Summary:The warrior leader of the Pride has left a message for the Darkstar, a call to aid and justice. To battle. To vengeance. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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On another of Laynia's regular trips to Mutant Town to work - and resupply - one of the food kitchens, word is passed. A young mutant approches, bumping into the pretty blonde and then excusing himself. As he does so, however, he slips her a piece of paper, then walks away to join another table, settling back down.
The note, when opened, has but one word upon it: Weather.
The elder African-American man has already come and gone from the food kitchen, and is now outside, riding herd on the rest of the Pride as they come, eat, and work. As always he makes sure every member of the Pride gives back, helping to clean, organize, cook, carry, or anything else that can be done to support the kitchen's efforts. This evening, he stands outside keeping order, a position that in more peaceful times would have been the place of the Hunter. It is a testament to the fact that the Pride are still on a crisis footing that Weather is still the one keeping such a watch.
It is ironic that after the bump that Laynia's first instinct is to make sure she didn't get pickpocketed, so she finds the note in good time. Eyes of cinnamon study the note, and then she disposes of it, lighting it on fire, then tossing it into an ashbin. After a few moments so as not to arouse concerns, she seeks out the elderly and deeply respected Weather, keeping things natural.
She's not nearly the paranoid that Diya is, still, she's got standards!
Dressed today in work clothes, she's wearing a rather plain and loose fitting saffron colored t-shirt, black jeans, and sturdy boots. Yeah, not the most alluring ensemble, but it gets the job done. A smile is offered the gentleman. "Hello Weather."
The older man turns, offering a nod and a ghost of a smile to the blonde. "Hello, Ms. Darkstar. Welcome back, of course. And as always, thank you for your support and kindness. It is much appreciated." Weather is a very polite man, his mannerisms in many ways undiminished by his homeless status. Whatever his reasons for that part of his life, he remains a gentleman. It is likely one of the reasons he has such a position of respect amongst the Pride.
Weather looks around, watching naturally, just doing what he does. Eventually, however, he will turn just so, covering his mouth with a hand as he murmurs, "A friend was hoping to see you, if you have the time." It's oblique and so polite, most would be forgiven for missing the reference to the old and ruined tower just over the border in the Disaster Zone which once held a large public clock face. It seems Weather has been schooled in counter-surveillance techniques.
Heck, she likes the man enough that he'll get a hug if she's allowed to, which allows her to whisper unseen into his ear. Seems someone else is trained to avoid her lips being read too, and bonus, Weather gets a hug from a pretty girl! Wins all around. Laynia smiles then, and spends a few moments finishing up her offloading of supplies, and then takes her leave, driving off in her much beloved black and yellow 2007 Mini Cooper. She loves that thing, it was especially nice to have Lexi get it detailed after that raw meat incident some time back, a nice gesture.
Regardless, the woman drives to a parking structure just outside of Mutant Town, and then finds a nice dark spot inside it to head via portal to the ruined tower in question, since she knows it well enough to do so.
She emerges, and keeps to cover, so as not to make it obvious, of course the Hunter, well, SHE will know.
Hunter never needs to see. She smells. She hears. And eventually a tiny penlight appears in the air far above within the tower, peeking through the holes in the levels. Six quick flashes, then a long break. Then six quick flashes again. Then nothing at all.
Sure enough, once Laynia makes it to the sixth floor she will find a camping nest, complete with a certain homeless veteran. With the warmth of things she has ditched sweaters and the like but still wears that oversized olive drab coat. Laynia's appearance earns a nod of greeting, mere acknowledgement. "Thanks." Hunter murmurs, turning from what has clearly been overwatch of the area to instead watch the SHIELD agent.
Laynia just takes it for granted she'll be noticed by the woman. Hell, she probably smell the difference between Darkforce and the dark!
Regardless, once she sees the flashes, she heads up to the sixth floor, and then smiles without baring her teeth. "Privyet, Okhotnik." A nod. "Welcome. Is all well? Is social call, or…" She's really hoping for the social call, but is expecting otherwise.
Hunter's green eyes glow with that amber backlight as she gestures to Laynia to sit amongst a second nest of bedding and blankets. The darkforce wielder cannot tell by scent, but may notice little things that hint at someone not military; more of a civilian, and more colorful. Hunter regards Laynia as if she said something strange, incomprehensible, but waits until she is seated - down, a lower visual profile - before speaking again.
Laynia may also see, lying against the floor and wall, the rather distinctive outline of a Degtyarev rifle.
"Pride. Ally school." Hunter explains. As always, she seems bound and determined to use as few words as possible, packing whole paragraphs of meaning into only three words and trusting Laynia to be smart enough to figure it out.
"Or, to translate, we found a school that's built in the disaster zone that deals with powered students run by a woman named Emma Frost who we're going to be working with." Lexi's voice come sout of the shadows as she round an old AC unit on top of the building, her golden eyes reflect the light in the darkness a lot like Diya's as she approaches.
Laynia sits in the indicated nest, though…she really doesn't seem too bothered by the temperature, she's a Russian girl with a direct link to a dimension of cold and darkness, she is no Elsa, but really — cold doesn't bother her very often.
Cinnamon eyes meet backlit green, and then she notes the anti-tank rifle, and then shifts her gaze back to the hunter. "Bozhe moi." She murmurs when Lexi more or less just appears, no doubt Diya knew long before the purple girl got near, but Laynia just doesn't have the senses these two do, not even close.
"So…Horizon Acadmey, da? I have heard of it, the attack…was that you firing from long range?" The Degtyarev sure would seem to indicate so. She would note the five round clip for the gun, so it is the PTRD-41, not the single shot PTRS. Obviously such a gun would not be terribly effective against modern tanks, but man…what it would do to a softer target does not bear thinking of.
Diya nods sharply. Yes, it was her firing that weapon at the attack; a lone and fearsome guardian hellbeast situated on the rooftop of the building she intended to defend: the Student Center, since that was where the dignitaries and civilians were. "Da."
Evidence at the scene, gathered by Laynia's SHIELD colleagues would have concluded that someone fired twenty-five shots from that sort of rifle into the onrushing forces. And every target was terminated with extreme prejudice: cyborg hounds, combat chasis cyborg humans. It did not matter.
"Intel." Diya murmurs, nodding towards Lexi when she appears. She has had to let Lexi help, needing her ability to make contacts outside Mutant Town, to find the resupply she requires, including more of the howitzer-like ammunition for that rifle. "Vapor man." she mentions, then pointing at Laynia. "Trust?" He spoke Russian, and she heard it. Far too well. Her trust can be in painfully short supply with strangers.
"We need more intel. An' yeah, she did th' shootin'." Lexi walks over and drops into a crosslegged position, seating herself. "I have no idea who th' vapor man is though, so yer own your own there."
"Is more of smoke or plasma man." Laynia states to both ladies. "Agent Kwabena Odame, of Ghana. Was abducted at young age by Russians, trained to be weapon, is mutant but has been muchly changed. Is why he speak in Russian so well, and da, I trust him. He is fellow Powered Unit member at SHIELD, is good man." A nod allows. "Though was not always so, was compelled to do not so good things, but is free now, and dedicated agent. I should bring to visit?"
She nods about the sniper fire. "Twenty-five shots, twenty-five kills."
Diya listens intently as Laynia explains about Shift. At the question she shakes her head, once, shortly and sharply. No, no visiting with him. But she needed to know if he could be trusted. "Must hunt enemy." Diya murmurs, hunching her shoulders. She honestly worries that these enemies, her enemies, were drawn to the school because of her. But that no longer matters now. Now, they must be hunted. They must be destroyed.
"Hunt Pride. Mutants. Trap. Slave. Torture." Hunter explains in razor-sharp words of brutal anger and fury. This is not the calm of a soldier; this is the righteous fury of a force of eternal vengeance. Diya does not have an after-action report regarding the incident at the Arena, but she knows who does. "Tell vapor. RESCUE. Hellcat. Ask. Listen."
"Annnnnd apparently we're going on a revengeance spree." Lexi notes, folding her arms across her chest. "Th' problem being th' main asshole can teleport himself an' other stuff an' hasn't shown any signs of minding killing everyone involved th' moment we get close. An' anyone nearby."
"Ah." Laynia murmurs. "They hurt members of Pride, enslaved and tortured?" Yeah, Laynia is in favor of kicking their asses, whoever they are. Shifting her gaze from Diya to Lexi, she frowns. "You do not approve?" Of the vengeance thing. Her expression goes flat, and then she mutters some fairly inventive invective when the news of the bad guy's willingness to do mass collateral damage, including innocents. "So…" This to both ladies present. "…you suggest I speak to Agent Odame, and talk to the people at RESCUE about the hellcat? That they will have pertinent intel?"
Diya nods sharply. That's the basic context of what she meant. She had meant that Laynia could tell Kwabena to go to RESCUE and ask questions, since he is apparently investigating this. But if Laynia wants to go, Diya sure as Hell isn't going to tell her no. "Must find. Must stop." That's all she seems to have to say. She lapses quietly, pensively, seemingly exhausted by talking so much, and wound up so tight in her rage that she cannot relax. She is not at all used to having an enemy she cannot find.
"I mean, if nothin' else seems like th' sorta thing SHIELD should be on top of. Otherwise, what good are they?" Lexi says with a frown, her ears flicking back. "If they can't even stop somethin' as crazy as that…"
"I will confer with Agent Odame." Laynia promises Diya. "Will speak with RESCUE, see what they know." And then to Lexi. "Da, is very much something that needs to be stopped, but remember…Shield has UN charter, is not local law enforcement, is possible that there is no jurisdiction. I have not read report from incident, I was not assigned, I will see what Kwa think. If is in SHIELD purview, we proceed. If is not…we proceed without SHIELD, either way these people will face justice."
Diya lifts her gaze momentarily, offering Laynia a nod. Then she makes her right hand splay, middle three fingers in a loose fist, thumb to her ear, pinky to her lips. Then points at Lexi. Because of course the Tendril will know where to find her, and actually carries one of those foul 'phone' contraptions. That done, her hands return to her lap as she once more lapses into pensive, dark silence.