u/Competitive_Bat_3975

“Different ideologies. Different methods. One common enemy.”

Hey everyone!

With the upcoming Uncanny Avengers arc, we're opening applications for a small, dedicated team of characters who will be at the centre of the fight against Project Genesis.

What are the Uncanny Avengers in this arc?

Project Genesis is a covert operation involving genetic experimentation, cloning, and attempts to turn enhanced individuals into soldiers obedient soldiers. Its activities threaten both the mutant community and the wider superhero world, with several familiar names appearing in its classified files.

As of my last two Kate Bishop related post Kate and Laura have uncovered this plot and brought together representatives from the Avengers, the X-Men, The Brotherhood of Mutants and the newly created Avengers Academy to investigate the project, uncover who's behind it, and put a stop to its operations.

The Uncanny Avengers will be the group working to accomplish this in the shadows.

What will the team do?

Whoever the uncanny avengers end up being will have opportunities to participate in:

• Investigations: Examine evidence, follow leads, and uncover the people and organisations funding Project Genesis.
• Infiltration missions: Explore secret facilities, recover classified information, and discover what the project is developing.
• Rescue operations: Help locate and protect people who have become targets of the experiments.
• The main confrontation: Work together to expose Project Genesis and bring its operations to an end.

You do not have to play a traditionally heroic character to apply. However your character can not be so villainous as to want a genocide, but I would like the Uncanny Avengers to show a bit more complexity given what Magneto is currently trying to accomplish. Characters with conflicting loyalties, questionable methods, or complicated relationships with the other factions are going to be interesting and somewhat of the point here.

Applications and character limit

To keep the team manageable and give everyone involved room to contribute, I'm limiting participation to one or two characters per player.

Please remember that joining the arc means that you will have to be available for some posts being willing to participate in collaborative plotting, communicate with the other players involved, and allow other characters opportunities to contribute.

Application form:

character name:

faction affiliation if any:

Reason for signing up:

how would Genesis affect this character?:

What does your character think of the other factions involved?:

Anything else we should know please fill in here:

Kate had spent the entire journey back from the Weapon X facility doing two things: keeping an eye on Laura, and going over the evidence they had managed to retrieve. Every time she opened one of the files, she felt that same knot tighten in her stomach. Project Genesis wasn't just another secret operation, it was a superhero replacement program.

And What they did to Laura only proved that point, they were ruthless, and while others were safer than Laura from the issue...... This issue wasn't just an X-men thing, they had files on Sue Storm, black bolt, mystique, someone from every major team she could think of. The files implicated people across the mutant, superhuman and inhuman community as targets. She had no proof of what was in the laboratory but whatever it was... Kate and laura couldn't do it alone they had to have back-up which led Kate to using some of her contacts to reach important people.

[PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS — ENCRYPTED]

Once they had a moment of privacy, Kate slipped away under the pretense of reviewing the files. She pulled out her phone, opened a secure messaging application, and began composing several separate messages. No group chat. No shared recipient list. If one channel was compromised, she wasn't going to hand the people behind Project Genesis the identities of everyone she intended to contact.

The first message went to Erik Lehnsherr.

To: Metalbendstomywill@gmail.com

Dear Magneto,

I have evidence of a covert operation called Project Genesis, It involves genetic experimentation, cloning research, and the weaponization of mutants. Your people may already be on their list.

I'm not asking you to take my word for it. I'm just saying if what you said in those speeches are true mutant rights are already under threat more than you'd know.... Please come see me at this location. Come prepared to listen before drawing conclusions. I'll explain everything in person.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next came a message to Emma Frost.... From what she knew Emma cared a lot about mutant lives and stuff like that. She was also sharp enough to notice any attempt to soften the truth, so Kate decided not to bother.

To: DiamondMind1979@gmail.com

Emma,

I've uncovered files connected to a project called Genesis. The documents reference several members of the X-Men, and I have reason to believe this operation is actively experimenting on mutants....... They already tried to end my research by using Laura against me please come.... I need you not only for Laura but for the entite mutant community.

Find me at a confidential meeting. Bring someone you trust if you feel it's necessary, but please keep this quiet until we've established exactly who we're dealing with.

I'll explain more when you arrive.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next message was addressed to Steve Rogers. Kate knew that bringing the Avengers into this would mean questions, procedures, and probably a lecture about operating without authorization. She was willing to put up with all three for Laura.

To: America'sass@gmail.com

Steve,

I've been investigating a covert operation known as Project Genesis. I've recovered documents and surveillance footage from a facility connected to it. The evidence suggests that someone is conducting illegal genetic experiments and attempting to turn enhanced individuals into controllable assets.

Some of the names involved are people the Avengers know. Others are people who may not even realize they're being targeted.

I'd like you at a private meeting before we decide our next move. I'll bring the evidence, and I'll explain how I obtained it. This is bigger than I thought also tell Tony to change your Adress it's weird.....

Kate Bishop

Finally, Kate opened a separate conversation with Jennifer Walters.

To: JenWaltersEsq@gmail

Jennifer,

I need your help with something serious. I've uncovered evidence of a project involving genetic experimentation, cloning, and the deliberate testing of methods to control enhanced individuals.

Given your work with Avengers Academy, I think you should know what we've found. Some of the material raises questions about the safety of people who could be targeted without warning.

I'm arranging a confidential meeting with representatives from several groups. I'd appreciate having you there—not just as an Avenger, but as someone who understands the legal implications of what we're looking at.

I'll bring the evidence. No assumptions, no accusations without proof.

Miss Bisshop

With the messages sent, Kate locked her phone and let out a slow breath. There was one more thing to arrange. Years ago, before her family had finally decided to cut her off financially, Kate had made an investment that had seemed completely unnecessary at the time. A disused commercial building in a fairly unremarkable part of the city, purchased with money she had earned, inherited, saved, or otherwise managed to get her hands on before the Bishop family bank account became a locked vault to her.

The original plan had been simple: turn the ground floor into a nightclub, and tecnically that had been exactly what she'd done..... Practically she had also installed a basement that she had turned into a secret meeting space/base of operations.... In case of..... She couldn't quite remember what she thought that was going to do.....

From the street, the building looked like any other trendy underground venue. A neon sign glowed above the entrance, music boomed through the walls on opening nights, and the front room had all the expected trappings of a club: a bar, a dance floor, booths, and lighting that made everyone look considerably more interesting than they probably were. Needless to say the club front cost more than it was worth and right before this she had thought about selling it... That wasn't an option anymore.

she send one last message to all of them: Use the secret entrance in the back the venue is operating as a club above ground, so don't draw attention to yourselves. I'll send individual access instructions before the meeting. No additional guests without clearance.

Kate Bishop had never been particularly good at waiting for permission. This time, she wasn't going to ask for it. She was going to bring everyone to the same table and make sure they all saw what Project Genesis had done.

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The facility sat beyond a stretch of overgrown forest, in between two mountains which had been slowly growing vegetation that would reclaim everything surrounding it. From a distance, there was almost nothing to distinguish it from the abandoned industrial sites scattered throughout the region. No lights, no visible guards, no vehicles. It all just seemed like a rusting perimeter fence and a concrete structure that looked like it hadn't seen legitimate use in years.

Kate crouched behind the remains of a fallen concrete barrier, binoculars raised as she studied the facility's main entrance. Beside her, Laura remained perfectly still, eyes scanning the building and its surroundings with the kind of attention that came from years of being trained to notice things other people missed.

"Okay, so This might just be me, but supposedly abbandonned means definetly.... Secret hide-out underground right?" she asked almost jokingly but then the jokes dissapeared as she lowered the binoculars. "According to the records, this place hasn't officialy been operational in years, no registered employees, no active power contract, no deliveries listed under the facility's name."

She pulled the satellite photographs from the folder they'd brought with them and spread them across the ground between them. "Yet Genesis still refers to this as a transfer location." she pulled out an older dusty blueprint of the facility. "And that's where things get interesting." The blueprint showed the main structure above ground, but beneath it was an older network of corridors and rooms that didn't appear on the current public records.

Kate tapped the blueprint on a specific spot "There's an underground level." Kate glanced toward Laura. "My guess? The papers check-out we're not going to find much above ground, we're going to find the interesting stuff underground."

Kate pointed toward the eastern side of the facility. "There's an old maintenance entrance here. The satellite imagery shows part of the roof collapsed over the northern wing, which means that section is probably useless. Or made to look that way." she looked at Laura "See? I'm learning from you not everything is what it seems right?" she looked like a student expectingg praise before going back to explaining the plan.

"You take point." She immediately raised a hand "But before you start the self-deprecating talk it's not about the fact that 'you're disposable', it's because this place used to be weapn X and you're an expert about them." Kate tapped the side of her head. "I'm the investigator. You're the expert on the nightmare architecture." She looked back toward the facility. "If you notice something I don't, we stop. No arguments, no heroics..... Okay maybe slight heroiccs depending on what we find."

She tucked the papers back into her bag. "But our priority is information, server records, research notes it needs to be damning enough that the Avengers, the X-men and the brotherhood listen to me...." she squeezed Laura's hand "To us, when we tell them shit is going down."

"One more thing." She leaned slightly closer, lowering her voice. "If You start feeling unwell, or can't continue, we go back, we get out. I'm not willing to trade yyour trauma for information... So no proving you can take it you hear?!" she squeezed Laura's hand "Now go ahead lead the way wolfie.... I'll be right behind you."

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The Baxter Building was quiet, not silent Reed Richards knew better than most academics who had confused or conflated the two. He knew that true silence in a laboratory was usually a sign that something had gone catastrophically wrong. There was the low hum of servers, the rhythmic clicking of cooling systems, and the occasional electronic chirp from one of the dozens of machines scattered across the room.

Reed stood at the center of it all. His lab coat had long since been abandoned, hanging from the back of a chair. His sleeves were rolled up, his hair was a mess, and three separate screens floated around him displaying equations that seemed to have no business being connected to one another.

“Okay…”*He stretched one arm across the room, tapping a sequence into a console without even looking at it. "*Herbie please check my calculations."

Herbie: "Right away sir," Herbie seemed to start calculating everything. Every possible outcome "They should be corect sir.

Another screen flashed red, Reed paused. It seemed even Herbie could be off. He had placed a ball of green energy into what looked to be a gun-like device but the moment he saw the red screen he changed two metal-balls position by two clicks. The device looked deceptively simple. But it wasn't, the goal was though at least to Reed. He wanted to create a stable multiversal wormhole creator. Or in other words a portal gun.

It was really simple the device opened two wormholes, it folded space and created a door into other worlds, other versions of earth the wonders humanity could achieve from medicine to politics to just self-improvement were perfect.

Reed stared at the prototype. “Let's see what needs chaging." he started working on his equations again erasing and rewriting them. Repeatedly to find exactly what needed to change "It seems another all-nighter is in the cards...."

Herbie: "Would you like me to warn Miss Storm or Valeria?"

he looked down "No, they shouldn't worry about a silly project of mine." he said as he kept tinkering. He reached for the activation switch.

OOC: ignore juggernaut and creed please I just needed an image where Rogue and Mystique were present.

The world had moved on, that was wha Erik found most difficult to accept. Not the funeral, not the rebuilding, not the fact that Xavier's school had become Frost's University. Because in a sweet way it was a continuation of Xavier's dream. The hardest thing for him to accept was that the world had simply moved on without any regard for him.

News cycles had changed, politicians had found new things to argue about, and different things to demonise about mutants, people had gone back to their homes, their jobs, people's lives had changed without even a hint of Xavier's influence in them, somewhere along the way... Magneto felt humanity had forgotten.... And he needed to do something about that so he did the only thing he could. He went to a park and once a crowd gathered and a few started filming him he started speaking.

"Charles Xavier is dead." he allowed the words to sit there "He died believing that the world could become better." His eyes lowered for a moment. "I spent decades telling him he was wrong." A faint, bitter smile. "I spent decades warning him that humanity would eventually turn on us, and every time I was certain history had proven me right... charles found a reason to hope again...." his smile disappeared "Perhaps that was his true gift, not his telepathy granted to him by his mutantgenetics, not his intellect that kept me occupied, his never ending ability to hope."

Erik looked toward the people gathered before him. "And I fear we have mistaken his hope for permission to do nothing." The words were quiet, but they carried a heavier message "While Charles was alive, there was always someone else to make the appeal. Someone else to walk into the room, to listen, to stand between fzar and violence, but Charles is no longer here."

He left a silence a long one this time before continuing "And look at what happened, mutants dissapeared, families were torn apart, children were taught that their own existence was something to apologize for and what did the world do? it looked away.... Not because everyone hated us. no, it would be asier if they did but that is not the case here... They looked away because to they simply did not care about us." he looks heartbroken.

Erik slowly removed his gloves, "That ends today, I am not here to ask humanity to love mutants. That time has long passed, nor am I here to ask you to agree with us." a faint humorless smile appeaed on his face. "I am here to demand something far simpler. Rights, protection, dignity and equality. The same things every human being should have been entitled to from birth."

He looked toward the assembled mutants. "To those of you who have spent your lives hiding... You have nothing left to hide. To those who have been hunted... You will no longer stand alone. To those who have been told that your mutation makes you less human...Know this, we are homo superior, but homo still means human in latin... So no government, corporation, army, or frightened mob gets to decide otherwise."

Erik raised his gaze. "My brotherhood will return, but like a phoenix it rises from the ashes changed we are no longer here to simply strike back, we will not exist to make humanity fear mutants that would be a disservice to Charles' memory we will exist to protect his dream and the dream of anyone who would fall prey to any enemy whether from inside the state, or from out there in space."

"But most of all this brotherhood will fight for the following mission most of all: The United Nations has spent decades writing charters declaring the inherent dignity and equality of humanity and it is high time mutants get added to that charter. So we the brotherhood of mutants will fight for mutant rights to be explicitly enshrined within the United Nations Charter."

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The restaurant was the sort of place that attracted people who liked to pretend they were untouchable.

Expensive wine. Dim lighting. Velvet booths tucked into shadowed corners. Politicians, CEOs, celebrities and the occasional criminal who had enough money to dine alongside them without anyone asking questions.

Then the front doors opened.She stepped through it with a smile she knew a girl would be sitting in this room who just like her knew knew how tonight was going to be. She didn't even need to look around for long. Tonight was already going to be fun as a date night let alone the business end of it.

Her cane tapped softly against the marble floor as she made her way through the restaurant, her expression calm beneath the dark glasses. Every laugh, every whispered conversation, every nervous glance from the patrons was simply another thread in a tapestry she had already seen.

She sat next to a woman who looked nothing like anyone she would be interested in, well at face value at least, she knew this woman was her lover. She knew what this woman was going to do. Which made her lips curl into a small smile. "Well... Did you really think I'd let you have all the fun without me, Raven?" There was something almost playful in her voice. *"*I know for a fact I will like what will happen tonight."

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The dorm room is silent. Too silent. Serena sits on the edge of her bed, staring at the photograph resting on the bedside table. June 5th, four years ago, she knows the exact date, the exact beach, the exact sunset, the exact moment Emma kissed her.

But to Emma? Now that kiss hadn't happened. She hadn't happened. Serena reaches for the photograph, her thumb traces the edge of it "You remember the beach, your students, you remember everything." she says while looking at the happy Emma in the picture. and then her voice breaks remember the students." *She looks at Emma's face in the picture "*You remember everything..." *Her voice grows quieter. "*Except me."

*She turns the photograph over, the handwriting on the back is hers 'Our first real day.' Serena stares at the words. "*That's not fair." *She laughs softly, "*I didn't ask for this." She looks toward the empty side of the bed.

For a moment, she can almost imagine Emma sitting there, Emma complaining about the mattress, or reading while Serena pretends to read only for her to eventually notice Serena wasn't paying attention or reading at all.

*Serena smiles at the memoy, bit as it fades so does her smile "*You're not here." *she lets the silence sit there "*You're here." She corrects herself "You just don't remember me. You're not mine anymore."

She looks toward the mirror, Her reflection looks back at her, those faint crystalline patterns aren't present, for once, she doesn't look like Heartgrave She just looks like Serena. "How am I supposed to do this?" She stares at herself.

she shakes her head and drops the photo pretending she doesn't know Emma Frost, the love of her life wasn't that hard, it shouldn't be she'd go out and just.... Talk like she didn't know her... What she didn't knw was that during her mental rant tears had been welling up in her eyes again.

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Kate Bishop's apartment had stopped looking like an apartment somewhere around hour three.

Folders covered the coffee table. Photocopies were pinned to the walls. A laptop sat open on the floor beside several empty coffee cups, while photographs, medical reports, DNA charts, handwritten notes, and heavily redacted government documents formed a trail from the front door to the couch.

Kate sat cross-legged in the middle of the mess, surrounded by enough classified material to get several government agencies very interested in her.

She stared down at one particular file.: PROJECT GENESIS.

She flipped through the first few pages.

Most of it was scientific jargon like genetic harvesting, cellular replication, artificial gestation, accelerated growth, genetic stabilization so basically cloning. Then Kate turned the page and that was disturbing..... The specimen list.

JAMES HOWLETT / WOLVERINE — POTENTIAL WEAPON ASSET

JEAN GREY / MARVEL GIRL — POTENTIAL HOST FOR COSMIC ENTITY

SCOTT SUMMERS / CYCLOPS — WEAPON ASSET

ORORO MUNROE / STORM — WEAPON ASSET

KATHERINE PRYDE / SHADOWCAT — INFILTRATION UNIT

ANNA-MARIE / ROGUE — POTENTIAL POWER ABSORPTION ASSET

REMY LEBEAU / GAMBIT — WEAPON ASSET

KURT WAGNER / NIGHTCRAWLER — WEAPON ASSET

PIOTR RASPUTIN / COLOSSUS — WEAPON ASSET

ILLYANA RASPUTINA / MAGIK — WEAPON ASSET / INFERNAL ENERGY MANIPULATION

EMMA FROST — COMPLIANCE UNIT

ELIZABETH BRADDOCK / PSYLOCKE — WEAPON ASSET

Kate's eyes widened. "What the hell?!" She read the list again, These weren't observations. They weren't profiles. Whoever had compiled this wasn't interested in understanding the X-Men. They were deciding what they could be used for. Kate slowly began connecting the dots, this wasn't some government threat assessment or a conventional weapons program.... It was a catalogue of people.....

And beneath each name was a purpose for whatever came out of the cloning process, Kate turned the page. Her stomach dropped.

SPECIMEN DESIGNATION: X-55

"X-55?" She read the accompanying notes. MULTIPLE CLONING ATTEMPTS HAVE RESULTED IN GENETIC SEQUENCE BREAKDOWN. PROFESSOR T. AND PARTNER S. BELIEVE SUBJECT 55 WILL YIELD IMPROVED RESULTS FOLLOWING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW GENETIC SEQUENCING PROCEDURE PROVIDED BY S.

Kate's eyes moved to the genetic markers, She recognized them, She'd seen them before on Avengers documents..... "Weapon X." she said without thinking. Kate's expression hardened "This is insane...." She turned another page and saw it even more details

GEN-013 — LAURA KINNEY

GENETIC TEMPLATE: X-23

STATUS: MULTIPLE CLONING ATTEMPTS

Kate stared at the words, Then she looked back at X-55. "They're trying again...." Her eyes raced down the page. There were notes about failed embryos, genetic instability, accelerated healing., behavioral conditioning, but then another designation caught her attention.

GEN-014 — DAKEN AKIHIRO

STATUS: FAILED GENETIC PRIME

OBJECTIVE: GENETIC IMPROVEMENT / STABILIZATION

CLONING POTENTIAL: EVENTUAL

BEHAVIORAL PROFILE: DESTRUCTIVE — POTENTIALLY CONTROLLABLE

"Why can't these guys ever stay dead?" Kate dropped the file onto the table, she immediately grabbed another folder, then another and another spreading them across the floor, pinning them on the wall, slowly piecing together dates, facilities, names and genetic samples.

One facility, then another, different locations, different head researchers, the same terminology, the same project most likely and the same initials T and S. Kate grabbed a marker and began drawing connections across the map she'd taped to the wall.

Once she was ffinished she didn't reach for the drink, or a donut, she reached for her phone. She didn't call anyone she should've.... Not the Avengers, not the X-Men, certainly not the brotherhood.... Or SHIELD for all she knew they were in on this. It wouldn't be the first time shield was into shady shit for its own benefit.

No, instead of calling someone sensible, she called...... "Hey, Laura. It's Kate." *She glanced around the apartment, the absolute disaster of a living room, the files pinned to the wall, the photographs pinned to the floor, the map on the chalkboard, The name X-55 staring back at her from the table. "*So... funny story, I'm not exactly calling you to schedule a second date." tiny smile crossed her face. " Although, for the record, I would absolutely love to."

*the smile dissapeared "*But I need you to come over." *Kate looked toward the wall, Toward Laura's and Daken's and even i the fine print Gabby's name..... "*I found something, something I really think you need to see."

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The Watcher: "There are infinite universes, populated by infinite Earths. Infinite versions of every life that could have been lived. Some are separated by wars. Others by choices so insignificant that the people who made them never knew they had changed anything at all, But this particular universe? The branch happened because someone decided the rules of time were optional." The Watcher raises his hand. The universe before him folds inward, revealing another Earth. Another history. Another Serena Vale.

"In another reality, Serena Vale was born on November 3rd in Brighton, England, her mother was a Greek history teacher and her father? A trauma psychologist. Between them, Serena inherited an unusual education.

The Watcher observes the young Serena growing older. A child watching her parents. A teenager sitting alone. A girl quietly observing the people around her.

"Serena was empathetic. Perhaps too empathetic. She could read the smallest changes in a person's expression, the hesitation before an answer, the tightening of a jaw the change in someone's breathing, to Serena, people were open books. But in that reality, noticing was all Serena ever had because Serena Vale was not a mutant."

The image changes.

"There were no hidden genes waiting to awaken, no psychic field, no nightmares, no Heartgrave." A Fourteen-year-old Serena appears in a classroom bullies surrounding her cornering her like an animal.
"At fourteen, she still suffered the same bullying. Still experienced the same panic attack after being cornered at school. "But when the fear became unbearable..." Nothing happens. "Nothing happened, she went home, her parents held her and eventually she grew up.... into a girl who never needed to know what the word mutant meant.

"That is where the story should have ended." Silence filled the watcher's void "But five daughters who couldn't live without their mother, and one girl with a particularly unhealthy relationship with reality itself, had other ideas." The Watcher looks almost knowingly toward the roleplayers.

"They changed time, and as countless stories have warned us... time has a way of biting back." The peaceful timeline begins to fracture. Threads of light twist around one another. "History does not always demand a payment immediately, sometimes it waits, other times it simply decides that if one person is given something... Someone else must inherit the cost."

*The visage changes. "*Everything remained as it was for Serena..." Young Serena sits in the classroom. "...until that moment." Her breathing becomes shallow "When Serena was fourteen, fear did not simply overwhelm her." A faint rose glow begins to appear beneath Serena's skin. "Fear unlocked something." The classroom becomes a nightmare. "There was no explosion, no fire, no dramatic flash of light....." Serena gasps for breath. "Just Serena..."

One girl suddenly begins gasping for air. "...gasping for breath." A boy stares at something that isn't there. "One student saw something no one else could." Another student runs screaming toward the door. "Another ran." The teacher stands frozen, utterly paralyzed. "And their teacher?" The Watcher's voice lowers. "She simply stood there frozen like a statue."

Serena slowly looks up. "While Serena stood in the middle of it all." *Her blue eyes fracture with brilliant rose-colored cracks. Rose-colored thorn patterns spread across her pale skin like something blooming beneath it. "*The human mind is a fragile machine, and somehow, through one seemingly insignificant alteration in the river of time, Serena Vale had been given access to something capable of breaking that machine." The Watcher watches as the classroom descends into chaos.

"Fear, "Not merely her own, theirs." The vision begins to fade. "But that is enough from me." The Watcher turns his gaze away from the dying image. "After all, the two perpetrators responsible for this particular wrinkle in time will eventually experience its consequences for themselves." The watcher gains a faint, knowing smile. "And perhaps they will learn the oldest lesson of all... Time always collects its debts."

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Currently in Emma Frost's office.

Serena was hiding in Emma Frost's office. Technically, it wasn't hiding, she preferred the term waiting. They had been together for years now, well four years she didn't want to sound old. Though sometimes Serena thought that distinction didn't matter. Ever since Emma had found her, rescued her, and given her somewhere to belong, time had seemed to work differently. For Serena, at least.

She sat quietly in the corner of Emma's office, knees drawn slightly toward her chest as she glanced toward the door. It was almost time for school.... Almost which meant she had to almost leave, but she didn't care.... Instead, Serena remained exactly where she was. She had decided to surprise her girlfriend before all the usual morning formalities began. And, if she was being honest with herself... She had missed her.

Four years together and Serena still wasn't entirely sure how someone like Emma Frost had somehow become the safest person in the world to her. It was almost embarrassing, Almost being the operative word. Serena glanced toward the door again "She's going to kill me..... Not literally off course." she reassured herself. "Probably." Serena smiled faintly to herself. "Okay." She settled back into the chair. "I can wait to see her."

And for once, waiting didn't feel like running away.

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I'm new on the block and would like to apply for a team, they do have to at least be able to keep up with me.

Hello everyone,

Due to an internal issue within the community, we are temporarily suspending new character claims by new members.

This policy will remain in effect for at least one week and may be extended if necessary. Existing members are unaffected unless otherwise announced.

We appreciate your patience and understanding while we work through this issue.

Thank you for your cooperation.

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Sleep hadn’t come not in weeks. Not real sleep, anyway. Kate couldn’t remember the last time she’d dozed off and truly gone offline. Every time she closed her eyes, he was there. She was there too, back on the pavement. Clint had told her not to go after whatever Ripper was doing.

She went anyway. And she lost. In the bathroom mirror, the bruises were finally beginning to fade, but she could still remember each one as if it had been painted onto her skin yesterday. The first bruise had been his way of saying, Stay down. After that, getting back up had felt impossible. Her bow had skidded out of reach, and if she was honest with herself, she could barely fight him without it.

What hurt most wasn’t the beating. It was that her friends had needed to come get her. Squirrel Girl could take care of herself. Gwen was arguably more dangerous than Deadpool. And Laura… Laura was Laura. Kate leaned both hands against the sink.

And I’m Hawkeye. Or at least she told herself she was. But was she? A thug no, a Terminator had dismantled her in minutes. Thrown her aside like thrash and left a message to not even try again. So in classic Kate fashion she ignored the warnings and decided to prove herself by solving the case solo.

Her apartment had transformed into a war room. Red dots, photos, threads, the whole shebang. She’d chased every lead until dawn and hit dead end after dead end. Nothing fit. It wasn’t a crime of passion. It wasn’t just about money. The guy wasn’t normal. He moved like a machine, like a brick wall that somehow knew what she was going to do before she did it.

Alien? Ridiculous, so maybe he's a Terminator it would at least explain the bruising and the uncanny fighting ability. Kate stared at the board again. Every theory collapsed the moment she asked the same question: Why was he there?

A man like that didn’t babysit smugglers. Unless they weren’t smugglers at all. Her eyes flicked from one photograph to another, and for the first time all night, she noticed something and it made her recoil..... "It can't, please.....no." she said her voice sounded like a whimper.

OOC: if you're a friend of Kate or Clint you can come check on her

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The cemetery or well grounds where they were now were silent. It had happened in the heat of everything so fast almost no-one registered it until it was too late. Currently there were no speeches, after all what could fill the silence? No words could make the grave any less real yet Erik felt obligated to speak, perhaps due to the nature of their relationship, perhaps because of the nature of his death or perhaps because he had conquered the heart of the women he respected most.

Erik walked up standing before the rest of the friends and found family Gambit had made, this was hard even for him he was good in rallying cries not in funeral goodbye's but for her sake he had t try. "I did not know Remy LeBeau particularly well." he finally spoke his voice was quiet. "We crossed paths only a handful of times. And, I cannot stand here and pretend we were friends. That would be dishonest." A faint smile crossed his face. "But I did know one thing about him. He never folded. He carried himself like a man who had already accepted the odds would never be in his favor."

"And every time... He played the hand anyway." he let a pause sit there "I suspect he would have appreciated the metaphor." Erik's gaze drifted toward Rogue. "There are very few people whose judgment I trust. You were fortunate enough to earn the love of one of them." he looked back at the grave now marked for Gambit. "That tells me everything I need to know. You cannot fake loyalty. Nor can one counterfeit love." he shook his head "Those things are won. And you won them."

His expression darkened. "It is a bitter irony... That a man who spent so much of his life proving others wrong... Was murdered by people who never cared to know whether they were. They did not see Remy LeBeau, they saw a mutant. And in their fear... they convinced themselves that was enough." Erik's jaw tightened.

"I have spent much of my life believing history remembers only victories. But I will make sure history will remember you..." A quiet breath escaped him. "Rest now. You've played your final hand, And though the game will continue without you..."he paused one last time as he looked at Rogue "Those of us still at the table will remember how you played yours."

OOC: Anyone who has ever interacted with Remy can interact with this.

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Gwen was standing in the midle of the field she knew she could cure her, well she knew beating somebody could cure them. So why not try and expedite the process. Sure Pixie was nice.... But her real target all along had been the one she made a promise to. The one she wanted to spend her life with. "Ilyana Rasputin! I'm here to challenge you to Mortal Kombat!" she yelled into the void as if to try and lure her out.

she had however foolproofed her plan in case she failed? Well she had instructed Pixie and Jean to get her out..... By using Pixie's hallucinations to distract Ilyana and aiding in her escape after that.

OOC: please only u/soulforgedinlimbo react this was planned in a way that this will not succeed so no worries about losing yet another person to Gwenpool.

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Gwendolyn Poole was your average girl, well average was an overstatement. According to her parents she was below that. After all she was a high school dropout with 'no future prospects' who had a comic obsession. She couldn't help herself right? I mean despite being fictional the marvel characters just made her feel seen.

As she walked suddenly she heard a load thud and fell down onto the pavement, once she woke up on the pavement something didn't quite sit right.... the colours weren't muted, they were brighter almost unnaturally so.... The people also seemed weirdly friendly unlike most real world people, but one thing she knew for sure. This isn't the street I fell unconscious on.

"Uhm, hello? Can anyone help me? Maybe tell me where I am memory is a bit fuzzy....." she looked around for anyone she'd recognise from her neighbourhood but no-one came not even her brother Teddy..... Maybe he'd grown tired of her? but he wouldn't leave her alone surely