I Come Here Every Night To Work

by **Natalie Denisov** » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:23 pm

Natalie is sitting in front of one of the computers in the workshop, frowning heavily at some files in a directory. Every once in a while she opens one and glares at it for a moment before closing it.

((Open))

by **Narrator** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:22 am

The workshop is quiet at this night. Occasionally Ashlie's manufacturing arms work all the way into the morning, but right now they're neatly folded into the corner on the ceiling. There's a bit of a hum to the place that's especially noticeable now with nobody else around but other than that it's almost a little spooky. Suddenly the silence is broken by the distant sound of doors opening, a hiss and machinery working to pull open the metal doors, from the sound of it the front entrance. But unlike what she'd expect the lights in the hallway don't turn on. Which is odd, because they're activated by sensors spaced out along the walls. Natalie should know, she can sense them every time they register her passing. But instead the noise of the doors closing again dies down and the hallway remains dark.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:25 am

She glances towards the hallway and then closes her eyes, reaching with her mind for one of the cameras. She flips them it over to its night vision setting, losing sight of the room she's in for the moment.

by **Narrator** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:40 am

The camera jumps to life and slowly turns from side to side as it sweeps the main hallway that leads from the entrance to the big round briefing room in the center of the building. For a moment she thinks she catches a flicker of movement but when the cameras focuses the slightly blurry green static resolves back into more empty hallway. It stay that way for a moment, then there's another brief distortion that the camera itself is passing off as noise but with some imagination it might almost be person sized before it once again fades into empty wall.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:12 pm

She flips the camera to infrared as she makes her way towards the hallway. Might just be some prankster testing their powers, so she's not too alarmed yet. Still, her brain starts to touch more of the security system, getting more feedback without actually taking control of it.

by **Narrator** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:29 pm

On infrared the empty hallway suddenly burns bright with the red outline of a humanoid shape slowly moving down the hall. The security system seems fine with this, considering it'd otherwise probably chime up at Natalie's presence as well. Moving to the hallway is tricky, or at least might make her a little nervous, losing sight of the infrared in order to not run into things in the real world.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:39 pm

Natalie steps out into the hallway, looking towards where the camera had picked up the figure. I'm one of the X-men, damn it! Get a grip on yourself!

by **Narrator** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:47 pm

The lights in the hallway she's in flicker to light, which makes the figure in the infrared view suddenly stop. It's hard to tell on the blurry red on blue, but it looks like the figure is moving their head around and finally notices the camera, because it disappears out of view of the camera a moment later. Towards the large circular briefing room that Natalie is currently looking into from the other side but she doesn't catch anybody entering the room. There's seat and monitors blocking some of the view, but still...

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:05 pm

Natalie moves into a jog, telling the security system to close the briefing room doors as soon as she's inside. Not the smartest thing to shut yourself in a room with an unknown person, but sometimes you do things on impulse. "I know you're in here. It's only a matter of time before I find you and trust me, you'd rather it be me and not the headmistress," she says out loud.

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:20 pm

There's a moment of silence. Then a section of wall suddenly moves. It takes Natalie's eyes a moment to realize that it's just the shape of a person colored like the wall it's clinging to. It drops to the ground and slowly changes into a person she's never seen before. Apparently that's not true the other way around though.

"Natalie?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:26 pm

Natalie's eyes narrow for a moment in thought before she takes a guess, "Shari?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:29 pm

"Yeah. What the heck are you doing here? It's, like, way late." she asks, eyeing Natalie suspiciously.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:42 pm

"Trying to figure out how some design files ended up in my personal storage space. Why are *you* here?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:51 pm

"Uhm... curiosity?" she tries. "Hadn't been to this part of campus yet..."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:54 pm

"So why sneak in?" She moves a bit, keeping the table between herself and Shari.

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:02 pm

"Cause I... didn't want to... I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I just... I heard a rumor about something and I had to come and see if it's true..."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:17 pm

"Students are allowed down here. There's no reason to sneak," Natalie says, her demeanor softening just a fraction. "You curious about the alien thing like everyone else?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:24 pm

"I... what, yeah, the... alien. Thing. Is it true?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:31 pm

"Well," she says, "As far as Tosh has said, it seems to." One of the monitors flickers to life to show the camera aimed at Mandy's cell. "She turned into a bunk while they were trying to get information from her."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:07 pm

"Do they... do they know what it looks like? When it's not a bed?" she asks, eyes fixed on the monitor.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:13 pm

Natalie's eyes dart back and forth for a bit, "I think so..." As she does so, the monitor switches to archive footage and fast forwards to a still image of green Mandy. "Like this I think, but she's a shapeshifter, so who knows."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:25 pm

"Oh no... Oh no no no..." she stammers, taking a couple steps back, away from the screen. "Why are they here?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:27 pm

"Dunno. Tereza picked this one up in Russia at what used to be a 'school' for mutants," she says, before Shari's reaction gets through the technopath-haze. "Something wrong?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:33 pm

"Russia... Right..." she says, calming down at least a little bit. "She brought it here. Right right right. From Russia. Which is real far away. Everything's good. Just... a weirdo thing in a cell, right?" she laughs with a mix of nervousness and relief. "It's not even doing a thing, right? Just sittin' there, being a furniture."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:40 pm

"Well, there's some people looking around campus. Rumor is that they've replaced some people, so we're supposed to look out for green blood or anyone acting strangely. Though, define 'acting strangely' in this place. I mean, really..."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:44 pm

"Who!?" she blurts out before she can calm herself. "I mean... who's looking? Are they just checking blood?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:51 pm

"I don't know if they're checking blood necessarily, but I think Haley is supposed to be also watching out for strange minds, but again, define 'strange' in this place." She finally really looks at Shari, drawing her mind back out of the security system, "Seriously, what's bugging you? I mean, aliens existing is weird and all, but you're seriously freaking out."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:55 pm

"I'm freaking out? How are you not freaking out! Are you just... okay with that?" she gestures at the green alien on the screen.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:01 pm

"It's in a holding cell," Natalie says, "I mean, I'm a *little* weirded out, but all we have to go on is Haley saying they've infiltrated us and she only got that from the creature's head, so it could just be wishful thinking on their part. Besides, if they did, there's enough telepaths around here that eventually any nefarious infiltrators will be found and the X-Men will deal with that when it comes time. I have faith in my teammates." She grins, "And besides, it's kind of cool knowing aliens are really a thing."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:15 pm

"Kind of... cool? But only if they're not nefarious infiltrators." she adds, glancing at the image of Business Mandy.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:23 pm

"I don't consider anyone with ill will towards this place cool whether they're alien, human, mutant, or otherwise. But yeah, I would hope that there's some good aliens out there. There's this technopath I know that would love to broaden her horizons."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:51 pm

"But... how could you know? That they're good, I mean. How could you trust somebody like that?" she asks, looking back at the screen.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:00 pm

"Until proven otherwise, I have to assume. She," she gestures towards the screen, "has proven she's of the decidedly nefarious stripe. But I'd like to think to think I'd give them the benefit of the doubt."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:03 pm

"You shouldn't. They'll abuse it." She could just be jaded, but the bitterness in her voice makes this seem much more... personal, as she stares daggers at the screen.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:06 pm

Natalie's eyes narrow as she looks at the reaction, "What's going on, Shari? This isn't just wigging out over aliens. What's bothering you?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:13 pm

"I... shit like this just gives shapeshifters a bad name, you know?" she says in what's clearly an evasion.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:16 pm

"Most people don't know these aliens exist, or heck, aliens period, how on Earth would this give mutant shapeshifters a bad name?"

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:27 pm

"Cause... they... eventually it'll... come out?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:30 pm

"You're trying to dodge me," Natalie says, walking around the table. "What is wrong? This certainly isn't going to change the shit shapeshifters get."

by **Shari** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:32 pm

"It'll change the shit I get..." she says quietly.

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