xp_logs | Kaiten: Dienekes

Angelo's new friends get up to some mischief, and Angelo gets some advice from Pietro.

"You look mystified, Miguel."

Ash's voice was teasing. It seemed to be her usual tone, from what Angelo had discerned since they'd met. She was leaning him and several of her friends down an alley, and clearly had an objective in mind. What it was, she hadn't shared with him, although the others seemed to know.

Rowan, the telekinetic - yes, named after the Anne McCaffrey character, the young woman had grumbled at him, and don't give me shit about it - was on Ash's other side, all her attention focused on where they were going. Angelo could hear the occasional soft laugh from behind them - Rust, from the sounds of it, the only one of the three guys who seemed to have much of a sense of humor. He hadn't demonstrated his ability to Angelo. The other two had - Frost, the cryokinetic Goth, had done so reluctantly, while Seabourn had shown a degree of control over his sonic ability that a long-dead Mistra operative by the name of Foley would have at least respected.

He didn't know their real names. Those, they hadn't shared, although he'd heard Rust call Ash 'Kayla', under his breath. What they used were their mutant names, or so Ash had informed him.

"Mostly 'cause you won't tell me where we're goin'", he returned easily, obviously not minding too much. There was mild suspicion as an undertone in his voice, but not overmuch. "An' I don't think you should call me that anymore. You guys don't use your flatscan names."

Rowan looked back over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, picked a real name for ourselves, have we? Epidermis?" Rust sniggered, and Rowan gave him a slight smile. "Sorry, it's just that I don't think very highly of your genes, Miguel."

He shot her a glare. "I know it's not the flashiest power, but it's got its uses. An' no. I was thinkin'... Dienekes."

"Dienekes?" Rust said, still snickering. "What the hell is that?"

"Spartan, isn't it?" Frost asked somewhat idly. His other friends proceeded to look at him. "What, you've never noticed me reading? Books are great things." He eyed Angelo. "Surprised you do, though..."

Angelo shrugged. "You got any idea how borin' jail gets, when you're on lockdown? I got to usin' the library just to pass the time. Yeah, it's Spartan. Guy was part of an army who held a pass even when he knew he'd die for it. Fightin' against the odds... kind of fits, I think."

"Yeah, but he died," Rust pointed out. "Not a great precedent, huh?"

"I think I like it," Ash said, giving him another one of those smiles over her shoulder.

"Some things might be worth it", Angelo said with a shrug, more lightly than the words might merit, smiling back at Ash. "Don't you think?"

Ash raised a hand to stop them as she reached the mouth of the alley. "There," she said, pointing across the street to a storefront with 'Mutant Youth Outreach Center' printed on the front window. "This places pisses me off," she said with that delicate, whimsical smile. "I was in here the other day. It's full of self-righteous flatscans and race traitors preaching the usual integration crap."

Angelo studied the sign for a moment, sneering. "Mutant Youth Outreach? Didn't see any mutant youth fuckin' outreach when I was on the run an' tryin' not to starve to death at seventeen years old. Not that I'd've taken it from flatscans."

"I'm not sure what's worse," Frost said. "Flatscans who want to reach out to us, or flatscans who want to kill us. At least the latter are honest about it. They don't want to domesticate us, they just want to get rid of us."

Ash was chewing at her lower lip. "Wished we could risk doing this during the day, but that's a little too high-profile," she said. "And besides... this'll make a point well enough." She glanced at Rowan and nodded.

Rowan smiled and levitated a parked car, clearly straining as she flung it at the outreach center. Before it could hit the front windows, Ash flung out a hand and a column of flame roared across the street, setting the car alight at just the right moment. It hit the storefront, glass smashing and the flames starting to spread almost as soon as the car hit the floor.

Angelo put up a hand, carefully not too fast, to shield his eyes. He - or rather "Miguel" - didn't flinch, and didn't turn away from the fire. "They'll rebuild", he said flatly, clinically. "Or maybe they won't. That's a good setback for 'em, either way."

"I thought so." There was nothing winsome about Ash as she stared at the fire - not hypnotized by it, but deeply satisfied by what she was seeing. "And if the whole block catches, so much the better. Rust, Frost, take out the hydrants, okay?"

"Oh, I love it," Rust said gleefully, dashing forward out of the alley and for the nearest hydrant. He touched it and it... rusted, shriveling inwards.

Angelo raised his eyebrows at the demonstration of power, but didn't otherwise comment. He took careful note, though, before turning to Ash. "So how'd you guys get together? To begin with, I mean."

"Common interests," Frost said flatly, waving a hand. Other hydrants frosted over, one by one, moving up the street in the other direction from where Rust was disintegrating them. "How the hell do you think we got together?"

"Be nice, Frost."

"Hey, play with your new toy if you want, Ash. Just don't give him our life stories."

Angelo shrugged, hands going into his pockets. "Fine, whatever. Just makin' conversation. An' I'm nobody's toy." There was a dangerous edge to his voice, just for those words.

"Shh," Seabourn said all of a sudden, stepping up beside them. He tilted his head, listening. "Sirens," he said. "I can hear them in the distance."

"Crap - RUST!" Ash hissed at the capering young man. "Leave the hydrants alone and come on!" She looked around at the others. "Split up," she said, "meet back at my place. Okay?" The others nodded, and Ash half-turned back towards the burning building, flinging out a hand again. The upper stories went up in a fireball. "This should keep them busy..."

Angelo spared the barest glance for the now raging fire, then turned away equally casually, starting to lope down the street. "See you there", he called over his shoulder.

As soon as Angelo was alone on the street, a homeless man staggered out of a nearby alley to clutch at his sleeve. "Spare some change, friend?" Most of the man's face was concealed by a ragged black hooded sweatshirt, but the smirk was still distinctive. "Gotta pay my cable bill."

The first reaction would - in character and possibly out -have been to jerk his sleeve away, but then there was that smirk, and the voice, and the emphasis on that very unlikely word coming from a homeless man... Angelo glanced up and down the street, saw it empty, then nodded, digging a hand in his pocket. "Sure." A quick, almost unnoticeable if you weren't looking for it, nod towards the alley.

"Thank you kindly, friend, thank you kindly, God bless." The man slouched into the shadows of the alley. With one last flickering look toward the street, Pietro straightened, rolling his shoulders irritably. "I forgot how stiff that posture makes me."

"You get to run it off after this", Angelo said with a crooked grin as he stepped into the alley in turn. "Hi, Pietro. No Nathan playin' at bein' Batman tonight?"

"No, he discovered an urgent appointment with oblivion." Pietro made a wry face. "I'm beginning to suspect that every time Dayspring overstrains himself, the brain cells that end up dribbling down his chin are the ones that would normally be responsible for reminding him not to do it again next time. He managed to hold onto consciousness long enough to ask me to stop by, though, so here I am." He nodded toward the mouth of the alley. "Interesting hobbies your new friends have. Did you get any sense that they were acting under orders?"

Angelo started to answer, stopped with a frown as he processed the first part, then started again. "Not that I noticed. I only met most of them tonight, but they didn't say anythin' that might've meant anyone tellin' them to do this. Didn't mention anyone else in the group at all, actually. Nathan did what?"

Pietro waved a dismissive hand. "Put himself in a stupor keeping tabs on you. Nothing he hasn't done before." He scratched his jaw thoughtfully. "Don't waste too much time ingratiating yourself with this group, then--the stink of amateur is all over them. If I had to guess, I'd say they're nearly as new as you are, still trying to impress someone on the inside. Stay with them for now, but don't be afraid to ditch them for a bigger fish."

Angelo nodded, letting the Nathan issue drop until he could get his hands on the man himself. "Yeah, they're too young to've been at somethin' like this for long. But if they're tied to the Preservers, an' not just claimin' the name with no real links... I'll get to someone higher up sooner or later."

Pietro smiled faintly. "They'll want to go brag about this to somebody; proud young idiots generally do. Do you have a rendezvous?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet back up at Ash's place. You think their somebody might show up there tonight?"

Pietro shrugged. "That, or you'll go to a bar or a club. I suppose it's mildly possible that your Ash will call someone, but if she's the one with the fire powers it didn't look like she had the kind of control over the group she'd need to take sole credit."

"She's not the leader even of them, I don't think", Angelo said thoughtfully. "Not really. But she got to bring me along when the others don't know or trust me, an' none of them said anythin' outright about it, an' they listen when she asks them to do stuff. 'Course, it's not like they didn't want to..."

"Lack of command structure. That's one of the things that pegs them as amateurs--successful terrorist cells are a good deal more organized. In the Brotherhood, for example--" Pietro chuckled. "Well, all right, Toad's the only one who actually jumps when my father says 'toad,' but you get the idea." He looked Angelo up and down. "It probably wouldn't hurt you to look just a little amused, when Ash and her friends are talking up tonight's work with whoever they boast to. Don't overdo it . . . but as far as the real Preservers are concerned this was small-time, and if you think it's small-time, they'll notice. The faster you're noticed by the people who matter, the faster they'll make themselves known to you."

Angelo chuckled, but he was taking it seriously when he nodded. "I'll bear that in mind. An' I'll keep an eye on anyone they do introduce me to, if they seem different from this lot."

Pietro nodded sharply. "I don't know if Dayspring had the chance to mention, but time is a good deal more critical than it was when you started. Whoever it is that makes their mutant suicide bombs got to Summers." Worry flickered in his eyes for just a moment. "Don't do anything to unduly endanger yourself, but . . . don't be too careful, either. We need answers as soon as we can get them."

"...no, he didn't tell me that." Angelo's eyes had gone very dark, and his expression very grim. "Do they know how long he's got?"

"No." The single word was perhaps two inches away from a snarl. "They don't know how long the fuses are on our mystery mutant's victims, but Summers is in containment as of two days ago, when he did some explosive redecoration of his office. To me that says sooner rather than later."

"Right." His own voice wasn't much different. He might not exactly be close to Scott, but the man had found him on the street and offered him his chance... "You'll have your answers, as soon as I can get them." Whatever I have to do.

Pietro gave him a sharp look. "Make sure you're alive to bring them back. I know you've been spending quite a lot of time around Dayspring, but noble self-sacrifice is the province of idiots. You're undercover. Get in, get what you need, and get out; if you do it right they need never be the wiser."

"If I wind up dead before I can get them to you", Angelo pointed out flatly, "you don't get them soon enough for Scott. Don't worry about me, I'll be bringin' those answers back personally."

Pietro nodded. "You'll do fine. And you should probably go before they either start wondering where you are or make contact without you. Someone will be in touch if there's more news." He smirked briefly. "Oh, and before I forget, Dayspring wanted me to make up something wise and supportive and pretend he said it. He's worried but proud."

That got a faint smile as he turned to glance down the alley. "I'll pretend I heard whatever the wise an' supportive thing was, then." Looking back at Pietro, "Thanks."

"Just doing what Dayspring would have if he hadn't tried to jelly his brain again. Just with more style." One more smirk, and Pietro hunched over again, pulling the tattered hood back down over his face. "God bless your generous heart, young man!" he called, loud enough to be heard if anyone were passing on the street.