Into the Fray

[Catherine Kelly]

"Holy Hell..."

A momentary thought of if Hell could actually be Holy came and went as it was overwhelmed by the heat that seemed to smack square into her. She had heard that Los Angeles was hot in the Summer, but it wasn't technically Summer just yet and... Jesus Christ who decided to make a city in the middle of the god damn desert anyway?

The elderly woman behind her on the enclosed walkway let out a laugh. "First time here?"

Catherine looked over her shoulder at the wrinkled woman in over-sized aviator sunglasses and a loudly colored blouse. She put on her best smile and nodded. "Yep, how can you tell?"

The woman chuckled again as they both continued up the ramp. "Oh, you just remind me of myself the first time I came here. Only that was in the Winter. Can you believe it can get to be around thirty degrees near Christmas some times?"

Catherine made a bit of a face and cringed. "That's just evil."

They continued their polite exchanges until they made it back inside of the air conditioned air port and wished each other the best before going their separate ways... only to see each other again at customs and then again at baggage claim. She almost considered offering to share a cab drive with the woman but when the happy smiling family pulled up to the excited shouts of "Grandma!", Catherine had to finally wave goodbye to the nice old woman she had just met. From what she'd been told it was going to be the last polite stranger she was probably going to see again.

For now there was just a taxi ride to her hotel, a nap to recover from jet lag, maybe a little seeing of what Los Angeles nightlife had to offer... and then would begin the real reason she was there: trying to get some answers... preferably from others with her condition who would actually care unlike the people who had made her offers at home who probably saw those with the x-gene as nothing more than glorified lab rats.

[Hurucan]

A taxi that looked as if someone had made a half-hearted attempt to decorate it like a bumble bee pulled in to the designated parking bay, coming to a halt with the driver's window next to Catherine. Already wound half-way, the glass slid down entirely, a bald head clad in aviators and a friendly smile leaning out.

"Tourist or resident?" the driver asked, his lightly British accent carrying a friendly warm purr as he spoke. A hand reached up, tugging the sunglasses from his eyes; his gaze gave Catherine and her luggage a quick once-over, quiet and casual scrutiny crossing his face. "I'm guessing the former; if you were local, you'd know that wearing a sweater like that this time of year is suicide."

The latch clicked and the door swung open, the driver straightening almost to his full height; he stopped part way, ducked a little to avoid towering over her and being too intimidating. "Here," he offered, gesturing towards her suitcase. "Let me help you with that."

[Catherine Kelly]

The movies apparently had lied in regards to cab drivers. In both nationality and their ability to speak English fluently. Though a casual look around as other cabs pulled into spaced to help others waiting Catherine got the feeling she may have just gotten the odd man out.

She kept her back pack that contained her wallet and a change of clothing with her and stepped back from the bright red suitcase that contained the majority of her belongings. "Yeah, thanks."

So that was two people now who had found amusement in her decision of wearing a sweater that day... even if it was a light one. Note to self: ditch the outerwear. "Guess I just wasn't expecting it to feel like the middle of Summer just yet. Please tell me this is just some sort of insane heat wave you're having."

[Hurucan]

"Ahh," the driver said, keen senses picking up on a few clues in her accent and intonation. "It sounds like you're from the side of the border where they pronounce the alphabet correctly," he said, even more warmth creeping into his tone.

Popping the trunk, he heaved in Catherine's suitcase with relative ease, and helped her to slide the weighty backpack off her shoulders. It took slightly more effort to dump the weightier bag into the back of the taxi, but before long the luggage was stowed, and the trunk had closed with a satisfying clunk.

The driver turned almost gracefully, grabbing hold of the door handle and swinging it open. "Not a heat wave, I'm afraid," he appologised, gesturing for Catherine to climb inside. "They may call this the City of Angels, but it would appear that the weather is planned by a less benevolent religious entity."

[Catherine Kelly]

"My thoughts exactly." A small chuckle left her as she ducked into the back seat of the cab. Another cliche completely avoided as she noted just how pristine the interior was.

Catherine waited until the driver had returned to his place behind the steering wheel before she allowed herself to settle in the seat. She instantly felt the want to stand and stretch her legs again. The 5ish hours she had just spent cramped in her coach-class seat had been more than enough to have her silently promise herself that she would be walking just about everywhere for the rest of that evening.

"The Westin, in Downtown." She figured she would answer the obvious question before it was asked

[Hurucan]

The driver emphasised an approving nod into the rear view mirror as he contemplated Catherine's choice of hotel. He wasn't much for staying in hotels himself, and so only had a vague familiarity with what went on beyond the facade; but the Westin hotel in LA's financial district certainly looked like an expensive and classy place, all curvy, shiny, and glass-clad on the outside. Apparently that was considered trendy and fashionable nowadays. A part of him lamented the days when buildings were constructed in sensible box shapes.

The engine rumbled into life, and the taxi pulled gracefully from the bay. "Try not to drink too much in the cocktail bar," he offered over his shoulder, easing the cab into the flow of traffic slowly escaping from the airport. "I'm used to the room spinning after I've had a few drinks, but I'll wager it's pretty unsettling when the room is spinning before."

He let silence fall for a few minutes more, concentrating on negotiating his way into the exit convoy. One of the problems with airports was that, since a plane full of passengers arrived at more or less the same time, a plane full of passengers tended to try and leave at more or less the same time as well. When you stacked flight after flight on top of each other, the result was chaos, and slow-paced tedium. Between the heat and seemingly endless waiting in queues, the driver suspected that had Dante been born in 21st Century LA, his Inferno would have read somewhat differently.

He tilted his head back, aiming his voice over his shoulder even though his eyes remained on the road. "So what brings you to LA?" he asked, casually.

[Catherine Kelly]

Her first impression of Los Angeles from the ground was the exact same as it was from the air: utterly unimpressive. Maybe the airport was off and away from the good stuff. Either way there wasn't much to catch her eye and keep her mind from coming up with all sorts of silly answers to the question posed. She wasn't the creative one in her family though, so the lavish tales and cryptic words stayed in check.

"Little bit of tourism, little bit of soul searching... thankfully not to become an actress."

Catherine's gaze moved from the passing view outside of the cab's window to glance into the rear view mirror, to catch the driver's eye for a moment.

"Seems this town can't stay out of the news lately. Figured I'd come down and see what all the fuss was about."

It was a moderately subtle statement, but if he was as quick minded as he was as good as reading people, Catherine surmised that the driver would understand her. And what was the worst that could happen? He could ask her to leave his cab? He certainly didn't seem the type to rape and murder someone. Then again, she half wondered if that's what those ladies in the Whitechapel district thought about the mysterious stranger they only caught a glimpse of in the London fog before... well...

[Hurucan]

"Soul searching?" the driver echoed, mused her words carefully. Silence hung for a moment or two as he pounced on an opportunity to shift lanes, but from the way his eyes flicked to the rear view mirror every now and again, it was clear that Catherine's enigmatic subtext was on the forefront of his mind.

When it finally came, his response was casual enough, but was equally laiden with hidden meaning. "We are doing a pretty good job of attracting the media's attention lately, aren't we?" He barely emphasised the word, but for anyone looking to hear it, the implication that he wasn't merely referring to his city of residence was clear.

He cast a knowing look into the mirror. "It must be something in our genes."

[Catherine Kelly]

"That sounds about right."

We. Our. No way could she luck out that much. Of course, it wasn't exactly like those with the x-gene were rare. And it wasn't like she was about to start unloading questions on the cab driver, but it was nice to know that she wouldn't exactly have to go around with a giant sign on her that said 'I am a Mutant and want to speak to other Mutants.' She rather disliked that term anyway.

[Hurucan]

Silence fell for a few heavy moments, the driver's attention still focused on the road ahead. After what seemed to be a moment of indecision, his hand reached for the clunky-looking device that had been ticking away on LCD their distance travelled in dollars.

"If you are here seeking answers, I may be able to help you." A finger flipped a switch, and the glowing red numerals vanished into nothingness. He turned ever so slightly, casting a look over his shoulder towards his passenger. "My name is Casius, and I am what many would call a Mutant." He offered a hint of a smile. "Let me buy you a drink, and I will tell you all that I can."

[Catherine Kelly]

Normally Catherine would have been more reserved when it came to strange meetings with strange men she had just met. She was all for a drink and a good discussion, especially if it happened to be with a charming young man she had spent weeks wordlessly flirting with at university... but this really was a far cry from that. But then there was the simple fact that she was being offered what she wanted, what she had come to the States for, right on a platter. Sure it could have been dangerous, but all things considered, Catherine still found herself wondering what was the worst that could happen? That alone was worth finding out.

"I suppose I can wait an hour or more to check in."

The words eased off her lips in a poor attempt to hold in the hunger for knowledge. She didn't want to seem desperate after all.

"I really do need to find what's good for coffee or tea around here that isn't affiliated with some silly green mermaid from Seattle, anyway."

[Hurucan]

A deep, rumbling chuckle escaped from Casius' throat. "Good luck finding a decent cup of tea anywhere in this city," he joked, the taxi slowing to make a right turn at the next intersection. "However, we aren't too far from a little diner that serves a passable coffee. No good if you're a connoisseur, but if you consider flavour to be secondary to caffeine content, it should fit the bill."

He glanced briefly at Catherine in the rear view mirror. "I'm also quite partial to their 'curly fries', and their pancakes," he continued absently, navigating their way into smaller and less traffic-heavy streets. "Their bacon is a poor immitation of what we're used to back in Europe, unfortunately. The Americans seem far too fond of frying theirs into oblivion."

Catherine seemed content to let him talk; Casius supposed that having just discovered that by some sheer fluke she'd stumbled into exactly the sort of person she was looking for must have been a lot to process. However, such silences were the times in which anxiety was allowed to cultivate; and Casius was rather intent on making her feel at ease.

"So, why Los Angeles?" he asked, confronting Catherine with a direct question. "Mutants have been in the newspapers in New York as well; at least there, you wouldn't have the threat of mutant registration looming."

[Catherine Kelly]

Catherine had been quite happy to simply relax, even if it was just more sitting after the flight, at least here there was an interesting individual to listen to rather than the constant drone of airplane engines. The thought of her first experience in Los Angeles being an entertaining cab ride followed by lunch at a quaint diner was endlessly amusing as well.

When posed with the question she looked back to the rear view mirror and let a soft "hmm?" leave her before her shoulders shrugged lazily.

"New York just seems so... big. Sure Los Angeles is huge in its own right but I dunno, maybe it's just the lack of tons of huge buildings closing in around you...." Her voice trailed off and she let out a slight laugh. "Or maybe it's just the possibility of seeing some famous people as screwed up as we are."

[Hurucan]

"I'm afraid I don't pay too much attention to celebrities," Casius admitted, easing off the gas as the taxi fell into convoy behind a slower-moving van ahead. "I'm a couple of generations too old for all these pop musicians and movie stars, who seem to spend more time half-naked and plastered across billboards than they do actually performing the craft they proclaim to be part of."

He offered her a smile in the mirror. "But then, I'm just a grumpy old man who is out of touch with it all. For all I know, you could be -" He gestured vaguely with one hand, searching his mind for a famous name. "- Julia Roberts. She is still famous, yes?"

As his eyes fell away from the reflection, his smile faded: his gaze settled upon the sight of the van ahead slowing to a stop. He echoed, and watched as the brake lights turned dark, the van's engine stuttering to silence. The taxi came to a halt, a grim look sweeping across the driver's face as he watched a door swing open on the vehicle ahead.

He glanced over his shoulder, fixing Catherine with a steely gaze. "Stay in the car," he instructed, no room for misinterpretation in his words; and then in an instant he vanished, a cloud of crackling static left momentarily in his wake.

[Catherine Kelly]

Catherine wasn't sure what to be more surprised by... the unexpected stoppage of the taxi or the sudden vanishing of it's driver.

He hadn't even given her a moment to protest, the "What?" she had been in the middle of asking was left unfinished on her tongue, but her expression completed the question in all possible ways. Shame he wasn't there to see it.

The shock was short lived though, it was all so instantaneous. One moment she was utterly confused, and the next her skin was tingling with sensation from the remnants of electricity in the air. A hand drifted to her chest, rubbing where paddles had literally zapped the life back into her only weeks before.

"Never a dull moment..." This time the words actually managed to make themselves whole.

[Hurucan]

A heavy silence followed; one of those silences where time itself seemed to struggle through the viscous soundlessness. The alley was empty, and all was still save for a few discarted fragments of newspaper and trash, ruffled by a half-hearted breeze.

Suddenly that all changed; out of nowhere came another explosion of static, and from it tumbled a figure clad entirely in black. Casius followed, fingers crackling with electricity as they wrapped around the figures throat, face contorted into a snarl.

The dark figure fought back, a mighty kick hurling Casius several yards across the alley, on a collision course with a solid wall. All that made contact with the brickwork was a splash of electric however; once again the driver vanished.

The black-clad figure rose to his feet, advancing a few paces forward from the taxi, senses keen. A hand reached over his shoulder, and drew a gleaming katana from the sheath on his back. Four paces. Five paces. He halted. Turned. Though his eyes were hidden, it was clear that his gaze had settled upon the taxi's lone passenger.

Five paces away became four. Then three. Then two.

Lightning exploded and Casius appeared, an arms reach behind the figure. It barely had time to react; a hand placed firmly on the figure's shoulder and a flash of static later, and the would-be ninja crumpled to the ground.

Casius let his hand fall to his side, panting. But there was no time to waste. At a brisk walk he sped to the taxi, tearing open the passenger door. "He's dead, not stunned," he spoke, somehow urgent and yet reassuring. "But he won't stay that way for long. We have to get out of here, quickly."

[Catherine Kelly]

"But what about..." it's just stuff... You can get more.

Catherine managed to mumble a quick "never mind" as her mind put a halt to the objection her mouth had started. It wasn't that she was ignoring the fact someone had seemingly just attempted to hijack the taxi with a sword... Or worse... It was more that she had no idea how to even begin to process that information.

Things in Los Angeles were definitely more interesting than she had planned for. But why her? Why now?

She found herself standing outside of the taxi before she realized she had ever contemplated moving. It was more than just a little eerie... The little blips in time with action that came from adrenaline coursing through you was not something Catherine was used to... Nor did she want to get all that familiar with it.

Her focus went to her rescuer, "I assume you have some place safe in mind?"

[Hurucan]

Casius didn't say a word. Gently but firmly, his fingers gripped her by the elbow, guiding her at a brisk pace around the nearest sidestreet corner. He didn't make eye contact; his gaze was too busy protectively sweeping every shadow, peeled for even the faintest glimpse of anything remotely dangerous. The coast was clear, for now.

Coming to a halt above a covered manhole, he turned to face Catherine directly, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. "Take a deep breath," he instructed, his eyes making contact with hers.

An instant later, the world around them had exploded in lightning, resolving a mere instant later into surroundings quite different, the sky and the buildings replaced with the dank and curving brickwork of a sewer tunnel.

[Catherine Kelly]

At first it was like sensory overload, if she didn't know better Catherine would have said for the briefest of moments that she had become aware of everything. But before she could get a grasp on it, it faded and she forced herself to take a step back from Casius.

It wasn't all bad though, she felt rejuvenated, like the long plane ride had never happened. The only real problem was that she wanted more. And all I have to do is reach out and take it...

Catherine took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reining in the strange hungry sensation that had almost taken over her senses. She let out a slow breath as she looked around. "Not exactly the first thing that would come to mind..."

"Don't suppose you know what's going on? Who the hell was that guy?"

[Hurucan]

Casius offered her a faint whisp of a smile as he glanced around the tunnel, searching out his bearings. "You're welcome," he muttered offhand, his hands coming to rest on his hips, tucking his jacket out behind him.

He sighed, turning towards her in mini-steps, before he let his hands fall away. "I'm afraid I didn't have the opportunity to ask for his name," he quipped, his tone returning to the moderate and reassuring notes that had graced his voice in the taxi. "But if the rumours are to be believed, he refers to himself as Orcus."

He frowned for a moment, a thoughtful rub of his chin transforming into a hand hooked around the back of his neck. "He seems to target visitors with -" He shot her a meaningful look. "- a certain set of genetic traits; taking advantage of their disorientation and their unfamiliarity with the city." He trailed off, idly. "I'm not even sure if he's one of us."

He fixed Catherine with his full gaze; intense, but somehow reassuring. "I have bought us a reprieve, but it will not last long. We will have to move quickly, but -"

He bowed his head slightly. "It would be most helpful if I knew what you were capable of."