A Haven to Call Home: Afterlives
Nov. 11th, 2023 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsX-Factor cleans up their mess.
There was no crack of thunder or rush of air. The first and only warning they got was light: nearly a hundred points of light surrounding them, as if they stood in a field of stars.
And then points of luminosity became people, and those people were unhappy. Most materialized standing, but did not remain so for long -- a portion of them immediately collapsed, heaving vomit and bile into the grass, while others simply fell to their knees and shook. Even those that managed to keep their feet were doing so only with difficulty.
But, difficult or not, the evacuation had been a success.
Inez had been preparing herself for it but it still came as a surprise. Her own powers being what they were, she remained a little in awe at things like what she'd just witnessed, even though she knew it was possible - had seen it before and much more as of late. So when those multitude of lights became actual people, sick or sitting or standing, it made her gasp, though she quickly recovered and walked up to the nearest group.
"Everybody calm down, alright?" she shouted, trying to be loud enough for them all to hear her. "We're here t'help, you're gonna be fine, just take it easy and let us lend ya a hand, yeah?"
She looked a little nervously to Arthur, seeing some more agitated than others, and hoped they could keep the scene from getting out of hand.
The two of them had admittedly been standing, and shifting nervously, for about fifteen minutes before the real action had started. Arthur had suggested some music, but the shuffle's initial suggestion of "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" was beginning to feel a bit too prescient. He was glad they had skipped it.
Arthur did what he did best — a sigh, a deep breath, and a strong belief that they were there to help. They were here to support. His left eye blazed. Yet, around the two, no one materialized half in the ground or resting on a bum ankle or up in a tree. Everybody was on the floor. Safe.
The blonde man was breathing heavy at this point due to the strain, but he kept his regular, reassuring smile steady. "I know you must be confused," he offered, "But we brought blankets, water, and snacks. Everything will be okay." He gestured, helpfully, to the set of tents in the distance to where X-Factor Investigations had set up shop. "You are okay."
With materialisation had come the sensation that Madin was turned inside out and upside down, torn apart and put back together again wrong. The world was still spinning as Madin opened eyes they didn't remember closing, the ground tilted 30 degrees off horizontal. They tried to climb to their knees, fell and lay very still for a moment before sitting up just enough to start puking. Around them, the other Havenites were reacting similarly.
One or two people were already starting to follow Arthur's instructions, either due to tacit agreement or sheer disorientation. However, not all were feeling so receptive.
"Abhay?" It was Theo. The four-fingered bomb maker was crouched over the still form of Radha Dastoor's brother, although after a moment the man's chest rose in a long, slow breath. Unconscious, not dead.
Josie huddled nearby, white-faced and stunned by two discorporations in such short succession. Theo's voice seemed to reach her.
"Protect him," she said, shakily. She started climbing to her feet. "Protect him for Radha. She'll be coming back for us."
"Y'ain't goin' nowhere except with us," Inez said, more anger seeping into her voice than she'd intended, but that was nothing compared to the amount displayed in the cracking of her knuckles, the pounding of one fist into her palm as she stared Josie down and took a step towards her. "Now I suggest you stand down. We're here t'help, not hurt, but I swear by the almighty if you wanna try me you'll regret it for whatever time y'got left in this lifetime, and the next," she promised.
The mousy woman only had time to open her mouth before recognition rose in her eyes like a wave. Inez wasn't a large woman, but the set of her jaw and tension in her body sang with barely restrained rage. For the first time in a long time, Josie realized she was looking into the face of someone who knew.
She took a step back.
"I'd suggest you listen to her and don't make any kind of ruckus or problem out here."
A petite blonde emerged from the tent, blue eyes like shards of ice, glittering in barely suppressed rage and anger at the havenites before her. Sue knew that associating with the mansion was dangerous, that they were exposed to some of the worst that society had to offer but today, in this place she'd had enough. She never raised her voice, never showed her anger, her grandparents had taught her too well, silken tones curled around their ears in an almost reasonable tone.
"Because what I'll do to you would make anything Inez is threatening seem like a walk in the park."
"They won't do anything," spoke a familiar yet fatigued voice in their minds. The assembled mutants were blinded by a brilliant pink flash, and Quentin stood alone when it cleared. Gaseous pink energy wisped from his hands and eyes. "Haven is gone. Radha is gone. No one is coming for you. You can come with us to New York, start the impossible task of making up for the terrible things you've done. Or you can get the fuck out and make sure I never hear from you ever again. Because there are people much worse than me who will take action against existential threats to mutants."
Cries of distress and confusion rippled through the crowd. Enough of them had regained their bearings that Quentin's words were getting through, but they were finding another barrier in denial.
"She can't be gone," said a woman beside Inez, her voice shaking. "Radha is Haven. The Haven is eternal."
But it was Quentin Quire who stood before them, not Radha Dastoor, and their savior did not reappear.
Josie screamed. The sound of pure rage tore from her throat, wordless and blind, and she lunged -- not toward the people who had come into her world and unmoored her existence, but to the people who had been her allies. With one hand outstretched she spun to the stunned woman beside her, fingers clawed to grab--
There wasn't much in the clearing that Inez could use for a weapon, sadly, but being a clearing there had been remnants of the various plants and tree life that had stood in its place, including a hollowed out log. It was rotted and soft with age, but held together as she effortlessly picked it up and swung it as fast and as hard as she could at Josie.
It still struck her with a large amount of force, as the wet wood was still soggy and heavy; it wrapped around her and broke into several pieces from the impact, and Inez found herself hoping that the tree itself wasn't the only thing that was broken.
Theo flinched as Josie went down hard. Beside him Abhay was starting to move, but it was clear the other man was in no shape to react. The bombmaker gripped Radha's brother by the shoulders and whirled to someone behind him.
"Caleb, get us out of here!"
Spidery webs of red energy began to crawl through the crowd. Here and there it seemed to coil and settle on a particular person: Theo with Abhay, the fallen Josie, and perhaps a dozen more. Radha's chosen few.
"Hold that thought." Quentin smashed through the teleporter's psychic shields with ease and "convinced" him to let go of the teleportation field. "You can go, but I first want you to understand what happened and why it won't happen again. Those of you who came to Haven because you were sick with the mutant plague? Who cried for shelter after a natural disaster destroyed your home? You were sacrifices on Radha's altar of mutant godhood. She never cared about you." He surveyed the entire commune, resting his gaze briefly on Madin before moving on. "She only cared how you could make her more powerful. Everything done here to make Haven a safe and comfortable place to live? That was you, not her."
He was breathing heavily now even though he was not speaking verbally. The pink energy had dissipated, too. But he stayed on his feet and pushed through the growing migraine. "Some of you have homes to go back to, a lot of you don't. We can help you find some place safe, wherever you want. Or you can go off on your own. It's up to you." His attention turned back to Radha's inner circle. "All of you should be punished for your sins against mutants, but you're lucky I don't believe in retributive justice, and I sure as fuck don't trust the human 'justice' system to treat you fairly. Count your goddamn blessings."
Madin had finally stopped puking. Most of the people pulled out of Haven had. The world was still tilted sideways and they staggered as they got to their feet. It had never been this rough when Radha did it. It had all been lies. All of it. Josie had been nice. The frustration, the anger, the betrayal bubbled up and energy crackled around Madin's fists. The plasma bolt they threw at Abhay went wild, vertigo sending it into the sky. "Fuck you." They pulled more energy together, crying now. "Fuck you. Why did you have to fucking fuck it all up?"
Instinctively, Theo crouched to shield Abhay, but the gesture proved unnecessary: the crimson energy generated by the commune's teleporter had reasserted itself. The connecting lines pulled taught, web-like, and suddenly Radha's most trusted lieutenants were gone. Now all that remained were the rest: the vulnerable, the searching, and the wounded.
A whole community brought to its knees.
Quentin fell to his hands and knees, unable to bear the weight of his decisions any longer. The panic, rage, and fear of seventy mutants swelled in his unguarded mind, his shields crumbled after his exertion in Radha's heart. But the work was not done, there was still too much to do before he could sleep. He looked up at his teammates, who were busy caring for their charges. "Where are Hope and David?" he asked, his voice soft and gravelly from disuse.
"Unconscious." Sue's arms crossed over her chest, her face dropping, her expression hardening as blue eyes flashed with shards of ice. "She's in there, unconscious." Her thumb jerked over her shoulder, indicating the tent behind her as she shifted, to glance back at the tent. "I'm...I'm not really trained to handle it, no-one here is. We need to get her back to the mansion. Now, as soon as possible."
"Lucky then," came a sudden familiar voice from behind the two.
Arthur stood dramatically silhouetted against the midday sun, his hair backlit like a halo and his left eye illuminated with a single starburst of light. While the timing and entrance were certainly part of the drama, that part was more won by the unconscious form of one David Haller against the other man's shoulder. Arthur held his phone in the hand not currently supporting his friend. A lucky save, an opportune SOS text.
"We've got a ride."
Inside the tent, Hope and her watchers were bathed in the distinct blue glow of a portal opening. A familiar white-blond woman clad in eldritch armor emerged seconds later. An escort. This made Arthur's smile only widen, and he moved to carry David in that general direction.
"Let's get them home," he encouraged the other two. "I'm tired of Oregon."
There was no crack of thunder or rush of air. The first and only warning they got was light: nearly a hundred points of light surrounding them, as if they stood in a field of stars.
And then points of luminosity became people, and those people were unhappy. Most materialized standing, but did not remain so for long -- a portion of them immediately collapsed, heaving vomit and bile into the grass, while others simply fell to their knees and shook. Even those that managed to keep their feet were doing so only with difficulty.
But, difficult or not, the evacuation had been a success.
Inez had been preparing herself for it but it still came as a surprise. Her own powers being what they were, she remained a little in awe at things like what she'd just witnessed, even though she knew it was possible - had seen it before and much more as of late. So when those multitude of lights became actual people, sick or sitting or standing, it made her gasp, though she quickly recovered and walked up to the nearest group.
"Everybody calm down, alright?" she shouted, trying to be loud enough for them all to hear her. "We're here t'help, you're gonna be fine, just take it easy and let us lend ya a hand, yeah?"
She looked a little nervously to Arthur, seeing some more agitated than others, and hoped they could keep the scene from getting out of hand.
The two of them had admittedly been standing, and shifting nervously, for about fifteen minutes before the real action had started. Arthur had suggested some music, but the shuffle's initial suggestion of "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" was beginning to feel a bit too prescient. He was glad they had skipped it.
Arthur did what he did best — a sigh, a deep breath, and a strong belief that they were there to help. They were here to support. His left eye blazed. Yet, around the two, no one materialized half in the ground or resting on a bum ankle or up in a tree. Everybody was on the floor. Safe.
The blonde man was breathing heavy at this point due to the strain, but he kept his regular, reassuring smile steady. "I know you must be confused," he offered, "But we brought blankets, water, and snacks. Everything will be okay." He gestured, helpfully, to the set of tents in the distance to where X-Factor Investigations had set up shop. "You are okay."
With materialisation had come the sensation that Madin was turned inside out and upside down, torn apart and put back together again wrong. The world was still spinning as Madin opened eyes they didn't remember closing, the ground tilted 30 degrees off horizontal. They tried to climb to their knees, fell and lay very still for a moment before sitting up just enough to start puking. Around them, the other Havenites were reacting similarly.
One or two people were already starting to follow Arthur's instructions, either due to tacit agreement or sheer disorientation. However, not all were feeling so receptive.
"Abhay?" It was Theo. The four-fingered bomb maker was crouched over the still form of Radha Dastoor's brother, although after a moment the man's chest rose in a long, slow breath. Unconscious, not dead.
Josie huddled nearby, white-faced and stunned by two discorporations in such short succession. Theo's voice seemed to reach her.
"Protect him," she said, shakily. She started climbing to her feet. "Protect him for Radha. She'll be coming back for us."
"Y'ain't goin' nowhere except with us," Inez said, more anger seeping into her voice than she'd intended, but that was nothing compared to the amount displayed in the cracking of her knuckles, the pounding of one fist into her palm as she stared Josie down and took a step towards her. "Now I suggest you stand down. We're here t'help, not hurt, but I swear by the almighty if you wanna try me you'll regret it for whatever time y'got left in this lifetime, and the next," she promised.
The mousy woman only had time to open her mouth before recognition rose in her eyes like a wave. Inez wasn't a large woman, but the set of her jaw and tension in her body sang with barely restrained rage. For the first time in a long time, Josie realized she was looking into the face of someone who knew.
She took a step back.
"I'd suggest you listen to her and don't make any kind of ruckus or problem out here."
A petite blonde emerged from the tent, blue eyes like shards of ice, glittering in barely suppressed rage and anger at the havenites before her. Sue knew that associating with the mansion was dangerous, that they were exposed to some of the worst that society had to offer but today, in this place she'd had enough. She never raised her voice, never showed her anger, her grandparents had taught her too well, silken tones curled around their ears in an almost reasonable tone.
"Because what I'll do to you would make anything Inez is threatening seem like a walk in the park."
"They won't do anything," spoke a familiar yet fatigued voice in their minds. The assembled mutants were blinded by a brilliant pink flash, and Quentin stood alone when it cleared. Gaseous pink energy wisped from his hands and eyes. "Haven is gone. Radha is gone. No one is coming for you. You can come with us to New York, start the impossible task of making up for the terrible things you've done. Or you can get the fuck out and make sure I never hear from you ever again. Because there are people much worse than me who will take action against existential threats to mutants."
Cries of distress and confusion rippled through the crowd. Enough of them had regained their bearings that Quentin's words were getting through, but they were finding another barrier in denial.
"She can't be gone," said a woman beside Inez, her voice shaking. "Radha is Haven. The Haven is eternal."
But it was Quentin Quire who stood before them, not Radha Dastoor, and their savior did not reappear.
Josie screamed. The sound of pure rage tore from her throat, wordless and blind, and she lunged -- not toward the people who had come into her world and unmoored her existence, but to the people who had been her allies. With one hand outstretched she spun to the stunned woman beside her, fingers clawed to grab--
There wasn't much in the clearing that Inez could use for a weapon, sadly, but being a clearing there had been remnants of the various plants and tree life that had stood in its place, including a hollowed out log. It was rotted and soft with age, but held together as she effortlessly picked it up and swung it as fast and as hard as she could at Josie.
It still struck her with a large amount of force, as the wet wood was still soggy and heavy; it wrapped around her and broke into several pieces from the impact, and Inez found herself hoping that the tree itself wasn't the only thing that was broken.
Theo flinched as Josie went down hard. Beside him Abhay was starting to move, but it was clear the other man was in no shape to react. The bombmaker gripped Radha's brother by the shoulders and whirled to someone behind him.
"Caleb, get us out of here!"
Spidery webs of red energy began to crawl through the crowd. Here and there it seemed to coil and settle on a particular person: Theo with Abhay, the fallen Josie, and perhaps a dozen more. Radha's chosen few.
"Hold that thought." Quentin smashed through the teleporter's psychic shields with ease and "convinced" him to let go of the teleportation field. "You can go, but I first want you to understand what happened and why it won't happen again. Those of you who came to Haven because you were sick with the mutant plague? Who cried for shelter after a natural disaster destroyed your home? You were sacrifices on Radha's altar of mutant godhood. She never cared about you." He surveyed the entire commune, resting his gaze briefly on Madin before moving on. "She only cared how you could make her more powerful. Everything done here to make Haven a safe and comfortable place to live? That was you, not her."
He was breathing heavily now even though he was not speaking verbally. The pink energy had dissipated, too. But he stayed on his feet and pushed through the growing migraine. "Some of you have homes to go back to, a lot of you don't. We can help you find some place safe, wherever you want. Or you can go off on your own. It's up to you." His attention turned back to Radha's inner circle. "All of you should be punished for your sins against mutants, but you're lucky I don't believe in retributive justice, and I sure as fuck don't trust the human 'justice' system to treat you fairly. Count your goddamn blessings."
Madin had finally stopped puking. Most of the people pulled out of Haven had. The world was still tilted sideways and they staggered as they got to their feet. It had never been this rough when Radha did it. It had all been lies. All of it. Josie had been nice. The frustration, the anger, the betrayal bubbled up and energy crackled around Madin's fists. The plasma bolt they threw at Abhay went wild, vertigo sending it into the sky. "Fuck you." They pulled more energy together, crying now. "Fuck you. Why did you have to fucking fuck it all up?"
Instinctively, Theo crouched to shield Abhay, but the gesture proved unnecessary: the crimson energy generated by the commune's teleporter had reasserted itself. The connecting lines pulled taught, web-like, and suddenly Radha's most trusted lieutenants were gone. Now all that remained were the rest: the vulnerable, the searching, and the wounded.
A whole community brought to its knees.
Quentin fell to his hands and knees, unable to bear the weight of his decisions any longer. The panic, rage, and fear of seventy mutants swelled in his unguarded mind, his shields crumbled after his exertion in Radha's heart. But the work was not done, there was still too much to do before he could sleep. He looked up at his teammates, who were busy caring for their charges. "Where are Hope and David?" he asked, his voice soft and gravelly from disuse.
"Unconscious." Sue's arms crossed over her chest, her face dropping, her expression hardening as blue eyes flashed with shards of ice. "She's in there, unconscious." Her thumb jerked over her shoulder, indicating the tent behind her as she shifted, to glance back at the tent. "I'm...I'm not really trained to handle it, no-one here is. We need to get her back to the mansion. Now, as soon as possible."
"Lucky then," came a sudden familiar voice from behind the two.
Arthur stood dramatically silhouetted against the midday sun, his hair backlit like a halo and his left eye illuminated with a single starburst of light. While the timing and entrance were certainly part of the drama, that part was more won by the unconscious form of one David Haller against the other man's shoulder. Arthur held his phone in the hand not currently supporting his friend. A lucky save, an opportune SOS text.
"We've got a ride."
Inside the tent, Hope and her watchers were bathed in the distinct blue glow of a portal opening. A familiar white-blond woman clad in eldritch armor emerged seconds later. An escort. This made Arthur's smile only widen, and he moved to carry David in that general direction.
"Let's get them home," he encouraged the other two. "I'm tired of Oregon."
