WELCOME!

Elexis finally arrived at warehouse 15, and it was obvious to anyone within sight that she was pissed. To most of the people that saw her she was actually rather pleasant despite her actions and her appearance. This was because one of Elexis's pepeives was being a bad hostess. But she wasn't here to impress anyone, she had been in her lounge merely getting a few short moments of rest when one of her servants told her that she had a call. Elexis had screamed at the foreman and almost struck down the servant with the phone just because of the insolent fool telling her that there were several critical delays at the wharf. Next thing she knew Elexis had thrown on a heavy jacket, retrieved her elegant desert eagle pistol, and a few grenades full of some poisons and toxins for security. Elexis met up with a few of her personal guards and started to make her way to the wharf. Elexis noticed the massive storage crates that had been abandoned long after the incident, some of them were still sealed, but many of them were completely empty, looters having scavenged them for essential supplies. She noticed some movement amongst the containers, she picked out some teenagers most likely scavenging what they could, there could be anything within the containers, and lots of it. The containers were pretty much treasure troves, especially since bartering for supplies quickly replaced currency in this city. Elexis didn't pay them a second thought, she was cold from the wind, and she had morons causing delays to her operations, and she was tired from it being a long night. She was ready to tear someone's throat out, her claws would make it easy enough for her to do that to someone, all they needed to do was simply provoke her a tiny bit...

Elexis walked up to the gate, being unfazed by the grown men holding ak-74's. They were also dressed in heavy jackets and looked like they weren't favoring the cold. Elexis's guards just kept they're weapons at the ready, they all had re breathers just under they're chins, just encase Elexis had to use one of her grenades. The guards were Ukranian in origin, Elexis kept in contact with a few crime lords that she knew from her previous life, they never knew exactly what she looked like now, all they heard was her voice which was perfectly normal, and Elexis payed well and was a regular customer, that made her even more of a friend in they're eyes. They knew how eager Elexis was for a field test of her latest toxin. The guards were a bit fazed by Elexis's appearance, but one of them who was obviously the more senior of the group walked up, "Move along freak show, we have business to attend too." Elexis's already thin patience finally snapped at the guard's ignorance, "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM! I'm the one making sure you get a paycheck." Elexis almost stabbed him with her fangs, that would have ensured that he suffered in the last moments of his life. But that would only complicate matters that Elexis had come to attend too. The guard immediately started to speak rapidly in Russian as the other started to scramble around, eventually the gate began to open and Elexis walked through, her eight legs carrying her at a calm pace despite her anger. Elexis noticed bitterly that there were several holes in the fence and even someone with a form like hers could have sneaked in. Elexis just turned to her guards, "Just stay with me, I want to make sure that this isn't some trap." The guards nodded courtly, knowing that not even they were immune from Elexis's temper, "Yes Ma'am." Elexis just stood there, she had a few moments to wait while the guards went to fetch the foreman... chances are they wanted to hurry since they knew who was here...

Warehouse 15 was generally New York's equivalent of a mutant-based Wal Mart. Jay had brought a few members of her group along to rummage for supplies, the best thing they all could do in the city. Trading had once again replaced paper money, which was nearly useless now (to those that found no use for it). People had a lot of it, surprisingly, after raiding what was left of the bank after the evacuation. Most of the mutants kept it hidden away for dire emergencies, or for bribing Seekers. The Seekers themselves had come from places where money was still a factor, and sometimes you could get out of being captured if you had enough cash.

The wind whipped her hair sharply around her face, getting it in her eyes. With one hand, she swiped it away and continued digging through the barrel of random crap. She fished out a few pieces of usable material - interesting. A screwdriver and two pairs of pliers - very rare and useful. She slipped them into the messenger bad at her side and continued to search until someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Seekers," whispered Kiki, shouldering her pack and darting towards the nearest hiding place. Jay followed suit, ducking behind a row of heavy crates with the others. Lights began sweeping the area as the guards came in with lanterns and flashlights.

"Come on out, kids. I know I heard you."

In a crack between the two large crates, Jay could see the two men - one rather fat and the other wiry and jumpy. A fly buzzed past his ear, and he nearly jumped a foot in the air. Idiot. He was the one who'd spoken.

"Calm down, Hunter, it's not like they can hide for long."

The fat man was poking behind some smaller crates. "Jeeze. The freaks took everything." He began to move towards their crates - the two larger ones. Jay signaled to the others to get ready to fight and/or flee, depending on what happened. Hunter's large buddy was closer to Jay's side now, and she mentally scanned him for any sign of technology she could play with.

Headset...
Cell phone...
What the hell is he doing with an Ipod?"

Pushing hard, she attacked the headset with deafening static, replacing the screen in front of his eyes with images of large bugs coming towards him. He screamed, dashing around the warehouse and into walls, trying to get away from the 'bugs'. Hunter ran over, trying to calm his crazed partner.

"Dude! What's the matter with ya?"
"Hunt, can't you see 'em? They're frickin' huge! Get out! Let's go!"

He screamed again and charged out of the door, Hunter behind him.
And behind the crates, Jay breathed a sigh of relief.

Elexis had a strange feeling, like something was not right. Maybe it was the fact that she was freezing and was very angry. But then again she had already taken out some of her anger on the halfwit guards at the gate. But she still had a feeling that she was being watched. She looked over to the guards, it didn't look like they were having much better of a time. Chances are the mere sight of something like Elexis was unsettling to them. Elexis knew that she looked like a freak. She had a mirror in her bunker and she knew exactly how people reacted to her. Chances are if her parents were still alive they wouldn't be too pleased with their wayward daughter. But Elexis tried not to dwell on such things, she didn't regret murdering her parents a single day, and she didn't plan to start grieving anytime soon. They always threw her awkward glances, seeing her as a monster like everyone else. Everytime she noticed that they were staring at her she'd throw them a evil stare, they already knew of Elexis's foul temper seeing what happened by the gate guard's comment about her. The wind picked up and chill lanced down her spine right down to her abdomen. Elexis just got even more cross at the idiot that dared to make her come here in the middle of the night. She was definitely going to make sure that someone paid for making her go all the way to the docks and deal with everyone's stupid excuses.

Suddenly Elexis heard something in the distance, it sounded like a door slamming open, several of the guards suddenly got lower, trying to keep out of sight. Elexis heard someone yelling out, Just screaming in fear. Elexis walked towards the fence and looked down to see one of the warehouse doors wide open, and someone running out screaming, Elexis couldn't quite see clearly in the darkness but could see a mean, he looked thin, even in the distance, but he wasn't a teenagers, that was for sure. Suddenly someone else ran out after him. She couldn't see their faces, but she could hear their yelling, "Dude! What's the matter with ya?" The one that was flailing madly yelled like he was possessed or something, "Hunt, can't you see 'em? They're frickin' huge! Get out! Let's go!" Elexis just grimaced with distaste and looked over to one of the guards trying to stay out of sight. Elexis spoke out to him in Russian, chances are he didn't speak english, "Вручите мне ваше оружие ... быстро" (Hand me your weapon... quickly) He looked over to her for a second, looking at her as if she was crazy. Elexis just started at him for a second, her anger clearly being shown. He reluctantly held out his weapon, a Russian SVD sniper rifle, chances are it was one of the thousands manufactured during the cold war. She just pulled back the action and watched as a shell casing flew out of the action. She took off the scope cover and looked down the scope...

She could looked down the scope that twisted the nob a little bit to focus it in. She could see the two clearly, They were clearly seekers, she could see that they were both clad in some pretty expensive equipment. One was pretty fat, obviously not US army material and the other was still flailing around yelling about some kind of bugs. Finally the fatter one tore off his headset and started yelling about how it's just fake. Elexis just grimaced again while still looking down of the scope. The scared one finally stopped flailing around and Elexis set her sight firmly upon him. Elexis pulled the trigger and was rewarded by a loud gunshot from her rifle and a the seeker flew to the ground, a large gaping hole in his shoulder, his scream was incredibally loud, Elexis just muttered to herself, "coward" . The second one tried to run to cover but panic took over and he didn't try to run into the warehouse but instead made a break for a series of crates. Elexis just zeroed in and fired and watched as his leg buckled out from under him. He slumped down to the ground and Elexis smiled at the suffering that she was causing. She lowered her weapon and handed it back to it's shaking owner, he was a bit shocked by the sheer brutality that Elexis had shown, not even granting the seeker a quick death. She turned to her bodyguards and started to walk towards the ramp leading down to where the crippled seeker was laying, "I'll be back... just make sure that he didn't have any friends.

Elexis walked down to where the two lay, her eight legs carried her incredibly fast. Followed the bloodstain to where the fat seeker dragged himself. His skin was very pale due to the shock. All her could hear was the chattering of Elexis's carapace and the cock of her desert eagle. The shot rang out and he slumped down to the ground, a large hole in his head where the bullet entered his Skull. The thinner, cowardly seeker just yelled out, "What the hell was that come on buddy hand in there." A sick smile came to her face, the same one that she had when she murdered her parents. She walked over to where the other seeker lay, she passed by where his rifle was knocked out of his hands by the force of the sniper round. Elexis walked up right behind him, he was trying to stop the bleeding. apparently his cowardice was keeping him alive. Elexis bend down, actually very close to him, so that she was speaking in his ear, "You're afraid of bugs?" He let out another shriek as he turned, at first he wasn't too scared, seeing a beautiful woman but then his panic wracked mind saw the massive spider that formed Elexis's lower half. He tried to back away, breifly forgetting about his arm and trying to support his weight upon is, only managing to send him onto the ground. Elexis slowly walked forward, he tried to scramble back, muttering out, "What... What the hell are you?" Elexis bend down, stroking her claws along his face, the seeker froze as they ran across his face. Elexis just smiled, thinking of how exactly she wanted to end his miserable life, "Someone seekers don't want to meet" With that Elexis grabbed the back of his head with her clawed hands and brought his lips to hers in a kiss of death. The seeker's eyes rolled back in pain as the parasite burrowed into the back of his skull. She let the seekers slump to the ground, he was unconscious from the sheer pain of the parasite's implantation. Once he woke up his purpose would be changed for the better. Elexis heard someone else stir, as if someone was whispering to someone else. Elexis simply drew her pistol and walked into the open warehouse, calling out to anyone who would be hiding, "Come on out... I dislike playing games." She didn't like to have to search every inch herself... but she was paranoid enough to not want to risk getting herself killed or captured simply because she didn't want to make sure.

They had remained behind the crates for a good five minutes after the incident to make sure none of their friends were going to come and back up the two men. If the mutants revealed themselves now, they were lost. "How long are we supposed to stay back here?" Josh, the youngest at thirteen, complained. "Just long enough to make sure no one's going to come back," Jay told him, pulling back the sleeve of her pullover to show her watch. Twisting the dials, she created a small scanning ray, and began to slowly move her arm back and forth. "Okay, it's not showing anything," she muttered, watching the screen. It would show red dots if there was an enemy approaching, and yellow dots if a mutant was approaching. The feature had been the hardest to incorporate into the watch, but it was useful.

Suddenly there was a great deal of shrieking and screaming, and the sound of gunshots. There was a relative silence after that; the hidden mutants could hear faintly that people were talking - one voice feminine, and the other male, horrified and afraid. There was a faint clicking sound coming towards them; it sounded like quite a few pairs of high heels, but Jay couldn't be sure. It was as if she'd heard the sound before, but not quite. Kiki was kneeling at the edge of the crate, still and quiet. "Jay, keep the others back," she said sternly to the slightly younger girl. "I'm going to check things out."

Jay frowned at her. "What if it's another Seeker?"
"Then I'll cover you guys while you escape. Now seriously, just stay back there."

She was worried, but Jay remained behind the crates, keeping the others silent, her watch still scanning - but this time, a red dot appeared on the screen, just as Kiki rolled out from behind the crate, her lower arms and hands replaced by scythes. She had the power of being able to turn part of her body into a weapon, and it was interesting seeing the girl take out seekers with it. On top of that, Kiki was capable of reading minds, and that made her all the more deadly. This task was right up her alley.

"Come on out... I dislike playing games."

Jay recognized the voice, but as she moved, Kiki whipped her head towards her and stilled her with a hard look. Satisfied that Jay was going to obey, Kiki stepped into the empty lot. "Name and business," Jay heard her say sternly, knowing that the scythe-arms were ready for anything. "Are you Loyalist or one of us? Answer me."

Elexis thought that she heard whispers amongst the crates. She couldn't see too well in the near pitch black darkness of the warehouse. There were massive crates everywhere, abandoned relics from long gone inhabitants of new york. A normal person might wonder about what could have been, if New York wasn't the desolate wasteland that it was now. But Elexis wasn't like most people, she was a well known for being a heartless monster. She practiced the foul arts of torture merely for the fun of it. It was only one of her dark little hobbies, all kinds of rumors were out there, cannibalism, torture and experimentation, and she was trying to replicate the process that mutated the inhabitants of New York in the first place. Elexis smiled as she thought of all those rumors that her followers have heard for her, and the sad thing was... most of the rumors were true. Saeryn had the lower levels of her bunker dedicated to her projects, many of them were grim death filled rooms, someone could almost feel he pain and suffering permeating the wall of that cursed place. She had brought a mutant that had the ability to communicate with the spirits of the dead, she had committed suicide mere minutes later, claiming to want the screaming to stop. But Elexis didn't see these things as sick or twisted. Elexis just guessed that her psyche had deep scars that most likely wouldn't be repaired with time, but for now her fascination with suffering and death was a strange one... and it produced odd results, horribly disfigured abominations that were the stuff of nightmares, all of the servants that aided her in that place were infected... just so that they'd keep their loyalty to Elexis after seeing her dark little habit...

But Elexis knew that someone was here. Chances are it was another sniveling seeker that Elexis could toy with. She thought that it was a shame that she had killed one of them, she needed some fresh victims for her to work on, chances are she would simply take her anger out on his poor soul. Elexis was tired, angry, and had a splitting headache which was probably part stress, part fatigue, and probably the remnant of a hangover from drinking a little too much last night. She heard someone stir and quickly looked over, her free hand tensing in the position to strike out at anyone that wanted to sneak up behind her. Elexis was half expecting to see a fully armed and terrified seeker, chances are he would have heard his friend's grizzly deaths over the radio. Instead the person behind her was merely a girl, she was young, probably her early twenties, Elexis noticed that her lower arms were scythes, her voice was dead serious, "Name and business," Elexis lowered her weapon, the pistol's grip had been heavily modified to be more comfortable for Elexis's clawed fingers. A rather evil smile came to her face as the girl kept on speaking, "Are you Loyalist or one of us? Answer me." Elexis started to walk in a circle, the girl's gaze never left her, despite having no weapon in her hands, but it was probably obvious that her hands and her body were weapons enough. Elexis's twisted body probably didn't help her seem more like a friendly, but chances are the girl would recognized her, if only by the rumors and legends that mutants and seekers used to scare they're friends at night...

Elexis gave a slight bow, it was more a mocking gesture rather than a show of courtesy. That same amused smile was on her face as she spoke, "I'm neither rebel nor loyalist... friend or enemy... whoever is willing to pay." Elexis's evil grin only grew wider, she always enjoyed toying with others... even if it was something as simple as what she was doing now. Elexis could tell that her little comment wasn't sitting too well with the girl. Elexis wasn't above infecting a fellow mutant... even someone as innocent as the girl standing before her. Elexis could always use more followers to spread her infection further. The girl seemed quite eager to resort to violence and did just what Elexis was expecting her to do. She charged at Elexis, intent to slice Elexis to gory pieces. Apparently Elexis's assumption was right, she merely leaned forward and opened her mouth. Black viscous sludge vomited from her mouth, hitting the girl, accuracy wasn't too much of an issue, but her limbs were already starting to slow down, as if she was moving through a swamp. The longer the sludge had contact with the air the more and more it began to harden, the girl's charge was stopped before it started, she was almost completely immobilized and didn't look too happy about it. Elexis merely started to laugh, walking up to the restrained girl, she cupped her chin in Elexis's claws hands. Elexis pulled out a handkerchief and wiped some of the black liquid from her lips. She spoke to the girl, it looked like she was still struggling against the now hardened sludge, "I heard you talking to someone... make them come on out... either that or I can pick the memory from your mind by force." Elexis's evil smile was not a toothy grin... she guessed that she would have someone to play with once she got back from managing her shipments...

Jay was only second in command of the little group; Kiki had come along for the ride, but she'd appointed herself leader and plan-maker. And apparently martyr, as it seemed she was planning to do now. Whatever was out there wasn't friendly, and Meryl was not risking another group member to the Seekers if she could help it. But no, the ever - authoritative Kiki had made this impossible, and had charged out with her strength and ready-made weapons. Staying in a cage in a tent while they were preparing to ship another batch of captured mutants to the Facility was, to say the least, horrible. Not many escaped, and those that did always got hurt in some way. She shuddered to think that she might have to go and rescue Kiki now - for the girl's authoritative, leaderly ways, Kiki did not always think before she acted, and that was her main weakness. Getting her to calm down and be less intense was like convincing a snake to ride a unicycle.

She listened to the voices coming from the area in front of the crate that was the group's safety for the moment. Kiki's rough inquiry held a note of alarm; whoever this was was not normal, or if it was a Seeker, dangerous, even. Kiki had strength, and she could slice a man to bits with her arms turned into shurikens, but having weapons for arms made her a little slower. It was the reason why she never turned her limbs into anything bigger than swords, because they were simply too heavy to maintain in battle for too long. Josh nudged her, making her jump. "Sorry. Do you feel anything? She's been quiet for too long." He was new to the buisness of hiding and spying, but Jay silently commended him for his observation. Kiki had been quiet far too many seconds, and now there was an odd squelching noise. Jay and the others winced - she must have been doing a job on them. But Jay froze when she heard the opponent's voice.

"I heard you talking to someone... make them come on out... either that or I can pick the memory from your mind by force."

Oh, shit.

"Stay here, Josh," she told her younger companion, motioning for the others to do the same. Jay stepped out into the clearing, looking at the figure of none other than the spider-woman she had met not too long ago - Elexis. Kiki was completely covered in what looked to be mud, but Jay knew better. Whatever the oily stuff was had definitely come from the spider mutant they were addressing. "All right, I'm out," she said, trying to keep her thoughts clear of the others behind the crate; she knew that they would be lost if she let on that there were others around. "You can let her go now..." Jay heard Kiki give a sort of angry squeak, which could be translated into, "You know her?!"

Elexis was still thinking of ways to mutilate the girl in front of her when she heard someone stir inside of the room. Her pistol immediately snapped to attention, tracking for any movement, Elexis swore that she heard someone talking and looked to her prisoner. The girl just locked eyes with Elexis, there was so much hatred in the girl's eyes, Elexis couldn't see the girl move but it was obvious that she was still straining against the now fully crystallized sludge that was holding her in place. Suddenly Elexis heard footsteps behind her and she spund around, her eight legged body shifting to face the newcomer. Elexis couldn't quite see her face in the darkness but when she spoke Elexis recognized the voice, "All right, I'm out," it was Jay, that girl that had come to Elexis begging for help getting her friends back from the seekers. Elexis didn't say anything before Jay made her request clear, "You can let her go now..." Jay's tone made it clear that she knew Elexis, apparently the girl from before picked up on this and there was a muffled voice that by the sound of it was rather surprised. Elexis couldn't quite understand what the trapped one said, but Elexis knew that it was probably surprised at the fact that Jay knew the spider woman. Elexis put away her firearm and crossed her arms across her chest, for the first time this night she actually smiled, more from the irony rather than anything that she would normally find humerus. Elexis's tone was full of the usual sarcasm and hatred, "SooOoo this one is with you. I half expected to find the sniveling seeker that had her on his leash." Elexis looked back to the trapped girl, it was obvious that being mistaken for a loyalist was an insult to her.

Eleixs started to walk off, speaking to Jay as she did so, "Don't worry there'll be no permanent damage... she might be a bit soar but that's just because she doesn't know when to give up." Elexis walked over to a stack of crates and picked up the crowbar laying on top, she noticed some movement from the other side of the crates, It was probably more mutants, rebels always seemed to travel in numbers, they were all far too young to be seekers. But Elexis didn't pay them any mind, chances are Jay didn't know that she noticed. She turned and walked over to where the trapped girl still stood, it looked like she was covered in a black oil, but it had hardened in seconds and now was able to trap the girl inside, she could still breathe through her nose... lucky for her. Elexis just held the crowbar in her hand, judging it's weight for a moment as she spoke, "I hope you forgive my harshness... I AM on the seeker's most wanted list." Elexis swung the crowbar, even with her rather lacking physical strength the weight of the crowbar did it's work and it smashed into hardened sludge, it shattered like glass, there was still a few chunks on the girl's clothing, but for the most part she was freed. Elexis took a step away from the now freed girl, just encase she wasn't going to let go of a grudge that was just a misunderstanding. She walked up to Jay, but before she could speak Elexis turned as she heard slow rythmic footsteps, she saw the thin cowardly seeker walk past the entrance of the warehouse, his face was in a completely blank expression, he just looked at the three that were standing there and continued to walk along, oblivious of his wounds. That same evil smile came to her face, as she spoke, "I came here because of some dumbass messed up the shipments, but I guess I could offer some hot coffee and whatever else is there,"

"SooOoo this one is with you. I half expected to find the sniveling seeker that had her on his leash. Don't worry there'll be no permanent damage... she might be a bit soar but that's just because she doesn't know when to give up."

Before the immobilized Kiki had a chance to start releasing a steady stream of obscenities, which were thankfully going to be muffled by the oily stuff all over her, Elexis loosed the crowbar on her, setting her free. Kiki stumbled away from her place, brushing at her clothing and glaring at Jay, eyes burning with anger. "Why didn't you tell me you were working with her?" she snarled at Jay, although the dark-haired girl remained calm. She had no intention of saying that she'd been planning to join the spider-woman - which was of course true, but Kiki somehow took a long time to convince. And it would be suicide if Jay tried to reason with the stubborn older girl now. "I'm not working with anyone," she replied, still remaining calm.

"Remember when one of the others got captured? She was the one to help us bust him out," Jay said in Elexis's defense. This was something she did not do often; call her selfish, but it was rare that she would defend anyone who wasn't a very close friend. And besides, if she didn't, she'd feel bad about it later, and it wouldn't do to make a potential enemy out of an ally...especially this ally. Kiki regarded the younger girl thoughtfully, obviously trying to decide whether she should send Jay away on the spot or just let it go. The other mutants, as Jay could see out of the corner of her eye, were crawling out of their hiding spots, probably thinking that since Elexis could see them anyway that it was no use hiding. But the younger ones held back, simply watching the scene.

She heard Elexis come up behind her and turned, but froze when she heard footsteps. However, the man did not look threatening. He shuffled along at a rhythmic pace, looking kind of like the guards she'd seen at Elexis's place...oh. The parasite. She'd done the seekers a job.

"Do you know how many seekers are swarmed around here? There should be a clear path for everyone to get home safely."

Elexis. for some strange reason, was enjoying the girl's anger. She always liked to toy with other's emotions, seeing how they would react to her actions. Elexis didn't enjoy making someone happy, or making them proud, or really anything that feels good. Elexis took sick pleasure in causing misery and suffering, causing anger and hatred. Her parasites control over others had the potential for good, saving lives, ending conflict, but instead it was used to cement this endless conflict further into itself. Either in the form of controlling others to cause more warfare and increase weapon sails, or manipulating seeker patrols in order to continue the conflict, all for the sake of making money or giving Elexis the sick joy of being able to watch the violence unfolding while knowing that for every bullet fired, that was another bullet that they paid her for. Apparently the girl that was just freed from black substance knew the same thing about her, while most information was sketchy, the idea was pretty much preserved, And apparently the girl knew that and loudly expressed her concern,"Why didn't you tell me you were working with her?" But Jay just stayed calm, Elexis knew that the girl probably wouldn't want to admit actually having a bit of a... well... for lack of a better word friendship, with who was essentially a monstrous, heartless, psychopath. Jay just spoke out, defending herself, "I'm not working with anyone," Elexis thought that it was kind of funny, chances are the girl that was accusing Jay was suspecting her of being infected. Elexis looked at the black haired girl for a moment, she wanted to know if she was actually serious of trying to be friendly or if she was just doing that to try and spare her friends from the horrors of the facility, It was a tense moment, that question had been nagging Elexis ever since Jay had left, Elexis had been betrayed by her own parents, things like had a tenancy of making one not trust anyone...

FInally Jay spoke out, "Remember when one of the others got captured? She was the one to help us bust him out," The other girl just stared at Elexis, there was so much hatred within that stare, chances are it had something to do with the bitter memory of the pricetag that came with the freedom of her comrade. Elexis lived her life to make money, that was the only thing that cared to her besides her darker urges, nothing would stand in the way of Elexis making money... not even her only true friendship. Then that dark little sliver had implanted into her mind, the thought of returning to her experiments, the mutants that she kept captive and butchered. The thoughts of the knives, scalpels, and other instruments of torture, she didn't know the name of the one that was waiting for her once she returned to her bunker, but she knew that she would take pleasure in his screams. She tore her mind from her thoughts of suffering as the two girls continued to argue, Eventually Jay turned back to Elexis and asked a question, forcing her from thinking of the one part of this night that she would actually enjoy, "Do you know how many seekers are swarmed around here? There should be a clear path for everyone to get home safely." Elexis just looked at the other girl for a moment before talking to Jay, "Give me a moment... lets just say that... I have a few followers on the inside of the facility."

Elexis closed her eyes, concentrating on few key followers that would have the answer for her. Memories and information flooded into her mind, memories of happy things, the ones that Elexis hated most were the memories of loving parents, those just hit a soft spot, mainly because Elexis's parents were just going to hand her over, no pleading, no resisting, it was as simple as the soldiers would come and pick her up, just like a worthless package. As the minutes passed by beads of sweat began to appear on her brow, and a thin stream of black blood began to flow from her nose, that always happened when she was sorting for very precise facts, it was just part of her mutations. Eventually Elexis's eyes snapped open and she spat a glob of black blood from her mouth, it landed on the floor in an ugly black stain. She reached inside of her jacket, producing a white handkerchief and wiping the black line flowing from her nose. She stared at the black stain defiling the purity of the cloth before putting it back inside of her jacket. She spoke to everyone inside of the warehouse, speaking up so that the hiding children could hear too, but she didn't make it too obvious that their presence was known, "The seeker's have no scheduled patrols in the area, you'll be able to head pretty much anywhere without any trouble, any raids tonight are on higher priority gangs and militants... but I don't care, it's my bullets and armor that's being shot." She started towards the warehouse doors, her eight legs making a unique sound upon the concrete floor, she stopped before she left, turning back to the two girls still standing there, "Now Jay it would be rather rude to decline my offer... your... um, *ahem* friend will be fine going back by herself... I'm sure she'd like some time to calm herself down before making any more stupid decisions."

Jay never really liked being angry. It was mostly a waste of time, brainpower, and imagination, and unfortunately Kiki was the type to start an argument about anything. The two girls got along civilly when they weren't on duty, but at times like this, it was easy to see the lightning spark between them viciously. Honestly, she'd rather be clipping her toenails with live sharks' mouths than having this exchange of violent pleasantries with this girl two years her senior, but that couldn't be helped. You couldn't cross a leader, but you could get them to do things that were, for example...NOT completely and utterly stupid. Jay never let herself get as worked up as Kiki did, however; arguments were meant to be ended and solved, not won or lost. She nodded at Elexis as she began to use those odd spider-powers of hers to clear the area. To this day the extent of her mutations intrigued Jay, as well as Kiki although she wasn't going to admit it.

There were several minutes of silence, Jay staring blankly and coolly at Kiki, who was glaring daggers at the dark haired girl. The younger ones were still hiding, staring intently at the three in front of them, obviously considering slipping out but thinking better of it. Finally, everybody jumped as Elexis spat out another unpleasant dark blob of...whatever that was, wiping her face as if nothing had happened. Jay silently admired her for this...calmness. If she had the ability to stay calm forever, she'd use it well. For now, the ability lay with Elexis to be admired, and they had other things to worry about.

"The seeker's have no scheduled patrols in the area, you'll be able to head pretty much anywhere without any trouble, any raids tonight are on higher priority gangs and militants... but I don't care, it's my bullets and armor that's being shot."

Jay nodded and glanced at the still-teed-off Kiki, rolling her eyes a bit. "We'll make it, as usual. There's easy ways to skirt around the raids, and if we do get caught we can elude them quite easily." The wind was picking up slightly, and that meant they'd have a little noise to cover their tracks. At least there weren't any seekers to hinder them.

"Offer?"

Elexis just thought for a moment at the two other girls decided what they were going to do. The relationship between the two girls was seemed very interesting to her. Elexis really couldn't get WHY Jay even kept her around, she seemed fully capable of simply leaving her, just saying "go away I don't need you" and simply up and leaving, Jay seemed like an extremely resourceful person and could easily fend for herself. But of course she wouldn't need to leave her group, only take away a troublesome element in her little band of misfits, of course that did describe almost every single faction in New York. Jay was a creative person and if she were to properly apply her creativity to the right things Jay would be able to stage a very interesting death for her troublesome companion, and with her leadership and charisma she would be able to convince them that it was an accident, nothing more, nothing less. Elexis just wondered exactly how she would stage it, she would probably send her on some simple errand and right into the waiting arms of the seekers, or maybe even some roving gangs that deal with her. Now that Elexis thought about it for a moment, maybe Jay would be willing to give the girl over to her if she needed to be disposed of, Elexis would certainly enjoy the chance to be able to butcher the girl just for the sake of petty revenge. be interested in toying around with her shape shifting abilities, seeing what she would do as Elexis left her a fleshless, gory, screaming, skeleton. Elexis just thought back to her case, all the knives, and surgical implements, all those wonderful little things that Elexis used to end the life of someone in the most horrible way possible. Elexis was amazed as to how something that she did in order to cause fear to her name, became a simple curiosity, to somewhat of a hobby, to her dark obsession.

A sudden breeze picked up, reminding Elexis as to how unmercifully cold it was tonight, She zipped up her jacked all the way up and burried her clawed hands into the deep pockets, it didn't help much but it stopped her mind from straying to her dark little secret, at least for now. Elexis just muttered to herself, "don't let the demons out." Elexis had business to attend too, She just listened to the girl speaking to her, "We'll make it, as usual. There's easy ways to skirt around the raids, and if we do get caught we can elude them quite easily." While she was talking Elexis slowly walked over towards where the kids were. She looked down, one of them made a slight groan of fear at Elexis looming close to them. She looked over the crates, glancing down at the children. Elexis twisted her voice into something that almost resembled a kinder tone, to the two older girls it was probably obvious that Elexis wasn't quite used to speaking kindly to others, "Are you kinds scared of little old me?" One or two of the children nodded, the others were probably paralyzed from fear, "Don't worry... I'm not going to hurt you," Elexis pretended to be surprised by the hiding children as she spoke, "Now I understand why your being so cautious weather there's patrols or not, well there wasn't too many sceduled raids, and most of them are on the otherside of the city, even with these children in tow you should be able to easily make it back to wherever you call home." She looked over to Jay, who had asked about her offer, "And Jay I meant that I could probably get some of the smugglers that I have to deal with to give you something to eat, or probably some supplies, It's the least I can do for a friend right?"

The younger children were indeed almost paralyzed with fear, and Kiki dropped her general bossiness long enough to glance at them and motion for them to come over to her. They did, but not before taking long looks at Elexis's strange mutation - the strangest person they'd ever seen was a young girl that had been taken months ago called Sterling. She'd been given the DNA of some sort of bug...no one had been quite sure what bug it was, but Sterling had many arms, that she could retract if she tried hard enough. With that as the extent of their mutant experiences, the children were fascinated. Jay gently steered one of the boys away after he stared for a little bit too long.

"Now I understand why your being so cautious weather there's patrols or not, well there wasn't too many scheduled raids, and most of them are on the otherside of the city, even with these children in tow you should be able to easily make it back to wherever you call home."

Jay nodded, ignoring a very distressed Kiki. "All right, that's good to know. They were in this part of the city not too long ago, and some people got caught. Not sure who they were, but that's why I got worried." She looked down at the younger mutants - Josh had clung stubbornly to a few wheels and gears he'd found. Samantha, the usually sullen twelve year old, was examining the memory cards that she had dug out of an overturned, slightly oily crate. They looked as if they could be modified and used; Jay was going to enjoy the hours back at home.

"And Jay I meant that I could probably get some of the smugglers that I have to deal with to give you something to eat, or probably some supplies, It's the least I can do for a friend right?"

This angered Kiki. But Jay cut her off before she could get into another argument with the girl, and replied, "Thank you. That'd be great." Something like a smile spread across her face, and she reached into her bag and dug out some of the computer chips she'd found. "I think these could be salvaged," she said thoughtfully. "You should let me try and upgrade these. They could improve your computers a lot, depending on how much power is still left in them. From a friend to a friend." At this, Kiki gasped, frowned, and glared at Elexis, obviously wondering how anyone could be friends with her.

As far as Jay was concerned, it was possible.

Elexis just gave that chilling smile of hers as Jay accepted her offer, Elexis just watched as Jay reached into that messenger bag of hers, she always wondered what could be in there, since techno paths always were so touchy with their findings, Elexis was one who could be called paranoid, always micromanaging whenever possible and making sure that she haggled every single dollar from any potential customer. But these techno paths always seemed to bicker over things as simple as computer chips or chunks of metal. But yet again the money Jay was giving her probably came from those very same chips. But she pulled out some computer chips from her bag, Elexis partly suspected something of that type, and she held them out, "I think these could be salvaged," Elexis took the chips into her clawed hangs, examining them in the light for a moment as Jay continued to speak, "You should let me try and upgrade these. They could improve your computers a lot, depending on how much power is still left in them. From a friend to a friend." Elexis handed the chips back, then noticed that other girl's rather audible gasp, probably from the phrase friend being thrown around. Elexis just gave her one last nasty look before speaking to Jay, "There are always some computer system or another belonging to some faction that I employ, I'm sure I can find them some use. Now I'm sorry but I have some business to attend too... and I'll see if I can get those supplies, I'd be willing to pay extra if not spare some rations or not." Elexis knew that military K rations weren't the best in terms of taste, but they were cheap, lasted long, and had plenty of nutrition. But Elexis would see what she could get, since chances are she wouldn't have to pay them much, she could always argue and yell her way to a cheaper price... since they were causing her to come out to this worthless place anyways...

Elexis just turned and started to walk away from the warehouse, she assumed that Jay would follow her. She walked past the body of the fatter of the seekers, his head surrounded by a expanding pool of his own blood. Elexis still didn't care about the gory scene, she guessed that she was really desensitized to this kind of stuff by now. She came up the ramp and saw that the guards didn't try and give her any trouble to the spider woman. She noticed the sniper that she had taken and used his weapon was still rather shaken, but it might just be from Elexis's appearance, since she did have a tenancy to intimidate others. She continued into the warehouse and to the offices. The lighting was rather well and the paint looked of unusually high quality when compared to most of the other buildings in the remnants of this city. It was because this was one of the several renovated warehouses that Elexis used to make those who smuggled in her shipments a bit more comfortable, since they usually would have to spend several days here in order to avoid potential coast guard patrols that would really ruin their day. She came to a room with a couch, and a long range radio that was playing some music in Russian, while Elexis knew the exact meaning she just tuned it to something from the united states, something that Jay would probably recognized. Elexis just turned to her, "I hope you don't mind waiting here for a moment, I have a meeting to attend too." Elexis just began to mutter some swear words under her breath in Russian, seeing as Jay probably wouldn't want to take the brunt of Elexis's anger. She just stepped through another hallway, she was always thankful that the hallway and wide enough to accommodate her warped body...

Elexis was rather suspicious with how there wasn't any guards, but she paid it no mind, this idiot was the one responsible for messing up something as simple as "this crate goes here, this crate goes here' The man across the oak desk from her was rather fat, his face showed the obvious bearing of being able to eat well from his home country, there were a few rather obese beads of perspiration upon his brow, probably unused to the warmer climates of the United States. The oak desk he was sitting behind was covered in papers and other ledgers marking the exchange of goods as well as He was wearing a simple white shirt and had the overhead fan on, probably trying to cool things down even more, Elexis already was cold enough having long since gotten used to the colder winters here. Elexis got straight to the chase with things, her voice contained plenty of anger, even for her, "Alright I'm here... what's so damn important that you have drag me all the way over here." The man that Elexis assumed was the overseer just shrugged, "Why so hostile... what's a meeting amongst friends," Elexis just scooted the wheeled chair aside, since she couldn't sit in regular chairs anymore. She put the tips of her claws at his neck, "I'd consider you a friend if you DIDN"T SCREW UP SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS..." She was cut off by his chuckling, he gently pushed the clawed hand aside and leaned closer, "I didn't mess anything up... you could check the crates yourself, everything's in place." Elexis gritted her teeth, she wasn't yelling anymore, but her anger was still there, abet more controlled but still present, "You better explain yourself." He showed a smile more akin to a shark, "Did you really think that I'd let a heartless bitch like you continue doing what you do... I struck a deal with the Americans, and they should be on their way." Elexis drew her pistol and pressed it to his head, screaming as she did, "YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU." He laughed yet again, rather strange considering his impending death, "They were going to kill me anyways, I'd rather give my life stopping a disgusting bitch like you."
]
Elexis pulled the trigger and watched as she decorated the walls with the overseer's brains. The door was kicked in and two of her guards rushed in, their sub machine guns sweeping the room, alerted by the sudden gunfire. Elexis just put her pistol away, not bothering to clean it due to the impending danger, "We've been betrayed!" She motioned to the papers covering the desk and filling the filing cabinets, completely calm despite the rapidly cooling corpse and the large red stain decorating the wall. The guard hesitated, "Ma'am it'll set us back months if we lose these." Elexis just snapped at them as well, now she was really pissed off, "If we're crated we'll be set back a lot longer. BURN IT... BURN IT ALL." The guards scrambled as ELexis left the room, she turned to see one of them tipping a cabinet over before throwing a lit lighter onto the papers now covering the floor, Elexis watched for a moment as the flames rapidly spread across the papers and removing any information about the whereabouts of any other facilities like this one. Elexis stepped out to where Jay was sitting, she paused for a moment...

Several helicopters could be heard in the distance... and they were approaching rapidly.

5 minutes till deployment...

Adrian checked his assault rifle, there was no need for Adrian to be known as the "the guy who got killed because his rifle jammed the second he hit the ground." He double checked his vest, and his helmet. He hated using hard covers but yet again these were confirmed smugglers and they would almost always have firearms. He rested his head against the seat's head rest and took a deep breath of his cigarette, The seat was far from comfortable. But then again that's what you get when the US army hired the lowest common bidder. The Chinook helicopter was now approaching one of the warehouses in the wharf. There was another gunship escort that would ensure that there was nothing waiting for them once they hit the ground and probably scare any mutant resistance shitless the second it's chainguin opened up. High command had sent quite a bit to make sure that this operation would go off perfectly, this was a once in a lifetime chance. Some smuggler under boss had apparently been caught red handed in Europe and was willing to give information in turn for a better sentence. Adrian looked out of the opened rear hatch of the Chinook, watching the urban landscape. If Adrian looked closely he could see human forms moving amongst the abandoned buildings, teenagers, probably thinking that the searchlight was looking for them, and that the soldiers mounted within these helicopters were going to kick down their door and have a crate waiting just for them. It was as if that searchlight was some kind of weapon, because the mutants would avoid it at all costs. But they weren't heading for some band of teenagers fearing for their lives, Adrian and three squads of fully armed marines were heading for a high priority target.

3 minutes till deployment....

Adrian looked over as the sergeant called, the intercom making his voice clear over the ever constant din of the helicopter blades, "Alright listen up everyone... this is a one time chance and you can guarantee that all of us will be getting some of the crappiest jobs for a long long time." Adrian looked to see that the other members of his squad were doing the same as he was, checking equipment, Adrian just took one last breath of his cigarette and then flicked it out of the hatch, watching the small orange spot of light spin around and land on the ground. The sergeant just continued his briefing, "Elexis Sinclaire, the black widow. We have almost no intel on her, she was Ukrainian and didn't show up in the records, all we got from them was a name and two murdered parents and some tickets. She is the linchpin for all smuggling operations in the New York zone." Adrian grimaced at the mention of her, he saw her picture in the files, she was rather young and could be considered beautiful. Apparently the only image that they had was a long range camera shot where they only got her face. She didn't know how someone so beautiful could be so heartless, the record was rather impressive, in a demented way. Smuggling, gun running, murder on dozens of accounts. and she'd most likely be dragged in front of the UN on charges of crimes against humanity, some pretty intense stuff. The sergeant continued and Adrian listened, "Central command wants her alive at all costs, apparently something to do with her mutations. I repeat, you are not to kill her at all costs, she needs to be taken alive. All others are considered secondary to the objective of taking her alive." Adrian was confused by this, but then again this heartless monster was probably going to serve alot of time...

1 minutes till deployment...

The sergeant went spoke a few last words, "Also you have orders to destroy any possible cashes of weapons, we cannot leave anything for the mutants to stumble upon." Adrian loaded his clip and pulled back the action. While the others may accuse him of being soft on teenagers this was a different story, these were the ones that made sure that Adrian's life was the hell that it was. He wasn't going to simply say that they are misunderstood, these were a different story. Especially after he read Elexis's file, part of Adrian wanted to kill her, to somehow make her pay for what she did to all those people, to get revenge for keeping him stuck in this god forsaken down in this god forsaken militart...

"DROP ZONE GO GO GO!"

The sergeant's yelling and the chaingun spraying to keep any resistance's head down. Adrian stood from his seat and ran up to where the ropes that were now descended to the ground. He could hear yelling in Russian from the ground, Adrian clipped himself to the rope, and rappelled to the ground...

Kiki had ample time to start in on Jay again after Elexis left. "Are. You. Kidding me." Her usual yell had diminished to a dangerous snarl. Still, Jay eyed her calmly, not wanting to provoke her. It wasn't wise to make Kiki angry, especially when she didn't understand something. You wanted her to use those hand-weapons on other people, not you. Of course Jay was on guard in case the older girl snapped, but there really wasn't too much of a danger of that. "What? In this world you need all the allies you can get," she replied simply. Kiki sighed, her shoulders shaking with rage. "You know who she is," Kiki told Jay darkly. "A killer. One day we'll wake up and most of us will be gone. Starting with you. She'll rip us limb from limb." Jay didn't think that would be likely...they were all mutants after all. What would Elexis gain by killing them?

"Kiki, just -" The sound of whirling helicopter blades, faint ones, stopped Jay's next response. Damn! She'd been hoping the three younger mutants wouldn't have to be a part of this. But they could fight just as well as the older mutants, which was good, but they were smaller and were picked off easily. And Kiki was already giving orders.

"Sam! Dream up something to confuse the helicopters. And you, Josh, take our stuff and go back to warn the others. I want backup, now," Kiki was already trying to see where the copters were going to land, or if they were just going to drop the men and fly over. As Josh ran, his head down, Jay shoved Greg, the only younger mutant not busy, to the ground as bullets flew overhead. Kiki's arms morphed into two steel scimitar-like blades, blocking bullets and threatining those who dared get close. Jay was already working on as much technology as she could, causing static, blindness, small electrocutions. "Greg! Shield us!" The fourteen year old boy concentrated, beads of sweat breaking out over his forehead, his fingers to the ground. In minutes, the area was surrounded by a thick crush of some sort of vine, blocking the majority of the bullets. Looking towards Elexis, Jay's eyes widened. "Who sent them?"