. Magneto is mopping up the remaining Magistrate enclaves, but that is in the north of the island, we are in the southern tip. Just a lot of refugees and all kind of shady business in Carrion Cove. Police work if you want to get your hands dirty. Next interesting thing coming will probably be Marcos and Lorna's wedding, hmm?" He grins to Lorna.


"We're here because we thought we could help," the first replies to Lorna seriously, narrowing her blue eyes slightly as she does.

"Not everyone thinks what Scott did was right."

"Besides, it seems like you could use the help."

The identical women nod as Nate speaks, pursing their lips slightly as they watch the pair in front of them. "I don't think it can hurt. Just tell me where you think we'll be the most useful."

The young women exchange glances and then they nod and their voices continue in unison. "Police work is a good start. And we brought you a wedding gift, Lorna. Marco will love it. It's pink."


Lorna shrugged as she settled back in the chair she'd taken over, likely the same chair she'd taken a nap in previously. She had previously known the three blondes, though it had been years since she herself had left and returned to the mansion. Still, if the words of encouragement surprised her, it didn't show on her expression, only in the mental ripples the telepaths would doubtlessly feel from the green haired woman.

"If the wedding happens, Darcy was arranging everything. I never wanted it in the first place, but it matters to Marcos. I just want to elope and be done with it." She muttered, arching a brow upwards.

"Pink?"


"The snark is strong in this one," notes Nate with a brief smirk. "Who were you again?" He asks to the girl that offered the 'pink' present. Then to Lorna, he adds, "we need to talk with Scott about Darcy. But he was attacked a few days ago, so…" so maybe they should talk with Xavier or Illyana and get some kind of clearance to start working in getting Darcy out.

This 'following the rules' is a bit new for Nate. It might be he is not trying too hard.

Eloping would have been the way, really. Because now is "too late Lorna, now it is a state affair with all the hassle involved."


"Yes, pink," the first affirms. "Celeste picked it out. She's not here at the moment. But if it helps, Nate, my name is Sophie. My middle sister is Phoebe-"

"And I," the third interjects, "Am Esme." All three of them arch a brow then.

"Marcos is doing well?" A girl asks politely. "As for getting Darcy out of Riker's… If we get clearance to go in I am sure we can manage." It's Esme speaking again. "We need all of the friends we can really get."

After a second Phoebe asks, "You mentioned police work. Major offenders we should worry about? The three of us can make a lot of headway in a day or two, before people know what we look like."


Lorna shrugged again, crossing her arms. "I read the news, I saw that he was hospitalized. I'm sorry to hear it." She murmured, but everyone present could sense the irritation for the Summers man.

In regards to Darcy's situation though… "I don't need clearance since I'm not part of the X-men, right? Tell them if something isn't done I'll go to Rikers and rip the place apart until I find Darcy. I don't care. She did what she had to save lives here in Genosha. I don't care that she doesn't want me to.. I'll rip the place apart and get her out if I have to." She muttered, her voice clipped.

Still, she calmed somewhat before the baby could sense her anger again. "What is it exactly that's pink? Marcos is fine. He's happy. He has a kid on the way and gets a wedding. Which honestly, I am already sick of both but whatever." She leaned further back in her seat and huffed, waving a hand.


Nate flops down on a nearby chair and glances at Lorna, narrowing his eyes. Bad mood Lorna is no fun. "Relax. Darce is handling it better than us," he notes.

Then he looks at Phoebe and nods. "See, Carrion Cove was a town of about a hundred thousand, swelling to twice that during vacation periods. But now there is about a million people here. Most humans trying to leave Genosha. They are trying to leave because they are afraid of Magneto. And Genosha had a lot of super-tech, so they pay not with local currency, which has become worthless, but with high tech devices. Half the smugglers of the world have come here with ships, some of which are crap. They haul refugees out at ridiculous prices, they leave with all kinds of high tech junk, including weapons no one wants in the black markets. On top of that… well, desperate people lead to crime. And the police here are massively overworked. Plus human trafficking, piracy, mercenaries and bounty hunters, agents of foreign corporations setting shop and the kitchen sink. Bottom line, the cops need help. Some of the criminals are super-powered mercs or freed mutates with issues."


"There are a few things, Lorna. Something for the baby…"

"I added a bottle of pink champagne."

"There are five of us, so five gifts, right?"

"Anyway. I'll get on that today, Nate," Sophie replies, nodding once. "We'll talk to the local police and make sure everything's ironed out. You might have a jailing problem in a few days." The confidence is palpable. If there's one thing the girls all share it is that.

Esme pauses for a second before asking another question, "If we find people leaving the island should we let them go? Refugees, not their guns."


Lorna was in a terrible mood, and the lack of Darcy's presence was not helping. Somehow the human brunette had wormed her way into Lorna's life and now that she was missing, Lorna was deeply unbalanced by it. "Darcy can handle herself, yeah, but it doesn't mean I'm leaving here there if there's no clearance given." She muttered stiffly, her arms crossed.

"There are a bunch of people that are fleeing the island that deserve prison or worse.. But they should be allowed to leave. Better to let them go than keep them." She muttered and wrinkled her nose, "If you want to see Hammer Bay, I can take you around. It's being rebuilt faster than here.." Mostly because Magneto had control over it and was seeing the building himself.

The mention of the baby gifts had her mood thrown off, and Lorna looked oddly uncomfortable at the subject of gifts. She looked flummoxed, that something so banal and … normal… still registered in anyone's mind these days. Much less in the hive mind of the five in one.

"Uhm… thanks.. You didn't have to do that."


Nate smiles Sophie’s self-confidence about ‘get on that’ quickly. Carrion Cove is such a mess. And a good number of shady places have telepathic shielding, of course. High tech devices abound among the criminal element. “You do that,” he decides.

“Lorna is right, of course. Except a lot of the worst offenders had plenty of money and left for Europe early on. Many of the refugees come from Genosha’s middle-class and are just scared. Now that the Magistrates are decisively losing at the north, I expect another wave of refugees, including heavily armed deserters which will cause plenty of trouble,” so Wild West city Carrion Cove. Except with lasers and power armor.


"Right." The three girls are speaking at the same time now.. Sophie frowns and squints slightly, lifting her left hand toward her ear. "Celeste has a suggestion. What if we tell the smugglers we catch that we'll let them leave instead of throwing them in a dark hole and forgetting about them? Provided they take on refugees when they go. Takes care of three potential problems at the same time." The women offer Nate another of those quiet smiles and then Phoebe gives a shrug. "Lasers and power armor will keep things interesting, at least. We wouldn't want it to get too easy." The sarcasm is palpable, even if her voice is sincere.

Esme focuses on Lorna. She shrugs slightly, tilting her head as she looks the magnetokinetic over from head to toe. "You're right, we didn't. It was Celeste's idea. But you deserve something nice, Lorna. If you're going to have a great big wedding whether you want to or not it might as well be a memorable one, right?"


"If the magistrates survive the Acolytes as they're cleared out, they'll want to run. And they'll bring their mutant hating tech with them and their knowledge of it. I bet there's money trails all the way to America that'll help pay their way." She muttered, crossing her legs as she shifted on the chair to put her legs up and over one of the arms. She heaved a sigh once more, unhappy with the thought of letting them go. But then again, mutants were terrorists for fighting back, humans could slaughter them and still be promised refuge in the good Ol' USA.

Perhaps Lorna had been listening too much to the words of her half siblings.

Still, her grumbling broke off again with that same awkward stillness, a green eyed glance following over the three blondes. "My wedding is going to have some of the most wanted mutant terrorists present, and some of the most well known heroes out there. If no one kills someone, or tries to arrest them.. It'll be plenty memorable. I'm sure. Though if I wasn't pregnant I would be thoroughly drunk so I wouldn't have to remember it." She made a face.

"I still don't know if Magneto is going to try to walk me down the aisle or not."


Nate grunts. He can’t disagree with Lorna. There is a link between Genosha and Graydon Creed, Reverend Striker and his purifiers. Illyana killed Cameron Hodge in the X-Men attack to the Sentinel factory. They had an American anti-mutant fanatic in charge of security. “We need to investigate those links between Genosha and the American mutant-haters. This place still hides a good deal of secrets,” he glances to Lorna. “Maybe Mags won’t be adverse to share that info, you could ask?”


"Hopefully they'll respect the occasion," Sophie replies, though there's a wry smile involved in saying so. "It''ll be exciting at least." Then she takes a deep breath and looks around the room once more. "Still. It's nice to see you both. I'm going to go ahead and talk to the local Police, make sure everyone knows we're going to flush out a few of the smugglers? And we can check in again later on. It's really good to see you, Lorna. Nate. Don't be strangers."

Then Phoebe and Esme add all at once, "We're staying behind. Wouldn't want anyone to know that she's one of five."

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