Fallenreaper

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

ᴠᴇʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀ "ʀᴏɴɴɪᴇ" ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏʟᴍ

---

_{9 am | Danger Room}

Listening to nerd girl reveal the two exits, Ronnie made a note of them. It would prove useful if the group had to split up or distract the wolf. She hoped the doors could hold it off, but her confidence in that started to waver. Especially with Heidi’s follow-up observation.

“Have you really looked at that thing? Its face is nearly melted off and it is still ticking. I don’t think we’re supposed to beat it, but avoid it.” Ronnie decided to point out that their current efforts weren’t doing much to beat the creature.

She gritted her teeth as the girl spoke loudly to numbers. Ronnie had managed to slip the chain about the handle and close half of the doors when something came into her peripheral vision. She promptly glanced up then jumped in place. Jasper’s figure stood just within the doorway and continued to focus on the terminator wolf. A soft, subtle growl emitted from Ronnie as she turned back to the padlock. She remembered the combination digits easily, but the order proved to be harder.

Ronnie paused when Heidi asked about her powers.

“Of course you would ask that question.” She snapped.

Her back pressed against the door and held it in place. Ronnie’s expression took on a painful one as she struggled not to choke. Every inner instinct screamed at her to shut up, but she knew lying wouldn’t help the situation. It would be obvious to everyone at some point.

“I’ve only used my powers once and that was before I came here. I haven’t figure out how to activate it, let alone how to control or aim it. So you better have a plan B.” Every word left a sour taste on her tongue after it was voiced.

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

ᴠᴇʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀ "ʀᴏɴɴɪᴇ" ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏʟᴍ

---

_{9 am | Danger Room}

Before Ronnie made the first move, she spotted someone else step forward. Her attention twisted and viewed Matthew head to the door. He reached a hand out then hesitated. The girl scoffed under her breath at his weakness. Her arms curled into each other while she listened to his statement. The way everyone talked, this class would seriously hurt them. She found it difficult to believe a Professor had the authority to endanger her students to the point of physical injury.

From her observations, Ronnie noticed an unsettling pattern. All the students appeared to know their powers and controlled them to higher levels than herself. A spark of irritation rubbed her wrong. She swallowed down the anger and fear at her weakness.

The dark skinned girl gave Matthew an idle, sideways glance when he finally gathered the courage to touch the door.

Her jaw tightened so not to drop when a woman, someone she guessed to be Professor North, appeared. The Professor leaned over the pad lock as she spoke the combination out loud. Ronnie immediately memorized it with surprising ease.

She took a step forward to enter it, but spotted Matthew place his glove on and do it for her. Exhaustion took him down to the ground with both the pad lock and chain in his hand. A little annoyed by his recklessness, she knew the cautious route had been blown. The doors flew open. Her ears caught the sounds of whirling gears and machinery first. Followed by the heavy clicking of something rushing toward them. Two burning red eyes peered through the darkness of a hallway as a metallic wolf bolted forward.

Ronnie’s breath caught in her throat. This wasn’t real, her logic screamed over and over in her head. She stared at the beast barreling toward them. Any normal girl her age would’ve screamed and ran, but her mind already race past that reckless thought. She fought rather than run. A few pages of her notebook fluttered, but remained fixed to the spiral binding.

As she recover from her shock, things happened faster than she could react. Two students rushed into action. Electrical energy surged from taser-girl’s hands right at the metal wolf barreling down on her. Even if the girl managed to get the mechanical beast to stop, Ronnie doubted momentum would stop. If the girl wasn’t careful, it could crash her.

All the laws of nature seemed to ignore physics. When the lightning directly impacted, the wolf skidded back. The dull, blunt nails scrapped thin lines across the tiles. It twitched then continued its approach.

Meanwhile, nerd girl had gotten to Matthew and began to help him back. If it wasn’t for taser-girl in front, the wolf would’ve mauled them.

From the corner of her vision, green glowed across the last girl’s skin. Ones and zeroes appeared and reminding Ronnie of a computer screen, the type you saw in the movies. The girl rooted herself in place as she narrowed her attention onto the beast. Immediately, Ronnie knew that look. No way in hell she would get the girl to move unless binary wanted to. An action Ronnie thought was insane for obvious reasons.

Ronnie took a cleansing breath. On her release, she let it purge her of all stress and emotion. Don’t think, just do it. She wasn’t weak or helpless, so she needed to stop acting like it. Her hand tightened about her notebook like a shield, even if she didn’t know how to use it. She overheard someone puke then mention the metal doors.

The bot looked like a Terminator version of a wolf. She held doubts about the effectiveness of the doors keeping that thing out. Especially if it had no locks on the inside. With no better solution, Ronnie dashed for the door behind vomit boy and nerd girl.

She timed her run when taser girl zapped her target again. Her attention caught the wolf’s junky movements as it stuttered and twitched. It appeared to be struggling with some unseen force, but Ronnie couldn’t tell where it originated from. She put it out of her mind for now.

When she heard vomit boy state the obvious, she couldn’t help commenting. “No shit, Sherlock. The doors aren’t going to do us much good unless we can lock them.”

Leaving nerd girl to help him, Ronnie took matters in her own hands to reach the door first. She paused long enough to grab the chain from Matt's grasp and scoop up the padlock. Thank god vomit boy didn’t spill his breakfast all over either one. After entering the doorway, she tossed her notebook onto the floor. She struggled to jerk one door closed then wrapped the chain around the handle and prepared the padlock. Her mind scrambled for the numbers in her memory.

“Yo, get your ass in here while taser girl keeps it distracted. Now!” Ronnie didn’t have time to explain the orders she barked.

They either listened or become dog food thanks to their stupidity. As each person came through the door, she assigned more tasks.

“Get the other door ready to shut it. Someone look for all the exits out of this room and find the best one.”

Chrono Asylum: Prelude to Madness

---

It appeared Elsa's prediction had been dead on. Zane, unlike Bella, wanted nothing to do with the abnormality in their backyard. This brought a concern to her attention about his reliability. Her eyes shifted to Samad who shrugged, indifferent by the disagreement in the pair. His head turned to the direction of the empty zone as if failing to piece together a puzzle.

His alertness rippled through their bond and caused her to shudder. Elsa never liked it when he became wary. She took a breath to clear her mind.

At Zane's words, Elsa would've agreed if not for one thing. It went under their own radar until the prisoner mentioned it. That was the only reason they found it at all. She decided to point this out.

"I think the reason no one noticed is that they don't know what to look for. If I remember right, it's too far from any of the labs to be one of their experiments." She paused to continue.

"It's worth checking out. Besides, any ambushing students might be gone by the time we're done. I rather do a pointless investigation than fight more students. Wastes less energy." Elsa pointed out.

She hoped the logic might ease Zane's resistance, but it appeared Bella won the argument. Elsa watched Bella switch out her bot for one running on alchemy. Her idea made sense as an early detection system.

With a small smile, Elsa nodded then began to head out with the group.

"Bella, you and your partner stay just outside the emptiness. We'll need you to be able to cover us if we need to rush out. Think you can do that? Also can one of your bots monitor or act like a communication line?"

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

ᴠᴇʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀ "ʀᴏɴɴɪᴇ" ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏʟᴍ

---

_{9 am | Danger Room}

Ronnie's peripheral vision caught movement.

Her attention tracked it as she turned her head to the source. She spotted 'Tazer-girl' displaying her phone to another student, the brown-haired troublemaker. Ronnie found that odd, but she only made a note of it. The girl must’ve had an issue hearing or a mental condition. Thankfully, at least one student had the ability to relay information. Else it would’ve slowed them down much more than Ronnie liked. It took the teacher long enough to realize the issue as subtitles then appeared in thin air.

She found herself more unnerved by each new rule of reality the room broke. It was like they were in a cheap netflix movie with lame subtitles. Fiction only belonged in the imagination, not in the real world. Her fingers tightened about the spiral edge of her notebook. It rested against her hips as she debated on if she should ask more questions or let the matter rest. Upon the teacher’s bubbly voice, she held her tongue. She doubted she would get useful information.

When Ronnie watched the others converse, pain stabbed into her heart. It just reminded her of what she missed. Her allies, routine, and normalcy to the point her whole future was planned out. It all cracked when her mutant ability happened. She couldn’t salvage anything from her old life.

It is my fault for being a mutant.

Ronnie caught the run down of what Heidi gave, but didn’t take the lead. She found it suspicious how Heidi knew everyone’s ability when she just arrived a few days ago and never demonstrated it. For now, she just pushed past the discomfort. She didn’t know enough about everyone to trust them. Trust given freely just lead to disappointment. It meant she had to take things into her own hands. It was hard to wait around and do nothing when their issue stood before them.

Chrono Asylum: Prelude to Madness

---

Samad monitored the prisoners statements and words. Each one a blatant hint that brought them closer to the answers. When the guard entered, he turned his head to acknowledge the man and nodded. His partner gave the guard a grateful smile.

She gave Bella and her partner a gesture to follow them outside where there would be fewer ears. The lack of Alchemy bothered both Samad and her. Until they investigated it, neither could settle into bed for the night.

Elsa watched her partner slip into the lead while she took the task to explain. He already knew where to go because she shared her intelligence with him. She fought the urge to use more alchemy since overuse would drive them insane over time. The less they used over the course of their lifetime, the smaller the wear and tear on their bodies would be.

"So... it turns our prisoner was right. There's a no alchemy zone that direction." She pointed to the direction, her words pronounced enough for Bella to catch.

It had been a while since they interacted and it took a bit for Elsa to recall Bella had been deaf. At least she could correct it now.

"Samad and I are going to check it out, where are you two heading?" Elsa hoped the two would follow them, but Zane's behavior made her decide against asking.

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

ᴠᴇʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀ "ʀᴏɴɴɪᴇ" ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏʟᴍ

---

_{9 am | Danger Room}

Seeing the new arrivals ignore her, Ronnie shrugged it off and rolled her eyes. She had been about dive into her tote for something else when a voice came on. Instantly she paused then listened. The student frowned. She expected something more than a gym class and physical activity. Especially with the odd format of the room.

All her disappointment faded when the danger room scene began to melt away. Generic, public school lockers materialized near the door. Ronnie's head tilted, her jaw open and eyes widened in shock.

"This can't be real..." She muttered to herself as she rose onto her feet.

Her tote stayed fastened to her shoulder as she approached. Her hand reached out slowly then touched the smooth, real metal. It felt like something out of a sci-fi movie. For a small test, she smacked the surface to catch the hollow thump. Ronnie's surprise gradually faded as she hoisted her tote inside with her purse. She paused before she closed the door then glanced at her bag.

Something that associated to her powers.

Her eyes hardened as she reached into her bag and took out a notebook filled with about eighty pages. She shut the locker door then turned to observe the scenery. From the uploaded video, Ronnie knew her power did something with paper. What it was called, she didn't know or even how it worked. She could guess, aside from the new arrival yesterday, she held the disadvantage.

What point would questions be if you don't know the answers? Ronnie thought, but didn't utter them out loud.

Instead, she kept her expression neutral and asked a few.

"Does that mean there's no specific requirements we have to meet in order to capture the flag? And it doesn't have to be captured by only one person, but by one or more here?" She decided to make completely sure the new teacher wouldn't tack on new requirements.

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

ᴠᴇʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀ "ʀᴏɴɴɪᴇ" ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏʟᴍ

---

_{7:45 am | Ronnie's Room}

Saturday came then went in the blink of an eye. A sourness from that day lingered on her mind, but she didn't dwell on it. It was best forgotten in her opinion.

Within the following days, Ronnie's life fell into a dull routine. One that focused on school work and socialization. She hated being the new kid as it made dominating the social structure difficult. At this point, all she could do was bide her time and research the key players. She kept her notes on her laptop which she hid in her room. Only Oriana had a clue about its location, but the girl wasn't stupid enough to steal it.

The thought of her roommate caused Ronnie's lips to curl up into a smile. Out of everyone she met in the danger room, she vibed with Oriana the best. The girl took her attitude with surprising ease. She respected that, but it didn't make them friends.

Not yet.

She rose from her bed then strolled to her dresser drawers. Her hand snatched a graphic tee and a pair of gray cameo shorts. With a loud thump, she snapped the drawer shut then began to put on her outfit. On the front of her tee, the words spelled out her mood clearly in black lettering. I'd like to confirm that I do not care.

A bold statement for the world without saying it out loud. She bunched the loose material's ends into her waistband. Ronnie paused at the table mirror. She used hair ties to band her curls together, wet them down then fluffed them out. For a moment, she considered the idea of letting her hair grow out but discarded it. A higher maintenance hair routine wasn't appealing to her. Not when she looked perfect without it.

Ronnie collected her schedule as she walked toward the door. She paused long enough to collect her purse and her tote, her eyes fixed to her classes today.

First up, AP Calculus. Whatever sadistic teacher scheduled this, appeared to enjoy their mornings a little too well.

Ronnie thanked her foresight as she beelined for the cafeteria for some caffeine. Her own personal aid for the mental tasks ahead.

---

_{8:00-8:50 am | AP Calculus}

Ronnie softly thumped her pencil end against the paper in a dull, rhythmic pattern. She listened to Professor Santos with more attention than she appeared to have. Not to say it wasn't a challenge. While she excelled at mathematics, she caught on quickly and had to wait for others to get on the same page.

A knock at the door caused everything to cease. In the seat next to her, Aya jumped. Ronnie's eyes immediately bounced to her direction. Before she could mouth 'what's your problem?', she caught Professor Everose request Aya.

As the girl got up, Ronnie watched them leave. Any gossip faded when another student entered the classroom shortly after. All eyes shifted to the new student. Ronnie said nothing as Professor Santos handled the new arrival and class once more resumed. This time, she started to scribble the notes into her notebook. Most of the time there, she didn't say much. When class ended, she collected her things then walked out. She didn’t have time to waste for chit-chat at this point.

---

_{8:57-9:00 am | Danger Room}

Ronnie impatient stomach caused her to pause at the first snack machine she spotted. She eyed the green tea drink's code then pressed it into the pad. After a short beep, the metal spiral swiveled and the bottle thumped into the bottom. Her hand reached into the take out port and snagged it. As she continued her walk to the Danger Room, she twisted the cap open for a quick gulp. It pacified her stomach for now.

She adjusted her tote across her shoulder before she headed into the room. It appeared empty. Her eyes shifted across the familiar and bizarre wall design. Ronnie immediately recalled the scene that happened and she pulled her phone out. A quick check told her that she was three minutes early.

This suited her fine.

Wasting no time, she strolled to the face the door and lowered to the floor. She curled her legs to the side while she got comfortable. Her eyes glued to her phone while she skimmed through her social media.

She spotted her clique's social pages had new pictures. Images of field trips, new achievements, and more. A mixture of pain and pride swelled in her, but she didn't let it show. She flipped off the phone then placed it in her purse when she heard someone enter.

Her eyes looked up to spot taser girl -the moniker stolen from crazy Cleo- come in. Ronnie thanked her luck it hadn't been the redhead witch or her friend. As long as neither of them showed up, the day would remain good.

Chrono Asylum: Prelude to Madness

Thank you so much!
Sadly,I don't have discord at the moment-
But,If i do get it,i'll let you know! =D

@Bloopie

Hello!

Chrono Asylum: Prelude to Madness

---

Elsa monitored Samad from her peripheral vision. He kept the students away from her as she fired away, disabling them with her shock arrows. Every so often her eyes glanced to the other Asylums to check on their progress.

She recognized Belle and finally Cici when the woman decided to reveal herself. When the battle drew to its closing, she relayed Cici's warning to Samad. The Iranian nodded then pulled back. The ice had started to melt and the student's steps hydro planned with each step. Samad used it to his advantage.

He muttered under his breath.

Energy swirled about him and rippled into the water. Before any of the kids could react, their vector had suddenly changed. Instead of their movement forward, they faced the rear and advanced back to where they came from. Confusion crossed their expression, but it was too late.

Cici's siligium went off and ended the conflict promptly. Elsa looked to Samad who shrugged, a mask over the impressive end. She nudged him in the ribs before her attention split off to notice two things. Cici approached two young students who weren't apart of the earlier group. Meanwhile, Geko started to address a girl with Asian ancestry.

Elsa caught the conversation but didn't reply. Once in every so many generation, a student held enough power that beat an Asylum. It didn't mean they could control it some times. Elsa quickly filed the girl's face away for the future.

Samad managed to catch up to her side when Geko whined about the work. It made the Ice Mother wonder why AMRO even bothered to assign old pervert here. The Zero number immediately slapped Samad on the back and drew no response from the Iranian. She could feel her partner roll his eyes mentally when Geko turned his outdated charms on her.

Thankfully, she had been spared a response when a distant explosion sounded. Elsa blinked then watched Geko promptly exit.

"Same old Innocence," Samad commented.

"Would it be right if something didn't blow up at least once a week?"

"No."

Both Asylums took off after Belle and her partner, the small group reached the prison in a short time. Samad stopped and stood at the entrance. She took the lead in socialization but kept within the range of Samad's Alchemy. They didn't know what happened yet as she surveyed the surroundings for information.

"I agree with him. Go outside, take a breather. It will make you feel better." Elsa coaxed in her sweet and calm way. A veiled hint that they could watch the prisoner for a little bit while he collected himself.

X-Men: The New Era - Avalon Rising

collaboration with@Fallenreaper & [@Damo21].

---

part 2

"It's still possible it might end up the same way, but you're also not a person who created an issue and roped me into it. At least... I hope you weren't." Ronnie stared with a sense of judgment on her face.

It quickly passed when she moved onto the next comment. Her body already corrected its posture as she clicked through the first link. She skimmed for any bullshit while she continued to multitask.

"I don’t like finding out that something here in California could affect me when I was in Washington at the time. I literally sat in a plane for nearly two hours, drove from the airport to the school. I barely had any time to adjust before I learned all this bullshit."

Ronnie paused then inhaled, exhaling the stress when she released her breath.

"Any normal person would be upset and wanting answers. A Dean doesn't go out of his way to inform you of this if the issue doesn't have a risk of causing more problems."

Her attention returned to her screen. "I won't have my ass chewed off because they can't control their aftermath."

Oriana stared back at the teen before her, of course Oriana had no part in whatever mess that happened this morning either. She felt in the boat as Veronica, coming into school and getting roped in, of course if she didn't let her curiosity get the better of her from the announcement of the danger room, Ori would never have been there in the first place.

“I would be impressed if I did rope you in, but I've been dragged into this pathetic mess like yourself. I drove for literally hours to get here and even had to pick up some other brat that thought I was his ‘entertainment’ this morning. I learned the exact same bullshit as you.”

Oriana moved over and sat on her bed, watching if not studying Veronica’s body language as the girl before her did typing away on something after her relieving the stress of this morning. Admittedly even she did not expect this kind of first day, although she did picture powers going off left and right and the school to be in chaos, so there was that she guessed.

“Indeed, from what I saw this morning, the Dean seems to believe what they did last night endangered us all. She paused for a moment in thought. “It also appears from the reactions of some of the others there, that the redhead was the center of this shit we are now caught up in…”

Oriana paused as she was curious from watching Veronica, the girl certainly was interested in what was on the screen. “What are you looking at?”

"That doesn't surprise me." Ronnie's like for the girl began to dwindle even more.

Not that there was much to work with. Ronnie discovered early that if she didn't care about others, their actions didn't matter or hurt. It made life easier and less disappointing.

She only half-listened to Oriana while she continued to type away. When the girl asked her question, Ronnie paused and glanced at her. Her expression pulled into annoyance, but she turned the laptop screen about.

"Research. I'm not waiting for whatever they did to come and bite me in the ass. I don't fully believe it's 'demons', but then again what do I know? Then again, I bet someone thought the same about mutants at one point." She gestured for Oriana to take a look.

"So far, a lot of it feels like garbage."

Oriana’s eyes began darting across the screen, glancing at the information that was up on the screen, she had leaned forward a little on the end of her bed while doing so. It looked like a whole mashup of information. “Hmm. I suppose you're right, it could be possible.”

“I think you would be there all night shifting through the crap to find anything tangible. Then again it would be better if there was any evidence of this… Mess they caused was around.”

Oriana then pulled a slight smile, “However I am more of a see it to believe it kinda girl, besides from what that redhead was saying, they went out, partied and got drunk, it could’ve been another mutant. Surely the idiot’s must of realized that mixing powers with high volume of alcohol was going to end in a shitstorm.”

Ronnie fought the curl of her lip when Oriana invaded her personal space. Being this close to people had never been a pleasant experience for her. Despite that, Ronnie tolerated it. She didn’t want the girl to touch her and put fingerprints all over it.

When her roommate finished up, Ronnie pulled back upright. The girl took a moment to adjust her curly hair.

"Not the first time I've had to pull an all nighter." She reached past the side of her bed and pulled up a sealed venti cup. It sloshed with a large amount of coffee.

"I've had better, but even this slosh from the cafeteria helps. And I agree. She's not the first girl I've seen lose her mind because she drank too much. I bet powers make it worse. All the more reason to learn to control and forget them."

She’d never get drunk because she hated being unable to think or remember what happened. It wasn't to say she never used someone else's drunken condition to her advantage. Ronnie snatched her notebook and jotted down some quick notes from the screen.

"I'm hoping this event was a one-time thing. The longer she and her bullshit stay away, the better. I got better things to focus on than cleaning up the aftermath. "

Oriana’s eyes squinted a little bit, the girl did not seem too comfortable with the invasion of her personal space. She was not used to the idea of caring if she did or not, She never entertained the idea of having to share a room and for most of her time was a lone ranger with only a select few people she trusted, she could count them on one hand.

Oriana went about her business to get ready to catch up on some sleep, fetching a towel and nightie. She glanced over when her room mate made the effort to show her a sealed venti cup of coffee. “I don’t care if you do all nighters, just don’t wake me up.” Oriana spoke to the point.

Oriana in her mind agreed on controlling their powers, but forgetting them not so much, if anything she hoped this school would help her get stronger, something that was playing on her mind throughout the day when she had time to think by herself. And keeping a promise.

“Considering it got the dean involved, I don’t think this is a one time thing. Whatever she caused sounds like it will bite those around her in the ass. If you want to avoid cleaning up her mess, simply stay away from her.” Oriana didn’t really care if this advice would be taken or not, but in her eyes it felt the best way not to get further involved was to stay away from the individual at the center of it, making her way to their bathroom she stopped for a moment, a soft sigh leaving her lips. “Do you need to use the bathroom before I shower?” She motioned.

"Unless you decide to snore or can't sleep with a computer screen on, I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, people will be too distracted with your white hair and black lipstick to notice." Ronnie retorted, her attention divided again.

"And if I gave you the impression I want to be around her, I will pop that idea right here. No, I do not. Unless it's for classes, I plan to stay away from her."

At the mention of the bathroom, Ronnie paused in her work. She leaned back and looked toward it.

"I took one already so go ahead. Just make sure to clean up after yourself. I don't want to be picking hair out of the drain later."

Throughout most of the response from Veronica, Oriana had managed to keep a serious look about her. Despite fighting the urge for a comeback, it was the quick return response and slick tongue of her room mate that managed to actually make her smile. In fact a small laugh escaped her lips as she nodded looking down a moment before looking back at her roomie.

“Okay, I think this will be interesting.”

With that Oriana made her way into the bathroom. “But I will let you have that one this time” she spoke out before closing the door behind her to get ready to freshen up and turn in for the night.