July 30 - Taking out frustrations

[Lora Zalesky]

After going to one of the punching bags to beat the hell out of it for about the tenth session that evening, Lora was beginning to wonder if it was even helping at all. Usually an evening with drinks in Mutant Town would be enough to cheer her up, but somehow, she knew that that would only make her mood worse now.

It's not that she went from only wanting to be around mutants to hating her own kind all of the sudden. She had only very recently gotten back from her trip back home, though, and everything that had happened in Moscow was still fresh on her mind. The trip had given her a new perspective on things. Homo sapiens were still a detriment to the future of mutantkind, in her eyes...but now, she truly knew that some mutants were also detrimental. Faces flashed in her mind's eye as she struck the punching bag over and over again; people who were alive and deserved punishment, people who were dead who deserved worse.

Frustrated at how little even this was helping her let off some steam, she finally gave up and took a shower. Once she was dressed again, she left the gym facility out of one of the more rarely-used side exits, not wanting to have to run the risk of seeing someone she knew by leaving through the main entrance. She just didn't feel sociable enough.

[Narrator]

"What could be troubling one of the more ambitious of Xavier's progeny?" a deep voice queried from farther down the alley.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Who goes there?," she demanded, reaching out with her right hand as if to attack...though she had still not seen the source of the voice.

[Narrator]

"One who watches the rabble as they cower before threats, only to spurn their saviors time and again," the voice answered, an indistinct form approaching from the shadows of the alley.

[Lora Zalesky]

Lora saw the shape and turned her outstretched hand in the same direction. "That is any easy situation to find, if you look for it. Who are you?"

[En Sabah Nur]

"Naturally it is easy, it is something that happens constantly. And I? I am one who has watched the cycle repeat itself throughout history untold. I am one who has guided mankind to push the strong to take their place where the weak would have them destroyed. I was born called En Sabah Nur..." the figure stepped into the light, "Though your people know me today as Apocalypse."

[Lora Zalesky]

Lora gasped, lowering her hand a bit. She seemed stunned beyond words, though she did finally manage, "Holy hell, it really is you."

[En Sabah Nur]

"Indeed," Apocalypse rumbled. "You lower your guard, Child of Xavier. Do you not wish to fight me?" he asked with... a sneer? A smirk? Damn, those lips made it hard to tell.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Maybe I just know that it would be pointless," she murmured. Hell, maybe I agree with you...

[En Sabah Nur]

"Conflict would be pointless?" he asked. "Conflict is what weeds the weak from the strong. Conflict is what sets the world on a better path. Of conflict are born moments of mankind's greatness. Heroes, champions, geniuses are created and see their glory through conflict." He looked down at her. "Can there be any more of a pointed activity?"

[Lora Zalesky]

"Not for the victor."

[En Sabah Nur]

"Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"But no... your conflict is not with me. You know this. With whom, then, is your conflict?"

[Lora Zalesky]

"My conflict...

My conflict is with those who betray their own kind for personal gain. Those who, instead of helping us unite in strength, would rather divide us, leaving us weaker. My conflict is with humanity, too, for their bigotry toward us and their refusal to see that they are facing a dead end.

"My conflict is with those who would not stand with us." She narrowed her eyes. "Because they are against us."

[En Sabah Nur]

Apocalypse studied her for a moment. "Do you wish to make your people stronger, child?" he rumbled.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Yes. More than anything."

[En Sabah Nur]

En Sabah Nur looked on at her, then nodded, turning back the way he had come. "Then follow me," he said, as he stepped back into the shadows.

[Lora Zalesky]

Lora looked around and over her shoulder, and then turned forward again. She straightened her posture (and, apparently, her resolve), and followed Apocalypse.