[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/FKJKRczH/the-gifted-591b350cc9ba7.png[/img][/center][hr][center][@Nallore][@FantasyChic][@BlueSky44][@Achronum][@Trainerblue192][@KazAlkemi][@Framing A Moose][@MsMorningstar][/center][hr][center][color=f7941d][b]December 18th, 2020 - 1:30 PM[/b][/color][/center][hr]	For most of the world, there was hardly anything significant about the date - it was just another freezing December day. They were unaware that on the tenth, Wanda Maximoff had changed the entire world and molded it in her father's image - creating a kingdom for Magneto, the House of M. Hardly anyone recalled the real world, less than two dozen in fact out of the billions of souls on the planet. They were ultimately successful in convincing the Scarlet Witch to restore reality. 

	Yet now that the world has been restored, those who fought against the House of M have no memory of what happened in the real world from December 10th to the 18th. To them, they've just gotten back, appearing in the real world without a clue as to what they missed. And to everyone else, those who don't remember?

	They have no idea what horrors their friends faced. 

[color=f7941d][b]The Hellfire Club Headquarters - [/b][/color]

	The penthouse was decorated for the holiday season, a combination of Christmas and Hanukkah paraphernalia all around. Sage, Polaris, and Magneto were all Jewish, Reeva was Catholic, and the Frost family enjoyed the holiday season from a purely commercial aspect. Emma Frost and her daughters/clones, the Three in One, were off on holiday in Malibu for the moment, enjoying the sun, beach, and waves. Magneto was absent as well, off with the Brotherhood and preparing some scheme, no doubt. Sinister was in one of his many laboratories off campus. 

	This left just Sage, Polaris, and Reeva at the Hellfire Club Headquarters on this chilly afternoon. Polaris had a green turtleneck on with a silver heart locket around her neck, a gift from her boyfriend, Havok. Using her powers of magnetism, she was absentmindedly spinning a dreidel as she gazed out the window. Sage stood in front of a computer terminal, seemingly in a trance - her mutant powers made her into a living computer and she could communicate with machines instantaneously. 

	[color=B1C1EB]"Ryan, need I remind you the consequences if you do not uphold your end of the bargain?"[/color] Reeva said sharply into the phone, pacing back and forth by the bar. Her fingernails were sharpened like talons. [color=B1C1EB]"Good. Don't give me more reason to doubt you and you need not fear for your thick neck."[/color] 

[color=f7941d][b]Lotus Apartments - [/b][/color]

	As for Desiree, well... The day had been normal for her so far. She had the day off from work, giving her the time to do whatever her heart desired. With the heavy winter chill setting in and snow piling on the streets of D.C., most people had chosen to be indoors - unless, of course, they needed to do some last minute Christmas shopping. The Purifiers had even relented slightly in their campaign of terror against mutants, as if the season of mercy actually could sway their hearts. 

	Unfortunately, her day was about to take a turn for the abnormal. The scent of smoke would strike her senses first, followed by panicked screams as other tenants in the apartment building fled, and lastly with the sharp [i]RIIIIIIIING![/i] of the fire alarm. From her window, she would be able to see the thick, heavy, black plumes of smoke floating up towards the sky. 

	Her apartment complex was on fire. [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=935DB8]Veil[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/cJ9KkvcN/original.gif[/img][hr][hr][b][color=935DB8]Location:[/color][/b] Mutant Underground Hideout - First Floor: Training Room 
[b][color=935DB8]Skills:[/color][/b] Investigation [hr][/center]	Veil had no recollection of House of M. To her, it had been an ordinary week. Xavier's spy within the Hellfire Club had started to send them cryptic messages, written in a sort of code that she was trying her best to figure out. She had gotten the latest cypher as a [url=https://i.postimg.cc/66CHjnvx/Screen-Shot-2020-04-04-at-2-46-18-PM.png]text[/url], with Veil then copying it down onto a piece of scrap paper and deleting the message as instructed. It had come in just two hours ago and she still hadn't managed to crack it. 

	No matter what way she looked at it, it didn't make any sense to her. She had tried turning it upside down, assigning numbers, randomizing letters, looking for patterns - nothing. [color=935DB8]"Goddamnit Sage..."[/color] she muttered. Xavier had finally told her the identity of their friend on the inside. Sage, the Living Computer. Unfortunately, that also meant that every piece of information they received was like a clue for an escape room. Their private detective on call, Jack, hadn't gotten a chance to look at it - she wasn't even quite sure where he was. 

	Rubbing her temples, Veil pulled out her phone and went for her next strategy. She doubted it was a super common cypher that Sage had picked out, but maybe just googling [i]cypher[/i] on the Internet would help things out. [color=935DB8]"Can someone find Jack?"[/color] Veil called out, as she started scrolling through the results. [color=935DB8]"It's time sensitive!"[/color] 

	She then saw Havok run from the entranceway staircase and move as quickly as he could to the exit, leaving the Mutant Underground without even saying hello. [color=935DB8]"Gee, thanks Havok, glad to count on you!"[/color] Colossus, Negasonic, and Magik weren't around at the moment to help either - the three of them had gone on a supply run, getting more food and water. They were critically low on fruit and Veil didn't want to discover what they looked like with scurvy. 

	Veil then hit the jackpot. She stumbled across an article about a [i]pigpen cypher[/i] that had the same sort of strange characters. [color=935DB8]"Finally!"[/color][hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=#DAF7A6]Sunshine[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/fLzs6CB3/Sunshine-S2.gif[/img][hr][hr][b][color=#DAF7A6]Location:[/color][/b] Mutant Underground Hideout - Second Floor: Sunshine and Feedback's Room 
[b][color=#DAF7A6]Skills:[/color][/b] Greek [hr][/center]	Sunshine flinched, snapping out of what felt like an extremely vivid daydream, a hallucination sprung to life. She jumped up and stared into the mirror, tentatively touching her face with her hands. Her shoulders relaxed slightly. She wasn't a six year old kid. Taking a few calming, steadying breaths she then checked herself over, locating each scar that she had known. Her clothes were all hers. Fred's carcass was rotting inside the drawer she had stuffed him in, right next to her spare pair of socks. 

	[color=#DAF7A6]"Ήταν απλώς ένα όνειρο, ευχαριστώ τους θεούς..."[/color] she whispered under her breath, speaking Greek fluently. Her father had been Greek - or so her mother claimed - and she had been forced to learn the language. It was the only thing she really remembered still from her early childhood, the only lessons that she continued to use. The rest of it was a blur. She couldn't even clearly recall what her mother had looked like anymore, it had been so long since she had seen her, since she had been abandoned. 

	Sunshine's stomach growled. She must have missed lunch. She wasn't a stranger to missed meals, but she knew that there would be something down in the dining room still hopefully. They didn't have any non-Underground members staying with them at the moment, so she figured there ought to be something left over. If there wasn't, she could just pickpocket the Hufflepuff...

	She winced at the thought. Maybe avoiding him for a little bit would be for the best. She [i]really[/i] didn't want to see him after that hallucination. It was embarrassing to think that in that fantasy or whatever it had been, Jack had been her father. [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=DBA1DE]Casper Theriot[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/vDFx7Ctg/image.gif[/img][hr][hr][b][color=DBA1DE]Location:[/color][/b] Mutant Underground Hideout - Aboveground 
[b][color=DBA1DE]Skills:[/color][/b] Mediumship[hr][/center]	Casper suddenly became aware that he was sitting outside the Mutant Underground - well, more of on top of it, as the entire hideout was underground. His back was braced up against a tree. A doughnut - probably stolen from Jack's office - was sitting on his leg neatly. His hands had chocolate smeared all over them. It wasn't the first time he suddenly found himself somewhere with no idea how he got there - it happened to the former drug addict all of the time.

	His heart sank into his stomach as it came back to him all at once. He had been in Louisiana, a member of the Thieves Guild with his brother. Jack had had a daughter. James had been a secret agent, a James Bond type. And Ben... He had been dead, but that wasn't really new for the dead mutant. [color=DBA1DE]"Hey, Ben... You remember all of that too, right?"[/color] he asked. [color=DBA1DE]"Especially the parts where you became [i]real[/i]?"[/color]

	Ben nodded, looking stunned and dazed. [i]"...Yup."[/i]

	[color=DBA1DE]"....Great,"[/color] Casper said, before he got up and the doughnut fell onto the ground, icing down. Casper didn't care though. He needed to check on Jack, to see how he was doing after the loss of his daughter. He really hoped that somehow Jack wouldn't remember Lexi, it probably would be easier for his sanity. He then needed to find James as well, make sure that he wasn't hurting after everything that had happened. 

	Superheroes tended to have [i]horrible[/i] mental health. Casper would know, as his father was Professor X after all. [color=DBA1DE]"Jackie! James!"[/color] Casper shouted, jogging down to the Mutant Underground entrance just in time to see Havok barrel on out and jump into one of the old clunkers they kept on hand. [color=DBA1DE]"Havok, wait!"[/color] Casper added, but the young Summers didn't wait, flooring it and taking off as fast as he could. 

	[i]"Aren't you cold?"[/i] Ben asked unhelpfully, eyeing Casper. He was in a pair of torn jeans, an ill fitting tank top, and a heavy black coat. Considering how Casper usually dressed, it was pretty much the most weather appropriate thing he had. The snow was collecting in Casper's dark hair, looking almost like celestial dandruff.