Who: Spoiler and Rogue What: Party Crashing Where: Rainier Valley When: Backdated to January 3, about 2 am Warnings: Mild violence, banter, and hot glove removing action
It was a quiet night, all things considered. Not quiet enough for her to imagine that she was back in Texas, but quieter than she would have expected for a city. She actually could hear her own breath, rising like the steam that came from her lips. But this wasn’t the time to dawdle or amuse herself with silly games. Maybe she could practice holding her breath or try to dislocate her shoulders in Texas, but this was Seattle - the big city, with the big boss. She had to be on her best behavior, especially among other members of the Brotherhood.
Though Hayley wasn’t small for a woman, she felt dwarfed by her two colleagues. Both men were massive, more like stone slabs than human beings. Their heads were covered by dark, practical masks that seemed nearly identical. To Hayley, they were the same person - one man split in two bodies. She could have sworn that they walked in sync as well, but she had to draw her attention to more important matters.
After all, she couldn’t be Hayley tonight. Hayley was easily distracted and strange. Tonight was all about Rogue, a woman far stronger than her counterpart could ever be. Pulling her green hood up over her head, Rogue felt the lip of fabric settle a bare inch above her eyes. Brown waves fell around her neck, brushing the leather chest of her jacket. She cut a clean figure, thick boots adding a little-needed boost to her height. Even between two brick walls disguised as men, she was distinctive in her own right.
Emerald eyes peering from behind a black mask, she leaned around the sharp corner of an old building, gaze falling on the unmanned delivery truck parked at the docking bay just yards ahead. She turned, glancing to her two cohorts, before gesturing forward and darting ahead. It was a simple mission, just a grab and run. But with all the mask activity in Seattle lately, they couldn’t be too careful. Three people together was more conspicuous, but it was safer. The three of them had an understanding: at any interruption, Rogue would cut and run, leaving the others behind as distraction.
Her green gloves bunched around her fingers as she reached back into the bag that hung from her shoulder. Removing a sharp pair of boltcutters, she fastened them around the padlock holding the truck’s back door shut. With a sharp “snap,” the padlock broke open. Rogue threw it to the ground and pushed the door up, moving as slowly and quietly as she could. But her caution was all pomp and circumstance - surely there was no one about. He jumped roofs cleanly now, ran freely and easily across through Seattle with almost a spring in his step. He knew the area, he knew where it was safe to go, where it was less safe and of course, where he was going to find trouble. And trouble, in this case, was what he wanted to find; it was a common occurence at the moment for Darwin to go searching for something to preoccupy his mind with a subject that wasn’t the fact that he did nothing of relevance in his life other than this. It wasn’t fun knowing you were such a screw-up. As Spoiler, he wasn’t. So he’d spent a lot more time as him recently.
He hadn’t even reached the ground when he something happening. He was on a roof, purple hood sticking out like a sore thumb in the dark night, comfortable new boots from Gwen already worn in for use and he just happened to notice the people walking towards the warehouses by chance. He crouched on the edge of the building, taking the time to consider how awesome this looked, before surveying what exactly what going on. Well, there was hired muscle. That was certainly enough to be suspicious of; young girls didn’t often travel to places like that alone with big men like that. And the other was definitely a young girl; it was a shape he knew well, and that on its own was enough to convince him to investigate further.
Darwin jumped, landed lightly on a fire escape, and jumped again to land on a lower roof. He felt cat-like, especially in the dark, and it felt powerful to be able to move in the dark undetected. His power switched on and he was unseen, free to creep up behind his new targets. As he crept behind them, ducking behind a building so as not to let them hear him, he was more curious than anything to see what they were doing. The door of the truck rolled upwards, Rogue taking care not to let the metal screech or squeal. Though she could feel that the edge of the door was harsh, her gloves blunted its bite. In that way, there were most convenient. When the door was about a third of the way open, she halted it. There was no reason to push her luck needlessly, after all. With just a gesture to her companions to watch her back, she grabbed the edge of the truck’s side and hoisted herself inside, ducking her head to crawl on hands and knees inside.
Inside the truck was extremely dark, so she retrieved a tiny flashlight from her pocket. Shining it around the interior, she finally spied what she was looking for. She pocketed the flashlight, gathering the package in her arms, and began to scoot for the exit. Laying on her back, she shimmied out of the truck legs-first, rolling at the last second to drop to the ground in a slight crouch. She passed the package to one of her cohorts, turning to return the truck’s door to normal.
With the package successfully retrieved, she collected it once more - you couldn’t be too careful around men that looked like brick ovens - and gestured for their getaway. In and out, job well done. He watched carefully from a safe distance, not daring to move a muscle. Not in fear, of course, but when a disturbance was detected people rarely carried on with the business they were attending to, illegal or not. Regulating his breathing was the most difficult, he tended to become slightly over-excited by things like this and hearing heavy breathing tended not to help either. It was a curious thing, and something that had happened a lot more since he crossed through the portal but he usually tried to put it out of his head. Darwin was quite good at avoiding problems when he wanted to.
It was as the girl (who was definitely a girl now he got closer, hood or not) crept into the van that the whole situation became far more intriguing and he couldn’t help but move in slightly closer just to see what was going on. Slightly closer became very close, and soon he had slid past the two burly guards with relative ease to stand just next to the van itself. Just close enough to all three in the equation: in case - and this was looking quite likely by now - something untoward was in that package.
There was a certain security that was awarded to those who could become invisible any time they wished, and it was certainly useful for the blonde boy now just inches away from the girl of the three. He peered into the truck for a second before ducking backwards, now holding his breath, as the door slid down again. Well, he wasn’t getting a look into there anymore. His line of questioning would have to be a lot more obvious.
“And what’s that you’ve got there?” He murmured, just loud enough for the girl to hear. No use scaring all three, he’d get nowhere that way. And hopefully they would be harmless? With the bundle held against her side, resting on the jut of her hip, Rogue raised one foot to leave when something stopped her. It was a voice, soft and subtle, not far from her ear. She looked up sharply, staring at the backs of her two companions as they walked away - clearly content to assume she was catching up. As a member of the Brotherhood, she was well aware of the talents that Creations possessed. Still, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she froze, turning her head just slightly to scan the area around her. There was no one. There were three possibilities:
1) She was going insane. 2) Someone was having fun with speakers. 3) There was a very sneaky Creation having fun messing with her head.
Since she was secure in her sanity and the unlikelihood of magic speakers popping up, Rogue went with number three - there was someone else here. Raising her head so that her chin was parallel to the ground, she looked straight ahead. “Nothin’ you’d be interested in, sugar,” she drawled, moving forward with long strides. Internally, she was panicked, but externally, she was cool. She’d heard of the masks, but not one that could turn invisible or be ridiculously sneaky. Maybe this was just some punk kid figuring out his - by the voice, it had to be a him - powers. The plan had worked. He saw her tense up. He saw how sharp her movements were. She was doing something she definitely wasn’t meant to be doing and it had now become his business. He couldn’t help but grin: it was always a beautiful day when he realised he had actually managed to track down a real lead. Well, a beautiful night, but who was going to split hairs over that? Certainly not him. He didn’t move for a second, keeping perfectly still after one brief inhalation. Silence was the key here, for the right impact.
His movements forward were fluid as he turned to follow the girl, keeping in step with her only one step behind. He always kept away from the men; he could take on two of them but he couldn’t count on keeping all of his limbs in one piece. Going home to Gwen or worse, Quinn after that would be more than embarassing, he would have to leave there and then.
There was something keeping him from leaving here, and it took him a few seconds to realise it was probably the drawl. Something in it was baiting him. It was probably the ‘sugar’ comment, and he leaned in just behind her once more just close enough to her ear. “Try me.” With that, he strode forwards again, dodging in a circular movement to avoid any possible repercussions. Right now, it seemed more appropriate to be in front again. Unfortunately for Rogue, the ground was smooth concrete, no loose rock or gravel to scrape against. Though she was suspicious, she couldn’t waste her time worrying about invisible creatures. If she fell to pieces now, what good was she? She did her best to extend her strides, stretching her legs as far as they could go as if doing so would carry her further away from this strangeness. The two other men were a good four yards ahead of her, and starting to talk amongst themselves. It seemed they had all but forgotten her.
The “try me” whispered in her ear made her back snap straight, any slouch in it immediately gone. Shoulders back, eyes alert, she turned her head from side to side, looking about warily. She had heard him at her right...or was it her left? If she thought hard enough, she could “hear” him in every direction.
Taking a deep breath, she reached her right hand up to her lips, biting the tip of the glove’s index finger. She had to stay calm. He was psyching her out, and she couldn’t be rattled. While holding the package against her left hip still, she pulled her right hand out of its glove as she stood, waiting for her hand to be fully out before walking again. She plucked the glove from her lips and stuffed it in her back pocket. “I don’t have time for takin’ you out on a test run,” she said softly. “Maybe some other time.” There was something amusing about watching her look around for someone she was never, ever going to find. It was an arrogance that came with the territory. Even if he did find her, she would never be able to take him down. At no point did it ever cross Darwin’s mind that someone could take him on; it just wasn’t the way he worked. He liked the idea of being unstoppable, or relatively so. A chuckle escaped his lips and he tugged his bandana further upwards to conceal his face. Even with his hoodie, he’d have to reveal himself soon. There was no fun in staying invisible, and the more he thought about it, it was probably going to be a little creepy if those men kept moving without realising their friend was in trouble.
Darwin was many things, but recently he’d been at least trying to be less of a creep.
He watched carefully as she took off her glove, frowning with eyes narrowed for a second. Well, that was odd. His immediate thoughts were of a Creation, maybe a power. But that was about as far as his thoughts went. Head tilted to one side still in curiosity, he shook it off and grinned again, stepping forwards a little. “A test run?” The grin became a smirk. “You’re giving away a lot of information at the moment for someone who seems so confident.” He was mocking her. He couldn’t help it. It was in his nature. And he consistently kept his eye on the package, although now... did it matter? Now he was just out for whatever more information she could give him. Rogue knew mocking when she heard it. Tilting her head, she watched the other two continue walking, and for one split second realized that she could be in trouble. But no. She had this. Maybe she couldn’t see him, but he couldn’t touch her. She’d take off her jacket if she had to, just to keep that barrier between them. But for now, a bare hand would do. She had just needed some inkling of where he was.
His voice coming from directly in front of her was that inkling. Suddenly, she wasn’t paying attention so much to his words as where they came from. He was a few feet ahead of her, more or less, but she had no idea what he was wearing. It could’ve been a T-shirt or a full-on kevlar suit like the Batman. If she could go for his face, that’d be her safest bet. Not that preparing to tackle an invisible person whose physical prowess she didn’t know a damn thing about was safe - but it was a good phrase.
Without responding to his taunts, she took a few swift steps forward, readying her right hand like the head of a coiled snake. When she thought she was right in front of him, she lashed out, fingers sprawled as far as they could be in the hopes of at least touching something she could then use to navigate. As her hand shot through the air, she kept expecting to feel something solid against her fingers - but there was nothing. It wasn’t until the full force of running forward and flinging her arm out in a blunt charge began to take hold of her that she realized that she was going to be in a lot of trouble very quickly.
Her body pitched forward, arm sailing through the air, until something very solid stopped her. She let out a low “oof” as she slammed into what felt like a brick wall cushioned with throw pillows. Her arm fell over what must have been a shoulder, and for an instant she just hung there like a ragdoll while holding the package tightly to her side. She tensed up immediately, prepared to try and extract herself, but the damage had been done - the ball was in his court. Luckily, her two companions heard the sound and turned, though they were too far away to do her much good at the moment. There was a moment, a very brief moment, when Darwin honestly thought he was going to have to defend himself against a girl, and the idea very briefly upset him. He had hoped they could resolve this peacefully, or at least she would send in her goons and he could have beaten them up instead. He was good at beating up large, stupid men, he felt no guilt over that. Instead, as he watched the girl fly forwards, he watched as she flailed, flailed some more, and suddenly felt a barely-there weight against his chest.
He looked down and despite his vigilante nature telling him not to, he couldn’t help but snigger out loud. “That was bad. Really, really bad.” He appeared, grinning widely underneath his bandana. And with that, he span her around, grabbing the covered wrist of the hand she had bare (he had the strangest feeling he definitely shouldn’t touch that) and twisted it round her back. He decided not to swipe the package yet. The adrenaline was pumping, and regardless of whether it was sensible, he wanted some fun and this girl had amused him. Darwin wanted to show off a little before he disappeared.
With her arm behind her back, he waved with his free arm, making sure that the two could see everything that he did. “Gentlemen! It appears you’ve forgotten something.” He doubted he had ever used the word ‘gentlemen’ in this context before, possibly in his life, but this seemed the appropriate moment. If he could get them to come near him, he would get rid of them. And maybe then she’d think of giving him the package without any more problems, as opposed to keeping it so close to her. It would be a much better idea, as far as he was concerned. Feeling her cheek smoosh against the solid surface, Rogue looked up to see a human being appear right before her eyes. He was even taller than she had thought, and that grin was not reassuring. Before she could even breathe, she was spun round, her arm twisted back painfully. She let out a shriek of both surprise and pain, leaning forward and holding the package even more tightly against her side. Her bare hand twisted and flailed, fingers spread, as she tried desperately to reach his skin. But try as she might, she couldn’t do it.
As the other two turned at his cocky shout, she briefly looked up at him, taken aback. “You gotta work on your banter, sugar.” The two men charged for them, one running faster than the other, and she knew she had an opening. If she could just keep the package away from him, they’d succeed. As the taller of the two came closer, she shifted the package in her hand, flattening her palm against its bottom. Without saying a word, she lashed her arm out, hoping to throw it to him. When the masked boy’s arm came down on hers, blocking the pass, she hissed. This was bad. It was as he went onto auto-pilot that things became interesting for Darwin. He hadn’t technically taken the package from her, he just considered it a very bad throw, and he quickly twisted her arm back around to normal, throwing her outwards to leave her supported by his weight. “My banter is fine the way it is, babe.” It was almost balletic in its execution, had it not been for his next move: he kicked his foot underneath one of hers and let her fall to the ground, waving as he let go of her in a highly ungraceful fashion. “You need to work on your balance.” He had never been a very good dancer, his dad had considered it too feminine for him to take up. Girls grinding up against him in clubs also didn’t really count as a dance.
Breaking him out of thoughts of girls in clubs, one of the goons thought it wise to throw a punch at him, attempting to take the mysterious package back. Tucking the package into his chest with one arm, he blocked quickly, head snapping round to face his newest, bigger opponent, before grabbing the goon’s arm and using it as a weighted support as he kicked him hard in the chest. The man stumbled backwards, and he used the opportunity to take a run and swing a fist at him again. The thug’s nose made a sickening crack and he dropped like a stone. As the package was taken from her, she let out a sharp hiss. Damnit damnit. She tried to reach back to touch him when he shifted her arm, throwing her forward. Gasping, she went stiff as a board, her entire weight in his hands. She craned her neck to look back at him, eyes narrow behind her mask. Just as she opened her mouth to reply, his foot shot out and kicked her leg out from under her. With a squeal, she dropped to the ground, landing heavily on her chest. With the wind knocked out of her lungs, she curled up, glaring fiercely as she watched the fight before her.
Watching the boy expertly take out one of her companions, she let out a wheeze, forcing herself to her hands and knees. She had to take him out before he did any more damage. Stumbling to her feet, she glanced at the other thug on his other side, prepared to go for his front. She nodded before running at the masked boy’s back, taking a flying leap and throwing her arms around his neck. Hanging on his back, she twisted both hands in a blind effort to touch his face or neck, whichever came first. He hadn’t even registered that she might get up again any time soon, and while he didn’t regret not thinking it he realised now that a little foresight would’ve been handy. Darwin couldn’t help but show the shock on his face when he realised the same weight was now on his back and was grabbing at him. He struggled to remove her, dodging punches aimed at him by the other man just barely each time. “Two on one? Not fair-” He would’ve continued with the remarks he made, until the girl’s hand made contact with his neck.
The strangest sensation began to fill him as his eyes widened and he suddenly became rooted to the spot. He felt tired, but unable to move, and his breath caught in his throat as he stood, motionless, for what seemed like forever. In fact, it was maybe only a second, and summoning as much will as he possibly could, in shock he bent and pulled the girl’s arms, flipping her in the vague direction of her companion. He had dropped the package, and scrambled to the floor, shaken to pick it up again. “What the-?” Feeling her hand make contact with his skin, she took a deep breath. Unfortunately, her back hit the ground quickly - more quickly than she’d have hoped - but he was shaken. And she now had an advantage. Rolling to her hands and knees quickly, she looked down to see that the rest of her wasn’t there. With a grin, she crawled forward, reaching for the package. “It’s only one on one, sugar,” she said tauntingly. It was easy to snatch the box from his arms, tucking it against her side. She gasped as the package itself disappeared, but didn’t dwell on it.
Standing up, still invisible for the moment, she leaned over him with lips close to his ear. “Don’t you mind little ol’ me.” With a wicked smile, she straightened up, turning to make a break for it while she still could. He couldn’t help but turn very pale when he realised what had just happened to him, and to the girl who had touched him. Because she wasn’t there anymore. Just like he wouldn’t be in this situation if he could run, but he obviously wasn’t allowed to do that because there was definitely something cowardly in that. He stood, regaining the feeling that he had lost, utterly lost in regards to whatever her power was. Whatever it was, he didn’t enjoy being on the other side of his power. Darwin suddenly realised this battle was well and truly lost.
It was as she was close to him that he couldn’t help but grin himself. The girl had nerve, and she’d beaten him. “Oh, but I do, babe.” He smirked, still motionless, eyes to one side as he pinpointed where her voice was. “Will I be seeing you around here from now on?” He didn’t move; her companion was nowhere to be seen, as was the other he had taken out first so it seemed silly to move and startle her when they were potentially behind him. So he just stood, waiting for an answer as he heard her move away. As he stood, she backed up, realizing that time was running out. She had to get out while she still good, and she wasn’t about to waste this opportunity. Hearing his question, she turned, feet pounding the pavement as she ran full-force for the nearest cover. Once she got to an alley, she could evade him as long as he didn’t know where she had gone. But she couldn’t resist glancing over her shoulder, calling out to him.
“Not if I can help it!”
Not giving a thought to the two others, she sprinted along, regaining her visibility as she turned a corner. Heaving a sigh of relief, she continued down the alley and into the city, making herself scarce for the night.