The bus rocked slightly as she stepped off. The rubber soles of her worn sneakers groaned and she adjusted the strap of her bag across her shoulder.

New York... How long had she been away? 

Other departing passengers of the shuttle bus whisked past her. She'd been in Oregon for the past several months, where rolling farmland had greeted her. Even though she'd lived in the city for a few years prior, the sight of the towering buildings was still just as imposing as it had been her very first time.

Sucking in a breath through her nose, she sighed and started onward. She wasn't sure what she was going to do next... honestly, she hadn't really planned her impromptu trip back home anymore than she'd planned her sudden return. She was tempted to march straight to her old apartment and announce to Roach, and Sylar if he was still creeping around, that she was in fact still alive. 

But... well... part of her didn't really want to. Yet, at least. For the last few months she'd been surrounded by people she'd sent a good portion of her live avoiding. They'd welcomed her with open arms, some stern words, and for a blissful while she'd felt normal.

She didn't know if she was ready to let go of that just yet. 

She was an Aunty now.... Her sister had two children, and apparently a wonderful husband. Her baby brother was an adult in his own right and doing quite well for himself, and her parents were pretty much exactly the same as she remembered then, save the addition of a few new wrinkles. She'd fit back in with them so seamlessly it had nearly felt like she'd never run away in the first place... and yet, here she was. 

Part of her knew she couldn't stay with them forever... she had her own life, and plenty of demons she was still running from. It had been risky even booking the flight back home, but she'd been cautious to the point of paranoia... so she wasn't too worried. 

Megan, head in the clouds, blended with with a small crowd heading into the heart of the city. Her pace lazy, with a small curl at the corners of her mouth as she thought back and took in the sights of the city again.

Danny was in unimaginable, excruciating pain.

It seemed that every time he stepped out of his place he was assaulted by somebody or the other he had screwed over in the past, and today was no different. Usually, it was the mafia or a gang or the triads. Today, it was some guy whose bank robbery he had stopped years and years ago. Said guy had, incredibly, held that grudge for all ten years he had been in prison until his release for good behavior, and then stalked Danny until he saw an opening for an attack. Apparently, he hadn't gotten the memo about his victim's lack of mortality, but even that wasn't stopping Danny from being in pain from the double gunshot wounds to his left knee and his gut. The psycho was still chasing him, though, so Danny had dashed into a crowd to lose him, hand clutching his stomach as blood oozed sluggishly out.

Suddenly, even in his daze, he felt an impact with somebody else - a woman, with scars puckering what skin showed, but it wasn't like he noticed that, as he was too busy being injured. "Sorry," he gasped out, hand instinctively reaching out to steady himself on the nearest solid object. Which happened to be the woman. Who he grabbed with his bloody hand.

Oops.

He jerked his hand back, wincing at the bloody handprint he left on the woman's shoulder, and the spatter from when he'd bumped into her. But that movement was enough to topple his already unsteady balance, and his injured leg started to slip out from under him.

He should really become a hermit or something. He was so done with getting shot.

A sudden impact stopped her, and with her mind wandering as it had been she wasn't able to full prepare herself for the force of the blow. It sent her stumbling and would have knocker her off her feet had she not bumped into someone behind her as well.

The curse words already on her tongue froze there the moment her eyes locked onto her attacker. Icy blue eyes widened marginally, before trailing down to the hand gripping her shoulder. When he yanked the appendage away, they remained locked there on the bloody hand print he'd left behind. Gross.

"... This city throws the best welcome home parties." She mused out loud, though there wasn't a hint of humor in her voice. She reached out with one arm to catch him, muscles groaning in complaint from their sudden use after so long of neglecting them. "... Some reason you're running around like a bloody fool in the middle of the afternoon?"

Megan eyed his bloodied parts questioningly, one eyebrow quirked as she pursed her lips in an annoyed fashion. Her questions probably seemed strange to an outside... someone not occupying the space in her head, but to her it seemed like a perfectly justified inquiry. He hadn't run into her while screaming about needing help after all, so it didn't exactly seem like he wanted any. And while others were content to walk past and pretend they didn't see him, she was rather curious why the boy was wandering around with rather painful looking bullet wounds.

"... This city throws the best welcome home parties," the woman who he had bumped into and had thankfully caught him deadpanned. "Some reason you're running around like a bloody fool in the middle of the afternoon?"

Ha, funny. Bloody fool he was, considering that the blood was still seeping through his clothes. But the woman's reaction was rather abnormal - most would ignore him, as most of the people in the crowd were doing, but she was actually curious. And not horrified and trying to rush him to the hospital, either - just curious. Danny wasn't sure if he appreciated that or pitied the next fatally wounded person who depended on her for help.

"Uh, because I've been shot?" he said sarcastically, still trying to get his legs up under him, which was significantly more difficult than it should've been. "Speaking of which - oh, @#%&."

Out of the corner of his eye, Danny caught sight of his pursuer, still gripping a rather badly concealed gun. Nobody seemed to have noticed yet, but Danny would have to get out before either he succumbed to his wounds or got shot again. Either way would result in a large explosion in a crowded area, and that was never a good idea.

"Say, wanna help me out a little bit more?" Danny gritted out, finally managing to stand up on his own, even if he was still gripping the woman's arm rather tightly to keep his balance. "There is an armed man with a gun trying to shoot me, and I'm really sorry for asking, but you're not panicking and I can work with that. I have to get out of this crowd as soon as possible. Could you maybe help me with that, because movement is not the easiest thing at the moment?"

She hummed in response, her gaze lifting to lock onto his own, before moving to follow where he suddenly directed his attention. "So you have." There was another hurrying toward them. A man who was either too angry or too stupid to properly conceal his own weapon. She hummed again, and adjusted her grip on the boy.

"Guess it's your lucky day, kid. I'm in a particularly good mood so I'm gonna give you a hand," Turning, she adjusted pulled the arm she had a grip on up and around her shoulders while snaking her free arm around his waist. Using the shoulder not supporting his weight, she started hurriedly shoving her way through the crowd, toward a dark alley across the street.

"So, I don't really care how you went and got yourself shot, but I do need to know one thing," Icy blue eyes shifted to him, "Do you want that guy dead, or alive?"

He wasn't sure what the precise wording of what she had said was, because he was starting to get rather dizzy, but it sounded affirmative. And considering she was now helping him as they made their way through the crowd, most of his weight on her, she had probably said something along the lines of "yes."

As they stumbled into a dark alleyway (more stumbling on his part than on hers), she started to say something, and Danny shook his head sharply to clear it.

"So, I don't really care how you went and got yourself shot, but I do need to know one thing. Do you want that guy dead, or alive?"

In his muddled state of mind, the only thing he could think of to say was, "He shot me. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't care either way." That had come out somewhat whinier than intended, but he was blaming anything embarrassing that came out of his mouth on the bullet wounds.

With all that lovely introspection, it was another moment before he suddenly said, "Wait, what?" Danny's pursuer was armed with a gun. Unless his new friend was either a mutant, an extremely well-trained fighter, or both, she didn't stand a chance. Come to think of it, considering her prior responses, she sure didn't seem like your average human. "Please tell me you're at least a mutant. I'd feel guilty if you confronted him and died."

Her lips quirked in a short sneer, and she glanced at the kid from the corners of her eyes as they shuffled into the alleyway. He didn't care if they guy died, and that was fine by her. She didn't really feel like putting extra effort into keeping him alive anyway. Her attitude tended to shift in that direction when guns were involved.

"Please, I don't need to be a mutant to take care of one jackass with a gun."

It did help, though. Gently, she turned them so she was shielding him with her body and moved to lean him against the cement wall to their right. "You just stay right here and try not to get shot anymore... kay?"

With that she pulled away, uncaring if he managed to remain on his feet or if he slumped to the ground without her support. Taking a few steps away she squared her shoulders, set her feet and cracked her knuckles.

".. Hadn't really expected to jump back into things so soon, but whatever. Roll with the punches and whatnot." Her joints popped under her gloves. She flexed her fingers, straining against the metal wrapped around around her knuckles. She could still feel the comforting stiffness of the knife tucked into her boot, as well as the cold metal chill of the Stun Gun tucked into the bac of her pants. They hadn't been used in months... but old habits died hard, and right now she was appreciative of that.

Heavy footsteps echoed into the alley as the man quickly joined them, but Megan had effectively positioned herself between him and his prey. She took note of his gun, shifted her weight, and grinned at him cockily.

"...'Ello." The greeting came out muffled, like something thick and cottony was occupying the space inside. The hair on the back of her stood up in anticipation.

"Please, I don't need to be a mutant to take care of one jackass with a gun."

Actually, Danny liked that logic. That also meant that she was pretty much a trained fighter. Huh. What were the odds.

He slumped against the wall that she guided him over to, using it as a support to hold himself up. "You just stay right here and try not to get shot anymore... kay?" Well, that was kind of patronizing, if not true. “Yeah, whatever,” he muttered under his breath, somewhat petulantly.

”.. Hadn’t really expected to jump back into things so soon, but whatever. Roll with the punches and whatnot.” And that was just plain ominous. Apparently, this woman fought armed thugs on a daily basis. Or had.

Something thumped near the mouth of the alleyway, and Danny tensed instinctively, habit automatically forcing him to straighten up into a somewhat more defensive position. But doing so still hurt, and he hissed between his teeth, curling back into the hunched position he had been in before.

”…’Ello.” Her voice sounded different, for some reason - almost as if there was something in her mouth. But then, everything else sounded kind of muffled too, so he dismissed the feeling.

Meanwhile, the blurry figure at the other end of the alley was advancing, saying something - at this point, Danny couldn’t really tell, but it sounded something like, ”Getting little girls to pick your fights for you now, are you? Which was mean. Danny hadn’t had any problem stopping the man years ago, but that had been when he wasn’t shot. The man raised the gun, aiming it at the woman standing in between him and his target. ”Move and you don’t get hurt. I only want the kid.

She quirked an eyebrow at the thug, her gaze drifting lazily from the weapon he had pointed at her to his face. His expression was tense... but given how he had just called her a little girl, she was going to assume it wasn't because he felt threatened by her. He probably hadn't expected the kid to survive multiple shot wounds, and likely wasn't too thrilled about having to chase him for however far the boy had managed. Given his injuries, she was going to hazard a guess that it hadn't been too far.

"Well that's too bad, isn't it? I don't really feel like giving him up."

She had to admit, as irritating as it was stepping right back into the underbelly of New York after having such a peaceful vacation, the surge of adrenaline was intoxicating. And considering that she couldn't get drunk the normal way, it was a welcome feeling.

For the first time she flashed her teeth at the man, a feral grin that stretched her cheeks and wrinkled the corners of her eyes. Her natural pearly whites glistened, but that wasn't all. Along with then the sharp, dangerous looking points of a pair of fangs could be seen peeking out curiously from the corners of her mouth.

Megan eyed the angle of his weapon quickly, noting that he wasn't pointing it at her head... yet, but rather the dead center of her chest. Were it possible, her grin would have widened. Instead, she started to advance forward one confident step at a time.

"Well that's too bad, isn't it? I don't really feel like giving him up." That...that was good. That was very good, and rather nice of her. He could work with that.

But the man was advancing, almost chuckling, saying, "Don't pick fights you can't win, b**ch. I just want the kid, and you can run home and fix your makeup and be home in time for lunch." What an asshole. Danny was briefly reminded of why he had chosen to beat the man up and drop him unceremoniously in front of the police station instead of leaving him unconscious at the scene of the crime once again.

The man was too caught up in his glee at finally having his prey so close that he didn't even notice the rather strange fangs that seemed to be protruding from between her lips, and he was effectively pointing at his victim through his protector, which was why he was aiming for her chest. But as she started to move forward rather rapidly, still grinning rather eerily, the man still held his ground, not quite clever enough to respond to the more obvious threat.

Her grin faltered slightly. Fix her makeup? What a chauvinistic Ass. Whatever... he was advancing toward her, weapon still pointed stupidly at her chest. She stopped, waiting patiently until he was a good distance within her radius. Then she rolled a shoulder in a lazy shrug, inhaled through her nose, and hawked a large glob of.. something... directly at his face.

It splattered with precise precision across the bridge of his nose and obscured both eyes. She didn't wait for him to react; With two quick strides forward she stepped within his bubble and punched him square in the throat. If his larynx survived, she didn't know. He did however let out a strangled cough, and fell back on his ass. The gun clattered uselessly away to the side. She noted it's placement for later, while she straddled the guys legs and lifted him via the front of his shirt.

"Idiot. If you are going to point a weapon at someone you damned well better shoot them with it. He gripped her by the arm, still unable to speak. "If your head hadn't been so far up your own ass, you would have gotten what you wanted and probably been on your merry way..."

Peeling one his his hands away, she tugged the appendage toward her face and turned it wrist side up. Her lip curled slightly, mind fixed on the hope that he at least had bathed recently... and then she bent her head and sank her fangs into his skin.

That earned a sound for him, at last.

While rather disgusting, his newfound protector spitting in his attacker's face proved to be surprisingly effective - he started to stumble backwards, raising a hand to clear his eyes as he did so, but was interrupted by a well-placed punch to the throat. Coughing, the man fell over, dropping his gun, as the woman held him down.

"Idiot. If you are going to point a weapon at someone you damned well better shoot them with it. If your head hadn't been so far up your own ass, you would have gotten what you wanted and probably been on your merry way..."

...that...what? He wanted Danny dead, and that wasn't happening anytime soon. Wait. She didn't know that. And dear lord, now his thoughts were scrambling. He really had to get somewhere further away before he incinerated both people in front of him.

Speaking of said people, he heard a strangled scream from the tussling pair, and when he squinted to look, he saw the woman...biting the man's wrist? Either she was some strange serial killer, or a mutant. Danny was going for the latter.

He started to scramble up, hissing as the movement tugged at the wounds, and saying, "You have to get out of here. These shots are fatal, and I really don't want you to be in the blast radius." No explanation was provided, but she seemed smart enough to figure out the rest on her own.

The boy's voice dragged her attention away. She dropped the arm she was clutching and the man attached to it, dragged her sleeve across her mouth and turned her back on the soon-to-be-dead.

Cocking an eyebrow, Megan settled her hands on her hips and blinked. "So... you're either a mutant, or packing some kinda bomb vest then?" The latter was more likely. Your average run of the mill New Yorker couldn't afford explosives. She hazarded a glance behind her at the now writhing man. He didn't appear to be gang connected, nor mob. Then again, she'd been out of he city for a while. Maybe things had changed?

"Well, there's two ways this can end then, if you're gonna go and blow up on me. I can either leave you here to do just that, or bleed out... which is far more likely. OR I can haul your ass to a friend of mine and have him fix you up good as new. Shouldn't be too far from here, actually."

Pausing to check her wrist watch tucked under her glove, she pursed her lips and hummed. "Might need to confiscate a car to get there though. Carrying you is out of the question." There was a choking cough from behind her, and then the man fell silent. The wound on hi wrist was already festering as her venom worked it's magic. Not that he could feel it. He was quite dead.

"So how much time exactly do you feel you have before you blow?" She tossed in a few air quotes, but refrained from rolling her eyes.

"So... you're either a mutant, or packing some kinda bomb vest then?" Bomb - why the hell would he be packing a bomb vest? He'd have to be a crap suicide bomber to get shot before he could detonate. Also, if he were wearing a bomb vest, it probably would've blown from the shots to begin with.

"Well, there's two ways this can end then, if you're gonna go and blow up on me. I can either leave you here to do just that, or bleed out... which is far more likely. OR I can haul your ass to a friend of mine and have him fix you up good as new. Shouldn't be too far from here, actually." That...hmm. First time he had ever actually debated whether to die or not. It'd be less trouble to just explode, of course, but he was in a crowded area. Somebody else could get hurt due to the fact that this wasn't the deepest alley ever.

"Might need to confiscate a car to get there though. Carrying you is out of the question." And just as she said that, Danny's attacker did the lying-down equivalent of keeling over and dying. Thank god that guy was finally out of the picture. But he didn't particularly want to steal a car - that was some guy's livelihood she'd be stealing. Insurance rates were high nowadays, and it just didn't feel morally -

Oh, come on, when had he ever cared about morals.

"So how much time exactly do you feel you have before you blow?" And wasn't that the million-dollar question, although she didn't have to be so sarcastic about it. Seemed like he'd just have to rush out a full explanation and let her judge.

"Until I die," he said, shrugging. "No bomb vest, just a mutation. Can't die, just end up blowing up when I do, even though I resurrect in minutes. I'm used to just dying when I've got an irritating injury because I heal more slowly - but I guess it's up to you. I don't particularly mind dying, I just don't want to hurt anyone or be at the site of a murder and explosion, unconscious."

She hummed in response, tapping her fingers on her leg in a bored manner while she listened to him speak. Chances were with her luck he'd explode while she was dragging him out of the alley... but she'd survived worse than burns and contusions. Chances were Roach already had eyes on her anyway.

"Right then, let's get you outta here. Quick, determined steps brought her over to him, where she knelt and reached for one of his arms. Her intention was to wrap it around her neck and fireman-carry him from the alley out to the street. From there she'd find a ride and haul ass to the Sanctuary.

"So, this is most likely gonna hurt. Just keep talking and don't close your eyes, kid. If you can stay awake you should be golden until I can patch you up." Lifting him onto her shoulders with a grunt and a jerk, she hooked an arm around one of his legs and let his weight settle, before heading quickly for the entrance of the alleyway.

Outside the street was busy. People rushing to and fro, barely paying attention to anything save for their phones, or chatting with others. Megan barely cast a glance at those who passed as she stepped out to the curb and threw an arm in the air, before hollering for a Taxi.

Yellow cabs dotted the roads, mainly circling busy streets or parked on the side of the road for lunches. One eager driver saw her hail and pulled over, casting a suspicious glance at the two as she pulled the back door open and tried to ease the boy in. Once he was more or less settled she hopped in herself, choosing to sit in the front-seat.

It was then that the cabby noticed the blood adorning her clothes, and with closer inspection the blood also leaking out of Danny. His anger was sudden, which morphed into confusion and apprehension. As he started to protest Megan held up a one finger, using her other hand to tap an address into his gps. "You know what the Sanctuary is?" He nodded. She cut him off before he could resume complaining.

"Good. Then you know how well they react to humans mistreating mutants. Guess what? I'm a mutant, so I suggest you start driving before this becomes a problem."