Exiles in Elseworlds

It has come down to the moment. Scores of mutants, mundanes, and power-mad people living in between them are scattered across the once grand ballroom of the hotel. A day of peace and reconciliation has been revealed to be a lie and the Exiles are caught up in the riptide of violence.

At least one man's sins are being revisited upon him from an unearthly stare.

"Tell us all about your sins in the world, Professor!" The woman is undeterred by the people Xavier has put in her way. "How does it feel?"

So she misunderstood the bartender. Some goddamn superhero she is! It was probably for the best though, since a second after her closed the fridge her skull lit on fire and her inner Hell broke all loose. She thinks on and off that Johnny would have been far better at this and then shoves that thought and often some goon into something hard and damaging. It's better she's the one carrying this. Johnny would have gone to Heaven after all her world blew up.

First images she got from that weird place read thing she can do was everything from drug deals to porn. Finally, as the sun came up, she was able to get a few things. Some older employee decided to scare a new guy by describing Firebug's death in graphic detail noting that his cousin, who heard it from his best friend, who worked with some guy named Tony found his tongue at the Golden Rose's freezer on the Upper West Side.

Roxy had nothing else to go on so onto the Golden Rose. That one she charmed her way into. Then she went to Wholesale meats for his heart. That one wasn't charming, but it made the 6 o'clock news. Johnny would either make a fuss or laugh his head off at the idea of 'Ghost Rider Fries Hamburger Factory." She stopped for half a second to wonder if this world had a Ghost Rider and, if so, which one of them it was.

So, for the last week she's been napping on trains and buses just long enough to get to the next little hole in the wall place, either charm or fight her way in, connect with the little bit of some murderer's body, pick up a clue or two and then head to the next place.

What she'd been able to piece together - Firebug had been the guy with the strange hair killing Grey Gargoyle. Gargoyle worked for a family called the Inhumans that made the current rich nutjobs running New York look like upright folk. The only Inhuman left was some lady named Crystal that looked all sweet and nice in the papers but everyone was scared to death of her - which helped out the Lensherr's since she married 'em. Also, Crystal could do this elemental control thing - so turning a guy into a popsicle was no problem.

You'd think that would be the end of it. Nope. She discovered another guy in town could do that, some wild young thing named 'Bobby,' that could freeze anything. Firebug was smacked from behind all quiet like so it could have been either one of 'em. The freezers were owned by people either working for or paying off one or both families, too. Made the whole thing a real mess and she's just wasn't bright enough to untangle it. Maybe the Spider Guy or the Blue Lady. That's what they do, right?

Either way, someone who knew something about 'Bug or Grey was going to be at the fancy party tonight. Time to ride.

Least this world had Johnny Cash and Johnny Walker. Two things that are right in a world where everyone talks and dresses funny.

Overall, she's thinking she's taken to this world hopping thing pretty easy. Once you figure out which end is up, it's just like touring with less knowledge about the town you're playing in that night. Oh, and there's that whole no soul and head on fire thing. Roxanne doesn't want to think about that too much, because if she does, she'll lose sight of getting back there at some point and kicking the Devil's behind for doing this to her man in all the other worlds.

Her new hot stuff clued her into a mystery though - how the little gray mutie kid ended up on the street and what happened to his Daddy. Morph can go and do whatever high road stuff he needs to. She's gonna take the low road, 'cause the low road don't change much. The low road involves finding local saps wanting to race, or dance with a pretty girl, or earn a little money off someone who doesn't know how much they suck at pool.

Maybe while she's at it she can figure out what this 'fatal loins,' crap means in proper English.

"Yeah, haven't seen my cousin in awhile," she lies smoothly, deliberately missing the purple 4 ball. "And news 'bout her just sort of passed me by in the Central Cali Doll House."