It was a quiet night. Kiva sighed softly as she stood at the bus stop. She could have sat on the little bench there, but she'd been sitting in a theatre for the last couple of hours, so standing felt a lot better. Those seats were not kind on winged mutants, but she supposed the movie had been decent. No one had tried to get her thrown out, either. Bonus.

The light from the nearby lamp post washed over her, gleaming off the bronze scales that covered her exposed head, neck, and hands. Hooked claws, the same jet black as the spikes on her jaw, curled around the cheap 3D glasses she'd been given and permitted to keep; she made a mental note not to watch 3D movies anymore, since she'd felt nausea coming on partway through and had to take them off, anyway. Her black leather jacket was draped over her folded wings, more due to the fact that the jacket kept them warm than due to any desire to hide them.

She caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye, and when she turned her head she noticed a group of people headed her way. Normally, this would have resulted in her going back to minding her own business, if the guy in front of the group hadn't instantly stopped in his tracks and started to stare at her. Kiva momentarily debated trying to smile, but the way the group of humans were looking at each other made her disinclined to.

Particularly when the guy in front, presumably the leader of sorts, opened his mouth. "What're you doing out here, mutie?" And, as if the slur was not enough and he felt he needed to further solidify himself in her mind as not worth a moment of her time, he added, "Hasn't someone put you in your cage for the night yet?"

Kiva looked past him to his friends. There were five of them in total, and while none of them were quite as tall as she was, a couple came close. She didn't see any firearms, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. And there was no sign of her bus. Narrowing her eyes, she let out a low, rumbling growl at them, letting the sound bubble up from her chest like some kind of beast. "I'm sure they'll get around to it after they're done putting you in yours," she snarled in a deep, androgynous voice.

To say her reply was not taken well would be an understatement. She caught sight of a gleam of a blade as the group of humans advanced on her. "Someone should put you in your place, freak. Maybe we should skin that ugly face of yours." The leader was holding the knife, but she could tell by the way the others were moving that they were going to try to surround her. That meant that if she was going to run, she should do it now.

Unfortunately, she had never been a very fast runner, and trying to flee may do her more harm than anything if they ended up catching her. So, instead, she locked her glare on the man directly ahead of her and growled again. "You haven't begun to see ugly..."

She charged forward like something between a rampaging bull and a football player, straight at the knife-wielding human, and smashed her full, very substantial weight into him. She heard her shirt rip and felt the blade touch flesh, but she didn't flinch as she slammed him into the pavement.

"Holy ****!"

"Get it!"

It. She was an 'it,' now. Taking the opening the now-unconscious thug--likely with a concussion, among other things--made, she scrambled away and to her feet as best she could. Kiva then looked at the remaining thugs, inhaled deeply, and, without any shame, screamed.

Or, rather, she roared.

The sound, a deafening bellow wrapped around a shriek, ripped through her lungs and throat and made them feel like they were on fire as it poured from her jaws. It was her ace-in-the-hole of intimidation tactics.

It was also loud enough that anyone remotely nearby would have to be deaf not to hear her.

Sometimes Skydancer was glad of the fact that she was so adept at travel via rooftop. Not only did it provide a most excellent workout but it also meant she got to avoid an ever more hostile city. While she had always felt like a freak who didn't quite belong, her time with the circus had helped curbed that, allowing her to be more comfortable with who and what she was. Unfortunately, recently, the residents of the city weren't nearly so accepting. She had seen the video, of course, and had some strong opinions of her own on it. Hell, she had gotten involved in some of the blowback from that video. If only humans and mutants could learn to just get along things would be so much more comfortable for everyone.

Skydancer shot out a tube and wrapped it around a pole sticking out of the top of the nearest roof, running and using her momentum to vault onto the new roof. People rarely looked up unless they had a reason to and besides, in this city was it really so strange to have mutants running around on rooftops? Surely she couldnt' be the only one. Not only was it more peaceful above the crowd, but it allowed to to view the city in a different perspective than most and to see things that most were likely to miss. It wasn't a bad life, really, and that she could thinkt hat was a testament to just how much she had grown in recent months.

Looking down below, Skydancer didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at first. It was the milling of a small crowd around what could be none other than a fellow mutant that caught her eye. She was too far to read expressions or to clearly hear what was being said, but their body language was clear enough. The one in the middle was a mutant and they didn't appreciate mutants in their city. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair but it was the reality of their existance as visible mutants. Hatred and violence, for some, was a way of life.

It was when things turned violent that Skydancer decided to take action. Violence wasn't something she appreciated, perhaps going so far as to state that it was something she greatly disliked. However, she wasn't about to let someone get hurt by her own inaction, not when she had every opportunity to jump down and actually do something. Her power, aside from allowing her thrills and adventures few others could experience, was dangerous and sometimes it was appropriate to take advantage of that fact.

It was right around the time that the dragon mutant roared that Skydancer jumped to the ground. Two purple tubes shot out of her chest and one out of her back, whipping to the ground and supporting her jump to the earth. Once earthbound she stood straight, razor shart tips pointed threateningly at the thugs and she glared threateningly.

It was a mighty quite night, by New York’s anyways. Nothing too bad seemed to be amiss and the amount of sirens that were going off seemed to be in an all-time low for a nighttime in this city. Maybe it was because the whole Riot thing was lessening or maybe it was just some strange days that the stars aligned and people were given a chance to rest for once. Whatever the reason things seemed to be quite for once, which suited Emerald just fine. She ran to work today in her wolf form, but now she was taking the time to walk home in her human form, not really giving a damn about what she ran into. She wore a pair of white wash jeans, her leather biker jacket, with a green long sleeved shirt underneath and her steel toed boots.

Emerald’s brisk pace was interrupted by a very, loud roar, one that immediately caused the werewolf to clutch her ears in pain. While her ears weren’t as sensitive as her sisters’ it still hurt like a son of a gun when she heard an extremely loud noise, especially one that seemed to be so close by. Once her ears stopped ringing, the werewolf took in the scents of the area and did happen to notice a rather big cluster of scents directly south of her. While it was nice to have a night where everything was quite, Emerald would be lying if she didn’t say she was restless with this lull in activities. There was nothing for her to do, no one for her to fight, but with this roar she heard, that whole thing sounded very…promising.

The she-wolf took off in the direction toward the scent, heading straight toward the sound of the roar and it didn’t take her too long to figure out what was going on once she got there. While she wasn’t exactly a mutant rights activists, judging by the scene before her, it seemed that these boys decided to be “Heroes” and take down the big bad mutant. Those blue eyes of hers focused on the punks that she managed to come up behind without detection, irritation flashing in them briefly, but quelling it for now. Without a word Emerald wrapped her arm around one of the guy’s throats, putting him in a sleeper hold, exerting enough strength and enough restraint to cut off his air supply without killing him. Once she felt the guy slump against her chest, she dropped him on the ground in front of her unceremoniously and took a look at the remaining punks.

“Is there a problem here boys?” Emerald asked, tail sticking straight out behind her, fur sticking straight up. Her muscles were tense and she looked as if she was not only ready, but hoping for a fight to break out. Also, if that feral grin with all of her sharp teeth was any indication, she was going to every second of it.

Kiva hadn't expected anyone to answer the roar--it really was just an intimidation tactic--and so when she stopped to inhale and another mutant suddenly leaped down from nowhere, long tendrils allowing her to land not far from the scaled mutant, she couldn't help but look surprised, before flashing the purple woman a quiet, grateful smile. Her eyes then locked back on the remaining four men; it seemed that either the sound or the sudden assistance had made them hesitate, since none of them had tried to come at her with a knife themselves yet.

Oh, wait. Three men. The sudden appearance of a downright amazonian woman and the sight of one more thug dropping like a stone made the rest of the humans whirl around in shock. Kiva suddenly was very, very glad that this newcomer also seemed to be on her side, particularly with that bristled tail and toothy grin. Holy crap. They couldn't be stupid enough to pick a fight with--

One of the men drew a knife; Kiva's eyes snapped to the metallic shine near-instantly. "You freaks are the problem." The others were backing up, but they were also going for blades. Maybe they thought such a thing would actually work on a mutant with normal-looking skin, or they simply considered themselves cornered.

Either way, the fight was officially on again.

Unfortunately for them, backing away from the woman with the tail meant getting closer to the other two, and Kiva didn't hesitate to lunge for one them and latch onto his forearm with her hand before painfully yanking it backward. The knife clattered to the sidewalk as her claws sank in, drawing blood. "You are a new brand of idiots," she hissed, voice raspy from the abuse she'd put her throat through by roaring.

She hadn't noticed, quite yet, that the other previously-backing-up thug had turned his attention on her, though she would in a moment since he was about to try to stab her in the arm as she held his buddy in a bleeding vice grip.

Only moments after Skydancer's own arrival, a second woman arrived and one with a distinctinly wolf-like appearance. She was well muscled and, by the speed in which she acted, Skydancer had to assume that she was no stranger to these sorts of confrontations. Were they not in such a potentially dangerous or even deadly situation, she might very well have taken the time to observe and study the woman.

Skydancer inclined her head curtly towards the newcomer before returning her attention to the thugs and their would-be victim. Knives began coming out of hidden pockets and she had to question the wisdom of that. Were they all suicidal or was the hatred of mutants simply so much that it clouded any sort of better judgement they might have? If the latter, they lived in an even sadder world than she had come to believe.

The dragon lady was the first to actually draw blood although the wolf mutant had been the first to succeed in an offensive dispatch. Not to be outdone, Skydancer glimpsed the man lunging at the dragon and it took only that moment of recognition for one of her tubes to shoot out and wrap itself tightly around his wrist. She squeezed and felt bones crack and the knife clattered to the ground as the man called out in pain.

"I could do a lot worse," Skydancer hissed at him, anger evident in her voice. She didn't want to hurt anyone but how could she be expected to simply stand by when such injustices were taking place. "You should be thankful I have a care for the sanctity of life, even if you don't!"