Drew gave a dismissive shrug.

"They're thugs and they think like it. If they had thought of sunglasses then they be too smart to be considered thugs." he added a smirk, "Though I'm glad they picked someone that could fight too. Makes fights much easier than they usually are."

Taking a seat, Drew stretched out his legs and relaxed.

"Ah, sorry about that. Didn't expect you get targeted. He got a few good licks in before I managed to get him squared away. Still, he and his buddy might think again before trying that again."

Drew grinned for a moment.

"Nice to meet you Aedus. Name's Jules."

He wasn't about to give out his first name. Jules was an acceptable version of his middle name and very few people knew that name.

Aedus shook his head. ‘I’m pretty sure it’d look a lot worse than that if you hadn’t stepped in. but yeah, I didn’t see it coming either.”He stopped rubbing at the small lump on his head, it wouldn’t help any how and he didn’t need to draw more attention to it anyhow.

“Nice to meet you Jules. I got to say that was kind of fun. Probably not for them, but you catch my drift.”

Aedus leaned his head back against the glass. ”I got thrown out of a club it was a good place to release some frustration. Some meathead treating this girl Lydia like crap and decided he needed to prove himself against me…let’s just say Rusty and light bulb would’ve had the tactical edge on the guy. What are you up to tonight?” He made it plain that his plans were gone for the night, and that he was up for something if Jules wanted company, he also made it easy to get out of if he didn’t.

Hmm, Drew decided to keep silent about his reasons for interfering. He didn't want to get into another scrape so soon. Maybe in a few minutes. When Aedus commented on the fight being fun Drew nodded.

"Definitely. Sometimes you just need to beat someone up."

However his good mood vanished as Aedus related the events of his evening.

"Lydia? Brown hair, blue eyes? About five and a half feet?"

If it was the same Lydia then Drew was not a happy person. Even if the guy was an idiot that didn't make Drew any happier. He completely ignored Aedus' question about what he meant to do. It wasn't important in light of someone hurting one of his friends. Any good mood apparent on his face had vanished in light of that.

“Yeah, I suppose you know her? The guy was a complete jerk, controlling, with a capital C. I beat the hell out of him, and she still left with him.” Aedus waited to see what the man had to say, He looked pissed.

He wasn’t quite sure if he was angry at the fact that he hurt the guy that Lydia was with; if he was mad about Lydia being out with someone else. Or what. Aedus straitened a little just in case he decided he was someone that needed to be beaten up. He knew Jules could fight; they would end up beating each other bloody if it came to it. if in fact he was pissed that Lydia was associating with a chump however, he could relate.

Aedus confirmed that it was indeed the Lydia he was thinking of. He'd almost hoped it was a different Lydia. His face twisted up into a ferocious expression.

"I know her...and if I ever meet the guy he won't be walking away."

In fact broken legs would be the least of the guy's worries.

"You said she left with him anyway? I thought she was smarter than that."

Lydia would be getting a few choice words too. That she would date someone like that spoke very poorly of the girl he'd come to know. Drew was glad to see Aedus seemed just as disgusted by it and protective as Drew felt.

"Well I'm not going home just yet. I'd end up scaring someone."

Aedus nodded. "Yeah, if it hadn't been for the bouncers, I would've done more, then again...I think what did in the time I had with him was enough to make her want to make sure he got home ok."

Aedus shrugged his shoulders. "We could always go make the night worse for someone else who deserves it." He really did enjoy hurting those criminals, he wasn't sure that it did all that much, probably only convinced them not to pick on men. Then again that could end worse for both of them. he'd feel bad if Jules got shot or something before the nights end. "Or we could go get some drinks."

Aedus stood up as the subway car neared the next stop.

His sigh at the extra information about Lydia and her apparently horrible boyfriend could not be fully contained. Nor could the anger that he felt at that particular situation. Channeling it against some human or another would feel good. Besides, Drew didn't know Aedus well enough to trust him in a drinking situation.

"I'd rather hit someone than get drunk."

Alcohol shared with strangers led to very bad things. A shudder ran down Drew's spine as the memory wedged itself into his conscious mind for a moment along with all the confusing emotions that came with it. With the car slowing down Drew stood and adjusted his coat once again. Aedus did not need to see the bullet proof vest underneath it. The item in question was a newer addition to his evening outfit. He'd realized quickly enough that being what he was but without the added offensive or defensive capabilities of most mutants left him in need of something else. Something that could even the playing ground with the common human rabble. Now at least he had less to worry about should someone shoot at him.

"I'm sure there's still someone out whose night can get a little worse."

“My thoughts exactly.” Aedus normally had no problem with the drink but drinking when you were already in the mode for a fight was like evening the odds for whoever you were going up against. Not that a bar room brawl wasn’t a good night, but if you were looking to take out frustrations it just didn’t add up to get rid of some balance and decision making capabilities.

Besides they were in his neighborhood now. It wouldn't be a bad idea at all to clean up some of the trash around here. there was always someone trying to mug, or sell drugs around.

“Absolutely.” Hopefully they were of the same mind that they were going for those trying to cause trouble and not just the next random pair of guys they saw. Aedus rolled his shoulders and grinned. Ah, purposefully looking for trouble, it had been awhile.

Aedus shared his sentiments it seemed, though probably not for the same reason. It worked out well for Drew as the train slowed to a halt so he said nothing about the why.

"Then lets go find us some troublemakers huh?"

With a couple of idiot thugs and now this news about Lydia, Drew definitely needed the fight to unwind. Whether they would run into his sort of targets or not was the question. Cops could handle the human on human crimes. Those didn't matter to Drew. He was only out here fighting to protect mutants. Sure they had powers but that never seemed to stop humans from exploiting them or hating and hurting them. Frankly Drew had gotten sick and tired of it. There were other reasons. Ones he didn't want to admit. Painful twisted reasons that sounded like screams. They went unvoiced even in the confines of Drew's mind. He would not give them form or thought.

Drew stepped out into the subway station with a look of grim determination on his hood hidden features. The humans tonight had better beware. He was bound to be a bit more vicious tonight.

Aedus only grinned in response. With the advantage of knowing you were looking for a fight well in hand, it was after that a matter of knowing what you were going to do, it was the same as chess you could plan moves ahead of time, if you already thought of how to open and work through the rest of a fight, then the need to wonder what exactly was going on during the fight was greatly lessened. That was of course until they threw you a curve and did something unexpected.

As for Aedus’s view on humans or mutants and crime, it was all a matter of who the aggressor in the crime was. He was part of one of the largest known family’s of mutants in the world. His genes were the first in six generations to not have kick started on their own. That wasn’t to say he came from a family of super powers, no they were a family of mildly powered mutants, the things they could do were typically useful, when applied logically, dangerous no, but if you were clever. Than just about any mutation can be made to turn a profit. When strictly managed by other members of the family, a large amount of underpowered mutants could turn into a force that defies physics one step at a time.

So while Aedus was certainly inclined toward a sympathetic ear towards mutants. He wouldn’t stand for them picking on humans without reason either.

Leading the way up into the streets Drew paid little attention to his compatriot until they were street level. Once there he took a quick glance around the area they'd emerged in.

"Well, all's quiet here. Gotta preference on direction?"

It was pretty quiet around them but New York generally had plenty to offer in the way of criminal scum. The two of them could find a few fights easily enough. Hopefully by the time they were finished Drew would be calmed down enough not to have to worry too much when he returned to the mansion. As it was he'd be explaining away bruises for the next several days. DocProf was a useful guy but Drew didn't want to visit him. He meant well and that was the problem for Drew at the moment.

“Left.” Aedus answered on a whim. Their crime fighting seemed to come on a whim and so would the direction of justice as well.

Aedus put his hands in his slack pockets; He looked down alleyways as they went, waiting to find their first bust. Come forth scum, your end approaches. He couldn’t seem to get the cheesy hero lines to stop running through his head. He might have to rattle one or two of for the hell of it. Could he resist throwing a ‘stop evil doer’ out there? He highly doubted it.

Jules seemed to have gotten into a darker mood after he heard about Lydia he wondered if she were an ex or something. “ So, how do you know Lydia?”

Left it was. Drew rambled onward, keeping his eyes peeled for trouble. Aedus' question caught him partially by surprise and Drew resisted a sigh as his hand rubbed the back of his neck

"Well we got into a few scrapes together. I guess you could say we are friends. Could've been more, maybe, once upon a time. Haven't seen her in a while. Your's is the first news I've had of her since I saw her last."

Drew spotted a few figures on the other side of the road a little ways away and kept his eyes on them as he spoke.

"Maybe it's silly but I thought I could protect her. Not that I was much good at it back then."

No, back then he'd been utterly useless. Drew wasn't sure whether his current state was even an improvement at all, given his record. Pretty much anyone he'd ever tried to help or protect had ended up relying on someone else.

“Well I’m glad she can handle herself then. Doesn’t seem like she is the go toward safety type. She might have I can fix him syndrome? If I see her again, I’ll let her know you said hi. She’s got my number and my shirt. That ass left her outside without a coat.” He paused momentarily. “ if you wanted me to pass on an email or a number or something, I could I am right there with ya. But I guess you can only protect someone to the point they will let you.”

Aedus caught the direction of Jules line of sight and studied the group for a moment…didn’t seem too suspicious to him, but they were a ways off. He kept pace with the man next to him.

Did it make them the good guys because they were looking to find trouble in bad guys? I mean they were looking for a fight, his Da used to say, you’ll always find a fight when you go looking for one. Oddly enough it never discouraged Aedus, the lesson was to not look for trouble, but Aedus only saw that persistence would get you what you wanted.

Drew gave a chuckle.

"Oh when I met her she was fine with staying where it was safe. She only went into danger because I did. I fancied myself some kind of hero or protector back then. Still do a bit, just not as naive about it."

He thought about Aedus' offer to give Lydia his greetings while they approached the group slowly.

"Yeah, next time you see her just tell her that Drew said Hi. Anything else can wait until I see her again. If things go like they have in the past we'll bump into each other sooner or later. Probably when something dangerous is happening."

That thought was finished with a low chuckle. He and Lydia never seemed to escape any kind of meeting unscathed. They'd met under sniper fire and bonded with Spikes and a concert gone wrong. What would it be next time? A bomb? A radioactive mutant? The Blob?