Alex sat in the basement of his shop, relaxing in his brand new recliner with a glass of pomegranate lemonade in his hand. It had been a long day in his pottery shop, and he was glad it was over. Ranging from a child thinking it would be fun to toss a pot in the air to watch it shatter when it hit the ground, to a man that wanted a vase at half price because he claimed to be a relative of Alex, to some people wanting his autograph on the sculpture that they were buying because of what he did for a charity event a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it's always nice to kick back and relax after a hard day's work... though living in the basement of where you worked wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was cheaper then renting an apartment.

After taking a sip of his drink, Alex turned on his television set and turned to the evening news to see a female reporter in her mid-thirties with bleach blond hair and freckles, talking about the charity event that Alex had helped out with. "This is Sasha Rogers, reporting from the American Cancer Society, where a auction has been held to raise money and awareness of cancer within young children. The auction went over smoothly, raising 3.7 million dollars and every single penny is going to help cancer patients." Sasha stated before the camera shifted positions and zoomed in on several of the objects that had been up for auction. "Some of the objects that went on auction ranged from leather bound novels that were autographed, antique automobiles, one of a kind baseball cards, and even a few civil war era rifles. However the prize piece that was up for auction was this; a life size, hand made, clay statue of the goddess Aphrodite." The camera panned over to the statue that had been the hit of the auction. "The statue is a modest recreation of the Greek goddess of love, riding a conch shell chariot being pulled by several swans across the waves of the ocean. The man that created this fine piece of art was Alexander Davis, a young potter who owns a pottery shop on the corner of Avenue of America and West 58th Street. This statue sold at the auction for just over a million dollars to a collector that lives in Germany. Clearly, this young man is a master of the art and we should expect to see some more of his pieces around the world in time. Rumor has it that he wanted to give the statue to the Society for free, but they wouldn't hear if it." Sasha concluded before continuing on with the auction.

As Alex had listened to the news report on the auction, he couldn't help but cock his head to the side, surprised at what the news had said about what the statue sold for. "Over a million? Oh please, now I know that the news is inflating on the details. That statue wasn't even worth ten thousand. It's just a hunk of perfectly shaped clay and a perfectly coating of glaze. No big deal... though it would be if they knew that a mutant had used his mutation to sculpt it, the price wouldn't be any more then 500. Sheesh... what people would waste money on these days." Alex stated before taking another gulp of his drink, the realized he forgot to turn off his neon 'open' sign that was in the front window of his shop.

With a grumble, Alex got up and headed upstairs, walked into the front of his shop, grabbed the small chain that hung from the back of the sign, and gave it a tug. The blue and red glow from Alex's sign had vanished, so the only light coming into the front part of the shop was the remaining light from the sunset. With that, Alex started to head back into the part that he called home when he noticed a group of people down the street wearing light jackets with hoods that hid their faces, similar to that of the gang that had rattled Alex for a protection fund three days ago... and all they got from Alex was a door in their face. As Alex stared at the group, he saw that they were watching the news on a television set that was in the window of an electronics store down the street. Alex narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering if they were going to try to shake him down again. If they did try, they might end up learning the hard way that Alex didn't need protection.

When the group started to walk away from Alex's location, Alex shrugged, grabbed a spray bottle and rag, and started to clean off his windows for the last time before going back down stairs.

Koga kept a close eye on the news and did his best to make an effort to make the city a safer place, the introduction of M had made his world so much more perilous, So when he noted an average citizen taking charge and showing some back bone for his community he took note. The police and even the mrc couldn’t afford to spare a man these days, so he took it on himself to watch over the potential witness, when he could, he obviously couldn’t watch him twenty four seven, but he would do what he could…like tap into a local internat connection install a camera and observe his place of business and home.

The past few nights he had noted higher traffic of a certain group that couldn’t be good for the mans health, the recent nights he had been spared by the presence of police responding to a domestic disturbance two buildings over…but tonight was looking good for the wife and kids as the husband had actually come home sober. That however meant that the potter was in for a rough night.

He couldn’t help but wanting to get to know the man he had been looking out for a little better, he was curious to learn more about the why and how he got involved. He had to warn him about the potential danger anyway, so he might as well sate his curiosity as well. He cleaned the lense on his camera once more and walked down the building and across the street, the thugs hadn’t noticed and neither had Alex.
A rap on the shop door would solve at least one of the parties’ attentions at least. He smiled slightly and remembered to change his skin tone from that of the building across the street to that of his born color. He awaited for the answer on the shopkeep.

Koga called tentatively “Alex? We have to talk, you are in danger.”

What was unseen to Alex about the group of hooded figures was who was leading the group. Grim had been given this little task force to use against a local businessman who was refusing to pay for the Order's protection. This man was soon going to learn that either you were with the Order or you were against it. There was no middle ground with them.

Invisible to the human eye, Grim made sure to sure to stay hidden in the shadows and only whisper commands to the small group of mutants he was commanding. Most of them were adolescents; none had seen any real combat yet. And none of them had even come closer to killing someone. Mostly, they were just kids, cast out by their parents or run-a-ways looking for a new home. Well, the Sanctuary could be their new home. They only had to offer support in return.

"Scatter...slowly!" Shade whispered harshly as he witnessed a figure approaching the glass of the store window. The group slowly faded back from the store. The shadow mutant jumped in front of the retreating teens. His voice rose from nowhere as he spoke. One of the teens jumped at the sudden, disfigured voice.

"Look, stay here until I give you a sign." Grim said.

"What kind of signal?" The jumpy teenager asked.

"You will know when you hear it." Grim said, obviously annoyed. Jumping back into the dark alley, the shadow mutant sneaked closer to the mutant at the window. He made sure to stay carefully concealed in the shadows. Hiding behind an empty dumpster, Grim listened to see if he could discover who the new mutant was.

Alex had put down the bottle and rag, and was just about to the bottom of the stairs that led to his basement that he called home when he heard a low rap on the windows for his shop, and groaned. Here he was about to sit back down and enjoy a nice cold glass of pomegranate lemonade, more then ready to go to bed... and someone was pounding on the windows of his shop hard enough to break them! "Ugh... this had better be important. If those gangsters are trying to get me to give them protection money again, I'll show them why I don't need protection!" Alex stated, clearly fuming and hot under the collar. He was tired, thirsty, and grumpy. Before he went up stairs though, he walked over to his glass of juice and picked it up, intending to take a big gulp before going back upstairs.

That was when he heard a voice say that he was in danger, and the malachite manipulator froze with the glass barely kissing his drying lips. Images of the man that had killed his father passed through Alex's mind, and he started to wonder if that guy had found him already. It was just too soon for that guy to find Alex already. Just before Alex's father, John, took a killing blow that had been meant for Alex, John had badly wounded that man... bad enough that he might have died from his wound, not to mention that the guy was an old geezer... a powerful old mutant geezer, but old enough to be considered a fossil none the less, and he was working alone now.

Alex shook his head and pushed the sudden feeling of fear he was having to be back of his mind before taking a big gulp of his drink. No, there was no way that his father's murder was here. I must be coming down with something. I'm never this jumpy... Alex thought as he put down the glass and heading upstairs and entered his shop, keeping his left hand in his pocket. Standing there in front of the shop was a Japanese male that was in his upper teens, looking into the window with what Alex thought was a concerned look on his face, and seeing that made Alex puzzled. Was this guy telling the truth about him being in danger? The malachite manipulator was pretty sure he could handle anything that was thrown at him, since most people fled when they saw what his powers could do... both mutant and human alike. Most likely this boy wasn't aware of this.

On the other hand, there were those elsewhere that could tear him to pieces and not even grunt. Maybe he could at least listen to this guy. Then again it could be a trick just to get Alex exposed so someone could attack him, or it could be just another ploy from those darn gangsters to get protection money from him. throwing caution to the wind, Alex walked up to his front door, unlocked it, and opened it a crack. "Do you have any idea how odd it is to have someone come knocking on your door and saying your in danger? This better be the real deal pal, or I'm going back to bed."

Koga grinned. “Jusst think about how weird it iss to be the guy that hass to sshow up and ssay it.” the grin vanished and he continued glancing over his shoulder as he realized he wasn’t being granted access, the guy was smarter than he though. Not that he thought he was dumb, but he was getting mixed into some scary stuff.

“Look, you helped get ssomeone arressted recently, He is connected with ssome bad people, not jusst bad, but really bad, and from what I can tell, they are making their move tonight. The officer in charge of your casse said you refussed protection until the trial, sso he couldn’t asssign an officer to you. Sso he assked me to keep an eye on you insstead.” That small grin came back for a moment again and then vanished. ”Do you have ssomewhere ssafe you can hold up for a while?” Koga looked in the reflection of a store across the street to disguise the fact that he was checking on the group. They were spreading out, something they had yet to do this week, while doing recon. They had been staying in a tight little pack all week long. either way he needed to talk to the guy, someone was coming for him,wheter it be tonight or tomorrow night he needed to get himself to a safe house, at least if he wanted to make it until the trial was done.

Alex grinned in response to the man's reply to what Alex had stated the moment he had opened the door of his shop, but the malachite manipulator's grin vanished just as quickly as his 'guest's' grin when the man realized that Alex wasn't gonna let him in. Was this guy being watched or was he just one of those really nervous people? Still though, this guy didn't look like he was going to be leaving any time soon.

Once the guy mentioned the drug dealer that Alex had gotten arrested and that the officer in charge of the investigation asked this guy to watch out for him, Alex's neutral expression shifted to one of annoyance. "I told that bonehead that I didn't want any protection what so ever, not even an undercover one." Alex grumbled as he shook his head. When he had originally met that police officer, the guy was wondering why Alex didn't want protection, and Alex simply stated that he didn't want someone following constantly because such a thing made it hard for him to considerate on work. In reality it was that he didn't want anyone to see that he was a mutant and attempt to use that to shift the court ruling in favor of the drug dealer. Such a thing has happened before and dealers and suppliers have walked away scot-free.

At the question of if Alex had anywhere safe he could hold up for a while, the malachite manipulator shook his head. "Been asked that question before, the answer is the same as before: no. All I have is my pottery shop and my home in the basement of this place. I don't have place else to do besides a motel room." Alex replied. He was thinking of the X-mansion, but he had only been there once and had met only two people there... and the conversations with both of them had ended on a sour note. Besides, Alex had been under the impression that the police picked the safe house, not the person being protected.

He cleared his throat before continuing. "Besides, I can handle myself in a brawl, thank you. I've taken on seven battle hardened mercenaries all at once with only my wits and my surroundings, and I survived it. Had a couple dozen battle scars afterwards, but survived it none the less. I don't need protection." Alex stated again as he crossed his arms over his chest in a huff. However after he did that, he shook his head and opened the door more so the man could come into the shop. "But it wouldn't hurt to know what I'm gonna be up against. Come in, and what's your name?" Alex stated, then let the front door shut once Koga had entered the shop.

Grim tried to listen as best he could from his hiding place. However, the men were not talking nearly as loud as the shadow mutant would have liked. He was only able to catch little bits of dialogue from the conversation. From what he managed to pick up, Grim was able to piece together that the stranger was warning the owner about the coming danger.

But how could he know? The shadow mutant thought to himself. He hadn't be spotted, had he? Of course, he hadn't. He had been too careful, covered his tracks too well. There was no way the mutant had learned of the danger because of Grim's fault. Therefore, there must be a leak somewhere. The thought made Grim's lips curl. He hated informants.

However, there wasn't much he could do now. Grim would complete the job, regardless of the opposition. It was a good thing he had the other three prospective Orderlings to provide a distraction for Grim to do the reason work.

Koga nodded. To the fact that the officer in question was a bonehead, it was part of the reason he picked him as a contact, he wasn’t all that smart, he needed the help and would have more reason to let Koga help him, and eventually would help him in turn when he needed something.

“I know a place you can go, Itss where I live and I can’t think of a ssafer place in the world.” Sure it was dangerous too, but whoever was looking for this guy would have hell attacking the Mansion.

Koga’s hand went to the back of his head; he was slightly embarrassed for the man. “ Look I am ssure you can handle yoursself, what you are doing iss brave, but I doubt they only want to hurt you. Do you know how you get a witnesss to sshow to a hearing? You kill them, and the guy you are looking at putting away has connectionss that go all the way down to the baddesst of the bad.”

He stepped in to the man’s shop and turned around to peer about the street, None of the thugs were too close. His eyes rolling right over the shadow in the alleyway, never suspecting a mutant hiding there, he knew about the gang members because he had seen them scoping the place out for the last week, maybe they were getting Intel or just the go ahead from a boos. He wasn’t sure, but tonight was different.

“My name iss Ryuichi Koga, Mosst people just call me Koga. You are looking at putting away a major player in dealing M. ssignss point to the order being the main ssupplier ,it hassn’t been confirmed, but they have linked one of the big Red guys ass being involved.”

Those behemoths were always in the news smashing something. Reports of them fighting against another crime syndicate were getting them some positive press, but it made Koga all the more certain that they were simply trying to eliminate the competition.

“And they are certainly involved with the order. Sso, what you are potentially looking at being up againsst, is a whole lot of notoriouss killerss. The bone lady, Pink death, the big redss and all of their friendss. I’m not ssaying they will throw the worst of them at you firsst, but you know they have to have ssome ssubtle killerss in their employ as well."

“The immediate threat isn’t anyone I recognize, which meanss there likely issn’t a major player involved which iss good, it might be enough to convince your sstubborn assss, you are in danger, and leave you alive long enough to realize you could usse the help. If you really want to help put thiss guy away. Small group of thugs that has been walking by your place around the time you close, giving your shop a really close look, they’ve been like clockwork for the past week, making their passs and leaving the area. Tonight, however they made three passsess and hung around for a while, they are making their play tonight. You’ve got inssurance don’t you? ”

Alex only shrugged in response to Koga's statement about him knowing somewhere Alex could go that no one would ever dare attempt to attack, and the malachite manipulator guessed that it was some sort of fortress, or some other thingy. After Koga was in the shop, Alex locked the door but left the shutters open so he could keep an eye on the streets, and he noticed that those gangsters that he had slammed his front door on were out and about again... but this time they had spread themselves out. Odd... they had always stuck together because there was strength in numbers.

Alex turned his attention back to Koga when the man introduced himself and stated that the malachite manipulator had put away a major M-drug dealer, and that the supplier could've been the Order... and that some big red guys were involved. "Big red guys?" Alex repeated, a little confused. "I've only met one big red person, but she's only a child outside her transformation, so she wouldn't be involved with this type of stuff... I hope." Alex stated, then he stopped and thought a moment... and realized that the man might have meant some other big red guys. "Wait... do you mean those red mountains of muscle that have tails? One of them might be involved?" Alex asked as he blinked in realization. He had heard of them on the TV, and where ever they were there was usually a big hole there when they left. And the Order... Alex had heard about them too. He had even been given the offer to join them from a woman that had helped him when he first entered New York a few months ago. He still had the Order business card she had given him. She had made him think that the Order was group for where mutants could feel safe... and now he hears that they were actually a gang. With a huff, Alex pulled out his wallet and pulled the Order business card out of it, and showed it to Koga. "A gang with their own business cards. Now I've seen everything." Alex commented as he tossed the card into a trash can. "You have my full attention now."

Alex kept his eyes focused on Koga's face as the man continued, saying that the big red guys were with the Order, and that they have a lot of notorious killers, but the nicknames that Koga gave him were ones that Alex didn't recognize. The man continued, stating that whom ever was after Alex was someone that he didn't recognize... which was good because it would give Koga the time to convince Alex that he needed help. After mentioning the group of thugs that had been walking by and asking if Alex had insurance, the malachite manipulator nodded. "I've seen them. They actually tried to shake me down for a protection fund... and I stood up to them saying that I didn't need protection and slammed the door in their faces. Now I see that responding to them that way wasn't such a hot idea. And yeah, I have insurance for my shop and the contents, along with health." Alex responded.

With a sigh, Alex shook his head and started to walk into the back of the shop. "You win Koga. I'll take the protection... but only because those red mountains of meat are involved. I can handle myself in a fight, but those guys might give me trouble. Since you've given me the impression that you want to leave for the safe house right now, let me grab some things that I can't leave behind. By the way, My name is Alex if you didn't know." Alex stated as his eyes started to glow green as he walked downstairs, entered his bedroom, and pulled a box out from under it that was producing a beautiful ringing sound that only Alex could hear. Opening it up to reveal the malachite bracers, Alex grabbed them and slipped them onto his forearms, then checked to make sure the rest of the contents of the box were alright. His father told him never to use it unless he had to... and it looked like that time was a lot closer then he first thought. Closing the box, Alex slipped it into a backpack, zipped it up, and grabbed his new leather jacket and put it on. It took him only half a minute, then walked back upstairs with the bag on his back. "Ready."

The store owner allowed the unknown visitor inside his house, which could only mean he trusted the man, at least to some degree. Grim knew his orders: destroy the store and if the owner happened to be inside at the time, he might just die as well. It wasn't the shadow mutant's personal style, but orders were orders. But this stranger interested the invisible mutant. He was offering the store owner protection. If so, Grim had a strong suspension that the man might be related to the X-men somehow, and if he could take out an X, then this job just got a lot more fun.

Using his shadow powers, Grim reached out and inside the house, searching for a possible 'jump' spot. He was rewarded with a whole host of locations in the dark store. Selected a spot near the edge of his limits, the shadow mutant winked out of the dimension for a split moment before reappearing in a dark corner in the back of the store, behind a large hand crafted pot. Obviously, it was one of the store owner's creations.

Once inside, Grim had a much better time of overhearing the men talking. The stranger seemed to have a strange lisp and a very disrespectful attitude towards the Order. The theory that the man might be an X was starting to look better. Of course, he could just be one of those pathetic mutants who looked for the NYPD. Grim had heard how they had hired themselves out like slaves, to be used by the humans to battle their own kind, such disgrace.

Obviously, the stranger seemed to be wanting to move the man before the Order showed up. It was too bad that they already had. And Grim couldn't just let them walk out the door. Stepping out from behind his hiding spot, the shadow mutant's invisibility faded.

"Going somewhere?" Grim asked, an evil grin spread across his face. He already had a black blade hidden in the folds of his sleeve, just waiting for the moment to strike. For the moment, Grim was more worried by the stranger. He doubted any pottery store owner could match his skills.

Koga nodded to the first question letting the dire situation he was in settle for a moment as he worked it out. “I’m ninety percent ssure, I’ve obsserved a couple locationss that are linked to the order and have sseen too many familiar facess for it to be coincidence. They’ve alwayss been overconfident about having to cover their trackss. It issn’t too much of a sstretch to connect a x-gene bassed drug to a mutant crime organization that ownss and operatess a pharmaceutical company. Proving it however, a bit more tricky.”

He nodded through his tail about protection, it figures they would build up the classic rackets while they are at it. “The right decission can be the dangerouss one, but you’ve got my resspect.” Koga fished the card out of the trashcan, that could come in handy. “Ssee what I mean about being cocky? I’ll hang onto it if itss the ssame to you. Could be usseful in a ssting. I’m glad you are taking me a sseriouss, I doubt we have much time to make a break for it.”

Koga grinned knowingly at his introduction but didn’t bother mention that he had been observing him for weeks and may have gotten a pretty good idea of what the man was about from his perch. He might have even strolled through the shop a time or two wearing different more common skin tones. “Grab what you need Alex and lets get you out of harms way, I’m not saying you can’t handle yourself, Im saying it might be best to avoid confrontation until after the gavel strikes the wood in the courtroom, after that. Besides being good in a fight and having someone to watch your back can’t hurt.
He waited in the shop until Alex grabbed necessities. He was glad he was moving quick.

“Letss go.” Koga replied.

When a third unwanted voice chimed in. Koga’s hands fluidly went to his back and stepped between Alex and the hooded figure. He produced a pair of Tonfas with a fluid motion that were holstered at his back. Things were about to get ugly and fast, he had a bad feeling that things were going to escalate quickly. He had hoped to remove him from the area and thus cooling the heat on him, his home and his business.

“We are, I ssuggesst you take thiss opportunity to do the ssame.” he replied , knowing that the man was more likely to escalate the situation further. A flick of his wrist tapped one of the Tonfas to a communicator.

"Any back up appreciated at my location."

Being in the city at night didn't usually involve him not being in a club. Tonight, ironically wasn't one of those nights. It just so happened that he was finishing watching the new shoot 'em up movie. As he returned to his car his communicator started going off.

The silver mutant picked it up and listened to the message. It was a call for help. The message was pretty nondescript and short. But if someone was in trouble they didn't have much time to leave a detailed message at the tone. "On my way." he punched in the location that the communicator was giving off and sped away. He recognized some of the buildings. Streak hadn't been there in a while but he'd been in the area before.

If there was one thing he'd learned from all his dealings with mutants it was that things tended to get messy and escalate quickly. The Silverman parked his car a couple of blocks away and ran the rest of the way. Before he jumped in he took the time to look around at the other buildings. Most were dark but he did notice some thugs hanging around looking like they were waiting on a signal of some kind. The silvermancer looked at the building he was standing outside of. A pottery shop? If this is for just some burglary they should have called the cops. Streak thought.

Then he took a glance inside the window. He saw Koga and some guy talking to someone that he could hardly see near the shadows. Only one person he knew of could do that. But he hadn't seen that guy in a long time. He was one of the few that could give him a run for his money in a fight. Was it possible that he was back? And if he was here then those thugs were probably his too. Streak waited outside, watching and waiting for someone to make the first move. With the lights of the street and the smog in the air it would be easy to see the light reflecting off of Streak's body; if they were paying attention and happened to look his way.

Kara was on the phone with her mother.

Which, in general, put her overall attitude somewhere in the tank.

"What do you mean, you lost your meds? Do you know how much those things cost? I don't believe..." and so forth. Kara didn't really say much. She knew better than to interrupt her mother when she was in the midst of a rant. She mostly just sat there, paying very close attention to where she was going on the mostly-empty sidewalk. Even though there was practically no one going down this particular street, she still didn't want to wind up in the street in front of a moving bus. Or something.

It struck her as rather odd that in the middle of a crowded city, absolutely no one was anywhere nearby. Maybe a mutant wanted a little privacy? She stuck with that explanation as she approached a cross-street.

"Are you even listening to me?" Mrs. Mitchell screeched into her ear.

"Yes," Kara responded, rounding a corner.

Her mother went on some long rant about how expensive their life was getting too expensive, and if it got worse, her dad would wind up looking bad on the press report. She wasn't listening. She was paying a lot more attention to the scene that was starting to unfold not far away.

A lonely little pottery shop was sitting on the opposite side of the street, maybe halfway down the block. Inside were two men, both staring at a corner she couldn't get a good view of. A third guy was standing like Kara herself, staring. She counted one or two more guys around the sides of the shop, wearing hoodies that made their faces hard to see. All in all, it certainly wasn't something you see every day, but it would normally be something you just walk away from. However, what caught her and held her in place was the tension. It was like the air had suddenly become very, very dense, so that it weighed down on everyone and dampened their footsteps, like everyone was holding their breath.

"I've...gotta go..." she blurted into the phone, shrinking back behind the corner.

"Don't you dare hang up on..." Kara interrupted her mother with a single click of the End button, and then turned her phone on silent and slipped it into her pocket. Then she simply stood there, peeking around the corner, swallowing what fear she had right now, determined to see how this would all play out.

Alex was about to fish the keys out of his pocket so he could lock up the store when he and Koga left when he noticed something odd in the reflection of glass in the front of the store. He could see his reflection in the glass quite clearly, along with Koga's... but something about the shadow in the back of the shop had changed shape. Alex was going to dismiss it as a floater within his eye when the changed shape walked out of the shadow and turned out to be a person wearing a hoodie that hid the person's face, and all the guy asked was if they were going somewhere. Koga was right... the malachite manipulator had pissed off whom ever was in charge of the M-drug production and distribution... and they had sent an assassin that could enter his shop without him knowing about it. He was either a mutant or person on M... but he was clearly a threat.

Koga clearly thought so to since the man had taken out some weapons that looked like small night sticks and got between this shadow assassin and Alex, and warned the man to leave just as Alex had turned around half way around so his right shoulder was facing this intruder. "Yeah, we were planning to check out a nearby bar and share a few drinks... but I think I can be talked into sticking around for an introduction." Alex stated with a hint of smugness in his voice as he crossed his arms over his chest. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something silver outside the shop, but Alex couldn't make it out... nor did he try since he was focused on the shadowy intruder with glowing green eyes.

A whole three seconds passed before a green blade ripped out of the elbow of Alex's leather jacket and grew towards the intruder. It went around Koga on his right side then split in half, forming a Y shape as it grew towards the intruder. The tip of the growing malachite blades curved inwards and headed for the shadowy man, on aimed for each shoulder, and they were growing as fast as Alex could run. His malachite couldn't grow any faster. Alex knew full well that this guy was here to kill him, so Alex chose to take a gamble and tried to take the guy by surprise by attacking first.

Grim's immediate thought was he had made a mistake. He had taken the element of surprise, his only advantage, out of the equation. Now, the shadow Orderling was fighting two against one with all of his back-up located outside and out of reach. Wait, now make that three to one as the now-obvious X-men pushed his wrist and the silver covered man appeared like clock work outside the store. Grim had tangled with the silver man before on a couple of occasions. None of them had been pleasant for Grim. However, that was not his immediate threat. That was the lizard-like mutant in front of him who was brandishing two black nightsticks.

-“We are, I ssuggesst you take thiss opportunity to do the ssame.”

"Oh, no, no...no. I don't think anyone is leaving right now." Shade chided back. Although he might be outnumbered, it was night time after all, the perfect battle ground for the shadow mutant. The lights outside were interrupted from outside by sections of walls and pottery displayed in the window, creating a crisscross of light and dark areas that Grim could use to hide in. That was his current strategy for now.

Grim had not expected the civilian to attack first. The greenish black blade exploded towards him, but Shade ducked out of the way of the incoming attack by rolling to his right. He blinked invisible as he crossed a dark section before reappearing in the next lighted section. Rising, the shadow mutant's arm whipped forward, released the black blade. It was aimed towards his attacker. Shade's left hand reached across his body as another dagger slid out of the sleeve in his hoodie. He sent that one spinning towards the reptile mutant.