Aberrant: Mutant High - [ST-Dave] Dante's Inferno

[Dave ST]

She'd been wanting to go for weeks and with Sonja out of her hair for the night, now was the best time. Talking her boyfriend, Warren, into violating curfew, leaving school grounds, and possibly adding drinking and disorderly conduct to the list should have been difficult, had Warren not been the rebel sort. In truth the conversation was a simple "Wanna go?" only to be answered with a "Fuck yeah." without much time in between to consider the consequences. When Daniel had caught them trying to sneak out, they thought their plan was blown. Not that Daniel was what the other students would consider 'straight laced', but compared to the 'Dismal Duo', Oneca and Warren, he was practically a saint.

Nothing went right it seemed. After agreeing to let Daniel come along, after negotiating how much trouble they'd get into (despite the ass beating Warren promised him) if Daniel ratted them out, their 'date' quickly became two 'plus one'. It wasn't until they had to recruit Sakurako to bypass the security system on the dormatory's back doors that the took a downward spiral. As payment for applying her 'l33t' skills on the door, Sakurako wanted to know why which inevitably led to Oneca telling her, then convincing her to come along. Oneca took much love in the corrupting others, especially when they were sweet, innocent young Japanese girls in school girl uniforms. It was too delicious of an opportunity to pass up, so with a roll of Warren's eyes, they were off.

Some time later...

It was Daniel's turn to roll his eyes as Warren thumbed through at least six wallets that he boosted from the crowd they walked through a few blocks away from their night club destination. He counted out the cash while dumping the wallets in a trash bin.

"Seriously, Warren?" Daniel motioned to the money and the wallets he'd dumped. "Ever stop to consider that those people have to eat? Maybe have families?"

"Nope, not once." Warren kept counting as Oneca drug him along towards the sounds of thunderous bass. "Look Firecrotch, you wanted to hang, you're hanging. So nut up. You want your cut, or not?"

"I get a cut?" Hotstreak asked, confused.

"Yup. You were with us, you get a cut." Warren handed a small wad of folded bills.

"Well okay then." He shrugged as his morals took a decisive one eighty.

Warren thumbed behind him towards Sakuraku, who was taking in the sights of New York. "Just don't tell the Squint, I don't need the headache."

Dante's was everything Oneca imagined it would be, plus a lot more. It was a hell themed night club with flame motifs everywhere. She noticed Daniel and Warren didn't mind the way the female staff were all done up to look like 'devil's little helpers' in tight, revealing red outfits the shimmered in the various lighting effects. The music thundered around them as all manner of mutants wandered about the place. Some looked relatively normal while other showed signs of obvious mutations. Some were just a simple pair of glowing eyes while others were a bit more radical, like the mutant called "Ox" over by the bar who was as tall as Sonja (if not taller) and possessed impossibly bulged muscle tone.

What made Dante's unique though, was that catered to mutants only. No one knew who the owner was, but it was on good authority that it was owned and operated by a very wealthy and influential member of the 'mutant community'. It was here though that mutants could free from the persecution of humanity, if only for a little while.

[Doryoku]

Sakurako was on dangerous ground. A year ago she was wheelchair-ridden, deathly ill, and barely able to hold a conversation without needing oxygen. Now her breath is taken by the sheer... hedonism of this club. Of course being still dressed like a stereotypical Japanese schoolgirl puts a big red target on the back of her collar.

This... was a tactical error and she knew it.

"My god, what have I gotten myself into? She thinks seemingly lost, adjusting her glasses and getting used to the lighting of the club.

She sits at the bar, looking over what was available. Seeing nothing non-alcoholic, and the fact no one was carded makes her mutter under her breath. "Here I go getting expelled and deported all in 24 hours..."

She's just skinny-dipped with the sharks with nothing but hope and luck now standing between her and getting kidnapped by some drunken mutant or worse.

She accepts her fate as she speaks to the barkeep. "Guiness. I want a Guiness."

Her tone was mechanical, as if going through the motions. Quite honestly she was socially overwhelmed and was relying on just sheer logic. Also knowing her body mass index she weighed the alcohol content of the options, taste, and eventually made a logical choice on those options.

[Hotstreak]

No Saint, but still, Daniel knew the petty theft was wrong. They would all be just as screwed if caught, soinstead of worrying, he simply resolved to enjoy himself. Watching Sakurako drink a Guiness was bound to be amusing, She didn't strike him as the sort to drink often, if she ever had. If anyone there was the goody good of the group it was definitely her. It was a relatively shallow assumption on his part, as he didn't really know her, but stil, she did seem game enough for this little excursion. He started off with a coke, better to get a feel for the place before hitting the alcohol.

The fkame theme suited him fine, it's what he expected, and of course, the female staff showed the amount of skin he expected. In the press of so many people, the radiant heat he put off almost unnoticeable, and that made him smile. Wanting to come along was a spur of the moment thing, hopefully this little outing would prove worth the risk.

[Doryoku]

Sakurako takes a drink, and immediately puts the drink down. "People... drink this? Tastes like poison!"

She puts her money on the counter. At least she remembered not to use plastic here. Although that was a few bucks wasted since she's not going to drink it again. "Just dump it in the sink."

She sees Hotstreak and smiles with a blush. She waves and suddenly it seemed as if she wasn't in with the sharks at all. She gets up, abandoning her drink, and moves close to him, feeling his warmth from his aura was reassuring.

"Umm... hello."

She smiles sheepishly.

[Hotstreak]

He chuckled "Hey."

"First time drinking Guiness?" It's not something most people start with you know." He was curious, sure, as he was with any new student in his age group. She was cute, though the school uniform was abit much for his tastes.

"I'm Daniel, nice to meet you."

[Doryoku]

"Actually, that was my first time drinking any alcohol... I think even after everything that's happened I can't hold my liquor... I feel a bit hot."

She waves her hand in front of her face. "I'd better not have any more this... this is a pretty dangerous position to be in."

"I'm Sakurako, Sakurako Hino."

She holds out her hand, smiling. "Pleasure to meet you, Daniel."

[Hotstreak]

"Sorry about the heat. I can't really do much on that score." Not entirely true, he could diminsh the heat in the room as a whole, but that wouldn't do anything about what radiated frim him into his immediate vicinity.

"Thanks for helping us out. We'd have all ben just abit screwed if you hadn't."

[Doryoku]

"Trust me... if I would have known the club was like this I probably wouldn't have helped. I could be put on academic probation or worse for this... maybe enough to have my student visa revoked..."

She adjusts her glasses. "To be honest I think I made a big mistake in coming here... but I'm stuck now..."

[Hotstreak]

"So you might as well enjoy yourself." He finished the sentence for her. "The real challenge comes later."

[Doryoku]

Sakurako sighs. "I'll stay away from the alcohol, though. I don't think it's my scene at all."

She stretches before sitting next to Daniel. "Just what is it they do around here? It's like there's more rubber here than a raincoat factory. I mean I understand the motif is based off of the story of Dante's Inferno, but the actual scenery here doesn't look like one would expect from hell. Even one from that story."

She adjusts her glasses. "And what is people's fascination with latex and rubber anyways?"

[z020]

Oneca dragged Revenant onto the dance floor after tossing her cloak over a chair to claim a table. She pulled him close enough to murmur, "Drinks later. Right now, I want dance and put my hands all over you." She laughed at his expression and added, "Besides, let's ditch the kiddies for a bit. We can round them up later and pour them into a cab. With any luck, neither of them will remember anything tomorrow morning."

She cut through the crowd until they were comfortably ensconced in the middle of the dance floor and she could slither against him in ways that had more than just him grasping for words and trying to remember exactly how legs worked. Her tattoo slithered with her, much of it revealed by a corseted shirt with only ties across the back, black leather pants that tied up her left side, and heeled boots that defined that term "stripper boots". The black cross hanging from her neck fit in perfectly with the blasphemous nature of the club. In the darkness, the dim red haze around her outlined her with an appropriately hellish glow amongst the dancers.

[Doryoku]

Sakurako takes off her sweater that was part of her outfit and ties it around her waist. She was sweating a little now. Her feelings were telling her it was not the sip of Guinness she imbibed, but Hotstreak generating the heat. She decides to walk over where a soda machine was and puts in a couple quarters for a coke and brings it back and sits back next to Daniel. She figured the machine was placed there for the designated drivers/fliers/teleporters of a group.

"There, now this is something I can get behind."

She adjusts her skirt, and smiles, if only a little. "We're so going to hell over this."

[Hotstreak]

"Already there if you believe the decor, Sakurako." He smiled draining his drink. "Same here as far as the drinks. So what brings you to the school?"

[Doryoku]

She sits down with her Coke. "To be honest, my Aunt sent me to be more sociable and to learn what my capabilities are. I've... I've been for so long just a bookworm in a wheelchair that all of this sudden freedom is bewildering."

She adjusts her blouse. "I've been trying to understand my peers but I get along far better with Adults... probably because in my childhood all I spent time with were doctors, nurses, my parents and physical therapists. I... was generally kept away from kids out of fear I would become deathly ill."

She sighs. "Now look at me... I'm sitting at a nightclub and not knowing how to deal with it..."

[Hotstreak]

"Part of the learning experience." He smiled. "I'm glad you are able to get out. What was wrong before, if you don't mind my asking?"

[Doryoku]

"A genetic disorder or some sort of disease I contracted. The doctors were baffled. I think my mutant genetics threw off their tests making my disorder hard to treat."

"It suppressed my immune system in a lot of ways, and caused damage to my body in the process. For instance the growth plates in our bones that we have from birth until the end of our teenage years... those were damaged long ago in me. I won't grow any taller. I also have alot of muscle still to get back and the experience I went through when my mutation activated caused my hair to turn white from shock."

She adjusts her glasses. "I've been dying it ever since. I've been always partial to the color I use."

[Hotstreak]

He smiled. "So long as you're happy Sakurako." He reached out and squeezed her hand and she felt much warmer and he nodded. "I'm happy that you seem to have gotten better. At least better enough to be out and about."

[Doryoku]

"Well, I was actually cured but... thank you none the less, Daniel."

She smiles, and for the first time was actually happy to be there.

"I have a lot of adapting to do, but I am sure I will manage. Do you have any nicknames you go by, Daniel?"

"I use Doryoku usually. It means Effort, or Endeavor in Japanese."

[Hotstreak]

He nodded. "Many that aren't flattering. Though I'm fond of one Sonja coined, Hotstreak." There was a story there, not one he seemed to ready to relate for some reason.

He smiled and ordered another coke. "Endeavor is a noble name. I trust you're suited to it, power-wise."

[Doryoku]

"Well... I'm what the kids at the Academy call a "Squint". Their name for the "Super Genius" types. I'm an inventor and soak up information like a sponge. Although I noticed Curtis is more adept at computers than I, but I am more geared to putting things together and working out in my head how such contrivances could work."

She adjusts her blouse. "Other than that I need hardly any sleep, and I am well trained in first aid and emergency response."

She pushes her glasses up. "Just... don't get me on an airplane or anything of that sort... I hate the things."

[Hotstreak]

He nodded. "So a tech genius. Always nice to have one as a partner in crime." He gave her a sly smile. "Because when we get caught, it's gonna be alot of work."

[Doryoku]

Sakurako quirks an eyebrow and showed some distress. She looked to her other classmates. "It... depends on what we did to get into trouble in the first place. If some mutant hunters you feel are inbound are indeed a threat as we speak, I should be made aware as to what to expect. I'm not sure how much they got on me... hoping not much so they'll suppress my intellect or worse."

"You'd need me to crack any technological locks or to disable retraints."

[Warren Verona]

Warren wasn't really a 'dress to the nines' kinda guy, but his leather pants and leather duster matched her ensemble well enough, topping it off with an old, faded Guns n' Roses: Appetite For Destruction t-shirt and of course he didn't go anywhere without his 'shit kicker' boots. Perhaps it was a throwback of his mutant ability to mimic anything he touched, but Warren turned out to be quite the dancer. Granted he simply mimed the moves of the other guys around him, he did manage to make his lack of skill embarrassment free for his date.He'd never met anyone like Oneca before, hell he'd never really even thought about girls, and sex, and making out, or other uses for whip cream, he'd always been focused on his survival and his constant run from the Facility. But here, with her, none of that seemed to matter anymore. He could dance and caress her, run his hands over every inch of her body and grind his pelvis into places that would make her sister throw a car into orbit. He could just look at her with bad intentions all night, and she drank it up like a lusty sponge.

It was so cool to be him right now.

"Allo' Rev'nant." Came a shrill accent over all the music and noise. Jasper, of which there was three, was a mutant who could clone himself. Lanky, bald, and looking like he was going for 'worst Jason Statham impression of the year award' the guy tried to sound like he was from over seas. He was from Ohio. White suburbia, Ohio to make it worse. You'd think with all the people Warren had mimicked in his life that he'd have something of an identity crisis... Jasper had him beat by a long shot. The guy was such a loser that in the last few years the only person he had to talk to, was himself. "Dis your little dove, eh?"

When Warren quit dancing to face the trio, Oneca did as well. "Jasper." Warren said with a smirk that would have made Han Solo proud to be a scoundrel. "Yeah, she's with me. Douche Bag, Oneca. Oneca, Douche Bag. Now, get the fuck out of here, we're trying to enjoy the night."

"Ay, you told her yet bout the time I whooped your ass bout six blocks from here?" The trio looked at each other and laughed a bit.

Shamelessly Warren smirked again and turned to face his date. "Bout six blocks from here, Jasper kicked my ass." He looked to Jasper, "Do you want me to leave out the part where it took eight of you and an aluminum bat or should I gloss over that?" The trio quit laughing and now looked slightly embarrassed. "And at the moment I only see three of you, sans bat."

Jasper swallowed hard. "You jes wotch yer back, mate. The streets ain't yours any more, Rev'nant." With that the trio wandered off into the sea of people.

"Sorry bout that," Warren thumbed in Jasper's direction. "Guy's a loser."

[Doryoku]

Sakurako sips her Coke, taking another look at the crowd and feels self-conscious again.

She knew she was in trouble. A lot of trouble. Out past curfew, hacked past school security, and most importantly, she just took a sip of Guiness and not to mention she's hanging about at a club that screams "Delinquent".

"Dammit... this is bad... very bad." She thinks, starting to grind her teeth. She has half the mind to get up and fly back as fast as she can back to the campus and beg forgiveness to Director Drumm himself. Her Aunt personally... personally vouched for her character and she let herself get pressured into a highly dangerous situation.

Forget mutant hunters... what if someone drugged her? Or what if a fight breaks out... with all these mutants about this place would be rubble and fast.

Her expression starts to turn a little pale. She grabs her knees and starts to sweat a little more.

[z020]

Oneca snorted and pulled Revenant closer. "Yeah, probably just frustrated that the only time he gets laid is when he does himself."

She didn't like the idea of some asshole beating up her boyfriend - the smell of brimstone around her had spiked during Jasper's little show and her tattoo was writhing in angry loops down her side - but Revenant wasn't some fragile frat-boy human. He could take care of himself and that was part of why she liked him; the fact that he could admit that he'd gotten beaten up and simply didn't care since the guy was an obvious loser and douche made him hot. She leaned up and kissed him in ways Sonja would have cried bloody murder to find out she knew how to. That thought made her smiled into the kiss and pulled him tight against her.

She broke the kiss and whispered into his ear, "Besides, he's probably hiding in some booth now, watching us and whacking off just wishing he was you right now." She laughed and spun around, putting his hands on her hips as she slithered down his front and let his hands wander where they would.

It was so cool to be him right now.

[Hotstreak]

Daniels squeezed her free hand, noticing she was paling, probably thinking about how bad an idea this was. "Don't worry. Warren and I will catch almost all the flak, trust me." It wasn't the first time he'd done this, though in the past it was Diana he was sitting with.

Still Sakurako was nice enough, and just sitting at the bar wasn't too fun. "Want to dance?"

[Doryoku]

Sakurako blinked. "I... just started being able to walk a year ago... I know nothing about modern dance trends..."

Hotstreak whisks her up and gives her a smile, one that showed he liked trouble yet understood her. And just wanted to enjoy the night.

"I... Guess I should learn, shouldn't I?"

Sakurako was distracted from her crisis. Seems Daniel found it fit to give her dancing lessons. Talk about getting pushed off the pier to learn how to swim.

[Hotstreak]

He smiled. "I'm not talking about the Foxtrot, or any of the big fancy dances, Sakurako." He stood up, offering her a hand. "Come on. Won't be anything fancy, or beyond what friends might do. I don't feel like explaining it to DIana later."

[Doryoku]

Sakurako froze. "Umm... if you think this might make her jealous, I... I don't know."

She thought for a moment. "Well... if you... can do it in a way that is like someone showing the new kid how to dance... I would have no objections."

She nervously adjusted her blouse and tightened her sweater around her waist. "Let's go."

[Hotstreak]

Daniel nodded. "She'll understand, besides, I doubt we'll get to dance too long." He led her to the floor, where his aura was both more and less noticeble,,. The press of bodies made the whole area warmer, proximity to Daniel made it nearly a sauna.

[Doryoku]

The heat produced by Hotstreak was... extreme. Although the club had good ventilation, the time of year meant that the place needed to stay warm over staying cool... It was bearable before, but now... Hotstreak could see Sakurako sweating.

She could take it for now, and the Coke machine was close by for hydration. That's when she touched his hand and figured out why things were hot. She didn't notice it when he touched her earlier, she was in her own world now it was obvious.

"You... you are Hyperthermic?"

She made sure she emphasized Hyper not Hypo... Hyperthermic is warmer than normal. He felt like he had a fever... one that would kill a normal human.

"Well, to say your hot... is both a compliment and a obvious statement." She says with a giggle as she starts to follow his lead.

[Hotstreak]

daniel chuckled and nodded. "Yes, it is."

[Dave ST]

Eyes were everywhere in the club. As the music thundered on, and Oneca and Warren seemed more and more scarce, Daniel and Saurako made the best of their time together never realizing they'd been watched from the moment they'd entered the club. From high up on the second floor balcony alluring eyes gazed at them, hidden behind deep raven colored hair. She'd been there the better part of a half hour, had seen Warren's confrontation with Jasper, and even how Daniel and Sakurako had sat the entire evening and talked. Suddenly she moved away, pushing herself off the railing.

"I want him." She proclaimed like a princess, finally bored with shopping. "Someone go fetch him for me." Her gaze on her companions who'd come tonight to unwind, not fetch her another plaything. When no one really volunteered she pursed her lips in frustration, finally looking to Umbra, a young, bald, black man whose skin was dark, very dark, even by the standards of his own heritage. "Umbra, fetch."

"Bitch, what?" He snapped back at her, not the least bit surprised but one eye brow seemed raised in protest nonetheless. "Why do I gotta do it? Why is it every time one of you want something I gotta go gets it? Like this black man has nothing better to do with his time than cater to all yo' pasty ass wishes. Shit, girl you go get him, you the one wantin' the dick, or send Touch, he likes the dick as much as you. I'm trying to get my buzz on, shit."

"Oh, fuck you Umbra." Touch, the incredibly attractive man sitting across from him, said with half a grin and punctuated with an obscene gesture. He was, what any straight man would refer to as 'pretty', hardly 'handsome' or any other masculine synonym for attractive. "You're just butt hurt because even a gay man won't give you the time of day." Everyone chuckled at Umbra's expense, but he just returned the gesture and tipped back his glass.

"I think she asked you because you can teleport." A Hostess fruit pie disappeared into the gaping maw of the large man, Ox, whose eight foot frame and forty inch biceps needed constant nourishment. "Yoo can do it the fashtesh..." He finished with a mouth full of pie and a cherry filled smile.

Umbra tried to translate that in his head, then when it clicked, nodded. "Oh, yeah... didn't think about that." And just like that he simply 'fell into' the black leather cushions of the couch. The surface rippled like a pebble was cast into still water.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." The raven woman complained silently after he was gone, rubbing her temples to alleviate her on coming head ache.

When the darkness that was hidden within the shadows of the nightclub suddenly took on a life of their own in front of Daniel and Sakurako, it was a bit unnerving. It was like tendrils of darkness has woven a humanoid shape in front of them and then out of that shape, Umbra's clothing and features pressed through, making him real. Creepy, but fascinating. He was only a couple of feet from the table so when the his arrival was complete he simply took a step and leaned onto their table. "How y'two doing tonight?" he started, casual enough. "A couple of friends and I would like to meet with you two, up in the V.I.P., you see, we know about everyone that passes through those doors lately, it's nice to meet some new faces. What'dya say?"

[Doryoku]

Sakurako now felt that she was in too deep. But to abandon Hotstreak and the others now would just compound everyone's trouble. She figured she could say hello, and get out as fast she could if things got too hot. There was always a way out. She sipped on her Coke and quirked an eyebrow.

"So... to whom do we owe the honor?"

The thing about Sakurako... her insatiable curiosity, and if this was an anime she would have noticeable cat ears sprouting from her head...

[Hotstreak]

There was something Daniel didn't like. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, or any of his compatriots, and yet, this was no-win in that regard. "We're doing alright, thanks. It's been a fun evening so far."

He nodded. "I don't see the harm in that."

[Doryoku]

Sakurako scratched her chin, then adjusted her glasses. She thought it wise to follow Daniels lead.

"I'm enjoying myself as well. A good club to be honest." She said, drinking the last bit of her Coke. Of course she was being diplomatic... she didn't like the place one bit.

"If your friends are concerned with us not enjoying the establishment they can sit comfortable knowing we are."

She stood confidently, this only served to just make her look silly.

[Dave ST]

The black man smiled, almost chuckled honestly. "You're misinterpreting, guys. See, it was not so much a request as it was my polite way of informing you that you don't have an option." He knocked on the table a couple times as he stepped away. "We'll see you up there in five minutes. Someone's dying to get to know you."

With another villainous smirk he literally 'fell' into one of the club's shadow like it was a pool of deep water.

[Doryoku]

"So Daniel... run for the exit?"

Sakurako was already stepping back.

"To hell with it, better be behind me!"

Sakurako bolts running for the exit.

[Hotstreak]

Daniel sighed. "Maybe next time. I'm her ride home."

He caught up with her easily enough, and grabbed her shoulder. "Wait up Sakurako. If you're gonna leave we should let Warren and Oneca know first." He was obviously disappointed, but in a way he understood. The guy rubbed him the wrong way too.

[Doryoku]

"No... we gotta go... those guys are bad news..."

The thought of having Rev and Oneca with them sort of warmed her a bit, that and with Daniel there suddenly...

She sighs. "...alright... but we aren't going to dally, we get then and make this place nothing more than a dot in our rear-view."

She straightens her outfit. "Let's get Rev and Oneca and get out of here."

She starts walking back, her spine somewhat more firm on the matter, and makes her way to Oneca and Rev, making damn sure Hotstreak was behind her.