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Post by Moe on Sept 23, 2023 13:41:34 GMT -6
“Kaiser City. A large city in a small state, nestled in the center of a giant continent. One of the few that remains, after the catastrophic event destroyed half the globe. While one half is an inhospitable desert wasteland, this particular half is booming with life, advancements in technology, and human evolution. There’s a large number of mutants within the city, finding it a good place to start a vigilante journey. Most who started their journey within the city, move on to other towns and cities that needed their own heroes. For this particular city, already has an established group that wasn’t going anywhere.
The group is called the Xcentric Freaks. It’s spelled with an X, on purpose. The group’s base is just an old house, looking like it survived more than one apocalypse. It consists of Oddball, a young blue-skinned girl who can take on features of any animal she touches. Jaguaro, who can turn into a…well. Jaguar beast. Genesis and Revelation, twins who have the power to heal and curse, respectively. The final permanent member of the group is a ghost. He isn’t really part of any kind of superhero business, he just lives in the house and everyone accepted him as part of the team.
Others in the group don’t live in the house, but are an important member of the group. One of them is Raptor, who looks a lot more intimidating that he actually is. Although he was assigned the alias “Raptor”, he prefers to just go by his name of Nathan. He stands over six feet tall, has dark red skin, long, pointed ears, and most noticeably, a very long and prehensile tail. He isn’t all that worried about hiding his identity. Another is Alex, also not concerned about a secret identity because most people are too scared of her to make threats. She’s short, but muscular. Her weapon of choice is a bow staff, and she absolutely knows how to use it and use it well. Others come and go, some for specific abilities and talents. The group may not be the greatest heroes the world had ever seen, but they are good at covering their basis.
The leader of the group is a super genius, super handsome, and super cool. Plus, he has a really cool suit that makes him look all dark and brooding. That would be me.”
“Hyper X.” a young girl smiled. She was around 21 years of age, and didn’t have any noticeable mutations or special features. Just a human girl.
“Hey now, I’m supposed to make the cool intro.” Hyper X said, offended. “Oh, well. Moment ruined. So, I’ll take you to meet the others in person, but I gotta know. Are you here to stay, or just to train? The only other one without any mutations is Alex, and she’s a great trainer in hand-to-hand combat, as well as the bow staff. I should know. I’ve been thwacked with it, on more than one occasion. Fun fact, she doesn’t actually know I’m the leader and thinks I’m a villain. Don’t uh…tell her. I wanna see how long it can go.” He laughed.
“Actually, I’m a practicing wizard.” She smiled. “I believe that was a highlight of my application. I can only use a few basic spells, but I am sure that, under your team’s guidance, I’ll learn to master more complicated ones.”
“So like. Pyromancy? Lithomancy?” Hyper X said, not mentioning magic.
“No, incantations and glyphs.” The girl corrected. “Magic.”
“Right. Magic. Okay, I’ll humor you.” He shrugged. “So, Ikuki, was it? Why’d you want to join the Freaks? Normally most heroes-in-training go to a more well-known group.” He asked her, curious.
“Actually, because of you.” Ikuki smiled.
“Gee, I’m flattered. I know lots of people want a piece of me, but this is a first.”
Ikuki laughed lightly, at his comment. “Not like that. I’ve just heard a lot of things about you. Both good and bad. It’s like, nobody knows if you’re a hero or villain. You never go out with your team, and coordinate them from behind the scenes. Yet, I’ve heard stories that you’ve worked with mafias and other unsavory bunches.”
“And what have you heard, exactly?” Hyper X said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
Ikuki shrugged. “Well, every one of those groups ended up being disbanded, arrested, or just outright disappearing. Every single one you were involved in. That’s why most of the city has you pinned as a villain, but I think there’s a different story. I’m curious, Hyper X, what you’re really like.”
“Heh. You and a million other people.” X chuckled. “If this is all a ruse to try and figure out my secret identity, you know enough about me to know that I can make sure you’ll never have a spot on my team. Right?”
“Right. I didn’t mean it like that.” She grinned, nervously. “It’s just, I aim to be that kind of person. Doing what the law won’t do. I don’t want to turn a blind eye and let sick people like that, get away with everything just because they have money.” “Hm. I’ll let it slide, for now. But you do recall the part where I said I was a genius, right? You know that I know you aren’t telling me the truth, and I know that you know that I know.” He said, intimidating her. “But I can tell you’re not a bad guy. I don’t know what you’re actually doing here, so I’m going to go ahead and let you join so I can figure out your game. But you're not going out with the rest of the team, you’re going to stay and train until I can trust you.”
Before either of them could say anything more, Nathan burst into the room. “There’s somethin’ goin’ on the news. I think you outta look into it.” He looked at the two for a moment, as Hyper X looked back at him and made a shrugging gesture.
“Oh. Sorry. Forgot about the interview. Well, good way to start off, then. Apparently there’s a data breach goin’ on for major businesses, and it’s spreading.” Nathan clarified.
“That sounds like an IT problem. I mean, I’m more than capable of taking care of it, but once you start doing menial tasks for corporations, then everybody wants you to do everything for them.” X said, exasperated.
“They’re taking weird stuff, though.” Nathan said. “Like history of the city, website code, robotics builds. They’ve even been getting news articles about you. Like, a lot of articles. Both for you, and you-you.”
“What.” X said, flatly. “You should’ve lead with that! If they found out who I am-“ he cut himself off and looked over at Ikuki. “Okay, I guess we’re jumping right into the action. Welcome aboard, Ms. Kono. I don’t suppose you have any kind of computer skills we can use?”
“Not that much, but I can try to track them.” Ikuki said. “If they left any sort of trace, I can enchant that and track them with a spell. It’s meant for physical traces like hair or something, but if they left a digital fingerprint anywhere, then I can try and manipulate the spell to work digitally.”
“Yeah, that’s called hacking.” Hyper X sighed. “Okay, so that’s useless.”
“Actually,” Ikuki corrected. “If it succeeds in finding them, it will link me to them mentally. I’ll be able to see what they see.”
“Slightly more useful, if I believed in magic.” X said. “This would be a good time for you to mingle with the rest of the team. Nathan, I’m gonna need you to tell me exactly how much of my information they’ve got.”
The duo walked out of the makeshift office room, and Ikuki soon followed. She looked down the hall and into the living area, but didn’t see any trace of them. She shrugged it off, since she was familiar with Hyper X’s ability for superspeed. At least, that’s what he’d told everyone. She headed into the living room, eager to meet everyone, but there didn’t appear to be anyone there.
“Oof, bad timing. They didn’t wanna be around while you were interviewing, and left. You must not have a likeable personality.” A disembodied voice rang out, startling Ikuki.
“A spirit! Hyper X said there was one living here.” she said, hushed. “Spirit, reveal yourself to me!” she said, closing her eyes and attempting to summon the ghost.
“Yo, dude, I’m right here.” The ghost said, sounding like he was directly in front of Ikuki.
She opened her eyes to see the spirit of a young adult hovering upside-down, a couple inches from her face. She yelped as she jumped back, almost tripping and stumbling over the couch.
“Wow. Rude.” The ghost said, hovering as he turned right-side up. “Name’s Ripley, I’ll be your guide. Your spirit guide, if you would.” He smirked. “Welcome to the freak show! Where nobody is good at what they do, and the only two competent members fight each other more often than they fight crime!”
“Um, h-hello.” Ikuki stumbled back to her feet. “I’m Ikuki, wizard in training. I’ve uh, never met a spirit quite like you. Most ghosts are just memories repeating themselves, and the fully aware ones always turn out to be demons.”
“I’m one of a kind, baby.” Ripley grinned. “Some kind of curse or something, I dunno. Guess nobody wanted me or something.”
“Actually, I’ve met death, personally. He goes by Anubis, these days. He’s aware of every death that happens at every moment, so for him to leave a soul lost to wander the earth, that seems a little bit odd." Ikuki said, getting a closer look at him.
“Okay, first off, personal space, dude. Second, yeah I know. I literally just told you, I was cursed. I was left here on purpose, I just don’t know why. Then these jerks up and invaded my old family home. I tried haunting them away like every other jackass, but they thought it was cool. They’re not so bad, I guess.” He shrugged. “So, what’d the boss say about the data breaches? Or have you not been promoted that high, yet?”
“Nothing, really.” Ikuki said. “But I wish he would. I have a gut feeling I know what’s happening. You’ve heard of Apollo, right?”
“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.” He replied.
“Well, he- wait. Really?” Ikuki blinked.
“Old boyfriend or something?” Ripley said, sounding quite serious.
“How do you not-“ she paused, as the gears in her head started turning. “You’re messing with me.”
“Guilty.” Ripley smiled slyly.
Ikuki gave him a look of annoyance, but accepted that she’d signed up for this. “Well, rumor has it that he’s been trying to extend his reach beyond the Expanse. It would make sense, with what data has already been compromised. It’s all stuff having to do with history, internet and Hyper X. I’m sure he knows who your leader is by now, and that’s why he’s digging so far into both identities.”
“Why? There’s way more interesting people to hack info from.” Ripley said, feigning a bored yawn.
“Possibly because of his dabbling in biomechanics?” Ikuki shrugged. “It would make sense that he’d want to extend into other parts of the world, but not why he’s so interested in Hyper X, specifically.”
“Yeah, that’s weird.” The leader’s voice said from behind her, startling her again. “What’s even weirder, is how you know I work in biomechanics. That’s a personal thing. Who are you, really?” he said sternly at Ikuki.
“Ah, please don’t kick me out I know your dad and he put me up to this please don’t hate me!” she whimpered. “I really did genuinely want to join your group, I swear!”
“You…know my dad…” he said, anger dripping in his tone. “I don’t even know my dad, how-..” he stopped and looked at both Nathan and Ripley. He sighed and set a hand on her shoulder, freezing time around them. “How do you know my dad? Why did he send you here?”
“I was telling the truth about wanting to join. He’s been following you and your achievements.” She whimpered. “He thought this would be the best place for me to hone my abilities, and ease you into the world of magic at the same time.”
“Magic isn’t real.” X said sternly to her. “And my dad is the biggest jackass on the planet. He left when I was a little kid, you expect me to believe he’s been scrapbooking this whole time?” he said, angry. “Wait, if you know my dad, then you know-“
“All I know is what he’s told me, which hasn’t been much. I know you work in biomechanics and you have a sister. That’s it. I don’t even know your name, or hers, or what either of you look like.” Ikuki said; “Listen, I’m very bad at secrets. If there was anything else to tell, I would tell you. I promise.” She whimpered.
“Okay.” He said, in a more soft tone. “I believe you. But only because my dad is a master manipulator and I don’t want you getting involved with him, anymore.” He continued, and squeezed her shoulder a little harder. Not hard enough to hurt, but just enough to make sure she knew he was being serious. “But I also believe you know a lot more than you’re telling me. It’s not a lie, if you don’t say it at all. I’m going to find out what you’re up to.”
“I’m not up to anything. I promise, I’m only here to help.” She looked up at him, a glint of sadness in her eyes. She set her hand on his, causing him to let go. She held his hand in both of hers, and looked up to him again. “You know we haven’t been frozen in time, for a few minutes now.” She said with a smug grin.
He looked over at the others, who were pretending not to notice anything. “You…you heard nothing!” he said, turning away. “This never happens, I swear I’m more in control!” he jerked away from Ikuki.
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Post by Banshee on Sept 23, 2023 22:12:04 GMT -6
Sitting in the back was another pair of twins. Purple haired boys of a rather, youthful age. No one really knew where they came from or who they were born from. Nor did anyone know when they applied for their position. It was just like a blink of an eye and they were suddenly there. But what everyone did know was, the two boys worked surprisingly well together.
Lux was the older of the two and the shortest. He wore a purple scarf around his neck and was clad in brown pleather clothing that resembled some form of bandit from the desert. His hair was unkept and covered the right side of his face. Lux was considered to be the most vocal of the two and the one willing enough to do things without a question. His bravery, however, often got him and his brother into trouble with some of the locals. But in all, folks did still enjoy his outgoing and bright personality.
Sitting beside him on an office chair, sat his brother Nox. Much like his brother, he wore the same styled clothing. A brown pleather outfit with a purple scarf that wrapped around him loosely. His hair was also unkept but his bangs covered the left side of his face. Unlike Lux, he wore a pair of thick glasses because without them, he cannot see much at all. Nox was the quieter and more socially awkward of the twins. But when it came to knowledge, the boy was almost as good as a dictionary. He was often the shadow of his older brother, following him everywhere. Including into trouble.
Lux was sitting backwards on his chair and rested his head upon the headrest. Swinging his legs, he swayed back and forth which made the device squeak upon movement. Watching quietly, he listened to the others speak about important stuff. Much of which he didn’t fully understand the concept of, or maybe didn’t care enough about. His mind was fluttering off in its own little world.
Until Ikuki and Hyper X looked at one another in a weird way. Lux sharply smacked his brother’s arm, while he was nose deep in a thick novel he had found laying around. His brother winced in annoyance and swatted him back. But Lux giggled and pointed at the two of them.
Nox didn’t understand the gesture and merely glanced back to his book.
“Mon amour, les étoiles ne peuvent pas briller plus fort que ton sourire!”
“Brother...why did you just say; my love, the stars cannot outshine your smile?” Nox watched as his brother giggled and pointed to Ikuki and Hyper X looking into one another’s gazes. When he re-examined what was standing before him, Nox only tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Whatever...they’re only talking...”
Lux heaved a sigh as his brother was apparently unable to understand the point he was trying to make. And so, he clarified it. “Brother. They look like they’re about to smack lips.”
“Why would someone want to smack lips? Wouldn’t that hurt?”
“Never mind. Go back and read your...” Lux leaned over to read the binding of the book his brother was reading. “The encyclopedia of birds...” He looked at Nox in dismay. “You seriously need to find more entertaining books to read, brother. Those are used for writing book reports in schools. Not for...sheer enjoyment.”
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Post by Moe on Sept 25, 2023 11:02:20 GMT -6
"Mange un cul entier." Hyper X quickly shot back at Lux. "Sorry about those two, or specifically that one."
"Oh, it's okay." Ikuki said, blushing. "I know how kids can be. Plus, I don't even know what you look like under your mask. You could be super ugly." she teased, grinning at him.
"Hey now, I'll have you know that I'm very handsome!" Hyper X said, offended.
"Anyway," Nathan said, faking clearing his throat. "I guess you're with me, Ikuki. Uh, I don't suppose you can drive?" he said, with a nervous, crooked grin.
Ikuki rolled her eyes in a friendly manner, and gestured for him to follow her out.
Hyper X had waited until they were both gone, before he started on his own tasks. Couldn't risk being followed, after all, as he still didn't trust the new girl. Before he'd left, the warbled sound of a police radar began to go off. They'd kept one there to keep track of happenings going on, that hadn't yet been signaled on a more advanced system.
"Suspicious activity..museum..robots.." Hyper X repeated as the radio skipped every other word. "Well, anything with robots is automatically suspicious. Seeing as you two are the only other ones here,"
"Hey!" Ripley called out.
"Seeing as you two are the only other ones here," Hyper X repeated to the twins. "Whaddya think? Wanna go check out a sketchy robot at the museum? Could be some action, could be some learning. Either way, there's something in it for both of you."
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Post by Banshee on Sept 25, 2023 16:05:52 GMT -6
Lux giggled and elbowed his brother who gasped at such language. Then with a cheeky tone, Lux replied; “Non merci. Mais tu peux l'embrasser à la place.”
Hearing his brother speak in such a way made Nox's skin crawl. Quickly he elbowed Lux back and stared at him with absolute annoyance. Which, he knew that it didn't matter anyways as Lux rarely ever took his more quiet and obedient brother seriously. His feelings were verified when Lux stuck his tongue out at him.
While Hyper X was discussing matters with the elders, Nox turned to his brother and said; “You know, he does have the option to not let us participate in anything. We really need to start being a bit more nicer. Y'know?”
“He doesn't even know why we're here as a part of the team. We seriously just showed up one day and helped him out. I bet he doesn't even know what we're capable of.” Whispered Lux as he watched the others and attempted to listen to them while speaking to his brother. “We've been training since we were able to pick up sticks and wield them like swords.”
Nox frowned as it still wasn't a good enough reason for his brother to act like a dolt around the adults. Even though none of them were their parents, and no one even knew who their parents were; Hyper X could still send them away. He could make them participate in the more dull and lackluster missions. Or worse! He could make them clean up the place.
Before Nox could say another word to his brother, Lux heard some keywords from the radio. They were; museum and robots. More specifically, robots had his whole attention. He quietly glanced over to the others as they continued to converse and listen to the signal. Lux even repeated those keywords to his brother, which coincidentally, got his attention too.
Then when Hyper X addressed the two boys, their eyes nearly glistened with delight. Eager and enthusiastic they were, the two brothers could hardly contain their excitement. “Oh! Yes! Yes!” They said in unison, “Robots and museums and sketchy, equals interesting fun!”
Nox turned to his brother. “We need to be on our best behavior.”
Annoyed, Lux snorted at Nox and waved him on. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I promise I'll be on my best possible behavior.”
Then there was a glint of a thought in Lux's mind. What if she is there? He shook his head and adjusted his bangs so they were more-so fixed over his one eye. “So when do we go, sir? And what are you planning for us?”
“Are we going in, pretending you're our Father or something? Or maybe, an Uncle showing us around?” Asked Nox.
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Post by Moe on Sept 26, 2023 16:13:48 GMT -6
"Okay first off, ew. Conversation over." Hyper X said, ending the comebacks then and there, before it went into a territory he was genuinely uncomfortable with. "Secondly, how old do you guys think I am?" he said, somewhat offended. "We're only a couple years apart, in age. That said, we go in as equals. You're part of the team, not tagalongs." he said.
"Thirdly, we're here." he said, all three of them suddenly appearing in front of the museum. "Yeah, still got it." he stretched his arms out and cracked his knuckles, confident that the loss of control earlier was only a weird fluke. As he stepped forward onto the steps of the museum, he lost his balance just a bit. It was barely noticeable, and he shook it off rather quickly.
"I'd assume if it's connected to whoever's sucking out data and city history, it would be in the office or archives." he said to the twins. "You wanna take one, and I'll take one? The great thing about being a vigilante, is all you have to do is tell the curator or security that you're here to look into the data breaches and they'll usually let you in without question. Perks of being in a cool costume and having cool superpowers." he said to them.
"Or if you'd feel more comfortable sticking together, I'm okay with that. I'm usually a solo guy, but we don't know the exact situation. Could just be a massive history nerd, or it could be dangerous. Your call." he shrugged. "Actually," he said, noting a couple of officers standing near the ticket center. "I'm booking it whichever direction they're not. I'm not really on good terms with law enforcement. They don't particularly like my way of doing things. Not my fault they suck at their jobs!" he said a little bit louder, causing them to turn their heads in the group's direction.
"And that's my cue!" he said, disappearing again. Though this time, he only had enough energy to reappear behind a large vase, but still out of site. He waved at the twins, hoping they'd seen where he was hiding. "..Doesn't make any sense." he whispered quietly to himself. "I've never lost control, before." he said, leaning against the wall, in a sudden fatigue. "Okay. Pull it together. I can figure this out, later." he peaked out and motioned to the twins, which direction he was going, which happened to be archives. That was the best bet for finding somebody looking for information, that may not have been made public.
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Post by Banshee on Sept 26, 2023 17:21:42 GMT -6
When asked about how old he was, Lux turned to his brother and snickered like the devilish little miscreant that he was. He turned back to Hyper X and said; “A prehistoric fossil!” Beside him, Nox promptly smacked his brother on the arm and whined about how mean Lux was being to the leader of the group.
“Wait...we’re...as equals?” Nox’s eyes glittered in delight. It was as if this were the first time that he and his brother were ever included. They were liked, or...somewhat liked. But either way, Hyper X was including them and that’s all that mattered to his bright and sunny brain.
Then with a blink of an eye, they were teleported into the area of interest. While Lux was gathering his bearings and staggering in his place. Nox quickly rushed to the nearest bush to heave into it. Teleportation or...whatever Hyper X just did, didn’t agree with his fragile stomach. Once he was done, he pulled himself back and sulked. “Milkshakes do not taste good a second time...Hurk...”
“No one...seriously no one in this planet, needed to know that. Nox.” Lux groaned as he pulled his brother back to his feet and dragged him over to Hyper X to hear the explanation they needed to do the mission correctly.
The twins glanced at one another when asked whether or not they wanted to stay together or go their own separate ways. While Lux felt the confidence of being by themselves was going to be fine, Nox felt differently about it. Nox said to him; “As much as I know my brother and I can perform battle techniques that may often cause confusion with our enemies, I’d rather we stay together.” He heard Lux complain and so he added; “Yes, I understand that we can cover more land, separate. But together, we can watch each other’s backs.”
Lux rolled his eyes. “Come on man, you’re ruining the one moment we can shine. Together.”
“Without knowing any information about who or what we’re going up against, I highly recommend us navigating the museum together. Besides, we can pretend we’re just his little brothers or something...Following for a trip. Being at our age, we can really shock-value our foes.”
“Fine, nerd. We’ll stick with you.” Lux wrinkled his nose. He really wanted to investigate the area without Hyper X. But he wasn’t going to ditch his brother. The kid was more of a coward than anything. Without Lux being around when danger struck, who would protect him? And there wasn’t a doubt that Hyper X would save Nox, but he just felt the need that he needed to be the one to protect his older twin.
Then when Hyper X disappeared, Lux quickly tried to copy him by diving behind the nearest object to him. Nox on the other hand, just transformed into his blade and clattered on the ground with a metallic rattle. He...didn’t get the idea to run and hide.
“Dang it.” Lux growled while hiding near Hyper X. “He...really doesn’t get running away sometimes...” He then glanced back as one of the robotic security officers approached the blade with their weapon drawn. Aiming at the sword, as if it were expecting the blade to explode or come to life.
“It appears to be a sword. Strange...Who would drop such a relic onto the ground like that?” The robot then stood tall and scanned the area. Looking for the sword’s possible owner.
Meanwhile, laying beside the robot’s feet, Nox was frantically panicking. His heart bounded hard in his metallic chest as he watched the robot scan the area, unaware that a small boy who could transform into a sword, lay at its feet. He wanted to transform and make a run for it. He wanted to cry for his brother to save him. But any of these actions would surely cause more of a ruckus than desired. And so, he remained in sword-mode and watched the robot talk to whoever was on the other end of the radio.
The robot was issued a command and promptly plucked the blade off the ground and carried it back to the museum. “Roger. I’ll bring it in for inspection.” He said to whoever it was on the other end of the radio.
Lux looked at Hyper X, his normally sarcastic and joking part of his personality seemed to have drained from him as his brother’s life was now in danger. “So...now we have to go in, regardless. Nox doesn’t do well under pressure and we’ve never been separated like this before. He’s going to break out of his form and freak out, I know it. He’s...not particularly brave...” He bit his lip as he glanced back towards the museum.
“I just hope whoever that robot brings him to, isn’t going to treat him bad.” He paused for a moment as an idea struck. “So...where we come from, in in history, humans used infantry sabres...so we usually take on the form of them. Just because...heritage or whatever. So maybe they have a war portion of the museum that they might bring him to?”
He shook his head. “I dunno. What’s your plan?”
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Post by Moe on Sept 26, 2023 18:25:46 GMT -6
"You guys didn't have to hide, I'm the one people misperceive!" X facepalmed. He sighed heavily as the two watched Nox being hauled away. "Crap crap crap," he grumbled. "Okay, you're gonna have to get really comfortable going solo for a bit. Chances are they're going to take him to archives, because if he's not part of an exhibit they'll want to study him. If they do think he's part of an exhibit, they'll want to clean him up because y'know, contamination protocol and all that. Here," he said, handing Lux a small device.
"That'll ping me your location, when you hit the button. Only do it, once you find your brother and you're back together. I'll cause a distraction so all focus will be on me, and you can make your way into the archives basically unnoticed. I won't leave you guys hanging, I promise." he set his hand on Lux's shoulder after explaining the plan. He inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "You got this. I know you do." he said, before standing up straight and disappearing again.
In the blink of an eye, he was laying on top of a brachiosaurus skeleton as though he was casually lounging about as normal. "Y'know, these seats aren't all that comfortable. I think I'm gonna complain to the curator to get some better seating option." he said, loudly enough for everyone in the area to turn around and look up. "This is not doing me any favors to win over the cops." he said, a lot quieter, as he stood up on top of the skeleton, walked along its spine, and slid down its tail. He popped off the skull of a small velociraptor that was below the more massive fossil, looked it over, then glanced at security who was most definitely making their way over. "Gift shop isn't all that great, either. I mean, look how fake this is! Come on, guys. Can't you splurge a little on real fossils?"
He looked intensely at the velociraptor skull, for what seemed like an eternity, not noticing the security creeping closer. When he blinked, there suddenly was no security. Or museum. Or people. He snapped himself back into awareness, and looked around at the desolate environment around him. At least, it seemed that way. There were cries of animals all around him, some small sounding and some very large sounding. He looked back at the skull he was holding, which was now a tiny and very angry velociraptor. It hissed at him, causing him to jump back.
"Okay. This is definitely new." he said, as the creature snapped at his ankles. Thankfully, the armor protected him and the only casualty was the teeth and claw marks on his armor. He kneeled down and picked up the velociraptor to examine it; it was a baby and although it nipped and bit at him, it wasn't quite big enough to pose much of a threat. "If this is a hallucination, it's an incredibly lucid one." he observed.
Behind him, he heard the crunch of twigs and leaves and a very familiar voice say to him, "You're not supposed to be here. Call me. We need to talk, later."
Before X could turn around to face the familiar voice, the same voice said "Boop." and suddenly X was back in the museum, facing security guards and now holding a very much alive, very squirmy velociraptor.
"...Dad?" X whispered, now in a panic. He shook the thoughts out of his head, trying to get his focus back on the twins. It was then he realized he was still holding a baby dinosaur. "Oh, okay. I guess this is a thing, now. Much better souvenir, A plus customer service, I'll be seeing myself out!" he said, trying to hold his composure best he could.
He rushed past the security, not wanting to take a chance on using his powers again and ending up somewhere else entirely different, and made his way toward the archives to find the twins. The baby dinosaur was hissing and snarling the whole way, X would like to think it was excitement for adventure, but deep down, he was wondering what in the world he was going to do with a living baby velociraptor. Also, how they were going to get out of this mess. But mostly the former.
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Post by Banshee on Sept 26, 2023 18:59:15 GMT -6
Even though his brother was quite possibly in danger, Hyper X gave him the confidence boost that he needed. A firm pat on the shoulder, a faithful compliment on his abilities, and a device that he can use to be scooped up within moments of finding his brother. It all rushed at him like a wave and he nodded with a smirk. “I won’t let you down sir!” While Hyper X took off on his own, Lux pocketed the device and adjusted his scarf around his neck. He then took one step forward, which went into a sprint towards the front door. After he eagerly told the security that the rest of his classmates were in the museum, they seemed to have fallen for it and allowed him in. Without needing to pay for a single ticket. Inside, Lux looked around. The museum was monstrous. Exhibits everywhere. Signs pointed in all directions. North bound were the astronomy and Egyptian exhibits. West, had oceanic lifeforms and dinosaurs. East had war periods and famous leaders from various countries and regions. Lux then walked over to the woman at the desk and asked; “Ma’am, I’m looking for someone that had found my toy sword.” “Toy sword?” She repeated as she looked down at the youngster. “There was someone who had an actual sword...” “It’s actually a replica. I was uh...trying to show my girlfriend what I won at a contest...but I dropped it on my way over.” He rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. The woman sighed and pointed in the direction he needed to go. After he thanked her, he quickly scurried off without much thought. He didn’t care about who he ran into, who he ran past, or what he got himself into. All Lux was focused on was, rescuing his brother. But, little did he know that he had passed the girl of his dreams. Josephine stopped listening to Davis prattling on about the lack of pirate exhibits and watched as Lux took off in a hurry. She glanced back to her brother and slowly took a few steps backwards. Davis was heavily fixed on his complaints and rants about how Black Beard was a real guy and that he should be respected, if they allowed presidents and corporate geniuses to be allowed in the museum. In his opinion, they were all the same. Lux didn’t realize he was being tailed as he skidded to a halt at the front door of the Egyptian Exhibit office. He tilted his head as he read the sign. “Wait...why would they bring a French sword to an Egyptian exhibit?” He shook his head and knocked on the door. His heart beat so hard in his chest, that it was beginning to hurt. The door opened and before him, stood a woman in Egyptian garb. But he did a double-take as he suddenly realized that she was not a human at all. But a very well dressed robot. And the way she spoke was quite clear and coherent, he was shocked to realize this. And when he took too long to respond, she raised a brow. “Wow, you’re an amazing looking robot.” Lux blurted. “Aren’t you an obvious one?” A voice appeared behind him. Lux froze as he turned to see that Joe was walking over to him. “J-Joe...I uh...I am here to g-grab my broth-er-I mean, sword. I dropped my sword!” He turned back to the robot. Lux had never felt so intimidated by a robot before. “The sword? It is yours?” Cleo, as the name on her tag said, questioned him. Her voice was thick with an Egyptian accent that it took a moment for either child to understand what she had said. “It belongs to you?” “It does! I was uh...gonna show my friend that! But I dropped it. I...uh...” “I do not believe that a mere child would have such a thing.” She frowned. “I am sorry, but unless the proper owner of it shows up. I cannot give it to you.” Lux was feeling defeated. He needed to get his brother back. And this lady robot wasn’t going to stop him. He even rolled up his sleeves to say something to her about it. But Josephine spoke up instead. Which, shocked him and made him blush more red than the Kool-Aid Man himself was. Josephine said to the robot; "Oh, he was going to show me his sword that he got from my Brother who just returned from sailing a few weeks ago." She gestured to her brother Davis, who was still down at the other end of the hall, complaining. "He was so excited that he dropped it."
Lux couldn't shake the blushing and accidentally pressed the button on the device Hyper X had given him. It was all thanks to his sudden nerves and lock-down whenever he spoke to Josephine. What really got him going was, she was playing along with his fib. Claiming that it was Davis who gave him the sword. But he knew, that she was aware of their special powers.
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Post by Moe on Sept 26, 2023 20:05:30 GMT -6
The pinging blip of the locator device went off in X's helmet, bringing up a tracker on the HUD of his helmet. "Gotcha. I'm coming, kiddos." he said to himself, rushing by everyone. The tiny raptor baby squawked, drawing a lot of unwanted attention. "This isn't how I imagined this day going. Ugh, this is why I don't train the newbies, I suck at it! Genesis and Revelation were going to be their mentors, but nooo, everyone had to ditch at the last minute!" he mumbled to himself, still running down the halls and expertly dodging passerbys, all while carrying the baby dino.
"Hey, maybe I am cut out for this!" he said to himself, looking down at the baby dino, who had finally stopped squawking and had proceeded to flap it's feathered arms, as though enjoying the breeze going by.
"Thanks, self. I needed that confidence boost!" he thanked himself.
"No problem, you're the best!" he said to himself, again.
The baby looked up at him, and tilted its head, unsure of what to make of this new creature.
"Don't worry about it." X said to the baby. "I'm just going insane, is all. No biggie." he said calmly to it. Before any other interaction could occur, he almost skidded to a halt when he saw a hooded figure walking past him. The two stopped and locked eyes, at least presumably since X was wearing a mask. The eyes of the hooded figure glinted a bright blue light; those were robot eyes. The figure bolted off and X instinctively started to chase after him, but the ping on Lux's communicator brought his mind back on track.
"Damn it!" he cursed. "I mean, dangit!" he corrected himself. The baby dino looked up at him again. "I'm trying not to turn into my sister, don't judge me!" X said to it. He made some frustrated noises before following the ping to the boys.
He finally stopped in front of the signal, finding Lux and a girl he hadn't seen before. "I told you not to ping me until you had your brother back!" he sighed. "Ma'am, I am so sorry about this one. He's just lying to impress the girl. Truth is, he's my son and we're massive dweebs." he said, doing something he had never done for anyone prior. He flipped the visor up, on his helmet.
"We're going to a cosplay convention. I'm going as Hyper X, and he's going as Dino Daddy. This is Spicy Nugget, our pet chicken. He's cosplaying as Dino Daddy's velociraptor familiar." he held up the baby dinosaur, and handed it to Lux. "She's part of our cosplay group, too, but knows he gets all flustered and embarrassed about it so she's trying to cover for him. Little does he know, dorks are hot." he winked at the curator. "Anyway, we got that sword at a RenFest. Y'know, super nerdy place. They have some super realistic replicas there. But you know how kids are gonna be kids, you can't trust 'em with the souvenirs you get 'em." he laughed.
"If you need the receipt, I can pull it up for you." he said, typing something on his personal phone, something else he'd never done. What he was actually doing, was panicking and texting his sister to send him a random receipt for a sword somebody got at a renfest.
Thankfully, she was at home babysitting and had nothing better to do, and responded quickly. Hyper X showed the robotic curator the bogus receipt, hoping she wouldn't call him out on it. "See? Total misunderstanding." he said, inviting himself and Lux inside the room, motioning for Lux to take his brother.
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Post by Banshee on Sept 26, 2023 20:29:13 GMT -6
Just when things couldn't get any worse for the young guy, Hyper X came strolling in with an excuse all ready at hand. Blabbing out words, Lux stood there in shock as he was suddenly entrusted with an apparent chicken. Which he'll add, that it didn't feel or even look like one. In fact, he had a feeling that this thing was some form of reptile that Hyper X must've swiped from some poor passerby.
Meanwhile, Joe stood there and listened to the story. Slowly, she glanced at the “chicken” and noticed that it looked awfully strange to be one. Then when he mentioned that Lux was merely trying to impress a girl, she turned back to Hyper X with confusion. “Wait, what?” She then had the feeling that she needed to pretend with the story.
Clapping her hands together, she put on the most sad face she could ever muster up. “Ma'am, please! I'd love to see the sword...”
Lux was stunned and bright red. Hyper X had got him pinned in place. After the senseless teasing he did to him earlier, he was now getting it back. A full refund of karma. All he could do was stand there, embarrassed over the claim that he was simply trying to impress a girl. And what was worse? Joe played along with it.
Before Cleo could say anything, Hyper X produced a receipt and showed her. As she examined it, the group then rushed past her and entered the room. Annoyed, the robot turned to face Joe grabbing the sword off the table. She walked in and blocked the door. “Excuse me. But there are papers you need to fill out.”
Seeing that Hyper X seemed to be in an urgent mode, for some reason, Joe offered something that Hyper X probably couldn't refuse. “I'll get my Brother fill it out. We're actually traveling together.”
The other Museum worker simply took a step aside and remained silent as Cleo closed off their only exit. He then glanced over to the boy as he appeared a bit too over-joyous over the reuniting of his sword. Curious and confused, the worker just stuck to the side.
“Wow!” Joe pretended to be amazed at the sword. “This is so cool! It's a bit heavier than I thought though.” She waved the blade a bit before Cleo shot a warning stare at her. Josephine then gave her a cheeky giggle before handing the blade over to Lux, who eagerly took it from her hands.
But their hands touched.
Lux instantly turned red again and flailed a bit. But Josephine was more-so fixed on the robot standing in the room with them. She wasn't sure on how to take her presence. Was she an enemy? A friend? Or just someone that's just trying to perform her duties without flaw?
“You guys are in a huge rush. Is there something going on? Or is there a way that I can be of an assistance?” Asked Cleo.
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Post by Moe on Sept 26, 2023 20:46:08 GMT -6
"Actually, the truth is," X could not stop himself. He was doing a lot of things that violated his secret identity protocol. "We heard there's been a lot of data breaches going on around the city, lately. We heard some people talking about suspicious activity, in the museum. That's why my son here dropped his sword, when we heard people talking about something happening right here in the museum, we were just in a rush to get out before anyone could get hurt!" he said, giving her the most sincere expression he could muster.
"We just wanted to have a nice weekend at the convention, and do a little sight-seeing along the way. We weren't looking to get ourself into any trouble with the local criminals!" he shrugged. "So if it's alright with you, our companion can fill out the forms and we'll put all of this behind us!" he grinned nervously, looking over at Joe, hoping her claim was true. "Your brother knows we found the prop, right?"
Spicy Nugget just squawked, in response.
"Dang, looks like we're already late for one of the shows!" X looked at his wrist, pretending to look at a watch. "You know, that one musical?" he nudged Lux. "Looks like I can't do the time warp, again." he said, hoping Lux would get the hint. "So the sooner we get that form filled out and get everything straightened out, the better. And we can get going to where we need to be."
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Post by Banshee on Sept 26, 2023 21:04:19 GMT -6
There was a small bit of vibrations that surged through the sword and Lux looked down at it. He could tell that his brother wants to remove himself from this situation. It was far too much excitement for him to handle and he just simply wanted to revert back to himself without anymore issues. But he couldn't. If he transformed now, things would become much worse. And so, Lux gently rubbed the hilt, hoping that he could somehow calm his weary brother from breaking his mode.
“Understandable. There has been some leaks that occurred. Not quite sure what they're hunting for.” Cleo said to him. “Things seem to be on the more calm side, except with...you folks.” She primarily gestured to Lux who seemed to sheepishly smile at her when he noticed her talking about him. “But everything is under control right now.”
“That's good!” Joe chimed before turning to Lux. She grabbed him by the scarf and whispered; “You owe me big, pal.”
He was so close to her face and it was then he realized that he could feel the warmth from her hair. Her hair was actually on fire. A gentle blue flame that was moving in such a way that it made it look like living hair. It was quite remarkable to look at. And when he didn't respond, she elbowed him. “Y-yeah...I do. What do you want?”
She grinned, knowing that Hyper X had been teasing him since he arrived. “A date.”
Lux turned red again.
“Just kidding.” She snorted as he fell for her trick. “Just help me out next time. Alright?”
“YEAH! SHOWS. I like musicals. They dance a lot on the stage and do things. Joe should come with us at some point!” He blabbed.
Josephine ignored him for a moment and answered Hyper X instead. “Oh, yes. Davis should be coming in at any minute.” At one point, she had called her brother in for help. And shortly after she said this, the door was kicked open by a man that looked like a rejected pirate.
“AHOY DAMSELS IN DISTRESS.” He then slammed his hands on the table and grinned at Cleo. “So, I hear Joe's been causing issues?”
“We were discussing paperwork.” Cleo ignored his attempt of flirting and slammed a fifty page booklet onto the table. “I require you to fill this out, stating that the receipt for the sword is legit and that we will contact you if we have questions.”
Davis looked at the massive book and then to Joe and the others. “Oh?” He watched as Lux held the blade up, indicating that's the item Cleo was talking about. Davis then laughed; “OH THAT THING! It's from that fair thing that young kids like to go and pretend they beat up dragons at. Though, sorry Joe. Hopefully your parents aren't there. They'd scare everyone off.”
“No one knows they're hybrids.” She said with a yawn.
Davis twirled a pen in his hand and began to fill everything out. With lies. False e-mails. False addresses, which were all geared to his dead-beat Mother. The phone number was his Father's. And the Ids he used, were all based off his lesser brothers. This did not include Winston or Oxford. “Joe go hang out with Romeo there and I'll handle this.”
Joe shrugged and pushed Lux out of the door. Behind her, she was certain Hyper X was following in pursuit. Once outside the door, which was closed behind them, she said; “Davis is really good with lying to people. He's got so many contacts and personas...” She shook her head.
“Are your parents going to be okay with traveling with us?” Lux wondered.
“Probably not.” She admitted. “Mom and Dad felt that I needed to hang out with Davis for a bit. So they allowed me to do that. If I run off with a super hero or...Dino Daddy...” She giggled at his hero name. “They may be a little upset. And you don't want to see Mom angry.”
“NOPE. I DO NOT. DAD TOO. NOPE. OR UNCLE.”
Nox broke out of his disguise and burst into tears. Clinging onto Hyper X, he sobbed into his side. “They were going to clean me! I feel so violated!”
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Post by Moe on Sept 26, 2023 21:32:06 GMT -6
"I'm normally pretty good at lying, too." X replied to Joe. "Telling the truth is a first, for me. On that note," he flipped his visor back down. "I'm trusting you all not to tell anyone about me or anything I said or did, today. Superhero code." he said, sternly. Spicy Nugget squawked in agreement. At least, X assumed that was an agreement squawk.
"Oh, right. The group has a mascot, now. I...found him." he said, not wanting to tell them any details.
When Nox finally went back to normal, it took X aback just a bit when he clung onto him. He patted him on the shoulder, letting him cry it out. "Hey, it's okay." he said, softly and genuinely. "I wouldn't have let them do that. If it came down to it, I would've kicked some robot butt." he assured Nox.
"I'm gonna need you to hang tight, okay?" he said, tone still soft as he comforted Nox. "I can't time jump us out of here, this time. We're gonna have to stick together as a team, and keep up the charade, okay? At least until we get far enough away from the museum and all the security."
"And hey," he turned to Lux. "Sorry if I went too far, back there. Once I get going, it's kinda hard to stop." he said with a shrug. "Also, I owed you one for earlier." he laughed a bit. "But seriously. Don't be shy about letting me know if I take it too far. The art of improv is good to know and learn, but you never want to take it so far as to push your teammates away." he nudged Lux on the shoulder. "So, sorry if I did."
"Huh." he said to himself. "Maybe I am good at this mentorship thing. What do you think, Spicy Nugget?" he said, holding up the baby dinosaur.
Spicy Nugget only warbled in response.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we should go ahead and book it, too." X responded.
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Post by Banshee on Sept 27, 2023 5:36:27 GMT -6
Joe laughed a little. “I am not allowed to lie to Dad. He can see right through me like a glass panel...I’d blame his telekinesis but I think it has something to do with the study of faces...” Then when Hyper X told her and boys to keep their promises of keeping his identity a secret, she and the twins nodded their heads. “Of course, I’m good at keeping secrets. So you can count on me.”
“Yes, sir!” Lux confirmed. “I’ll carry it to my grave. And even as a zombie, I won’t say a word!”
“They usually go, Nyaaaarrgh!!” Joe said to him which caused Lux to yelp out of surprise.
Nox was being comforted and it honestly made him feel better. For some reason, he really enjoyed being around Hyper X. Something about him was just so...nice! It was as if he were a parent figure or someone he can put his trust in. “Alright...” He nodded. “I’ll collect myself.”
Rubbing the back of his head, he listened to the apology Hyper X was giving him. Lux did accept it but at the same time, he knew what he signed up for when he busted on him earlier. “It’s okay. Honestly, I kind of deserved it.” He let out a small chuckle before agreeing with him on communication. “I’ll be open about it. I just...sort of locked up. That’s all...”
Then it dawned onto him that he never introduced Josephine to him. “Oh! Uh...This is Josephine, or Joe as a lot of folks call her. She’s...been a friend of ours for a few years. We sort of helped her locate her parents.” He turned to Josephine and smiled. “If there’s anyone we can depend on it’s her.”
“Pfft...No.” She denied that but really did accept the compliment. “Well, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you super heroes around.” She grinned at them both. “See you around, Hyper X, The Boy Sword, and...Dino Daddy.” While Lux flailed at the hero name and rejected it, she couldn’t help but laugh at him. Personally, she thought the name was quite cute. But she wanted to let them get going so Josephine waved at them both as she turned back to the museum to figure out what Davis was up to.
“He’s so cute!” Nox chimed as he looked to Spicy Nugget. “Our Mascot? That’s so cool! I didn’t know dinosaurs existed still. How...peculiar.”
“A mentor? Wait...You mean that you’d be willing to be our Mentor?” Chimed Lux. “That would be so cool!” Beside him, Nox agreed. “Where are we off to next?”
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Post by Moe on Sept 27, 2023 11:47:00 GMT -6
"Nice to meet you, Joe. You two are good for each other." he couldn't help but tease Lux one last time. "And uh, they don't." he said, regarding Spicy Nugget. "Good to know he's not a hallucination, though. As for what's next..." he groaned. "Well, you've already seen my face, so heck it. We're going to the safest place we can be in, right now."
The safest place was, in fact, Hyper X's house. Since they already knew who he was, he didn't see any point in trying to hide his identity anymore. Plus, he had to figure out who that hooded robot at the museum was and what data they had on him.
"Okay, you are the only two I've ever brought here." he said to them, as they approached the door. "There's a lot of sensitive information in here, and I'm not normally so trusting. But...you'll be safe, here. Not that I think anyone is going to be coming after us, it just feels like you need like. Y'know. A safe space. For a little while." he shrugged. "Can't really get that when the only other option is a haunted house."
As the door opened, a frantic Nathan met him and startled him, causing him to stumble backwards.
"I'm so sorry!" he shouted, panicked. "I just needed to stop by and I couldn't stop her please don't be mad at me!" he rambled.
"What." X said flatly, nudging past him. Inside was Ikuki, sitting at a table and conversing with Alex. "YOU BROUGHT HER TO OUR HOUSE??" X said, before he took a moment to reel back his anger. "We'll talk about this, later. I...actually brought somebody, too." he said, gesturing to Lux and Nox. "Guess we're having a house party, tonight." he sighed, then proceeded to hand Nathan the baby dinosaur. "Also, his name is Spicy Nugget. He's the new group pet."
Nathan took the dino, confused. However, he was used to his friend's shenanigans.
X made his way to the two girls, one of whom had a young infant in her lap. "Alex," X said to the woman. "Good to see you two have met and are getting along."
"Oh, good. You're home." Alex stood up; she was significantly shorter than her brother, but a lot more intimidating. She handed off the small child to him; "You need to talk to her. And after you do that, I need to talk with you. She knows things about Dad that he never told us. Call me, tonight." she said, heading out as the house was already crowded enough without her hanging around.
"Thanks for watching her." X sighed, as his sister left. Alex just waved a hand in a "you're welcome" gesture. X sat at the same seat, across from Ikuki, who was looking very nervous.
Nathan looked over at the twins, not really sure what to do with them. "Uh, if you wanna play video games or somethin', my room's down the hall. We don't really have a lot of books that aren't quantum physics or somethin', but we got internet." he told them, walking away from the living area to give his friend and Ikuki some privacy to talk about whatever they needed to talk about.
"Well, now you know who I am. And my family." X said, more upset that his sister and daughter were dragged into it without his knowledge.
"Please don't be mad at Nathan." Ikuki said. "Your dad was the one who told me to come here. I didn't even know it was your home. He just gave me an address, said it was his old house, and when Nathan said he needed to stop by, I asked if I could use the bathroom. Which wasn't entirely a lie." she added. "I am truly sorry. I've been honest with you, but Chronos hasn't been honest with either of us. He's been using me to get to you, but I refuse to do it. I want to be honest with you, and be a part of your team, and I can't do that if he's using me like a puppet to do something he needs to do, himself."
"Hah!" X laughed. "Story of my life. So, why you? Why did he send you, specifically?"
Ikuki shrugged. "Don't know. I'm not very good at magic and still learning quite a lot. Maybe he thought somebody who was awful at it, would be better to ease you into the world?"
"What world?? You said that earlier, you're talking like there's this big conspiracy against me that I don't know about!" X shouted, causing the young child to stir awake. "If there's something you need to tell me, do it now. Please." he said, quieting his voice.
"You won't believe it, coming from me!" Ikuki exclaimed in a hushed tone. "All I can tell you is, your powers are fluctuating. They have been since you turned 18, right? You're losing control, getting fatigued when you normally haven't, and you've been having blips into past and future times. Right?"
"How-"
"You brought home a dinosaur." Ikuki said, before he could say anything else.
"That's fair." X said. "But how do you know-" he stopped for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. "Okay. You're right. I do need to talk to Dad. But I also need to figure out how you're involved. Let's start with this. What did you tell my sister?"
"I told her that your dad lied to your whole family, about who he is." Ikuki explained. "How much do you know about the dragons who created the universe?"
"Very little. I've never been one for religion, though." he shrugged.
"Well, you might want to start doing some research. Your dad has connections to the dragon of Time." she said, noting that he was about to interject; "I know, that's why he needs to be the one to tell you all of this!"
"So you're telling me that my father is related to the dragon god of time?" X said, mocking her, not believing a single word of it.
"Not entirely." Ikuki shook her head. "He is the god of time." she said, blushing not out of embarrassment, but sheer nerves, unsure of how he would take any of this. Specifically, the original dragon who created the universe, was his father. Once your dad was born, he forfeited his title with the rest of the gods, and...well. They died as mortals. I'm sorry. I'm not very poetic." she shrugged.
"Okay, I think you need to leave. I'll deal with him and with you, later. Right now I've got Lux and Nox staying here while we figure out some other things. So on top of my dad being my dad, I've also got three newbies, you talking crazy, new abilities, and the data breaches to worry about." he leaned back in his chair. "Looks like I'm not getting any sleep, tonight." he grumbled.
"For what it's worth," Ikuki stood up to leave. "I'm sorry. Chronos is a massive jerk, and if I'd known that at the start, I never would've agreed to get involved in his family matters." she said, genuine sadness in her eyes.
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