19604/Deus Ex Sinister - The Ultimate Mutant

Deus Ex Sinister - The Ultimate Mutant
Date of Scene:	15 December 2024
Location:	Data Storage Warehouse
Synopsis:	The Shade and Fabian Cortez interrupt Mister Sinister. It's a partial win for the Acolytes, but at an extreme cost and truama from it. Some wins aren't worth it as they get a glimpse of the monster underneath the man.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Fabian Cortez, Richard Swift
Tinyplot:	Deus Ex Sinister

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Emma Frost has posed:
The government kept extensive files on metahumans. And with them came many backup storage places. Take out one, others would be there. Redundancies were redundancies. If one had to be shut down due to political pressure, there would be others.

This was one of those that had massive information stored in analogue databanks on mutant tissue samples. Taken from every single mutant that had ever been in even short term government custody or investigation. Whether a police evidence room, a federal black site, or just a medical subcontractor. A dank, deep warehouse filled to the brim with data storage devices. And on this night, a powerful mutant, among the most terrifying ones on Earth.. With a reputation for pain, suffering, and torture that had been inflicted upon countless members, that had left trauma upon the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and so many others..

Tonight was the night MIster Sinister came out. THrough this warehouse, he teleported in in a portal. Telepaths would shriek out warnings. Energy signs would go off the scale. The man was making no effort to hide as he walked through.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Fabian Cortez is here to save everyone. Stepping out of a teleportation disk directly between Sinister and the databanks in question, gold cape flapping in the evening wind. Thank goodness, hold your applause, the spaniard noblemen has spent a few months behind a desk in Genosha and has only recently been seen on the public scene outside of his mutant holy land. If he is here representing the Brotherhood, Genosha interests, or the Acolytes might be clarified by the red and black traditional Acolyte outfit and herd of Acolytes with likely short life spans with him. Admittedly, it doesn't particularly matter to Fabian who he is currently representing, he is Here, to be Seen, and help, of course. Of course he's here to help. Why would he show up if not to be an assistant toward furthering the great task burdened to mutant-kind and saving the world from the likes of Sinister and-

Wait. Why was there no one else here? Fabian's attention scans the periphery and will have the helpful ping from the telepath with him that they are, in fact, rather alone.

Fabian's attention settles back on Sinister. He smiles, clears his throat and offers a wave, "Excuse me, is there any chance I could convince you to turn around and walk back through that nice portal you have there? There is no need for-well, this."

Richard Swift has posed:
The Shadows congeal and move with an undulating cacophony as though even the shadows were in tune. Then, they stop moving...and suddenly, walking through those shadows, was a man. The Shade takes one step. Then another. With a frown, the shadow leans on his cane, the silver head eclipsed by his hands.

His black suit was pristine. His black top hat perfectly aligned on his head. His eyes were black. His tie was black. His shoes were the black of near-Earth orbit but shined with a darkness that was cold as ice.

This was the Shade. And he appears...bored. The shadows keep him covert...for now.

Emma Frost has posed:
As the Shade arrives, and he morphs around the shadows.. Suddenly they flash over and encircle him. Immobilizing him in flaring, blinding light. Every shadow in the room is obliterated as overwhelming light literally consumes them. There is nothing left there for the Shade to dance within and rush out from one corner to another.

Mister Sinister turns around towards Fabian Cortez and the Acolytes, grinning, "Why just one of those I wanted to see. A man of your talents is /wasted/ upon something so inconsequential as the Acolytes. It's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh." Sinister says in a respectful tone that's completely dismissive of the Acolytes there with him, seemingly unimportant in the greater scheme of things. "You are a man of ambition, Mister Cortez. Ambition and power. Stuck in the state of limitations where you are. Where you are but a little pawn to be used by those who see themselves bigger than you that you could stomp in an instant."

Richard Swift has posed:
Watching carefully, the Shade regards the scene with a bored expression, as though he has seen it before. Then, something piques his interest. Ah, there it is. Whenever there was a call to corrupt a soul, the Shade was interested in the outcome. Another step forward.

The shadows move in the corner of the room, obscuring his arrival, and now, his presence. This was...fascinating!

Then...it happens. Ensorcled by a master intelligence. The Shade had made a mistake...and now. He was trapped. There were no shadows. Not making a sound or a move, he waits. And listens.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
If Fabian is aware of the presence of a third party, he gives no sign of it. His team, certainly does not appear to be. Fabian's hand settles comfortably on the gun at his hip, offering as warm a smile as he can manage to Sinister, pretty warm after those very, very true words, "I'm listening, I agree. Your exploits are nothing, if not impressive, sir. It's really not personal, it's not even that I disagree with what you're doing here, not even that I disagree with Stryfe's whole Thing, but I do disagree with who's running the show right now."

He'll shrug, one finger tapping his gun lightly in more of a thoughtful gesture than a move to pull it, "To be honest with you, I think you deserve my honesty Mister Sinister, who's running the show is bit of a sticking point for me, for us-" He'll gesture to his very doomed team of Acolytes, most of whom are shifting uneasily as Fabian continues to talk, notably, Fabian does not say Who he thinks should be running the show. With the Acolytes present, of course, the assumption might be Magneto and the Magnus blood, but such words are not stated.

"And I-well We. We'd appreciate it if we don't have to do this song and dance. We can't fight you, we all know that and I'm not going to pretend we can. Instead, I'd like to focus on what we can do: Destroy this databank. You hop to the next one, and will surely find that we have already alerted the local sect of Acolytes and have destroyed that one too. I'm saying that we can fight, we can lose." Fabian shrugs again, "That would be unfortunate for us."

"But for you: With the goal of sample-collection. Fighting and beating us doesn't matter if we successfully destroy all the samples in the process. Am I right to assume that some negotiations are a reasonable thing to request? At least-between you and I?"

Emma Frost has posed:
There's a smile over by MIster SInister, "Very well, MIster Cortez. I can appreciate a man who is direct and gets to the point. It saves a great deal of time. I'm willing to talk with you if you don't interrupt my work in return for one thing." He would hold a hand up. "Just a smlal thing. A sample of your blood. You do have great potential in you that you've barely tapped. You could be so much more. You're using but a fraction of what you could be." He would just smile sinisterly. This was the man that had captured members of the X-Men and Brotherhood, tortured and vivisected them, and put them through horrifying amounts of suffering that had broken many.

"Stryfe wants many things. He plays with toys and intents far beyond his game. You know very little of what he truly wants. What his endgame is. You don't grasp the games that he's playing. You want nothing to do with him." THat sounds dangerously sincere coming over from SInister. That and loathing over in his voice seemed genuine.

"So then, give me your samples, and we can talk. I twon't hurt a bit." Even as his other hand flashes, maintaining the bright flares to immobilize the Shade. "No one but our little spy in the corner is going to hear us, and he seems the type that's mor einterested in filing away information for his personal gain later on. He's unimportant." As if floating out a pair of tweezers, they would go towards Cortez' shoulder.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
"For all your kind words, I'm insulted." Fabian doesn't so much as move a muscle as he speaks, but the gun out in an instant he's finished and a single shot at the offending tweezers ringing through the space, echo bouncing across the many databanks around them. He waits as the echos die to continue, tone unchanged, "I am aware of my value and I'm not one of your penny pinching whores, Mister Sinister. The One Thing that allows a conversation is a non-destroyed databank. A sample from me is a far more expensive ask and not one that you have offered a sufficient price for, certainly not something as cheap as words. I cannot be bought with promises. If I am going to beholden myself to stand in a shadow, it will be the biggest shadow I can find, and right now, with an offer like that? I find you lacking."

Fabian's gun twitches back to indicate the Acolytes behind him, "I've just promised you a lot of dead Acolytes in exchange for the annoyance of no databank. You want a databank, we talk. I've just been informed that Acolyte attacks on the other banks of this flavor are going Swimingly."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would just smile, "Yes, which is unfortunate. But all I need is one." His hand would go up and glow as the databanks would all flash, even as they start having downloads going in place. All of them being protected by force fields. "Mister Cortez, don't overestimate your own capabilities. I'm willing to bargain, but my time is limited. And know that I want to save mutantkind and Stryfe's actions will bring about extinction to the point that there will be nothing on this planet left for Galactus to consume. I want to save mutantkind to make sure it prospers, and no matter what he thinks he's doing it will only end in our complete annihilatino." There was something so disturbingly sincere in the voice of the man that had worked in the Death Camps.

"Cortez, you have potential. But you are but one of many. You are a man of ambition that's locked behind the veil of those who have no idea what you are capable of or your potential."

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Fabian doesn't need to verbally tell the Acolytes to move, they have a telepath and are already at the databanks, wailing on the force fields, trying to break or get inside. One smart fellow goes for the power source of the databanks in the first place, attempting to remove download-power. Fabian doesn't move, he's already doing his job right now, boosting the powers of his team that he deems most useful to the problem here. There is no visible tell to Fabian's power usage, and now is no different, but a power-draw mutant does seem to be oddly chipper about the whole situation, hands flat against the force field, seeming to already be trying to pull the energy in.

Fabian himself starts to approach Sinister, slow, relaxed, "Mister Sinister, This is really a waste of your time here. I agree with every word you are saying and my leash has been feeling a tad bit tight of late-But you still are only giving me words. What Are You Offering Me?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Sinister is arrogant. Presuming he can get everything he wants. He is one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. It is incredibly likely that he is right. But his arrogance is also a weakness as he goes to take his hand out and over to Cortez. "Of course. I want to make mutantkind survive. Stronger. TO improve ourselves." He would go to offer his hand out over to shake, even as the Acolytes would ready themselves.

And Sinister was so sure of himself and his capabilities when it came to things that he trusted in his own unstoppable force fields.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Fabian hosters his gun, stops in front of Sinister and smiles, "Survival? I'm looking for Thrive. But Improvement you say?" As a hand is offered, Fabian will take it with a firm shake.

"But I'm afraid you misunderstood me, you cannot improve on perfection." Awe. There is. Fabian has been Touched. Something he has been waiting for. While Fabian Can and usually does exert his powers over other mutant's powers from a distance, With physical touch his effects can be stronger. Instantaneous, pin-prick accuracy, stronger and-point in note for Sinister-Fabian can sometimes push mutants who are far stronger than himself in directions they might not want. Fabian has a reputation for being a Power Booster. In reality, he is a Power Manipulator. In this case, Fabian steals. The moment skin contact is made, Fabian pulls at Sinister's powers, putting every force of dampening effect he can shoved onto Sinister and attempting to pull that energy into himself. Fabian can, with touch, turn powers off. Immediately shoving it back toward the Acolytes at the databanks with an Additional boost.

Having a telepath on his team this time, he's warned them that they to brace themselves, after all power like Fabian's can drive a man mad, and power like Fabian's theft from someone like Sinister? There is no way this won't over drive most of his team. Even the brief moment of holding energy like Sinister's in his own body cannot be good.

Emma Frost has posed:
Sinister has made the very rare mistake of underestimating someone. There's just the barest slip of his shields to allow the power siphon to work. For Fabian, it's quite possibly overloading. Agonizing to a level as power hits him that's twisted and morbid in ways that mgiht even disgust him. Sinister has altered himself and twisted his own body for over a century. It likely feels wrong. Like drinking acid. Drinking of the essence of evil itself. Darkness. There's a sense of memory along with it as well as psionic memory is transferred. Torture. Suffering. Clinical detatchment. Amusement. Enough in a way to make even the most hardened sadist blanche.

There are such things as monsters. Of being sof pure evil. Of psychopaths. Sinister is one of them. No matter his justifications, he is a monster beyond almost all measure. This is a man that enthusiastically worked with Nazis. That has no qualms or restraints on anything so long as he gets what he wants. For a great many, no matter how deadened they were to carnage, it might be inducement to nausea, terror, and raw agony at bleedhtrough. But the energy is taken.

Fabian gets but a touch of Sinister's powers. And the trauma associated with them if he does not know their extent. Fabian, likely, for all his ambition and scheming, has a conscience of sorts. Levels of restraint. Lines he will not cross. And if he's not focused on shielding himself then he's getting that full force of trauma associated with but a fraction of Sinister's memories.

IT's enough to overload most of the databanks that have only given up some of their secrets. Their analogu nature as backups making them harder to download, no matter the power or technopathy. That's what's stopped Sinister from taking them all at launch while he talked. Fabian's managed to in a way save the day.

Even as a small bit of blood comes out of his hand during the handshake.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Fabian is on the floor, doubled over in pain, he sees nothing, he knows nothing, most of his team is dead or dying with him, himself not much better. Through the haze, there is nothing but the briefest attempt to focus some healing on himself. Trying to boost his own internal mutant resilience against the awful transference that just happened. This internal healing is likely all that is keeping Fabian continuous enough to activate the get-away and be pulled to Asteroid M. And here, he thought Fenris were disgusting cows, this? He doesn't have the words for this. It doesn't matter now, for the second time this week he arrives on the Astroid, far more hurt this time and with a much more effective team fully dead. Some success is sweet. This is not.

Emma Frost has posed:
Most of his team is dead or dying. Those who are left probably wish they were or that they would soon. The Brotherhood medics can probably heal them all no matter how bad. But some things? Some things can never be wiped away. No matter how powerful the telepath or how good the counseling is. The survivors are teleported back to Asteroid M even as Sinister screams. THe building disintegrates even as there's an opening in the darkness to let Shade get away.

And Cortez is given a show of just how horrible any man can be.

Richard Swift has posed:
The Shade's eyes narrow, as he watches the scene unfold. As it ends, the Shade bows, spies a small shadow at the end of the corner, and then is gone. His echo will return.