[1]

[wreakhavokupon]

What kind of ship is this supposed to be? This looks sci-fi even by Beast's standards. Someone going to clue me in on what's going on?

Seriously. I have things I need to be doing and I'm not sticking around to make nice with whatever asshole shoved me in that tiny crate. I'm not laughing. Not even a little.

Magneto? Mystique? Are you on this channel? I could really use some directions right about now.

Come on. Azazeal? Someone answer. This place is giving me the creeps.

Comments

Private to Havok

[abetterway]

It seems so. I wish I could tell you how, or why. For the most part, we've simply focused on surviving. [Her gaze falters, straying downwards before it meets his again.]

We didn't crash in a time of peace, I'm afraid.

Private to Jocelyn

[wreakhavokupon]

There's no such thing as a time of peace.

[Those words are too automatic to be his own, but they're out and he keeps going.]

Survival I can understand. I get that. [He was used to that. It was always survival these days. Whether it was as a person, or as a race.]

Private to Havok

[abetterway]

[A wry smile tugs at her lips. Yes, he's definitely a Lehnsherr protégé.]

You should do just fine, then. If you're cautious.

It wouldn't hurt to be open to cooperation.

Private to Jocelyn

[wreakhavokupon]

So I'm guessing we have no idea who kidnapped us either.

[And there's that word. The one he had bee avoiding. The word that haunted him like few others did. Kidnapped. Someone beyond his control had snatched him up and stolen him for reasons unknown to a location, also unknown, full of strange, confusing and impossible things. And he could feel the excess energy licking through his suit and coiling at the flash of childhood memories that single word blazed into him.]

I have never been against cooperation. [Even when Erik had explained why cooperation would never work. How there would always be liars and those waiting to abuse whatever they got. Once you gave a foot, you would have to give a mile. It was too hard to regain lost ground. He shut the inner monologue off. This wasn't home. This might not even be about humans versus mutants. It was about surviving a supposedly alien planet at war.]

Private to Havok

[abetterway]

No. [Her response is soft, concern barely concealed in her features. She can see the way he tenses. It's tempting to to reach out with her mind and sooth his, to offer some security, tranquillity - but she doesn't.]

I'm glad to hear that. [Quicksilver certainly is, and Todd seems wary of the concept.] I've found are fellows to be quite capable.

Private to Jocelyn

[wreakhavokupon]

[At this point, it's hard to know if Alex would welcome the comfort or recoil and close off from it. He never was fond of Charles in his head. He had a feeling the Professor knew it, too. The way he avoided ever doing so. Even when it meant Alex had closed himself off from the rest of the team and withdrawn into his guilt. Charles had said all the wrong things, but Alex knew it meant the telepath was not taking away his control by poking around in his mind.]

We're all after the same goal, as far as I can tell. I don't think anyone wants to die. There's no reason not to cooperate in that, as long as no one tries to keep me from doing what I have to do to accomplish that.

[There was confidence and determination in his words, shoving down the memories that had recoiled and bubbled up to the surface and grasping onto everything Erik had taught him. Everything Charles had taught him as well.]

How bad are we talking?

Private to Havok

[abetterway]

[She nods, smiling slightly. He's young, but he's clearly sensible, and she has no doubt that Erik trained him well.

The smile fades as she answers his question.]

Verdana is a world divided. Many of its people are cloistered inside a great dome, very near impenetrable. Most of the other inhabitants live in the Old City, the settlement nearest to the ship.

The Outer Authorities are the Dome's enforcers, and the City's oppressors. From what I've gathered, they don't want the rest of the world to make very much progress.

They aren't thrilled with our presence here, and - [She cuts herself off, expression darkening.]

They attacked, recently. There were eighty casualties, at last count.