RP: The New Recruit [completed]
OOC: RP with notbyalongshot. Many hugs and virtual cookies to Longshot!mun for picking up this bad boy and coming to play! YAY!
Note: Longshot is based on Ultimate X-Men, so he is a mutant (and not an alien clone guy?) We just played around with the background a little (as I have done with my Ultimate!Toad) to fit in with the RP verse we play in. Takes place a few days after this.
Mortimer Toynbee might be a lot of things… actually, he was a lot of things… but one of those things, believe it or not, was being very attentive to mutant issues. And any mutants that might be slighted by those mere human beings that plagued the earth.
And he was very good at recruiting them too. Sure, the Brotherhood was in a bit of a tough spell at the moment, but Toad was an optimistic sort of fellow.
And while he's out there, making stupid goofy jokes about marrying Harry Osborn (who wasn't even in the same league as Toad. Obviously,) Toad was still very serious and attentive to the needs of the Brotherhood. He was scouring far and wide to find likely candidates to come into the fold as they waited for their real fearless leader to return.
His luck was looking up when he found a video on YouTube, of all the places.
It was a hoax, all the little forums, teeny-boppers and news people alike said. There was no way that people would be allowed to hunt a human being like that. It was just a very well done and interesting cinematic attempt by some amateur would-be director, they were quite certain.
Besides, it's not like some human could possibly be that lucky to escape the traps, and dodge the bullets, and make it through that forest on that small island that didn't seem to exist anywhere at all, and surviving the Hunt for a couple weeks. Just impossible.
Toad's attention was caught when he saw one of the Hunters. He paused the little video, and stared and stared and stared.
Toad never forgot a face.
And that face, he saw a lot of while being tortured at WeaponX. That face laughed as the rest of the body did the torturing. The one face that was on leave when Toad and Sylar burned that facility to the ground.
Toad agreed with all those folks. No human could possibly survive being prey like that to a WeaponX guard with all that technology used to track and kill mutants.
Hell. This guy must be one hell of a mutant to be able to do that, the lucky sod.
And no one seemed to notice. No one seemed to care. And no one seemed to be doing anything about it.
Toad noticed. Toad cared.
And Toad was sure as bloody hell going to do something about it.
And maybe get a recruit, too!
---
A few days of work, and Toad had been able to track down the small island that was being used for the sick game of Hunt The Mutie. Thanks to all that WeaponX technology he stole, he was able to hack into some systems, get some information, and all that. It wasn't an official WeaponX compound, but it sure was used by some of the employees of WeaponX.
Those on leave who just couldn't bear to spend any time away from torturing mutants, apparently.
Toad did his thing, his reconnaissance and his espionage. And he broke onto that island, one Hunt Day nonetheless, and it was Toad who became the hunter, with prey who didn't know he was even there.
---
Arthur Centino was dead. Longshot was a dead man, but he was still very much alive. Arthur Centino died the moment he set foot on the island, while Longshot watched. It was his human name, his flatscan alias, and he wouldn’t be needing it here.
But it was still what the flatscans insisted on calling him.
“Target is spotted, Centino’s in the trees. He’s headed towards cliff side.”
Longshot yanked himself up higher, out of sight. He wasn’t worried about guns, or the Hunters getting a good aim, he just didn’t like being watched. It was harder to navigate up here, but he also wasn’t worried about slipping and falling. Longshot had incredible balance.
He had to lose these flatscans. They were too close, pesky and annoying and Longshot was running out of tricks. They wouldn’t kill him, or correction, they couldn’t kill him, because he was far too talented to get picked off by the slow, bumbling humans who were “hunting” him. But every time they got close, Longshot had to perform another impossible feat (and usually fake his death) and pretty soon even people as stupid as they were would figure out his power. And then? Well, it would just make it less convenient for him. It didn’t mean his life would be in danger. Longshot never worried about things like that.
“He must not realize what he’s doing. Once he hits the cliff he’ll be backed against the wall.”
Stupid man. Longshot rolled his eyes, effectively turning his next leap from tree to tree into a blind one. He landed perfectly. Cliffs don’t have walls. Only windows.
He leapt down from his position in the trees, landing squarely on the shoulders of the slowest Hunter. The man collapsed under the weight, and before he’d hit the ground, Longshot was already moving, taking another out with a kick to the face. The third was faster than his friends, and had his gun drawn. The sound echoed off the trees, and Longshot dove behind the staggered man he’d kicked, yanking his arm behind his back and effectively using him as a shield. The man with the gun seemed to think he’d have good enough aim to spare his buddy.
Big mistake.
Longshot twisted, and the bullet found home just under the Hunter’s chin. He dropped the body to the ground, taking advantage of the gunner’s stunned silence to make a break for the cliff. There was a flash of yellow, and then he was gone, over the edge.
“Target is down. It’s all rocks at the bottom, there’s no way he could have survived.” That didn’t stop the man from firing a few rounds into the water, just to be sure.
---
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you, mate."
The mutant paused, looking around for the voice, looking a little bit terrified.
Toad jumped down from the tree up above, one of the Hunters held tight in his grip, though the bloke was still alive… barely. Toad had already beat the living tar out of him.
The mutant stared at Toad. "How'd…"
"The internet is a wonderful thing," Toad nodded sagely, then gave a bit toothy grin. With one hand, he held the Hunter - the guy Toad knew from WeaponX - high up in the air. "So, about the other way… you'll find his buddy if you go that way. Which, hey, don't blame you if you want to go and tear him to shreds." Toad eyes glinted maliciously. "I have my own personal beef with this one."
Toad threw the body up in the air, and snapped out his tongue. It circled the guy's neck, and he snapped it, while at the same time flinging the body at a nearby tree trunk. It hit with a crack, and whether that was the tree or the man, Toad didn't know. Didn't care.
"Why, hullo mate!" Toad said cheerfully, turning to the mutant, as if they had just met up at a pub or something like that. "The name's Toad, and I'm here to get you off this stinking island."
Toad tilted his head to the side. "And by the way… who are you, exactly? And how'd you end up here?"
The mutant inclined his head by way of greeting. “Sorry. Thought you were one of them, a replacement for the one I got rid of. I’m Longshot. Don’t ask me how I got here, I don’t really remember, it’s been so long.”
Longshot leaned against a tree, body sagging in a way that suggested he hadn’t had a proper rest in ages. “You’re really here to rescue me? Well buddy, normally I’d insist I don’t need rescuing, but I like the way you work.” He stared pointedly at the crumpled body at the base of the tree. “And seriously, I have no idea how to get off this island. I’m guessing you do, because you had to get on it first. So uh, Toad right? Don’t know what you’re doing here, but I’m glad of it anyway.”
That’s the closest he’ll get to saying thank you.
He pushed himself off the tree and took a few steps towards Toad. “I say we deal with the straggler, and then find me some dry clothes. I hate doing the fake drowning thing. I think there’s fish living in my shoes.”
They set off in the direction Toad had indicated.
“So seriously, I’m on the internet? Tell me I’m not on fucking youtube. That last shred of dignity I had is officially gone.”
---
It doesn't take long for the two mutants to dispose of the other hunter. Well, Longshot to do it - Toad figured the bloke could use with a good dose of vengence against him right about now. Toad laughed as Longshot broke the flatscan's neck.
Toad led them through the trees and shrubs, and to a point in the electric fence that surrounded the island. He stayed clear of the watch tower on the other side of the island, to make things just a little bit easier for them.
"Right there," he said, pointing. He pulled a protective backpack off his back and dug around in it as he continued to explain, "It's the generator that controls the electricity. We just need to knock it off line."
Thing was, the generator was outside the fence.
Toad pulled something out of his pack with a triumphant flourish. "With this!" In his hand, a little man-made bomb that partly looked like a grenade, but was obviously so much more. "It just needs to have the detonator set and lobbed over then fence and VOILA. Blows up the generator and knocks the electricity offline."
"And then?" Longshot asked.
"And then we scale down the cliffs to that boat that I have hidden down there." The cliffs Longshot went off earlier were just an inlet, and blocked off from escape. But these cliffs led to freedom. "All juiced up with WeaponX technology and it will never be detected. And I can get myself down that cliff with no problem, mate." Toad grinned wide. "You?"
Longshot returned the grin as his right eye flashed yellow. “I think I’ll manage.”
Toad tossed the grenade over the fence, and the buzzing that announced the electric fence was active stopped. The two made their way quickly over the fence and out to the cliffs, with Longshot following Toad’s lead. They easily scaled down the cliff, neither one using anything but the natural handholds and footholds of the rock. It wasn’t until they were on the boat and speeding away from the island that they spoke again.
“What exactly is your thing, mate?” Toad asked.
Longshot laughed. “Probability, pal.” His eye had gone back to its normal color. “In a nutshell, I’m the luckiest guy you’ll ever meet. Which tends to work out well for people around me.”
He turned away from the sight of the island growing smaller and smaller. “So, what brought you here in the first place? Besides seeing me on fucking Youtube?”
"Well, I also saw Mr. What's His Snapped Neck on YouTube as well, and I owed him one. And he sure got it!" Toad said with a robust laugh. "Other then that? I'm recruiting."
He grinned wide.
"Ever hear of the Brotherhood?" Toad asked, smiled when Longshot nodded. "Well. The Boss, there, he's on sabbatical. It's my team now, and I'm rebuilding. Could use a man of your mutation and disdain to the flatscans. What'd you say, mate?"
"You in?"
Longshot stared at him for a long moment, as if deliberating, but in actuality his mind had been made up from the second Toad said "Brotherhood".
"I'm in."
Toad's eyes glinted, and his smile took a turn to something a lot more menacing. "Today must be my lucky day."
Note: Longshot is based on Ultimate X-Men, so he is a mutant (and not an alien clone guy?) We just played around with the background a little (as I have done with my Ultimate!Toad) to fit in with the RP verse we play in. Takes place a few days after this.
Mortimer Toynbee might be a lot of things… actually, he was a lot of things… but one of those things, believe it or not, was being very attentive to mutant issues. And any mutants that might be slighted by those mere human beings that plagued the earth.
And he was very good at recruiting them too. Sure, the Brotherhood was in a bit of a tough spell at the moment, but Toad was an optimistic sort of fellow.
And while he's out there, making stupid goofy jokes about marrying Harry Osborn (who wasn't even in the same league as Toad. Obviously,) Toad was still very serious and attentive to the needs of the Brotherhood. He was scouring far and wide to find likely candidates to come into the fold as they waited for their real fearless leader to return.
His luck was looking up when he found a video on YouTube, of all the places.
It was a hoax, all the little forums, teeny-boppers and news people alike said. There was no way that people would be allowed to hunt a human being like that. It was just a very well done and interesting cinematic attempt by some amateur would-be director, they were quite certain.
Besides, it's not like some human could possibly be that lucky to escape the traps, and dodge the bullets, and make it through that forest on that small island that didn't seem to exist anywhere at all, and surviving the Hunt for a couple weeks. Just impossible.
Toad's attention was caught when he saw one of the Hunters. He paused the little video, and stared and stared and stared.
Toad never forgot a face.
And that face, he saw a lot of while being tortured at WeaponX. That face laughed as the rest of the body did the torturing. The one face that was on leave when Toad and Sylar burned that facility to the ground.
Toad agreed with all those folks. No human could possibly survive being prey like that to a WeaponX guard with all that technology used to track and kill mutants.
Hell. This guy must be one hell of a mutant to be able to do that, the lucky sod.
And no one seemed to notice. No one seemed to care. And no one seemed to be doing anything about it.
Toad noticed. Toad cared.
And Toad was sure as bloody hell going to do something about it.
And maybe get a recruit, too!
---
A few days of work, and Toad had been able to track down the small island that was being used for the sick game of Hunt The Mutie. Thanks to all that WeaponX technology he stole, he was able to hack into some systems, get some information, and all that. It wasn't an official WeaponX compound, but it sure was used by some of the employees of WeaponX.
Those on leave who just couldn't bear to spend any time away from torturing mutants, apparently.
Toad did his thing, his reconnaissance and his espionage. And he broke onto that island, one Hunt Day nonetheless, and it was Toad who became the hunter, with prey who didn't know he was even there.
---
Arthur Centino was dead. Longshot was a dead man, but he was still very much alive. Arthur Centino died the moment he set foot on the island, while Longshot watched. It was his human name, his flatscan alias, and he wouldn’t be needing it here.
But it was still what the flatscans insisted on calling him.
“Target is spotted, Centino’s in the trees. He’s headed towards cliff side.”
Longshot yanked himself up higher, out of sight. He wasn’t worried about guns, or the Hunters getting a good aim, he just didn’t like being watched. It was harder to navigate up here, but he also wasn’t worried about slipping and falling. Longshot had incredible balance.
He had to lose these flatscans. They were too close, pesky and annoying and Longshot was running out of tricks. They wouldn’t kill him, or correction, they couldn’t kill him, because he was far too talented to get picked off by the slow, bumbling humans who were “hunting” him. But every time they got close, Longshot had to perform another impossible feat (and usually fake his death) and pretty soon even people as stupid as they were would figure out his power. And then? Well, it would just make it less convenient for him. It didn’t mean his life would be in danger. Longshot never worried about things like that.
“He must not realize what he’s doing. Once he hits the cliff he’ll be backed against the wall.”
Stupid man. Longshot rolled his eyes, effectively turning his next leap from tree to tree into a blind one. He landed perfectly. Cliffs don’t have walls. Only windows.
He leapt down from his position in the trees, landing squarely on the shoulders of the slowest Hunter. The man collapsed under the weight, and before he’d hit the ground, Longshot was already moving, taking another out with a kick to the face. The third was faster than his friends, and had his gun drawn. The sound echoed off the trees, and Longshot dove behind the staggered man he’d kicked, yanking his arm behind his back and effectively using him as a shield. The man with the gun seemed to think he’d have good enough aim to spare his buddy.
Big mistake.
Longshot twisted, and the bullet found home just under the Hunter’s chin. He dropped the body to the ground, taking advantage of the gunner’s stunned silence to make a break for the cliff. There was a flash of yellow, and then he was gone, over the edge.
“Target is down. It’s all rocks at the bottom, there’s no way he could have survived.” That didn’t stop the man from firing a few rounds into the water, just to be sure.
---
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you, mate."
The mutant paused, looking around for the voice, looking a little bit terrified.
Toad jumped down from the tree up above, one of the Hunters held tight in his grip, though the bloke was still alive… barely. Toad had already beat the living tar out of him.
The mutant stared at Toad. "How'd…"
"The internet is a wonderful thing," Toad nodded sagely, then gave a bit toothy grin. With one hand, he held the Hunter - the guy Toad knew from WeaponX - high up in the air. "So, about the other way… you'll find his buddy if you go that way. Which, hey, don't blame you if you want to go and tear him to shreds." Toad eyes glinted maliciously. "I have my own personal beef with this one."
Toad threw the body up in the air, and snapped out his tongue. It circled the guy's neck, and he snapped it, while at the same time flinging the body at a nearby tree trunk. It hit with a crack, and whether that was the tree or the man, Toad didn't know. Didn't care.
"Why, hullo mate!" Toad said cheerfully, turning to the mutant, as if they had just met up at a pub or something like that. "The name's Toad, and I'm here to get you off this stinking island."
Toad tilted his head to the side. "And by the way… who are you, exactly? And how'd you end up here?"
The mutant inclined his head by way of greeting. “Sorry. Thought you were one of them, a replacement for the one I got rid of. I’m Longshot. Don’t ask me how I got here, I don’t really remember, it’s been so long.”
Longshot leaned against a tree, body sagging in a way that suggested he hadn’t had a proper rest in ages. “You’re really here to rescue me? Well buddy, normally I’d insist I don’t need rescuing, but I like the way you work.” He stared pointedly at the crumpled body at the base of the tree. “And seriously, I have no idea how to get off this island. I’m guessing you do, because you had to get on it first. So uh, Toad right? Don’t know what you’re doing here, but I’m glad of it anyway.”
That’s the closest he’ll get to saying thank you.
He pushed himself off the tree and took a few steps towards Toad. “I say we deal with the straggler, and then find me some dry clothes. I hate doing the fake drowning thing. I think there’s fish living in my shoes.”
They set off in the direction Toad had indicated.
“So seriously, I’m on the internet? Tell me I’m not on fucking youtube. That last shred of dignity I had is officially gone.”
---
It doesn't take long for the two mutants to dispose of the other hunter. Well, Longshot to do it - Toad figured the bloke could use with a good dose of vengence against him right about now. Toad laughed as Longshot broke the flatscan's neck.
Toad led them through the trees and shrubs, and to a point in the electric fence that surrounded the island. He stayed clear of the watch tower on the other side of the island, to make things just a little bit easier for them.
"Right there," he said, pointing. He pulled a protective backpack off his back and dug around in it as he continued to explain, "It's the generator that controls the electricity. We just need to knock it off line."
Thing was, the generator was outside the fence.
Toad pulled something out of his pack with a triumphant flourish. "With this!" In his hand, a little man-made bomb that partly looked like a grenade, but was obviously so much more. "It just needs to have the detonator set and lobbed over then fence and VOILA. Blows up the generator and knocks the electricity offline."
"And then?" Longshot asked.
"And then we scale down the cliffs to that boat that I have hidden down there." The cliffs Longshot went off earlier were just an inlet, and blocked off from escape. But these cliffs led to freedom. "All juiced up with WeaponX technology and it will never be detected. And I can get myself down that cliff with no problem, mate." Toad grinned wide. "You?"
Longshot returned the grin as his right eye flashed yellow. “I think I’ll manage.”
Toad tossed the grenade over the fence, and the buzzing that announced the electric fence was active stopped. The two made their way quickly over the fence and out to the cliffs, with Longshot following Toad’s lead. They easily scaled down the cliff, neither one using anything but the natural handholds and footholds of the rock. It wasn’t until they were on the boat and speeding away from the island that they spoke again.
“What exactly is your thing, mate?” Toad asked.
Longshot laughed. “Probability, pal.” His eye had gone back to its normal color. “In a nutshell, I’m the luckiest guy you’ll ever meet. Which tends to work out well for people around me.”
He turned away from the sight of the island growing smaller and smaller. “So, what brought you here in the first place? Besides seeing me on fucking Youtube?”
"Well, I also saw Mr. What's His Snapped Neck on YouTube as well, and I owed him one. And he sure got it!" Toad said with a robust laugh. "Other then that? I'm recruiting."
He grinned wide.
"Ever hear of the Brotherhood?" Toad asked, smiled when Longshot nodded. "Well. The Boss, there, he's on sabbatical. It's my team now, and I'm rebuilding. Could use a man of your mutation and disdain to the flatscans. What'd you say, mate?"
"You in?"
Longshot stared at him for a long moment, as if deliberating, but in actuality his mind had been made up from the second Toad said "Brotherhood".
"I'm in."
Toad's eyes glinted, and his smile took a turn to something a lot more menacing. "Today must be my lucky day."