The X-Base, Utopia-Which-Is-Totally-Not-Alcatraz, Earth 616

[glacial_queen]

After a brief pit stop at the other island off the coast of San Francisco (look, Alcatraz loomed large in Karla's recollections; there was a lot of trauma associated there), Karla and the others made their way to Utopia--which, truth be told, probably should have been their first stop, consider how utterly ridiculous it looked. Was there some kind of side effect of the X-gene that drove them towards horrific ostentation?

...Okay, someone was feeling a little bitchy right now. Short of sleep and long on worry did not make for a particularly charming Karla.

But hey! No one here would be surprised when Karla stormed in and threatened to rip everyone and everything apart until they brought her to Jono. They'd dealt with her before. That was okay, though. She wasn't here to make friends.

The doors to the base slammed open and Karla strolled inside, totally not spoiling for a fight at all, thank you. She collared the first mutant she could see, a pink-haired girl with wings, and pleasantly snarling, "Where is Jono? Now, please."

That was a friendly smile, Pixie. Really.

[NFB, for folks who wanted in on the yelling!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

It was very rarely that one might be able to say, 'Good thing Wolverine broke in,' since Pixie, still shaken from the events of yesterday and not in the mood for being shaken down by a total stranger, had gotten as far as "Sihal Novar-" with the total intent of teleporting over the bay and dropping Karla in from very, very high up. Of course, grabbing Karla by the wrist that she was holding the girl by probably wasn't the most politic way to break up a situation about to get unpleasant fast, either.

"Problem here?"

For the record, Logan hated when Jono's friends came to visit.

[glacial_queen]

Excuse him. Karla and Raven had been instrumental in saving the lives of many mutants, both those who were X-Men and those who had just been saved by them. Some people and the giant gaps in their memories...

"She was just helping me find Jono," Karla said, turning her smile down towards Wolverine. He had about ten seconds to let go of her wrist before things got ugly. She was the one grabbing people around here. "Before I got all impatient and rude."

[furnaceface]

"And we'd all hate to see that," Logan replied dryly, arcing an eyebrow right back up at her. He wasn't in any mood for this. He'd had a shitty week too, here. "How about you let go of Megan and you and I have a chat about manners, instead?"

[glacial_queen]

"Or we could forego the smalltalk entirely," Karla offered, letting go of the girl and making shooing motions at her with her hand. Her presence was no longer required, thank you. "And you could just lead me and my friends to Jono, where we'll take him off your hands and leave all the faster. I think we can agree that would be best for all of us, no?"

And the continued structural integrity of your ridiculous base went unsaid. But Karla liked to think it was audible all the same.

[furnaceface]

The roll of Logan's eyes to the heavens went nicely along with the few choice words Pixie had as she turned and walked away, none of which were part of any magical incantation.

"Anything, so long as you stop talking," Logan growled, shaking his head and nodding toward a nearby set of doors. "You're not exactly making me more inclined to show you and your friends in the front door."

She... was not going to stop talking, was she? And the hell of it was, Logan could even allow that Jon was in better hands with this pack of crazies. Especially right now, with everyone on Utopia scrambling to get their own heads on straight before they could possibly deal with someone like Jono.

[glacial_queen]

When did Karla ever stop talking? Especially when it was for the best?

"It would be much better if you showed us in," Karla assured him. "For everyone. And the building."

Not a threat! Just a statement of fact! They weren't leaving without Jono and anyone who got between them and Jono were going to be dealt with accordingly.

"Though, if you wanted to tell us what the bloody fuck happened here, I'll be much too busy listening to make snide commentary."

And people still doubted her diplomatic skills.

[furnaceface]

Somehow, Logan doubted that she'd be able to keep her mouth shut all the same. Call it a hunch.

"A kid with daddy issues and too much power had his way with the fabric of reality," he grunted, turning without a second thought and starting toward the door. Much as he wanted to pop his claws here, nobody was necessarily up to fighting fit, and now wasn't the time. "Left a few hundred people with an extra lifetime sitting in their brains. No damn clue what to make of what happened to Starsmore, though. Most of us changed back, physically."

[trigons_child]

Raven was struggling to keep her fear under control, for it was feeding into anger, and the last thing she wanted right now was to let her temper get out of control. Hard as it was to shunt her emotions aside, she was determined to keep calm, unlike someone.

"Please," she said, "take us to him. He called for us. And if there are any others in need of healing, I will gladly help them as well."

[furnaceface]

Sorry, Raven. Logan really didn't want to give Karla you guys a reason to stick around longer than absolutely necessary.

"We've got most of our own handled," he replied, pushing open the door and waving them inside. "Most of the damage at this point is on a mental scale, and we've got our strongest telepaths dealing with that mess."

The Stepford Cuckoos, Emma Frost, Professor Xavier... The worst came from the memories left behind, for the most part. And those five were good and capable of handling that.

[glacial_queen]

Karla sighed quietly and offered, "I'm a Black Widow. Which means that I'm trained to deal with mental trauma and injury."

Which, you know, Jono would also need. In spades. But for all that she was pissed at whatever had happened to the X-Men that had swept him up with it, she owed it to him to offer her services as well.

He cared about them, for whatever idiotic reason he had.

[trigons_child]

"Jono is our primary concern," Raven said, stepping through the doorway. "But I will help in any way I can, as I have done in the past. I can help calm any who are too upset, so that your telepaths can do their work more easily."

She still had no idea what had happened. An extra lifetime? A few hundred people?

[furnaceface]

Logan actually gave the girls trailing after him a thoughtful glance over his shoulder.

"You did help a lot after that fiasco with the Church of Humanity," he noted, though grudgingly. "We'll see how our own are handling the situation, and go from there."

He... didn't suspect Scott was going to want these people sticking around for long, either.

[glacial_queen]

Karla's lip curled. "Yeah," she echoed dryly. "'Helpful.' And before then, too."

You know. When they'd literally wrested their friends back from the very jaws of death. But sure they'd just 'helped a lot.'

[furnaceface]

It wasn't that Jonothon had been uncooperative since he'd been marched down to the infirmary. He'd stayed still for those x-rays, after all, and he'd let Dr. Rao poke at him however she needed to in order to be certain he wasn't on the verge of sudden death or something. He'd just been... uncommunicative, too. Lee was the only one who'd been able to get a straight answer out of him since his memories had returned, and even those were something on the monosyllabic side.

He was waiting for a lift out of here. He wasn't talking to anyone until he had that much. And in the meantime, his eyes were going to be on his knees, staring through his flames.

[trigons_child]

"Karla," Raven said gently. "We do not know what happened here, and there is no reason to cause trouble. Mr. Logan is a friend to Jono. He was the only one who looked for him after...."

After he'd changed before.

[glacial_queen]

Karla ground her teeth and looked away. "Fair enough," she agreed, which was as close an apology as Wolverine was going to get.

Look, this one had tried to murder her over a glass of water and another one had decided that their best formation was a straight line while fighting against a vicious horde. Wolverines were not her favorite people in the multiverse. "I'm just concerned about Jono. I'm sure Wolverine here understands what it's like to needlessly lash out at someone because you're worried."

[glacial_queen]

He almost certainly heard his ride before he saw them. Karla wasn't going to any trouble to stay quiet, after all, and if Dr. Rao or Scott Summers thought they were going to stand in the way of Jono's own friends (not teammates, friends) from coming to get him, they had another thing coming.

"I don't care that he's still undergoing whatever bullshit testing you're putting him through in an effort to feel useful," she said, completely reasonably. "I'm going in there to fetch him, and, if I have to, I will go through you to fetch him."

[furnaceface]

Logan was not going to pop his claws. Logan was not going to pop his claws. Logan was not--

"Second thought, we can probably hold our own around here," he growled, eyes narrowed on the hallway before them. "Sooner you get your friend and go, the better."

Really. They could not be out of here quickly enough. And if they happened to get all the way to the infirmary without meeting Slim along the way, even better. Logan was always up for a good fight, but an argument with Cyke on top of these crazy people was not something he was in the mood for.

[heromaniac]

Right. Whoever had assigned Momoko as lookout and backup was not the brightest... okay. actually, Momoko probably was the more patient of the ones that had come along on this rescue.

Still, it had been what, HOURS? since Karla and Raven had gone in and left Blossom hovering outside? TOTALLY hours. Yes. Okay, maybe ten minutes.

Could she blow up a wall now please and do some rescuing? Ooh. Wait... was that a window?

It was! And Blossom was tappity tap tapping on it trying to get the attention of the occupant inside.

[furnaceface]

Hey! Every infirmary needed a good window, okay? And, while Jono was hell-bent on being the not-so-talkative guy in this particular infirmary, it was really difficult to ignore a tapping on his window, and all.

He glanced up at said window, and then blinked. The window was closed, but it hardly made any difference when he was speaking. He kept his words between himself and the girl outside, so as to not distract Scott from... well... his current distraction.

//Blossom?//

Really, she was forever going to be the one to sneak her way past the healing staff in order to save what was left of his sanity, wasn't she?

[heromaniac]

Yep, she probably was.

Eek! It had been forever since she'd heard that voice, and even though she'd been prepared for it from seeing the picture on Karla's phone... It was still a punch to the stomach.

She didn't let it show on her face (hopefuly) and instead gave him a thumbs up and then a questioning look. "You," she mouthed as she pointed at him. "Okay?" And made an ok sign with her fingers.

[trigons_child]

Raven had been anxiously looking around for Jono as they entered the infirmary. Once she saw him, her heart almost stopped. For a moment, she couldn't breathe.

She didn't know if anyone here was going to try to prevent them from getting Jono out of there. Try. She was picking up on confusion and some anger from those around them, but nothing that indicated a wish to stop them, not yet at least. She hung back a little, tense as she waited for a reaction, ready to teleport them out of there instantly if needed.

[furnaceface]

Jono needed a moment to consider that, glancing down at himself again, furrowing his brow a bit, and then shrugging his shoulder slightly.

He'd figure out just how okay he was doing... eventually.

//Alive, at least. They send you around the back door while Karla and Raven picked a fight with Summers?//

Let's be clear, here-- Jono was not actually giving Karla that much credit as a strategist. They'd met. But it was as close to a lighthearted comment as he was going to make right about now, too.

[glacial_queen]

"Aww, it's a shame you don't want us to stay, really," Karla assured him. "In that case, why don't you finish bringing us to Jono and we can get out of your oddly pointy hair."

[furnaceface]

Scott was going to need to beat his face against a wall after this, wasn't he? And Logan was being no help, just standing back against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest, looking for all the world like he'd washed his hands of this situation.

Thanks for the help, Logan.

"It's for his own good," he said, attempting to sound something approaching calm. He was too damn tired for this. "We'll be happy to let him wander around as soon as we know there won't be any adverse effects from his ordeal."

You know. The one nobody was really talking about at length.