Beyond Evolution

Over a densely populated area of Westchester County, far from the facility the X-Men had infiltrated but dangerously close to the school, a contingency plan was being put into play. The attack on the facility hadn’t been entirely unexpected; the program’s founders had considered everything, every worst case scenario they could come up with, and they had known that if an attack came it would come from Charles Xavier and his X-Men. The school had enjoyed a relative degree of safety so far, it was simply too public to ever be targeted, but there were plans in place to deal with it and the teams it housed if they ever directly threatened the program. And now they had. A single team could be dealt with at the site along with their mutant subjects, but there had never been just one team at Xavier’s -- the arrival of another highly-trained team could turn the tide in their favor, and that couldn’t be allowed to happen. Nobody else could be allowed to leave the school grounds.

A direct attack on the school was still out of the question, but there were other ways.

Downtown, the clouds of aerosolized Kick were almost invisible as they drifted through the city. People breathed them in without even knowing. It only took a moment for the mutants in the crowd to begin feeling its effects, like amphetamines coursing through their veins, their abilities heightened beyond what they’d ever been capable of before. The slightest telepathic push was enough to tip them over into violence. From the safety of a government helicopter circling overhead, a psion gave them that push and more. Xavier’s. It was all they could think about, getting to the school and wreaking havoc, every other impulse overpowered by that one need. Once it was in their heads, there was no forgetting it. One by one they turned, on foot, in the air, teleporting, whatever would get them to the school fastest.

Alarms sounded as the mob of people reached the school’s front gate and tore through it, shrugging off whatever damage the security systems were able to do along the way. They didn’t feel the pain, or care about it. All they cared about was reaching the people inside and tearing them to pieces.

Henry Gyrich smiled tightly as the report came in. That ought to keep them busy.

((School attack thread! Mutants of all kinds are attacking the school, but it's going to get around pretty quick (aka: feel free to already know in your tags!) that they're not under their own control so try not to kill them! Mutants will also be making it hard to get into the Danger Room (blocks of all kinds, cybers making its programming weird, etc), so teams try and protect the kids since they have no protection right now!))

A weighty sigh heaved its way from the depths of Aaron's lungs as he stared into the fridge. He didn't want any of this. Xavier's never seemed to run low on food despite how many hungry mouths were under this roof, so it wasn't a lack of choice which was his problem. Indeed, there was probably too much choice for him. Aaron was accustomed to food supplies being low, to eating whatever happened to be available that day because the only other option was to eat nothing at all, so the range and quality of offerings at the school sometimes left him feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed. A bit guilty.

But no, that wasn't the issue. Though the shelves were heavy with foodstuffs, all of it more than acceptable to most, none of it struck his fancy. What he really wanted was a mouse.

He'd ventured to the residents' wing in search of Marrow but finding her not to be home, he'd detoured to the little kitchenette at the end of the hall, hoping to scavenge something tasty, but apparently the powers-that-be which ran this institution had not seen fit to fill their refrigerators with dead mice. This was not a problem he'd ever faced in the Morlock tunnels, there'd been rodents a-plenty down there, though he'd avoided feasting on the rats as much as possible out of respect to Pester and Mother Inferior. Mice, though, they were fair game and his serpent stomach was grateful for that. It wasn't a biological imperative for him, he was capable of eating both human food and snake food in either form through a quirk of his mutation, but when he was in his serpentoid shape as he was right now, he tended to hanker for a diet which might not seem so appealing to many of his fellow students. They didn't know what they were missing. Nothing better than a nice plump mouse.

Slamming the fridge door shut with an irritated huff, Aaron stood still for a moment, trying to decide if he could muster the energy to head outside and hunt for something to satisfy his cravings or if he should just settle for something less bloody. The dilemma was a minor one but he couldn't help recognising that it was symbolic of the shift in his life. How quickly he'd found himself debating what to eat rather than wondering if he would eat. Those guilty feelings poked at him again. Maybe he should suggest an extra food run to the others later tonight. They could probably get away with it.

With a hiss of annoyance, his snake head swayed to glare at the fridge one more time through reptilian eyes, then made up his mind. Mouse tonight. Aaron turned away and headed quickly for the door.

[ TOAD ]

WHO: John Allerdyce (PYRO) & Mortimer Toynbee (TOAD).
WHERE/WHEN: The resident’s kitchen/rec room. BACKDATED to sometime in March.
WHAT: Ex-Brotherhood members have a little chat about life.

( The X-Men weren’t the Brotherhood and maybe, just maybe, that wasn’t the worst thing in the world. )