August 29, 2018:
Logan, Lorna, and Hisako are enjoying a nice quiet time at Central Park when a hole opens in the sky and Alyndra arrives on earth.
Central Park
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
The sun hangs high in the sky, showing it is directly noon. The sky is clear with not a cloud in sight. Soft breezes blow about the area, kicking up stray bits of litter or leaves that're too light to otherwise just stay still. The park is bustling with people, it is a lovely day out so it was not hard to believe that there are quite a few people milling about, doing their own thing. Out on the great lawn, people laze about, chatting, eating, or otherwise just enjoying each others company.
*
The park isn't where Logan typically finds himself when he's in the city. He tries to avoid the city. Too loud, too many people, and the whole damn place smells like a toilet. Especially when it rains. At least today is clear and dry.
Crossing 5th Ave, Logan enters the park and immediately lights up a cigar. Can't let these damn kids enjoy their fresh air. He had mentioned to Lorna that he was going to take a trip into town just to get away from the mansion for a while and thought she might like to join. Honestly he didn't really care to come to the city, he just wanted to get Lorna away for a while to distract her from everything that's been going on in recent… well, in the past year.
And so here he is looking a little out of place amongst the citizens. A ball of hair and muscle with a shitty old t shirt on and matching shitty old jeans. His boots barely holding together. A walking relic surrounded by young professionals and young families out with their children. "I'll get ya some ice cream," he says with a slight grin on his face, casting his gaze over his shoulder towards Lorna.
*
The green haired mutant had been struggling to find some kind of balance recently. Which was particularly visible in the massive shift of her behavior and even manner of dress. Gone were the punk-ish vibes of leather and ripped up jeans. Rather she'd gotten her hair and nails done. Brand-names of top of the line professional wear and high heels had replaced sensible steel toed boots and the alike.
Even with the drive out of the mansion, Lorna was glued to her phone, a new and strange looking smart phone that she'd returned from Genosha with. She tapped away on it like everyone else, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a purple blouse with a loose fitting collar and pair of white jeans. A side long look followed Logan's words, and a quirk of her eyebrow.
"You know, this seriously beginning to feel like some father-daughter shit, Logan. What's next, balloons and hot dogs?" She teased.
*
Hisako Ichiki, fresh from having done some kind of liasion work, is in the immediate area - but not /right/ there, because she is enrapt in a discourse with the guy running the halal food court about whether or not she can get a custom order. Thus far, the conversation is amiable, and there wasn't a line so nobody is mad.
"Come on, your tomatoes are separate. I'll tip you an extra dollar for it," is Hisako's proposal. (Hisako is in shorts and a T-shirt along with a ball cap, and is wondering if she should've rocked something widebrimmed given the sunlight.)
*
Getting the result he was after, Logan offers Lorna another quick grin and a wink as he returns his gaze ahead once more. The change of her appearance has struck Logan as surprising, but he has kept his mouth shut about it. It's none of his business. She's changing and if she needs something she'll ask. Lorna's not the needing type.
"Hell I'm way too old to even be your father." Great great grandfather maybe. "Look pretty damn good for my age though." He takes a long pull from his cigar and suddenly hears a familiar voice echoing through the ambiant noise. An eyebrow lifts as he peers further ahead towards the direction of Hisako's voice as she evidently argues with a food vendor. What are the odds? He alters his course and heads her way. "You causin' trouble, kiddo?" he asks as he gets closer.
*
Lorna sighed, tucking the phone away after clicking it off. Even as a faint smirk twitched at the corners of her lips, "My dad is in his nineties, Logan. So, really…" She drawled, arching a brow. It was rather an odd thought to have, that her father, Magneto.. was so old. He certainly didn't look it, and she wasn't entirely sure on the whys or hows. Much less how Pietro and Wanda were the age they were.. when..
Best to not think about that either. Her family was a hot mess.
A shake of green curls and Lorna trailed alongside Logan, following his gaze as green eyes fell upon Hisako's figure. She offered a nod and a wiggle of her fingers.
*
"I just wanted double meat, that's all," Hisako tells Logan as he gets closer. This seems to have been completed successfully, because Hisako passes over a ten spot and gets back a heavily packed shawarma sandwich wrapped in foil. The tomato has been omitted. She takes a large bite while looking at Lorna, and after swallowing and dabbing her mouth with a napkin, she says, "You are dressing /up/ lately" to the emerald-tressed mistress of magneticism.
Her eyebrows lift to add an implicit 'how come?' as she takes another bite off of what is technically breakfast AND lunch.
*
There just seems to be a sublime peacefulness to the area, or as far as it can get with how they are in new york! Cars honking, people mad at each other for petty reasons over in the distance may cause ripples like in a still pond. As Logan, Lorna, and Hisako do their own things, high up above them, miles upon miles into the sky, far beyond the tallest building, something… happens. There is a thundering crack that rings out, but with no clouds in sight, it is not entirely clear where that sound rang out from. Clear shards of stuff rains down from above down below on the park, all landing in the reservoir not far from the great lawn. These shards float up to the surface of the water, but quickly melt away into nothing. Now, high above, something is seen. Darkness in the blue can be seen as more thundering sounds ring out, more and more chunks of the fabric of reality fall down into the water. Soon enough, it all stops, because the work is done. The air whips around, all getting sucked up into the void that was newly opened in the sky. Birds get sucked up and into it if they were not smart enough to take hold somewhere. Inside the hole in reality appears to be… Space. Countless stars is seen in there, but most prominent in it is the vast planet seen with large green continents and deep blue oceans, along with… Lots and lots of moving objects, silvery vessels that move about flying in the void. Quite possibly an invasion force… But nothing comes across yet, nothing. Just the whipping wind makes sound above the sounds of screaming civilians fleeing from the scene.
*
At least Logan and Magneto have one thing in common: being old as hell. Logan still has a few decades on the man but once you reach a certain point it just doesn't matter any more. At least he doesn't look a day over 40.
He casts another quick glance at Lorna with a grin and a slight elbow nudging her before returning to look at Hisako. Her question about Lorna's attire illicits a slight grimace that is hardly noticeable. He opens his mouth in an attempt to force a change of subject when a crack sounds from above and does the job for him.
Looking up into the sky he sees what appears to be some sort of.. portal? Lifting an arm up to block the sun shining in his face, he narrows his eyes and tries to get a better look. There's no way in hell he's looking at space. But it sure seems that way. "What the hell is that?"
*
A glance toward Hisako followed with a drop of her smile as her gaze fell to her own attire. "What? Am I not allowed to look nice? You and Scott.. I swear.." She shook her head, and looked as if she'd continue the grumping, only to halt at the sound of a massive crack above. Her figure froze, startled, as she glanced upwards and her mouth fell open. She stared upwards, swearing under her breath.
"Well it feels like a massive magnetic anomaly? It's …" Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared, confusion furrowing her brows.
"I'm not sure how to explain it. But it looks like a wormhole." She shifted on her feet, her jewelry and other bits of metal that didn't previously look apparent on her person, fluidly spread over her otherwise 'dressy' looking clothes. Metal warped fibers wove together and in an instant she was wearing a form of her usual X-men attire. All green with various hints of darker hues at her boots and arms.
"I'm going on up. See if you can't clear the area." Was all she offered before taking off into the air after the thing in the sky… or at least closer.
*
"I think it's awesome, I was just wondering if you were seeing someone or something," Hisako says between sandwich bites. It is about two-thirds gone.
Hisako first becomes aware of the howling vortex over NYC when a shred of lettuce in her sandwich is sucked up into the void of cosmos, flicking upwards. Hisako herself looks upwards and says with a slow sound of dread, "Oh, no - Logan, are they here for Tr— No, it's like RIGHT OVERHEAD!"
She immediately armors up, rising to become the tallest person present in the cluster of mutants and raising her voice. "Get to shelter! Get indoors if you can! It's cool! This is temporary!" she shouts to the onlookers, taking a half-step forwards and glancing at Lorna. "Yeah! Can you close it or point it up or something?"
Back to Logan, Hisako says, "Can you pick up anything, like, weird? Like a monster or Spider-man or something? - I think there's like fish in there!" They look like fish to Hisako, not war ships.
*
As Lorna flies up to get a closer look at the wormhole, she would see the edges around it start to… smooth out, into a nice circle, not jagged or showing no signs of this being random. No, someone is making this and they want it to appear elegant. The whole time the hussle and bussle on the other side slows down, and all goes away, flying towards the planet the three can see on the other side. So, not an invasion force, possibly just space traffic? That is when she will see it, a massive vessel flying towards the portal, the silvery sheem glimmers softly in the light of a far distant bright blue object, possibly a sun. The vessel looks… kinda like a jet, only the front is more arrow shaped and the engines are on the belly of the craft. Either side of the thing are two massive turbines for travel on land. The vessel barrels into earth, not stopped by any attempts to be slowed down by magnetic powers, clearly not made of any sort of magnetic alloy. It starts to fall, but the turbines turn and it starts to hover in the air. It sits there, hovering miles in the sky, just… still…
*
Watching as Lorna takes flight to go investigate the apparent hole in the sky, Logan grumbles under his breath. Ya can't have a day off in this damn state. He turns his attention towards Armor as she starts working on clearing out the general population from the area, although it looks like they were already on their way out anyway. Good. Less people means less collateral damage from… well, whatever the hell is going on.
Shaking his head slightly, he glances back up after Hisako's question, "Ya got me, kid. I'm gettin' nothing from it." And now something has come through the hold and it just floating there. "Maybe they come in peace." He exhales sharply from his nose as he suspects it won't be that easy.
*
A frustrated sound pulled from Polaris' throat as the craft comes barreling through despite her throwing everything she could at it. Nothing was even vague magnetic? She cast her senses wide, hoping to feel some kind of a power source in it, electricity.. something, to at least understand the scope of the thing. Even Shi'ar tech ran on a power source she could feel and manipulate on some level.
But she didn't stay still either, rather as she flew around the thing, her hands pulled downwards, feeling for odds and ends of metal and hauling it up into the air around her. Scraps of metal, lamp posts, sewer grates, and an empty trailer from a truck came floating up around her. A protective ball of metal that swirled around her.
Even as she tried to fly closer to where the 'hole' in space was, trying to figure out if she could close it somehow.
*
"I was just talking to some alien! If they're from Almerac don't let them think they can just bug SHIELD like they're talking to the manager!" Hisako protests, even as she semaphores vigorously at the helpless denizens of New York. When a stray duck gets drawn up into the heavens, quacking in annoyance, Hisako curses under her breath.
*
The hole in the sky is held in place by some forces not anywhere near by, so unless she had a means of closing wormholes, Lorna might not be able to do much about it. The vessel hums softly as the turbines move to keep it afloat. Under it, the seemless silvery vessel would open up some landing legs, and move their way down to the grassy park, to the biggest area. The Great Lawn. The blades spin, making very little sound themselves, but the sheer amount of wind they kick up more than makes up for the fact it was silent. The craft makes contact with the ground and goes silent as the blades spin down, turning off. All is silent, the civilians have all fled, any critters have fled this scene. There is a click and a hiss that sounds out from the craft, under the belly of the tall craft a seam in the otherwise featureless underbelly can be seen, and it lowers down to the ground. Steps, great.
Tap, tap, tap, the sounds of footsteps, followed by a greater sound, heavy steps and the clank of stuff tapping together that sounds like metal, but Lorna knows better. First down the ramp is a rather tall man, standing at six feet tall. His head is bald, shaved and shiny under light, he looks human save for the pair of long, sharp ears that poke out either side of the head, jewelry from studs to rings adorn them. He is wearing some kind of fine white suit, padded and pocketed. He has a cane under his right arm with his hand on the head while the other rests behind his back. He carries himself with authority, head held high, steely brown eyes gaze around as some armored troops march down the steps behind him. They move out and into a semi circle out in front of him, all facing out with their back to the craft. Each one of them holds a spear in one hand, and a shield in the other. They are all clearly well trained. With a snap of his fingers, they all shout out and turn their spears upside down and bury the heads into the dirt, and a moment later, a shimmer appears all around the local area around them and the craft, a bubble of energy solid to the touch.
*
As the ship appears to be lowering towards the ground not far from where he and Armor are standing, he turns and starts making his way over on an intercept course. No claws. Yet. The ship at least doesn't seem to be making hostile movements so for now he's just interested to check it out and see what the hell it's doing and what it wants.
Glancing over at Armor, he nods, "Keep yer head on a swivel, kiddo." As the ship finally touches down, Logan peers up to check up on Lorna's position. He expected her to keep the thing in the air and the fact that it isn't anymore is concerning. Especially since she seems to be protecting herself with a variety of object spinning around her.
The stairway extends and some humanoids sep out onto the grass and Logan's not too impressed. They had the whole damn world and they had to touch down here? Folding one arm across his chest, he is complacent with just watching how things unfold as he fingers with his cigar for now, his feral gaze carefully watching the proceedings.
*
There's the ship. Logan encourages her. Inside of her armor, Hisako swallows.
"… It's OK," she says. "I've been training for this, Logan. Just… be safe, OK?" She steps forwards, even as the spearmen emerge, slam down their spears and create their own armor screens (good choice, Hisako thinks with abstract approval). She raises one hand.
"Good afternoon!" she calls. "Welcome to Earth! I hope your journey was not troublesome! I represent one of the primary industrial species of Earth, on behalf of the opinion-leader organization called the 'X-Men'. Can you understand my language? I can contact a telepath of my people if you need that!"
Logan would notice she is standing between him and the probable attack arc of the dismounting troops.
*
Frustration, thy name is Polaris. She was supposed to be the Mistress of Magnetism. A key element to the universal powers that be. She could manipulate metal magnetic fields down to the smallest of levels possible. Yet here she was, unable to stop one ship. Irritation colored her expression, though she ran her senses over the wormhole. She felt like she could, in theory, close it down if necessary. A glance was sent to the wormhole again, to the world beyond, trying to judge if there were any more ships attempting to come through or not.
That done, she came flying back down metal floating around her in a wide arc that she settled in the air above the ship. A protective ring ready to slam down and create a barrier as needed. Her arms crossed as she lightly touched down by Logan and Hisako.
*
Looking to the ground, the Elfin man spots a nice flat stone by his feet. He takes his cane, and with the end, he taps the stone with it, a shrill sound rings out as it rings out, not really sounding natural. Some more footsteps are heard inside the ship as some more people come out of the darkness. Two more of these soldiers, but these guys are not carrying weapons or shields, instead, the two of them are grabbing a young woman by the arms, dragging her limp body down the steps, her bare feet slap against the steps. She is clearly breathing. They get up behind the man and toss her down to the ground with a thud as her body makes contact with the grassy ground. The man turns down, and glares at the woman on the ground, ignoring the words of the people beyond the protective bubble around them. Reaching inside his jacket, he pulls out a small black book and opens it up, and starts to read from it. He speaks in a soft voice, and in a language completely unknown to everyone here. From his posture and how he speaks, it sounds like he is reading off charges. He goes on for a few minutes, finally closing his book. He reaches into the jacket yet again and pulls out this small thing, and snaps it in half before dropping it down next to her. A smell wafts from it, smelling like… lavander? He then reaches into his jacket again and takes out a knife and drops it to the ground next to her as well. So far, they have made no moves against anyone here, that smell is not even offensive at all. The worst thing they've done is suck up some hapless birds into the void of space.
*
Standing there puffing away on his cigar, Logan glances over at Lorna as she returns to earth. Briefly tugging it from his mouth, he speaks to her, "Figured you'd just shove it right back through darlin'. Guessin' you would if ya could though, which means these people are somethin' else."
He glances over at Armor who is posted up in a protective location. It ain't every day someone tells him to be careful. Most people don't worry about him getting hurt because he doesn't really. It's a nice sentiment though.
As the visitors start dragging a female out of their ship, though, his attention returns to the matter at hand. Is this all meant to be some sort of show to anyone around? Nah, she's one of their kind. It sure seems like some sort of execution ceremony, but what would be the purpose of them showing up here out of nowhere. Unless.. "Shit, they're gonna dump that one off here an' leave."
*
The green crunched under the heels of her metallic boots, her arms still out stretched at her sides with the glow of magnetic force alight around her. Polaris kept her gaze trained on the otherworldly visitors, her lips pursed into a thin line. "All we have to do, is keep a protective barrier up until SHIELD or someone official shows up. If these guys clear out by then, and aren't an invasion force, then that's another thing entirely." She murmured, her expression grim as she watched the show of whatever it was that was going on before them.
Logan's words drew her gaze back to him and the green haired woman hitched an eyebrow upwards. "What? Are you serious? What, is Earth now jail number six hundred and sixteen or something?" She grumbled. "The whole thing isn't made of any magnetic alloys.." She added, glancing at the other two and then back to the little crowd of.. whatever or whoever they were in front.
*
Hisako stops and awaits a reply. She thinks: That's neat, he has his cane tap thing. Maybe he's like their revered leader and this is a ritual, like that was a portable chime. She remains still.
A young female example of their species gets hauled out. She gets hurled. At this point Hisako frowns.
The man starts to read out of what she is pretty sure is a book. Hisako turns her head to look at Logan and say, "… Did these guys just land in New York City for no reason at all?" Her head turns back to the aliens afterwards, who are, after all, intruders. "Hey." she says, before raising her voice, "HEY! EXPLAIN YOURSELF! This planet is inhabited! You talk to us or one day we're gonna show up and ditch the Scarlet Witch in YOUR park!"
"If I see a knife or something I am getting in there," Hisako then says, before her nose wrinkles. She looks to Lorna, then Logan (particularly Logan). "… is that lavender? That's not like a nerve gas thing, is it?"
*
No, it was not nerve gas. But Logan might be able to smell some undertones of various other smells, masked by the lavander scent. With a barking command in that strange language, the men pull their spears up and out of the ground, flinging it around to clean the heads of dirt. The dozen men turn around to look at the man as he makes his way back up the steps, and they follow suit. The woman start to stir on the ground, a soft groan and a cough as she starts to lift her head and blink her eyes open, the soft cyan glow of her irises shine as she looks up and at the strange group in front of her. The click and the hiss of the steps sound as they murge with the ship yet again. The turbines spin up to full speed, and they waste no time in getting off the ground. They are no longer taking their sweet time anymore, and are hauling ass to get out of here. The ship move up and towards the portal, and easily slips back into it.
Back on the ground, the young woman coughs some more reaching for the snapped crystal and tossing it as far as she can away from her, which is about a good few feet to her left. Whatever it is, it must be offensive to her nose. She rolls to her back, looking up towards the portal that slowly closes, knitting back together. The portal is still open, she can still feel that connection… And it gives her strength. She lifts a hand, and holding out two fingers, she traces some patterns in the air that hang there in a soft golden light before pressing ito it with her hand. The ground rumbles softly, and from the sigil inscribed in the air, but before she can finish what she is doing, the portal knits shut. Her arm flops down to the ground, the sigil fades to nothing, and she lays there, breathing softly…
*
His nostrils flaring as he senses through the lavendar, Logan glances over at Hisako, "Seems like somethin' designed to wake her up. Like smellin' salt." He glances back over as the ship suddenly lifts off and books it for the portal and disappears just as quickly as it appeared in the first place.
He steps over towards the girl now that the ship has gone, watching as she makes some motions in the air before collapsing. He cautiously slows as he gets a few yards from her and then crouches down, resting his forearms on his knees. The cigar smoke likely wafts towards her, probably a worse odor than what the lavendar was masking. "Hey darlin'. There's likely no chance in hell you know what I'm sayin' but it's worth a shot." He pauses for a moment as he watches her, "You okay?"
*
Lorna slowly lowers the hunks of metal to the ground, exhaling a breath as the ship takes off again and the portal closes behind it. People were going to be all kinds of panicked now by something other than mutants. How nice. A roll of her shoulders followed as her gaze returned to Logan as he went to inspect the woman left behind by the ship. Her lips pursing together as she eyed the surrounding area.
"I'm going to go handle the Feds that are likely to show up here. Unless you both want to bail and leave her to them?" She hitched a brow upwards.
*
"They just ditched her! What the is up with these people!" Hisako says, hastening forwards, moving to get on the other side from Logan. She looks down and says, "Hey. Hey. Are you alright? Can you see us? Hi!" She waves one arm, a little, and mutters to Logan, "Maybe she's going to die in our atmosphere. Should we call the mansion or what?"
Then she looks back at Lorna, incredulously. "/No/, I'm not going to ditch this woman. Even if she's, like, Space Elf HItler or something, these people threw her away like garbage! She could be getting like, levorotary protein poisoning!" ("Like the turians, from Mass Effect," she explains to Logan.)
*
The woman on the ground has her eyes close as she breathes slowly. Aside from the ears, there are some differences between she and humans. For one, she is breathing much, much slower than a human does, but she takes deep breaths every time. Her hair may be black, but it shimmers softly under the light of the sun, it has a sort of illusion about it that makes it look like one could reach their hand into the hair as if it were a void. She blinks her eyes open again when she hears the gruff voice in a language she could not understand. Her cyan eyes stare up at a strange face, with a strange smelling, buring thing poking out of his mouth. Such a curiosity! Then the other girl comes to his side. A more worried voice from her, she may not understand the words, but she can grasp something from body language and the postures. She pushes herself up to an upright position, her clothes torn and mistreated. She turns around and faces them as she sits cross legged on the ground. She looks at them for a moment, and then glances down to the ground. A knife sits half buried in dirt, the sharp silver blade sits there, shimmering softly under some kind of power. She knows she can't understand them, and they can't understand her, so… something pops in her head. She holds up two finger, an index finger with both hands, and traces a pattern in the air and incloses it with a circle. She opens the palm of her right hand, the people close would see a marking there that glows as she presses it to the pattern in the air, which springs to life. Her eyes light up, and leans in close to the thing and says "Arvan?" She says into it, and a moment delay, a "Hello?" comes from it! Translation!
*
Hisako rocks back on her armor's heels as the woman gestures. She raises a hand to wave - but she's doing something. Activating something. Some kind of… cyborg thing, Hisako guesses. Arvan, she says. Hello!
"Hello! Armor," she says to her, before thumping her chest with her hand. (The armor, hitting itself, makes a sort of ethereal 'poomp' sound.) "We are X-Men. Are you well? Are you injured? We have healers, but we may be different from you!"
She probably workshopped this with Beast.
*
Studying the strange girl carefully, Logan glances up at Lorna as she wanders off to go deal with the authorities who will likely show up any time then looks over at Armor as she speaks with the girl more. At the sound of a familiar word transmitting, he nods back, "Hello." His eyes peer at the knife buried in the dirt then back to Alyndra.
"They must've left it here to give her a fightin' chance," he says as he reaches up and thumbs the stubble on his chin. "Or for an easy way out." Rising to his feet, Logan extends a hand towards Alyndra as a gesture to help her up, although he figures there's little chance she'll see it that way. With his other hand he taps it against his chest, "Logan."
*
Speaking some words into the Translation sigil, she sits back and lets it figure out what she is trying to say in a local language. "Hello, my name is Alyndra! It is nice to meet you. I am sorry to trouble you like this, but I am not sure where I am, or… anything." She looks over herself as Logan speaks, his words translated though the spell so she can understand all he is saying. She frowns softly as she looks down at the knife, and up to Logan as he makes the gesture to her to help her up, but she just tilts her head at him. "I am not hurt, The Heart makes me durable, they'd need to use The Bane to hurt me…" She glances down at the knife yet again when she says that, and she shivers softly…
*
Hisako's armor starts to flicker out, because other than the near occasion of cops - the most annoying fleshy ones of all - she is not feeling major risk now. "Oh good! I'm sorry if I sounded baby-talk, there," Hisako says. "Is that knife The Bane? I can get rid of it for you, if you don't think it would hurt me."
"This is New York, New York prefecture, United States of America, Earth," Hisako then says, getting it mostly right. "Who were those — people who ditched you?"