2014.05.30 - Gout of Hellfire

It was a rainy day in Mutant Town, that evening. The roads were wet, and a feeling of misery was spread throughout the city. Everyone about seemed to be a bit testy. And perhaps the most testy was Rogue, one of the X-Factor investigators.

X-Factor was beginning to appear on more and more websites as the detective agency dedicated to handling the mutant and anything weird cases that the police wont touch. Of course conspiracies were beginning to get rumored, but that was the internet. In reality, they were just a couple of losers looking to help other losers.

This loser in particular just stormed out of the X-Factor building, dressed in a green hoodie drawn up, with a short vinyl skirt and rugged looking boots. Her hands were shoved into her jacket pockets as she walked looking determined.

Perhaps the most testy? Come now. They don't get more testy than the red-haired, eyepatch-wearing youth seated on a bench, umbrella propped over his head, playing a handheld game console with a scowl on his face as he mutters to himself in Gaelic...probably words that his mother wouldn't be happy about.

Although his mother was a Fomorian, so she might be perfectly happy with them. Who knows?

As Rogue exits the building, though, he gives a start, pausing his game as one hand goes to his eyepatch as though it hurt. "Wh..." A pause, and he looks over at the girl. "Huh...that ain' the one I'm lookin' for, but...****in' ****!" He jumps to his feet, knocking the umbrella over and giving an "ack!" as water gets on his game system. Quickly drying it off on his shirt, he tucks it in a pocket and and grabs the umbrella, hurrying over towards Rogue. . o (That aura...and the brand...) "Hey!"

Vic Sage has been prowling around the building for a while now. Talks of a Detective agency dealing with mutants and wierdness attracting him like a siren call.

from a near by corner The question watches the goings on studying everything he sees and waiting for clues to soemthing bigger more interesting possibly more sinister.

X-Factor was beginning to appear on more and more websites as the detective agency dedicated to handling the mutant and anything weird cases that the police wont touch. Of course conspiracies were beginning to get rumored, but that was the internet. In reality, they were just a couple of losers looking to help other losers.

This loser in particular just stormed out of the X-Factor building, dressed in a green hoodie drawn up, with a short vinyl skirt and rugged looking boots. Her hands were shoved into her jacket pockets as she walked looking determined.'

A small, purple dragon, about the size of a house cat lands on the edge of X-Factor Investigations' roof. Once it has come to rest the wings that were almost invisible while it was in flight now can be seen as a set of three pairs of almost completely transparent, insect-like wings. Curling its tail around its legs the dragon peers down into the street, curiously watching the foul mouthed kid, having been attracted by his outburst.

Rogue peers over her shoulder at the redheaded boy quickly approaching her. She let's out a breath and tries to attempt a friendly smile, but fails, "Hey kid, X-Factor offices is that way if you need em. Ah'm off duty."

Moments before, the "Leader" of X-Factor, Jamie Madrox and Rogue didn't notice the knew prowler, especially after she ran off outside. Inside Jamie might be cursing to himself but packing, but Rogue didn't really care at the moment.

"I ain' here for X-Factor, lass," the red-headed youth says, and points at her. "I'm here t'have a chat with /you/. Takin' a guess, but you're goin' by Rogue, ain' ya?" He has a pretty strong accent that sounds Irish. "Don' worry...I'm a friend o'a fr..." A pause, and he frowns. "I can't get through that ****in' line with a straigh face. I'm toleratin' a friend o'yours, the shirtless wonder. I heard y'might be havin' some trouble, sure. Figured I'd have a look atcha an' see if things were gettin' bad yet."

Noticing a purple dragon suddenly perched on the roof The question looks up and starts whispering into a recording device. "Here be dragons, I have spotted a dragon on the X-factor hq. Could this be linked to the kabal? It is known that they long used the threat of dragons to scare would be travelers away from their secret locations could it be that the X-factor is in league with the Kabal? Has mutant persecution been a rouge all along? This would explain Shaw. Further investigation needed"

The Question turns his attention back to the Rogue and the redheaded boy trying to catch on to what they are talking about. Chills and start to run through his body and he feels a nagging anxious fear in the back of his head. "this doesn't feel right"

The little dragon seems to have quite good hearing. As The Question speaks into his recorder the dragon looks over at him. But only for a moment. After spotting The Question it seems to decide Rogue and Balor are more interesting so it starts scampering down the side of the building, head first, like you can sometimes see squirrels doing along the side of trees. About halfway down it stops and extends its head towards the pair on its long neck, head canted a bit to the side in a pose that expresses some curiosity.

Mystery solved! A friend of Daimon's. But did Daimon really have any friends? One look at his phone would suggest a booty call list. Rogue rolled her eyes, "That so huh? Well glad he...blabbed. Ah didn't exactly understand what was goin' on until about ten minutes ago. And Ah'm probably fired anyway now!"

She gestured towards the building, and noticed out of the corner of her eye a questionable looking strange man in her building. And a dragon? Mutant town was weird many days. "Hey!"

She made her way back in front of the building and called up to the two, "Um. Lockheed right? And...guy. Get down here. Do you have an appointment?"

Balor follows her, his one visible eye studying her a bit. "He didn' blab, lass. I'm a god, I can see **** like this. I told /him/ what was goin' on." He smirks a bit. "Made me swear I wouldn' actually talk 'bout it t'anybody, mind. Paid me with an' ol' Game Boy an' some other classic stuff--which is why I tolerate him. Makes it hard dancin' around the issue with you, though. Shoulda charged him more." He shakes his head, and notes the presence of the dragon and the watcher as well, frowning at them. "Friends o'yours?" One fist clenches, as he looks over at Question, then up at the dragon. . o (Don't seem to be the sort that would be hunting what she's holding, but...)

The purple dragon's triple wings blur back into near invisibility, mostly noticable because of the way they make the rain spary away from them. Pushing off the wall in reaction to Rogue's address it flys over to her and lands on her shoulder, tail drapping down her back and head extending a bit forward to peer at Balor. Rogue's question, obviously, goes unanswered.

"I quess my cover is blown, Should've expected an Illuminati dragon to be able to hear me. But at the moment I am more interested into why, whom I presume is Balor of the Evil eye is so interested in you? And to why being around you gives me a fear I have only known in Hell?" the Question says stepping out of his hiding spot into the open.

She quickly ended the call and shakily lit a clove cigarette. Rogue muttered to herself, "Shit."'

Amongst all of this Rogue's cell phone rings with "The Devil Goes Down to Georgia", to which she knew for sure she did not have programmed into her phone. She held up a finger and turned away from the lot of them knowing what this meant, her eyes wide as she answers the call, not speaking a greeting. "AhAh'm. Gonna have to call you back. Not alone. Text me if you want. If you text."

She quickly ended the call and shakily lit a clove cigarette. Rogue muttered to herself, "Shit."

She kept her phone in her hand as she continued speaking with the lot, specifically Balor, "You a gamer? Nice. Ah've got this old Pokemon Gameboy system Ah managed to hold on to, somehow. Not the topic at hand."

She let out a sigh as the dragon declines to answer, or probably can't answer for all she knows and he's perched onto her back. Fantastic. "Yeah well nice to meet ya too."

She quirked her eyebrow at the Question, no face. That's new. She took in a long drag of her cigarette, "So then Ah'm gonna guess yer a friend of Daimon's too. Or enemy whatever, probably one in the same."

She checked her phone as she received a text and groaned, "Fine then yeah. Ah've got his demon soul. It's gonna pass, Ah'm fine. And Ah don't rightly like bein' crowded. Just ask the last guy who crowded me!"

It was Jamie Madrox, just ten minutes ago. And she kissed him. But a punch or worse sounded much more threatening.

Balor frowns at Question, and shrugs. "Y'got me, not like I'm hidin' it. Balor o'the Evil Eye, Lord o'the Fomorians, god o'Death. Nice meetin' ya, creepy stalker." He looks over at the dragon. "An' you, ****in' cutesy-*** fairy-tale ****. Ain' y'got someplace /else/ t'go **** out fairy dust an' grant good kids wishes or some other stupid sugary **** like that?"

He turns to Rogue, about to say /something/ about video games when...she says it. Out loud. "****in'...Daimon didn' tell y'not to say anythin'?" He looks side to side, quickly. "Listen, lass, y'shouldn' spread that kinda news around. Not jus' sayin' it 'cause Daimon gave me games so I wouldn' post 'bout it on every forum I'm on...it's real dangerous, sure, an' y'could get you /and/ him in a lotta trouble jus' by the wrong person hearin' that. Dumb****'s made a lotta enemies."

Balor gets a hiss in reaction to his little speech. A hiss that carries the kind of smell one would expect from a dragon's breath, small of not. Full or meaty 'goodness', similar to the smell of any other carnivore's breath and enough to make most people gag.

Then the little dragon completely freezes for a second when Rogue says she has a demons soul. The he takes a couple of mini-steps to the side, getting as far away from Rogue's face as it can without actually falling off her shoulders then uses its long, serpentine neck to turn its head around to look Rogue up and down from chest to face and back a time or two, as if it could see said demon soul.

The question is stopped cold at the confirmation. Daimon had taken him to hell to scare him and show him the futility of things but it only enboldened the Question, and left him with haunting nightmares that not even Helena's embrace could chase away.

The Question brandishes a rosery blessed by the bishop of rome that Helena gave to him. "you are carrying his demon soul then We must cast it out of you as soon as possible. I can preform the ritual if you like"

She let out a laugh as she checked her phone again and texted back before silencing and pocketing it, "CALL YOU LATER."'

She turned to Balor and blew a puff of smoke over his head, her shoudlers slumping a bit, "Yeah. Yer probably right. C'mon."

She gestured for the lot of them towards the alleyway next to the X-factor investigations. It wasn't exactly the most private spot, but at least it was out of the street. Rogue would have to be more careful about that in the future.

And while normally she'd be giddy as hell with the fact that a dragon was hanging out on her back, but today wasn't a normal day. She looked over to him over her shoulder, "And Ah'd feel much more comfortable knowing who /you/ are. Nods are nice if you can't talk, you look like yer understandin' us."

She grabbed the Rosary beads from Question and slid them around her neck. Normally, Rogue would be much more polite about something seemingly so nice, "Not gonna do much good. But it does match with my outfit, don't you think?"

She let out a laugh as she checked her phone again and texted back before silencing and pocketing it, "CALL YOU LATER."

Balor hmphs a bit at the dragon breath. "Kinda refreshin', lad." He used to brew potions and set curses on people. He's smelled a /heck/ of a lot worse than dragon breath. He rolls his eye at the Question, shaking his head. "Don' get yourself an' everybody else in trouble rushin' ahead, here. Y'screw somethin' like that up, y'might end up with your own little bundle o'horrible evil." He looks amused, but the blood-red smoke leaking from beneath his eyepatch suggests something more like irritation at the whole situation.

Following after Rogue, he glares at the small dragon as well. "I'm feelin' the same. Little **** could be spyin' for somebody that wants whatcha got, Rogue. Me, I'd suggest chokin' the life outta the thing an' torchin' its body, just t'be safe." He turns to look at her again. "Who's callin', then?"

The purple one considers Rogue's request, looking her steadily in the eye for what could be an uncomfortably long time. Finally it responds, but not with a nod or with words. Instead it very intentionally gives her a slow wink then takes some mini-steps back towards her head, finding a spot that's more comfortable than the extreme edge of her shoulder.

The little dragon then turns his attention back to Balor and the Question curling its lips back away from his teeth in a silent snarl for just a moment before settling back down to follow the conversation again.

The Question stops himself from lunging on rogue when she Snatches the rosary. "I'm I'm gonna need that back." Vic says witha shirt tense tone that makes it clear he is clenching back a lot of rage and anxiousness.

"If I had to wager, that would be the son of the devil who's spamming her phone. what's that saying speak of the devil and he shall appear?" Q says trying to stay calm but starting to reach for the rosary I'm gonna need that back" He says under his breath as he clears his throat pulling his hands back as the dragon snarls at him.

witha shirt tense tone = with a short tensed tone

"To be honest Ah really don't know much about the lot of ya. Daimon hasn't really mentioned either of you. So Ah'll take y'all for yer word for now."

She reached up to pet at the top of the dragon's head. Not sure sure what it's deal is, but everything needs a pet now and then. Humans too. She let out a sigh as she's about to respond to Balor, and she /still/ gets another text with her phone on silent. "N-nuthin. Just some guy."

She slides her phone into her back pocket as she takes another long drag of her cigarette. "No it aint Daimon. Thank you very much."

She shoved the Rosary back into his hands as she let out a sigh, "Is there any reason y'all are here? Hangin out? Ah was on my way to get some booze."

Balor rolls his eye at the little dragon. "Level 1 monsters shouldn't go growlin' at level 99 heroes, lil' ****." He turns to Rogue, and hmphs. "Ain' mentioned me? I'm hurt. Would'a thought he'd come complainin' 'bout how ****in' rude I am on a regular basis. Clearly I ain' torturin' him 'nough." A frown. "If those calls an' **** ain' Daimon...it's prob'ly someone you oughta /tell/ Daimon 'bout. Soon as possible. He dealt with this kinda **** for a long time, lass. Much as it pains me t'admit it, y'need t'get guidance from him on handlin' it. Otherwise...it's gonna change you, bad...or you're gonna get yourself killed. Not sure which is worse for ya. Not sure I'd advise the drinkin', either. Losin' yer inhibitions ain' necessarily a good thing now."

He smirks at her last question. "Me...I'm just lurkin' around here huntin' somethin' totally unconnected. Eatin' evil spirits is my new career. Ain' as much fun as wanton slaughter an' conquerin' an' pillagin', but it keeps the video games comin' in, sure."

The Question clutches it firm in his grasp. "I'm here because I'm meant to be. I was drawn here by curiosity over the X-factor but clearly the spirts wanted me to find you because you are carrying that soul of the demon. I am the The Question and I must be here to help you. I will spare you from what ills the Kabal has planned for you if you will let me"

The little dragon gnashes his teeth a couple of times at Balor without really being all that agressive. More like he's not buying what Balor's selling even if he's not picking a fight either. And that turns into a purr that would do any cat justice as he gets petted.

Then he turns to look quizzically at Rogue, snaking his neck out so he can look at her eye to eye without leaving her shoulder and answers her question with a shrug that starts at its shoulders and travels along then neck like a wave, ending with a little head bob.

Rogue tossed her cigarette aside as she looked to Balor, "Look, Ah get you mean well and all. But mind yer own God damn business. Don't even know you. Ah just."

Her phone doesn't even ring or receive a text again, but she pulls it out. And rubs her hands shakily through her hair, tossing her hood back. "It's gonna pass. It always does. Carol did."

She looked to the Question and quirked a brow, "Then you kinda religious freak? Trust me. Ah do /not/ need that right now. Appreciate the help. All of you uh, guys. Whoever you all are."

While the dragon is getting his cute on, on Rogue's head it's beyond her at the moment. "Just. Ah gotta go. It's been real nice meetin' y'all. But hey, a mutant investigator's work is never done, am Ah right?"

"This /is/ my god-business," Balor says, with a little smirk. "These things don' pass...Rogue," Balor says, looking at her a bit sadly. He's being rather careful with her, actually. Normally he'd just deck somebody like this and try to eat the evil soul himself, but... 1) It's really super evil and that might actually affect /him/, and 2) Daimon cares about this girl, and might not like it if she accidentally died or something. Besides...she's still her, for now, and this isn't her fault. "I know 'bout stuff like this. Whatever y'might've had happen before...this is differen'." A shrug, and he digs in his pocket, pulling out a business card and offering it to her. It gives the contact information for Aiden and Breandan Lalor, and features a rather gross design with a blood-spatter pattern and a big creepy lidless eye. Guess who designed it? "Listen, I ain' gonna stop you or nothin'...but if y'need somebody t'talk to 'bout this, or...some advice, or somethin', y'can call. Don' worry, everybody that answers that number's fine t'talk to. I ain't secret, much as Aiden'd like me t'be." A little frown. "I've been through somethin' kinda like this. It's gonna get worse, an' it's gonna be hard t'control. Y'don' wanna go through this alone. I did...an' trust me, it sucked ***." He steps out of her way, then, to let her through.

"Me relgious? no I only belive what I have seen and proven. But I have seen the biblical hell! You can't handle this alone rogue." The Question pleads with her.

He looks over Balor and the dragon "Look at what that is drawing to you do you really trust them more than me? This not something to grit and bear it, this is something you need to fix soon."

Sounds like someone is getting a bit grumpy at this point. So the little dragon decides to cut his losses after getting petted. He returns the favor by stretching out his neck and petting Rogue on the top of her head with the underside of his jaw then hops off, wings bluring into nothing but a spray of breaking rain drops, and flits over to the building's wall, clinging to it once more.

Rogue just stared at the business card for a moment. Sure it was garish and gross, but the boy seemed genuine in his weird way. Hopefully it wasn't all a farce, but for the moment it felt genuine. She smiled at him and pocketed his card, "Sure. Ah'll call. This is different then what Ah've gone through before just..gotta wait it out. Thank you."

She looked over the Question as he pointed out their companions, "Yeah and Ah can actually look into their eyes son! You're faceless, makes trustin' a little more easier. Were it any other night ah'd..."

She had the thought to touch the Question, to just absorb the information and skills he has and skip the middle man. But Balor is right, Rogue is still there. "W-whatever. Got the X...people."

Rogue looks as if she's about to have a panic attack or something else when the dragon flies off, "And whatever the hell that was. G'night."

Rogue doesn't even head necessarily towards any of her regular bars, just away. She runs until she's gone instead in a gout of Hellfire.