Artair didn't know exactly why he'd wanted to go for a walk but his journey had led him to central park. Looking at the entrance he'd realised he'd never actually gone in. He'd always meant to aswell, just never found the right time. "Well," he said out loud heading into the park, "Whats the worst that could happen." 

Trouble, however, had a way of finding Artair.  One moment he'd been having a nice, peaceful morning in the park, the next people running and screaming. Someone, or something, was on a rampage. Rather than the entirely rational response of fleeing, Artair decided on going towards the carnage.

Getting closer he noted that whatever had done it was strong, clumps of earth had been ripped from the ground, trash cans torn to pieces and the street lamps ripped from their mounts. He didn't have long to contemplate however, the screams were getting louder and more desperate. Sprinting towards them he had the foresight to ready a shield, a thought that saved his life. As he rounded a corner something smashed straight into it, shattering the construct and sending Artair reeling.

 

Serena'd really had a busy couple of months. What with getting a Girlfriend and spending time with her, and sorting out pre-release stuff for the release of her next novel, on top of plans for the next one and another project she was working on getting done to one side. Everything was just a little crazy, she barely had any time to just feel like herself and get fresh air.

A walk in the park sounded like a good idea. She set off from her apartment into the crisp March air wearing a fairly warm green leather jacket over a long sleeved T-shirt and jeans. She did a lot of jogging, but occasionally a walk did her some good. Changes of pace brought with them perspective.

The park was absolutely massive and brought with it a large amount of scenery and interesting people and creatures. She'd met a number of friends moving through the park, not least of which was her best friend James. She'd met rioters, criminals, Cat shifters. The whole lot in the park. Today though, she just wanted a nice refreshing stroll...



Sods law of course, meant that this was not the case after a 20 minute stroll into the park caused her to lower her headphones and look around to see and hear a large commotion and a large number of people screaming and moving away. This early the morning, really? Was it another meta bot problem, or what it another one of those crazy anarchists causing trouble again? Unlike the majority of the denizens of the park, she set off towards it.

That hurt. A lot. But pain was good, he was still alive. Diving back around the corner he took stock of exactly what happened. He'd been hit, hard. Artair was panicking before his small amount of doctors training managed to kick in. Taking a deep breath he tried to calm down and analyse the situation. First, whatever it was had shattered a shield nearly as hard as steel. Second, it had attacked without hesitation. Third, he wasn't dead yet and whatever attacked him wasn't coming for him yet. Either it had gotten bored or found new victims. That was enough to steel his spine.

Artair concentrated on a making a single sword, pulling it from the air. Right, this was more manageable now. Using his phone as a crude mirror he got a general idea of what was around the corner. A single figure strode amongst the chaos, smashing and clawing at anything in its way. It looked human shaped but something was, off, with its proportions. Running through his options, Artair considered flight again. Everyone had already gotten away, what harm was there in not getting himself killed?

The cry that ripped the air put all thought of running out of his mind. The thing had a new target and whoever the poor victim was, they were young. Sighing, he quickly stepped out shouting at the figure to get its attention. "Oi, if ye fancy a fight, try someone a wee bit bigger." The figure seemed to respond, since it charged straight at him, fists melting in large balls. OK that was weird. As it got closer Artair realised it looked like a man made of metal, but also liquid. It was like something out of an old film he'd seen. Just as it got close and started to swing, Artair slammed his sword in a vicious arc into its shoulder. The metal man, however, seemed amused by this. His sword had done nothing.

"Are you f------ kidding me."

Serena's pace slowly picked up as she walked past people that were in various states of terror. More screaming, a ripping and tearing sound later and the blonde had broken into a dead sprint towards it. If she had a better idea of the situation she might have had time to call someone, cops, X-men. Maybe even Ami, she was pretty damned adept at dealing with nasty situations.

She rounded a corner of trees into a clearing. Well, it wasn't really a clearing it was more of an area of damaged and flattened trees. She saw a bunch of blood on the floor but it was scattered, disjointed. Okay, so in all likely hood nobody was severely injured or dead. Serena wasn't a doctor or a mortician or anything, but she had a good idea of blood quantities from all the time she'd spent around it.

She heard a thick aggressive accent provoking... What WAS that? It took her a few moment to put two and two together. Firstly it wasn't a creature causing the havoc it was a mutant. Secondly, the mutant had some kind of a liquid metallic power, it covered their body mostly and shifted and changed form as it moved. Lastly it was attacking the source of the thick Scottish accent, whom she recognised.

Serena was not going to allow whoever this was to get gutted by some crazy mutant wrecking havoc. That just wasn't in the cards. She picked up a large piece of bark and threw it in an arc that collided with the back of the mutants head with a sharp thwack and a splintering of wood, just long enough for the mutant to turn away from Artair for a moment and flash it's eyes at her.

He promptly allowed the metallic substance to cover his legs and kicked the Scot, whom Serena now recognised as Artair, hard in the chest sending him sprawling back several metres in what looked like an uncomfortable roll. Dammit. "HEY! UGLY!" He laughed at the downed person, ignoring Serena. "OI! YOU, BLOODY MELTY FACED GIT, THERE IS NO SPOON, OVER HERE" THAT got it's attention. It rounded on her FAST.

Artair had been concentrating too hard to see what hit the mutant in the head, but whatever it had been, it hadn't done much. It had probably had a bigger effect on Artair, since he started looking past his opponent, trying to see how was stupid enough to fight this thing. Other than him. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance and his drop in concentration was reward with a swift kick to the chest.

His entire chest exploded in pain as he got flung backwards. Hitting the ground and rolling awkwardly he involuntarily curled up with the pain. Breathing hurt. Moving hurt. Staying still hurt. He'd have wondered how something could hit so hard if he wasn't focused on trying to breathe. Nothing felt broken though, that he knew and his heart was still working normally. That was generally useful. What the hell was that thing? He didn't hear it laugh but a familiar voice was shouting nearby and the thing moved away from him.

Slowly prying his eyes back open he tried to focus on the person that was being borne down on by his attacker. Struggling to focus he could it was probably a lass, and fairly tall. And blonde. He hoped he hadn't recognised the voice because there was no way Serena was daft enough to stare down a rampaging mutant. It was. Crawling up onto all fours he tried to wheeze out a warning but didn't get far. Right, he thought, deep breaths. The pain that followed the breaths felt glorious as air refilled his lungs. He tried and failed to pull out a shield, pain recoiling in his head. 

"Serena, run," he managed to half shout that time, "It's too tough tae hurt." She hadn't seem to hear him though and it was already bearing down on her. He couldn't help. His constructs wouldn't appear and even if they did he couldn't cut it with his strongest hit. He needed to fight smarter, do something. Closing his eyes he focused everything on a shield. The biggest he'd made, as strong as he could make it. Old lessons came back, the idea took shape. Opening his eyes a glistening tower shield floated in his vision.

Oooooh. Serena was angry. Ever since her power expanded and she gained the blood shift she'd felt emotions more intensely than before, and right now this thing needed to be taught a lesson. Not only had it damaged the park and terrified a large number of bystanders, but had also severely injured someone that she had taken quite a liking to, this would never do.

The thing moved over to her with a lot more speed than she'd have thought him capable of. No grace though, it was clumsy and strong. She could deal with that. She felt a few fleeting moments of Terror as the thing started closing the reasonable distance between them, a few micro seconds was all. Then she got a grip and stopped the shaking. She moved her body into a flexible, but grounded stance.

She heard Artair's warning's croaked over the sound of the wood being crushed underfoot and felt another surge of anger, her lips spread into a wolfish smile. She didn't even try to hit the thing, or fully dodge or block it. That would be stupid, it had hit trees with enough force to splinter them.

So instead, she moved her body sleekly to one side, underneath it's single armed swing. It had underestimated her. She moved inside it's guard and using her leg obstructed an uncovered section of bare leg on him, whilst pushing him from the side to tip his balance. She felt a large amount of weight on one leg, which would probably leave a bruise but nothing was broken. Him on the other hand, that as another story.

He didn't tumble that far, but he fell down and landed with a ton of weight, his momentum and added metallic weight all sheering his muscle and bone a little. That had to hurt, if the large yelp was any indication. She might not be big, she might not be particularly tough physically. But she was nimble, and she was a damn good hand at Aikido. This target had plenty of weight to redirect.

She activated her power now, the blood in the clearing gathering around her, like a thing veil. A blue glow gently surrounding her and the blood. "I am NOT some damsel in distress or weak target, now why don't you pick on someone who can hit back." She replied, venom in her prissy tone as the mutant picked itself back up.

It closed the distance fast to Serena, who stood there like an eejit. Was everyone losing there minds today, he thought, ignoring the hypocrisy of the situation. When it got to her however, she moved with a grace and speed he hadn't expected. Artair watched, probably as shocked as the metal clad man. What ever she did it worked, the thing hit the ground hard enough to do damage. She'd just hit an armoured opponent hard enough to dent the ground. Note to self, he thought, don't annoy Serena. The pained cry from the, whatever, was immensely satisfying.

Before he could even contemplate moving towards the prone thing, blood started to rise into the air. Artair had to admit, that freaked him the hell out. When it started to draw towards Serena and glow faintly, he made a further note. Really, don't p--- off Serena.

It was already struggling to get up, Serena's warning hanging in the air. It was off balance and not paying him any attention. That seemed as good a time as any to hit it full force. He directed the shield, raising it as high as he could above the thing, straining his limit and endurance to keep such a large construct up. As it got one hand under itself, Artair slammed it down. Pushing as much force into its flight he smashed the thing back into the ground. Not risking this things wrath he tried to raise the shield again for another strike.

Serena noted Artair back on his feet in her peripheral vision and felt a pang of relief. He clearly wasn't that injured then, good. Hopefully he wasn't bleeding internally or anything. Those kinds of injuries required more active treatment than the others, which she couldn't really apply. But if he was able to move around alright, he shouldn't be in any immediate danger.

As the creature started to gather itself up he smacked it with.... What the heck? She knew he was a mutant but was that? Did he just whack it on the head with a tower shield? That was something straight out of Dark Souls or some crap. Why not go for a Mallet or a Halberd or something that would do more damage?

She shook those thoughts off, chide him on his weird combat choices later, focus on the here and no- That thing was getting back up. Crap. She'd have to actually fight him. The thing got to it's feet quickly and made a lunge for her, which she promply ducked under. She'd not fought anything head on in a situation like this in a long time, but she didn't feel particularly rusty, which was helpful. Also what the bloody hell, was this thing just immune to damage?

"Artair, Get back!" She yelled helpfully over the grunts and yells of the angry metallic mutant. She got a look at it's face and eyes, partially covered by metal and drooling... Was it feral or something? She tried to trip it again to no avail. It slashed her with something akin to a knife hand. Eeep.

Luckily it only knicked her, and then quickly decided to make a lunge for the Scotsman. "OH HELL NO!" Serena withdrew some of the blood from around her wound, added it to her veil of blood and quickly formed something akin to a stake before throwing it with her power, driving it straight through the things heel, from behind it's leg. Hah. Take that Achilles. This time the yelp was much more of a pained screech.

Are you freaking kidding me, thought Artair. He'd hit it with the biggest, hardest construct he could manage, at high speed and the thing still got up? What the hell was this thing made of. Maybe the best he could do was distract and put it off balance. Rather than try to smash it again he pulled the shield back and kept it close, ready to react if it charged. Serena could cover herself, he needed to look out for his own hide at this point. He needed to think but the strain was getting to him, the construct draining him much quicker than he'd realised. At this rate he wouldn't be able to make another.

The thing was focused on Serena, jumping straight at her. He chafed at the inactivity, wincing as his pain spiked again. He just knew that if he jumped in at the wrong time he'd get them both killed. Her advice however fell on deaf ears. His blood was up and he wasn't going anywhere until this thing was out cold or dead. Too many people could die if it had picked a better spot to rampage. He'd have to hold. Christ it could even make it hands like knives? Had someone plucked a nightmare from his head and sent it on a merry crime spree?

It jumped for him so quickly he could barely react, his shield slamming between just as the thing faltered and let out an awful screech. If he lived, Artair vowed to get Serena a bottle of Kirkwalls' finest whiskey. It may be tough but it could bleed at least. It also seemed to be losing control of its power with more uncovered spots appearing on its body. A new construct might be pushing it put changing one just a bit? That he could do. Slowly moving back he concentrated hard, molding the blade he needed onto the end of the shield. If Serena could keep it down long enough, he might have a chance.

"Keep ugly tied up lass? Need a minute to catch ma breath." Hopefully she could cover him, if he wanted this plan to work, it couldn't be on the look out for him. Clipping it in the chin for good measure he sprinted for a tree for cover. What he hadn't counted on was this things ridiculous speed. The thing had apparently exercised a tiny amount of thought and jumped for the person who'd just admitted to weakness. He tried to move to the side but it sideswiped him, sending him tumbling across the ground. Again. This time he felt one of his creaking ribs snap. Another hit and he wasn't getting up.

Serena muttered something under her breath about crazy Scottish types when Artair didn't appear to be fleeing the scene. She definitely had the attention of the thing, she quickly drew back the blood stake to her defensive zone as the thing turned and went for her one more. It had definitely slowed. Good. If she could maim it's other calf it might slow it sufficiently to be able to safely incapacitate it.

For goodness sake, why wasn't he running??! "AT LEAST CALL THE BLOODY COPS!" She shot back whilst ducking another hammer shaped swing. God damn, she hadn't actually gotten into a fight with anyone or anything in so long that this was pretty damn terrifying. It changed course for him as he started running, finally. But it lurched and jumped and managed to connect again, sending the poor Scot sprawling.

Okay. If it hit Serena, she probably wasn't as hardy as Artair and would drop. She growled at the thing and threw something shaped like a spear at it's back, grasing it's shoulder and causing another howl. It turned with a murderous look in it's eyes.

"I really didn't want to do this..." She muttered and drew in on a less fun asset of her powers. Her power's field shifted in colours to a deep, radiating red, before completely enveloping her as the creature leapt for her. By the time it got there, and thrust a spear arm through her stomach area, it contacted with pure blood, and the field faded slightly to reveal a being of pure blood, hovering slightly.

Whilst the clothes were torn, the blood form Serena only seemed irritated by the blow. She slipped out of the arm, and the clothing with a hole in it, which the creature immediately dropped and roared, charging her again.

She didn't speak, she simply swung her arms in a motion, the blood following it, her palms out she thrust them forwards, several smaller shards of hardened blood blasting out towards the creature and shredded it's arms and legs, handicapping it further, she floated deftly to one side of the blow, gathering an even larger quantity of blood together, mixing some of the blood drawn from him into the mix for extra volume, and then formed a large, several foot wide mallet out of blood and swung it into him from the side, sending him sprawling several meters AND through a tree.

Artair could feel his broken rib grinding with every breath. But pain was could, he wasn't dead. Yet. Dragging himself around a tree for cover, he closed off the part of his brain screaming in fear. Time enough for that later, he thought. Slowing his breath and forcing his heart-rate to drop help bring the world into clarity. It also made the pain worse, his body pumping less adrenaline to numb it. Pulling out his phone he tried to make a call but apparently being used as a punching bag was bad for technology. Sighing he tried to stand but the pain made him nearly blackout as he stood.

He had to focus. Focus on something, give him the clarity he needed. so he picked the one thing he knew well. He focused everything on the pain, remembering all the pain he'd ever felt. He'd suffered worse. Hell he'd survived worse. Dragging himself up, he stepped out from cover. What he saw should have terrified him. Fortunately the emotional, gibbering part of his brain was locked down, so all he could do was watch. What ever Serenas' power was, she looked like a demon. Dark red and liquid. Was that blood? Whatever she was trading blows with it. No, she was winning.

Watching Artair was realising exactly how scary this world was. He'd charged in and flailed around like a child. He could have gotten people killed and was damn lucky that Serena had been there. He'd neglected his power too long. He needed to be better, or next time people would die.

He winced when she ripped into him, whatever that thing was it was tough. It was bleeding from multiple wounds and it hadn't slowed much. Christ she could even send it flying. Well, whatever that thing was made of, more of its body was uncovered, more spots open for punishment. Tugging at his mind he pull his shield close. He'd at least managed the blade before his flying tackle. Time to use it.

This was going to need to be a good one, it was his last shot. Artair could already feel himself pushing past his limit, the telltale headache worsening. If this failed, it was up to Serena. He started into a pained run towards the struggling, metallic figure. It mustn't have realised he was alive, as it focused on Serena, not seeing the shield launching towards him. His shield arced out ahead of him, gaining speed.

Serena's attack had damaged the metallic mutant more than she'd initially expected, but it was still ferocious. She thought it had definitely slowed down but not enough. She wanted to incapacitate it, not kill it. But specific plans were a lot harder to form in a cognoscente way while she was in the blood form. Everything was a lot more raw. The mutant was meaning to kill her, she laughed at the thought. It came out as a very hollow, echoing sound.

It swung at her, she moved to duck it again, it still grazed her. Taking away a section of her arm. However the damage was ultimately minimal. If she'd been in human form, that would have really hurt and probably left a scar. She however, was not. The blood quickly sprang back to the wound and plugged it, returning to her form as if nothing had happened to her at all. "You're going to have to try harder than that" Her echoing voice rasped.

Artair smacked into it again... Was he actually trying to get himself killed? "Get out of here you fool!" She shrieked. As the impact connected with the creature there was a POP sound and another yelp from the mutant as it's shoulder dislocated, followed by Artair tumbling past. It made a reach for him before Serena threw out her arm, a wave of blood going with it and gripping the arm, holding it in place.

She drew her other arm back, a silhouette of blood hardening a few inches away from it again into the shape of a large fist, and drove it hard into the creatures face with a lot of force. It tumbled back into the ground and shuddered for a few moments before the metallic substance receded, leaving only dribbles and bits of a metallic liquid on a fairly grizzled looking male on the ground.

He impacted the thing harder than he'd expected, the blade failing to cut but from the loud popping sound, he'd guessed he had managed to dislocate its shoulder. Rather than stay in range he darted past in a half run, half shuffle. His mind raced, he'd actually hurt it. Granted Serena had already gone full demon mode and pummeled the stuffing out of it but he had helped. A bit. 

His good luck ended there though, as he tripped over what remained of a tree branch. Pain flared up his side, but nothing felt like it tore and he could still breathe. Good, he thought, that's always a bonus. He tried to pull the shield over him as he turned but he couldn't move it. His mind was too exhausted.

As he turned he saw it reaching towards him. Artair would have panicked more had he not also seen Serena extend a hand a few feet to grab the arm. Either it was very tired or she had it gripped like a vice because its movement stopped dead. What she did next however, sent the sealed of part of his emotions squealing like a startled pig. The creepy voice didn't help matters. She punched it, full force in the face with a giant hand made of blood. The fact that it toppled the thing easily barely registered.

Gently pushing himself onto his feet, Artair feel his pain and exhaustion seeping back in. He absently picked up the slowly dissipating shield and shuffled towards the prone figure. Without his metal, the man looked significantly less threatening. He was well built but scarred and dirty, his clothes tattered rags. "Well lass," he finally said, "Anyone ever told you, you can be b----- terrifying?" He let the joke hang in the air, trying to put her more at ease. "Once we deal with him, I think I owe you a drink."

Turning back, Artair felt his anger growing. How many could have died? How many already had to this monsters rampages. What justice would they get? Whoever this person had been, now he was just a disease limb, one that needed to be cut from society to save others. He hadn't even noticed the fact he'd raise the shield, poised to drive the bladed end down. His hands barely shook, his muscles clenched and he readied to cross a line he couldn't come back from.

Now that he was suppressed Serena relaxed a little bit, though this wasn't really evident while she was in the blood form as she had no facial expressions to speak of. She glanced around the clearing one more time to check for threats before she wrapped this up completely. There were no other people around, and most of the blood had been gathered up for combat.

Turning her head back to the unconscious mutant she immediately recognised some malevolent intent coming from him she formed a smaller hand this time, about the same size as Artair's own, and pushed it firmly against his chest, guiding him a few feet away from the downed person. She didn't do it too hard, as he looked like he was about to collapse. "No." Her voice echoed simply.

She then turned back to the man, and gathered some of the blood, pinning him to the ground with make shift restraints and hardening them so they would be tough to get out of quickly, before glancing back at Artair. "Turn around please." She asked simply.

A hand pushing him back shocked him out of his thoughts. Looking down he should have been shocked by the hand made of blood but considering he day so far, it was the least crazy thing he'd seen. He was too beaten and tired to resist, letting Serena gently move him back. The cracks in his mental blocks final gave, his pain and emotions flooding back. What the hell had he been about to do? He'd nearly killed someone completely defenseless. Worse he hadn't felt anything wrong at the time. Shuddering he nearly missed Serenas statement, but a small part of his mind recognised the words and he turned away waving away the remnants of the shield.

Since when had he been willing to kill someone. Christ, what he'd considered was basically murder. The fact he'd even considered it, let alone tried to act upon the thought terrified Artair. He'd violated every oath he'd sworn when he started his degree. The words Do No Harm had been engraved in his soul and when he'd been tested, he'd failed. He felt sick, sick at what he was, what he'd done. Whatever its motives had been, Artair had nearly made a conscious, rational choice to kill. He didn't know anymore what was worse.

Now however, wasn't the time for self pity, he thought. Slowly checking his ribs he was relieved that he'd not caused serious harm. He would probably need an x-ray but he'd live. The unconscious mutant however might bleed out, he'd taken enough wounds to cause serious damaged. "This take much longer Serena? If you want him to live to his trail, I'll probably need to see to him." Maybe keeping this, person, alive would go some way towards redemption. "You also might want to give the plods a bell, my mobiles knackered."