The Elite sat in the hangar of a modified Blackbird. All wearing the same uniforms tha the former Acolytes had, there were six of them. Copycat, Trigger, Geogirl, Inferno, Wildfire and Blur. Inferno, aka Derrick Terrace was the first to speak.
"Sooo...nobody else hype that we just took down The Hulk? I mean if The Resistance has any other big guns, they don't get any bigger than that, they can't. I mean it was the *)#)##) Hulk, who else has done that?"
"I heard the Invisible Woman did it once" Geogirl would say, to which Blur would scoff.
"Yeah, and she never shut up about it, I hope Inferno here doesn't have that happen to him" he'd say, laughing, then quickly dodging his friends playful jab.
"yo I'm just saying maybe we should celebrate? I mean even Minerva said good job, hell Mystique agreed! That has not happened before! Even when we took down Iron Man-and that was flawless, I still feel it was-they had stuff to say, so why not enjoy ourselves? Beers at Dukes' place? I haven't seen Trigger shoot an apple off some guy's head on a roof in a while, I know she want sto let loose." he'd say, causing Trigger to blush. "So how about it guys? I know Blur is down for whatever, this guy is crazy in more ways than one! so how about the rest of you, Geogirl? Mariah? Ash?"
"Oh yeah, I'm definitely up for it, just uh, can we NOT run into my father again? That was awkward" she'd say, causing them all to laugh a bit. Derrick/Inferno's gaze fell on Mariah, who shrugged.
"Ehh sure, why not? Ash and I weren't planning on doing much. He was gonna go out for another walk and I felt like just taking a bath. Hulk really fought dirty" she'd say, wiping dirt off a broken shoulder plate.
"Ah well, I'm glad you'll support me in my silly endeavors Mariah, it's why we're friends till the end. Now Ash, is a walk more fun than hanging out with the soon to be hottest member of the House of Magnus?" he'd ask, making a flaming I <3's P in the air
"You're really crazy about Polaris, aren't you Der?" Geogirl would ask
"Yes, he is. THe two spend approximately 80% of his off time engaging with each other in-
"I can answer for myself Trigger and I don't know whether to be shocked or in awe you know that much, but then again you two are close. Yeah, I'm on cloud nine right now, and I'd like to celebrate that with the people I'm closest with, which is you wild sonuvaguns, so whaddya say? You're the only one left Ash"
Shit, I'm suppose to meet Matt and Logan, but I can't escape this without it looking suspicious, plus we are friends "Yeah, I'm in Derrick" Ash would say. This left his friend feeling very elated as their ship landed on the Helicarrier. Derrick clasped Ash's shoulders and smiled at him. "MY MAN, MY MUTIE! I'll see you at Dukes' bruh! Don't get TOO BUSY WITH MARIAH!" he'd say, causing Mariah to push Derrick as he walked off
Later, at Dukes' Bar.
Trigger was at the darts, racking up the cash as she took various trick shots, Geogirl was dancing with Blur at the DDR system. Mariah sat with Derrick and Ash as the two drank and discussed their beliefs
"So, pretty soon we'll just be super cops, since we'll have all the traitors and flatscans dead you know? Finally it'll be a proper mutant world for mutantkind. No more threat of resurgent humanity, we're establishing alien allies with the Shi'ar and factions of the Skrull population, Inhumans just plain ain't f#*)## with us cause they know better, and Forge made the Sentinels defunct. Man, they say Utopia can't exist but we'll have to change THAT definition soon, right?" he'd ask the two, causing Mariah to laugh.
"Yeah, it's a different world Derrick, a better one, but we've still had to do a lot of dirty work to get here, haven't we? The Dream feels so near that I can taste it, and I hope it's worth all the bloodshed, that's all really"
"I don't know, sometimes I wonder.Do we have to hunt them down like this? Couldn't they be coerced?"
"Professor Xavier thought that for the longest time before he came around, you're still not on that tip are you Ash?"
"What if I am Derrick? Is it wrong to want peace?"
"Isn't that what we're fighting for? A peaceful world for mutants?"
"No, I mean, isn't there a chance we could get the rebels to agree to peace? I mean the paradigm for power has changed but I don't think they'd be so resistant if we included them on the decision making process"
"If, that's a big IF Ash. Were any mutants included on the decision making process for Operation Zero Tolerance? What Genosha USED to stand for? Sentinels? The old world was something where mutants had no power, and now that we finally do and the humans don't like it, you're considering the possibility of letting them into the highest levels of our government?"
"Fear and hate only begets fear and hate if we let it Derrick! We're homo superior, we should be better than that. Magneto said we should take over, but that doesn't mean hunting people down"
"We should be? I like to think we already are, I mean it's in our classification, homo SUPERIOR." he'd say. Mariah would be tapped on the shoulder by Blur, who was holding Geogirl in one hand.
"Can I borrow your wife for a second Brenton? I'd like to show her how to dance"
"he's really good!" Geogirl would pipe in.
"I mean no offense, you are our squad leader and all but...you got two left feet" he'd say, causing the group to laugh.
"Hey hey hey, call me when dancing saves our lives, alright? Go ahead and dance with them Mariah, have fun"
"Oh I will Captain" she'd say, mock saluting Ash as she got up. Once she left, Ash leaned over.
"You're really eating up that House of Magnus rhetoric, aren't you?"
"Hey man, you know I was down with The Brotherhood before the war, heard it 24/7 every day, and for a poor, oppressed mutant like me? That s*)## was gospel, still IS. I mean even the X-men bought in eventually"
"Doesn't mean peace isn't feasible, I mean they're running scared and practically defending themselves. They don't even have the proper resources to mount anything more than random strikes"
Derrick would make a pouty face, then look down at his beer, then up at Ash. "Oh? IS Ash Brenton, leader of The Elite worried about the poor widdle flatscans?" he'd say, erupting into laughter. "Yo, I don't know how you can hold onto this whole give peace a chance thing man, it's gotta be a secondary mutation or something"
"You've never wanted peace Derrick? You never thought it was possible? I know at some point, you wished that humans and mutants could coexist" he'd say, gripping the table
Derrick's playful demeanor died right there. "I thought that all the way until my brother died because no one would want to save a mutant's life. John was all of fourteen, I was sixteen. If humanity didn't want to take care of me and mine's, then humanity can get extinct and stay that way" he'd tell his friend, eyes grim. That would clear up in seconds as Derrick took a swig of his beer and smiled "Man, talk about grim, we stay getting serious with these conversations don't we?" he'd ask Ash, who nodded
"Anyways man, I'm serious about this proposing to Lorna thing, but i'm scared man! hella scared! You got any advice? I mean you married the scariest woman I know!"
"HEARD THAT"
"See? So, seeing as your our main strategist, why don't you help me strategize this man?" he'd ask Ash, who had a look of shock on his face. Before he could answer though, the sound of a bomb went off down the street, and the word "RESISTAAAAAAAAAANCE" would be heard in the air
"Aww f#)#)#, I haven't even had my SECOND drink yet!" Derrick would say, his hands disintegrating the beer.
"Thank god for superfast metabolisms, I ain't even wasted!" Blur would state flatly, zipping outside
