Water Lowkey Thicc

         agent trident’s confidence was nothing but admirable, to the point that konrad almost wanted to challenge in a fight. but now wasn’t the time for childish games to gauge people’s strengths. ❝ i’d love to see you fight one day. water is such a versatile element. i’d imagine you are, too. — in fighting, i mean, ❞ he commented and politely held out the bag of chips to the other. ❝ i’m not feeling very selfish today so if you want some, get some. ❞

“If you mean being trained in every single form of martial arts under the sun, then no. But I’ve learned to work with it. Let’s just say this wouldn’t have been my first choice for a power.” Xavier had never really crossed paths with the other agent before now. Mostly because all the missions he’d gone on, he’d ended up having to kill a target. From what he had seen of the other agent, he’d gotten the impression that he didn’t really want to be there. It was odd that he would now be offering his chips. “Is this like a keep your friends close, but your enemies closer type of situation?” He wondered, eyeing the bag of chips suspiciously. 

STARTER FOR: @xaviertrident

      with a basketball in hand, shane is all too prepared to shoot some makeshift hoops on his own to relieve some stress and to let loose, but… before he can make his first free throw, the door cracks open and a figure blocks some of the artificial light that begins to stream in. “if you can’t already tell, this place is occupied.”

With all of the agents stuck underground and nowhere for them to go, it was practically impossible to find an empty room in the entire facility. Unless it was his own room, but there was only so long he could stay cooped up without losing his mind. After what felt like twenty attempts at finding an empty room where he could just use his powers in peace, he finally gave up and decided the next door he opened would be the one. “You’re right this place is occupied by me now. I’m sure you don’t mind.” He says, annoyed that lady luck would do him dirty. 

Xavier was itching to get the mission over with, but he knew better than to rush it and risk getting sloppy. Especially with the high level of threat, they were dealing with. He and Agent Malforce would have to play it safe so as to not draw any suspicion from the other three agents before he was able to strike first. Until now the agent had never been to Colorado much less the Colorado Plateau and as they approached the entrance where the flute was supposed to be located, he couldn’t help but think that it made the perfect setting for the showdown that was about to happen. 

The five agents came to a halt just as they reached the entrance and he looked amongst them, quickly making eye contact with Agent Malforce. “We should check out the perimeter before we go in.” He interjected before anyone else could make a suggestion. They already had a plan in place and they couldn’t afford to have the variables changed up on them whilst on the mission. “Pulse why don’t you and I go check it out and make sure we’re good to go. I’m sure you ladies could use the alone time to catch up on your gossip.” He jokes, with a wink in the other three agents’ direction. Without a second glance back he begins walking away from their little group fully expecting the other agent to be on his heels. “Do you actually think there will be anyone guarding this flute thing?” He shoots over his shoulder, mostly to make sure that they’re far away that they’ll be out of sight and earshot of the three agents they had left behind. 

              AH, RIGHT — although he knew these tartarus agents through reviewing their files, most of them didn’t know him and only saw him as his twin brother that he didn’t even know until he got back. konrad never really had penchant for mischief but would omission of truth count ? he decided not let the other know he wasn’t agent nightshade.  ❝ no, haven’t seen it. but would now be a really good time to drink alcohol, trident ?  ❞ he queried in a somewhat sarcastic and yet broody tone that he imagined roxas would have in a casual conversation.  ❝ you never know what might happen. some fucking asshole might see your drunk ass as an opportunity to satiate their blood lust.  ❞

Xavier quirked an eyebrow, he had been sure that one off his many stories about how his flask had gotten him out of sticky situations had traveled around the facility, but perhaps the other male just didn’t have a penchant for gossip. “I don’t actually carry Vodka around with me. It’s just water. It comes in handy when I’ve got a mission in a very dry location.” He laughs as he recalls the last time he’d gotten captured and managed to escape because they had been stupid enough to allow him one last drink before he bit the bullet. “Anyway, I’d love to see them try. Drunk or not they’ll get one hell of a fight.”

Dash had to admit he was making a very valid point. She didn’t know exactly what caliber of explosion or explosions were waiting for her on the other side of all this. And she really didn’t want simultaneously freeze and burn as she tried to manipulate the temperatures with all of her body’s might. 

She thought this over quickly, working on her lower lip while doing so. In the end, she nodded at him, and let out a frustrated, “Fine!” She looked around, hands on her hips, “You have a better plan?” she genuinely inquired, having been in enough tight situations with Xavier to trust his intuition and judgement. 

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t just run off as soon as he released her arm, instead, she had actually mulled over his words and stayed by his side. He stopped to think for a second, eyes quickly flicking from person to person as they pushed their way around the tiny island they had created in the hallway. 

No matter which way he looked he couldn’t spot anyone he could trust to have information on what had happened. And until he had all the information in front of him he just couldn’t risk going into the middle of things. “Let’s wait, try and figure out what happened. And when the debris settles and we can actually see what’s going on we’ll go back get anyone who might have gotten hurt.”

Kilian’s psychiatrist kept saying something about counting to ten and taking deep breaths in tense situations, but it’s such a challenge to put that all into practice. “I’m not worried,” he promises and walks over to the table, only so he can pull the plate over to his side; away from Xavier. “Shouldn’t you be panicking with the rest of the agents? I heard they’re all gathered in the lobby.” 

Xavier pouts slightly as the plate is pulled further away from him, but he doesn’t fight it. After all, he wasn’t down here to eat. Without a second thought, he takes a seat across the table from Killian inviting himself to the other’s company without knowing if the other might have wanted to eat alone. “Panicking is for the weak, thinking straight is the only way we’re going to find a solution to our current predicament and until then I’m going to keep my usual routine.” 

The whiplash from the spin aside, the assault of his body wash’s scent on her senses was what pulled her out of her panic. She had braced from the spin with one hand on his chest, while the other remained in his grasp. She quickly brought it down to her side, stepping back a little from her former partner. “Xavier.” She quickly nodded at him in acknowledgement, but stayed put in her position towards the explosion.

“Are you forgetting that I can control, maybe even subdue excited matter at the particulate level?” She cocked an eyebrow impatiently at him, still aware of his grip on her elbow. “Now you can come with me to order the other people away from the explosion, but i’m going out there to see what I can do!”

Xavier looked down to where his hand was still holding on to her elbow and even when his instincts were telling him not to let go of her, he relaxed his grip around her elbow until it was completely out of his grasp. “Sorry.” He wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for, the fact that he had still been holding on to her elbow or that he had stopped her from rushing into the fray. 

“Well if you think that your reflexes would be quick enough to stop an explosion inches from your body, by all means, go for it.” Xavier had survived through six years of war, not by rushing into oncoming danger, but rather accessing the situation before making any hasty decisions. “I’ll be more useful alive, so I’ll wait to see how it plays out before rushing into that.” He said, nodding to the cloud of debris that had now formed back from where he’d come from. 

Dash could feel the surge in energy all around them, it felt like an avalanche against her skin, every single invisible wave of disturbance hitting her with full force. She looked around at her colleagues, some she was familiar with and some were mere acquaintances. But in this moment, they all seemed similar, shaken, some even scared. Although no one would admit it if asked about it later. 

 She scanned the vicinity, for any indication of an explanation, but found none. The rumbles coming from above their facility had faded, but hushed whispers of broken comms systems were buzzing all around them. Her body leaped to action before her mind could keep her thinking, and she barreled forward to find any familiar face in this crowd, and make sense, better, make a plan out of all of this.

Xavier had been in plenty of war zones to know that one explosion was usually followed by more. Without any knowledge of what had caused the explosion in the first place, his instincts immediately kicked into military mode and he rushed away from the initial blast just in case. Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off, running in every direction. 

He wasn’t looking to help anyone out until he saw a familiar face heading in the opposite direction. As she was about to pass him, he grabbed her arm just above the elbow and spun her around. “When there’s an explosion you run away from it not into it. There could be more. We need to relocate to a safer location and figure out what’s going on.”

Wes grunted as he slammed his fists on the table. He wanted to help. He wanted to get everyone out, but he couldn’t. He’d been going through binders of trading cards for a couple hours, looking for something that could help them get out of the metal box miles underneath the surface. He had found a couple that had seemed promising, but his own powers limited their effectiveness. He had found a few that would create portals, but his abilities weren’t powerful enough to get the other end to the surface. He could get a mile up at best.

Closing the binder and pushing it aside, he grasped the sides of his head. Everything was falling apart. Everything they had worked for seemed lost, and it was overwhelming to Wes. He put his head down on the desk, tears rolling down his cheeks as choked sobs started to be heard.

Wes didn’t realize he’d left his door wide open, and everyone could here him from the hall.

“You know,” Xavier says as he leans against the frame of the wide opened door. “It’s totally cool if you want to cry in the solitude of your own room, but could you maybe close the door next time. The echo down here is ridiculous and some of us are trying to sleep.” 

Romee sits atop one of the tables in the cafeteria, her arms crossed. When she speaks, her voice is raised higher than normal to get attention. “Consider this freaks, we start a fight club. We can last a lot longer down here if we deplete some of these numbers. I’m not about to only get rations while the weakest of you bring us down.” 

She sighs and leans back into a laying position on the table. “Only the strong can survive.”

Xavier quietly watches on as Romee gets on top of their table and wonders what she’s about to do. He smirks as he listens to her words and silently prays that someone tries something so that they can finally have something to do. Popping a chip into his mouth, he observes the people sitting around them, but none of their reactions seem like they’re about to get up and clock their neighbor. “Well, at least you tried. They’ll regret not listening to you when we’re all starving in a few days.”

With the whole organization being blocked it was important for everyone to stick together and look out for each other.

Which is why Kilian was so grateful to know where everyone else was, as he attacked the food supply in the kitchen. Despite his best effort the scent of freshly made fries must have carried over, because by the time he gets back from the bathroom, there’s a person looming over his plate. “I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

Xavier had pretty much given up on finding his flask, but he continued making periodic trips to the cafeteria in case someone had been decent enough to leave it there for its owner. It seemed like it wouldn’t be his lucky day, or maybe it was as he instead found an unattended plate of food on one of the tables. Without a glance to make sure no one is around, Xavier helps himself to the fries. He’s halfway to taking a bite from the fourth fry when he’s startled by a voice. “Hey, King. These yours? They’re pretty good. Don’t worry I only ate like four.”

@xaviertrident

     KONRAD WASN’T SURE whether there was set ration system, but his stomach grumbled too loudly for him to ask around and go any longer without his needed sustenance. he made his to the dining area to see if anything were prepared for the agents — only to see a bag of someone’s leftover chips. he supposed it would have to do for now as he began to eat its contents. his attention was suddenly piqued when another person entered the room and hoped that the chips weren’t theirs.  ❝ good evening, ❞ he greeted agent trident with a quick smile.  ❝ i hope these chips aren’t yours because you know what the rule is: finders keepers. ❞

With all the commotion from the explosion, Xavier had somehow managed to lose his favorite flask. No matter where he looked it just didn’t turn up anywhere. He was sure that he had already checked the cafeteria, but he was hoping that someone might have found it and left it there for him to find. It was all wishful thinking since everyone was probably only looking out for themselves in this moment of crisis. In his haste to locate his flask, Xavier doesn’t sense the other presence in the room. “Oh... Lovegood I didn’t see you there.” He looks at the bag of chips in the man’s hand and shakes his head. “Nah, I was looking for my flask. You haven’t seen it by any chance, have you?”