Paragons

Issue 7- This Modern Love

From the Journal of Beast

Xavier spoke to me about the situation with Darktruth and his Paragons this morning, that they're going off on their own. I told him it was a terrible idea, and he agreed. I told him we need to keep an eye on them, and he agreed. He then asked me to put forward a list of anyone I believe could be trusted to do so, and perhaps even gain their trust. He specified no X-Force, which works since I don't want any of them to be any more likely to be unavailable when we need them. He also specified no telepaths, a point we fought furiously on. His key point seemed to be that they don't work on Darktruth, but when I tried to argue that he still has humans there without psychic defences he refused to listen. I can only assume he has his reasons, though he did not wish to share them at all.

I've got a short-list put together to give to him tonight, all good candidates if they want to do it. I doubt any would refuse when told that it's for the good of Krakoa. Each is definitely capable of taking him down if they learn that he's up to anything unsavoury, which he almost certainly is. I can only hope they found out before he gets too far.

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Madripoor

Darktruth swallowed as he glanced out the hotel window to the narrow street below, a steady river of people moved along as they filtered in and out of various small stores along the street. A light rain fell from the darkened skies above, making it look like night when it was only about five in the afternoon.

"Looks like it should be safe," stated the young and green reptilian man beside him, Anole.

 "Sure," replied Cody from the other window as he glanced across. "If you call a crowd in the most crime-ridden place on Earth safe. What's the bet at least half of those people have a gun somewhere on them, while the other half have a knife?"

 "I meant as safe as it's going to get," Anole replied back, the defensiveness heavy in his voice. "I mean, we could be here for weeks and never see a better chance."

 "He's right," came a soft, Irish accent from within the room. "We should move now."

 Darktruth glanced back over his shoulder towards the fair-skinned, red-headed woman that stood by the bed with arms crossed. Her eyes locked with his for a moment before they dropped to the brown-skinned man that sat upon the bed, dressed in a finely tailored blue suit.

 Xavier had placed both Siryn and Anole with the Paragons, to keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't doing any of the things he was absolutely doing. Though of the pair he knew Anole was there simply there for when (if) Pixie joined, it was Siryn who was truly meant to keep an eye on him and even put him down if necessary. She'd watched him like a hawk since she'd first stepped through the portal into the Paragons' base.

 He was only glad that Xavier hadn't sent a telepath. He imagined that there wasn't seen to be any point to it, since they couldn't read his mind anyway. That didn't mean they couldn't have read the minds of Cody or Amira, however, and so he knew he had to keep any mutant telepaths away from them until he could work something out. A lizard-guy and a woman who can scream were things he could deal with, not that he expected he could win a fight with either if it came to it.

 "I-I'll go if you all think it's safe," the man upon the bed muttered as he glanced about the grimy hotel room. "I don't want to be shot, but I'm also terrified of knowing when these sheets were last cleaned."

 The man was Antonio Diego, the kind of entrepreneur who gets so much money they then decide to start giving it away. His particular thought was that it would earn him some favour amongst the other nations in South Asia if he helped clean up the poverty and crime in Madripoor, a concept that the gangs who controlled the corrupt government didn't take well.