"And that's the last one." The dry erase marker smudged over the laminated map of central park, marking the location of the last yellow marker. Alex had spent the majority of his afternoon tying up the yellow strips of paper all for one thing. To test two new construct designs, a modified Northern Goshawks. In theory taking the bits and pieces from other birds would allow for greater speed and maneuverability.

Goshawks were already formidable but hopefully his tweaking would add to that. So this test would be two fold. Each bird will take it's course on either side of the park and race to meet him at the Huddlestone Arch. The when they got there he would toss up a small weighted sack. That when things would get interesting, the resulting fight would test their aerial strengths. He only hoped that no one would freak out over the sight.

"Well, too late to stop now." he grinned walking over to the stone arch and standing on top of it. Closing his eyes he found his two constructs were already in position. One with the mind of Ace and the other with Marry. Marry wasn't used to aerial bodies and had to take some time getting used to it, but she was clever and quick and would be more than enough of a challenge for the more experienced Ace. Both constructs sat perched on opposing branches over the first markers.

On your mark, get set...GO! He mentally called out to both constructs. Both took off, Mary hesitating only a second putting her just behind Ace.This was something of a test for him as well. It divided his mind twice to concentrate on the both of them and make sure they didn't get off course. Of course Marry and Ace were two of his strongest minded constructs, capable enough to pick up where he slacked and make their own choices. Alex pulled the little sack from he backpack and waited.

It was her own fault for getting sidetracked into a nearby park because she wanted to take a closer look at the stone arch, Margo supposed. She'd been reading all about stone arches lately, before she'd left, and was really interested in seeing one in person. The girl's curiosity, piqued so easily, would be the death of her someday. Anyway, there she was again, taking an educational stroll in the park instead of heading where she told herself she should have been by now.

It didn't start out bad. She took a quick look at the park map, and was on her way to Huddleston Arch, when she was distracted by something bright in the grass. Getting closer, Margo saw it was a strip of yellow paper. She decided to ignore it. Probably just some trash anyway, and she had somewhere to be.

She did stop to investigate when she saw yet another makeshift marker. Crouching to observe how it was cleverly secured, a large shadow of a bird chose then to swoop right over her head, startling her out of her wits. "Nanyate!" What the heck? That Japanese phrase always seemed to slip out first. Was that... a northern goshawk? Doing an obstacle course?

It was flying in the general direction of that stone arch she wanted to see. Sighing, she took off in pursuit. Maybe it would lead her to whichever individual was flying a hawk over an obstacle course in the park. She had something to say to that person, whoever he was.

He was startled by Ace informing him that there was someone on the course. A girl checking out the markers. If it hadn't been the for the fact that Ace could maneuver like a pro he would have run into her. He hoped the girl wasn't following the markers, not while was training.

In any case, even with someone in the way, it looked like Ace was still in the lead. He readied himself to toss the sack. 5...4...3...2...1! Up the little bag went, quickly snatched up by one goshawk with the other in hot pursuit. He could tell Marry was angry. It would make for an interesting fight.

As the two birds took to the skies he didn't notice someone approaching.

Margo followed the bird across the park, stopping at a vantage point a safe distance away. She got there, panting a bit after the chase (Boy, did that hawk fly fast!) just in time to observe a slender figure toss some sort of sack into the air, which was promptly snatched by the bird. then another northern goshawk, from her distance pretty much identical to the first, flew in from the opposite direction and joined in the fight. Not only an obstacle course, but a bird fight? She didn't want to be anywhere near it. Who was that idiot staging a fight with two potentially dangerous raptors, and did she mention right above her stone arch too?

Upon getting a little closer, she discovered to her surprise it was only a boy, around the same age as herself. He was watching the flurry of bird above his head with an expression of interest. Was that his crazy idea of amusement?

She sidled carefully up behind him as to not give the hawks a new target. "Hey. Are those your birds, and may I ask what you're trying to achieve with them?"

He watched the fight, concentrating on keeping the two from killing each other. This was a test of flight capabilities not a fight to the death. Still, with Marry angry he was getting the feeling that he was going to cut this off early. He didn't feel like having the sensation of a broken spine today. But just as he was about to cut the fight off he was interrupted by a girl talking behind him. Startled, he lost sight of the fight and had to look on the interrupter.

Looking her over she couldn't have been older than himself and she didn't look to happy about what she had seen. "Ah, yeah, they are and this is just training, not a death ma-" He was suddenly interrupted once again, this time by the sound of one of the bird plummeting to the ground and crashing with a sickening crack and the sensation of his own spine breaking.

The world tilted for a second, the ground rising up to meet him, and he was on his knees, gasping like the wind had gotten knocked out of him. His back on fire and he was sure he was a few seconds away from passing out. Blinking owlishly, forcing the black spots away from his vision he concentrated on cutting the connection, sending the broken bird back to dust, to relieve some of the pain.

It looked like Marry was the winner after all, the little sack clutched in her beak proudly. "Marry, you weren't supposed to kill him. That freakin' hurts!"he shouted and the hawk only looked annoyed.

"Ah, yeah, they are and this is just training, not a death ma-"

Apparently she'd broken his concentration, because with a look almost resembling martyrdom he'd turned around to address her. She opened her mouth to say it didn't look much like training to her, but was interrupted by the sound of one of the hawks plummeting down to earth and crashing with a sickening sound. She winced and turned her face away toward the woods. He'd said it wasn't a death match? Well, he'd been wrong. She almost felt sorry for the boy as she turned around to look at him-

-and found him on his knees, on the verge of passing out. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Duh, of course he wasn't. It had been a courtesy to ask. She was beside him in a moment. "What happened?"

Steeling herself, she glanced at the dead bird, which crumbled into dust as she watched. "Nanyate.." Was it a good idea to ask him how that had happened when he was in such a state? The boy looked like he needed emergency help.

Alex merely wheezed in reply to her worried words. Despite cutting off the connection, his body was still remarking that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The best thing he could do was breath through it and try not to move. After a few moments, finding his voice again, "I...ah shit...I, I'm okay...J-just give me a sec."

He quickly categorized the damage, matching it to his own skeleton. Ace had landed on his back, the vertebra between his scapula shattering and sending a ripple affect through the body. The back of the skull had followed, caved in and blinding him momentarily. Then the wings fractured along the humerus, then the radius. All in all Marry had basically thrown Ace into the concrete, shattering his body. The feed back would be useful, he just wished it didn't hurt so much.

He blinked a few more times, breathing easier now. "Glad I didn't land on my face..."he murmured, slowly leaning back and gently pulled off his backpack. Slowly but surely his body was pushing off the pain, realizing that nothing was actually broken. Reaching into his bag he grabbed a water bottle, twisting off the top slowly. For now he ignored the girl and concentrated on recovering.

Marry sqauwked and fluttered over, the little sack still in beak. But Alex ignored the bird as well, taking a swig of the water and letting it sit in his mouth a moment before swallowing slowly.

What the freaking heck had she just seen?

Margo glanced from the still wheezing boy to the spot where the dead hawk had been, narrowing her eyes. At first, she'd simply thought him an overzealous bird owner, then a careless lunatic, but now... No apparent injury suffered, but there he was, still moaning weakly about how he was glad he hadn't landed on his face. That made her narrow her eyes even more, because he hadn't landed anywhere. His bird had. Mutant? Probably. What did he do? Talk to birds? Establish psychic connections with them? Create the birds themselves?

She wanted so bad to ask him.

She watched him as he slowly took a drink of water and tried to push off the pain. Watched the other hawk fly down with almost a smug look on his/her face, little sack clutched in his/her beak. If Margo could have, she would have slapped that bird.

The girl waited silently for an explanation.

Alex sighed, giving himself a moment to relax before addressing the girl. "Your probably thinking this is really weird right?" He smiled knowingly, she had so many questions buzzing in her head that it must be driving her insane. "Honestly I wasn't expecting an audience but that's what I get for doing this in a public park."he said. He reached out a hand, "I'm Alex by the way and you are...?"

He was avoiding saying it out right. It explained his mutation so many times to so many people in just about as many weeks that it was starting to get tedious. Still it would be rude to just leave this girl high and dry. If she asked, he'd answer but before. This girl looked human so there was a chance she had no clue. Hell, however unlikely, she might not even be considering mutation.

But given the concentration of mutants in this city he'd be surprised.

"You're probably thinking this is really weird right? Honestly I wasn't expecting an audience but that's what I get for doing this in a public park."

Well, Margo had to give it to him he was tough. Brushing it all away as if he hadn't just appeared to have a heart attack, or something equally debilitating.

"I'm Alex by the way and you are...?"

"Margo" she said, giving him a little smile as she squeezed the offered hand. Under other circumstances, she would have noted he was rather cute, even if dressed like he'd been living in the streets for a couple months. Who was she to judge? If he was a mutant, it wasn't improbable. In fact, dozens of homeless mutants wandered the city, herself might being included if she didn't find somewhere to stay.

A knowing smile, but none of the answers she was looking for. That was fine. Hey, if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't pry. She'd ground other's feelings into the dirt before, time after time, in her ruthless search for answers. It wasn't until after she'd gotten her own mutation that she realized how hurtful that could be. And for her, it was only Lucy that knew. No the answers had to come out and she would get them today, but they had to come out gently. in reply "You wouldn't believe me, but I've seen a lot weirder." She laughed a little at herself. "Well, define 'this'.

"It's nice to meet you Margo."he said genuine as he could. While most chance meeting had turned out to be fortunate for him, one couldn't chance a touch of suspicion. At least momentarily. Though her next words ease him a bit.

"You wouldn't believe me, but I've seen a lot weirder."

"Ah, so you're no stranger to the abnormal. That's good to hear. I'm guessing you at least have seen a few mutants, maybe know a few if you've seen weirder."he said smirking. He looked over at Marry and gestured to the bird to come perch on his arm. "Margo, this Marry, a construct of mine. Marry, this is Margo."he said introducing the two.

The bird screeched in greeting, dropping the sack as she did so which Alex picked up and put in his backpack. "The one that had fallen had been Ace, another of my constructs."he explained, hoping to quell any worries that may have remained.

He made a polite reply, remarked on her remark about having seen weirder, and then explained, again rather politely, about his constructs.

"Nice to meet you, Marry" she said, smiling a little at the hawk, or rather, construct. "Sorry about Ace." Her curiosity hadn't been satisfied yet though. Constructs..? How exactly did they work? What did he make them out of? Did they expend his energy? "I don't mean to pry, but could you elaborate?"

To his earlier words Margo just smirked a little. "You bet." Alex's demeanor put her ease, his honesty prompting honesty of her own. "I have a couple tricks up my sleeve, too."

"I don't mean to pry, but could you elaborate?"

He pretended to think about it a moment, giving Marry a sideways glance, leaning towards the bird. "What do you think? Trust worthy of our secrets?"he said softly. To which the bird had no outward reply, but if the look of annoyance was any indicator she wasn't all that amused. "Yeah, I think so too."he grinned.

"Alright, elaborate I shall. It's actually pretty simple. You take organic matter,"he said picking up a couple of nearby fallen leaves,"and presto-chang-o you get organic life." With that he changed the clump of leaves into a few fireflies, breaking down the material and reforming it. "Pretty neat huh?"

Margo chuckled to herself as Alex made a show of asking his bird whether it thought she was worthy of his secrets. Biggest drama queen of all time, she thought to herself. Next moment, her grin was lost in an expression of wonder as she whistled softly.

"Pretty neat, huh?" That boy. Grinning as what had been a handful of dead leaves became a handful of fireflies. His delivery was smooth and sounded like it had been practiced before, a corner of her brain noted. The rest of her was just about drowning in that little tidbit of magic he'd shown her.

Organic material into organic life, huh? The words were deceptively simple, pleasing but not even shadowing what Alex had just done in the least. For a second, she wished she had a power like that, one to be noticed. But every power had its drawbacks. What were his?

Taming the excitement in her voice, Margo replied "That looks quite handy. Are your... Constructs.. Independent from you?" She stretched out a hand, hoping for a firefly.

The tiny swarm danced about her finger a moment before they all settled in a neat little row on the offered perch. "No, not entirely. I'm connected to them, including all the nerve centers. Hence the little freak out earlier."he explained with a shrug. After so many years of experiencing the world through his constructs it was starting to become easier to recover from.

"If I concentrate enough it's kind of like an out of body experience." He looked at her, curiosity edged at his own mind. Earlier she had said she had tricks of her own. It could mean she was a mutant as well. She as a bit better dressed than him so she probably had a home to go back to. Or at least he assumed. Judging by clothes alone said nothing of status.

"So, uh, what about you? You said you had some tricks up your sleeve. If you don't mind me asking that is."he said.