Chapter 24: Gifted With Destruction Chapter 24- Removing Tumours of Society
POV- Georgia
After the awkward meal and a drive with Marcos, who seemed almost desperate for a distraction as he asked about my life, we made it to an entrance that would, supposedly, lead us to the Morlocks.
"It's kinda weird isn't it, living in the tunnels? Dark and cold underground without even a trace of the sun or the world around you."
Marcos looked at me weirdly before he snorted in laughter. "You should definitely become a writer. Poetry even." I ignored the jibe as I pushed forward into the tunnel. I'd spent my life being told I spoke like an old woman, but my aunt was a teacher and spent a lot of time with me as a kid.
Turning another corner I come to a stop, spotting a person peering through the dark-lit space. "Are you part of the Morlocks?" I call out, and the figure nodded, and soon we could hear footsteps as around six mutants encircled us. Not strong enough to really be a threat if it came down to it, but we were sent to deliver a letter, not a threat. Marcos took over the role of negotiator due to his age and longer affiliation with the Hellfire Club and Andrew in general, but the weird hobo-looking guy with the eyepatch was looking at me creepily and I bristled, if dragons could even do that.
"We aren't looking for a fight, we just needed to find you to give you this," he said, slowly reaching into his jacket pocket under the nervous gazes of the Morlock group. Passing over the letter, the pervert took it, reading it with a panicked and slightly scared look before his face settled again in a pseudo calm. 'What the hell did Andrew write that made him so afraid?'
"How did you find us?" The hobo-pirate inquired in a low tone. "And how does he know about the marked?"
"The marked?" I said confused.
"We are a community of mutants who find it safer to seclude ourselves from the outside world due to the physical effects of our mutations, such as yourself. For those without the physical traits, we mark ourselves with this," he explained pointing at the stupid 'M' branded into his cheek. "To show that we have accepted the community as our home, rather than the world above."
"Like a cult," Marcos summarised, causing me to giggle. 'There's no denying these guys are part of a cult.' "And to answer your questions, I'm not entirely certain. But I would assume, based on the little he explained after…" he paused, shivering. "That Reeva, the old boss was looking to have you wiped out. Something to do with the access the tunnels provided or something." The man was now less wary, but was still on guard.
"Have you read this?" When we shook our heads, he passed it back and Marcos chuckled like a maniac. 'Seriously, he's in a drain tunnel with homeless mutants from a cult and he looks like the crazy one right now.'
"All of it's true though," I confirm, choosing to ignore Marcos for the moment. "He's one of the most powerful mutants I've ever heard of. And he's getting stronger every time I see him use his powers. To be honest, I'm not sure what he could really want from you."
The one-eyed man looked at me, as if reading for signs of deception but found nothing. "I'm Erg, the leader of the Morlocks. May I ask how this…Black King treats you?"
The title of black king had always been part of the Hellfire Club apparently, and was based on chess, but personally, I preferred the idea of just using the title of king, due to the rampant social activists and idiots that would complain should we become public. "Well…I chose to join him after he single-handedly wiped out one of the largest drug-based gangs in the US, who I was working for at the time. Yet he accepted me without a single issue and apart from asking to touch my scales once, he treats me the same as everyone else. Food, accommodation, training. All high end, and all for the goal of a better future." A few surprised looks flew across the visages of the Morlocks around us, including Erg, but he finally nodded.
"So he is against humans like his predecessors?" He didn't seem particularly concerned though, and from what I noticed, his voice had an edge to it when he said 'humans.'
Marcos answered with ease, having calmed down during Erg's question to me, "No, just threats in general. His mother is human and is actively supporting mutants with the MU, and he witnessed Reeva betray her own kind and killed her for it. He's ruthless, but he's not genocidal." Marcos's eyes turned distant for a brief moment before a single word slipped from his lips, so quiet I, who was directly beside him could barely understand it. "Yet."
A silence hung in the air as Marcos looked at me briefly, noticing the look in my face with a jolt, then moved back to Erg. "Should you have any mutants that might prefer to work for us, let us know," he said, and brushing past the still-cautious weaklings we left, our mission successful.
Pov- Lauren on kidnap mission 350-500 words
I was in heaven. I could feel the tension in the car between the three of us, but neither Jennifer nor Lorna made any comment as we drove to the second location, Ryan's estate. It was in a good area and was fenced off from the public as all smart people's homes really should be. However, there weren't any reported defences that would pose a risk for even a duo or trio of humans, were they able to get in of course.'
The first guy, Charles, or Charlie Heinz, was an ex-cop who had lost his girlfriend in the wake of the 7-15 riots, joining the purifiers and climbing the ranks, fuelled by his own hatred. He'd been alone in his house, and after Lorna killed all the tech in the house with her EMP and opened the door, Jennifer injected him with a sedative while I kept him bound telekinetically. While I didn't really think Jennifer was necessary for the trip, I knew Andy wanted to build their experience working with the team and fostering relationships of trust.
And so, with a sigh, as I pushed past my reminiscing of this afternoon's delights that I would absolutely be returning to later, I pushed to start a conversation. It took a little time for both her and Lorna to relax a little, but as the silence was filled with discussions of our training or music selections, the awkwardness faded.
Jumping out of the car, Lorna reminded the both of us of our goal. "The Heinz guy is an added bonus, but Ryan needs to be taken alive…no matter how much he deserves it after inciting the violence. 'That was a response to our actions,' I thought. I had no issue with accepting the blame, as we had cut the cancerous people from the team, just as we would eventually do to the world should it be deemed necessary. 'Or we get bored.'
Like the previous kidnapping, it began with an EMP, removing the threat of being recorded, snitched on or being attacked by called-in backup. It was the only part of her powers I couldn't replicate myself, instead having to physically destroy every device I saw, or in some cases sensed, as the devices would cause minute electromagnetic waves that with an extreme amount of focus, I was getting better at picking up.
Unlike with the first kidnapping, a light shone inside the house, like one from a flashlight and the three of us rushed to move in. Creating a compressed ramp of air, the three of us ran to the third-story window that had been turned on, again opening the window by controlling the latch and lock.
"Be careful," Lorna said hushed. "While it may have been a coincidence, an alarm of some sort may have been activated when all the tech in the house died. I'm not the first or the most feared electromagnetic manipulator after all." I looked into her tensed features as she mentioned her dad. She had not even said his name or made any sort of insinuation but the look on her face told that she had been thinking of him as she said it. 'A man to both respect and scorn, based on what Andy and I learned about him and the other previous Hellfire Club members.'
"Or the sparks from when you fry the processors," I add, earning a glare.
"That's only with powerful EMPs, this was a low-level one designed to interfere with the devices rather than destroy them. Now are you ready?" Earning our nods of readiness, she slipped inside, followed by the newbie Jennifer and then myself.
Footsteps echoed in the seemingly empty house, but it wasn't difficult to find the man we had been sent to kidnap, having made his way into a small bunkered room that no doubt had more to do with his private job than his public one. With thick insulation and heavy metal walls, floor and ceiling, it would have been a hassle for almost any regular team of mutants. Before we broke into it though, we could hear quiet shuffled feet from the hallway, so we waited for a brief moment, only to spot a six-man team that had been hired to act as security and protection for the public figure with way too much money and power for my liking. Lorna and my hands raised instinctively, her powers stopping all but one of the bullets that was instantly blocked by my barrier. Lorna was as confused as I was, but Jennifer was more interested in attacking the pricks who shot at us.
With a move similar to one I'd seen in the Avatar TV show, a burst of water came through the wall, almost instantly transforming into a lethal weapon as the water drenched the men. As the water covered their heads, all she had to do was clench her fist, freezing the water over it as they dropped to the floor instantly. She then constructed a quick-fix repair to the damaged water pipe as we inspected the bullet that ignored Lorna's powers.
The bullet was almost funny to look at, brightly coloured and lightweight. That being said, the plastic bullet showed the paranoia of the man. He'd seen Lorna at the Humanity Today Summit and moved to have his private guards armed with at least one member without any metal on him. "Plastic," I explained. "Usually used for riot control like rubber, but still lethal within a few yards. Within a room, for example."
Lorna let out an aggrieved sigh and I couldn't help but agree. "Well, thanks for stopping it. I don't think Marcos would have appreciated me having plastic stuck in my body." I sniggered at the innuendo, quickly followed by Jennifer, which earned me another glare before she too laughed. 'She's not as scared as I'd assumed she would be. Or she's gotten better at concealing it. After the birth, she got really worried about her or Marcos being killed and yet she seems relatively calm for someone almost hit by plastic shrapnel.'
"Can we collect the fucker and leave? The gunshots will draw some attention." Ripping open the safe, I formed another one of my barriers, more cautious after the plastic bullet, stopping the two fired straight through Lorna's guard before she ripped a can from the shelf and knocked the gun from him, stepping over to him before she planted her steel toe punk boot directly into his chest. With the man wheezing and coughing on the floor, Jennifer dosed him with the sedatives while I lifted him out the window and carried him to the car, thankful the night was over and we could go home.
Unfortunately, I would have to bring up the issue of the plastic bullets and presumably, we would soon be sent to destroy any local suppliers or manufacturers of the uncommon weapon. For Lorna, this meant she would be training in the use of controlling metal to act as her defence. 'I'll tell her to use small razor-sharp plates for an offensive defence,' I noted. For me, however, it meant giving up on enjoying my first night as Andy's lover, as he was sure to worry about the potential threat and create a quick plan of resolving it. 'Maybe if I help him plan we can still share the night together,' I thought, humming to myself while Jessica and Lorna worked to create the message that would bring the Hellfire Club back into the limelight. Carving the logo for the Hellfire Club deeply into the expansive lawn and into the side of the house, there was no way it couldn't be noticed. It was juvenile, as Andy had put it, but was more than enough to get people talking. It would draw battle lines and no doubt cause chaos, but with the chaos, we could quickly move to eradicate the biggest dangers and set up a community of our own. Andy talked of eventually taking over a large portion of the southern US, where there was an incredible amount of unused space and more importantly, we were already here, cleaning it up. While it would no doubt spill out into open conflict, we both understood the costs for a future for mutants, for us. And the cost was blood.
'And with this, we begin the revolution.'
POV- Sophie
Spending another night away from the bed I wanted to climb into was frustrating, but no doubt Lauren would have called dibs on it anyway after this afternoon. I was glad for them, honestly. They'd both been suppressing the connection between them that was both similar to my sisters' and yet so much stronger. 'Though I guess Andy was doing most of the suppression from what I knew.' I might have been affronted by the idea of sharing a lover, but somewhere I knew that it was inevitable. Not because he was a cheater or a playboy, but because Phoebe had built up the connection with him even before I did, though she was far more reluctant to admit her feelings towards the younger man. She'd been playful and teasing with him almost since he came, glad for his mature outlook and equally playful attitude. True, I'd kissed him first, but there was no way she would have even allowed him to fuck her if she wasn't at least interested in him. And now he'd earned her absolute trust. I figured she'd backed off these last months due to Reeva, but perhaps she was trying to be considerate of me. 'God this was overcomplicated.'
The girls had returned to the old manor with Ryan and Heinz, which was currently being used by Maria Summit, who had been sent to assist on a long-term mission in assisting the MU, only to return yesterday when Andy remembered she existed. (As well as me) Having someone physically strong, quick and bulletproof was a good idea for helping secure the captives and prevent risks when dealing with two physically able men. Telepathy only works if we have time to use it after all. The computer specialist had been looked through telepathically, and found to be one of the cartel's best, both trustworthy and surprisingly okay with the purpose we would use him for.
My sisters and I gathered around the two bound and gagged men, looking over the list of information we would need to search for.
"What does he think it is, a shopping list?" Phoebe said with a chuckle.
"Well, most of it is actually a good idea," Esme defended. "Violence-prone chapters, the identities of other chapters and regions. Politicians that support the violence and more extreme anti-mutant legislation privately. Non-disclosed locations of property that are used for torture and interrogation of mutants. Where do you dispose of the bodies? None of these are unreasonable and each could be beneficial."
Phoebe took the list, pointing to one of the later ones with an eyebrow raised. "Are they in a relationship…and if they are, would they love their partners if they were a worm?"
I took the note, found the question, and laughed. "That's not Andy's writing. That is probably Lauren thinking it's funny."
"Hilarious," she drawled sarcastically, though it seemed like something she would have done herself in Lauren's position. After all, Lauren still copped crap from Phoebe's teasing and comments during training.
With Heinz, it took almost a quarter of an hour to collect the information due to his focused rage and stronger will. Not to mention the rather large amount of information we were ordered to find, sifting through the man's entire adult life in search of the info. Ryan however, was almost too easy. Had he been a mutant himself I might have assumed he was a telepath, steering us to falsely created memories of events, but we'd checked them for the X-gene when the girls brought them in, not wanting to be ambushed because one of them could escape the chains.
After recording a video of the two men confessing to their roles as purifiers and as the instigators of violence and death. Of ordering men to hunt down mutants and bury them in the woodland, or bury them in mass graves on private property. Of welcoming people they knew had dangerous criminal records into their group including the ones that burnt down some of the mutant youth centres. These would be released online tonight, spread over different media sources and would be sent from a hidden server that no one could track, besides maybe the three junkie brothers, if they cared to look. Attached to each video was the sigil of our team, the emboldened H encased in gold, with a pitchfork through the center. Everyone would know we took them and everyone would know we had returned in full force. It couldn't be avoided, but with this, we would rub it in everyone's faces, especially as we were releasing a presentation of evidence of the two being purifier leaders both online and during a new hijack planned for the early morning news.
While some could have argued the confessions were forced, with evidence, we looked righteous, and would no doubt inspire more to join our ranks. With the evidence gathered and readied for tomorrow, I sent confirmation to Andy, and within seconds received a reply.
"You can choose to keep them for potential bargaining if you feel they could be of value, or you can have Maria kill them both. Call it an initiation of sorts. Love you."
Sharing the message with my sisters and ignoring the amused teasing from the two of them, we make a decision.
"Hey Maria, Andy sent a message. He needs you to do something."
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