"Oh no you duh-huuuuh," the Strongman fell to the floor in an instant. As for his sidekick, the mask was doing a surprisingly good job of filtering the spores. "I do not wish to hurt you, but if it comes to it, I will use as much force as is necessary to subdue you." Milo said, looking sympathetically at the child for a moment. He had no idea what her powers were and wasn't interested in finding out in the slightest. He scratched st the junction between his neck and shoulder, where a curtain of moss hung down, covering almost his entire arm.
Jax swayed a bit from the spores, her eyes watering. She ducked behind the counter, trying to distance herself from the 'hero' as much as she could. At Milo's words, she peered over the top of the counter, a small whimper escaping.
"P-please don't- please don't tell him, I don't-" The girl broke down into tears behind the counter, curling up and making herself as small as she could.
Damn. He'd just made a child cry, what sort of monster was he? A vegetated one, certainly, but that was low of him. Then again…
I will take her with us, he thought, then at least she might be safe, and the Strongman might leave us alone. He went to pick her up, encasing her in moss in case of a struggle, and to carry her more safely. "My name is Milo, and I am certain that I will learn your name at some point. You will be coming with us, back to our base." he said, laying out his intentions clear as day.
(Milo, internally: that's a whole ass child in need of love and affection!)
Jax nodded, wiping her eyes as she trembled in Milo's arms. The girl tried to assure herself that these people wouldn't hurt her, or at least not as bad as she'd been hurt before. Drowsiness set in as the spores leaked through her mask, and although she fought sleep, Jax soon nodded off.
(Aww it's kinda unfortunate Jax thinks that going with a posse of villains is better than sticking with a hero but oh well.)
(I have a problem with angst)
( I swear, Milo is so sweet)
"What do you think you're doing, Milo! Taking a child back with us? We'll be terrible influences on her, and that idiot over there will probably be after us trying to get her back." Marlowe growled through her mask, "And none of will be able to take care of her the way a child needs to be taken care of."
(Milo is officially initiating Dad Mode for the whole team lmao)
"We are taking her with us. That is final." he said, concern wavering underneath layers of stoicism. "She will be safer. And I, at least, will not be a terrible influence, and I expect that you both work on becoming one as well." he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to the getaway van with some of the cash they'd acquired. The rest, he left to the other two, allowing the girl to lie back in the last row bench, giving her space to sleep. "Come now, we'll need to drive quickly to evade the police."
(I love how Milo's in complete dad mode one second then starts loading up the getaway van the next)
(He is amazing, I swear)
"We are not going through with this, not at all, Milo, you're a supervillian, not some super powered parent, people like us don't do kids, don't do families, and if we do they turn out to be horrible." But she knew that he wasn't listening to her, and wouldn't, so she helped load up the rest of the money into the van, then to into the passengers seat. Her arms were crossed and if her mask was off you would be able to see that she was sulking, "This sin't going to work out, Milo, listen to me."
"I don't care!" he growled, then calmed himself. The beast had reached through the bars, but had not escaped the cage. "I'm sorry. I just… I do not know if this child has family, or friends, or anyone willing to take care of her. As soon as we find her a place to stay other that our lair, she can leave in peace. But… I have to do this." he said, starting the engine once the other two had loaded up into the van, and started to drive. "I feel that… bad people do good things. And good things make them better people for it. We can be good people, Marlowe. We can make our own choices."
Marlowe groaned, having heard this talk from him many, many times, "Mhmm, then what happens if you grow attached to her? I know you Milo, you'll eventually want to keep the kid and everything, even add her to the family. But I'm not just thinking about us, I'm also considering her, this might change her for the worse, and she'll end up like us. Which is not a good thing, if need be, I will bring up our criminal records." She knew that her words weren't going to get through to him though, "You know what? Fine, do what you want, but if this kid turns on us or something, don't get mad at me when I say, 'I told you so.'"
"We can shelter her as best we can. It is her choice with what she does with her life. But, as stated, I would prefer to find out who else could take care of her before making any permanent decisions." he said, turning the car swiftly to evade police cars. Not that he really needed to, they were already giving up the chase once they knew they were outclassed by Milo's sheer skills for maneuvering. "I want her safe as much as you do."
"Uh huh, sure, now please just focus on the road, I would like to get home as soon as possible so I can fix this blasted thing." During the chase she had pulled out one of her latest inventions and began to fiddle around with it, trying to fix whatever she thought was defective about it. "Also, I just want to get home, okay?" She was now in a pretty bad mood, "Look, the kid is your problem, as long as you keep her away from me, I'll be fine."
"That is acceptable. We'll be home in about fifteen minutes based on how fast we're going and the route we're taking." Milo nodded, speeding down the highway.
And there, abandoned, by the side of the road on the outskirts of a small town, was their home. A motel, a little rundown but still standing, covered in moss and mushrooms all around. Milo's idea, to deter intruders. And it did work, somewhat. Made it look older, less steady. They still got the occasional idiot college student, but that could be easily dealt with by scaring them off. "We'll unload, and then you can have your alone time." he said.
Once the car stopped Marlowe hopped out of the car, sort of ignoring Milo and began unloading her share of the cash, then with her spare hand she grabbed her gadget and headed into the building, "If any of y'all need me, I'll be in my lab!" She called over her shoulder before the door shut behind her. Then she headed into her lab and began to set things up. The lights flickered on above her, and she plopped the gadget onto her worktable, but she wasn't exactly in the mood to work, she just wanted to be left alone, and not have to deal with all the craziness that had just happened.
(Hey sorry for not being around. I was at work… )
James had stayed silent for most of the trip, and he saw no reason to break the streak.
Quietly, he gathered his share and made his way up the stairs to his room.
Before disappearing, he turned to Milo.
" I hope you know what your getting into, old friend. Kids are hard to handle. Especially with the life we live."
"I know. I have had experience with children previous to this life. I hardly feel the need to tell you everything about myself. This is just… you can trust me." he said, watching James disappear up the stairs. He scooped up the child into his arms and lay her down on his bed, gingerly covering her up with a quilt. The spores would wear off soon, and shock and confusion were often temporary side effects. Might as well make sure this wouldn't be too painful of an experience for her.
(Do we cut to the individual characters in their rooms, now, or what?)
( I don't know. . .should we somehow get them to interact or something? Or timeskip?)
James' room was a combination of 3 room, each wall was covered in pictures of superheros, each covered in darts.
Piles of dust sat around the room, covering the floor.
Dropping his bags on top of one of the piles, James sat at a cluttered desk, rubbing his face.
He pulled up his shirt, revealing many scars over his pale chest, pitted marks where his power had scarred him. He shook his head and applied some cream to one of the wounds, still slightly filled with ash.
