Deirdra had been running into a lot of trouble lately, or more so, she had been causing a lot of trouble lately. The young, blond woman had a tendency to get bored and that made her get into…situations. Today’s situation consisted of a group of four men harassing some girl with wings. Ahh, more reasons to hate humans. With a slight smirk, the woman crossed the street. She had the intent of teaching them a lesson, or at least scaring them so bad they wet themselves. Either thing would give her a sense of satisfaction.

After she placed herself near the group, the blond’s legs morphed into scorpion legs, a scorpion tail, and scorpion body. The woman grinned. The girl with wings looked up at Deirdra with a surprised expression. “You should go. Your wings are quite beautiful, by the way.” Turning towards the men, she took in the looks of horror upon their faces. “What? Haven’t you seen a mutant before? Or maybe you just haven’t seen the kind that isn’t scared of you idiots.” With that, the woman’s tail came down and around, knocking two of the men over.

Deirdra noticed on of the men running away, so she stung his leg. “Stay there until I’m done with you. You think picking on a helpless girl is fun, right? Pick on me. I promise you that it’ll be much more entertaining.” Whipping her tail around, she knocked the fourth man down. She wasn’t sure what she intended on doing with them in the end. Part of her wanted to kill them, just because her anger was mounting. On the other hand, she could just play with them for a while. She wasn't positive that she wanted to be a murderer.

“Calling all units, calling all units there is a 10-34 in progess involving a mutant on the following address.”

The radio in Jorge’s car sprang to life as he sat quietly behind the wheel, formerly enjoying a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles. He listened intently to the description of what seemed to be the assault of a half/woman, half/scorpion attacking some civilians. The idea made Jorge shudder a bit as he tossed the rest of his doughnut aside and grabbed his radio.

“10-4 dispatch, MRC responding,” Jorge said as he replaced his radio and turned the ignition on his car. The engine roared to life as Jorge pulled out from the side of the street and made a beeline for the address announced over the radio.

The city flew by and Jorge gunned his engines and activated his sirens. He watched as traffic opened the way for him as well as the other police cars he heard wail far behind him. He wasn’t long with the department but things were far from boring. Already he had captured a perp who had used his daughter’s powers to commit several robberies and now a scorpion woman was on the loose. The adrenaline in Jorge’s veins pumped swift through his body, which made him extra focused as he tore the streets, tightened his muscles and put him on the ready for whatever it was he was going up against. But that couldn’t prepare him for what he would see.

After he made a sharp turn into another street, Jorge gasped as he saw exactly was dispatch had described: a blond woman with an upper body that was human, and a lower half that was all a black carapace armored scorpion. Around her lay the bodies of several beaten men, obviously the victims of her attack. Jorge returned to his senses after a moment and screeched his car to a stop as close as he could get.

After he shoved his door open, Jorge leapt out, took a stance twenty feet from the woman, pulled his glock free from its holster and took aim directly at her chest. “NYPD! Freeze!”

As he watched her, Jorge could only chastise himself in his head as he listened to the rest of the sirens approach, but still too far away,What now genius?

When Meld first spotted the group of humans harrassing the winged mutant, her first inclination was to jump down from her rooftop perch and confront them. However, for once she wasn't fast enough and another woman, with the lower half of a scorpion, had the good fortune of getting there first. She recognized the woman from the halls of Sanctuary and decided that the best thing to do, for the time being, was to simply sit and watch. She crouched on her rooftop, poised to pounce just in case things went badly for the mutant woman but it seemed the woman knew how to hold her own in a fight and Meld smiled her silent approval of the woman. The mutant cause could use more people like her.

That was when Meld heard the tell tale siren noise that portended the arrival of the police. She cursed under her breath. Why did the cops insist upon butting in where they didn't belong? Those thugs deserved everything the scorpion woman was dishing out on them and, so far anyway, none of them had even been significantly injured. Had it been Meld down there at the very least her enemies would end up with permanent scars and at the most they would be sure to die a swift and painful death. Wantan killing, however, was the Meld of the past. The Meld of the present had recently discovered the merits of sending signs to her enemies and letting them live to spread the mutant word.

“NYPD! Freeze!”

Meld smirked to herself, the expression dark an sinister. Of course the cop would have to insinuate himself into a situation that didn't concern him. Which meant, of course, that he was inviting interference from others as well. Others that just so happened to include a rater angry cyborg mutant who was currently poised at the edge of a low building looking down on the scene below her. A cyborg mutant woman who hadn't gotten the opportunity to kill in far to long (due to her new moral stance against it) and who wanted very badly to kill now. Cops, especially cops that happened to interfere in mutant affairs, were still fair game when it came to bringing death. They were one of the few.

Meld jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground behind and a few feet away from the cop, her metal feet clanging against the concrete of the road. "I think you're the one who should freeze." Her tail eye blinked behind her, just in case someone should try and take her by surprise.

Oh come on. My day was going so well earlier. Jorge thought to himself as he started the second he caught sight of the second arrival.

After he took a full moment to take in what it was that arrived, Jorge still could not make heads or tails of it. Obviously it was a woman but a half-robot, terminator-like woman? If she were a mutant as well, she had powers that he could scarcely comprehend of. He was swift as he turned his gun onto the new perceived threat while he tried to keep the scorpion woman visible in the corner of his eye. The sounds the sirens off in the distance were getting closer but he still needed time. Two against one were never good odds and though he trusted in his skills, he doubted that a firm, officer-like voice was really going to work on these two.

Still, he had to try.

“NYPD! Stop where you are!” He remained unmoving as he turned his gun to each of the women if he caught them in the middle of an advance. “Ladies, I said freeze! That means all metallic and arachnid body parts stop moving!”

Jorge sighed to himself because he knew how stupid it must have sounded to them. After all, the pair of them looked significantly more powerful than he did. He needed back up and he needed it now, but as the sound of the distant sirens grew closer, it was achingly slow. At this rate by the time they arrived all they could find is the stung up, ripped apart body of another police officer.

I need to bide time… he thought to himself as he glanced around for something, anything that could keep them from getting too close. That was when he felt the tug in his gut, that feeling that something he needed was close and within twenty feet of his location. His gun still trained on them, Jorge focused and pulled with his mind.

Drip…Drip…Drip…

It was soft at first, that delicate beat that sounded like rainwater as it cascaded down the edges of someone’s roof, the slowly transformed into small stream of water that flowed across asphalt. The sound was hard to follow but as it gradually got louder, Jorge seemed just a little more relaxed as he kept his gun aimed, only now, around his feet, swirled a small puddle of water that resembled a coiled snake ready for the attack.

Gun high, eyes trained, Jorge repeated once more, “I said freeze.”

A police officer stepped onto the scene and Deirdra’s eyes narrowed. He told her to freeze. The woman put her hands up playfully and smirked. “You got me officer.” She glanced down at the four men that she had taken down quite easily. “They’re fine and if they’re paralyzed, it’ll only be for about 10 minutes.” The blond’s eyes rolled slightly. “That, of course, is only if I sting them once. If you don’t back off a little, I may make it worse for them.” She smiled and then folded her hands behind her head, acting as if she had submitted.

She was deciding what to do next when a familiar cyborg-mutant jumped from the roof and landed next to her. Deirdra gasped, startled, and then smiled. “Meld! Great to see you again. I noticed you around the Sanctuary, but I thought you weren’t in the Order anymore.” Shrugging, the woman turned to look at the cop again. “Seems like this could get pretty interesting. And by the way, arachnid body parts? Are cops always supposed to sound so formal? Because, the way you put that really sounded odd.” A hand went to her hip casually and she smiled.

The police man seemed pretty serious, which was a bummer. Deirdra hated it when people took her intentions the wrong way. Then all of a sudden, the woman noticed water moving around the man’s feet. “Wait, you’re a mutant?! You traitor! Do you know what these men were doing?” Deirdra snarled and pointed at the men. “They were harassing a small mutant girl. No one was doing anything about that, were they? Besides, the four idiots are fine. I just roughed them up a little.” The blond could feel the hatred manifesting on her face.

One human cop thought that he could take out two seasoned and dangerous mutants? That was laughable, especially considering the only weapon the cop seemed to have was a handgun. Granted, Meld never liked going up against people with guns given the fact that she still had far too much in the way of potentially vulnerable flesh, but in this case she was willing to risk it. After all, she could see her enemy clearly and her reflexes, especially in her metal limbs, were fast enough that as long as she was given notice in the cues of her enemy, she would be able to either dodge or block an incoming bullet with the shield on her metal arm.

As for the scorpion woman, Meld didn't recognize her at all aside from having seen her around Sanctuary since her return. She was getting used to that, however, ever since her memory loss and she smiled back at her without missing a beat. "I recently came back to the Order. What can I say, home is home." Her memory was ever so slowly returning to her, the important parts at least gradually coming together, but it was an agonizing process that sometimes seemed endless. Maybe the fight with the cop alongside someone she could only assume was an old friend would help jog her memory. At least the headaches weren't as bad when trying to pry open a lost memory as they used to be.

Meld didn't immediately notice the water gathering near the cop until the scorpion woman mentioned something. Realizing the truth, that the cop was not some mere human cop but in fact a mutant, Meld growled. She was a defender of mutants everywhere, the mutant cause being her entire reason for existing and it made her angry to think of such mutants as that who fought against their own kind. It was worse in every possible way than a human hating a mutant because at least a human was of a different species.

"Those humans deserved what they got for harassing the mutant girl. I saw it happen. Leave now and prove yourself loyal to your people and we can forget this ever happened." Meld's voice was deadly cold as she said it. She didn't really expect him to leave, types like him could rarely be convinced to see reason, but she had to say the words anyway. She didn't fight her own kind, not unless they attacked her first. She poised herself for battle.

“Even so, that does not give either of you the right to take the law into your own hands,” Jorge said as the water continued to swirl expectedly around his feet.

The grizzly cop hated these shady situations. Yeah maybe a mutant girl was being harassed, maybe even attacked, but that does not give others the right to beat them in turn. It only breeds more and more hatred. Because of this scorpion woman’s attack, these men will more than likely return to their respective families’, those families will hate mutants more, spread news of the attack around and like a wildfire it will catch on. Then again, Jorge knew that the police force was human and it could be just as bigoted against mutants being harassed by humans as anyone else on the street. That was why he transferred here, not only to learn more about his kind but to do the most good where it was most needed.

“Listen I am not the enemy here! Nor am I traitor!” He yelled as he kept his gun trained. “I am upholding the law and I will continue to do so despite what you think of me.” He nodded towards the cyborg woman. “I don’t have an issue with you ma’am. I suggest you be the one who walks away right now. I don’t know who you are but I am not here to arrest you, but make no mistake, you make the first move and I will haul you in!” Then he turned towards the were-scorpion. “You ma’am have been identified with attacking civilians. Even if they have harassed someone first, you don’t get to pass judgment on them. If they are guilty I will make sure myself they’re put into a jail cell.”

He sighed as he listened to his own speech and could only shake his head. He knew that neither of these women cared one iota if he promised to uphold the law, he still and would forever be a traitor in their eyes. There were times where he hated his job and felt almost like a hypocrite. So many past instances he could remember where some domestic abuser would get off because the victim was too scared to press charges, or some drug dealer would get off of life in prison because of some technicality or evidence tampering. So many times he wanted to just give in and let the world go to hell…

But that’s not why I became a cop, He thought to himself. As he stared between the two of them, he could see out of the corner of his eyes, the flash of red and blue as they drew closer to the scene. His time was almost up.

“Now ladies, what is it going to be?” He said as the water continued to swirl. “We need to end this peacefully. Let’s not make any rash mistakes…”

Deirdra smirked when the police office began to lecture about taking the law into her own hands. “Am I supposed to wait around until one of ‘your guys’ finally shows up to do something about this cruel treatment? It was so much faster just to scare the living daylights out of them. Like I said, they’re all fine and therefore, I don’t think I should get into trouble.” An image of Roland shooting a whole troop of police men entered her mind. She shook her head. The blond didn’t want to kill anyone. At least, she never hurt anyone to that extent. It wasn’t something that appealed to her. She didn’t want someone’s life ending because of her.

She used to think she could kill someone, but now looking at the police man, she felt a bit queasy. The woman shifted her body so she could look at the mutant-hating humans. Could I kill them if I was ordered to? Could I kill anyone? Her hand slowly transformed into a fist. Was death something that would get easier with experience? If that was true, that meant she had to practice killing people. It was a gruesome though. Deirdra knew mutants were better than humans, but could she hate them just for being inadequate?

The police officer was still talking, but the blond was tuning him out. She knew she wanted to be in the Order and make sure mutants got what they deserved, which was the best. The thought of killing people who did horrible things to mutants didn’t bother her, but attacking the cop would be pointless. He may have seemed like a traitor, but he was trying to find an in-between. It was like he was trying to help close the gap between mutants and humans, but being a cop wouldn’t do that. She knew that. Humans would never stop hating mutants. They were jealous.

"If the police don't do a damn thing for mutants than who else is supposed to stand up for them?" Meld asked the officer, her eyes boring into his own. If the police actually cared enough to help mutants them maybe her own actions wouldn't be needed. But of course that wasn't the case nor would it ever be, not so long as the majority of the police force remained human.

Meld found it rather amusing that the officer, apparently, didn't have an issue with her. Apparently he didn't know who she was, leading her to believe that he must either be very very green or newly arrived at the city. Her face and rather unique mutations, if not her name, were well known among the police of New York City. In fact, she was probably one of the most wanted mutants in the city, along side her good friend Aura and one or two others from the Order. They even almost succeeded in arresting her once because they suspected her of being involved with a mutant terrorist organization and she had only managed to escape that little incident because she, Aura and Predator had taken a church full of humans hostage. She couldn't count the number of cops who had died by her blades.

"Turn around and walk away," Meld advised the cop. "I won't abandon a fellow mutant, especially not one of such integrity. If you you decide to make this an issue then I think you're a little outnumbered here, don't you?" She smirked at the cop. Oh, how she hoped he would stay and fight. She knew it wasn't what she should be hoping for and, if he did decide to leave peacefully she wasn't about to pursue him, but she craved the fight. There was no better way to blow off some pent up tension than to test her skills against another, especially another that happened to be a cop and, quite possibly, an enemy.

Meld glanced towards the scorpion woman, unable to read her expression. She remembered her first kill, it was one of the memories that had recently returned to her. It hadn't been planned, it was completely an act of self defense and she had felt horribly guilt ridden afterwords. However it became easier after that and now she could kill without batting an eye. Only those who deserved it, of course, or those who were trying to kill her. She had to maintain some sense of morality about it.

“Sorry lady,” Jorge replied as he glanced at the robot woman. “I’m not going anywhere. I do have a job to do. Despite what you might think, I’m one of the good guys.”

He turned back to the scorpion and watched her closely. He could see in her face but he could not tell what expression she wore. She looked almost resistant to take things further but he simply could not tell. All he could see was that she was mad, very mad. He didn’t want to arrest someone who had merely taught some close-minded fools a lesson, but he was an officer. He could not let that go unpunished. Slowly he began to lower his gun as he kept a wary eye on both of the women. As a sign of good faith, he slowly let the water stop swirling, and left it so that it looked like a small puddle he stood in.

He kept the cyborg at the corner of his eye, still with a steady grip on his gun, as he turned his attention back to the were-scorpion. The detective already did not like the way that things were going. These two looked ready for battle and if he was not careful, they would make short work of him.

“Listen, this does not have to get any worse than it has gotten,” he said. “I’m part of the Mutant Related Crimes division, I will listen to your side of the story. This does not have to go down a wrong path.”

Jorge was a good talker. He spoke only with conviction and honesty that could get through the toughest of people. But as he continued to lower his gun, a sudden whirl of the police sirens ripped through the air so loud he nearly jumped. A glance over his shoulder revealed a police cruiser that tore down the street and skidded to a halt not far behind his car. From this vehicle, two officers leapt out, one an older white gentlemen and the other a thinner Asian man. The pair of them wasted no time to charge forward and take aim with their guns.

“Freeze!” The older man screamed as he took aim at the cyborg.

The other man looked a little two freaked out as he glanced between both the were-scorpion and the cyborg. His arms out, they were shaky as he tried to keep his gun steady and aimed with courage towards the arachnid.

“Stand down!” Jorge screamed as he glared at the other two officers.

“Look at that freak!” the young man yelled as he held his gun straight at her. “What she do to those men? She gunna eat them?”

“Officers, I said STAND DOWN!” Jorge screamed again as he felt the tension get thicker in the air.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the older man said as he glared at the robot-woman. “She is a wanted criminal! A monster! She needs to be taken down!”

Jorge held his breath as he glanced between the two women and could feel the two officers behind him. He did not want it to go like this. He could already tell that these two policemen would rather shoot first and ask questions later, but he had to control the situation. He would not let more innocent blood be spilled. The detective had done his best to get through to the blonde and he felt like maybe, just maybe things would have gone peacefully but now with these two cops here, things could quickly go south. He had to prevent that.

“Officers,” Jorge said as calmly as he could, “Slowly, I want you both to back up to your squad car.”

“Detective…” whispered the younger officer.

“I can handle this,” he replied harshly. “You’re going to make things worse!”

In the stillness of the street, Cervantes caught his breath as he glanced at the scene before them. In unconscious men had yet to move so they must have been in bad shape. The two women were poised and ready for battle and the officers behind him were too freaked out by the sight of the two mutants to remain calm. Jorge ground his teeth, his focus supersensitive as he heard each of their intakes of breath, or was that just his? A bead of sweat dotted his forehead but he did not risk reaching up to wipe it away. The smallest movement, before anyone could calm, could be disastrous.

Bu-bump…

Bu-bump…

Bu-bump…

His heartbeat echoed loudly in his ears as if it were the only sound in existence. Then, before he could react…

MEEROOOOOOOOW! A cat screeched somewhere far too close.

“CRAP!” A young officer screamed

CLICK! A trigger was pulled.

“NOOOOOO!” A mutant detective screamed as he lunged and shoved an officer out of the way, which through his shot off course.

KA-BLAM!

Cervantes breathed heavily as he pushed the young officer back and looked back towards the two women. The gun which the man had just fired hit an old, cracked brick wall only feet away from the were-scorpion, leaving her unharmed. Unfortunately it was at that point that any hope that Jorge had had to end this stand-off peacefully was thrown out the window.

Deirdra looked over at Meld with a sense of admiration for the woman. She would obviously do whatever she felt was necessary to help other mutants. The blond felt lowly all of a sudden. Would she leave another mutant if it meant not getting in trouble? She didn’t think so, but would it be too hard for her to kill a human, even if it meant saving someone else? The woman was pondering these things when two more cops showed up on the scene. The scorpion snarled at the sight of them. If she had to kill any of them, she would. Her mind was made up.

The mutant-cop was telling them to stand down, but they weren’t. Instead, one of them asked if Deirdra was going to eat those men. She glanced down at the incapacitated humans and rolled her eyes. “As if.” A hand flew up to her hip and she sighed. “Humans are so stupid. I wouldn’t waste my time ingesting something that could only make me dumber.” Scorpions were known for eating almost anything, but the woman had never been in the form long enough to consume a meal. That was okay with her though, seeing as eating other living creatures could only be seen as a turn-off to men.

After talking about Deirdra, the other officer began to talk about Meld. The blond had heard about some of the cyborg’s escapades from her herself when they had been out drinking. Also, living in the same place as the woman made stories even easier to hear. The other woman was quite fearsome and Deirdra would never dream of getting on her bad side. She killed people without showing any remorse, so she had heard. The scorpion-woman glanced over at Meld, to see her reaction. Was this going to get worse fast?

That question was answered when a cat’s meow entered the scene. One of the cops pointed his gun at Deirdra and fired. The blond’s eyes narrows and her mouth flew open in surprise. The mutant officer tackled him and made the bullet miss her. She staggered backward slightly when the bullet hit close to her and went into a wall. After the shock was over, Deirdra’s eyes flew towards the cops. “You..YOU SHOT AT ME!” Scuttling towards the group of cops, she knocked the mutant cop out of the way. She quickly looked over her shoulder at him. “Stay out of it or I’ll hurt you too. You saved me and so I’ll let you go.”

Meld had almost begun to think that things might, somehow, end peacefully. Despite his insistance regarding carrying out the law, the mutant cop had seemed more reasonable than most police and she that that maybe, just maybe, they might get out of the situation without bloodshed. Despite the fact that part of her wanted that bloodshed, wanted to be the one to shed it, the more logical part of her knew that it would be better for all of them for things to end peacefully. Unfortunately, any possibility of peace ended the moment the other two officers arrived on the scene.

It was bad enough that the two new officers had arrived at all and that, despite yelling from the mutant cop for them to stand down they refused, but it was even worse that they had recognized Meld for who she was. A part of her, the part that she still hadn't completely gotten under control which craved violence and blood, thrilled at the impending battle. Another part of her, however, knew that this was not how she should desire things to go. A silent battle raged within her, one side craving the death of her enemies by her hand and the other side, the logical side, desiring for things to end quietly with the cops merely allowing herself and the scorpion woman to escape. Not a hint of her internal turmoil showed on her expression.

As if things could possibly get any worse than they all ready were, the meow of a cat caused one of the jumpy officers to shoot, almost hitting the scorpion mutant. In fact, he would have hit the scorpion mutant if not for the fast reflexes of the mutant cop causing his aim to go awry. Meld growled low in her throat. So, they had decided how this was going to end all on their own. If it should come to death, and that seemed very likely now, the deaths would be on their conscience not hers.

"You have dug your own graves," Meld stated, her voice utterly deadpan. She glanced towards the mutant cop before returning her attention to the two humans. "If you desire to live, leave now. Otherwise share their fate." Because their fate was, by the act of shooting at a mutant who had done them no harm at all, sealed.

”So, Jorge how was your day?”

”Oh it was fine. Had club salad for lunch, doughnut for dinner, then a scorpion woman hurled me across an empty street like I was a ragdoll.”

“That why your butt is scraped and red?”

”Bigger question is, why are you looking at my butt?”

Slowly the tossed officer returned to reality as after he was tossed aside so cheaply. Jorge shook the inner monologue out of his head as he sat up from the rough, hard concrete that he was sprawled out across. Why can’t concrete be softer?he thought as he moved onto his hands and knees. He felt the warm soreness as it radiated out from across his entire back and immediately he groaned like an elderly man as he stood up right and looked back across at the two women as they advanced on his back up officers. The two men were morons, especially the young one, for being so jumpy he fired his gun at the sound of a cat in heat, but they did not deserve to be maimed limb from limb. Though he really did not want this to escalate, there was no way to stop that now.

With a clenched jaw, he tightened his hand into a fist as he leaned down and picked up his fallen gun. He focused on the water he sensed all around him and summoned some from the storm drains, leaky pipes and puddles around them. His gun raised up towards them he suddenly brought his free hand forward and the water that flowed towards him, shot forward and created a thin wall of rushing water that separated the two women from the officers.

The second he got their attention, he sighed heavily as he lowered his gun on them.

“As much as I love my life,” he muttered, “I won’t stand by as two officers get murdered.”

Jorge then readied himself as he knew a battle was going to unfold here. He sighed as he kept the wall of water up between the officers and the women, but still kept a small bit that swirled around his feet. Gun aimed and muscles tensed, Jorge waited for them to make a move.

Meld was on Deirdra’s side, which the blond guessed she would be. The cop, however, seemed pretty satisfied with dying. The scorpion woman scuttled as close as she could get to him. Her eyes got sad and she pointed away. “Please, go. My friend here is known for killing. I’ve never killed before and I’d prefer not to start with someone who helped save me. You don’t have to stand by, you can run and leave this.” Part of Deirdra really hoped that he would just leave. Killing someone who tried to hurt her, and killing someone who tried to save her were totally different things.

Looking back, she glanced at the cyborg woman. “Meld…What do we do?” The blond blinked and then looked at the other two cops. Should we really escalate this into a killing spree?

Why did some people insist upon being heroes? That was the thing that Meld didn't understand. Here she and the scorpion mutant had agreed to let the water officer go but he refused the offer. Instead he was determined to stand stubbornly by his little officer buddies and probably get himself killed in the process. It was a waste of a good mutant life, even if that mutant was a misguided officer working against the better interests of his own kind.

"Then prepare to face the same fate as your officers," Meld informed the mutant coldly. Their lives meant nothing to her. Their actions had told her all she needed to know about their characters. They were not worthy of continued life.

Even knowing that the cops were less than worthy of living, however, Meld was not prepared to make the first move. She had made progress on her addicition to killing and wasn't about to negate that progress by acting rashly. She waited, tense and ready, for one of them to make the first move. The moment another shot was fired or the moment any one of the three approached herself or her ally, that was the moment she would strike and strike to kill at that.