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It's another cold evening in Queens, and the city faces growing unrest once again. Not ice giants, or giant bugs, or even aliens that have been strangely quiet — but mankind themselves, or a subset of it, declaring open warfare on another subset. The streets aren't quite as crowded as they might normally be as a result; humans worry that mutants could strike anywhere for revenge, mutants worry about the next attack. As a result, other than the waitress and cook behind the grill, there's only one person in the diner at the moment — one person with platinum colored hair. That might be part of the reason that there's only one there, given that he's also far too young to have that color in his hair naturally.
He comes from an era of instant communication. Of not having to wait for things like rotary phones - still in use - to dial numbers. So word was passed by foot, instead. There was a note left where Billy had been staying, and he was with Hope when the thought struck him — both were instructed to meet him at the Empire diner, /now/, and that it was important. And there's three menus waiting in the booth to reflect that fact.
But for now he's waiting. And tapping his foot impatiently.
*
Billy doesn't have anywhere near Tommy's speed, but he can cheat, so he manages to get to the diner before waiting becomes so intense that Tommy has to start running around in circles just to expel the speedforce or whatever it is in this universe that makes him zoom. Still, it's COLD outside, and Billy is bundled in a turtleneck and a jacket, and once he's inside, he's sneezing from sheer chill effect. His nose is a bit red, and he rubs it. Since its warmer inside he bundles out of his heavy coat, and spying the platinum twin, wanders over and plops down across from—- three menus? He taps the other one questioningly, arching a brow with an unvoiced question, even as his eyes look over the menu otherwise. Mmm. Foooood.
*
Time ticks its way through the day, progressing on regardless of whatever business a man or woman might choose to conduct. Time doesn't care about giants or 'gods,' and New York belongs to its expansive kingdom where the busses run on time and subway cars show up mostly when expected. People cross the street to the blink of walking men and orange hands, because they're jerks that way around here. All said and done, a very orderly city moves at its own pace even if someone would rather the world sped up or slowed down, and too bad for the lot unhappy with their… well. Lot. That would be the protesting group on the corner with signs and placards. It would be the business owner muttering about a lack of police involvement for sixty people dead. In his day, that'd be called a national tragedy with three days mourning.
"Look, can I just get a coffee?" Hope is not in the mood to talk to the man, and he puts up with her guff only because she glares at him over the glass case. He eventually hands it over for a quarter, and she grumbles, trudging away to the restaurant in question. Anyone who wants to give her a look over isn't going to see more than a travel-worn girl who might be a student. Maybe some kind of employed person, but that's not so likely in those clothes. She trains her eye over the rooftops and windows, balconies, and fire escapes almost longingly. It would be so much nicer to run down one of them, and fly away free. Nope, instead she's going inside with her coffee, squeezing after the door still rattling shut after Billy's arrival.
*
He knew he wouldn't even have to open his mouth to answer the question at hand; which is why both as a response for Billy's question about the third menu, and to draw the future owner of that menu's attention their way, Tommy raises a hand and fliks fingers towards Hope, followed by a curl of those fingers in their direction, inviting the redhead to come join the twins.
He waits until she joins them to speak up — moving aside to let her take the inside half of the booth. Speedster thing. Being trapped on the inside makes one more likely to just climb on the table in order to get out, and that didn't seem like the best of ideas in the current climate.
"Hope, you remember Billy, right? My brother? Borrows a lot of my looks, just not the awesome hair?" A grin. "…and Billy, you remember Hope, who I /finally/ managed to chase down." Oh, that had bothered him for /weeks/ when she ran off the first time. He's used to being the fastest thing on two legs. "Go ahead and order — whatever's on me, then we've got to talk."
*
Waving at the waitress with a quick, dimpled grin, Billy is all about ordering: "Biscuits and gravy with extra bacon and coffee and orange juice, thanks." He squints at Tommy for a long moment, "Did you like get a job?" Still, he's starved. But he's practically always starved. It takes a long look at Hope before it dawns on him just who it is she is, and then he grin and nods and lifts fingers in a bit of a wave, "Oh, right. The pizza place. Hey, how you doing? Hey it's fairly impressive to be able to get away from Tommy for any stretch of time. That like, never happens!" Then he looks between them and asks: "Whatsup?"
*
Sure, shove the paranoid survivor of many years into the corner. There's a bright idea, one that's gonna go over well. Eyeing up the space, she squeezes in past Tommy, half-climbing and half-squished to the wall. "Hi," she says, hand reaching out to balance on the wall. Her lumpy coat jingles and clunks with the mysteries of a Macy's department store stuffed in the pockets, and then she lands in a heap at the appointed spot. "Hi again. Yeah, it's been forever and a day." Coffee ends up in front of her, and she doesn't even bother to look at the menu. "Pancakes, fluffy blueberry ones, please. Oh, and lots of syrup." It's not a meal without bathing your silver dollars in fake maple blood, the victory of a dozen felled groves. Barbarian!
"He's pretty easy to distract. Throw something shiny or shout 'squirrel,' and then run really quick around a corner. Or climb!" This warrants a nod of solemn recognition. "Almost no one ever thinks to look up. It's pretty weird." Then it's back to clutching her drink. "I'm cool. I mean… for all the stuff happening, pretty cool. You okay?"
*
"Someone dropped a twenty. Should cover the three of us for a couple of meals." Tommy replies to Billy — of course, the person in question dropped it thanks to a supernatural burst of wind… but that wasn't going to be part of the story that Tommy told. Better the good twin not know where the cash happening. Even if that /hadn't/ been the case… well. Tommy's by far the finders keepers kind of guy when it coms to money.
"I'll take a stack of pancakes, but I want bacon layered between them." Pause. "And better double the maple syrup she ordered." …because he will use it too. When the waitress departs, he's left to whine a bit about Hope's distractionary techniques — although he /did/ look up when she said 'climb' loudly. She might be right about this. Tongue is thusly stuck in her direction, before there's an affectionate lean/bump into her. "Yeah, yeah. Well. Most people who distract me aren't fast enough to actually /stay/ away. I can hunt most folks down by just running all over a mile radius of where I was."
Then a look to both of them, and his features grow more serious. Serious!Tommy is not something seen often. "Did you guys hear the news about what happened down in Mutant Town?"
*
There's a long, thoughtful look in Tommy's direction: bacon layered between pancakes? Billy breathes in awe, "That's genius, Tommy. You always have the best ideas. But I'm not in a sweet mood. But still. Wow. Next time I am, I'm trying that." Then, Billy pauses a moment, blinking, "… shoot." He says it with such venom that you can hear he wants to say shit, but he doesn't. Billy, you see, does not cuss. Not ever. Its fishsticks and shoot and butthead all the way. But he leans back and groans, "I didn't, I've been dealing with some deep flipping stuff and sort of preoccupied, so I wasn't really paying… Crap, what happened now?" Because Mutant Town being a subject means something horrible had to have happened, or else.
*
"Yeah. Ground zero plus or minus one. I wasn't in the riot." Before two people potentially start yelling at her, Hope gets her hand up. Self-interested in surviving a spat between them, maybe. "People died. A lot of people died. I'm hearing numbers that sound like…" Troubled eyes turn away from them towards the window, peering out onto the street in a perfectly ordinary neighborhood populated by more or less ordinary people going about their very unremarkable lives. A street full of big cars made with Minnesota steel in Detroit plants, people dressed in big winter coats who run for a subway or a class in an urban secondary school. She sits up a little straighter, back to the wall, feet squeezed together. "This is how it began. How it can begin." Checking herself is important, with these people because these two, they get something to a degree very, very few others will. "There's like fifty to seventy people dead. Kids, adults. The 'F. O. H.' did it. They're like the Friends of Humanity or something, but they're a terrorist cell." Those two little words mashed together comes with a survivor's reckoning, a soldier's bleak measure. Billy is a good young man who doesn't swear.
Hope is a messiah without a cause, the reckoning of a faith not yet born. "They were slaughtered. Mutants. They… crucified someone. They hung up a mutant in Harlem. And where were the police? Where was anyone?" Her eyes narrow, full of a grim, miserable light.
*
"You should," Tommy offers to Billy, just the hint of a grin showing up. "I thought I'd try it the other day just because it /sounded/ really good, and, well. Flavor explosion." Plus, it made eating go that much faster and convienient. Even if sticky when combined with syrup, but, easy on the go foods were important to the speedster.
When Hope goes into the details… Tommy's gaze hardens some. Yes, he'd heard the details. But that didn't change the fact that it was pretty horrible stuff. The kind of things that can't be forgiven easily, if at all in his mind. Still a hand reaches out for her; seeking to support as much as he's seeking it.
"This fucked up era was bad enough when we got here; racism," he pauses a second to try and find a word, then shakes his head. "You know, other isms." A brief look towards Billy on that, and lips curve into a frown along with fingers of the other hand curving into a fist. "But I was /there./ Not when it happened, just a couple hours before. I was helping Cousin Lorna deliver like, happiness supplies or something. We could've been involved in all of that. They could've tried to kill /us./" Fist slams against table — though he's careful to avoid being too loud just yet. He's angry, but not quite out of his mind on the subject just yet.
"We need to do /something/ about it. Not just sit around twiddling our thumbs or trying to build houses when they're just going to get burned down by these assholes." He stops, now. Eyes flickering between the pair at rapid speed. Trying to judge their reactions to debate what he says next.
*
Food is inbound with the waitress, soon enough bound to be dropped off. Delicious food! Bacon and toast, eggs, piled up pancakes, and a carafe of orange juice all end up on the table in two trips, because their waitress only has two arms that she's willing to use.
*
To say that Lorna was jumpy was an understatement. Between the attack and slaughter of mutants in Mutant Town, where she'd just been the day before, and her own attack by the 'Absorbing Man', she was about ready to jump at every shadow. So when the paranoia of walking on the street became too much, she fled into the closest diner, heart hammer in her chest as she quickly shut the door behind her and peered out the frosty glass to the street beyond.
Her hand shook and she nearly jumped as the hostess asked her if she wanted a seat. A jerky nod followed as the woman led her further in, before she caught sight of Tommy, Hope and Billy. Tears sprung to her eyes and she rushed over, pushing past the waitress in her haste.
"Tommy! Oh, it's awful, I'm so scared and I can't stop shaking." She was standing awkawrdly, hugging her arms around her middle as she bit her lower lip.
*
Looking grim, Billy eyes his food for a long moment and shakes his head slowly, "But what can we do? I mean, if I was there, I would have fought back, but now I'm hearing about it the day after, so what… is there to do? On top of all that?" He gestures up to the sky and grunts, "There's aliens invading and taking over the government, which is sorta what I've been dealing with lately. Well. Sorta. Practicing doing some stuff so I can help rescue the Director of some government agency who got kidnapped and replaced— maybe after we mutants do them a favor they'll do something about protecting us in Mutant Town. I don't know what else to do besides, like…" He sighs, and grab sa fork, and stabs into his biscuit and slathers it in gravy before popping a bit into his mouth and taking time to think, "… patrolling? And looking for the bad guy— Oh, Hi, Lorna." He waves a hand at her a bit, and scoots in so she can sit. This twin doesn't mind confined spaces. Then again teleportation is a thing with him.
*
Hope is about to open her mouth to answer that question, shooting a look from Billy to Tommy and back again. "You're looking for who and what now?" The pancakes willl end up cut up into bite-sized pieces but she has the manner of eating common to canteens from Seoul to Saigon, stabbing pieces and chewing them thoughtfully. "Patrolling's a start. You gotta know the lay of the land and the defenses before you can have routes out. Escape routes are important, especially without any kind of tactics. Get intel on the people behind the attacks. Everyone has weak points. Exploit them. So if this church is being funded by someone, find out where the money goes. Find out where they get their support, organizing, and stuff. When you start tracking all that, you can start cutting it off, or at least selectively whacking them hard enough to undermine 'em. High and mighty people act like that because they think they got all the cards, but they don't. You'd be shocked what a little organized resistance can do. It' s a war of attrition, kinda." Those mindful words are soft, and it's not like anyone else is around to hear them except Lorna, who gets vetted. She doesn't really smile, but that's probably because her idea of a compromise is a sniper rifle, at the moment. "Invading aliens is kinda a problem, but humanity at war with other parts of humanity is a little too convenient, don't you think? And Dad said this was supposed to be a safe place. Ha." The bleak tone of a laugh. "I swear he's messing with me. It wouldn't be unlike the bishop to hide behind a church. You know, I'm gonna just freaking go topside right now and make sure there isn't some black guy with awesome hair and a really, really big gun pointing it through the window." Absurd? Sure. But try being in her shoes, never even on the same continent or time twice.
*
Food! He can /see/ it. He can almost tast— Lorna? Green eyes blink. He hadn't planned to drag her into this — Billy's a different story. They /fought/ evil before. Lorna? She's Billy-levels of innocent without the Billy-levels of experience…. and she's freaking out. She must've heard. "Sit. Eat." Tommy insists, motioning to the space left by Billy, and, after a moment, pushing his plate loaded with pancakes (and bacon layered between those pancakes) in her diretion. "Uh, double my order please miss, thanks." is offered towards the waitress.
Billy's comments are addressed first — brows raising in unison and surprise at what he's talking about. Maybe the aliens /haven't/ been so quiet afterall. "Well… if you need a hand or two feet that move faster than lightning… you know who to call." Because if Billy needs help, Tommy's there. that's how it works.
Then it's Hope's turn. And she expands upon the idea first presented by Billy, and Tommy tries to keep up. Listening to the words being spoken. Putting them together and disassembling them. … and then moving to stand, offering Hope an apologetic look. "…I guess I should probably take the inside seat given that, Spicecake." She's the target, if someone tries to shoot her, she needs to be able to get moving /first./ Even as much as Tommy'd be right behind her.
"People like that… brave enough to go right into the streets and do something like this, right where there's supposed to be a matter of safety in numbers… the kind of people who kill /children./" Tommy huffs, moving back into the booth once he and Hope exchange seats; fractions of a second can matter with ballistics afterall. "I'm not sure the things we used to do are good /enough./ A guy I met the other day was sayin' that maybe we need to send a message, show those normals that we aren't to be messed with." … he couldn't say that it was a /bad/ idea. "…and I think I know how we can bring the people who did this to /us./"
*
Lorna sat beside Billy, and by beside, it was more of a nearly climbing onto his lap in her clear fear. It shook in her hands and she was constantly glancing behind her, as if someone might come bursting into the diner at any given moment. She was peeling off her scarf and gloves only after the conversation continued onwards.
Bruises marred her neck, large, dark splotches in the shape of finger prints stained her otherwise pale skin.
"No! No! It's not that, though that was terrible. No, someone's trying to kill me. Or hurt me. I don't know." Tears splashed against her eyelashes and she sniffled hard, rubbing her nose against her sleeve.
"That guy from Mutant Town came after me Tommy. He said that someone told him to send a message. Someone that I pissed off. I don't know what he was talking about! And he was choking me, and I threw a bench at him, and he had this giant iron ball. I threw that at him, but then he changed into iron. I-I don't know what's going on and I think someone was following me." She spoke in a hysterical whisper and shivered.
*
Hope has partially disconnected.
*
Billy nods slowly in agreement to Hope, his expression thoughtful, but also concerned, "I… don't know anything about that sort of stuff. How to find where the money is from, where it's going. But it sounds like you know your way around problems like this." He hesitates, and then nods a bit, "I agree, humans fighting humans is a pretty bad thing, but aliens in charge of the government is more then kinda a problem, I think. That said, people slaughtering a bunch of us is a huge problem too. Why can't we have only one problem at a time?" Then he takes some time to munch up some bacon, nodding to Tommy, "Of course, you're always number one on my speed dial." Whatever the heck that means. Then he adds a bit hesitantly, "I'm not sure if its a good idea to 'send a message'. Two wrong's don't make a right. If we stoop to their level, we lose any moral high ground. We will justify their hatred of us. Right now there's some people who are sympathetic towards us, if we're like them, we lose that."
*
"Mother…" Tommy doesn't finish the statement as he evaluates Lorna. Brain shifts gears immediately, concern washes over anger — which will come back shortly, but hasn't quite yet. "…are you okay, Lorna? I mean, no permanent damage?" he asks of her first — making sure that's the case.
…then it's time to get angry again. There's a pause when the waitress comes back to bring the second plate of bacon-layered pancakes, and a forced smile of gratitude towards her, before green eyes settle on Lorna. "I knew that guy was bad news from the moment I saw him." Tommy offers voice soft. He could've prevented /that/ from happening, too, if he'd just given into the side of him that said, 'punch the giant guy' rather than letting the girls calm him down. "He's not going to get away with this — you can count on that."
"This is /exactly/ what I'm talking about, guys like him… they don't understand rules. I grew up around people just like him. Well. Minus the ten layers of muscles, that is." A frown, and Billy's words are considered a little more. "Two wrongs might not make a right… but sometimes they stop a third wrong from happening. Maybe we need to have a… y'know, a carrot /and/ a stick. People out there and showing the best that mutants can be… and a boogeyman to remind people like the ones who came to Mutant Town that if they step out of line, they'll get stepped /on./"
*
Lorna sniffled, blinking back tears as she rubbed at her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. It just hurts to laugh or if I sneeze, or cough. My throat is all sore. I went to the clinic on campus," She wiped at her eyelashes.
"So they filed a report. They wanted to send me to the hospital, but I really didn't want to. They also wanted to file a police report, but I don't think that'll do any good considering the guy turned into whatever it was that touched him." Another sniffled.
"He said he didn't want to kill me, but that someone else might. 'Cause apparently, I got someone angry at me. I dunno why.." She blinked repeatedly, tears still in those green eyes that were so similar to Tommy's own hue.
"And with the attack on Mutant Town I'm just really scared." She whispered, biting her lower lip as she glanced down at her lap and exhaled a shaky breath.
*
Billy turns a concerned look upon Lorna, his brow furrowing, "Maybe for a couple days or so you should not go out by yourself, and stick around someone who has some experience.. you know.. fighting things off. I mean, I'm sure you're plenty powerful and all of that but like, Tommy and I are bonafide crime fighters. We can protect you." Then he looks to Tommy and nods his head slowly, "Maybe you're right, but I'm just worried we'd make things worse. Oh, I don't mean we shouldn't maybe start patrolling actively and if anyone tries anything we deal with the situation decisively, but the more fear and hate we pile onto the issue the more out of control things are going to get."
*
When Lorna mentions the lasting effects, Tommy looks from her over to Billy, "Maybe we should have Steve look her over and see if there's anything /he/ can do. I mean, he's not a /pretend/ Doctor, right?" A pause. "Maybe he'll let her stay there," At the Sanctum "For a couple days too. If someone's coming after you, Lorna… changing up your routine is probably a good idea."
Then the other issue, "You might be right, but… I mean… imagine if someone had done that to your family, could you just… stand by and keep doing things the way you always have? I can't imagine they're just going to /stop,/ either…" A pause, a frown. "…honestly, it's probably just going to get worse unless something manages to /stop/ them, and stop people /like/ them from stepping up."
*
Lorna winced, biting her lower lip. "But I have classes, Tommy! I.. I don't want to worry tata either. I know he'll be upset already with the attacks. I mean.. He's already super protective.." She bit her lower lip, glancing downwards and pushing her hair backwards. She eyed the food, but didn't touch it, her lower lip trembling. Her father had driven his car all the way into the city, and tracked her down on just the idea that she might be in trouble.. now? Oh boy.
"The Brotherhood.. Raven.. she's got people in Mutant Town. She and several of her memebers stopped me my first delivery there. She blew up a few cars and shot at some men too, they're linked to the kidnappings there with mutants getting hooked on vigor." She bit her lower lip again, fidgeting in her seat and glancing back at the door nervously.
"Tata went to Sacremento after the fire, he apparently found a girl there and handed her over to the police for adoption. I can't imagine that he won't try to go to Mutant Town now.."
*
"Staying with Steve would maybe be a good idea." agrees Billy with a thoughtful purse of his lips, "As long as you didn't *touch* anything he's really paranoid about that. Yeah. And not only would no one think to look for you there, but he's pretty intense with the power thing, and his house is guarded by a lot of weirdly touchy-feely magic wards. Good luck for anyone breaking in there to get to you." He gives a sigh to Tommy, and plays with his food, sorta nibbling but not very enthusiastically, "I don't know what's going to stop it, not really, and that's one thing I remember not being a lot better— then. I mean it was a little better, but not totally. So… we just have to deal with it. And try to save as many people as we can." He looks at Lorna and blinks, "What is a tata?"
*
"Yeah. Steve's got a bit of a stick up his butt, but…" motioning over towards Billy and his explanation about how hard it would be to break in where the Sorceror Supreme resides. "…there really wouldn't be anywhere safer to go. If you want, you can let me know where to find your dad," A look over to Billy, "That's what she means by 'tata'. It's a…" A helpless look at Lorna. Fill in the blank! "…word. But you tell me where to find him, I can get a message to him yesterday. I already know what he looks like, afterall." Or, y'know, she could use the phone, but Tommy doesn't /think/ of that. Again, he has a bias against the things in this era.
A look towards Lorna, and then towards Billy. Gears turning in his head. He's not the planning type, he's the run in and smash things type. That much was for certain. Taking a bite of smooshed pancakes and bacon, Tommy chews, ponders, and swallows.
"The Brotherhood is kidnapping mutants and getting them hooked on Vigor?" Blink. Were the papers /really/ right about them? That's pretty disappointing. "…and if he's coming to Mutant Town, worst case scenario is I can wait for him there, but keeping /you/ safe in the meantime is pretty important."
*
Lorna's brows pinched, "I don't want to hide.." She mumbled, looking down at her hands. "I have classes.. and.. and hiding won't stop whoever it was that wanted to hurt me in the first place." She shrugged weakly.
A grimace pulled at her lips and she dragged her hands through her hair, still brown. "Ah, it's Polish for dad. I asked him what I should call him after I found out I was adopted, asked what he called his father.." She shrugged weakly, "He'd just told me that the last time he saw his dad was in the camps." A wince at that, and Lorna glanced between Billy and Tommy. "But I keep getting made fun of for using it."
A sigh pulled from her lips though as Tommy confused what she meant. "Er.. no. Sorry. Some humans are getting mutants hooked on vigor and kidnapping them. Raven found some guys in Hell's Kitchen and set up a trap to capture them, I got in the way."
*
Blinking a moment, Billy is all: "What's vigor?" He is, apparently, out of touch on that particular plot development. He does add, though, "It can be only for a couple days, until we find whoever this is— can you describe him in any more detail? Hey, like. Maybe I could woosh up a thing. I've been wooshing lately." He pauses, and looks to Tommy, "Right, so like, I keep meaning to tell you about that. I've sorta started figuring out how to woosh." He makes a quasi-magical looking gesture that would make Doc Steve grit his teeth in fury. "Maybe if you describe him I can do a woosh to make like, I don't know. A picture of him. Then maybe we can find this person and kick his butt."
*
"Well… up to you. If you won't hide, that means I'll just have to track the big guy down… give /him/ reason not to mess with us and make him tell me who put him up to it. Then I'll repeat the process." Tommy offers, before looking over to Billy, "Vigor. The latest party drug. Turns humans into mutants." …maybe he should get some of that and start injecting the Friends? Wouldn't /that/ be a lark? …that's a thought jotted down for later use. /That/ might stop it.
"He was big… like, pro-wrestler big. Maybe big/ger./ Bald, I'm sure. Wore a funky hat. Bad attitude." …the comment about wooshing? Causes a bit of blinking. But! "That's pretty cool! I mean, I still don't really get all of that magical stuff, but… the more you can do, the more awesome you can be."
Then a look back over towards Lorna. "So.. this Raven chick's blowing things up and shooting at people to try and put a stop to people coming after our kind?" Tommy inquires. That might just be the stick, too.
*
A glanced around and Lorna leaned forward, "Tommy, this guy is tough. I threw a bench at him! I tossed him into the air and back and he didn't get hurt at all! And he's strong." She winced, and pressed a hand against the bruises on her throat.
"And yeah, pretty much what Tommy said. Tommy saw him when he bumped into us at Mutant Town the other day, just before the .." She wiggled her fingers, not wanting to talk about the death of 60 people particularly.
"And yeah vigor gives non-mutants powers. I saw it happen at a club. These people had no idea what to do and started panicking, they almost hurt others. It was bad. The mutants? Oh geeze, it's even worse. It amps up abilities sooo much. It's bad."
Then she shifted in her seat, and glanced around again, sat up, checked the door and back. Clearly, she was paranoid.
"Alright, so Raven is the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. They've been in the paper before. Tata said that she used to go to the Xavier Institute, that he and Professor Xavier knew her. That she beleives that humanity has to be quashed because … well, it was something like humans will try to round up and kill all the mutants. So she wants to stop that." She bit her lower lip.
"Raven is willing to kill anyone that gets in her way. Not put them in jail, or anything, but just kill them." An exhale and she dragged her hands through her hair with a groan.
"I was supposed to meet up with her to try to help save the kidnapped mutants." She admitted.
*
Hope has left.
*
"I don't exactly get it myself." admits Billy to Tommy with a quick, dimpled grin that's more then a little rueful, "The magic stuff. I concentrate real hard and say the magic words and things just happen." He holds his hands together before him, hiding them from the lap, and his expression becomes intense, "I need a snack." Reality bends very slightly, though likely none of them can tell. "I. need. a. snack." There's a magical, reality-twisting presusre, like a bottle that's about to pop. "Ineedasnack." The twisting and ripping of reality likely goes unnoticed by the mutants, but a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos is tossed over to Tommy. Behold. Billy is a GOD.
"But hey, I'm not worried about big guys. I fly and shoot lightning out of my fingers, Lorna. Okay, big, and bald. I mean I can't singe his hair off if he's bald, but through enough lightning bolts at someone and they leave you alone. True fact." He hesitates, "I really don't think I'm for blowing people up just because they're mutants. I want mutant equality and freedom and an end to racism and gay marriage…" Whatever the hell 'gay' means. Its not in use in this era, yet. "And all the social justice stuff, I do. But you don't get it by blowing people up." Discussion of vigor has him wrinkling his nose, "Drugs are bad." Pause, "Except ectsasy and magic mushrooms." Beat. "I think."
*
"He might be tough and strong, but" Tommy holds out a finger, "he can't hurt what he can't touch and," another finger "he probably gets tired. I don't. That's two strikes against him before the fight even started… I mean, if he can turn into iron, I can't do much to him about /that,/" Besides, his blowing up powers don't work on organic materials. Wait. Is iron organic? Maybe not. Either way, this is interrupted by Billy discussing his magical abilities. Which… make magic sound way simpler than Steve makes it look. Of course, Tommy's about to accuse Billy of playing a joke when something goes flying at him. Naturally, Tommy catches it. Tommy can catch anything. Bag is turned over and…
"DORITOS?!?!"
The temptation is there to devour them instantly. But. "Can you make more?" …because Pietro needs to know about these. As does Hope. And as much as Tommy /wants/ to devour them all right now, the other speedsters deserve a share.
Then it's back to the talk of the Brotherhood and blowing things up. One of which is a favored topic. "I think she meant blowing the cars up, not the people — and not blowing up mutants, either. It'd be pretty stupid if they were some Brotherhood of Mutants and were killing their /own/." A pause, and Tommy considers. "I… won't deny it. If a human is gonna try and blow /us/ up? I wouldn't really be against doing it to them first." Tommy protects his own. Which is why the Absorbing Man officially has a target painted on him. Then a thought, and a slight grin. "'Gay is okay' doesn't work for magic words, then?" …or 'okay to be Takei'? Not that Tommy would get /that/ reference.
Attention turns back to Lorna, now. "After all this," he points to his neck, "And that," Fingers make a gun shape. "…are you still going to?"
*
Looked utterly confused as the two brothers talked, espeically when Billy did his magical do-whatsit-thingy and a blue bag went flying. Her brows furrowed, her lips pursed and she sat up from her forward lean. Her arms crossed as she blinked, looking between Tommy and Billy after Tommy shouts and crinkles the bag. Her nose wrinkled up and she huffed.
"What? What is it? I'm lost?" She tilted her head to the side, and then glanced around again and back.
"Yeah, as Tommy said. It's cars.. and shooting humans. To get information for where they're keeping the kidnapped mutants." She grimaced, and didn't comment on any of the other confusing babble that Billy and Tommy went on about. None of it made sense whatsoever.
A groan, and Lorna dragged her hands over her face. "I don't know how he found me or anything, or who's angry at me. Gosh.." She pushed the food aside, and pillowed her arms against the table top, burying her face against her sleeves.
"Okay. Okay. If your dad is okay with what ever it is.. I'll go. But only for a day. Okay? And you have to talk to your dad first. And let my tata know I'm okay. I tried calling but he wasn't there."
*
"Sometimes. Maybe. Probably. Not like a lot? Its kinda draining and makes my head hurt, so far I haven't reproduced spells exactly, but I'm sure I'll get better at it." Billy nods his head slowly, proud of his newfound powers: his powers that are so totally way cooler and more chill then all that handwavey mumbojumbo that Steve does. It must be an old man thing. Perhaps they should get Steve a wizard hat. Blinking a bit he gets his thoughts back to the Brotherhood, "I mean I'm also fine with self-defense blowing up, and even some proactive blowing up, but only if I'm sure its someone is going to be doing some blowing up themselves." He pauses, then adds to Tommy's gay-is-okay, "I might try it but the scale of how much I'd change at once, I can see Steve's forehead, that vein in it, start pulsing. He'd ground me for… wait." Pause, "Does he have grounding privileges? If you go back in time and find your parents before they're your parents exactly what parental rights do they get? If they gave you up for adoption but haven't yet even gotten pregnant, does that mean they lost parental rights?" Poor Lorna's head is likely not going to be any less confused by this exchange. Still.
Billy nods to Lorna, "Yeah, let Steve check you out and be sure to call him Steve. He hates when people call him Stephen." Innocent dimples. See? Those are *innocent dimples*. "