[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/FKJKRczH/the-gifted-591b350cc9ba7.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.postimg.cc/NLh6qHzb/89fd15c0a88db8037203224c3533652dbf660aa5-hq.gif[/img][/center][hr][hr][center][@Nallore][@FantasyChic][@BlueSky44][@Achronum][@Trainerblue192][@KazAlkemi][@Framing A Moose][/center][hr][center][h3][color=f7941d][b]Washington D.C.: September 9th, 2020 - 8:40 PM[/b][/color][/h3][/center][hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/WpKJC0mt/image.png[/img][/center][hr][color=f7941d][b][i]Medical...[/i][/b][/color]

	Emma Frost prepared an intravenous therapy line for Anastasia, preparing a drip of Wolverine's blood. The Hellfire Club was hardly the only organization in the world to have some of Logan's blood, especially given the extensive tests done on him in the Weapon X era, yet they were one of the few to use it for its healing properties. Inserting the line, the blood flowed down into Anastasia's veins and rapidly, her wounds began to heal themselves. [color=E0F6FD]"Do not fret, my dear, you won't grow claws - though I have no doubt you would make good use of them."[/color]

	The White Queen took a seat down next to Anastasia's bedside, locking the doors with a flick of her wrist. Medical at the Hellfire Club Headquarters did not have soundproof walls, yet at the very least she could prevent them from being disturbed. Unlike with Requiem and Jinx, Emma had faith in her young protégé. [color=E0F6FD]"Our attackers were members of an organization called the Mutant Underground..."[/color] she paused, her eyes flickering towards the door. It was not safe to say this next part verbally, so she opted to speak to Anastasia telepathically. 

	[color=E0F6FD][i]"We are not going to kill them. Our plans for ascendancy... They require that the Black King falls. We cannot openly move against him, it would be suicidal - so Reeva and I have been subtly pulling the strings of the Mutant Underground, raising them for the slaughter... We need you to continue with your objective and once we leak the information to their spy, you will be spirited away and when we return, we will reign."[/i][/color] She then telepathically brushed some hair out of Anastasia's face. [color=E0F6FD]"Your wounds should heal within the next few moments. I imagine you have more questions."[/color]

[color=f7941d][b][i]The Second Floor...[/i][/b][/color]

	The kitchen staff stared at Jinx for a moment. The head chef narrowed his eyes slightly and the rest looked at him for a cue as to what to do. Jinx wasn't one of the leaders of the Hellfire Club, so they weren't certain whether or not they could just brush aside his demands. "Of course," the chef said with a fake smile. Once Jinx had gotten back in the elevator though and the doors shut, the chef motioned for his staff to come closer to him. 

	"Next time he orders food, add in feces or piss," the chef whispered. "And then spit on it for good measure." And unfortunately for Jinx, his phone call went to voicemail again. Casper wasn't answering his phone - at this rate, it was safe to assume that the drug addict was probably busy or had lost the thing. 

	"I wanted to just throw a tomato at him..." one of the younger workers grumbled. 

[color=f7941d][b][i]The Penthouse...[/i][/b][/color]

	Another thought would occur to Requiem - Glimpse's connection was to Sebastian Shaw. She had come there looking for the Black King. If he did not want to approach the White Queen about all of this, he could simply ask Shaw what Glimpse might have been looking into. It would at least be helpful to contextualize her actions, knowing more about her relationship with him and where she fell morality wise. 

[color=f7941d][b][i]The Road...[/i][/b][/color]

	Max was right - this wasn't how an X-Men like group behaved, for the simple reason that the Mutant Underground was not a superhero team. This was the first time they had ever done a mission beyond protecting mutants from being caught by the police or purifiers. They weren't professional heroes - they were essentially volunteers, trying to make a difference. Sure, some of them did have a background in superheroics (such as Colossus, Havok, and Sapphire) but most did not. Everyone and everything (including the computer) would be loaded into the car by the time that Sapphire got it running and it wasn't a moment too soon. Just as Sapphire floored it, the cops came into view, their sirens blaring as they began a high speed chase. 

	Havok was still unconscious, but Veil started to move her head slightly and slowly, she opened her eyes. [color=935DB8]"What the crap is going on?"[/color] she asked, a bit dazed and not realizing that they were being chased by the cops. The police cars hadn't managed to close the gap quite yet, but it would only be a matter of time. They were built to go at higher speeds than the car the Mutant Underground was using. [hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/5yqyXQGW/image.png[/img][/center][hr]	Thanks to Feedback, they didn't need to worry about the police coming and finding them, but they would need to relocate eventually. The building was not at risk of collapsing but their location was compromised. Mutant Underground protocol stipulated that since the threat was contained, they should wait until Veil and her team returned to the hideout. They would then move as many mutants as they could along the Mutant Underground network, before establishing a new hideout with those remaining behind to run the station. 

	Outside, all was well as Negasonic policed the perimeter. No one seemed to be coming to investigate the explosion and there were no reinforcements on the way for Magik and Vulcan. Taking out her phone, she called her girlfriend, Yukio. [color=E33B19]"Hey, babe. You got a minute to talk?"[/color]

	Meanwhile back inside, Sunshine's stomach had started to growl. She was constantly eating whenever food was available to her, likely stemming from deep psychological issues. Food was never a guarantee so whenever it was there, she ate as much as she possibly could. Shoving her hands into her pockets, she felt the weight of Casper's phone and she tossed it at the drug addict now that he was awake. [color=#DAF7A6]"Catch!"[/color] Her aim was perfect - it always was, thanks to her secondary mutation. 

	It was more of Casper's athletic skills that were to be desired as he fumbled the catch and the phone hit the ground. The case came off from the impact, but otherwise it was in one piece - it wasn't an iPhone or anything like that after all. [color=DBA1DE]"...Did you steal my phone?"[/color] Casper asked her. Sunshine only shrugged in response. Casper didn't even notice the phone buzzing with an incoming call.

	[i]"She took it when you were unconscious so it wouldn't fall out of your pockets - if you could even call those things pockets..."[/i] Ben informed his friend helpfully.

	Blink paused for a moment. [color=D48FFF]"There are miles of tunnels underneath Washington D.C. - we don't use too large a portion of them, but our location is ideal for observing the surface world... And it was, at least we thought, securely defended,"[/color] she answered Spark Plug. She seemed to have a permanent grimace on her face as she tried to already come up with why the Morlocks had been massacred. Sure, she had managed to get a lot of them to safety but there were still the bodies of countless friends - people she considered to be her family - rotting in the tunnels now. She failed them. [color=D48FFF]"I don't know why a powerful group would want to expand into the tunnels..."[/color]

	Casper's eyes flickered over towards the pills that Spark Plug had set down, along with the radio. He wasn't really interested in gaining a new way to communicate with people - he barely used his phone as it was. But the pills, those interested him. He had just gotten out of rehab and he was ready for his first relapse, and of course, he doubted it would be his last one either. Hopefully he would be able to go over and grab them, he would just need to wait until everyone was distracted... 

	[color=#DAF7A6]"Wait, so you're saying they killed Erg because he was ugly?"[/color] Sunshine asked Jack, wrinkling her nose slightly. [color=#DAF7A6]"I could understand them killing Max over being fucking disgusting to look at but not Erg!"[/color] It was clear that she was still angry, though whether or not she was joking or just continuing to bully Max wouldn't be so obvious. Her eyes went over towards Jack's shirtless chest and she sniffled a bit. [color=#DAF7A6]"Can you put a shirt on, please? No one wants to see that."[/color]

	Colossus nodded slightly. Jack's theory made sense to him, but it was just an idea at this point - they wouldn't be able to know for sure until they got direct confirmation. If they were lucky, maybe Veil and her team would be able to bring back some information that would help - that or they could just extract some from Vulcan. He wasn't going to let anyone question his baby sister, she had been through enough. [color=B0B4B0]"Perhaps. I agree - let us question boy, he will know why they attacked us... and what they did to Illyana."[/color]

	Vulcan was barely conscious, his head rolling from side to side. The extensive bindings done on him prevented him from moving, so if Moonwalker were to let go he would fall to the ground and hit his head. And as the delirious tend to do, the Sam Winchester lookalike started to laugh profusely. [color=#fffb12]"Oh, like hell am I going to tell you guys what Shaw's planning!"[/color] he jeered. 

	Blink raised an eyebrow. [color=D48FFF]"He's an idiot. That'll make this easier."[/color]