The sound of police sirens and screeching tires against pavement was not particularly unfamiliar for the citizens of New York; rather, on the unusual nights where a car chase didn't go down somewhere in the city, it felt like something was missing. Chris had witnessed his fair share of car chases, but he had never participated in one. Before now. As he swerved around a corner in his grandfather's old 96' GMC Savana, he couldn't particularly say that he enjoyed the experience so far.

This had gotten way out of proportion, the young mutant thought as he passed over a speed bump at a speed that made his van lift from the ground for a second or two. He had only parked his car in an alley, locked the doors and gone to sleep at the back of the van. He wasn't in anybody's way. Still, he'd gotten woken in the middle of the night by a banging sound on the side of the van. He'd gotten out of the bathtub he kept half filled with water and crawled into the driver's seat. Outside of the car stood two police officers, who had demanded he winded down the window so they could talk to him. He did just that, and they wanted him to leave the car and go with them. Apparently ha wasn't allowed to park there, and the car hadn't been registered for years. Chris realized what that meant: he'd lose his car, the only thing he owned in this world that was worth something. His home.
 Not tonight. He'd turned on the ignition and started to drive away from the alley; one of the officers had reached in through the window and tried to grab his arm. Chris was pretty sure he'd bitten the officer's hand, it had been pure reflex. He'd hoped he'd be able to get away before they got back to their car, but the van, no matter how many good sides it had, wasn't a very agile vehicle.

Still, he was driving as fast as he could. The police car was quicker, but hopefully they'd decide that it wasn't worth it and give up... wait, was that another police car chasing him? His heart sank. This was not going according to plan. The desperation made him reckless, and in front of him he could see a yellow light on the verge of switching to red. At the speed of at least 60 mph he crossed the lane just after it had switched to red, to the sound of angry honking behind him. He dared to look in the rear mirror as he turned into an seemingly abandoned street, tires shrieking at the rough treatment. It had looked as if the police cars had gotten stopped by the all of traffic. Good, that gave him a chance to...

Suddenly his headlight illuminated a human shape in front of him. The street hadn't been totally abandoned after all. Chris had quick reflexes and instantly pushed down the brake, but his slimy foot just slipped of the pedal. He tried to swerve, but it was too late. With a sickening THUNK! he hit the man in front of the car, who flew at least ten feet and landed on the pavement further up the street. Chris stopped the car, disengaged the gear and just sat there with his hands grasping the wheel, staring at the body on the street in front of him. A shiver went through his body, and not because of the still soaked clothes he was wearing. He felt like he was going to throw up. All he had wanted was to get away, he'd never wanted... this.

Chris opened the car door and started to climb out - but before he'd stepped onto the street he stopped. His eyes squinted as he inspected the man in front of him, who actually seemed to not be dead... and also very familiar.
"Saphirus? Is that you?" he said hesitantly.

He had a lot on his mind.

For starters, his wedding had been invaded by deranged and murderous mutants. Andrea had almost died, She'd almost been killed. He'd thought she had been, and or a moment, he'd lost himself. His heart rate quickened as he thought of it, and he stopped to take a few breaths.

He had to take it easy... He'd very nearly died himself...

Andrea hadn't talked since. Elke wasn't even talking a whole lot... Normally he'd be incredibly grateful for that, but... It was hard to be grateful for anything about now.

All he could do was try and find the people who did this and shove a boot so far up their ass they would... I dunno... Be very uncomfortable and stuff... Anyway, he'd been spending his time afterward looking for leads; these were very obviously the same people who had attacked CS, the terrorists Isabel and Zephyr, and some poor guy named Kyle and placed the videos out there for the world to see. He had been investigating the scenes of those attacks.

He was near where the wind manipulator had been ambushed when he'd wandered into the street without really paying attentio-

SCRRRRRRRRR-THUNK!

He was hit by a van. Honestly, something like that wasn't normally a big deal, and he would absorb the force, maybe fall on his bottom, and stop the vehicle...

But lately, his power had opted to misbehave at the worst of times; He was hit, an then all of the force he'd absorbed was instantly shot into the ground, sending him flying own the street in a stream of curses and scraped.

"AAAAAAH CRA-"Roll roll"@#%KN HELL-"Roll roll"WHY m-"roll roll CRASH" He hit a garbage can.

"..." He stared at the figure, indistinguishable because of the van's headlights behind him. Great, they'd come to finish the job. "Thassit, huh.. you gonna kill me in the street like some sorta goddam drunk... Put it on ViewTube like the rest of your goddam slayings... Ain't enough you f@#%ed up my wedding. Now you wanna-"

"Saphirus? Is that you?"

"Wow... you must be the world's s%@^iest assassin, you dunneven know who yer tryna kill..." Wait a sec... that voice... it sounded familiar...

The voice came close enough to see clearly. "... Chris? You're... back? And... you hit me with a car?"

He blinked a few times, discarded a banana peel that was on his persons, and then just looked up at him.

"Well, you gonna help me up, and then answer all of the many questions I'm about to ask?"

The string of profanities would usually have had an intimidating effect on Chris, but all he felt was relief. He'd managed to hit one of the few people in New York who would be able to walk away from it relatively unscathed. He didn't have much time to make sense off what the other mutant said, though - something about slayings and weddings and view tubes. He'd ask for clarifications later, now wasn't the time.

He was glad to see his old friend, of course. Saphirus seemed to be a bit taken aback by Chris' sudden appearance, though, either because Chris had been gone for three years or because he was still rattled after the impact with the car.
"... Chris? You're... back? And... you hit me with a car?"
"Yes, and... yes. Sorry about that, Saphirus. It wasn't my intention."
The sound of sirens were growing stronger, and Chris threw a worried look over his shoulder. The police cars hadn't rounded the corner yet and were still obscured from their sight, but they could be here any moment. He ran over to the downed mutant and quickly extended his hand, impatient for the other mutant to grab it so he could get dragged up on his feet. His attention were more directed towards the entrance of the street than on the other mutant.
"Of course, but not here, there's not much time," he said so hurriedly that the words almost stumbled over each other.  "If you have questions, please get into the car. Please."
He gestured with his entire arm towards the passenger's seat. He hadn't expected a passenger, so he hadn't cleaned out the van - it was a bit messy, smelled strongly of raw fish and was probably more than a little drenched, since the water from the bathtub in the back had splashed pretty much everywhere during the chase. There was probably a good amount of fish scales and grey feathers spread around in the car too, maybe a couple of small, brittle bones on the floor, but now was not the right time to worry about the interior of the car. All that mattered about the car was that its engine was still running.

Oh boy, what a night. He'd been on his own, relaxing and eating a sandwich when his police radio in his car had gone off talking about a mutant being chased. Apparently, he'd bitten someone, and gone on the run. With a sigh, Ashton had wrapped his sandwich and stashed it in the passenger side, where it undoubtedly would wind up forgotten and thrown away before the night was through. A shame, really, as he quite liked the salted and peppered chicken and avocado with bacon and tomato and lettuce. The perfect late night snack. He'd radioed to let them know he was in the area, and moved to intercept the guy they were chasing.

Since he hadn't been a part of their group, Ashton hadn't been held up the same way they had. And since he hadn't really been on-duty so much as in his own car, eating a sandwich, he hadn't had more than a slap-on siren to use. And he hadn't used that. It'd give him away.

The other cars did their thing. He heard things on radio chatter. Curses. Street names and directions. He did his own thing, plotting his own intercept course. He had no way to know for certain where the person they were after was going. All he had was gut and luck. Somehow, gut and luck had been enough to go down the right street to catch up to the guy... who appeared to have been held up by crashing into someone else, and was currently trying to help him along. Ashton blinked.

He sat in the vehicle for a moment, just watching the scene going on in front of him. His headlights shone ahead on the pair and the vehicle, bright in the dark. After a moment, he craned his head out his open window and said "Excuse me. I'm with NYPD's MRC. Do you have a minute to talk?" He didn't get out immediately. If the guy bolted into the car, it'd be easier to keep up with him in a vehicle. Surreptitiously, he spoke into his police radio, stating his position and what he was seeing now.

...

What was going on, here?

Chris. Timid, quiet, and ever eager not to make a scene CHRIS was looking over his shoulder at the sound of police sirens.

The younger mutant reached out to help him up hurriedly. Was it the light, or did he seem just a little bit... More sure on his feet? Stronger, maybe? Less clumsy?

The wailing calls grew ever closer, and Saph reached for the hand, pulling himself up...As the young man went on about how he should get in the car, he found himself staring Chris in the eye, as if a realization were dawning on him.

More confident? Police sirens? Hit and run? Jumping to conclusions?!

"Oh man, you killed someone, didn't you? Ohshit... Uhm... we.... We can hide the body. Bury it-" Bright lights popping on interrupted him mid-sentence
"Excuse me. I'm with NYPD's MRC. Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Ahem... Eh... It's alright, officer... I'm one of the X-men. I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding, is all..." Saph stepped forward while reaching into his pocket for identification.

Saphirus didn't jump right into the car, but instead he just stood there, staring at Chris. 
"Oh man, you killed someone, didn't you? Ohshit... Uhm... we.... We can hide the body. Bury it-"
Chris was on his way to fervently deny it when the headlights from a car abruptly flooded the scene. the young mutant shied away from the sudden light, holding up an arm in front of his face while he squinted towards the car. It didn't have any blenders. He really, really hoped it was just a -
"Excuse me. I'm with NYPD's MRC. Do you have a minute to talk?"

Of course it wouldn't just be a civilian. Chris' heart sank as he recognized the name of the department. This just got worse and worse; now Saphirus thought he'd killed someone and the MRC had been involved.
He ran his hands over his scalp in an exasperated gesture as he realized that things were spiraling more and more out of control. One thing he could correct right then and there, though.
"I didn't kill anyone, Saph - " A frown creased his forehead. "And... I honestly don't know if I should be grateful or worried that you'd help me hide a body, but... thank you."

Chris threw a sideway glance at his car, doing some quick calculations. He'd probably be able to get over there and into the driver's seat before the MRC officer could catch him, but the van's acceleration was worse than that of a cube rolling down a flat hill. Besides, he would be a perfect target in case the officer would want to get a shot at him. It wasn't a risk worth taking.
Also... say that he managed to get away. His recklessness had already put enough people in danger. The sound of the metal hitting a human body had been a wakeup call; the next person he drove into would probably not be able to walk it off. In this situation, running would probably cause more problems than it would solve.
Saphirus took a step forward to explain what was going on.
"Ahem... Eh... It's alright, officer... I'm one of the X-men. I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding, is all..."
Chris turned his head towards Saphirus with a surprised look on his face. Perhaps he shouldn't be so surprised - the other mutant had gone out of his way to help Chis multiple times.
Chris weighed indecisively from one foot to another, his heart still beating quickly after the car chase. His instincts screamed to him to bolt, but he decided that it would be best to stay and see how it played out. The MRC officer hadn't sounded hostile... maybe he did just want to talk.

Just in case, Chris took a subtle step to the side so that Saph ended up between him and the MRC officer. Hopefully the half-indestructible mutant wouldn't mind being used as a human shield. 

((Sorry about the edit, hope it doesn't mess up anyone's plans! I just thought my old post was really confusing.))