Summary:X-sonmniacs Anonymous meet and discuss the latest troubles for mutants Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Something a friend said stuck in Hank's head, weeks later he is sitting out back at Xavier's, couldn't sleep. On a whim he'd grabbed something out of storage, and old guitar of his, hadn't touched it literally years. Not since he got the claws. Tonight he took it out, cleaned it, restrung and then tuned it. A twelve string acoustic.
Mindful of Catseye's ears, he took it outside with him along with a case of beers, good stuff, Sam Adams Summer Ale, and starts playing again. The thing that was said, 'Maybe try Spanish guitar, its plucked'.
SO there you have it, one fuzzy Beast, one guitar, and somewhat halting attempt at playing it in a style he is not familiar with.
She's restless, and she doesn't want to wake Remy with it. So she's snagged a soda and some snack, her phone fully charged so she can read or play games, or listen to music. It's nice out, this time of night - time of year. Summer's leaving the stage, and Autumn is sweeping in from the wings.
Rogue will just take a breath of the air that is crisper here in New York than it had ever been 'back home'. Jeans, a short sleeved shirt, a pair of beat up sneakers, and she's heading across the rolling green of the estate like she did when she was still a 'kid'. It's the music that draws her in closer, a smile to see Hank. Nothing against Henrietta, but Rogue was still happy to see the genius back the way she knows him best. "Hankster."
Hank is not the only fuzzy being around here. Nick Gleason, one of the older mutants to have graduated by a fair bit, had dropped by to set up for his next class and stayed for some music and food. He's trying not to let his ears fold back whenever Hank is slightly out of tune. Hard to blame the man, he's trying something new. Even a genius like Hank won't get it right the first time.
Rogue gets a bit of a wave as he comes out in a short sleeved collared shirt. Which probably just looks odd - big wolfman in business casual, but there you go.
"Hey you two."
Following behind Nick are soft little yowls of displeasure as Hank hits an out of tune note. It's Isis Marik, feline-like mutant who came to the school about two and half years and left as soon as she could. Unlike Nick, she's dressed a lot more casually. Low slung jeans and a crop top, not Nicks T-Shirt for a change.
The ears on her head are folded back, being slightly more sensitive than Nicks as it is. "Hank! I didn't know you … " she pauses and looks at Nick before grinning just a bit. "… played."
Rogue gets her scrutiny, Isis didn't meet many of the students when she was here. "I'm Isis. Hi."
"Hello Rogue." Hank says with a smile. "Have a seat, plenty of room. There's beer." Truth be told he -is- really rusty, and this is complicated by the fact that he's going about the playing a whole new way. Even with his super-spicy brains and astonishing manual and pedal dexterity - he has a ways to go!
Hank smiles when he sees Nick, a nod of greeting added in, and then he tosses the Wolf a bottle of bear with one of his feet, don't worry he's very good at that sort of thing!
And then Isis - and though she's polite in the question, her flattened ears tell a different tale. A soft laugh. "Not in some few years, I'm afraid." He holds up his hands, the fixed claws on massive fingers flexed. "Just trying something new, but it can wait for another time." The guitar is put away, and he'll hand Rogue that beer if she wants one.
Hank's dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a truly hideous Hawaiian shirt. Nick might recognize it from their early days in the First Class and were in Hawaii.
Rogue looks up just as she settles down in a cross-legged sit near Hank with her tiny knapsack of soda and snack goodies. She looks up, shaking hair out of her eyes, a smile and a wave of one hand towards Nick. "Hey hey." If she thinks a wolfman in business casual is weird, she's in the wrong place.
She will start to open her soda, and mull over her snack options, when the trio becomes a quartet. She looks up again, eyes casting over Isis. She also was not exactly social in her earlier years at the mansion, for reasons most people around knew. "Rogue. Hello."
There's a smile at Hank, "Go back to Remy smellin' like beer? Akin to cheating with that man, drinking without him." She will tease, lifting her bottle of soda to indicate she has a beverage.
Nick does take a beer, albeit he doesn't intend to drink much of it. He still has to drive so he needs to be responsible about this. But it's helpful all the same. Twisting the top off gives him a chance to grin and not comment on Hank's shirt.
It's really, really bad.
"Hello Rogue. I'm Nick. Sorry, I'm a bit fried at the moment, don't know if we've met before, so if we have I apologise."
He eyes Isis. He knows what she's going to ask next. "No, you're too young still. Ginger beer."
That'll get him a pout. "So what are you two up to here? Hope I'm not interrupting anything terribly important?" Other than Hank's guitar practice, that is.
"Can I have ——" Nick cuts Isis off before she even asks the question. It's not like she can do puppy dog eyes with those feline like features and slitted eyes, but she can look appealing if she tries. Not that it works on Nick. Hmmmph.
"Hello Rogue. You … went to school here, didn't you?" Here, at least, Isis doesn't stick so close to Nick.
In fact … she wanders over to Hank and rubs her ears against his arm before finding a log to perch on. Yes. She actually perches. Like a cat.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Fair enough. I'll endeavor /not/ to spill any on you, Rogue." A wink offered as he says this wildly improbable circumstance. See? What a pal Hank is! The guitar case is moved back behind him, tucked under a table as everyone gathers.
How fortunate that Hank's a social sort of a fellow, and with a grin and a chin-point towards the snacks, he'll see what viands Rogue brought with her.
The shirt is beyond bad, it is horrendously awful, Hank would have had to spend a considerable time finding a shirt this bad, it could not have happened accidentally. Nope, deliberate awful!
"Interrupting? Not a thing, Nick. I couldn't sleep, came out here so I wouldn't offend sensitive ears inside." Like with the 4D theremin incident. "And managed it all the same."
No, Hank is not upset, if anything to keen senses he'd smell quite amused. Amusement that spikes when Isis is headed off at the Beer pass. He grins at her, and lazily scritches Isis as she ear rubs. "Actually…" He looks to Isis, expression very serious. "…we're out here today for the first annual X-Insomniacs' meeting, welcome all, to this charter session."
His delivery is /deadpan/. It is almost even believable!
The smile Rogue flashes both Nick and Isis is quick, and just an edge of almost shy. "I don't think we have, but I've been so busy the last while I would have missed a small marchin' band on the grounds." She nods to Isis, ducking her head a bit to hide behind her hair before she pauses.
The chin will come up, hair shaken back to not hide - she's not that girl anymore. "I couldn't sleep either, and didn't want to wake Remy in the lakehouse bumpin' around like a bee in a bottle, so I came out walking and found Hank."
Rogue will hold up snack pack bags of cheetos, plain Lay's chips, and a thing of Funyuns.
"Nice to meet you then." Nick smiles as he finds a place to sit and oooh. Snacks.
"So, is anyone else being kept up by nagging worries of impending doom?" And since when of course are there not nagging worries of impending doom around here? It seems to be half of what they do, really.
"I had a corporate legal department reach out to be 'helpful' on my current case of people kidnapping and brainwashing mutants. Sort of has my suspicions up."
He takes a sip, ignoring that look from Isis. No. It's not going to work and there's plenty of good non-beer things to drink. "Can't imagine why. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid in my old age."
Scritches by people she likes, Isis enjoys and she does more than just in passing. When that's over, the slim woman perches next to Nick and steals the chips he takes from the bag. "I can make you sleep. That's … something I can do."
It's an admission. Isis doesn't speak about her skills much.
At the mention of the lawyer, there's a low feline growl from the small feline. "That one is going to get her dreams walked in. I couldn't tell but I'm sure she was lying. She knew exactly what that company was doing before they bought it." beat "This is a company that was doing experiments similar to mine, Hank. The one that was replacing mutants voice boxes."
Ooh! Funyons! Of _course_ Funyons. What else would Hank 'Fun' McCoy eat? Okay, so nobody calls him that. Not even him. Still. FUNYONS!
"Oh forgive me, dear friends. My manners are an atrocity, it did not even occur to introduce you all." He smiles toothily to Rogue. "Well, you, all of you in fact, are always welcome to join me anytime."
Hank's attention is definitely caught at the mention of doom. "Actually, no, I don't believe paranoia is the correct term. Granted, I'm a psycholoGIST, not a psychiaTRIST, that said I believe the clinical term for your condition is 'NotStupidItis', Nick."
He'll scritch longer if Isis wants, heck, he's got really long arms - odds are Hank's able to reach. "Dream walking…might be good, actually. Get the inside scoop, huh?"
Rogue will give over the funyuns before she's dipping into the cheetos, herself. Nothing like that deliciously fake orange powder cheese. "Impending sense of doom? Not this time, no." There's some sly joking in those slowly enunciated words. "Mutant experiments. Fabulous." She sounds distinctly unhappy and just a little bit growly.
"See, why didn't I ever absorb neat powers like that for recon?" Rogue asks Hank, in a sigh.
"Is there any cure, Doc?" Nick says with a wry grin and he looks over at Rogue. Oh! A power absorber. He had heard vaguely that there was one but had not realized it was her. He'd thought it was a student or something like that. He doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to what happens at the school outside his classes, really.
"The classic, right?" Fortunately Nick isn't aware of very many organizations that have tried it but he knows the number is more then one. And honestly any number more than zero is bad.
"Isis is also an empath. I don't know if you get to pick and choose." He notes to Rogue.
"Anyway, Lobo Technologies. They CLAIM that a company they bought was later revealed to have employees doing Bad Things(tm) and that they turned them over to the authorities when they discovered that. And to be fair that DOES seem to be true but as Isis says, I suspect there's more we're not being told. I don't know if the company itself is responsible or just someone high up in it but someone in there has been partnering with AIM to use their snythetic vibranium crap."
Nick sighs. "I just… can't… PROVE anything yet."
He also sounds a bit growly. Maybe frustrated by that bit.
"You know I wasn't … comfortable at the school, Hank. It's ok." Isis says. Everyone can feel her attempt to make everyone feel easier. It's a gentle wash of emotions, warm and reassuring. Unless you knew Isis was Empath, you wouldn't know it came from her.
Isis might argue that dream walking is neat, but she doesn't. She's got very interesting glimpses into people because of it.
"That's what I was, Rogue. An experiment. Held in the facility and kept feral till Nick and Piotr came and rescued me." Classic? She supposes so. It's not something nice to remember though.
"You don't buy a company, Nick, without doing … what did you call it? Due dilitant? And that lady from Lobotech, she had lots of money. The perfume was expensive and did you see her shoes? REAL leather and really, really nice. They didn't buy that company without looking into it."
She had been paying attention.
"I can try and dream walk her but I bet she's learned to protect them. I couldn't 'read' her emotions at all - and that almost never happens."
"We need someone to talk to their science people, maybe? Ask some questions. Do some recon. It can't be either of us, they know who we are and our involvement."
But they might not recognise others and others … might pique their interest.
Happily munching Funyons, Hank grins toothily. "Oh, mainly because you're polite, Rogue." It is true, she ASKS before, unless you're a bad guy, of course, then all bets are off.
"Nope, no cure, alas." Hank replies to Nick's sally. He sighs at Nick's comment, fortunately there's Isis to soothe people a bit. "Yes, Lobo, we definitely need to look into them. I could talk to some friends…do a deep dive, see what we can find out. Not legal, particularly…but that's okay in this case, I think."
"Due Diligence." He corrects absently, and then smiles. "If you'd try, we'll know, if they're not, then…well…it is a very neat power and could prove useful."
Rogue looks at Isis, her face oddly neutral in expression. "I'm sorry for that." She doesn't know there is anything else to say about that sort of topic. And if Isis is feeling…Rogue is like a modern piece of art, all clashing color and emotion.
"Polite? Me? " She jokingingly looks around the night air, as if there would be another Rogue. "I prefer not to do it at all, Hank. Good or bad." She became a little tense when there was talk of a cure, even though logically she knows they're talking about something completely different.
Walking out of the Institute and into the rear grounds is a tall fellow wearing darker clothes and most importantly, Ruby Quartz sunglasses. It must be Scott Summers!
Upon seeing his fellow X-Men, Scott puts his hands in his pockets and starts walking down the sidewalk to them, then across the hillside. "Hey guys. Good to see everyone at least in decent health. I miss a gathering invitation?" He looks at Hank pointedly, Though the smirk implies its out of humor.
See? Even Scott can relax every now and then.
"I did it again, didn't I?" Isis says to Nick, moving to lean against him. This is why she didn't like being at school, with no social skills and her natural ability to 'feel' people, let alone slip into their dreams, Isis could tell she made people uncomfortable.
The morlocks, where she ended up for a short while, were far easier to be around and then Nick had employed her. He probably took pity on the waif.
"Do you think you could, Hank? I know Caden has some computing skills and might be useful but it will be dangerous if Lobotech are as involved in this as with think. Diligence, right."
When Scott comes out, Isis waves a little "Hello Scott. Nick was finishing up a class and I was hanging around. We were just talking about the visit we got from Lobotechs legal department and how strange it was."
There's a slitted blue eyed look at Hank again. "If you go for coffee with them, I could … step in daydreams too."
"Of course you don't, Rogue." Hank knows just how difficult it can be for the girl! He's no telepath but he's been around for many of the trials. He knows at least in broad how her powers work, the memory and personality things. "But you do it when you must." He finishes with approval.
"Hey Slim." Hank says when Scott enters, eyes amused. "Oh, sorry, X-Insomniacs meeting number one, I thought I sent the invite, must have gone awry." Yes, he's giving back as good as he gets. It IS nice to see Scott at least semi-relaxed.
He smiles toothily to Isis. "You're fine, and yes, I'm sure I could. Either with Caden, or with a new friend I've recently made, believe me, they're very hackable."
He looks very interested in the coffee idea. "I could always seek to hire the lawyers or something, or meet with them on your behalf…that COULD make the coffee thing viable."
Rogue smiles brightly at Scott, biting into a Cheeto most purposefully when he's mentioning decent health. "X-insomniac's charter meeting, Hank says. He's all fancy." She's teasing, smirking at Hank.
She will glance at Isis, a faintly puzzled look at the young woman who seems to have withdrawn a bit even as she remained in the conversation. "I mean, I can clean up nice to meet with lawyers, if need be. Not an obvious mutant an' all." Add in that almost no one knows her real name, and it makes sense to her. Harder to track her.
"Hey Scott." Nick nods toward the younger mutant as he arrives. "Couldn't sleep?" That is apparently a common thing tonight.
"That's not a terrible idea Hank though hopefully we won't need it yet. Keep that on tap though, Rogue." He sighs.
"At the moment they're not trying to sue us. They actually gave us a bunch of information pertaining to the police cases that flowed from their acquisition. I'm just worried about what that helpful veneer is hiding." Because it IS hiding something.
"I can give you guys her card though, if you want to talk to her anyway. I gotta warn you though, she may not have been a normal. She was wearing a lot of artificial scent and I think she was trying to cover something."
"Well, seems I'm with the original members of that team too. But uh, yeah. Just some light nightmares, nothing that you need to worry about." Scott, once again trying to be tough as leaders should be.
But this talk of Morlocks and lawyers make Scott narrow his eyes. "Not liking the sound of any of this. Lawyers are crafty and can be untrustworthy if they know you're a mutant. Should have some of us with you, just in case."
Though it seems that part is already well on the way to being handled. Nevertheless, Scott takes a seat before he looks at Hank with a smirk. Scott approves of verbal fluidity.
"As Nick says… I don't think she's human. Her mind …" Isis flicks her head in a very feline way "… it was strong when I tried to read her emotions. She's good at controlling them but they felt funny and I can't tell you why, just that they did." She looks to Nick "Not like you do, but like you … that doesn't make sense, does it?"
Scotts observation has Isis leaning against Nick again, rubbing her ears against his arm. "We think she's hiding something but what … if she wants something we know, Nick? And she was … what do you call it? Trolling?" She means trawling, surely.
"Just be careful who ever you use, Hank. We don't know why they approached us. We do know that someone is using tech like that company they bought makes to modify kidnapped people and mutants."
"Mmm…yes, I am just a little too distinctive for any face-to-face, but ROGUE, she would be an excellent choice. My end could be the hacking, no reason to only approach along one vector, after all." A grin. "Of course you won't be able to go as 'Rogue', if you'd like I could fabricate a backstopped ID to use for the meet, that won't take long, and I have images already from your training runs and such."
Hank grins to Nick. "With Isis in reserve we could potentially cut the head off the snake if we get the right intel from her walking their daydreams." He frowns at the description of the lawyers actually being HELPFUL, yeah, definitely a trap.
"I wish I knew their endgame." He complains.
"Nightmares are not trivial, Scott." He knows better than to press things. "We definitely need to provide proper support. "I can be the fuzzy blue man in the van, at least. And yes, Lawyers can be pretty bad."
He nods then to Isis. "Oh yes, fully careful, no question. "Do you not feel up to the dream walking then?"
Rogue is about to tell HAnk she has one, but remembers she probably doesn't want to admit that too loudly. "I'll text you with some names, Hank. I would need something I know I would answer to. I'll enlist Remy to help me work some things out."
She arches an eyebrow at Scott, a flat look that states she could take care of herself without help. Which she can, usually.
"Give Hank the card, and we'll see what we can find out. I can set Remy on some tailing, I'm sure. In his wheelhouse." She will offer to Nick, before she glances at Isis, and crumples up her empty Cheeto bag. "Speaking of Remy, I probably should get back. Don't want him waking up and worrying if I'm no in the lake house. Catch you all later."
"To sum up: Current case, mutant experiments, bad people, company maybe involved, lawyers being slightly too helpful, nothing smells right." Nicks 'sum up' skills are quite advanced. He works with a cat after all. He does a lot of summing up.
"It could just be that they're trying to protect their backsides from bad press, Isis." Nick says with a small shrug. "But if that is NOT the case then we definitely want to know about it. Too many people have suffered already and folks are STILL going missing in this city with those roving packs of ferals press ganging anyone suitable they find." It's not the sort of thing that the whole city notices of course. They prey upon those unlikely to be missed. But still…
Nick goes into his wallet and gets out Bethany Ayer's business card to hand to Hank. "Night Rogue." He calls after the woman as she leaves, then glances back to Hank and Scott.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to bring the Insomniac's Anonymous mood down. But this stuff has been eating a lot of my time of late." Hank knows that. Hank's been helping with some of it.
"Goodnight, Rogue." Scott knows she can handle herself, but there?s no harm in expressing concern. Scott has a usual fatherly attitude with anyone from the Institute, minus the Professor of course. "Tell Gambit I said hi."
Then his attention shifts over to Nick as he?s apparently handing out business cards and summing things up as best he can for Scott. "Noted." All He says on that. "Know where they're doing the experiments or is that what you're trying to figure out?" Specifics!
Then to Hank. "Did you just refer to yourself as a fuzzy blue man in a van?" Scott even chuckles..
"We don't know Lobotech is doing the experiments." Isis adds for Scott, waving goodbye to Rogue as she goes. "Gambit, isn't that a chess move?" Meet Isis, woman of tact. "And I know Nick, but it's weird and this … this is what they were going to do to me - I … I'm paranoid, I know."
Hanks question gets a clear eyed gaze even as Isis moves closer to Nick. "It's tricky, Hank. If she's trained or a lucid dreamer, she'll detect me and things will go bad. I'll do it, yes, but I need to be careful. When they were teaching me …" They being AIM "… they were teaching me how to hurt people in dreams and have it transfer."
Which means, she could likely kill and that any experienced dreamwalker could as well.
"But I will because it's important."
"Night, Rogue. I'll get right on those ID's once you send me the names."
Nick has got him some MAD summup skills, no question! Or at least they're surly. Hank frowns at the mention of the press gangs. "I wonder if Cerebro might not be useful, plug Jeanie into it, or see if Charles is available, and FIND other feral mutants, their primary prey." He definitely takes the card then. And smiles. "Light hearted fun is well and good, saving lives, that's our mandate. No need to apologize, Nick."
At Scott's questions, he looks to Nick. "I think we should prepare a full briefing for the team, get everyone up to speed, this is not a small thing - I don't mean to impugn your abilities at all, but there's resources here we can draw on to end this thing, once and for all, Especially with our allies in SHIELD." He looks to Scott then. "We were at one of their research facilities just the other day, but…they have a lot more. AIM backed and hideously unethical."
He smiles then. "And yes, since I've reverted to my furry state, the fuzzy blue /man/ in the van." Long story there too - but basically, Hank was briefly Hetty in the wake of live trial of a serum to revert some of his furry changes.
"And we don't know they aren't, as you said, it is important to find out." Hank agrees with Isis. "A Gambit can be any sort of misleading ploy in a number of circumstances, chess being one of them. But this is Remy LeBeau's Codename, as mine is Beast." A sharp nod. "Oh yes, take every care, Isis, the mission is important, but you're important to. In fact take every precaution and then two more!"
"SHIELD busted an underground lab in the Disaster zone a few weeks ago but there's at least one more." Nick nods from Scott to Hank. "The one we were at was abandoned shortly before we arrived there. It's happening locally we think. But it MIGHT also be happening further afield. I'm still trying to get a handle on how big this thing is but… big possibly. And possibly going on for years."
It's sort of bad news, indeed. "Someone on the team should do that then. I can help put together the power point though?" Nick smiles a little in Hank's direction. "No offense taken though. I need the help. That's why I've been engaging Pepper Potts and SHIELD. I figured the X-Men might be a tad busy with other troubles." Because there usually ARE other troubles. Hell they don't even have to be team troubles. One chat with the Rasputins will clear that up right quick.
Isis' resolve has Nick reaching out to rub her shoulders. She's brave. A bit overconfident sometimes and she's hell on any glasses left on a table. But quite brave.
Scott's codename of Cyclops is a pretty easy one to figure out. But he looks at the group as they each add something to the table regarding specific information about the situation. "AIM? The hell are they doing experimenting on mutants? I'm tempted to drop a tip and let the Avengers kick their ass again, but this is mutants in danger. Our territory. So, we'll handle it. But we need more intel.
Then Jean is mentioned. "I don't know or think she's ready for something as taxing as cerebro. Even the Professor has been exhausted sometimes from using it. I'd much rather ask him as the safest bet if Cerebro is involved." Scott tells Nick, giving his two cents of leadership advice before he looks at Hank, nodding.
"Sooner everyone has an in, the sooner everyone can help out with this." To Isis, Scott seems to agree with Hank. Then his phone starts to ring. "Sorry, gotta take this." Who's calling him at this hour?
Isis leans into Nicks backrub, the sound of purring coming from her. He might be forgiven for not letting her have beer. "Oh. I know your codenames. Like mine is Sleeping Nomad… I get it."
"Scott seems a bit behind on things. I've been here for three years and I'm they're experiment. It's not like they stopped because you saved me." She says as the man wanders off. Hank can look after that and the presentation. The less time Isis has to spend at The Institute the better.
"Tell me when you meet them, Hank, I'll be able touch the daydreams. If you need me to, I can make them terrors."
"Are you sure I can't have a beer, Nick?" She'll try again.
With Rogue and Scott's departure, Hank tucks away the card, and then sighs and rubs at his eyes. "Nick, Isis, forgive me my friends, I think I need to finally catch the elusive Z's that have been tormenting me. In short, I am tired. Isis, I will definitely tell you when we set the meeting, I also want you to know that I am very cognizant of the risk you take by doing so, it is a very brave thing, and it is recognized." If she'll permit it, he hugs Isis.
Nick gets a slightly different g'night, he gets slugged in his regenerating nigh-impervious shoulder. "And no, you did not ruin the meeting." Beat. "I'll just reschedule one for next week, right as rain, easy peasy and Bob's your uncle." Okay, he might be a little faigue-loopy. Silly simian, never ever sleeps enough!