Breakworld- Thursday evening FT
Kitty
Leaving the crater they'd left in the middle of the street had ended up with a lot of fighting that needed to be done. People apparently knew exactly who Peter was and what he looked like, which meant that they were constantly coming across people with weapons as they tried to make their way back to the rendezvous point. Hopefully everyone else would be there, and be okay.
During one particular fight while trying to take the tunnels under the city to get around, Kitty phased and rushed at one of the soliders? armed civilians? and jumped through him to get his gun, which thank god didn't use bullets. "So I was wrong," she announced. "Not only are you destined to wipe out this race, you apparently have to do it one at a time."
Clint
"You know, I'm not really a fan of genocide, but maybe thinning out their numbers isn't such a terrible thing," Clint said, catching his breath. "How are you guys feeling?"
Peter
"Fine," Peter said shortly.
Kitty
Kitty frowned in Peter's general direction, but nodded. "Better. You?"
Clint
"Doing all right, but I'm not wanted by everyone on the planet, or getting messed with by the environment," Clint said, eyeing both of them. "We've got to find the others soon."
Kitty
"It'd have been easier if our entrance was maybe a smidge more subtle," Kitty said.
Peter
"But it wasn't," Peter said, finding something he could use as an exit and easily breaking through to lead the way for the others. "And the more I see of this world..."
Clint
"I'm sorry," Clint said sympathetically. "I can't even imagine how much this must suck for you. I wish we could make these people see some sense."
Peter
"But there isn't. And now we're off to what, regroup, commit genocide, go home?" Peter asked.
Kitty
Okay, maybe her crack about taking them out one by one had been a bad one. "Pete, no," Kitty said. "We're not falling for that."
Clint
"Whatever these people believe, it's wrong," Clint said firmly. "They think they can see the future, but that doesn't mean it has to be true."
Dafi
From ahead of them, a voice called, "Rasputin!"
It came from one of the Breakworlders, a female who was partially disguising herself with wraps on her head, who had a gun trained on them. "You will come with us."
Peter
It never ended on this planet. "Unlikely," Peter said, already preparing himself for another fight.
Clint
"You're probably going to want to leave before you end up like everyone else who's tried that," Clint said. If he sounded a little weary of fighting, he couldn't help it.
Dafi
"Your translators are primitive. It is not an order," the Breakworlder said, and lowered her weapon. "We are asking. We are asking for your trust."
Kitty
Kitty looked at the boys. This was definitely a new approach, and she had one of their weapons now. Also, she was pretty tired of fighting, and tired, period, and kind of wanted to see what they had to say, whoever "we" was.
She gave them both a little half shrug, as if to say "why not?"
Clint
The thought of not fighting for a minute drained enough adrenaline from Clint that he started feeling exactly how tired he really was. "All right," he said at Kitty's nod. "I guess we have a little trust left to spare."
Aghanne
The Breakworlder's name was Dafi, and after a tour of some places they hadn't seen when they were being constantly attacked, she brought Peter, Clint and Kitty to their stronghold. They were led to a outcropping on one of the highest floors overlooking the city, where a female in robes and a headdress was waiting for them.
"Of course it's absurd, but I imagined you an actual giant," she said, looking Peter over. "You saw the care center?"
Peter
"It's appalling," Peter said shortly. He still wasn't at ease with any of this, though he hadn't felt the need to armor up in a while at least.
Clint
"And a lot more..." Primitive seemed like the right word, but Clint was afraid that would be offensive. "Basic than I expected, considering the rest of the technology your world has."
Kitty
"It's medieval," said Kitty, who wasn't really worried about offending anyone after the day she'd had. "Are all the hospitals like that?"
Aghanne
"'Hospital,'" Aghanne repeated. "You have a word for it. There are no others. To care for the wounded, the honor the dead or fight for the weak... On the Breakworld, these are the closest things we have to sins. But I don't think compassion is a sin. I think it may be a mutation."
Clint
"Is that why you brought us here to safety? Out of compassion?" Clint asks, more genuinely curious than accusing.
Aghanne
"Oh, this isn't safety. This is possibly the most dangerous place on the planet. If Powerlord Kruun knew a thing about it, this mountain would be a crater," Aghanne said, and looked to Peter. "I sought you out because I believe you may be the instrument of our salvation. I didn't believe the prophecy till you were here."
She began leading them through the courtyard and into the building. "And I thought perhaps it's not the prophecy that's wrong, but the interpretation. A word in chaos, perhaps, but not destroyed. Re-formed."
Peter
"I am not a messiah," Peter insisted. He felt like he had to keep saying this a lot.
Clint
"But you could still change things," Clint said, seeing where Aghanne was going with this. "Changing the minds of a lot of people would be... revolutionary is probably the better term."
Peter
"I didn't sign up for that either," Peter said.
Aghanne
"No, you didn't," said Aghanne. "But you've been thrust into the arena, willing or no. The world is watching. I've been in the arena. A show-killer; it's what I was bred as. The throng screams and your head crowds with only two choices: kill, be killed. I won so often the roar became like air to me. I couldn't even hear it. And in the silence, a third choice can be heard."
She took a seat on an uncomfortable-looking sofa. "I have no agenda for you. No plan, no coup. I brought you here so you could have a moment to hear that great silence, understand that third choice, to know that even on a warrior world, we can be made to understand it too. We can be better. Rest tonight. And tomorrow you do what you will."
[Last one for the day! NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Preplayed with the incredible so_hawkward and taken from Astonishing X-Men.]