#aoastarter

Already well beyond the city walls and finding himself in a forest on the outskirts of Meranosa, Cade knew it wasn’t a smart move, but at least he was doing something, right? Half of him was torn between carrying on further into the hostile territory in hopes that he would at least see his brothers, while the other was telling him to go back to the tiny dorm Avery and Dantri were letting him stay in with them. He was nervous, but it wasn’t like he had anything left to lose anyway. Even if the vampires captured him, at least he might have more of a chance of seeing his siblings.

Finally realising he was starting to get a little tired and that he should probably rest up before heading any further, he decided to sit for a while, finding a fairly sheltered area and settling himself against an old oak tree. He kept his knife in his hand and resting on his lap just in case anyone decided to bother him, but hopefully he would hear their thoughts before they spotted him. The fae sighed softly before muttering to himself, knowing just how dumb he was being. “What’re you even doing, Cade..”

Sterling curled up in the marsh, completely exhausted. It had been a long trip, one where he hadn’t quite known where he was going until he had gotten there. He was in Avalon, in the marsh, his parents had spoke of so long ago. He needed to find something to eat, his last meal had been days before, but first, some rest. He closed his eyes, attempting to drift asleep when a sound in the distance alerted him. He glanced around, hair on end as he stood, growling lowly. He wasn’t sure who was out there but he wasn’t going to take any chances on it being an ally. 

There was a slammed door as Lazarus came down into the holding cells, guards immediately sweeping aside to allow him passage. His eyes were dangerously cold and his mood was clearly unpredictable. Since the capture of Meranosa, he’d been going through the newly acquired slaves one by one, digging for information and torturing them for his own amused pleasure. 

Each prisoner cowered as he drew past their cell, cold finers touching the bars of each one until he came to a stop. Inside was a werewolf, and a very unfortunate one. He’d been picked up along the way, and while Lazarus hated werewolves, he hated fae more.

“Look at this shit.” He scoffed as he grasped the bars and leaned in. “Thought you’d be dead by now.” A dark sneer comes to his lips, exposing the tips of his fangs. One jerk of his head and a guard moved over to open the cell door. “You’re coming with me you fucking fleabag. We got a few things to go over.” 

One snap of his fingers and Mackenzie was being grabbed and dragged out of the cell by two vampire guards, roughly pulling him along after Lazarus until they reached Meranosa’s Town Hall. Heavy doors were thrown open, the inside smelling strongly of blood and gore. Ahead was a large wooden desk, giant windows showing Avalon behind. 

Lazarus took a seat as the guards threw the werewolf to the floor, and only once they left the two of them alone did Lazarus speak. “I got a deal for you.”

Steve stepped out of the base he, Tony and Bruce were residing in. It wasn't the SHEILD headquarters they were used to, there wasn't a constant staff catering to their every need nor was there a gym Steve could retreat to release a bit of steam. This, this was a small underground lab that the two had found and secured. The two had scavenged a lot of Tony's tech and made a 'make shift lab' as they called it, but Steve was sure that it wasn't make shift at all. It seemed pretty high tech to his standards. But this cocoon that they had created that mimicked their past did not mirror the exterior of the building. There was no quick fix for NYC, there was only plans and hopes that they could rebuild and take down Ultron. 

Steve walked down 5th Avenue, constantly looking around to insure the coast was clear, especially after last night's announcement about there being more Sentries on the streets. There were new fires that had been started and he could hear what sounded like footsteps in the far far distance, but with that all aside, Steve was safe, well, as safe as one could be in the situations given. Steve stopped walking the moment he hit 5th and 69th. Of course there were no street names on this side of the park, but Steve knew exactly where he was. He didn't spend much time on the lower east side, he found it a tad too flashy, even back in the day. 

Rogue, lost in her thoughts, was drinking her usual morning cup of coffee. The school was still quiet, slowly emerging after the night. 

She didn't like it. She didn't like that Logan had disappeared in that ship, she didn't like how distraught Jean didn't let them see she was, she didn't like how Magneto's lies bent humanity's feeling that mutants weren't to be trusted when it was still a mutant who saved them all - just not the one they thought.