The park, usually a peaceful haven among the the busy New York streets, rang with the sounds of steel on steel. The unusually blue sky above filled with a flock of pigeons as Cafas fell back a few paces. He was on the defensive, warding off a flurry of blows with practised movements.

This is not how this was going earlier. Bring that back, the bit where I was winning.

The main problem, as he saw it, was the afternoons sun shining into his eyes. He was having trouble tracking his opponent's shorter blade. Between the frequent blinding glints and trying to focus through the near direct sunlight he had yet to find an opening to counter in.

There? Yeah that was one, before you stood there and questioned it. Yeah I kinda didn't want to take a sword to the anything. Melt it? Kind of defeats the purpose of practice if you get complacent just because you're immune.

How had he been forced into such a strategically terrible position? It didn't matter, he had to get out of it. Despite the predicament with the sun his strength and training showed. The parries were not particularly difficult and he could move the blows aside with more ease than he was used to. He had mechanical advantage in that regard, though she was inside his reach, which was again making it harder.

Cafas parried a blow, trying to force her blade to the ground and tumbled to his right. Rolling somewhat less than gracefully back to his feet Cafas brought his blade to the ready. With the sun out of his eyes, and a decent distance between them, he could begin to press back.

Was that...?

A sound all too familiar took his attention at that moment. He paused and furrowed his brow, trying to identify where it had come from, losing all focus on the situation at hand. It didn't even take a second to identify it.

Gunshot.

The following sound was equally unmistakable. Sirens. Many sirens. Must have been every patrol in the area. Another gunshot. X-man training and years of vigilante instincts took hold. He had to go check it out, lives sounded like they were at stake.

Press the advantage. No. Wait. Her form was off. Noel abandoned her charge and readjusted her elbow placement while Cafas did a fancy-schancy yet unnecessary roll that left much of his flank exposed.

Granted, he'd chucked her weapon so hard it dipped into the soft loam and she was unable to thwop him for it. Ah. She ripped the sabre free just as he made ready. Much better. She could start the press again.

Except, he was so dang distractable. Noel wiped the beading sweat from her brow and leveraged her sword onto her shoulder.

"C'mon, you're not-"

Gunshot.

What's he have a 6th sense for premedatated metal muder? Noel rolled her eyes at the notion that yet again all other mutations proved more useful than hers. And yet Cafas was still trained toward the noise like a faithful dog.

"Just leave it." The sirens were picking up in pitch. If he were a puppy, he'd be whining to go out.

"Don't the sirens mean it's already being handled?" God. He was really going to go wasn't he? And she was really going to jog right after him. Someone had to keep the Dusklight franchise safe for fangirls everywhere and it sure didn't seem like it was going to be Cafas.

"Just leave it. Don't the sirens mean it's already being handled?"

"That many sirens? Probably officer down. Doesn't sound like a pursuit, at least not vehicular." He was mostly speaking to himself, thinking aloud.

Shot... Shot shot.

"I'd say that isn't a handgun. Doesn't sound right. Rifle then. This far into to the city? This time of day?" He didn't like the conclusion he was coming to. Cafas turned to Noel. "Looks like you get to see the other side of my job. No telling if this is a robbery gone wrong or a hostage situation, but they're clearly ready to kill people. By the sound of that gun, en masse. You can stay outside if you want, this isn't going to be pretty."

He had a sense that she wouldn't stay outside. He'd have to try and keep her safe, she didn't seem quite as bullet-proof as him. When had he started running? Somewhere amid his thoughts. The park quickly turned into streets. People running away and walking towards. The usual scene. The roads had been rapidly shut down. That was useful. Cafas cut out into the standstill traffic.

He vaulted the roadblock with a shouted "X-men".

"SWAT gonna be here in five"

"We're here now."

"You lot gonna get killed one of these days."

"Not today."

The officer lost pace. Probably by choice, as Cafas was slowing down. He spotted the officer calling the shot and jogged over to him. "Situation?" One contemptuous glare at Cafas' produced badge. "Nothing we can't handle. Multiple gunmen, armed robbery come hostage situation. You amateurs aren't necessary."

Cafas was in full X-men mode, so controlled his face. Couldn't show the anger, beyond the delightful shade of pink his eyes had gone. "Your men bullet-proof sir? Cos I damn well am." He didn't need to demonstrate. The recognition was clear. "Seeing as I doubt you'll take no for an answer son, just make sure you don't make this worse or I'll have your little club shut down."

Cafas rolled his eyes as he turned away. He didn't answer to that guy, not really, but the people he did answer to had put a lot of work into the deputisation thing, and he wasn't going to destroy it over nothing.

Even if we are better off without it...

He set off to find a way in, preferably one they wouldn't expect entry through. "Eyes out for a way in." He felt he didn't need to point out that the front door was out of the question.

The other side of the job. Noel slipped her sabre back into it's scabbard and slung it over her shoulder so the weapon was at least partially obstructed behind her braid. She checked her inner pants holster and then they were off. Concealed carry. Eat your heart out. She should have opted for a cloth holster based on how much this material stuck when sweaty.

He was a whole new Cafas, alert and on point. She'd seen it in other servicemen. She just hadn't expected to see such a laid-back pink-haired guy to go all... non-civilian.

> "X-men".

"Woman." Hey. If was supposed to identify herself, that was correct. So what if they thought she was correcting Cafas' statement to be more femme-friendly. Noel was busy vaulting a barricade and loping after the pink streak.

Kinda cool really. He had a badge and Noel just kept her yap shut and got to come along for the ride. She had some pre-fight butterflies and more than a little deja-vu. Maybe she'd been a cop in a previous life? Sure, she got dirty looks, but they didn't know what she did or did not do. Bullet-proof? She added that to the growing mental list of 'Why the heck did I not get that?'

> "Seeing as I doubt you'll take no for an answer son, just make sure you don't make this worse or I'll have your little club shut down."

She was totally in a club. Noel did her best to fall into the vaguely threatening category which meant silence, awareness of her surroundings, and high mental alert.

The building was brick, like so many in this area. The ground level sported an awning and central door probably where the building's mailboxes were. Bars on the lower windows and air conditioning units on all the windows above easy reach. There were buildings of varying heights next to it. Across the weirdly empty street was a Fed-Ex and catty corner was a Starbucks. Two lone trees shaded some of the windows on the lane. There was some construction two buildings over.

> "Eyes out for a way in."

"How do you like stairs?" Noel pointed to the scaffolding that helped workers do whatever workers were ALWAYS doing in New York. Conspiracy theories aside, "That building next to the construction's taller by two floors, but lookkit the balconet." The false railing was, by her estimation, at least as wide as her two feet side-by-side and had a generous space before there was wall. "It goes right over to the one we want."

So all they'd have to do was climb up the construction scaffolding and step off onto the railing. Then they'd take that over to the building they wanted. It kept them fully exterior until incursion and they got to choose their own adventure once they got to the right building since they were touching. She could boost him up or help him down to a window with an air conditioner and, provided that he could open the window without dropping the thing on their heads, they'd be in the flat of their choice.

"Unless you're afraid of heights."

"How do you like stairs? That building next to the construction's taller by two floors, but lookkit the balconet. It goes right over to the one we want."[/color]

"Unless you're afraid of heights."

He didn't even deign to give that a response. "Well spotted."

Running again. No time to waste. The construction was predictably locked. It didn't remain so for long. Cafas melted the chain and shoved the door inwards. It bounced off the back of the wall, nearly catching a startled looking construction worker. Cafas started up the stairs three at a time. "Police business, out of the way!" The stairs ahead cleared with no small amount of grumbling.

A few flights later they were level with the building they wanted. The scaffold had only some netting this high up, presumably to catch dropped tools. Cafas stabbed his sword through, gripped the hole he'd made and tore it open to a size they could fit through. A few quick steps along the railing, which was by all accounts high enough to kill them if they fell, and he landed on the roof of the building next to their target.

Cafas took a moment to regain his breath. He'd much prefer to start the inevitable fight as calm as possible. "Okay, we should be a few floors higher than they're expecting an assault from." Cafas strode over to the nearest barred window. It did not remain barred for long. Two of the bars coiled around his forearms. The rest fell to the ground, the beams that were holding them together formed a pool at his feet.

He tried lifting the window open. Unfortunately for him, it appeared to be locked. With wooden window frames and the whole latching mechanism being internal his answer for that would be much less graceful than it had been for the bars. One of the bars on the ground found new purpose as a pry-bar. Just like that, they were in.

"Ready"

"So did I just get deputized or are we just going to skate past all those legal formalities?" For all the rules she broke, at heart Noel wanted to follow them. She was more likely to follow the spirit of the law, though, rather than the letter.

Noel had expected the lock melting. Yeah. No problem. Metal manip. So she felt more than foolish when he surprised her by taking off the bars on the window. "Guess that's the difference between having a power and just thinking one through."

>"Ready"

"Age before beauty, then." She didn't even wait for him to flub that one up. Noel drew her weapon, checked it, and then went in first with her gun leading the way for her eyes to make a proper sweep of the room. She always kept her weapon pointed where her eyes were looking.

She both loved and hated entering other people's properties. It was fascinating to see how others lived, but her curiosity made it feel weirdly invasive. Probably the potential she had with her power. With access to personal items such as these, Noel could know more about the occupants of this apartment than they knew about themselves.

"Clear." Well, clear enough. As the memory manipulator understood the situation, they didn't have time for a full check. "You go for bullets. I'm better for active hostage negotiations." Even better if she had a Sharpie ready or her phone... there never was time for these kinds of things.

"I don't know how you want to play this, but I'll open the door, you check-" Noel detailed a concise version of a military UO sweep as she moved in a quiet shuffle toward the door. It would be better if they had at least one more, one for point and then one for each direction. "-surprise them so I'll shut up now."

Was he ready? She waited for the nod, kept her weapon pointed in a safe direction, and then opened the door. Just a hall this time, but they'd be doing the same once they sniffed out which room their buddies were in.

Noel continued to shuffle quietly along down the hall and stairs. Even if she didn't have active memories of training for this, she had.

This was going to be one of those pressure pots. All tension and buildup then one big puff of action-y steam.

"So did I just get deputized or are we just going to skate past all those legal formalities?"

"I'll tell my boss that I told you to stay and you refused, if it even comes up."

Not that it would.

"Age before beauty, then."

That'd be her by his estimation. Noel quickly confirmed that.

"Clear."

Cafas ducked through the window after her. His right hand tightened around the grip of his sword, his left toying with a small lump of iron. The room was in fact clear. Outside he could hear SWAT unloading. That gave them a few minutes while the boys in black sorted out their strategy. A few shots were exchanged between police and the man the perps had in the lobby.

"You go for bullets. I'm better for active hostage negotiations."

Nod. Not much to be said for that.

The brief explanation of room clearing was largely unnecessary (though it would have been nice if The Ranger had given him that BEFORE their mission). Still, good that they were both on the same page. He nodded his understanding and raised his left arm, palm out. Lead with your weapon. Had that been The Ranger, or video games?

The sword may not be the best weapon in here... It's what I've got though.

The door swung open and Cafas stepped through swiftly and quietly, scanning as he did. Empty. "Clear" Short, sharp, voice level. Cafas could tell they were above their target. Call it intuition, a sixth sense, the fact he only heard any activity below.

The rattle of a door handle to his left was all the warning he got. He spun, raised his left hand and levelled his blade with the door. It swung open. Man with bat. Civilian. Low threat. Cafas caught the thrust he could feel forming before he'd even moved. "X-men, here to help." The man's bat lowered and his fear caught up with his defensive instincts. "Window at the end of the hall. Get people out. Quietly."

The man, forty, balding, mustard stained shirt and blue jeans, now visibly shaking, nodded and snapped back to action mode. Bat was left behind the door. Cafas nodded to Noel. They continued.

Good job hiding how tense you are. Oh no! Door rattling! Must be armed gunmen come to kill us!

Cafas was on point down the stairs. the next floor down was clear as well. He could hear that the hostage takers were ascending though. They'd no doubt meet the one taking the prisoners on the next floor. He took a steadying breath.

The fear makes you sharper. Control it, use it.

A hand on his shoulder told him Noel was ready. Cafas took the stairs as fast as he could go quietly. The look on the face of the criminal as they hit the landing together was almost funny. The rifle in his hands less so. It didn't matter for long as Cafas' fist met his face.

A brief attempt at a shout, a grunt as his head met the wall behind him, the sound of is gun rattling to the ground, swiftly followed by his limp form. Hopefully none of those would be heard.

"Clear."

Noel scooted past the door as mustard stain herded two young ones toward the window the two mutants had just come through. Considering the time of day, he must be a stay at home dad. It made the memorymancer feel better about spending her money on frangible rounds.

They moved on.

It would have been funny if Noel wasn't in work mode. They went from creeping down stairs to looking (and punching) an enemy in the eye. Cafas took out the guy in the surprise round and he dropped like a ton of bricks. If they didn't hear that, they weren't paying attention.

Noel snatched up the weapon. She didn't know a lot about rifles other than how they worked and the fact that they packed a serious punch. She gave the handle a quick lick and let her eyelids flutter with the stock still inches from her face.

It took less than a minute, but it took Noel a couple of slow blinks to come back into the present. "There are only three more, but the fight's about a kid." She let out a shuddering breath and removed the cartridge of ammunition and pocketed it. She would have taken the whole weapon if it'd had a strap, but as it was, it would just get in the way. "The hostages are a Momma and child. Daddy wants kiddo." She had their faces in mind, but no way to share. They'd wasted enough time as it was. That would have to be good enough.

She urged him on and stopped at the exact apartment door they wanted. Was Cafas ready? Because this was where the action was ready to explode. She confirmed before moving to open the door.

Noel knocked a quick staccato of "Shave and a Hair Cut," leaving off the last two knocks. There was an audible exhalation from the other side of the door before the memorymancer both turned the door knob and raised her foot to kick in the door.

The wood slammed into whoever was on the other side and shook as it bounced back toward the closed position.

"There are only three more, but the fight's about a kid. The hostages are a Momma and child. Daddy wants kiddo."

"You licked a rifle and got all that? Impressive. I hate it when kids are involved. Everything is just that much harder. Alright, let's do this."

Cafas followed Noel down. She stopped at a door, so he had to assume it was the right one. Time to see how good that lick was for information.

A glance. A nod. Teeth firmly clamped together. Breathing shallow and fast.

Knock, KnockKnock KnockKnock.

The world seemed to slow down. Adrenaline coursed through Cafas like a wildfire through dead brush. Noel's boot met the door. Cafas pushed off his back foot. He saw the door stop, start back. Someone was blocking it. Cafas' shoulder and upper arm met the door. The contest was brief and one sided. Whoever it was hadn't expected him to hit it that hard. They were in Noel's Sector of fire.

Left

One guy in the left corner. Gun in hand. Raising it. He got the same treatment as the door. Step back. His opponent was fast. Cafas felt his nose break in excruciating detail. Crappy incandescent light glinted, as much as it could, off steel. Cafas' sword collided with the guy's head. The flat. It was small consolation really, several pounds of metal is what it is.

Turn 135 degrees right. Facing the opposite corner. Kid bundled up in corner. Presumably father with gun. Mother as hostage come human shield. Cafas would have much preferred he pointed the gun at him. "Sir, let her go." Well practiced command leant an edge to his voice.

"Drop the sword! I swear if you don't, I'll kill her!"

Cafas complied. Mr hostage taker had no idea how much trouble that left him in... A pound of metal melted off his forearm and solidified into an orb in his palm. "You don't want that..."

Blam, Blam!

Two frangible rounds in the chest left a pretty raw sight. He staggered and it meant his aim was wide when he stubbornly returned fire.

Blast. That was going to travel right through into the apartment beyond. Maybe even one more. She should have shot his face, but Noel figured less than lethal was how this was supposed to happen. Prosecutors might like having someone to prosecute.

The memorymancer moved in to disarm the guy and with a few well placed strikes helped him crumple face-first toward the ground. She stuffed his weapon into her holster, but kept her aim trained on the man on the ground.

> "You don't want that..."

"The hell I do. You don't understand. She took everything."

Crap. She couldn't properly cover this guy and work the hostage taker. Noel could see the metal moving under Cafas' influence. If she wanted him to live, it was time to take a chance. Noel took her eyes off the man in front of her and looked toward the hostage taker.

He looked like he hadn't shaved —or slept for that matter— in days. Noel could see how they would have made a cute couple once. Both were dark-haired and tattoo speckled. The man they'd taken down in the hall had seen them together. Happy. If they'd been smiling, their embrace now would have been an entirely different ordeal.

"Donald." He never took his eyes off of Cafas. Noel didn't blame him, but she did need his attention. "DONNIE!"

He looked over and all he saw was the gun. Oh crud. His eyes widened and he tightened his grip on the woman. She made a helpless sob that grated the nerves.

"Drop it!"

Noel put her hands up, but kept the weapon loose in hand. "Mason's a good kid, Donnie. Real special, super freaking smart. He loves you a lot." While she was talking, her pupils were vibrating. As soon as she'd gotten eye contact, Noel decided to make the man forget why he was angry with his lady. She was careful not to mention her in case that shook loose a memory that would her in trouble.

There was a moment where both Noel and Donald stood slack-mouthed and a tad disoriented. For Noel, she had no idea what she'd just made him forget. She knew it was something. But was it enough?

"The hell I do. You don't understand. She took everything."

He didn't really have an answer for that. Not one that was likely to make the situation better anyway. Maybe? "I know it feels bad man, trust me, I do. I know what it's like to lose your family and be left with nothing. Just put the gun down, we can talk about this."

"The fuck do you know, nothing! You know nothing!"

Cafas grasped for a reply, the guy was clearly way too far in to quit by his own estimation. There had to be an off switch somewhere? Cafas didn't want to kill him.

"Donald. DONNIE!"

Oh good, Noel had an idea. Cafas didn't relax, per-say, but it did let him go back to watching the guy for openings.

"Mason's a good kid, Donnie. Real special, super freaking smart. He loves you a lot."

Play the kid angle. Good. Plus she had his attention. Cafas watched intently. Eyes scanned Donald's face, the arm around his ex-wife's neck, the hand holding the gun. A drop of sweat ran down into his eye, but he couldn't afford to blink.

There. A change of expression, loosening of the arm, slackening of grip on pistol. He seemed confused. The woman felt it too. She darted out. Donald startled, gun coming up. Instincts trained somewhere. Maybe the military, maybe the streets.

The sound was deafening in the confined space.

Cafas threw himself at Donald, knocking him to the ground. The fight had gone out of him. He barely struggled as Cafas pulled his arms behind his back, the metal around his forearms melted and flowed down to perfectly encase the distressed father's hands. It'd do for handcuffs until they got him outside.

The mangled remains of a handgun Pinned to the wall by a spike of metal.

Good thing it hit something solid behind the drywall...

"Check yours for a pulse. Hopefully they'll all recover."

Cafas turned to the mother and sun, cradling each other in the corner.

"It's okay Ma'am, you'll be safe now."

The sound of a body on body collision. Noel dropped her arms and found her shooting stance by habit more than actual thought. The woman had pulled the kid free in time to avoid getting smashed and then she ruined that by practically crushing the young boy to her chest. His hair was wet with her tears.

Bluh. Noel couldn't stand that kind of blubbering. She put away the gun.

> "Check yours for a pulse. Hopefully they'll all recover."

"Right." She nudged the one she'd shot with her foot. He seemed to be bleeding still. Did that count as a pulse? The memorymancer huffed a sigh and rolled the man onto his back using her boot. This part was messy and really outside of her comfort zone.

If the lady would just shut up, that might make things a bit better. Noel asked her to go get a towel. She asked twice before Noel gave up.

It didn't matter anyway. SWAT came through the door and Noel was directed to stay on her knees and move her hands to the back of her head. She complied, even though someone else now had to come and apply pressure to the man's wounds. Also. Blood in the hair. SWAT may not care, but that was a lot of hair to have to wash.

She was polite with her answers with a patience that verged on boredom. She had all the names, the why, when, and how. Which of course made her completely suspect, but it was better than listening to them try to get it out of mommy dearest. It sounded like they wanted to bring her in for cross-examination. Noel tried not to be too obvious in her panic when she looked for Cafas.

This was the absolute worst part of the job.

Actually, she changed her mind when they took her sword. The gun, she'd expected, but the sword... she hadn't even used it. It was a fool's hope, really. Now, for jumping into the fight with Cafas, Noel was going to be without her two main weapons for a while.

No good deed goes unpunished.

He heard SWAT before he saw them. Subtle as a stampede of elephants. He made to stand but was informed this was a poor decision by a black clad figure. "One day you will realise we're on the same side." Cafas continued with afore mentioned standing, and began walking to the door, wondering where they'd taken Noel. He received a rifle butt to the face for his troubles.

The world spun and he knew he was bleeding from somewhere. He could taste it, feel it on his face. He was cuffed, though that lasted as long as it ever did. He was told to stop resisting. May have been some utterances of "Freak". "Why don't you try to stop your heart beating for a second and let me know how it goes?" Boot to the ribs.

MRC will hear about this...

Plasti-cuffs this time. They were learning. His sword was taken, hauled to his feet and dragged outside after a short beating in the hallway. Cafas didn't make too much fuss. He'd taken worse. It didn't stop him being angry.

It was only on the transfer to the normal cops that he got the slightest bit of recognition. A brief conversation ensued between SWAT and the officer Cafas had spoken to before entering. He was promptly released, not before some more threats from the SWAT guys. Oh, and he was to not mention it, according to the senior officer. Cafas retrieved his sword. "I'm an X-man, not some civilian you can push around. Where's my partner?" He was directed to an improvised command cum questioning centre.

Cafas approached with barely concealed fury. The X-men worked with these assholes, saved their lives, did everything in their power to keep the laws the police were sworn to protect, and this is how they were treated for it? Cafas had seen more than enough of this before to know that the equality and acceptance outwardly shown was a thin veneer to fool the public.

"Stop! Only police allowed in here X-man."

"I'm taking my partner and we're leaving. You have no right to treat X-men like criminals when we just did your damn job for you."

"We'll do what we want, we're the law."

The officer moved so that he blocked the entrance.

Cafas drew himself up to his full height, a scowl that would have curdled milk on his face.

"Move."

To his credit the officer hesitated, but Cafas stood half a foot taller and broader, and this guy was barely out of the academy.

Cafas entered the taped off area and spotted Noel being questioned. He walked over, picking up her weapons on the way. They had been marked evidence. The officers doing the questioning fell silent at the look he gave them. "We're leaving, come on." He ignored the protests of the officers with her as he turned and walked away.

"Look me in the eye when I ask you a question."

The noise she made in response was half exhalation, half laugh. "You're stressing me out." Noel didn't raise her eyes from the small rust spot on the table between them. She didn't have to. The irritation was radiating off of the interviewer like heat. Noel raised her hands to placate him, but one hand jerked short on its chain. She'd forgotten that she was cuffed to the table.

"I know that's the point, but there are adverse effects to stressing out a mutant and I'd rather you not have to suffer any. It would be inconvenient for both of us."

"Tch."

"I tell the truth, remember?"

"Tch."

Noel recited Saint Teresa's Bookmark in her head again.

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,

> "Stop! Only police allowed in here X-man."

All things are passing;
God only is changeless.

> "I'm taking my partner and we're leaving..."

Patience gains all things.

Oh. That was her cue.

Noel looked up at the man across the table from her and smiled past her vibrating pupils. 'Forget why you're holding me here.'

There was a moment of slack-jawed staring and then some fumbling to release Noel's one hand from the cuff attached to the table leg. Not that the restraint would have really held someone permanently since the table could be lifted and the cuff slipped off. It'd just been a power play.

Cafas already had her weapons in hand by the time she stood. "Thanks." She wouldn't meet his eyes, but the smile was cautiously genuine. Their protests might as well have fallen on deaf ears. If they were going to arrest them, they would have already.

"Looks like you had it a bit rougher than me." The worst she had was a growing migraine and some bruising. Where they were walking she did not know. Nor did she care. At least they were walking.

"Thanks"

"'S fine."

"Looks like you had it a bit rougher than me."

"Yeah, well, I forgot my place apparently."

The blood was starting to dry, a trail from his brow to his shirt. The bruises were already starting to show. "I should probably remember that this whole mutant acceptance thing is only a show. After the riots they're just trying to avoid more trouble." He kept walking, using the edge of Noels blade to show just how much he gave a shit about their police tape.

Yet I have to play nice, CS is a fool if he thinks this is helping mutant relations. Only thing it's helping is oppression, and worse we're party to it.

"Bastards have no authority to disarm X-men, and they didn't know you weren't one." He offered the weapons back to Noel without looking. The weight left his hand, he kept walking forwards. He really didn't have a destination in mind. Somewhere with a restroom he could clean his face up in. He chose a coffee shop for nothing more than its proximity and availability of aforementioned restroom. "One sec." He ducked in, wet a paper towel, and began scrubbing the blood off. It only took a minute.

I still look like a mess, but at least not a bloody mess.

His shirt was another matter entirely. He exited and looked around for Noel.