BREAKING NEWS: The Brotherhood Strikes Again
[OOC: Disclaimer: What the mun writes here is based on what she perceives as Pyro’s beliefs and actions, not at all on her own. Just want to make that clear.
Disclaimer 2: Pyro!mun thinks all the Marvel muses are utterly fantastic, but Pyro is less than impressed and thinks they’re all (well, most of them, anyway) morons. I’m sorry!! Also, he swears, a lot. I've tried to get him to cut back, but he just won't.]
[LOCKED to tm_pyro and morty_toad]
Pyro sat in the back of the non-descript white van, the one that was actually loaded up with many gizmos and gadgets and monitors. Toad was busy on a laptop, working at hacking into the security system of their target.
Sometimes, he had to pinch himself to remember that this is what life - his life - was really like now. It felt a bit like a movie.
"Come on, man," Pyro said impatiently, the heel of his boot thudding on the floor as his leg jittered up and down. "Do this thing already."
"Hold the fuck up," Toad replied, not looking up from the screen. "This takes time and finesse."
"We don't have time, and you don't have finesse," Pyro jabbed. Toad didn’t say anything, but spared a second to wave around his middle finger - or, what was supposed to constitute a middle finger, Pyro guessed, as the guy only had four.
"There!" Toad announced triumphantly a few moments later. He looked over at Pyro with a mischievous grin. "Ready, Little Balls of Fire?"
"Don't call me that," Pyro snapped instantly but he smiled. "Fuck, yeah."
"Go to it, man. You have five minutes."
"Don't need half of that," Pyro said, and hopped out the back of the van.
This is going to be so easy, Pyro thought to himself. They had had absolutely no snags in continuing this mission onto its final stage. There didn't seem to be anyone keeping their eyes out on the Brotherhood right now.
The X-Men were all too busy dealing with their personal craziness and drama, so much so he heard they closed the school down. Who even knew what point of the X-Corps fucking was? Cable held his big publicity-grabbing Summit, but didn't follow through on a damn thing so who the hell was going to take him seriously? Tony Stark was too busy riding his power-hungry high horse and hiring supervillians for SHIELD. Captain America was in fucking jail. Reed Richards was on a road trip with his arch-nemesis. And Mike - well, Pyro actually liked the guy, but he was always so preoccupied with his Super Secret Schemes of getting rid of Sinister. Which, in Pyro's opinion, was a waste of time since Sinister was cunning and powerful and, oh yeah, immortal.
As that crazy loon Wanda Maximoff had asked: Whatever Happened to the Heroes?
Well, they were to damned wrapped up in themselves and their own lives to remember their mission.
But the Brotherhood never forgot theirs. Especially at such an opportune time as this.
Pyro was able to do something that all those others couldn’t do - put aside his personal life to focus on the political. Pyro couldn’t let himself think about Doug - about how he’d react, what he would think, or wonder if it would scare him away. Pyro had to push all those issues and thoughts away as if they didn’t exist, and just focus on the mission. He could do that. He had to do that. And so he did.
Pyro and Toad's mission? Simple. Blow the smithereens out of this fucking building.
But it wasn't just any building, of course. Sure, it looked like some sort of shelter for runaway or abandoned pets, but that was just to give it a legit appearance. In the basement of said building was where a chapter of the Friends of Humanity was housed, where their resources and plans and such were located.
The fucking Friends of Humanity. That group of racist assholes that were the anti-mutant equivalent to the KKK. Not only did they use the Brotherhood’s actions to rally support, but they also took it upon themselves to attack anything and anyone that might support mutant rights, or were sympathizers. Just a few months before, they set fire to a charity organization trying to help out abandoned mutant kids. Instead of a memorial for the five that died, they held a celebration. And Pyro had seen some of their nasty web-articles and spoof cartoons, including the one that praised the people who nailed that mutant girl to a barn.
It was disgusting. They would pay.
The government did nothing. They wouldn't admit support to the Friends of Humanity, but they certainly weren't trying to stop them, either. Nor was any one else.
It was up to the Brotherhood to do it.
Pyro opened the back gate to the compound, not setting off any alarms or triggers. Easy as pie, thanks to Toad. He walked closer to the building when he noticed a side door opening.
Fuck, he thought to himself as he ducked down behind a dumpster. No one was supposed to be at the facility, all the day workers who actually thought the business was legit had gone home hours ago. It closed at nine pm, and it was nearly four in the morning.
“Fuck, this meeting is taking forever,” the tall, slender man said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one; it took everything in Pyro not to just nail that fucker. He wanted to find out what the hell was going on since it seemed Toad hadn’t done all the surveillance he had claimed. Pyro was going to fry his ass.
“No kidding,” answered the short, chubby man. “How long does it take to plan on setting them up anyway? Tin-Head practically handed it to us when he blew up that place in Europe last month. Fucking mutie scum.”
“Yeah, mutie scum,” Tall Guy echoed, taking a deep drag of his smoke.
Pyro could feel the anger, the power, rising up in him and he couldn’t control it any more. Hell, he didn’t want to, didn’t have to, not with who these guys so clearly were. Without warning, the end of the cigarette blew up in a puff of smoke and flame, and moved onto his clothes, setting them on fire.
The men started screaming, the Chubby Guy trying to help his colleague by patting on the fire. It only grew as Pyro willed it to jump over to him, and made it crawl over him from head to toe in a matter of seconds.
“Take this, Flatscans,” Pyro mumbled, clicking the igniter on his flame thrower. The tiny spark was all he needed, and he shot his arm out in front of him, a stream of bright fire blazing past the two men and into the building behind them.
Pyro could hear the screaming of animals, high pitched squealing and barking, but it lasted only seconds. Pyro made the fire spread through the building quick and merciless until every inch of it burned. The heat made the glass of the windows blow out and the flames billowed up from the rooftop. Through the black smoke, he swore he saw a person run through the building as if imitating the Human Torch, only with more painful screaming. He made those flames burn stronger.
He turned from the building, feeling powerful and exhilarated. Adrenaline rushed through him, and he focused it on making the fire burn more intensely. He sauntered out the front gate of the grounds as if taking a stroll down the red carpet at some high class award show.
Toad pulled the van up in front of the gates, watched Pyro as he walked through. The look on Pyro’s face was unlike anything he’d seen before - more dangerous, more wild, more out of control - and the fire behind him cast an eerie light onto him.
“Over kill much?” Toad remarked mockingly as he leaned out the opening window.
Pyro stopped a few feet from the van, staring at Toad. Suddenly, there was an explosion from the rooftop of the burning building, flames jumping high into the air. They melded together into a single shape, looking like a dragon swooping down for the kill. It only lasted a few moments, and dissipated with a loud burst that sent a wave of heat so intense it made Toad flinch.
“No such thing,” Pyro answered darkly.
Pyro came around the side of the van, got into the passenger seat. Once in, it was like his body collapsed, and he sagged back against the seat. He looked ghostly pale and was sweating so much (and Toad had never seen him even break a sweat before) that he hair was stuck down to his head and his clothes were soaked through.
“You okay, man?” Toad asked, shocked.
“I’m fine.” But it was the least confident Toad had ever heard the cocky little bastard sound. “Just drive. I’ll make the call.”
Toad did his job as the getaway driver and didn’t say another word.
[UNLOCKED]
BREAKING NEWS
Authorities have released a statement today in relation to the early morning explosion in Kansas City, Missouri. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the mutant terrorist organization the Brotherhood Of Mutants. The following statement was issued minutes after emergency units arrived at the scene:
“Today’s attack was against a chapter of the anti-mutant group, Friends of Humanity, not the legitimate business they cowardly hid behind. The American government looks to capture and prosecute The Brotherhood of Mutants for so-called terrorist attacks, but will not take action against such groups of their own kind. Until this is done, the Brotherhood will continue their movements in eliminating this organization that is dedicated to opposing mutant civil rights.”
The owner of the property, Graydon Creed, was not present during the attack but did issue a statement denying the Brotherhood’s claims:
“The property housed a shelter for abandoned and stray animals, not the ‘Friends of Humanity’ group. That is only an excuse for the Brotherhood in trying to justify this heinous act against the human population. Innocent men and women, volunteers of the shelter, died because of that madman mutant. He will pay for what he did against us.”
The image above was captured from a security system on an adjoining property to the shelter. It was magnified and the attacker has been clearly identified as John Allerdyce, aka Pyro, a known member of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
The final casualty statistics remain as follows: three male and two female volunteers of the shelter (who were working a late inventory shift), 37 felines, 19 canines, and 1 baby bunny. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr, John “Pyro” Allerdyce, or other members of the Brotherhood, is urged to contact the proper authorities.
[LOCKED TO tm_pyro and morty_toad]
Pyro awoke with a start as he heard a door slam, and looked around, a bit disoriented. Blinking his sleepy eyes, he saw Toad crawling from the front of the van to the back, where Pyro was trying to get some sleep.
“What’s up?” Pyro asked.
“Had to stop to siphon some gas so we can make it back to the chopper,” Toad answered. “Here, I nicked this for you.”
Toad handed a newspaper to Pyro, and he immediately saw his own picture right across the front. Toad snorted. “Well, it ain’t no bombing in Brussels, but you did okay for your first solo run.”
“Wasn’t solo. Couldn’t have done it without you,” Pyro said absently as he started to read over the article. He completely missed the look of appreciation on Toad’s face.
Pyro frowned. “What the fuck? They’re trying to cover this up?”
Toad shrugged. “I’m sure Magneto expected that. But, really, who’s going to believe that the Brotherhood wasted time and resources on a bunch of animals?”
“Hmm,” Pyro hummed unhappily. He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Besides, there’s a more pressing issue,” Toad said in the most serious tone Pyro had ever heard from him.
“What?” Pyro ran a bunch of scenarios through his head, most of them ending up with Magneto being very upset with him. But, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Had he?
“You killed a baby bunny,” Toad said, deadpanned. “You cruel beast, you.”
“Fuck you,” Pyro said, hitting Toad upside the head with the newspaper.
But they both laughed.
[OOC: Pyro!mun asked Magneto!mun to give Pyro something to do, because he was really really wanting to blow something up. Magneto!mun suggested the Friends of Humanity. I wasn’t familiar with them so I did a bit of reading (here and here.) I created the rest of the cover story myself just for fun and to add a bit of depth to my character(s). So, my apologies if it doesn’t exactly line up with what you might remember from any of the various Marvel canon. Also? Pyro!mun is beyond thrilled she was able to make a graphic!! (Even if it only was cropping a picture and clicking the “change to black and white” option.) Photo (pre-messed around with) found on aaron-stanford.net. Oh, and I don't doubt there are holes in my/their mission strategy (hey, this is based off Marvel) but I'm new at this sort of action-y plot so I gave it my best shot. It was supposed to be less about that part of it, anyway.]
Disclaimer 2: Pyro!mun thinks all the Marvel muses are utterly fantastic, but Pyro is less than impressed and thinks they’re all (well, most of them, anyway) morons. I’m sorry!! Also, he swears, a lot. I've tried to get him to cut back, but he just won't.]
[LOCKED to tm_pyro and morty_toad]
Pyro sat in the back of the non-descript white van, the one that was actually loaded up with many gizmos and gadgets and monitors. Toad was busy on a laptop, working at hacking into the security system of their target.
Sometimes, he had to pinch himself to remember that this is what life - his life - was really like now. It felt a bit like a movie.
"Come on, man," Pyro said impatiently, the heel of his boot thudding on the floor as his leg jittered up and down. "Do this thing already."
"Hold the fuck up," Toad replied, not looking up from the screen. "This takes time and finesse."
"We don't have time, and you don't have finesse," Pyro jabbed. Toad didn’t say anything, but spared a second to wave around his middle finger - or, what was supposed to constitute a middle finger, Pyro guessed, as the guy only had four.
"There!" Toad announced triumphantly a few moments later. He looked over at Pyro with a mischievous grin. "Ready, Little Balls of Fire?"
"Don't call me that," Pyro snapped instantly but he smiled. "Fuck, yeah."
"Go to it, man. You have five minutes."
"Don't need half of that," Pyro said, and hopped out the back of the van.
This is going to be so easy, Pyro thought to himself. They had had absolutely no snags in continuing this mission onto its final stage. There didn't seem to be anyone keeping their eyes out on the Brotherhood right now.
The X-Men were all too busy dealing with their personal craziness and drama, so much so he heard they closed the school down. Who even knew what point of the X-Corps fucking was? Cable held his big publicity-grabbing Summit, but didn't follow through on a damn thing so who the hell was going to take him seriously? Tony Stark was too busy riding his power-hungry high horse and hiring supervillians for SHIELD. Captain America was in fucking jail. Reed Richards was on a road trip with his arch-nemesis. And Mike - well, Pyro actually liked the guy, but he was always so preoccupied with his Super Secret Schemes of getting rid of Sinister. Which, in Pyro's opinion, was a waste of time since Sinister was cunning and powerful and, oh yeah, immortal.
As that crazy loon Wanda Maximoff had asked: Whatever Happened to the Heroes?
Well, they were to damned wrapped up in themselves and their own lives to remember their mission.
But the Brotherhood never forgot theirs. Especially at such an opportune time as this.
Pyro was able to do something that all those others couldn’t do - put aside his personal life to focus on the political. Pyro couldn’t let himself think about Doug - about how he’d react, what he would think, or wonder if it would scare him away. Pyro had to push all those issues and thoughts away as if they didn’t exist, and just focus on the mission. He could do that. He had to do that. And so he did.
Pyro and Toad's mission? Simple. Blow the smithereens out of this fucking building.
But it wasn't just any building, of course. Sure, it looked like some sort of shelter for runaway or abandoned pets, but that was just to give it a legit appearance. In the basement of said building was where a chapter of the Friends of Humanity was housed, where their resources and plans and such were located.
The fucking Friends of Humanity. That group of racist assholes that were the anti-mutant equivalent to the KKK. Not only did they use the Brotherhood’s actions to rally support, but they also took it upon themselves to attack anything and anyone that might support mutant rights, or were sympathizers. Just a few months before, they set fire to a charity organization trying to help out abandoned mutant kids. Instead of a memorial for the five that died, they held a celebration. And Pyro had seen some of their nasty web-articles and spoof cartoons, including the one that praised the people who nailed that mutant girl to a barn.
It was disgusting. They would pay.
The government did nothing. They wouldn't admit support to the Friends of Humanity, but they certainly weren't trying to stop them, either. Nor was any one else.
It was up to the Brotherhood to do it.
Pyro opened the back gate to the compound, not setting off any alarms or triggers. Easy as pie, thanks to Toad. He walked closer to the building when he noticed a side door opening.
Fuck, he thought to himself as he ducked down behind a dumpster. No one was supposed to be at the facility, all the day workers who actually thought the business was legit had gone home hours ago. It closed at nine pm, and it was nearly four in the morning.
“Fuck, this meeting is taking forever,” the tall, slender man said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one; it took everything in Pyro not to just nail that fucker. He wanted to find out what the hell was going on since it seemed Toad hadn’t done all the surveillance he had claimed. Pyro was going to fry his ass.
“No kidding,” answered the short, chubby man. “How long does it take to plan on setting them up anyway? Tin-Head practically handed it to us when he blew up that place in Europe last month. Fucking mutie scum.”
“Yeah, mutie scum,” Tall Guy echoed, taking a deep drag of his smoke.
Pyro could feel the anger, the power, rising up in him and he couldn’t control it any more. Hell, he didn’t want to, didn’t have to, not with who these guys so clearly were. Without warning, the end of the cigarette blew up in a puff of smoke and flame, and moved onto his clothes, setting them on fire.
The men started screaming, the Chubby Guy trying to help his colleague by patting on the fire. It only grew as Pyro willed it to jump over to him, and made it crawl over him from head to toe in a matter of seconds.
“Take this, Flatscans,” Pyro mumbled, clicking the igniter on his flame thrower. The tiny spark was all he needed, and he shot his arm out in front of him, a stream of bright fire blazing past the two men and into the building behind them.
Pyro could hear the screaming of animals, high pitched squealing and barking, but it lasted only seconds. Pyro made the fire spread through the building quick and merciless until every inch of it burned. The heat made the glass of the windows blow out and the flames billowed up from the rooftop. Through the black smoke, he swore he saw a person run through the building as if imitating the Human Torch, only with more painful screaming. He made those flames burn stronger.
He turned from the building, feeling powerful and exhilarated. Adrenaline rushed through him, and he focused it on making the fire burn more intensely. He sauntered out the front gate of the grounds as if taking a stroll down the red carpet at some high class award show.
Toad pulled the van up in front of the gates, watched Pyro as he walked through. The look on Pyro’s face was unlike anything he’d seen before - more dangerous, more wild, more out of control - and the fire behind him cast an eerie light onto him.
“Over kill much?” Toad remarked mockingly as he leaned out the opening window.
Pyro stopped a few feet from the van, staring at Toad. Suddenly, there was an explosion from the rooftop of the burning building, flames jumping high into the air. They melded together into a single shape, looking like a dragon swooping down for the kill. It only lasted a few moments, and dissipated with a loud burst that sent a wave of heat so intense it made Toad flinch.
“No such thing,” Pyro answered darkly.
Pyro came around the side of the van, got into the passenger seat. Once in, it was like his body collapsed, and he sagged back against the seat. He looked ghostly pale and was sweating so much (and Toad had never seen him even break a sweat before) that he hair was stuck down to his head and his clothes were soaked through.
“You okay, man?” Toad asked, shocked.
“I’m fine.” But it was the least confident Toad had ever heard the cocky little bastard sound. “Just drive. I’ll make the call.”
Toad did his job as the getaway driver and didn’t say another word.
[UNLOCKED]
BREAKING NEWS
Authorities have released a statement today in relation to the early morning explosion in Kansas City, Missouri. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the mutant terrorist organization the Brotherhood Of Mutants. The following statement was issued minutes after emergency units arrived at the scene:
“Today’s attack was against a chapter of the anti-mutant group, Friends of Humanity, not the legitimate business they cowardly hid behind. The American government looks to capture and prosecute The Brotherhood of Mutants for so-called terrorist attacks, but will not take action against such groups of their own kind. Until this is done, the Brotherhood will continue their movements in eliminating this organization that is dedicated to opposing mutant civil rights.”
The owner of the property, Graydon Creed, was not present during the attack but did issue a statement denying the Brotherhood’s claims:
“The property housed a shelter for abandoned and stray animals, not the ‘Friends of Humanity’ group. That is only an excuse for the Brotherhood in trying to justify this heinous act against the human population. Innocent men and women, volunteers of the shelter, died because of that madman mutant. He will pay for what he did against us.”
The image above was captured from a security system on an adjoining property to the shelter. It was magnified and the attacker has been clearly identified as John Allerdyce, aka Pyro, a known member of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
The final casualty statistics remain as follows: three male and two female volunteers of the shelter (who were working a late inventory shift), 37 felines, 19 canines, and 1 baby bunny. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr, John “Pyro” Allerdyce, or other members of the Brotherhood, is urged to contact the proper authorities.
[LOCKED TO tm_pyro and morty_toad]
Pyro awoke with a start as he heard a door slam, and looked around, a bit disoriented. Blinking his sleepy eyes, he saw Toad crawling from the front of the van to the back, where Pyro was trying to get some sleep.
“What’s up?” Pyro asked.
“Had to stop to siphon some gas so we can make it back to the chopper,” Toad answered. “Here, I nicked this for you.”
Toad handed a newspaper to Pyro, and he immediately saw his own picture right across the front. Toad snorted. “Well, it ain’t no bombing in Brussels, but you did okay for your first solo run.”
“Wasn’t solo. Couldn’t have done it without you,” Pyro said absently as he started to read over the article. He completely missed the look of appreciation on Toad’s face.
Pyro frowned. “What the fuck? They’re trying to cover this up?”
Toad shrugged. “I’m sure Magneto expected that. But, really, who’s going to believe that the Brotherhood wasted time and resources on a bunch of animals?”
“Hmm,” Pyro hummed unhappily. He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Besides, there’s a more pressing issue,” Toad said in the most serious tone Pyro had ever heard from him.
“What?” Pyro ran a bunch of scenarios through his head, most of them ending up with Magneto being very upset with him. But, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Had he?
“You killed a baby bunny,” Toad said, deadpanned. “You cruel beast, you.”
“Fuck you,” Pyro said, hitting Toad upside the head with the newspaper.
But they both laughed.
[OOC: Pyro!mun asked Magneto!mun to give Pyro something to do, because he was really really wanting to blow something up. Magneto!mun suggested the Friends of Humanity. I wasn’t familiar with them so I did a bit of reading (here and here.) I created the rest of the cover story myself just for fun and to add a bit of depth to my character(s). So, my apologies if it doesn’t exactly line up with what you might remember from any of the various Marvel canon. Also? Pyro!mun is beyond thrilled she was able to make a graphic!! (Even if it only was cropping a picture and clicking the “change to black and white” option.) Photo (pre-messed around with) found on aaron-stanford.net. Oh, and I don't doubt there are holes in my/their mission strategy (hey, this is based off Marvel) but I'm new at this sort of action-y plot so I gave it my best shot. It was supposed to be less about that part of it, anyway.]