[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wJtcA1x.png?1[/img][/center]
[b][color=#ffffff]Mount Sorcista, Latveria[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]The Future Foundation trudged their way up the side of the Latverian mountain trail. Given free reign of all of Latveria, the five of them had decided that Mount Sorcista, Latveria’s highest mountain, was ripe for exploration. They had travelled unescorted from Castle Doom to the mountain. The journey had been easy enough. Latveria’s public transport system was without equal. They made use of the regular mag-lev trains that ran from the centre of Domstadt out to its outskirts. Loring in particular found it hard to believe when they were allowed to disembark without paying.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]A cable car carried them up towards the beginning of the carefully-cultivated mountain trail. Once there Thinker had charted a course that ran off the trail that he had calculated would result in something he had described as “optimal ocular divertissement” – and the others had happily agreed to follow it. It was only after a good thirty-five minutes of hiking that it became clear how arduous the undertaking they had entered into was going to be.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Though breathing heavy, Cho found the time to shout toward to the sentient AI.[/color][color=#f1c232] “You know, Think, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”[/color]

[center]>>>#STATEMENT: PROCEED WITH QUERY, AMADEUS CHO#<<<[/center]
[color=#f1c232]“Don’t think you maybe this whole “STATEMENT” thing is a little redundant?” [/color][color=#ffffff]Amadeus said with a sympathetic smile.[/color][color=#f1c232] “I get that we might not [i]all [/i]be sentient super-computers, but I’m sure we’ve all got enough going on upstairs that we can work out when you’re asking a question.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Thinker’s empty eyes stared off towards the Doomstadt skyline. At least, it looked almost as if he was staring at it. Cho had learned by now that half of the time when “Think” – as he had taken to calling the artificial intelligence – was looking at something, he was almost always looking through it. The numbers on Think’s body ran wildly as he considered Cho’s statement and tried to formulate a response of his own.[/color]

[center]>>>#STATEME-#<<<[/center]
[color=#f1c232]“Come on. Throw me a bone here, Think. Just try speaking one time without it and I promise if you don’t like it I’ll never ask you to do it again.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]This time it was clear that the Thinker was looking at Amadeus. Though Holt and Khan had pulled ahead of them, there was still time for the two of them to stop to talk. Loring was lagging way behind the four of them, to the point that Cho and the Thinker had been stopping from time to time to ensure they didn’t lose her altogether. This time the cause of their delay had been to allow the AI to attempt to break with the code that governed his every action. It seemed to cause him great discomfort, but with the reassurance of Cho, he managed to find the strength to do so.[/color]
[center]>>>#IT IS IN MY PROGRAMMING#<<<[/center]
[color=#f1c232]“See?” [/color][color=#ffffff]Cho said with a warm smile.[/color][color=#f1c232] “You can’t tell me that didn’t feel a [i]little [/i]liberating? Next we'll try to work on the whole 'inside voice' thing.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]From behind them, Loring appeared. Her face was red from exertion and were it not for the white Future Foundation costume she was wearing, she would almost certainly have been soaked through. She stopped for a moment, resting her hands on her knees, the Atom logo on her chest expanding and shrinking rhythmically as she fought for breath.[/color]

[color=#ff00ff]“Could you two shut up for a minute? You’re using up all the oxygen,"[/color] Jean complained with a tired glance at them. [color=#ff00ff]"Well, Cho is anyway.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Michael Holt came sprinting down the trail. He stopped in front of Loring. There wasn’t a drop of sweat on him. He was in incredible physical shape compared to the rest of them. Cho was certain he could have run up and down the mountain half a dozen times without his heart rate increasing at all. He seemed to take particular pleasure from the sweat pouring from Jean’s every pore.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Holt extended a patronising hand in Jean’s direction. [/color][color=#999999]“What’s wrong, Loring? Are you struggling? I’d have thought all of daddy’s millions could have bought you a half-decent personal trainer or something.”[/color]

[color=#ff00ff]“I am [i]not[/i] struggling,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Loring growled through gritted teeth as she slapped Holt’s hand away.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Cho let out an ‘oooh’ at the smack. Khan appeared just in time to see it and raised an eyebrow at the scene, but the Holt and Loring melodrama seemed no closer to ending. They had been at each other’s throats from the moment they had met – pointed silences followed by slanging matches followed by pointless competition after competition. To Loring’s frustration, Holt always seemed to win.[/color]

[color=#999999]“Oh right, you’re still annoyed about the way that Doom blew you off back there. God, that must have been [i]really [/i]tough for you, not feeling like the most important person in the room for all of … what, fifteen seconds?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Never one to miss an opportunity to lob a grenade onto an open fire, Cho corrected the Future Foundation’s de facto captain.[/color][color=#f1c232] “Ten at most.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Holt and Cho laughed among themselves, Khan seemed so taken with the horizon that was was barely paying attention to the argument, and the Thinker, as always, was next to incapable of reading. The expression on Jean’s face however was instantly recognisable. Loring's embarrassment swelled into an impotent rage that finally came jutting out from her mouth in the form of a particularly ugly insult.[/color]

[color=#ff00ff]“I’m sorry that I didn’t grow up in some [i]ghetto [/i]in Southside Chicago like you, Holt.”[/color]

Kamala Khan gasped in shock. Even she had been torn from staring at Castle Doom in the distance by the sound of Jean’s Ivy Town accent spitting ‘ghetto’ at Holt with such intent that it might well have been a weapon. 

[color=#a64d79]“That’s [i]really[/i] not cool.”[/color]

[color=#ff00ff]“What?”[/color][color=#ffffff] Loring said with a shaky smiled that seemed suddenly conscious of the fact she had misread the room. [/color][color=#ff00ff]“You’re all allowed to make jokes about my upbringing but if I make [i]one [/i]joke, I’m suddenly the bad guy here? Come on, Mike. You know I didn’t mean it like that, right?”[/color]

[i]Mike[/i]. It was the first time that Loring had called Holt by his first name. She was staring at him apologetically in the hope that he might provide her with some support. Unfortunately for Jean, she was met only by an icy stare. Holt’s hands were balled into fists and Cho and Khan exchanged desperates glances, both unsure how to cut through the tension. When Holt began walking towards Jean, they considered getting between the two of them but froze in the moment.

[color=#ffffff]Holt lifted one of his balled fists towards Jean and unclenched it. His index finger pointed in her direction and Jean smiled at him uneasily whilst she was trying to deduce what was happening. Slowly Holt’s stare faded and a comradely grin replaced it. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]When he finally spoke it was correct Loring, not to fire a barb back in her direction.[/color][color=#999999] “I grew up in New York, not Chicago.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Thinker watched on in silent, calculating bemusement as the four of them burst into laughter – all with varying levels of sincerity and nervousness. Holt gestured to Loring to jump on his back and after a minute or two of arguing reluctantly agreed to it. The students made much quicker time up through the mountains, eventually finding an isolated pool of water that was almost emerald green. There was wildlife all around it. Deer and rabbits hopped around freely only minutes from the harsh cold of the mountainside.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Kamala almost exploded with joy at the sight of the luscious clearing. [/color][color=#a64d79]“Whoa, this place is [i]beautiful[/i]. What did you say it was called again?”[/color]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Oxbo6fq.png[/img][/center]
[center][color=#ffffff]>>>THE LAKE OF REFUGE. ACCORDING TO LATVERIAN MYTHOLOGY, THIS MOUNTAIN WAS ONCE HOME TO A DEMONIC SORCESSES NAMED PANDEMONIA THAT RULED LATVERIA WITH AN IRON FIST. THE ADVENTURERS THAT FELLED PANDEMONIA WERE SAID TO HAVE TAKEN REFUGE HERE BESIDE THE POOL TO RESTORE THEIR ENERGY BEFORE LAUNCHING THEIR FINAL ASSAULT ON HER<<<[/color][/CENTER]
[color=#ffffff]The sound of clapping caught the Future Foundation off-guard. They turned to face its source and found a slender fifty-year old man stood on his own. His skin was grey and lifeless. His lips were so thin that it was almost difficult to discern where one ended and the next began. There was not a single grey hair out of place on his head. Most telling of all, he was wrapped in the deep, distinctive Von Bardas pink that had once adorned every flagpole in Latveria.[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“Very impressive. For a piece of [i]machinery[/i], you seem to have quite the understanding of Latverian myths. In fact, finding the Lake of Refuge alone is no mean feat. For that, I applaud you – I applaud [i]all[/i] of you. But I am afraid that having ventured this far, I cannot allow you the five of you to return home. You see, though we may not be adventurers, as such, we do have our own demon that needs to be felled.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Holt's attempt to make a move was met by a tut from Wyncham. In the cliffs overlooking the Lake of Refuge, two dozen men appeared with state-of-the-art weaponry pointed in the Future Foundation’s direction. Holt and Loring looked at one another as if silently trying to devise an escape plan but both drew a blank.[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“I take no joy in what happens next,” [/color][color=#ffffff]the Marquis of Death smiled unconvincingly.[/color][color=#c27ba0] “Oh, why pretend? I shall take a [i]great [/i]deal of joy from it.”[/color]