"This is your f**king goddamn fault, you hear me?" Danny snarled, slamming the other man against the wall, hands fisted in the lapels of his coat.

"Yeah!" one of the burly men standing behind Danny chimed in.

"Shut up," came the irritated response, and the man immediately proceeded to do so.

"Now," Danny growled, turning his attention back to his victim. "Where was I?"

In order to fully understand the strange situation at hand, in which Danny's usual position as the one getting beaten up was completely reversed, we'd have to back up a bit and take a good look at the context of the situation. The man he currently had pressed against the brick wall of an alleyway was a former crony of his. Yes, that's right - Danny now had cronies. In fact, he not only had cronies, he had a territory. With all the gang members he interacted with, Danny had decided it was time to start a gang of his own - with a little twist. He paid his subordinates, of course, and paid them well, but they weren't paid to act as accomplices to crimes. Nope, they simply defended the area in a twenty mile radius around where Danny lived and kept it safe enough for the various homeless children Danny had befriended to roam. Also, they acted as accomplices for when Danny found a job and needed a bit of muscle. Like the other day, when a contact of his had told him of a rich man looking for someone to find his kidnapped daughter, unwilling to pay the ransom until the last possible minute because he was afraid they'd kill her anyway.

And so Danny had gathered a group of his men, who he had personally vetted to all be surprisingly nice people (if not too smart), and tracked down the place (which was conveniently in his territory - wow, it felt kind of badass to say that) where the kidnappers were keeping the girl.

Except the man he was currently raging at, who was the smallest of the group and looked twenty-something at most, had tattled to the kidnappers in exchange for a substantial bribe. And they moved her and shortened the deadline in response to a few hours from now. And now this traitor was their only lead.

"I'm gonna ask this one last time," Danny gritted out to the vaguely terrified looking man he was restraining, "before I demonstrate on you what your organs look like outside your body. Where. Is. She?"

"You can't do this, man," the guy stuttered out, clearly frightened at least slightly.

"Try me," was Danny's only response.

But even as he said this, with the four men standing behind him listening, it never quite registered in his mind how bad this must look for him should someone have witnessed the exchange.

He really should pay more attention to his words more often.

Ember snapped a small note book shut with a scowl. He had been hoping for a bit of quiet so he could write in peace, but the sounds of some sort of commotion drew his attention. "It's not your problem. Just leave it be." Ember slipped the book and pen into the pocket of his jacket, and quickly darted down the street.  He paused by the entrance to the alley he could hear the ruckus was coming from."Curiosity killed the cat." He mused to himself as he heard the first clear words shouted from that group. Something about it being someone's fault.

Ember slipped a lock of his long hair behind his ear while he looked out around the corner of the building, taking in the scene before him. The small man pinned to the wall by the one who was apparently in charge and the four men at his back. He couldn't see any drawn weapons, and while that didn't necessarily mean they were unarmed, it was a comfort, if only a mild one. He gave a roll of his eyes at the word 'she.' Of course there was a girl involved. That's all that seems to matter to meat heads like these. "You know you should just walk away." But he stepped out around the corner and into the alley, ignoring his own silent words of common sense. He moved quickly, but tried to avoid drawing the attention of the group of cronies.

Luckily, they seemed pretty focused on the smaller man that their leader was holding. The little guy pinned to the wall definitely did however, notice Ember's approach, looking right at him. Scowling, Ember drove his hand towards the back of the nearest thug's head, pushing forwards to slam him face-first into the brick wall, before he quickly moved to take a half step back, just in case any of them had sharper reflexes than he expected. "Mind if I join the party?"

Something was very off about Danny's victim right about now, and it took him a good five seconds to figure it out - he was looking past Danny, the more obvious threat, and staring wide-eyed at something behind his attacker. But by then, it was too late. There was a sickening crack from behind him that sounded disturbingly like a nose breaking, and as Danny whipped around, arm still holding the traitor against the wall, he saw that was exactly what it was. One of his men was out cold, having been shoved against a wall by a long-haired newcomer who looked no older than Danny. Physically. Hopefully, not actually, because Danny could swear that he'd only met one human being in New York, with the rest being mutants. And he really wasn't in the mood to fight with a mutant.

"Mind if I join the party?" Who did this kid think he was, jutting in on this? He didn't have time to explain himself to a random belligerent kid. So his first response was to break the traitor's leg.

Yup, you read that correctly. With one well-placed kick, the limb snapped with a noise even more sickening than the kid had produced knocking out one of his men, and as he fell howling to the ground in pain, Danny turned fully to address the new threat. He walked forward a few paces, motioning to his three remaining underlings to move behind him, which they did with no hesitation, casting their former teammate scornful looks.

"This is none of your business, kid," Danny said cautiously, left hand resting easily on where one of his knives sat tucked into the waistband of his pants, concealed under his shirt. "This guy's a traitor, and so I'm just handling the situation. He lost us someone we need to find, and we're just trying to figure out where she is now."

And that... well, that was wonderfully comforting. Danny didn't want to have to fight the kid, but he'd have to think of something better to say than that. He racked his brain as he stood there, facing the kid, trying very hard to think of something to say that wouldn't sound horribly suspicious.

Admittedly, Ember was a little surprised that the boss had snapped the victim's leg with such little thought, even if it did make a kind of sense in the other boy's position. It would definitely stop him him from trying to run while the boss was busy. Ember glanced down at the screaming man with a hint of distaste before returning his gaze to the boy leader, watching him carefully as he approached. They kid certainly seemed to command his little troupe's respect, despite his apparent young age.

If it was just the three cronies, Ember would have had no doubts as to the outcome of the fight, but the boy worried him slightly. He knew he shouldn't take unnecessary risks, but Ember could never seem to wrap his head around leaving well enough alone. It was only a mild uncertainty however, and he certainly made sure to not show any outward signs of his worry.

However, Ember couldn't help but give a short laugh at the boy's description of the situation. It sounded like a line from a cheesy mafia film, which he had no fear pointing out, voice dripping with sarcasm. "What, did she steal information you need for your grand master plan to make a big score that will end in a giant shoot out with big explosions and lots of random dead gangsters?" He then looked rather pointedly at the boy's hand at his waist, then back up at his face, raising an eyebrow with a cocky smirk on his lips. He'd seen that kind of movement plenty of times before. Just as a mother looks to her baby in the face of danger, a threatened individual moves to whatever gives them a sense of security. In other words, Ember was almost certain the boy had some sort of weapon hidden there.

He moved to close the gap between the two of them, left hand partially raised in front of him as he cracked the knuckle of his index finger under his thumb. Crack. If the boy had a gun, Ember knew he would very likely end up with a very bad day if he wasn't close enough to disarm him. Ember stared down at the boy before him with his usual cocky sneer in place. "Also," He slid his thumb over to the middle finger. Crack.  "who are you to call me kid, eh coward?" 

As the kid gave a short but scornful laugh at Danny's attempt at describing the situation, the mutant held back a wince, realizing that he had definitely lost something in paraphrasing there. He hadn't wanted to reveal too much, considering he didn't want an innocent kid getting stuck in the middle of a kidnapping conspiracy, but clearly he hadn't revealed enough to show that he was the good guy here. "What, did she steal information you need for your grand master plan to make a big score that will end in a giant shoot out with big explosions and lots of random dead gangsters?" Wait, what? Was the kid assuming that the girl wasn't a legitimate girl, as in a little kid? Dammit. He really sucked at explanations. And now the other guy was staring very, very pointedly at Danny's hand on his weapon, but okay, he had a right to do that. He was feeling slightly threatened. Which was stupid; this kid had to be sixteen at most, and Danny was over two hundred and fifty.

Stepping closer to Danny with a decidedly threatening posture, the kid said, "Also, who are you to call me kid, eh coward?" He punctuated his words mid-sentence by lifting his left hand and cracking the knuckle with a rather loud noise. Behind Danny, his underlings shifted - it could be easily mistaken as boredom, but there was actually a bit of discomfort too. Thank god Danny wasn't the only one feeling threatened here, or else his pride would be dead. But now he was a little bit irritated as well - he had every right to call the kid... well, kid, but the newcomer had no right to call him a coward. Even if it was pretty much entirely true most of the time.

Keeping a perfectly straight face, though, Danny lifted his left hand in response. That was the gauntleted one, and with a snap of his fingers, the sound echoing through the alley, electricity started to crackle through the wiring inside the glove, making a relatively loud humming noise, as the blue veins started to glow and distinguish themselves from the black cloth covering his hand.

"I said, this is none of your business," Danny replied coolly, trying very hard not to get irritated or just spill all the information about the job because he didn't want to fight an innocent kid. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Leave before I have to take more drastic measures."

An empty threat, but the kid wouldn't know that. Danny would sooner spill, as would the three men working under him, than hurt an innocent kid when trying to save another. It just didn't make sense. Also, they were running out of time, and there was no point wasting what little they had beating up and dumping some teenager somewhere.

That was totally a secondary reason only.

At first, Ember was a little worried about the leader, until he snapped his fingers, and the glove he was wearing started to hum. Did he really think a flashy toy was going to scare him into submission? And his perfectly straight face meant he was definitely hiding an emotion he didn't want seen. In other words, the kid was bluffing. Probably. So, Ember’s response to that was a chuckle and the words, "Oh come on, do you really expect me to believe that something that gaudy is any more than a toy? And here I was, thinking you may have had a brain in you."

As entertaining as it was to see them squirm, Ember figured it was probably about time to end it. "Well, either way, there's no real reason to stand around chatting. I'm sure we all have better things to do." Ember hated a lot of things, so it isn't that hard to arouse such animosity from him, but he really, really hated people who felt the need to gang up to take on one person. In his view, there was no greater example of everything wrong with the human condition. Cowardice, Sadism, the whole lot.

Giving a derisive snort, Ember’s amused expression rapidly became one of irritation. He then glanced at the small man with the broken leg. Ember was already tired of the lot of them, but this one's crying was really starting to get quite bothersome. “So if you really feel that way, would you mind calling, oh, ambulances for 6 and save me the trouble?”

Ember had already lost interest in trying to help the fool with the broken leg. The world didn’t need pansies like him. The weak were deceitful and only drag people down with them. The only reason to finish what he started was to teach these people a lesson. Well, that’s what he told himself anyways.

"Oh come on, do you really expect me to believe that something that gaudy is any more than a toy? And here I was, thinking you may have had a brain in you." What - why - okay, that was too far. He did not just insult the gauntlet. This gauntlet was the paragon of badassery, thank you very much. Or at least he thought so. Most other people thought he was just stupid for getting it stuck permanently to his hand. Which may be why he got significantly more irritated when the kid insulted his intelligence.

He still thought it was badass.

"Well, either way, there's no real reason to stand around chatting. I'm sure we all have better things to do." Yes. Yes, they really did, and those "better things" did not involve this nosy kid. “So if you really feel that way, would you mind calling, oh, ambulances for 6 and save me the trouble?” Oh, now it was on. Danny did not appreciate getting sassed. He was only okay with it when he was the one doing the sassing.

...dammit, now his internal monologue sounded like a teenage girl. But still. He was giving the kid one last chance. Leaving his gauntlet activated in order to show the kid what a taser felt like should he decide to start a fight, he spoke.

"Look, I don't want to fight you," Danny said at his best attempt at a placating tone of voice, though it still came out sounding aggressive. "I don't intend to fight you either. So would you mind just leaving and saving us all the trouble of having to deposit of your... pasty... ass?" He really didn't intend that to come out as a question. He really hoped the kid didn't realize it came out as a question. But he wasn't used to insulting people, okay? Usually he was a shoot-first-sass-later kind of guy.

"Look, I don't want to fight you," Well, too bad for him. Ember had every intention of doing more damage than the unconscious guy's broken nose. These people had interrupted his writing, refused to retreat, and they had injured someone, which was totally an unimportant reason to him. However, what the little gang leader said next gave Ember a good laugh. They guy's questioning attempt at an insult was laughable at best. He tried to quiet his laughter and give a retort, but only a fresh burst of chuckles came out as he shook his head and raised his right hand, pinching the bridge of his nose as a sort of face-palm gesture.

Quickly composing himself again, Ember replied with a snide grin, "Well, then that's just to bad, because I have every intention of beating you and your buddies into next week." If he beats  the boss, then he presumed that his underlings may panic and run, but Ember knew that wasn't something he should depend on. But one way or the other, Ember figured he should finish this quickly. So when he finished speaking, he brought his right foot forward and moved as if he were about to swing at the side of the other boys head with the back of his right fist. But Ember broke eye contact for a moment, glancing down at the boy's leg. Instead of going through with the strike, Ember made to try raising his right leg up to deliver a sharp kick towards the side of the gang leader's knee. 

Feint's weren't usually Ember's style, but he also doesn't like it when his hand or arm get's hit with the business end of someone's weapon either. Yet, if he were honest with himself, he kind of hoped the other boy would avoid injury, except his self-honesty was a little iffy.

"Well, then that's just to bad, because I have every intention of beating you and your buddies into next week." Oh, come on. What had Danny even done to get this kid's attention? Oh, right - absolutely nothing. But even as he was considering this, a fist was moving towards his face. Instinctively, he raised his gauntleted fist to catch it, before realizing far too late that the punch had been a feint to divert from the real attack - a swipe from the boy's right leg.

Danny wasn't fast enough to dodge it entirely, but he was able to move just enough so that the kick was less of a knee kick and more of a shin kick. It hurt like hell, of course, in a slightly wimpy way, but it was a lot better than a broken knee. His underlings were kind of frowning in confusion, because all they saw was the kid kicking their leader in the shin, and their oh-so-powerful leader grabbing his shin and hopping around, muttering, "Ow, ow, ow.". But he quickly recovered, considering the injury was barely a bruise, before promptly retaliating with his own brutal attack...

...which was to petulantly try and kick the kid in the shin right back.

Hey, he may be super old, but that didn't mean he had to be mature.

Ah well, didn't the kick didn't quite land as he intended. Not enough to end the fight right off the back, though it did hurt the gloved kid.

It was almost amusing seeing the kid clutching his shin... But could Ember's judgement of the guy really been so off? One thing that Ember had witnessed time and time again in fights like this, was that the leader had to be at least a little tough to demand such respect from his followers. He doesn't always have to be the strongest in the group, per say, but no one likes following a weakling... Speaking of which, he couldn't figure out why the guy's cronies weren't making any moves to attack Ember themselves. However, even if the other kid wasn't what Ember had expected, he may as well finish the fight.

He simply planted his right leg, the one he kicked with, on the ground, then swung with a left hook towards the leader's jaw. He moved with an ease and speed that would suggest experience. However, Ember's choice of actions did not allow him to properly avoid Mr. Boss-man's kick. He didn't really even try to do so, just accepted the hit with little more than a grunt. His shin would certainly bruise, but he knew a kick like that wouldn't do any real damage. If the other guy wanted to do some damage, he better smarten up quick. Besides, Ember had fought through worse injuries. 

If it weren't for the fact that Ember was focusing on what was happening right then and there, he'd also be wondering why the shorter kid hadn't drawn a weapon yet. But at this time, as far a ember was concerned, if the guy hadn't drawn a weapon, then he had no immediate need to worry about said weapon.

Left hook, towards the jaw. So the kid was pulling out the big guns now - er, the fistfight equivalent of the big guns. Except his movements suggested experience, meaning that it wasn't just Danny - he was probably just running around picking fights with everyone. He just really shouldn't have picked this one fight to start.

To be honest, Danny could've told the kid his and his group's real purpose. No doubt he'd be sympathetic, or something akin to that, but Danny was kind of enjoying this back-and-forth. A cat toying with a mouse, you may call it. In fact, Danny went and deactivated his gauntlet as the other kid threw a punch, and let the punch hit. It hurt, obviously, but it wasn't that bad. An unwarranted side effect of immortality was learning that no non-fatal injury hurt after you'd been killed.

Playtime was over - for the kid, at least. Now it was Danny's turn to make a move.

"Is that all you got?" he smirked, instinctively rubbing the blooming bruise on his jaw, but face not registering any pain. "That's nothing. A mere tap compared to getting decapitated."

As a general rule, Ember never speaks once he starts fighting. It's a distraction from the fight itself, and drawing your focus away from analyzing what your opponents are doing or are likely about to do. Or at least that's the general, over simplified rationalization Ember when he thinks back on his fights. However, these thoughts were already far from his mind. The fight had started, after all. Once the fight starts, all his focus goes to absorbing information from the environment that he can, which tends to be quite a lot. One thing you learn pretty fast when fighting a group of individuals is that you have to be observant, and keep your ears open for the nearly inevitable prick who comes at you from behind.

That said, Ember did notice Danny turning off the gauntlet, as well as the apparently sudden change in attitude. Now the other boy started acting as Ember had initially predicted. The way the kid seemed to ignore the pain from the punch, as well as his taunts. However, he only stored that information away for later consideration, since it wasn't immediately relevant in his mind. Only the mention of decapitation got him thinking for a moment, before he shoved that away as well.

The only outward reaction that Danny's taunt had on him was an angry snarl, and his move to strike at the other again. This time, it was a right jab, aimed straight for the Danny's nose. Whether it hit, missed, or was blocked, Ember's intention was to follow up with a left uppercut, barring anything unexpected. Overall, it's rather rare for Ember to allow an opponent a chance to recover. What he didn't realize was that His angry flurry was going to leave him wide open to any number of counter attacks, for those who knew how to use them.

Despite the oddly calculating side when he fights, the boy's taunts still affected him. His decision to fight is still based in his rage, after all.

Oh. Well. He seemed to have gotten this kid unnecessarily pissed. That wasn't actually his intention, even though it may have seemed like it, but that was apparently the result. The boy threw a right jab, clearly meant to shatter Danny's face, but it was easy enough to dodge, the swing having gone wide enough that he had plenty of time to do so. As for the uppercut that followed, Danny angled his head so that it just brushed his jaw again - hard enough to send his head snapping back, but not hard enough to do any real injury. More importantly, it was hard enough to let the kid loose a little bit of his irritation. And wow, the kid was pissed - he was leaving himself wide open. But Danny didn't attack again. There would've been no point. He had no quarrel with a teenager roaming the streets in search of a fight, especially when he was on such a time limit. Hopefully, the boy would figure out that he was the only belligerent one here sometime soon, and Danny could get back to saving a little girl.

"You done yet?" Danny asked, but not patronizingly. "Throw a couple more hits if you want. Come on, does it look like I mind? Until you decide that you want to hear what I've got to say about this situation, I can stand here until you're done." He frowned then, though. "But I don't have all day. Please don't take all day."

Ember wasn't the type to keep attacking someone once they were done and stopped fighting. It didn't seem necessary to him, even when he was really mad. However, That way of thinking is kind of running on the assumption that target of his anger was fighting back. Except now this kid was neither fighting back, but he wasn't backing down either. He stepped back a bit, readying to attack again, but also for a chance to think on how to proceed.

The boss' next words did manage to irritate Ember more, almost about to lash out again. The only reason he didn't was because... curiosity probably. He wasn't entirely sure. So, instead of responding with fists, Ember responded with, "Oh, I could easily keep going all night, and why should I care what you have to say?" That was about as much of an invitation for an explanation as Ember was likely to give. The kid and his cronies who had been threatening the apparent victim had painted a seemingly obvious picture. Except the reactions of the gang didn't fit in with Ember's normal expectations. 

The gang didn't swarm him. No one had drawn any weapons, despite it seeming that they had them. Their leader however, was an enigma. Not lashing out at Ember despite his goading, or even when Ember attacked first. It took him a moment, but eventually he realized that the other kid was likely an experienced fighter himself. Probably done this enough times to have simply learned to remain calm. 

Thank god, he'd backed off. Only now was the real levity of the situation dawning on Danny, and he was slowly realizing with horror that he couldn't waste time with this kid when the very real threat of a little girl dying was looming over their heads.

"Oh, I could easily keep going all night, and why should I care what you have to say?" It was kind of adorable, actually, how confused he was as to why Danny and his thugs weren't retaliating, and how aggressive he was. In a sort of rabid puppy way.

Wow. His thoughts really were kind of condescending when he thought about mortals. That, and the guy was kind of attractive, okay? He was kind of being six years old about it and being an asshole because the guy was kind of hot.

”Because it’s not what it looks like," Danny said easily. ”For starters, this is not an anti-human hate mugging because I am the only mutant present. This is also not a gang vs innocent bystander situation because he was part of said gang and was a terrible member. And this is most definitely not an inter-gang dispute because he is no longer part of said gang, and - oh.”

As he had been saying all this, he had been running his first words to the kid through his head, and realized what it sounded like. "Oh," he said again. "Oh, I see. You thought I was beating him up over a girl. Like, a grown adult woman girl. A romantic interest.” He peered thoughtfully at the kid, processing what that meant. ”Well, that’s sweet of you. Jumping in to save the underdog who was just trying to protect his significant other. Sadly, that’s not actually the case. It might actually be easier if it was.”