[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][/center][hr][center][color=f7941d][b]December 18th, 2020 - 3:10 PM[/b][/color][/center][hr][color=f7941d][b]Penthouse Suite of the Hellfire Club - [/b][/color]

	Polaris hadn't returned yet, leaving just Reeva and Sage. Ordinarily, Sage would have been allowed to just monitor while Reeva - or whichever high ranking member of the Hellfire Club who was present at the time - would sit by idly, giving further directions. Yet with how long this hunt was taking and the extreme importance of it, Reeva's anxiety was high. She stood directly behind Sage, a single hand on her shoulder. Sage couldn't send a single communication out without Reeva seeing. She couldn't warn the Mutant Underground as to what was happening or where they needed to go. 

	[color=B1C1EB]"What in the world is she thinking?"[/color] Reeva said sharply, her eyes narrowing. Sage had hacked into the security feed at the Dunkin' Donuts. The image was hardly as pristine as she would have cared for, but she was able to see what was happening. 

	Sage silently prayed for Leighton to get out of there, to turn and run before it was too late. [color=11FCBC]"She's preventing Pyro from carrying out the hit, ma'am,"[/color] Sage answered robotically, not a trace of emotion in her voice. She couldn't dare betray where her loyalties really lied. 

	[color=B1C1EB]"Unbelievable... Such a waste of potential."[/color] Reeva's grip on Sage's shoulder had tightened, her nails digging into Sage's flesh. [color=B1C1EB]"Send the order - Ice Queen is to be eliminated."[/color]

	Sage hesitated. [color=11FCBC]"But she's Emma's niece..."[/color] she tried to interject, wanting to save Leighton if she could. 

	[color=B1C1EB]"Emma will understand,"[/color] Reeva said coldly. [color=B1C1EB]"Send the command, Sage, or we'll need to have another discussion entirely. Do I make myself clear?"[/color]

	Sage nodded, her fingers flying across the keyboard. The White Queen, Pyro, and Jinx would all receive text messages with updated instructions: [b][i][color=11FCBC]ELIMINATE ICE QUEEN. ORIGINAL TARGET IS STILL WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE.[/color][/i][/b]

	[color=B1C1EB]"Good. The sooner we have the girl in custody, the closer we will be to understanding the Children of the Vault."[/color]

[color=f7941d][b]Dunkin' Donuts - [/b][/color]

	Desiree's clothing had caught on fire, the young mutant burning alive but she wasn't dead yet. Her abject fear and panic activated her more primal survival instincts and she tried to push out a wave of deprivation, to plunge everyone around her into darkness and absolute silence, but the pain was too much. The fire was burning each and every nerve ending, her organs bleeding as she screamed in pain. "Hey mate, why don't you get me a Boston creme?" Pyro called out to Jinx. 

	He then tilted his head slightly at the girls as they ran in, especially since Leighton had kicked his fire wolf off of Desiree. He stopped concentrating on the flames that comprised it and the wolf became just ordinary fire, eating away at the wooden bathroom stall. "Oi, princess, they told me dead [i]or[/i] alive. Dealer's choice, innit? And I'm the dealer and I choose DEATH!" He finished with a cackle. 

	The two remaining wolves of fire merged into one, easily the size of a bull. Pyro directed the flaming beast and it pounced on Desiree, extinguishing her life force. The innocent girl Leighton had tried to save was dead. Flames were spreading rapidly throughout the Dunkin' Donuts. The ceiling integrity was wearing out and a gigantic piece was about to hit Jinx over the head, when someone rushed out of nowhere and pushed him out of the way just in time. 

	"Whoo, that was fun! Such a rush!" Pyro gushed, the flames wildly out of control but he didn't care. His phone buzzed, as did the White Queen's and Jinx's. He held up a finger for everyone to wait a moment as he checked his messages, before grinning cockily. Like a pyromaniac, he gathered all the flames in the small store, turning them into a gigantic creature with several heads - [i]a hydra[/i]. Pyro whistled maniacally as the hydra headed lunged at Leighton, biting her. Her shirt caught on fire and two of her ribs cracked from the sheer force. 

	"Play with fire and you'll get burned! Hahahaha!" Pyro jeered. [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=935DB8]Veil[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/qB2G1nnk/image.png[/img][hr][hr][b][color=935DB8]Location:[/color][/b] the Old Underground Hideout 
[b][color=935DB8]Skills:[/color][/b] Invisible Energy Manipulation (Cloaking) [hr][/center]	Warlock didn't seem to hear Veil asking him to contact Ice Queen about the innocent. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, tapping on her message history with Sage. The first encoded message had been sent at 1:29 PM, the second had been at 1:52 PM. Nothing had come after that. Her phone informed her of the current time - 3:10 PM. Instantly, Veil's stomach was twisted up into knots as she felt positively sick. Whatever chance they had of helping the innocent, it was long gone. Despite her intuition telling her that Warlock had been truthful, this must have been a set up, some sort of trap. 

	What was worse, this strongly implied that Sage's cover with the Hellfire Club had been blown. How else would Warlock have known to distract the Mutant Underground and keep them from interfering? She wanted to kick herself for being so stupid and naive. She shouldn't have trusted Warlock for this meet up. She shouldn't have brought her brother here and her closest friends. They were all in danger, the innocent could very well be dead or captured, and Veil had no one else to blame but herself. 

	Everyone was fixated on this notion of bringing Feedback's mother back from the dead. Veil's eyes flickered over to her twin brother's, communicating a clear but silent message: [i]I fucked up[/i]. Had she not come to the conclusion that this had all been a trick, a trap, she would've been angry at Spark Plug for manipulating with Warlock's emotions, especially as he was an unstable person. [color=935DB8]"We're leaving. It's too late. It's been almost two hours since..."[/color] she trailed off, not wanting to expose how they knew about the innocent to Warlock. [color=935DB8]"I expected more from you than this, Warlock. You talk about wanting peace for mutants, but you probably just got one killed."[/color]

	She took a deep breath and turned everyone but Warlock invisible. She turned the Mutant Underground's van and Echo's car invisible as well. It was a huge strain to do that large of an area at once, but her feelings of shame and horror were helping to fuel her powers. Once they drove off, she would only be able to keep the car she was traveling in cloaked. But thanks to Spark Plug's fog, she figured their exit would be secured. 

	[color=935DB8]"We'll rendez-vous back at base,"[/color] Veil said. She had texted the address to Echo earlier, so he would be able to get there. Veil then walked to the van and got into the shot gun seat, Warlock unable to see her (though the others would be able to see each other and their vehicles like dim, holographic or ghost like outlines). [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=DBA1DE]Casper Theriot[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/KvRwSCJZ/image.png[/img][hr][hr][b][color=DBA1DE]Location:[/color][/b] Mutant Underground Hideout - First Floor: Training Room -> Entranceway
[b][color=DBA1DE]Skills:[/color][/b] Mediumship[hr][/center]	For the first time in ages, Casper was sober [i]and[/i] couldn't see Ben at all. It strangely made him feel on edge, like spiders were crawling up his skin and into his ears, spinning their webs all over his brain. His chest was a little tight as well, not from whatever plague Sunshine had given him (as she had removed it). Each breath was a little harder than the one before it and his fingers, they felt as cold as ice. At first, he wondered if it was just that the heating wasn't working properly, with it being winter and all.. yet his chest felt like a sauna, as warm as the sun. 

	[color=DBA1DE]"I'm going to read the room and start my career as a stage musician,"[/color] Casper said, his voice light and airy though it didn't reach his eyes. [color=DBA1DE]"And I'll,"[/color] he paused, waving his hands in front of his face. He had tattoos on the back of them, saying HELLO and GOODBYE like a ouija board. [color=DBA1DE]"make myself [b]disappear[/b]!"[/color] He then clapped his hands together and skipped on out into the entranceway where James and Cayden were. 

	He then noticed another strange thing. Even though he had skipped his way on over, his body felt numb - like he wasn't actually moving, but rather watching someone else move. [color=DBA1DE]"So just so you guys know, Jackie is about to tell Sunshine that she's somehow his daughter from that incident where Blink sent him time traveling. I know, it sounds like a comic book, but it's real... Aaaand I sense you have some tea of your own to spill, bae, so get spilling and I'll get the paper towels!"[/color]

	Casper glanced behind his shoulder slightly, expecting to see Ben there, rolling his eyes, but there was no one. [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=#DAF7A6]Sunshine[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://i.postimg.cc/W49hZLVD/image.png[/img][hr][hr][b][color=#DAF7A6]Location:[/color][/b] Mutant Underground Hideout - First Floor: Training Room
[b][color=#DAF7A6]Skills:[/color][/b] Greek [hr][/center]	Sunshine rolled her eyes at Casper for his dumb magic trick - her eyes were a bit red from crying. She wanted to run off to her room and cuddle her dead rat, Fred. Sure, she had picked up the rotting carcass purely to annoy the hell out of Max during that supply run, but she was also genuinely attached to the smelly guy at this point. He was like a stuffed animal or a security blanket to her. Maybe she'd find some soap or perfume to clean him up with some, that way he wouldn't smell and attract flies as much. 

	It was just her and Jack in the training room now. Her anger had left her after the talk with James - at least, the anger towards him. She still had a lot of pain over being abandoned, the horrible situation she had been left behind in. Her father must've been a mutant, she imagined, and he left her behind with a human who [i]hated[/i] mutants. 

	[color=#DAF7A6]"Στον άλλο κόσμο νόμιζα ότι ήσουν ο μπαμπάς μου. Έτσι ήμουν πραγματικά τρελός σε σένα γιατί ο μπαμπάς μου με εγκατέλειψε και δεν με νοιάζει ποτέ, αλλά συνειδητοποίησα ότι δεν θα μπορούσες να είσαι ο μπαμπάς μου, έτσι είναι οτιδήποτε. Μα εύχομαι να ήσουν επειδή είσαι καλός και όχι φρικτός και όποιος κι αν είναι ο μπαμπάς μου, είναι πιθανώς ένας φοβερός τύπος. Λυπάμαι που είσαι τρελός και χτύπησε τον αδερφό σου, αλλά και ο Casper το αξίζει αφού είναι λίγο αδύναμος και πρέπει να σταματήσει ήδη με τα ναρκωτικά."[/color] 

	She didn't think Jack understood Greek, so she figured that saying those things, well, he wouldn't know what she had meant. It felt good to say it though. [color=#DAF7A6]"Okay, your turn to tell me something dumb, Marshmallow Man."[/color]