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Post by cain on Dec 26, 2010 11:41:06 GMT -5
(Read "Toys for Torment" for back story)
Cain could be found in his lab, which he had connected to the dungeons of the island. It took him a good portion of the month to get everything back in order. He still couldn't forget or forgive Rose and her group for the pain they caused him and the Nightmares.
He still remembered that day, being beaten by a human. He was pinned to the ground and Ian had almost killed him. Rose destroyed the entrance, burying the Nightmares behind, and some in, the rubble. When the gas finally wore off, and Cain could transform himself into the earth and break himself free of the ground. He pulled the knives out, keeping in his other form. He knew that if he turned back to flesh, he would start bleeding.
Shadow and him didn't have much trouble removing the rubble, her using her powers and he just lifting the rocks like they were nothing. He had to stay in his stone form for almost a week until everything was fixed up and cleared away to the point where the doctor could see him. Now sporting the scars on his hands and feet, he kept most of his time in his lab working as well as telling Sky all that happened.
Karnak had insisted that the dead be left alone, and with his powers he was able to cause them to rise up and serve like mindless slaves. So now the island truly was a nightmare, set with evil mutants and walking dead. The only person Karnak seemed to bow down to was Shadow, which made him almost as sick as when she was seeing him and Sky together.
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Post by violet on Dec 26, 2010 20:12:41 GMT -5
((If only to entertain you. XD))
It’d taken quite a bit of time and effort to get the base operational again. The mutants that had attacked the place had done quite a bit of damage, who they’d really been, well Violet had yet to be told. But people rarely told her anything, if only because they knew she didn’t care what their reasoning for an order was. She hadn’t even heard who had been the one to defeat Cain, like most. If she had to guess though, she’d say he was to ashamed to admit who it was that had just near killed him. She wouldn’t tell him though, she wasn’t suicidal!
Violet paid no attention to the walking dead among them, and the dead paid no attention to her. They even steered clear of her because the first few times one had the body would just drop, inanimate once again. Whoever was controlling the dead had learned pretty quick to keep their pets away from her.
Today, she’d been running a few errands for some of the higher in command, checking things, delivering messages and the likes. Finally her errands had taken her down to the laboratories. Specifically… Cain’s. She didn’t fear the man, but she’d never encountered him before, just like he’d never seen her. Her work rarely brought her back ‘home’, seeing as her skills were better spent on travel. Approaching the closed door, she stared at it for a few moments with a hard to read look, her wings shifting a little on her back before she carefully knocked on the hard steel…
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Post by cain on Dec 26, 2010 21:17:30 GMT -5
Cain was working on three separate projects at once. Project number one was experimenting on a new device, based off of the one used to nullify Crystal's blackouts and headaches. He needed something that could burrow into the skin and latch onto the cerebral cortex of the brain. Project number two was one that was coming along very slowly. Something in that gas had disrupted the mutants powers, and yet Rose and the others were able to use theirs without effort. He had the mutants look around for any devices or residue from the attacks that didn't look like a part of the island. Unfortunately it seemed like that plan was becoming useless.
Cramps again. He growled as he felt them coming. His wrists and feet ached every now and then, and the severe wound in his leg had caused him to gain a slight limp. When the doctor told him there was no way he could stop the cramps or fix Cain's leg completely, Cain added him to the walking corpses in the halls, much to Shadow's displeasure. Which lead him to project number three: Nanobites. It was a dangerous project, and highly unstable due to the fact of putting small robotic organisms inside a physical body. If his plan worked, however, he would be able to heal himself just as fast as Wolverine maybe faster. He was heading to check on the project to do some testing when he heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it? I'm busy!"
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Post by violet on Dec 26, 2010 23:45:44 GMT -5
Violet hadn’t been on the Island during the attack, so she knew little to nothing about it. All she knew was that whoever had done it had killed a lot of people, and had used something to render everyone powerless. Now if that didn’t sound freakily familiar to Violet of all people nothing would. After all, her power did near the same thing.
Hearing Cain’s sharp reply made her hesitate. Why did she have to be the one to do this? Why couldn’t Shadow have asked someone else? Cain was so ill tempered and short fused... And Violet hated getting in fights with people. It’s not like she’d purposely try to anger Cain, but there was no telling what he might do to her for just disturbing him! Hopefully knowing who had sent her might cool his boiling mood.
“Violet, sir. We’ve never met. I have a message, from Mistress Nightshade.” Her voice was soft, like a light breeze in the wind. In was strange to think that the owner of such a sweet voice would be among the ranks of the Nightmares.
Violent waited by the door, daring not to open it and invade his territory unless he told her specifically to enter. It wouldn’t take him but a moment to realize who ‘Mistress Nightshade’ was. If someone was to address Shadow in a respectful manner, it would be Mistress. If it were Sky then it would be Miss Sky. There would always be a difference, as Shadow deserved more respect than her cousin.
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Post by cain on Dec 27, 2010 9:01:22 GMT -5
So many things he had to do, and yet here he was being disturbed by the "new ". He growled softly as she mentioned that she had a message from Nightshade. No matter how long he stayed at that island, he always referred to Shadow by name. He did his best not to get on her bad side, however, knowing that she had about as short of a fuse as he did, sometimes shorter.
"Come in..."
What could that woman want of me now he angrily thought to himself. He told Shadow and even Crimson that he didn't want to be disturbed by anyone unless it was important enough to require his attention. To him that meant to the point where Sky or his daughter's life would be in danger. Unfortunately he neglected to bring that up, so knowing Shadow she would no doubt call him up just to do a deed that one of their lower puppets could take care of. He wanted to get things done as soon as possible, but as long as he lived on Shadow's island, he was force to abide by her rules and her rules alone. For now anyway.
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Post by violet on Dec 27, 2010 13:21:18 GMT -5
Only when she heard his reluctant 'come in' did Violet reach out to close her fingers around the doorknob, turning it slowly and pushing the door open. Carefully and cautiously she entered his lab, but made sure to keep a safe distance away from him, for both their own good! Her gaze didn't wander, fixing on him near instantly, but out of the corner of her eyes she noticed all sorts of experiments and other assortments of equipment. It truly was a laboratory.
She stayed silent for only a few moments. If she had her way she wouldn't have even said anything until he spoke again, but that might frustrate him more, if only because she'd have taken up his time with her standing there doing absolutely nothing. And frustrated Cain tended to kill the person he was frustrated at. "Excuse my being frank, but she asked I tell you word for word..." A small pause. "She said 'You have no idea what you're doing, and should stop playing scientist until you are a scientist. With out the girl you have no idea how to work most of your machinery, and are incapable of learning anytime soon.' "
Cain knew Shadow could be a real witch some times, and now was one of those. His wild experiments could end with him destroying the whole Island. Cain wasn't a super genius, so he shouldn't be messing in the sciences. And seeing as he'd lost his only source of knowing how to use it.... It was unlikely he'd figure out how anything worked on his own.
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Post by cain on Dec 27, 2010 14:34:42 GMT -5
"That's it? Shadow sent you to give a lecture she could've done herself?"
He had his back to her as he spoke, but slowly turned around with impatient and angry eyes. Shadow had no idea what he was capable of in the lab. He didn't need Crystal since most of her information was given by the very computer he now worked off of, combined with the information from the mansion.
"I've been working with this long before I came to this island. She knows nothing about what I do or do not understsand."
He growled and walked back to his experiments, looking from one to the other. Every now and then he'd look at the screen and adjust something on the monitor or on his experiment itself. He suddenly stopped when he was done, turning slowly towards Violet. He hadn't told anybody what he was doing or what was going on in his lab, so how did Shadow know?
"Shadow keeping spies on me now? I don't recall ever telling her anything about my work." he had the look of death in his eyes, "She having people come down here when I'm not around and poke their little noses in?"
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Post by violet on Dec 27, 2010 15:55:27 GMT -5
“Mistress Nightshade doesn’t have the time to come down here and tell you herself. She also said to mention that unlike you, she’s putting her time and efforts into returning the base to full operation rather than her own selfish whims, if you were to ask.” Violet didn’t seem fazed by his angry look, all she did was shift from foot to foot, looking every part a bird that’s feathers had been ruffled the wrong way, you could even hear her wings shifting against her back.
Violet fell silent as he spoke again, not wanting to argue or anger him even more. The only reason he was angry at her now was because she was being forced to act as messenger. Only when he turned back to her with a look in his eyes that said he’d really try to kill her did she slowly blink. She didn’t fear what he might do, seeing as she wouldn’t feel it, but that didn’t mean she wanted to get hurt!
“I mean no disrespect, but she doesn’t need to send others down to spy on you. She is the one in command, so nothing happens without her knowing. If you were in her shoes, would you let someone go about doing who knew what without you knowing exactly what was going on?” Whatever he was doing though, Violet didn’t know. She was only relaying Shadow’s words without any idea what they meant.
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Post by cain on Dec 28, 2010 11:28:51 GMT -5
"The base is at full operation, it's the worms we have crawling around the tunnels that are too scared or too stupid to do anything, or they're ."
He knew it infuriated Shadow as much as it did him. Cain defeated, the island destroyed, and now the mutants that thought they could take on the world were cowering in their rooms, hiding from everyone instead of working to find a way to strike back at the attackers. The only people that were useful on the island were the Shadow, Cain, Crimson, and the two newest members who showed up after the attack.
"This may be her island and her base, but this is my lab. If she wants to know what's going on in here then she can come down and do it herself. I'll even give her a small tour if she wants."
The sarcasm in his voice was very obvious, but lately he hasn't exactly been in the mood to play "guess my mood" with anybody. What irritated him more was he never really saw Shadow do anything more then around in her room or the halls. Why was she criticizing him about doing something more productive when he spends more time off the island than she does?
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Post by violet on Dec 28, 2010 13:14:25 GMT -5
Finally Violet raised an eyebrow, as if asking if he was kidding about everything being at full operation. Sure, everything had been repaired but you really expected Shadow not to figure out just how they’d gotten past the security? And how to up the security even more? “Would you leave the place the exact same as before, or would you find ways to make sure this doesn’t happen a second time?” She wouldn’t mention that he’d almost been among the casualties in the attack, just in case he tried to kill her.
The way he spoke about Shadow actually irritated Violet. It irritated her that he was the guest in Shadow’s home and acted as if he were King. He stalked the halls as if he were in charge and not Shadow. She hated the way he treated their proud leader. “Your lab, in her territory.” It might be his lab, but he only had it as long as Shadow said so. He only had the leadership powers he had now because she said so. She could strip him of all his privileges with only a word. Not even Sky would be able to stop it from happening.
“Mistress Nightshade shouldn’t need to waste her time by coming to check up on you and your little stolen toys.” She turned to go, her brilliant white wings on her back shuffling in her irritation. “That is all.” Best to get out of there before she angered him even more! If he’d let her leave though…. That was an entirely different story. Her fingers closed around the door knob, slowly beginning to turn the rounded metal.
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Post by cain on Dec 28, 2010 13:45:04 GMT -5
"Yes, of course. How could I have forgotten."
To be honest, he d being here. He had no choice however, this was Sky's home and his own factory was destroyed as well as the MRF building. He literally had no where else to go, but he had to admit living with the nightmares had it's advantages. He couldn't help but wonder how Shadow felt about Rose's rebirth and the fact that his great great grandmother had something to do with it.
"Tell Shadow that if she requires me to do any assignments for her then let me know. I'm not a useless as she believes."
He turned and looked to the work he was doing, deciding that he may indeed need a little more information on each one. The nanobites and "brain bugs" he could just use the computer, but the gas was a different story. He had to find the source of the problem, but like before, nobody seemed to be able to find something on the island that could help. It was as if whatever was used either was destroyed or vanished. When Violet turned towards the door, he looked back at her.
"What do you know about...bounty hunters."
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Post by violet on Dec 28, 2010 13:59:04 GMT -5
Violet nodded when he requested she take a message back to Shadow, agreeing immediately. At least it wasn’t a message that would get her in trouble! That would be really really bad! She wasn’t a pacifist, but that didn’t mean she liked causing trouble and being in the middle of it!
She was pulling the door open when she heard his question. The moment she heard the entire thing…. Violet went deathly still. She almost seemed to pale a little, it was hard to tell with her snow white wings. The way she’d frozen though… Slowly she turned back to stare at him half wide eyed. “Bounty Hunters…? Do you mean… The human Bounty Hunters?”
It was hard to come across another mutant that knew about the Bounty Hunters, and even rarer that they were aware that they Bounty Hunters were actually Human! Oh Violet knew about them. More than near any other mutant in existence. How? Well… Cain would make the connection when he started to smell violets….
“Sir… If I may ask… How… How do you know about the Bounty Hunters?” She still had that deer in the headlights like look on her face. Then… It hit her. When the base was attacked, no one had been able to use their powers. No one could find the devices that had caused the problem. “It was one of them, wasn’t it? Your injuries, everyone’s powerless state…”
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Post by cain on Dec 28, 2010 14:14:26 GMT -5
"Yes, the human bounty hunters. Are there any others?"
His voice was angered when he asked the question. What kind of stupid question would she ask? But then he began to wonder. Were there other bounty hunters out there? Mutants? To be human and have the ability to do what Merfonde did was one thing, but to have mutant abilities as well? It was as if you were supplying the X-Jet with alien technology. You didn't change what it was, just made it more powerful.
"Because I faced one of them and...barely survived the encounter."
It was hard for him to say, and the look on Violet's face told him that he wasn't the only one who had encountered them. He gestured for her to close the door, waiting until she did before he continued. He wanted a link to the bounty hunters, someone who knew more about them than even the computer's database could tell him. The look on Violet's face told him that he had found exactly what he had been looking for, and it was her that came to him."
"I need you to tell me everything you know about them. They've attacked the nightmares and I'm sure Shadow would love to have a little retribution."
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Post by violet on Dec 28, 2010 14:29:52 GMT -5
“Others…?” Violet slowly, very slowly, nodded. This wasn’t a topic she liked discussing. At all. “More than you can even imagine.” The Bounty Hunters outnumbered the Nightmares, the Brotherhood, even the X-men!
“You were lucky then. They almost never let someone live once they’ve started the attack.” If the Bounty Hunters came with the intention of stopping someone, they very rarely let the person live. As soon as they dealt the first blow it was almost assured that you would be killed. Whoever he’d fought had stopped for some reason… Why… She had no idea.
Slowly and reluctantly Violet let the door close, unwrapping her fingers from it, as she stared at him. Cain wanted to mount an attack against the Humans. He wanted to exterminate the humans… Or steal their technology much like he had the school’s and Apocalypse’s. If only he knew how futile that was. “I’m sorry, but attacking them… All of your allies would be killed.” There was absolutely no doubt in her mind. “Even if you were to organize an attack, you would never find their Headquarters.” Even though Violet knew more about the humans then anyone could possibly know, that was one thing she’d never been told. Only full fledged hunters were allowed to know the location.
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Post by cain on Dec 28, 2010 14:44:34 GMT -5
"Dam. These people are more of a pain in my side then the rest."
He growled inwardly when she spoke so lowly of both him and the nightmares. He was sure if Shadow heard these words she would strike the young , but Cain knew that she was right. His pride had been killed that day, driving him down to the point where he thought himself useless. The limp and the cramps in his hands and feet reminded him of that failure.
"I will not fail again."
He was partly telling her, and partly telling himself. He listened as she spoke about how futile it would be to form an attack or retaliate against the enemy. He paced around the floor a bit, his posture and face in a thoughtful expression. There was no way to face an enemy when they never let you know they're coming until you're hit.
"Then we must find a way to increase the power of this island as well as it's defenses. Just a mere floating clump of dirt in the middle of the ocean doesn't seem to be cutting it, especially when they seem to have a way to neutralize mutant powers."
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