Even though Shade had yelled at the top of his lungs at the explosive mutant, he could barely hear what he himself was saying. The ringing in his ears was horrible and he only just managed to understand hismelf due to the vibrations traveling up from his throat to his ear canals. He was certain the blonde haired woman was having just as much a problem of hearing as he was. Staggering to his feet, Shade slight felt rather shaken from the explosion and his inner ear was malfunctioning due to the recent, violent assault shaking the sensitve membranes.

He knew he had to get away from the area before the cops showed. Screw anything else. The last thing he needed right now was jail time, and he was certain the cops had at least one warrant out for his arrest. He thought he heard the other mutant say something, but he wasn't paying attention. All he wanted to do was get into the nearby alley so it could block out the moonlight and he could disappear from view entirely. He could also teleport out if necessary. Following the blond haired woman, Shade felt the cool sensation as his body completely disappeared from view. He staggered behind a dumpster and collapsed onto the ground.

It should be safe to recover for a few moments here. He thought as he leaned against the dumpster, straining his ears to hear anything beyond the constant ringing.

Tses didn't hear the police cars, but she saw the lights flashing in her eyes. The blues and reds were something dark and foreboding on this golden colored night. Panic got her running, but she felt her disoriented body sliding sideways. It was like falling off one of those spinning merry-go-rounds in the park, as the world kept moving even when she stopped. She hated this sensation, and kept trying desperately to clear her head.

She hit the ground in a painful fall that ripped her fishnet leggings and skinned her left thigh. Blood welled to the surface, and she could feel rocks digging into her skin. Snarling in pain, she got back to her feet and turned, trying to take off down the street instead of towards the first alley. Her actions were random, like a panic driven deer instead of the rigid efficiency she normally possessed. Pain and lack of hearing was making her actions harder to control. She just wanted to get away and make the world come back to stability. Blood was trickling into her boot, the sensation that much clearer with her hearing dulled.

She didn't hear the feet behind her, but distantly she heard someone screaming at her to stop. She turned a corner, facing a dead end, and the moon overhead was the only thing welcoming her. Behind her, there were six cops standing there, guns drawn, faces angry and defensively staying back. At first, she wondered why they didn't shoot right away. But perhaps the darkness was enough to give them caution.

Her face was blank as she felt the moon's energy slipping through her body. It traveled down to her hands, and snaked around her fingers, like a cat curling to her touch, begging to be used. It started to gather in the palms of her hands, and she heard the cop yelling for her to get on the ground.

"No." Her mouth formed the words, her hears could barely ear the traces of them slipping from her lips. She glared angrily, trying to decide a way to protect herself from the coming attack. A handful of explosives could scatter them, but she needed a way out of this corner. She blamed that other mutant for starting this in the first plac.e

Shade was trying everything to get his hearing back. Wiggling his ears didn't work. Neither did trying to clear them with his finger. Presently, he was trying to pop them to see if that would work. However, his attempts were interrupted by the flashing of red and blue lights. That had to be the authorities showing up. Shade was safe, invisible to the human eye as long as...Damn! The shadow mutant saw the trail of a flashlight sweep across the alley. He had to move before the flashlight found him.

'Jumping' a block away to another alley, Shade came out of his 'jump', stumbling a little more than usual. His head was starting to hurt from the constant ringing, and he was starting to fear he might be deaf for life. A growl escaped his throat and rumbled in his ears. He did not like this feeling at all! Staggering to the edge of the alley, Shade looked out to see the blond woman he had just left surrounded by police. They had their guns drawn and things were not looking good for his former enemy. However, she was a mutant. And Shade couldn't stand for one to be killed.

A blade was sent fly through the air and stuck into the back of the nearest office's head. Before he hit the ground, Shade was already on the run and jump-tackled another officer. A blade severed his throat as they both smashed into the ground. Looking up, the shadow mutant wondered how the young woman was fairing.

As the officer took a step forward, hand on the trigger, Tses reacted with one thing in mind: survive. In each hand five orbs formed, and she tossed them out into the night air like tiny comets, the streaks of light glittering across the pavement exploding in different intervals, knocking a few cops backwards and one startling the rest. Guns went off, but their bullets shot off walls and far above the girls head. She was lucky they were distracted, or she could have been dead already. The gunfire rang in her ears, echoing in her already painful head. In a way, the sounds were comforting. It convinced her she could still hear something at least.

Somewhere in the distance, Tses saw a strange movement in the shadows, before the mutants she found with earlier appeared out of thin air, his blade slicing into the head of one of the cops. Her stomach turned a little, the brutality something she wasn't used to seeing. She found to survive, but killing was something she never had to resort to. Perhaps, this night she was luck in more than one way. If it came down to it, her opponent would have killed her, and she wasn't sure she would have done the same.

She looked away, drawing her attention to a cop charging at her, swinging his night stick at her head, gun apparently knocked away in the fray. Tses caught the night stick with her wrapped forearm and hand, letting her arm swing down with it to take the momentum, and swinging her body around to dislodge it from the officer's hand. She kicked her right leg out as she turned, hitting the policeman in the back of the legs, and sent him into the ground, kneeing him in the back. Everything happened in a matter of second, but felt like eternity.

"Call for back-up!" Someone yelled, the voice finally close enough she could understand what was being said. A tasser went of in the night, tiny glimmer of blue light shimmering in the air, but Tses didn't feel the shock, so it must have fallen short somewhere in the night. She looked up, searching for the stranger, and any other cop that may be ready to attack.

The distraction was almost perfectly timed with Shade's strike. It was a good thing too, because those guns might have been turned on the most important threat which had been the shadow assassin. Gun shots went out, pinging off the ground and whizzing through the alley. Shade watched as a policemen attacked the other mutant. However, it appeared she could handle herself. That left three cops to go.

Suddenly, Shade was blindsided by a policemen and bulldog tackled to the ground. The cop was yelling something (backup, maybe?), but the night stalker was too busy trying to kill him to bother with his words. Shade sliced into his arm with a newly formed blade causing the man to scream in agony. He pulled something from his utility belt and a spark shot through the air. A taser! Shade dodged to his left as the man trying to jab it into his shoulder, then he swung his right fist into the man's face knocking him off of him. He sprang to his feet before the officer could recover. However, Shade was now face to face with a shiny pistol.

"GET DOWN! DROP THE KNIFE! GET ON THE GROUND! NOW!" The officer yelled, his hand in an iron grip around the weapon. Shade couldn't move he was stuck. Holding up with arms, the shadow mutant let the black dagger slip through his fingers as he stared eyeless at the policeman.

Tses finally pinpointed the stranger in the glimmer of blue electricity. There was the high pitch sound of barking echoing in her head, and a squeal of more tires as a canine unit arrived. As the cop stepped out of the car, Tses sent an explosive orb towards the car, and the cop jumped out of the way, as the dogs cowered in their cages. She was careful to avoid hitting another gas tank, a soft spot in her head for the animal. Then she watched another cop drop to the ground, his cries of pain audible to her handicapped ears.

Things seemed to take a turn when she saw the silver reflection of a gun face her fellow mutants head. The close range was dangerous, and she wasn't sure how to help. A well aimed shot could hit the barrel, blow it up in his face, or landing an orb in the police officer's shirt could knock him backwards. But it could also cause the gun to go off, and she wasn't sure how fast the shadow mutant could dodge a bullet. Instead, she welled up her powers, and created a giant orb, pressing her heal deeper into the downed officer's back and yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Hey swine, shoot and I drop it!" She yelled, holding the glowing orb over the downed officer's head. Underfoot, the man groaned and tried to squirm weakly.

Oh great! Dogs! Shade thought to himself. He hated dogs, such wild beasts. Luckily, it seemed the mutant he had run into eariler had the sam idea as she quickly disabled the vehicle. However, that did not prevent the fact that he was literally looking death in the face. Too bad that the other mutant couldn't deal with that...

- "Hey swine, shoot and I drop it!"

The rookie cop looked at the large glowing ball of energy and was torn. They didn't teach them this back in the police academy. Shaking uncontrollably, he turned his gun towards the woman. It was opening Shade had been waiting for.

He sprinted towards the officer as the young officer found out too late that he could not spin back in time. A shot rang out in the night as Shade caught the cop in midstride. He tackled him and wrestled the gun from his control. Blinded with adrenaline, the night stalker forgot to summon a blade and just punched the cop over and over until he lost consicousness.

Tses held the energy in her hand, feeling it prickle against her skin as it fought against her control. It was like holding an animal by the scruff of it's neck as is squirmed for freedom. When the cop turned, the other mutant took the opportunity, and Tses chucked the call into street, and it exploded midair, sending cars skidding sideways, but luckily missing anymore gas tanks. The force rattled the ground, but it would have been worse if she had to use it in close range. Even she didn't like being on the receiving end of her energy blasts.

There were few options now for escape. The alley was blocked in by the canine unit, and there was no fire escape conveniently placed for her to race skyward. She could try to blast a hole in a wall, but that would probably just create more damage and less escape. She snatched one of the officer's guns, and took a defensive stance again, trying to decide another move and wondering if the shadow mutant would have an idea.

As Shade rose from the unconscious officer, blood dripped off his clinched fists. Suddenly, the sounds of ferocious barking started to echo through the night again. It seemed the K-9 officer had managed to get back to the vehicle. The barking louder as the dog came streaking around the cop car, white fangs beared.

A trickle of fear ran down the back of the shadow mutant's spine when he saw the brown and black furred mutt. And like all criminals, Shade began to sprint in the opposite direction. You just don't mess with a crazed dog, even if you are a mutant.

"Come on!" Shade said, snagging the hand of the blond haired explosive expert as he dragged her towards a dark corner of the alleyway.

Tses stumbled as she was yanked towards the darker corner of the alleyway, and her first instinct was to punch him in the face. Then the barking and snarling teeth caught her attention, and the resisting motion turned into frantic running. She threw a few smaller explosives over her shoulder, but she was running out of energy and out of strength.

"Dead end!" Tses panted breathlessly, clearly baffled about why they were running towards a wall. Behind her, a few dogs yelped as the tiny orbs exploded in front of them, but only one was knocked over, and quickly got back to his feet unhurt.

The blond woman resisted at first, but the chasing pack of canines quickly changed her demeanor. Together, they ran towards the end of the alleyway. The explosive mutant tried to disband the pack by tossing some balls of 'fun' behind her, but the pack had blood on their mind. Nothing was going to stop them. They reached the wall of the alleyway with the blond utterly confused. Good. It would make this less of a shock to her.

"Here!" Shade gasped, equally out of breath. He dragged her towards the dark corner. As soon as he entered it, the shadow mutant immediately blinked out of sight, but he continued to drag the blond in with him. Invisible arms wrapped themselves around the young woman.

"Grab my sweater. And whatever you feel, do not let go." Shade instructed. The dogs were only meters away. Shade could smell their breath.

"Hold on!" He shouted as the nearest dog leapt at them. Shade felt the teeth sink into his invisible arm as he 'jumped'.

Suddenly, reality was torn apart and then resealed in a moment. A second ticked by in which everything felt wrong. Up was down, left was right, inside was out. Shade thought he heard the yelp! of a wounded animal and then no more pressure on his forearm. Then reality seemed to appear before them and the two mutants were thrown back into the world, only it had changed. They were no longer in the alleyway. They were a few hundred yards away, inside a park of some kind beneath a large oak tree.

"F**k!" Shade exclaimed the instant they hit the ground. His arm felt like it was ripped to shreds. He was still invisible, but he stumbled beneath a nearby street lamp to survey the damage done to his arm. His body blinked into view before he remembered he had taken a partner along for this ride.

"Are you alright?" Shade asked the woman as he cast his eyeless gaze back into the shadow.

Noise was starting to return to Tses's ears, but it was the wrong moment and far to painful. Dogs were barking, and teeth were snapping at her clothes. She felt one dogs jaws tear a small segment from her skirt as she raced towards the wall, her shorts slightly visible as she scrambled away. As the mutant dragged her towards the corner, she felt like she was being driven into a trap. Even though she was used to mutants and their unpredictable powers, leaving her life in the hands of one was another thing entirely.

The second the mutant hit the shadows, he disappeared, but the unseen arms dragged her inward, a terrifying sensation that just about sent her thrashing in panic. Her lack of energy was the only thing that kept her powers from flaring, and her coiled body stumbled forward with resistance. She don't know what caused her hands to grab the edge of his sweater. Maybe it was the sound of the dogs snarling at her ankles, or the snapping jaws just hairs from her body. She wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but there...

And got her wish.

Her world seemed to implode. Just like when her hearing disappeared, every sensation seemed to temporarily deteriorate. She couldn't feel, she couldn't hear, she couldn't tell where she was, when she was, how she was existing. Tses always saw herself as tough, but those few moments made her feel like a coward, in a world where she had no control. Beyond anything else, having control ripped from her hands was a purgatory she couldn't live in. The flash of disorientation was only a blink of the eye. But it was too long for her mind to forget, and she collapsed when her feet hit the ground, stifling a scream.

The mutant stumbled away from her, and she coiled into a ball, scooting into the base of the tree and trying to make herself as small as possible. Her arms were shaking badly, and she tried to compose herself. But the stress of everything that happened in a few short moments seemed to crash on her shoulders.

The voice was back, asking something and Tses tried to shut him out. Her hands were coiled in her hair, clutching her head to her knees. In the distance, nighttime sounds were coming back to her. Cops yelling, sirens blaring, dogs howling. "Is there a mute button for the world?"

There were several large teeth marks that looked like they had been dragged across Shade's forearm. The cuts were already bleeding profusely, dripping dark red spots onto the concrete sidewalk below him. The shadow mutant quickly removed what was left on his hoodie and produces a dagger, slicing off the undestroyed sleeve. He grunted from the pain as he wrapped it around his forearm. Taking off his belt, he wrapped that around the arm to hold the hoodie sleeve in place. Tightening to the point that he couldn't bear the pain anymore, Shade hooked the belt together to make a makeshift bandage wrap. He then proceeded to help out the young female mutant who was obviously in shock.

Ducking back into the shadow, Shade again blinked out of view. He gently placed a hand on the woman's back. This was what he was afraid of when he 'jumped' with someone. To him, the experience was familiar. However, that was because he had a lot of practice with it. To someone who had just expereinced it, it could be outpowering.

"Hey...hey, we need to move. The police are still out here. They will be looking. I got a place you can lie low if you need it." Shade said, gently. He might have been about to kill her earlier this evening, but the woman was a mutant. He couldn't just abandon her now.

Tses shook her head, her stubbornness breaking her out of her shock. She forced herself to her feet, shaking her pig-tail decorated hair with a firm twitch. "Thanks, but I have been in a tight spot before. And frankly, you were just trying to stab a knife through my head a few minutes ago." She faced him.... well, tried to face him. It was hard to identify the mutant in the darkness. Everything just looked dark here under the tree, dark and lonely. She rolled her eyes and glared at a leaf over her head for a moment, as if it was it's fault her night had gone the way it did. The moon casually flickered off the leaf, as if taking responsibility for this disaster. She brushed her hands on her skirt, or, the portions that were left of it, and tried to keep her legs from shaking.

"I can lay low for awhile and find my way home. You seem to have your own problems to take care of." She gave a motion towards the grass, where small drops of blood glimmered in the moonlight. She then crossed her arms across her chest, a defensive gesture to cover up her weakness.

"You called me a #^*%#." Shade replied simply, invisibly shrugging. If she did not want his help now, the shadow mutant was fine with that. He had tried. Even after she had blasted him off his feet. Shade seemed to be such a nice mood this evening. The blonde mostly indentified where the shadow mutant where standing, even if she was not exactly directly looking at him.

"Alright, well if you are ever in trouble, the Sanctuary is always open. Just look for the large golden doors." The shadow stalker said, putting on his best impression of a salesman's provato. Understandably, it was not very good. The invisible mutant thought it had something to do with his voice. It was just too rough and harsh for anyone to ever trust it completely.