“Again, stop right there,” the META's synthetic voice repeated.

The park was large. Lots of trees, lots of snow, and lots of paths. And of all places Glitch could have been, she had to be in the one with this pathetic excuse for an officer. METAs probably weren't even supposed to be there on their own. Reluctantly, Glitch put her hands up. Just play it cool. Find out what's making it tick.

“Warning: The impersonation of a META unit is prohibited.”

In an instant, Glitch sported the biggest “WTF?” expression that her robot face could manage - a raised eyelid and a tilt of the head. Somewhere out there, a law against that actually existed. She would have laughed, but META bots did not joke. “Trust me, I'm not trying to look like you. I'm a mutant, so-”

“Remove your mask. Failure to comply will result in your arrest.”

“It's not a mask!” Glitch protested. No response. It just stood there like an idiot, watching her. Sometimes, she just wanted to rip the heads off those things. She took a few steps back, cursing under her breath. Could she... just walk away from it? Nice robot. Just stay. Stay right there and-

“Active mutation detected.” Crap. It was standing there because it was scanning her. Glitch's circuits raced as it pointed its wide-barreled gun at her. “Takedown authorized.”

Double crap. “W-wait. I can't turn it off. It-” There was a loud clash as a beanbag hit her. She lost her footing, falling backwards onto the sidewalk. Her hands slipped on the icy pavement as she tried to get back up. Her eyes went wide when she saw the machine coming closer, beanbag gun at the ready.

She really hated those things.

A walk in the park in her winter clothing...most of the time this worked quite nicely for Rebecca, her treasured mouse-mittens and owl wooly hat had been long standing companions in the cold winter months in York. She remembered fondly the mochas she had in the many cafes that had strewn the city. It helped that most of the water around was frozen of course, so if she needed to transform, it wouldn't be a problem, at least not for a short amount of time. She watched the vapour on her breath as she sighed at her own mental reminiscing. Good times. No worries about work, just time with a good old book about Stalin or whatnot.

Still, it was rather peaceful-a few children having a snowball fight, a few elderly people having walks along the gritted path, even the odd pairing of young people wrapping round each other , keeping warm in the winters chill. Lucky for them she supposed. It had been a long time since she had felt that kind of warmth. Bethany did so love the snow...

The hideously formal-synthetic noise of a META Bot crashed through her memory like a rock through glass, its almost mockingly British "butler" accent would have made her cringe, if the situation wasn't so serious. She heard the clang of metal upon pavement and quickly searched for the noise.

What looked like a smaller robotic cousin was currently trying to get back up having slipped or something, while the META bot aimed its gun at it. The oddly feminine features of the smaller robot , and the obvious fear expressed made Rebecca realise it was probably some kind of fellow mutant. Normal robots don't flinch at a gun aimed at them.

Time to act it seems. Rebecca thought as she began to make her transformation into sand. Public property would recover from the damage, a mutant life was worth far more. Hopefully she wouldn't be too late.

Devon often jogged along or through the park. Despite his resistance to the cold (or the heat), he still dressed for the occasion in case anyone would notice. No reason to jog in a simple pair of shorts and draw numerous questions from the curious throngs of NYC tourists. Residents never made eye contact, let alone cared provided you didn’t block their way on the sidewalk. His sweatpants were black over gray compression. The same material covered his chest though he had on a light black hoodie and face mask. He hadn’t pulled it over the top of his head, letting the drifting snow moisten the black locks of his hair. He liked the feeling. Bright blue shoes stomped along as he went. Suffice to say, he didn’t blend in to the wintry scene, but joggers never wanted to anyway.

He was one of many after all. Joggers. Bikers. Kids playing. Parents watching. Friends chatting. This was Central Park, refuge for the weary of the city and home to artists and business workers alike. This park belonged to the people, belonged to the city. All used it and were allowed to use it. They came in and out all day and all night long.

But like everywhere else now, there were new dangers that disrupted that simple societal peace.

He was always wary of his environment, but Devon was especially so when he spotted META bots. Seeing one talking to a smaller, seemingly new model Devon hadn’t seen before was interesting. Then the smaller one was backing up and the larger one shot it. Devon immediately slowed his jog and started in on that directions. Darkness filled his eyes.

If one META bot was shooting another, more malfunctions were already likely and that meant people would be in danger. Devon heard the smaller one protest and use the most personal of pronouns: I. META Bots were not I. They didn’t know that word. They didn’t have a sense of self. Was that a person? A mutant?

An angry wind howled through the trees as the dark clad form of Tempest bounded over a railing and then alighted on a snow-topped hill. He kept running and sent that howling wind forward. It slammed into the META bot before it could shoot the smaller robot again.

“Get clear!” Tempest shouted.

((OOC: This is the kind of winter face mask I'm referring to above. ))

In retrospect, a beanbag gun shouldn't have been too threatening to a metallic being like her, but when faced with the barrel of one, it was easy for Glitch to forget that. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to take a round to the face.

That never came. Instead, she heard a howling wind, followed by a loud clatter. She opened her eyes to see the bot lying flat on its back. She turned to see a man and... a figure that looked like a sand person? Of course. Mutants. Mutants to the rescue.

There was no time to question what was going on. Taking the man's advice, she scrambled towards the sand person, putting a good distance between the robot and herself. The META bot recovered quickly, righting itself and scanning the newcomers. Glitch's quivering fists were at the ready. “Careful. It's crazy!” And armed with a so-called non-lethal weapon. She herself likely had a nasty dent from that.

“Active mutation detected. Active mutation detected. Takedown authorized.” It again aimed its gun, this time at the man.

Rebecca launched herself into the fray as she saw a strong wind knock back the META bot. She wasn't sure how having sands in the circuitry would effect the thing, but it was worth a try. The sand closed quickly, a bizarre stream of brown in an otherwise snow white scene. There weren't many holes in such a Robot. But everything had a knook and cranny of some kind.

It would take a while to get to the right place, she engulfed the META bot, quickly finding every orafice that she could enter and searching out the gears within it. Hopefully whoever had sent that strong wind knew well enough to be careful with exactly what he did this time. It would likely get a shot off before Rebecca found the way to deactivate it.

Tempest was charging forward as the smaller robot struggled to her feet and rushed to the shifting woman. What was she doing? He’d never seen her before but she seemed to be melting. Hopefully that was intentional- Little pieces of her started swirling up and moving; she wasn’t falling to pieces. No, she was pieces.

That was amazing.

>> “Careful. It's crazy!”

“Always are,” Tempest shouted in reply. The META lifted its gun and pointed it at Tempest.

Meanwhile the sand woman rushed onto the ‘bot. It was easy to pick her out against the snow and Devon wasn’t about to jeopardize her. Who knew how hard it would be to come back together if he blasted the META bot with wind again. Instead, Tempest jumped back a ten yards or so and held his hands out ahead of him.

The sand mutant swirled and tore at every hole it could find, but not soon enough to stop the META bot from firing at Tempest. He didn’t try to stop it. Instead he jumped into a gust to dodge the beanbag and flung out his other hand to send the bag into the snow. “Hurry,” Tempest shouted.

Unfortunately the META bot had already anticipated trouble. A wireless signal went out for help from a few other bots located nearby. Central Park needed frequent patrols after all…

The sand lady destroying the machine from the inside, the man using his wind to dodge the round... those sights were amazing to watch. Being able to do those things required practice, no doubt. Glitch found herself envying the skill they had with their mutations.

The META bot was still resisting the sand lady's attack, but it wasn't going to last. Sparks crackled on its surface, and its attempts to free itself were getting weaker.

Thinking things were now safe, Glitch relaxed her arms and approached the two mutants.  “So, um... I...”  While she was trying to say something, the words weren't coming, and she found herself looking down at her feet. She'd thought that if she got into trouble like that, she was tough enough to punch and kick her way out of it. After all, she was a mutant. But no. When the gun was pointed at her, she was frozen, and these people had to bail her out. Many would have done the same in that situation, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing.

Things weren't truly over, of course. Unbeknownst to Glitch, three more units were gathering a short distance away, preparing to launch a counterattack.

As sparks flew and the robot fell down, the light in its robotic eyes going out, Rebecca was well pleased with what she had done. METAs were vile machines, designed to hurt mutants simply for being mutants in her book. She gracefully exited, reforming herself on a dry patch of snow, first appearing to be the outline of a woman, then taking full form of her beautiful self.

The little robot-mutant was approaching her, seemingly more relaxed, though she was staring at her feet and mumbling with her words shyly. "Looks like you got yourself in a bit of a scrape there" Rebecca said nicely. "Glad I could help a fellow mutant out" she smiled as she put out a hand. "I'm Rebecca".

She noticed the man that had sent the wind after the META "Sorry I couldn't stop it from firing in time" she called over to him. "I hope y'all were OK". Hopefully there weren't any more to deal with, she could deal with more but it would be tiring work.

The young robot seemed scared, her words failing her. Her, well at least Devon thought it was a her. She was either a mutant or the creation of a mutant, though the possibility of some genius creating such a robot wasn’t impossible. He walked down the small hill and around the fence portion near the walking path.

He stopped as the META bot’s eyes flashed off and on erratically while its limbs twitched. It dropped to the ground with a sound of grating and a few errant sparks. Sand swirled out from the machine first taking on the silhouette of a young woman before that visage took to flesh.

>> "Sorry I couldn't stop it from firing in time" she called over to him.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Tempest nodded. His eyes reflected pure darkness despite the white snow around them. “Nicely done, by the way,” he said with a curt nod to Rebecca. His attention return to Glitch as he finally caught up to them, “Sorry those things are so antagonistic. I’m Devon.”

“We should get out of the park and stay together,” he added urgently. “I’ve been in a few of these encounters and back up tends to follow quickly.”

She shook the woman's hand, her grip loose to avoid crushing it. Rebecca and Devon. She was going to do her best to remember those names. “I'm Glitch, and I think I'm all right, thanks.”

Her gaze slid over to the broken machine. Devon was right. “Yeah... that sounds like a good idea,” she replied, ready to get as far away from the META as possible. For all she knew, that thing could have sent a distress signal.

Looking around, Glitch couldn't see anything, but with the trees and hills as cover, there were plenty of places those awful robots could pop out of. That mere thought was enough to make Glitch more than a little uneasy. This was the first time she saw a META pull a flippin' gun, and it shot her. If she had still been a squishy, fleshy person instead of a robot... No, she didn't want to think about it.

Yet, having a couple of mutants around, ones that were able to take down the robot so quickly, took the edge off the fear. “Sounds like you guys fight these things all the time,” she commented. “Saw a buggy one months ago, but this was way worse.” Near them she was going to stay.

Rebecca was surprised at Glitch's strength as she shook her hand, she suspected that it would have been possible to go a lot tighter than the force that she just felt. The robotic mutant she suspected would have been able to take on the METAs if it hadn't been for her lack of fighting skill, or for the fact she was grovelling on the floor rather than bashing its head in.

The wind manipulating mutant, now introduced himself as Devon, and even paid Rebecca a complement. "Thanks, you did well too" she responded. Now it sounded like he wanted them to stick together. Well, that made sense for the time being, even though she had kinda wanted to be alone that day. The METAs would likely be searching for her though, so it would be difficult to have a fun time constantly being attacked by malfunctioning robots. "Probably a good idea Devon, the METAs will be searching for mutants matching our descriptions for a while now,"

Glitch was now making assumptions about Rebecca's experience. She began to stare at the oh so interesting ground "It was actually my first time actually fighting one. Never liked them, its too much of a reminder..." she trailed off, most mutants knew what it was a reminder of, and it didn't need to be said in polite company.

"Do you have a safe place in mind?" She asked Devon, hoping that the answer was yes, her flat could do at a pinch, but she really didn't want to open the door to METAs, it would probably mess up her carpet.

Devon gave a quick nod back to Glitch glad she was okay. He was glad she agreed they should stick together as well. Things could escalate quickly when a META had attacked. Rebecca, the other girl – the one with flesh – complimented him as well.

>> “Sounds like you guys fight these things all the time,” (Glitch) commented. “Saw a buggy one months ago, but this was way worse.”

>> "It was actually my first time actually fighting one. Never liked them, its too much of a reminder..." Rebecca replied.

“A few times, but they can get pretty bugged. It’s suspicious at this point considering how often it’s happened yet they are still used.”

What was odd was how Rebecca spoke of knowing the META bots plan to be searching for them yet this was actually her first time fighting them. And it was too much to remember? What had this girl experienced exactly? The camps maybe or someone attacking her friends, family that were mutants? Usually when people said things like that they wanted someone to ask about it, but Devon figured best to wait til they knew one another better. Let alone there were more pressing issues.

>> "Do you have a safe place in mind?"

“Yeah,” Tempest said earnestly. “Sanctuary, I think we can grab-“

“Halt, mutants!” came four simultaneous voices. Two of the leaner, quicker Metas and two of the larger bots like they’d just fought walked through a couple bushes, destroying them. Two large whomping sounds echoed throughout the park as their sirens went off.

The few people who’d stuck around at watching distance screamed and started running.

Tempest had been holding the power since the first one. He reached a hand to the sky and through it down, a fist pointed to the earth. The air roared with thunder as the twilight was cracked open by the lightning bolt slamming down from the heavens. Dirt and wooded debris went flying as the two leaner bots jumped away, slightly burned. The other two blew backward, plastic and casing flying, though they immediately began to rise.

“Let’s sand the small ones, they’re fast!” Tempest shouted. He stepped in front of Glitch, a trio of moving currents providing a swirling set of gusts around them now. His dark eyes watched for their next movements.

“Glitch, how organic are you? Any problems with ice, rain…?” he asked urgently to the feminine robot behind him.

“Really? Wow...” That was pretty impressive for Rebecca's first run-in with METAs. Combat training, perhaps? Regardless, “Learn self-defense” was added to Glitch's to-do list, and it was high up there alongside “learn how to repair machines.”

If her own experiences with the METAs didn't make Glitch nervous, the rumors of their tendency to malfunction that circulated at the Mansion certainly did. They were scary in that respect. “It's like a conspiracy.” She just wanted to get out of the park, maybe put a good mile or two or hundred between herself and them. Whether they took refuge at this Sanctuary or elsewhere, Glitch didn't care.

“Halt mutants!” They weren't going to give her that chance, were they?

One, two, three, four robots. Not good. She glanced over to Rebecca and Devon. They were there. They were able to take down one. Maybe they could fight four? Stay close, stay calm. That's what she told herself.

Then came a bright flash and a loud boom.

“Holy eff!”

Thunder! Lightning! Clearly, Devon had more power than just wind. “Ice is okay-ish, but no water!” From the protection of the wind, she eyed the META bots, nervous. “And maybe no more lightning, either,” she added, seeing how the blast singed a couple of the units. Weather and herself? Overall, not a great combination. Crap. She hoped her presence wasn't limiting him too much. Her fists were at the ready as she assumed a fighting stance, preparing for the worst.

Rebecca had heard of Sanctuary, from what she was told it was a safe place for otherwise undesirables to go. Once they lost the METAs she could then ditch the two mutants and get back to her life. Until then it was better to stick together, even if she was only with one competent mutant. As Glitch seemed overly impressed with her skills...Not all mutants were damsels in distress that needed to be saved.

As the four new METAs advanced on them and commanded them to halt, Rebecca was about to make her move to attack. Then came the lightening. Devon seemed not to be in control of just wind, it seemed but weather control. Two robots were clearly badly damaged from the attack, and two had successfully lept out of the way.

"I would second Glitchs' point about water" The last thing she needed was that to happen again. "Though another lightening bolt would make things easier". Glitch needed to stay out of the way, she clearly didn't know the first thing about what to do. Doubtless there would be more METAs on the way if they stayed too long. Speed was of the essence.

"I suggest the quicker we get out of here, the better." Rebecca stated flatly to both of her fellow mutants. Which in short meant that taking her sand form probably wouldn't do much for them. Still, it was better not to be shot. She began to take her form again, hovering close to Glitch this time.

>> “Ice is okay-ish, but no water!” From the protection of the wind, she eyed the META bots, nervous. “And maybe no more lightning, either,”

Tempest started to nod but then smirked at the mention of lightning. Avoiding rain could be difficult, but no lightning either? That meant don’t fight back but run. Maybe it was some or all of them did that then.

>> "I would second Glitchs' point about water" The last thing she needed was that to happen again. "Though another lightening bolt would make things easier".

Ah he understood the water point for Rebecca as well. Could she have a mud form? That likely wasn’t helpful. Lightning hitting sand tended to create glass or at least crystalline structures. Either way, he wouldn’t be targeting either of the young women. Devon was at least assuming Glitch would want to be called such anyway…

Rebecca began to shift into her sand form as she moved in front of Glitch. Tempest dashed to the side, a gust of wind carrying him and he let it rush into the two large bots starting to rise. They tumbled back as he threw down another fist, more lightning striking them with a loud thunderous echo. He kept the winds rushing around him, eager to deflect or move. “Run then,” Tempest shouted to the other mutants.

The leaner, fast METAbots made for Rebecca and Glitch. Each raised one arm and fired bludgeoning beanbags, one for each mutant. The other arms raised with Tasers. “Halt mutants.”