Template:Featured Articles/51-2025
Also his phone was on the Blackbird. "I would've bet money on banging Warren would've been the bingo square," Bobbi replied with a shake of her head. "Aliens though, yeah, gonna need some new cards to add that onto." She took a big breath and puffed it out from her cheeks in a long, drawn out expression as she glanced around the literal alien surroundings of the ship. "Fuck me though if it ain't cool. Is it sad to admit that? I don't care if it is, because yeah." She leaned closer to one of the walls, careful not to touch anything just in case but taking it all in with big eyes. "You wanna check out that side, I'll do this one, to start for a first pass anyway?" "I'm not like, so jaded by X-Men shit to not be in awe of aliens, even if they're only kinda aliens. Also we're not putting Warren on the X-Men bingo sheet." Kyle gave a big, almost dopey grin. "If nothing else, not on mine. I am an engaged man, you know." At this point the entire team knew, because he had been caught out mid-monitor-duty looking at a list of reception venues rather than filling out a report sheet. He clacked his toenails against the metal floor for a moment, almost like tapping his fingers – but toes, and claws. "Look, these aliens seem nice, but we should probably not split up. Learned that the hard way one too many times." "Fair enough," she said. "It'd be too much like cheating to have him on there anyway I suppose," she mused. "Oh, no, I meant I'll look at this side of the hallway or room, not to split up. You're dead right on that one . . . er, probably not the best term to use here, huh?" Bobbi said with a chuckle. "It doesn't look that damaged anyway, if I'm not mistaken, not that I'm an expert but . . . something seems a little suspicious," she concluded, taking a closer look at her immediate surroundings. "You seeing any signs of damage or a struggle that jump out at you?" Kyle's senses were far better than hers so maybe she just wasn't seeing it. "I dunno, usually with smells I go off a baseline, but this is alien, so." Kyle shrugged. "Smells acidic, but just could be weird alien febreze for all I know." He chuckled a little. "Maybe we find a supply closet, and figure that out first, see if they have space mops, or space roombas. Actually, legit I want a space roomba." He picked along the hallway. "Legit I'm surprised it's not more beat up if they were struggling. Like." He waved a hand at the hall. "I mean I'd think it'd be cracks and shit, not like, whatever. Scuff marks? I dunno, what is even that?" He pointed at a long scuff on the floor. "I bet space roombas would be so quiet," Bobbi said, "because in space no one can hear you clean," she finished with a deadpan tone and expression alike. Her face slipped into a frown though as she examined the marks Kyle had indicated on the floor, kneeling down and carefully reaching out to touch the darkened area. "Looks more like burn marks than scuffing . . . huh," she hummed. Looking around for more of the same, she didn't see any immediately. "That's odd. Something is off about this . . . which, well, it's literally all alien so maybe that's part of it, but I think there's more to it than that." She continued to scan the area, stopping when her eyes fell on a door just ahead of them. There was a sign that read 'CRYO' and it only just clicked into her in that moment what was so odd about that. ". . . are you able to read the writing on that door too or is it just me?" Bobbi asked Kyle. "So." Kyle started. "So what I want to know is, is this weird dimensional aliens using our alphabet and that doesn't mean cold as fuck, or is it like." He flexed his finger claws a few times, in and out, all at once. "Like, were you here for the psis having powers shit? Doug had a day where his powers hit most of the mansion. Is this English or some freaky translation field shit?" "I can't say for sure, but you know about Occam's Razor, yeah?" Bobbi countered, still frowning as she looked throughout the rest of the immediate area for any other signs or words in their native tongue. She headed for the door marked CRYO and took a closer look at it. "It's also odd that there seems to be damage along here," she pointed out, waving a finger towards what looked like potential pry marks or places where someone or something was trying to force the door open, along with more scorch marks. "Yeah, no, something's not adding up here." "Fuck," Kyle drawled out, elongating the 'eff' sound as he crouched down. He snuffled a little, face close to the floor and the scorch marks, and then gave a snorting inhale. "Okay, miss forensic person, what's acid and smoke together, because I get both. Like, I know I said alien febreze before, but it's stronger down here. You think someone definitely fucked with this door?" He stood, and shook his joints loose. "Let's go find our tour guides, because I have questions." "What questions?" One of the aliens that had been assigned to make themself generally available to the mutants seemed to have materialized behind them. Their birdlike attributes appeared largely vestigial, but it seemed they could also move with the silence of an owl. "One, mainly," Bobbi said, her eyes turning from Kyle, to the damaged door marked Cryo, then finally to the alien. "What actually happened here?" |