These Ruins Sadden me

Hawkwing stayed close to the ground as gunfire rang out. He had figured out the location, and that the people must be shooting at the winged beast on the car. He glanced at Jinx, and tried to flash her a reassuring smile. Tried...

He nodded when Jinx proposed her plan, already looking for an escape route. He held her hand as she did her work, giving her assurance that he was still there. When she was finished and the monster had gone to dispatch the gunmen, he helped jinx up, and helped guide her away from the carnage. He had a route all planned out, one that would give them plenty of cover.

The feedback in the gun men’s ear buds was just the distraction that the winged woman needed. She leapt from the car and became a slicing and dicing whirlwind. When Hawkwing took her hand and began to lead her away, Jinx was more than eager to go. Crouching low as if to avoid being hit by any stray shots that might still come their way, Jinx kept close the young man she’d met just a scant few hours ago.

Jinx’s eye flit everywhere around the area. She was certain there were more threats than just the gunmen that the winged woman was fighting. “There’s more somewhere.” She whispered in a slightly squeaky voice. “The radios were communicating with someone, after all.” Jinx chewed on her bottom lip in worry. “I don’t know about you…but I don’t much feel like running into more guns tonight.” She glanced back to the fight they were trying to escape. “Can you…maybe scout from the air? Find us a way out?” God, she hated the idea of being alone on the ground.

Sudden quiet behind them made Jinx glance back toward the winged woman. From their new position, Jinx saw the ash-colored skin and red eyes of the woman and she shrieked in undisguised panic. “Holy Mary, mother of God!” Jinx scrambled backward, trying to get more distance between her and the winged woman, but ended up getting tangled up with Hawkwing.

Looking back as she was, Jinx also saw the gun man lift his gun to shoot the woman in the back. Without thinking, Jinx shouted, “Look out!” Instinctually, she lifted her hand toward the gun in the agent’s hand and when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Jinx had caused the gun to jam. Had it been a laser gun or something less mechanical, she wouldn’t have been able to stop it in time.

Hawk hated this. He wasn't a fighter, when his fight or flight kicked in, he flew. He hated being on the ground, but he couldn't leave Jinx. Even when she suggested he fly up to plot an escape route he shook his head, not wanting to leave her on the ground by herself.

He was shocked when Jinx saved the demon woman, he didn't want to do anything for her. He cringed slightly when she flew over to them, but stood, opening his wings to their full wingspan, blocking Jinx. He was going to take whatever she threw at him, he wasn't going to let her get past him easily.

"Who are you." he demanded.

Jinx watched in shocked horror when the winged woman cut off the man’s hand and then ran him through. Her eyes went wide and she had to cover her mouth to try to keep from being sick. As the woman transformed to a more human appearance and approached them, Hawkwing moved in front of her and spread his wings to shield her protectively.

But rather than attack them, the woman spoke, asking if Hawkwing was an angel and astutely guessing that Jinx had caused the man’s gun to jam. The abrupt change from spirit of death to reasonable conversation made Jinx’s head spin just a little. She peeked over Hawkwing’s shoulder at the woman, still unsure of their situation, although the sword being placed back into its sheath did go a long way toward easing her mind.

The mention of Dominus sent a thrill of cold, unreasoning fear through Jinx’s body. They killed mutants, hunted them like animals. She shivered involuntarily. Her attention was grabbed again when Hawkwing asked the woman who she was. She couldn’t help but add, “Please tell me they were hunting you and not us…” There was no hiding the squeak of fear in her voice. Jinx hated that she sounded like a little kid when she said it. About halfway through that question, Jinx’s brain came back on line. “Uh…radios. They were in contact with others…aren’t they going to come looking for their buddies when they don’t answer?” She looked between the woman and Hawkwing. “We definitely need to get the hell out of Dodge.”

. o O ( First of all, I apologize tremendously for making the two of you wait for me to reply, especially when you both could've said no for me to join. Second of all, I'll promise to be a bit more courteous to this thread. <3 )

A soft, rolling chuckle found it's way racing through Chelle's form. She stretched her toes slightly, the hem of her dress licking at the tops of her feet while a soft breeze rolled by. The wind carried her skirts off to her right, forcing them to billow and swirl around of her long legs. Her five feet and eleven inch tall form was a bit thick, and well curved; but she was in pristine shape. Especially for someone of her age. When the Angelic Male stepped forward, Chelle allowed her wings to ruffle and fold behind of her. The black and red feathered wings shifting and catching the moon light beautifully. She cooed with glee and clapped her hands together before bowing slightly. "Brave of you, m'dear; so bold, too. And noble. Impressive." Her eyes, smoldering in the moonbeams, shot from Hawkwing to the girl. A soft smile made it's way across Chelle's lips while she took another step forward.

"Let's not make this situation more sticky than it has to be. All that's needed to know is I'm a friendly, and those men were hunting anything that still lives in this area. They get paid by the hour to hunt and kill; nothing more. It grinds my gears, but there's nothing I can do about it other than stop them with a force unlike any other; my own two hands." She sighed lightly, her hands falling to her sides after her short monologue. She was, not only a verbal person, but enjoyed to articulate her conversations with hand motions and body language. Her left hand stitched onto her hip while she took another step forward, her lips pulling back to show a Cheshire grin. The grin fell a moment after and her brows stitched to help emotionalize her frown. "If only that were true," she muttered to answer the girl's question, but what the girl said was true. Those men were hunting her, but also whomever they could find, and could be linked to others, and thus, more could come. "We should get the hell out of Dodge, yes darlings. Perhaps we should take to the sky? Or would you feel more safe on the ground?" she asked, her eyes flitting between the Angel boy and frightened girl.

Jake was utterly terrified, something about this woman struck a primal fear into his heart. Every fiber in his being was screaming at him to fly away, but he didn't he just stood there and blankly returned her gaze, hiding his fear the best he could. He calmed down slightly, relaxing, when Jinx started to talk. At least someone regained their sanity throughout this ordeal. She was right too, they should leave. He listened to the both of them and frowned slightly.

"You mean to tell me that they were hunting us?" he asked, "That's ridiculous." He shook his head and listened more, his wings starting to relax and fold in.

"I would personally prefer to fly," he said, "But I'm not leaving anyone behind."

Jinx gripped Hawkwing’s shoulders all the more tightly when the winged woman slowly walked closer to them. At least she looked a little more normal now. Why that should be reassuring, Jinx wasn’t exactly sure, but it was.

“Dominus? Hunting anyone in the area? That’s…that’s murder!” Jinx sputtered indignantly. “What the hell?”

She was glad to see that both Hawkwing and the woman agreed with her to vacate the area. The problem came in when the woman suggested flying out, “Uh…yeah…” Jinx flapped her hands at shoulder-level, “Problem.” She pointed out unnecessarily. “I don’t happen to have a jet pack in my backpack.” When Hawkwing told the woman that he refused to leave Jinx behind, she beamed and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “My Hero.” She winked, but then came back to reality. “But, seriously…I need a car or something and a speedy get away still isn’t possible with all the wreckage. She looked at Hawkwing, “Unless you can carry me?” She asked hopefully.

Jinx had gown slightly more bold when the woman didn’t attack them and offered her name. She still remained behind Hawkwing, but gave an off-handed wave. “I’m Jinx.” She offered. The bow from the woman was a nice touch, Jinx had to admit. But then there was the distinctive sound of rounds being chambered into rifles. Jinx’s eyes widened at the tell-tale laser dots peppered the winged woman’s body. “Oh shit.” She whispered under her breath.

The leader ordered them to their knees and Jinx simply couldn’t stop herself, “I am on my knees, asshole.” Of course, she didn’t say it very loudly. Chelle, on the other hand, seemed to be mightily amused by the number of gunmen that surrounded them. Her skin began to change back into the dark ash color she’d had when she’d first swept onto the scene. Then, the leader tried to arrest the demon woman.

“Wait, wait!” Jinx threw up her hands, “Queen of Thrones? Dominus? What in the hell is going on here?” She squeaked in panic. The crack of the sniper rifle jolted Jinx out of her panic and she swept her hand around in a semi-circle to include the gunmen that were aiming their guns at her and Hawkwing. She simply couldn’t cover them all, though. “NO!” She screamed, from that small distance, the guns in the agent’s hands simply fell to pieces. Every screw and spring and part were already in Jinx’ mind from their first encounter and she just took the guns apart, leaving the agents with little more than a stock and trigger guard in their hands.

Bullets flew at Chelle, clearly she was the greatest threat. The rounds simply bounced off her as she bent over Jinx and Hawkwing protectively. Jinx clung to Hawkwing in absolute terror. But, no rounds got through and Chelle stood away from them at her full, regal height and proclaimed [color=gold] "As much as I'd love to drain each and every one of you. I have important things to do that involve letting you live today. So, if I were you, I'd stop acting tough before you're a heap of rotting flesh."

The captain of the Dominus soldiers spit out his hatred and anger at Chelle making the winged woman suddenly run the man through with her sword. Jinx just remained on her knees in shock. Her brain was still working, thankfully, but her body seemed unwilling to obey her. The winged woman bent close to the dying man’s ear whispering something Jinx couldn’t hear before turning away from the Captain and cleaning her blade.

Jinx finally scrambled to her feet backing out of the woman’s way when a long town car pulled up and a young woman with white hair got out to hold open the back door for Chelle. The two exchanged pleasantries as if nothing unusual had happened. When an implied invitation was extended to Jinx and Hawkwing to join the demon woman, Jinx threw Hawkwing a semi-terrified look. But since she couldn’t fly, she really had little choice but to join Chelle in the back of the town car to avoid more Dominus troops.

Inside the car, Jinx hugged her backpack to her chest as if it was a shield. Her eyes were huge, but as the ride continued in peace, she grew bolder and finally began to ask questions. “Um…interesting schtick you got there. Transformation, I take it? Born with it or…uh…” The sentence trickled off when Jinx grew uncomfortable. She really didn’t have much to do with other Mutants, so she wasn’t entirely sure where the line was for asking about powers. “I talk…when I’m nervous.” Jinx’ eyes dropped to the woman’s gown, “Where do you keep your cell? I can block the GPS chip…you don’t want people tracking you with it and they will, trust me.” Jinx was far more comfortable talking about electronics with such an obvious power in the car with her.

Jinx bit her lower lip, but Queen Chelle seemed perfectly at ease with her impertinent question about her power. She answered it without rancor and asked Jinx about her own coming into her powers question in return. “Oh, me? An accident, actually, when I was 10. Massive electrical charge that should have turned me into a pile of ash just seemed to…rewire things in my head instead. It makes no logical sense, of course. Things like that just don’t happen. I took enough amperage to light up my whole neighborhood for a year. I still can’t figure it out. And, believe me, I’ve pondered on it plenty.”

Jinx took Chelle’s phone and frowned at it in concentration. What the woman said was true. It had some serious encryption layered on the signal and it would take some serious firepower to crack it. She had to admit it, but even she would be hard pressed to get closer than half a mile on that signal. Her eyes flickered up to the woman’s face. “That’s…impressive.” Chelle went on to explain about the members of the Thrones group she had at her disposal and went so far as to offer her the opportunity to join the group. Jinx bit her lower lip for a time. She’d never heard of the Thrones. That fact in itself was frustrating. She should know the major players. And any group this woman ran would be a major player.

While Jinx pondered that, the town car pulled into a lot with other identical cars. Jinx watched in amazement as every car started their engines and pulled away as if in a choreographed dance. Jinx instinctively knew the tactic as offering many red herrings to anyone trying to track the woman opposite her. It sent a cold shiver down her spine. The pretty white-haired girl named Anna smiled as she watched Jinx taking everything in. Jinx glanced at her just in time to catch the girl’s ears and tail emerge. Anna giggled and handed her an envelope. ”Here, Miss Cully. Can you tell me what’s exactly on that USB drive?”

Jinx’s hand paused in mid-reach when Anna called her by name. She looked for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Jinx slowly drew the USB key out of the envelope, though she didn’t want to. “A vacation retreat for the elite rich?” Jinx snorted, unimpressed. She knew that couldn’t be right given the woman that headed it and the invitation to join. After all, Jinx was anything but rich and famous. But there was another file there, a hidden ghost file. Its subtlety was a work of art all by itself. As Jinx concentrated on the file it opened and she gasp aloud when she found files on her. Her handle, her Meta ability, potential approaches. But then she found her picture, age, address, family and other vitals showing that they had just been added within the last hour.

Out of habit, Jinx erased the USB files, though it was a useless gesture. “Just what do you intend to do with all that information on me?” Her eyes flicked between the smiling Anna to the calm and serene Chelle. “If you’d planned to hurt me, you could have long ago. So…blackmail? Doesn’t seem like your style.” Jinx hugged her backpack against her chest tightly as she tried to sound calm and rational. “What exactly is the Thrones? And why is Dominus out to kill you?” Jinx paused for a deep, calming breath. “I’m too cute and too young to be caught up in someone’s war.” She added irreverently.

She glanced out the darkened windows and finally asked one final question; "And where are we going?"