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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 10, 2018 22:47:54 GMT -8
"Who fucking knows anybody for that matter. But I know what I've seen back in this sick lab, and that is..."
Maeve frowned, both in agreement over the deplorable things that were done in that lab and for the implication that she was a part of it. The latter was an understandable assumption. He suddenly stopped talking as his entire being went to attention. Maeve glanced around, not seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary. She watched him in silence, her head tilting slightly as his odd mannerism struck her with a sense of familiarity that she couldn't quite place.
"You get two minutes.", "Time's running."
And his attention was back on her just as suddenly as it had been drawn away. "I need help breaking someone out of Trask Industries. The new man in charge is cleaning house and feels enough time and resources have been wasted on the mutant Stryker had been holding for interrogations." A look of anger and disgust overcame her features with the memory of her latest interaction with her new boss. Mutants may be feared or hated by some but never had she met anyone with such loathing. "The new boss will be traveling to a few bases over the next several days to, as he casually put it, 'discuss if it would be possible to turn him into a useful science project or if we must simply put him down'."
Maeve paused for Logan to respond and react so she could gauge how best to proceed with the remainder of her 'two minutes'.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 12, 2018 0:53:44 GMT -8
All throughout her exposition, Logan's senses repeatedly digressed elsewhere. It was the smell laying in the air, and with it the addition of something else. Another smell. The smell every lifeform emitted as soon as there was a potential danger ahead. Anxiety. Usually a smell not intensive enough to perceive with an ordinary olfaction. But Logan wasn't ordinary at all. Just why was this familiar smell separated from the person he was pretty sure belonging to it? The Trask woman in front of him.
It was the mentioning of a new boss though, that had him focus back on her. "New boss?", Logan repeated with an ensuing snort of contempt. "Here's hoping the last one kicked the bucket of one of his experiments on mutants." Unfortunately, he had been on drugs and so hadn't been able to do so himself, as his way out was the first instinct that had opened up, Logan added in mind.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 13, 2018 15:44:07 GMT -8
The change in power at Trask haunted her with concern and, she had to admit, a bit of fear, every waking moment since she’d walked into that office to find him sitting behind the desk. It was such a constant presence in her mind because the difficulty of her real purpose there had severely escalated. She’d forgotten most others didn’t know there was a new man in charge.
Maeve’s shoulders sagged with the reminder. “We’d be better off with Stryker in charge,” she said solemnly. “The leader of the Purifiers has taken control.” Everyone knew who the Purifiers were. Even if you didn’t follow the media or catch one of their heated, genocidal rants against mutants on television or in public rallies, the sheer force of their hatred and tenacity to rid the world of mutants was widely spread by those who had witnessed them.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 22, 2018 11:27:32 GMT -8
“We’d be better off with Stryker in charge,” Logan had been just about to cast doubt on that statement when her next words made him agree at once. “The leader of the Purifiers has taken control.”
Logan was no expert regarding the media, but even he had heard of the Purifiers and their lunatic speeches in the public. That really was worse. Instead of a comment to her explaining though, he just let out an angry snort. If these people were taking over Trask, probably no longer any mutant would be able to live a normal life, no matter their willingness for resistance or capitulation.
Logan's attention had digressed towards Ororo and her folk for a brief moment before he concentrated back on the woman right in front of him. "Here's a question. How shall I know you're not..."
He stopped in the middle of the sentence, yet again perceiving that familiar smell carried by the wind. This time it was visible which of his senses had him change his focus all of a sudden. And then, a little ungently, Logan grabbed her arm again and started to drag her along the path, continuing the sniffing while they walked.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 22, 2018 12:06:27 GMT -8
'Not...?' she wondered what he'd been about to say but then saw he was distracted yet again. In a gesture that reminded her of a bloodhound, he sniffed the air, his head turning to different angles until it seemed as if he'd pinpointed what had caught his attention.
Before she could put two and two together, he'd caught her arm in a grip and started to drag her along again. She could feel her real self jolt in surprise but maintained her projected copy. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" she bit out as he continued to drag her along. Her strength was nothing compared to his. Maeve suddenly realized the direction he was dragging her. He was making a beeline to the shed. To the real her. "Stop!" There was the hint of panic in her voice as they approached the corner of the shed. "That's--"
As they rounded the corner, Maeve's projection disappeared, leaving Logan's hand empty. The real Maeve's eyes shot open. She scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back with her hand out in a 'stop' gesture and smoothly finishing the sentence, "--close enough." Maeve rubbed her upper arm as the ghost of the strong grip he'd had on her projection started to fade. She looked rather pissed and annoyed at him.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 22, 2018 13:48:16 GMT -8
Logan completely ignored her protests against his dragging. He finally wanted to know where that smell was coming from, as he had a guess already. Maybe a guess far-fetched, but he was able to put two and two together as well. Besides, not only did they seem to get closer to where the smell was coming from, but it also intensified vastly as for its scent of anxiety.
"That's--"
And then finally they had reached its source.
"--close enough.", a copy of the Trask woman in his grip, looking exactly like her, finished the sentence. It was only then when Logan realized that now his hand actually grasped at nothing.
"I knew I've seen two of you.", Logan stated in a way like he wouldn't be overly surprised about this. Maybe he really wasn't. Even on those drugs they have had him he hadn't lost control over his senses completely. He simply must have forgotten or maybe just hadn't put too much value to it once he was out of that prison for mutants. But it suddenly made sense after all. A mutant with the ability to send a copy instead of its real vulnerable self would make the perfect spy.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 22, 2018 14:43:11 GMT -8
Maeve remembered how risky it had been, compromising her secret and ruining everything she'd accomplished thus far in her goal to find her sister, just to help out a mutant she didn't know. Stryker had proudly shown her around Alkali Lake and it took all of her to not let disgust show on her face. Most were in locked cells and she could only catch glimpses through small slits while they walked down the row of them but her sister wasn't amongst them. There was nothing she could do for the ones in the cages. But then they'd come across the lab where a man lay in an open glass box filled with liquid, and tubes, so many of them, sticking into his body. Scientists stood around machines, unphased by the shouts of agony coming from the box. She'd watched one of the scientists turning a gauge on a particular machine and had seen the mutant start to ease into unconsciousness.
As she followed Stryker and the scientists out of the lab for a briefing in the observation room above, Maeve had made a risky decision. She'd paused at the door and closed her eyes in momentary concentration and teleported her real self downstairs before following the men in. They sat at the table, absorbed in their discussion while she placed herself by the window using just enough of her energy to quietly watch. She had to be sure none of them got up to make a move toward the view below to ensure that her real self wouldn't be caught lowering the dosage. Maeve had slowed the drip just enough in hopes it would be a few hours until he would be lucid enough to make a break for it. That way, she wouldn't be suspected as she and Stryker would be well on their way back to corporate when it happened.
"So, you know I helped you then." As she crossed her arms, her lips quirked over having something on him. "That was quite a risk I took, putting my real self in the lion's den." Maeve let that hang in the air. She'd thought he'd been too out of it to have remembered he'd had help getting away and so she hadn't thought to use the 'you owe me' card.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 23, 2018 8:36:41 GMT -8
"So, you know I helped you then."
For the moment of a little pause of silence hanging between them, Logan wasn't sure if he should bring himself to thank her or just wait for her to go on. Her obligingness saved him from the first at last.
"That was quite a risk I took, putting my real self in the lion's den."
And a fallacy that had been. Logan let out a deep sigh of annoyance. "And now I got no other choice than putting my ass in the line, right?" And yet another sigh, before he went on with a question. "So, who's the damsel in distress?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 23, 2018 10:14:48 GMT -8
"And now I got no other choice than putting my ass in the line, right?"
The hint of a frown played on her face. Someone from her past had made her particularly strongly against people forced to do things against their will. Normally, she'd have adamantly replied that a person always has a choice but Maeve was desperate and could see that there was a good man hidden beneath that gruff exterior. His current huffing and puffing seemed to be just for the sake of trying to hide that deep, deep down, he had a soft center. She'd already seen a hint of it when seeing how he'd been with Ororo.
"So, who's the damsel in distress?"
The humorous image of Erik as a damsel perked her up again. "He," she stressed, "was being held for interrogation. They believe he knows where a number of mutants are hiding but they can't get him to turn on them. He won't talk, no matter what they try to do to him, and the new boss knows it." The rest regarding his fate had already been stated.
"I have a solid plan. Schematics, layout, the workings of the security system, and one or two others on board," she reassured. "Meet us at a place called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Salem Center, New York. It's this ridiculously huge mansion that looks like a castle."
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 24, 2018 9:20:54 GMT -8
"He,""was being held for interrogation. They believe he knows where a number of mutants are hiding but they can't get him to turn on them. He won't talk, no matter what they try to do to him, and the new boss knows it."
Logan's face remained neutral, but on the inward, he felt the only motivation for this to break down. Not that he was this kind of a man who chased every woman crossing his way, but, as a matter of fact, a damsel in distress would have been more to his liking than a dude.
"I have a solid plan. Schematics, layout, the workings of the security system, and one or two others on board,""Meet us at a place called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Salem Center, New York. It's this ridiculously huge mansion that looks like a castle."
"A school?", Logan repeated in a disbelieving tone. "As long as nobody expects me to join the class. The moment this dude's ass is saved, I'll be off." But as ridiculous as that place was sounding to him, it also could serve him with some answers he was longing for a while already. Answers regarding himself.
It happened that his gaze turned towards Ororo and the other villagers once again. He wasn't exactly known for feeling concerned about anyone, but then again, maybe just because he always had preferred to walk his way alone, but right now, worries were rising inside of him. With the Purifiers in control of Trask, no mutant being would be safe anymore, anywhere...
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 29, 2018 10:53:46 GMT -8
"A school?"
Maeve completely understood his disbelief. It mirrored her own when she'd first been told of it.
"As long as nobody expects me to join the class. The moment this dude's ass is saved, I'll be off."
Again, he mirrored her thoughts. She gave a nonchalant shrug. "As will I," she said casually, giving no indication that there were expectations beyond this one request for help. She understood his lone wolf thing because it was her thing, too. Maeve felt an unspoken understanding and a sort of kindship over their shared mentality. Although his preference for being on his own may have always been part of his nature and not necessarily linked to events in his life that had steered him to it.
She followed his eyes in the direction of Ororo and grudgingly softened a bit more toward him. She understood the feeling of wanting to go through your own mess of a life on your own but unable to turn your back and walk away when you stumbled across someone you could help. Especially when pesky feelings for that person had wormed their way into the equation.
Eyes still toward Ororo, Maeve spoke. "Things are going to become more dangerous for our kind. Ororo would be safe at the school." Her eyes returned to Logan. "The place is like a fortress, filled with mutants being taught to use their gifts to their full extent. Nobody would be dumb enough to try to infiltrate that place, not even the Purifiers." Well, they could try but she had a feeling they would fail miserably and regret it the rest of their days. "The man who runs it is shrewd but kind and very protective of his students. I hear he's very powerful." Again she looked into the distance in thought over the little Erik had told her of him and what she'd already seen Charles be able to do. "Something to do with the ability to tap into other people's minds. Their thoughts, feelings, memories..." Realizing how bad that sounded, she quickly looked back at Logan, reassuring, "but he doesn't abuse it."
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 29, 2018 13:00:56 GMT -8
"Things are going to become more dangerous for our kind. Ororo would be safe at the school."
It was not his place to tell anyone where to live, nor wouldn't he like to find himself in that scenario in the first place, but in view of the latest news of the Purifiers had taken over the control of Trask Industries he actually saw it as something that has to get brought up.
"The place is like a fortress, filled with mutants being taught to use their gifts to their full extent. Nobody would be dumb enough to try to infiltrate that place, not even the Purifiers.", she suddenly mirrored what had made him think of that school to be the right place for a lone mutant, or at least a loner as for her species. A sanction though that didn't go for himself. He was used to be a lone wolf and he was very much used to protect himself.
"The man who runs it is shrewd but kind and very protective of his students. I hear he's very powerful.""Something to do with the ability to tap into other people's minds. Their thoughts, feelings, memories..." It was only then that she got his full attention. The sudden interest most probably had been readable on his face, just maybe misread, judging by her additional reassurance. "but he doesn't abuse it."
You can't cause harm to something that was already greatly damaged. But that was something too private to give away yet. It was not of importance anyway, as his former statement still stood with only one addition. The moment this dude's ass was saved and the other dude consulted as for his personal business, he'll be off.
"Fine.", Logan eventually said in a final and yet again little gruff tone, about to get this done as soon as possible. "I suppose we'll meet at that place then? I gotta head back to have a chat I'm not exactly overanxious to have."
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 29, 2018 14:21:25 GMT -8
For the first time in her interaction with Logan, Maeve smiled. Not really a friendly-based sort of smile toward him but more in amusement at him. Big, tough, strong guy who'd been through hell at Alkali acting like a crotchety old man over talking to a girl about going somewhere safe. Given a choice of being shot at or dealing in a situation that involved any sort of feelings, she guessed he'd choose the bullets.
The man needed to lighten up a bit and Maeve decided to poke a little fun at the big bad wolf. "Oh come now. We girls don't bite." She paused a beat, looking thoughtful. "Well, maybe sometimes," she added with a mischievousness grin. "See you at school." With a little goodbye salute, Maeve vanished.
***Maeve teleports to New York - X-Mansion - Professor Xavier's Office***
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Sept 29, 2018 15:39:10 GMT -8
Logan didn't react to her sudden amusement, but was able to guess what could have made it emerge.
"Oh come now. We girls don't bite." ... "Well, maybe sometimes,""See you at school."
"What the heck...", Logan uttered in a whispered tone once the woman had vanished like she never would have been here. Shaking his head in slight confusion about this last statements from her, he started his walk back towards Ororo and the other villagers with a look on his face that not exactly was showing excitement.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Oct 14, 2018 18:12:09 GMT -8
Thursday, the day Charles and his crew meet Maeve and agree to help free Erik has come to an end.
Friday morning and afternoon pass and it is now around the time a normal work day ends.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Mar 16, 2019 17:23:17 GMT -8
A couple hours have passed.
Charles, Jean, Logan, Maeve, and Peter had finished plans for breaking Erik out of Trask Industries.
Maeve has left a van from the cleaning company at the arranged landing spot with uniforms inside, ready and waiting for the rest of the team who'll be arrival shortly.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Nov 3, 2019 21:49:07 GMT -8
Erik was successfully broken out of Trask Industries.
Friday has come to an end.
It is now Saturday, October 25, 1975, late morning.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Jul 4, 2020 18:40:49 GMT -8
A few hours pass.
It is now early afternoon.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Feb 5, 2022 16:59:17 GMT -8
The rest of Saturday passes.
It is now Sunday, October 26, 1975, late morning.
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