Fighting the good fight [open]

[Aurora "Karma" Vatican]

The girl was about seventeen, her light brunette hair was tied up in a messy type of bun and her blue eyes almost looked sad. She had olive skin that took to the sun really well and wore a simply outfit consisting of black keds tennis shoes, a blue laced tank top with a white button up shirt over it and some blue jeans. She liked to keep it simple, didn't like to be flashy or draw attention. Being what she was made life hard enough, the less people noticed her the better. At the current point in time she was sitting in what might be considered a garden of sorts, some flowers could be seen and there were names on plaques everywhere. She liked to come here and read all of the names, it was calming and helped her focus on something other than her life for a little while. As her eyes scanned the plaques she read Wolverine. Cyclops. Phoenix. Rogue. Storm. there were so many names, so many forgotten faces, finally her eyes met with Karma. That was her, she had taken her name after the X-Men named Karma. A psychic like herself, it only seemed fitting.

Of course her real name wasn't Karma, but none of the new X-Men only went by their real names in public to hide who they were, but even then most of them who had already been to internment camps had to use fake alias's so people wouldn't flag them and send them back. Aurora Vatican, Karma, Rory, some fake last name after her nickname, whoever she was she wasn't really sure anymore. Ever since her mother had died everything had been horrible. Her mother and her little innocent sister had been murdered, her father was in jail and her brother was a monster, but not a monster like her. He was a human that had shipped her off to those horrid camps the instant he found out what, or who, she really was. The accident replayed in her mind, just like it did every night before she fell asleep. They were driving home, father behind the wheel, mother in the passenger seat and the kids in the back. She was fifteen, Lillian was eight and Sveyen was eighteen. Everything was fine until the car struck them head on, then the lights went black. All she remembered was blurry faces, blurry voices and sirens. She could barely breath, she was choking on something and it hurt to move. Then the world was black. She woke up in the hospital months later and the doctors told her that she had shattered her wrist, broken three ribs and collapsed a lung. She had the scars on her wrist and chest to prove it.

As soon as she was able to go home she did. But only found out that her mother and sister were dead and her father was in jail for brutally murdering the drunk driver that had destroyed his family. Since that day she had barely spoke a word, had suffered horrible night terrors and panic attacks. At the same time her abilities began to show themselves and that was when her brother had called her a freak and sent her away. Remembering all of this caused the young girl to drop to the ground shaking and hyperventilating, another panic attack, she was so used to them by now. She knew it would pass, they always did. Besides it wasn't all bad now, at least now she had Wolverine and the others like her. It still didn't make the pain go away though.

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[Arianna Ramos]

Being a part of a team was never something that came naturally to Arianna Ramos, otherwise known as the Wolverine. She had spent almost a decade travelling the US on foot searching for her brother. She had become accustomed to the life of a vagrant. Now she found herself living with people, most of whom were far younger than the experienced mutant. They fought for a cause they didn’t truly understand, admirable but foolish. However at the end of the day she needed the resources they offered, she needed their assistance to get to her brother. And she would be lying if she said she hadn’t grown fond of some of them. She emerged from the subbasement into the mild afternoon breeze. She squinted her eyes a little emerging from the hatch and proceeding into what was once the courtyard.

In the decade she had been separated from her brother she felt a responsibility to these youngsters, especially Karma, the girl who had allowed her to escape her most recent spell in a camp. She exited the courtyard unzipping the oversized hoodie that swamped her body revealing a plain white tank top accompanied by some black pants and some black ballet pumps. She was trying to relax, as best as one can really given the circumstances when you’re very existence is an act of treason. She stretched a little clicking the bones on her fingers individually before noticing Rory in the corner of her eyes. “Rory?” she said noticing her on the floor, her mind instantly started racing. They had been discovered, she’s been attacked maybe she was losing control. She instantly ran to her ally.

She skidded to a grinding halt on her knees by the young mutant and closely grabbing her hand and squeezing it firmly, “You’re ok baby.” She smiled as her other hand wiped some hair from her face so they could maintain eye contact. She gave the girl a once over checking her body for wounds but found nothing, “Just breath, slowly in through the nose for five then out for ten.” She said as she began to count with her. She used to do this with her brother when he was scared she wondered if he remembered.

[Aurora "Karma" Vatican]

Wolverine was there by her side like she had sensed something was wrong with Rory. Of course that was foolish and it was more likely that Wolverine had just happened to be passing by at that momeny. But Wolverine was the closest person that Rory had right now, she viewed Wolverine as her family since she had none. She knew that the older mutant was searching for her brother and Rory was determined to help her because she knew what it felt like to have no one left in the world to love. Other than helping Wolverine Rory wasn't sure exactly what she was fighting for, not a great idea but the only option she had at the moment. She was safer here with a group of mutants than she was anywhere else. Power in numbers.

Wolverine had grabbed her hand and instructed her to breath in slowly then out slowly. She did as she was told and after about three minutes the hyperventilating started to go away. She stopped shaking and was able to relax into a normal sitting position. Her brain was whirling though and she couldn't form the words that she so desperately wanted to speak. She hated her mental issues so much sometimes. The doctors told her that she had selective mutism, sounded like a pain in the ass and it was. She forced her mind to focus only on that one thought that she wanted to say and then looked up at Wolverine "Thank you, I will be ok. It was a panic attack, they usually pass on their own" she said with a sigh. Her accent was still there, not terribly strong or anything but it just made her sound different than the Americans. That wasn't really a good thing though because the internment camp had taken down her information when she was there, noting the fact that she had an accent as well. Made her easier to target in her opinion.

She had never told Wolverine why she had panic attacks. She had never told the older mutant how she had ended up in the internment camp or why she hadn't gone back to her family. It wasn't something she liked to tell other people but she knew that Wolverine probably wondered what secrets she was keeping. Panic attacks were caused by a disorder known as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTS and PTS was only caused by traumatizing events. "So many of them, gone without a trace in the world. Forgotten in time and left to rot on pathetic name stones" she said in a soft voice, really to herself but loud enough that Wolverine could hear. She was looking at the plaques again, it made her sick to think that the world had targeted them as mistakes, when really they were the ones that nature had chosen to be superior. Sure things had gone back with Phoenix, but it wasn't her fault she had lost control, something that Rory could easily understand.

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[Arianna Ramos]

Arianna held her the girls hand as she regaining composure, she occasionally let go of her face and rubbed Rory’s back, she wasn’t sure if it helped exactly but she supposed a little human contact wouldn’t go a miss. Despite the fact they lived in such close quarters they were truly strangers, human contact was scarce. She enjoyed her bond with Rory, the girl was a powerhouse but she wasn’t really aware of her true potential, she wouldn’t have lasted another day in the camp before she would have been shifted off to the capitol. Arianna had seen it before, countless times. A mutant a little more powerful than the rest could potentially house the Phoenix. They would be euthanized to avert the potential threat.

Wolverine smiled as Rory seemed to settle down, she released her hand, she didn’t feel pain but she was sure the girls grip would have hurt anybody else. She would keep the information about the Phoenix secret, it was already a lot to take in without that little nugget of good news on top. “Don’t scare me like that ok?” she said leaning in and moving some hair from her brow before softly kissing her on the forehead, her maternal instincts kicking in. “We need you.” She assured the girl as they remained on the ground.

It was true, they did need her but Wolverine needed the girl most of all. Partially because she substituted for her brother and allowed her to make up for past mistakes, and also because without her they would have no chance of finding him. “Just don’t wander too far off, you don’t want a sentinel flying overhead as you’re having a panic attack.” She warned the girl as she noticed her staring at the plaque.

“Did you ever read anything about Karma?” she asked pressing her hand on the plaque wiping a little dust from it. “She was brave, she two children on her own and she was powerful. Just like you. Only she could possess people, armies at a time according to the computer bellow deck.” She informed the young mutant, “They were persecuted back then, The Phoenix was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.” She explained to Rory examining another memorial. ”People were always scared of Mutants, even when I was a kid they would say things about stopping them breading, making mutant marriage illegal there were people who would show up at Mutant’s funerals and protest the Phoenix was all they needed to set this into motion.” She explained looking into the sky, “And now it’s on our shoulders to make it right.” She said with a grin, she didn’t believe it herself. The X Men would do more harm than good, she was sure of it, the lack of training and general haphazard approach was reckless, but it was also her last hope.

[Aurora "Karma" Vatican]

The soothing strokes from Arianna helped Rory to regain her composure faster than usual. Whether it was really the soothing, motherly feeling that Arianna put off or whether it was because Rory was actually finally outgrowing the episodes was a question that anyone could take a stab at. Really only time would tell if Rory was going to ever outgrow these horrible panic attacks or not. She did seem to be getting better but that didn't mean she was all good and she might never be. When she had regained her composure completely and was finally able to organize her thoughts enough to speak she looked up at Arianna "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" she replied softly and shifted herself into a full upright sitting position.

"I try to be careful and not go too far. I just get so bored being cooped up downstairs, it creeps me out knowing so many of us used to be here and now they are all dead, just an eery feeling really" she added with a sigh. Humans as a race could not be faulted for what a handful of their kind was doing and Rory knew that but it was hard to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys sometimes. It was hard to trust anyone and really Arianna was the only one that Rory really trusted, but even then she didn't tell the other girl everything, some things were her secrets. Sentinels were one thing she really hated, they were a pain in the ass to kill and seemed to show up at the worst possible times. She had only ever encountered them a few times and had been lucky each time.

"I read a little bit about her, I don't think I will ever be as powerful as her. There were so many strong mutants, makes me really scared to know that with how powerful they were not even they could survive this war. If they failed then how can we ever succeed?" it was fear that she knew at least a few people were considering along with her. She knew that Phoenix wiped out most of the mutants but not all of them, how was it that the powerful mutants that were left had succumed to the torture of the humans around them. Rory knew that Arianna was lieing to her, it was something the older girl did a lot. She never lied about things that were really important but she did lie about things such as the war and what they were doing. Arianna was always saying they were doing the right thing, but Rory knew that even she didn't believe what she was saying. Usually she went with it but today she didn't "You know you can't lie to me, I know you don't believe we will win at least not the right way. We are untrained, we are unorganized and we are nothing but raw power. We are a bunch of misfits that have come together to do something about the humans trying to control us. But killing them will prove nothing good for us, it will only prove that we really are monsters. So what can we do? We can't fight them without making ourselves look bad. Admit it Ari, we are fighting a losing battle and we all know it. Why we keep fighting is beyond me" she replied with a sigh. It was the most she had ever said to Arianna and after she was done she instantly shut her mouth and looked down. She felt bad for being negative but really it was the truth.

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