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Mr. McKenzie laughed at Jean's suggestion. "Oh God, no, he's awful. Generations of awful, in fact. You see, great-grandpappy Bolivar Trask getting in trouble for selling to the Nazis might have resulted changing the family name, but nothing changed the family business. Arno is just the latest in a long line of collaborators with... questionable attitudes regarding eugenics, human testing, and other trivial things like that. He's been the go-to tech guy for the Project for years now. I mean, he's no tech whiz himself, I doubt he'd know the business end of a soldering iron, but he's got the family resources behind him. Plus something else, something they're calling... the Box." He held up his hand. "Another proper noun, yes, but don't pin it on me. Spy game loves being able to discuss things in veiled terms. Easier to call it 'the Box' than what it actually is: some kind of supercomputer, programmed with every scrap of advanced science they could get their hands on. It's been designing new gear for the Project that's decades ahead of anything else, even top secret military stuff. We're talking drones loaded with learning AIs, energy weapons, cybernetic upgrades... and I'm sure you've seen some of these at work. They've been winding up in the hands of the MRD, too." "Chess is cool," Illyana grumbled, arms folded. "Chess is cool," agreed Rita quietly, still a bit awestruck that her all-time idol was not only here, but also a mutant, and also sort of her adoptive big sister. Plus her dad was here too! It was like a family reunion of sorts, except not really, but possibly better.
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Jul 3, 2019 17:19
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Pyotr PP: 1| XP: 14 Pete's nose twitched. He was getting bored and hadn't landed a solid punch on anything all day. He tugged at the pulls on his hoodie; he was idle for a long while but he was starting to pick up on bits and pieces here and there. "So Arno is now at top of poo poo list, yes?" he grunted. "We find out where he is scheduled to be in next few days, Clarice opens door, I squeeze his head."
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Jul 3, 2019 23:19
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Jean Grey PP: 1 | XP: 6 "I was joking.", Jean says, looking away slightly. "Things are a little too tough to dream of something like that." Biting her lip momentarily, she turns back to Roman. "Figured you didn't come unless you really needed help." She looks over to Colossus, holding up our hands. "Whoa, whoa." She looks apologetic. "Not going to overthrow the kingdom just by crushing the crown. Looks like we need to find the Box, get the answers we need to actually stop this nightmare." She looks to the Professor, opening up a mental link. . o O (Something designing all that gear... sounding familiar, right?)
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Jul 5, 2019 23:07
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Blink PP: 1|XP: 19| Stress: Clarice holds up her hands. "Uhm, I'm all for sending a Pyotr bomb at things, but uh, I need to have at least an idea of where I'm going, first. You don't want me randomly opening a portal...trust me." Her eyes widen, thinking about it. "Now uh, Mr. Ronan, if you can maybe describe the place they're holding the Box, if you have like, a photograph or something, I am pretty good at getting into places I'm not invited and taking valuable objects..." It isn't stealing though, because Blink didn't phrase it that way.
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Jul 6, 2019 02:39
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It certainly raises a lot of questions about the nature of Forge's mutation, if the Maker is not part of him but some sort of... psychic field of pure knowledge that can be accessed with the right key. But in this case, I don't think it's a leap of faith to assume that this "Box" is another mutant, being exploited. The Professor's mental tone was placid, his focus still on Mr. McKenzie. Outwardly he might have been polite, but inside he was on edge. The attack on the school, the attempt on his life, had shaken him more than he was willing to admit openly. But Jean could pick up enough. "My people have narrowed down the site location to somewhere in California. But Stark's got a lot of holdings there, including his main corporate headquarters," Mr. McKenzie said. "That's as far as we've been able to get, I'm afraid. Some years back we stumbled into a trap set by the Factory, set us back several members... including our best tracker." He glanced over at Wolverine for a split second, then just as quickly back to the rest of the group. "But you seem like a resourceful group, I'm sure you can help us out in that regard. Stark's going to be in town for an unveiling next week, some new piece of gear for the MRD. Unlike our mutual enemy, I doubt he has much in the way of mental defences. Rummage around, find the location of his mysterious Box, and we can all take a little road trip to California for property damage and Disneyland."
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Jul 17, 2019 05:16
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Pyotr PP: 1| XP: 14 "Fine," said Pyotr, snarling a sniff at McKenzie. "We wait for him to be in town, we drop in on him, take what we need and then go from there. Maybe even livestream it so people know what he is doing. Either way, we have to wait a week."
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Jul 22, 2019 14:53
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The week seemed to drag out longer than expected, between daily sessions in the Danger Room down to Mr. McKenzie's awkward presence on the periphery of everyone's routines. The Professor had offered him a room on the faculty side of the Institute, and he'd more or less kept to himself for the entire time. Except he would just be... around. Walking the grounds, reading in the library, and very frequently playing chess with Rita. "He's so bad at it," Rita confided with a groan, slumping forward onto Illyana's bed and burying her face in a pillow. Pyotr's sister had also been given a room to call her own, although hers was on the student side, and a mere two doors down from Pyotr's own room. The platinum blonde ruffled Rita's hair. "I'm sure he's good at other things," she said with a smile. "He has a bunch of crazy stories about World War 2," said Rita, by way of agreement, lifting her head up from the pillow. "Apparently he can lift a whole tank? And throw it? Which is, um... weird to think about. That's like, Pete level strength, and he just... looks like..." She made a gesture that summed up how much of a hobo he was. Illyana laughed. "If I can offer some advice, as your older sister?" Rita nodded like she wanted her head to fall off, eyes wide and shining. "We don't always get to say goodbye on our own terms," Illyana said. "I think he knows this, so don't worry too much if you have to remind him how all the pieces move. When he plays with you, it's not about the game." "That's... thanks, Emma. Illyana." Rita still wasn't sure what to call her, but Illyana didn't seem to mind either name. Feel free to talk about what you guys got up to during the week, any sorts of interactions with each other or the NPCs. I'll go along with whatever. When we're done with that, we'll move on to the mission.
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Aug 8, 2019 18:58
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Blink PP: 1|XP: 19| Stress: Clarice had said that she can teleport based on a photograph or something, and that was true - she could portal that way. But the thing was that it didn't work super well. If she's been somewhere it felt a lot better - like walking a familiar route versus trying to find a place that, well, you had only seen in pictures. So she wanted practice. But besides that, with all the superheroing disguised as classwork, Blink had been itching to go get up to some mischief. So her plan was twofold, really. 1: she was going to get Jubilation, and they were going to do something dumb. 2: she was going to do so under the auspices of practicing her portaling. So, with trepidation, she had asked for Jean's help. It wasn't that she wasn't freaked out by Jean's telepathy, but it would be useful just in case she was about to like, open a portal into someone or something. Surprisingly, she took Blink up on it. Clarice wasn't sure why, but she wasn't about to say no! Maybe Jean needed a vacation as much as Blink did, after all. So it was, that the three ended up in a Casino in Vegas. Clarice wasn't 21 or anything but her fake ID that said her name was Tabitha sure made it look that way. Most casinos were iffy about mutants, of course, and it's not as if Blink could really hide her being a mutant thing, but some of the less...reputable establishments were fine with it. Clarice was practicing, to be fair - mostly fine control and to see how small her portals could get. And it was easy to spend a few nights in a swanky Vegas hotel when you can teleport your way into a different empty room every night. And the take was great! Okay so Blink wasn't much of a gambler, but she was a pretty good pickpocket. The powers helped with that. She just had to make sure no one was looking first. Which, granted, was hard with all the cameras, but so long as she wasn't like, trying to break into the vault… And well, she tried convincing Jean to lift the information, but for all the cutting loose she did, Clarice had been pretty sure she wasn't up to an actual heist. They sort of did need to cut the vacay short though, when the casino securities all started unilaterally banning them before they set foot there. Who knew competing establishments shared information so thoroughly!
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Aug 21, 2019 04:17
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