”17484 show 42.” Rianne said into her radio signaling her shift was over. It had been a long twelve hours but she could head home. Her last call for service blessedly ended around when her shift was to end.

She drove her squad car to the garage near her apartment to park it for the night. A perk of being in law enforcement sometimes was the take home car. As Rianne did not own a car it made travel to and from work easier.

Once home Rianne changed out of her uniform, hanging it and her armor in her closet. She left the gun belt on a shelf in her closet. She was going drinking tonight. Few things helped relax after a long day as a nice drink at a bar. A pair of slim boot cut jeans, her brown Tony Lamas with a round toe and a riding heel, and a plaid button up loosely fitted and tucked into the front of the jeans. Then after a quick check of the weather she grabbed a nice leather jacket. She was a Texas girl and an evening in the fifties warranted a jacket at minimum.

Dressed; she concealed her SIG P239, stuck her phone in one back pocket, slid some money and her cards in the other with her badge, and her Benchmade AFO II into her waistband. Winter was over so carrying a lot of things was no longer as easy to accomplish.

Fix her hair and makeup and she was out on the street heading to her bar. The sun wasn’t gone yet, but it was well on its way.

It was finally closing time and today had been a long day.  Amrbosia loved what she did, selling the tools of witchcraft to those who needed them and offering up her knowledge and experience for free, but some days were still trying.  Today had been definitely been one of those days espeically when some thug had come in threatning violence to her and all the other 'mutie freaks' she associted with.  Idiot.  Violence solved nothing.  She had been 30 seconds from calling the cops on the guy before he finally stormed out, muttering angerly to himself.

Stepping out into the cool night air, she locked the shop door behind her.  In a city the size of New York, she was fortunate to live close enough to her work to walk and when the weather was as lovely as it was tonight, walking was preferred.  Exercise and a good diet were the first steps in maintaining healthy body and a healthy mind.  

It was about a block from the shop that she first sensed something wrong, a distinct feeling of being followed.  She continued walking, acting as if nothing was wrong but straining to hear the patter of footsteps.  Moments later, her excpetional hearing picked it out: footsteps.  Definitely being followed.  Damn.

Coming up to an alley, a young man with a brushcut and a bat stepped to the edge of the alley to stare her down.  A moment later, another man came from upfront and a third, the one following her, appeared from behind, all armed with bats and metal pipes.   One of the three she recognized.  The one from early.

"Not so tough now, are you, you little freak?" she spoke with a snear and a glower.

Rianne continued to make her way down the street. While not in her cop mode she was still operating at condition yellow, or a relaxed alert. Having seen the worst that can happen in this city she had trained herself to always keep alert.

It was this awareness that brought her attention to something happening a couple blocks away. Someone was moving in a subtle way that indicated to Rianne there was about to be trouble. Rianne sped up her walk, intending to close the distance without looking out of place. That was until a man stepped out of an alley, and another 2 moved around the person.

Rianne's power immediately gave her ears the ability to hear what was said,
"Not so tough now, are you, you little freak?"

At that she broke into a run. 1 block to go. Her riding heels pounding away loudly on the concrete. One block is nothing when you can travel at traffic speeds. Approaching the group she football tackled one of the men. They were clearly about to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Carrying the one to the ground, she was only briefly worried what 135 pounds at 60 or so miles per hour would do to a person who was driven into concrete. One laid out she rose to her feet and turned to the other two.

"NYPD, drop your weapons and get on the ground."

The ball was in their court. If they ran she could give their descriptions to another officer and just see the one booked. If they fought they would regret it. Either way woman would be safe.

Crap, crap, crap!  Despite a deep breath and efforts to stay calm. Ambrosia felt panic rise in her chest.  What did they want?  Why did they hate her so?  What caused them to come all this way to stalk and attack her?  Of course, the answer to all of those questions was obvious and flittered through her head almost as soon as they questions had left her thoughts: She was a mutant and some people hated mutants for no other reason than because they were different.

"I'm not the freak, you are!"  Not exactly the most clever response and probably about the worst response she could have made, given the circumstances.  It sure didn't seem to make the thugs appear any more friendly towards her, that was for sure.  Double crap!  "Can we, uh, maybe talk this out?  Like civilized folk?"  She wanted to back away, but there was nowhere to back away to.

"NYPD, drop your weapons and get on the ground."

Well, that was certainly unexpected.  One assailant downed by the newcomer, the remaining two assailants were momentarily distracted, pausing for a moment to glance at the newcomer.  No one moved to get on the ground.  Taking advantage of the distraction offered, Amrbosia acted almost by instinct breathing purple and green fire on the nearest target and most of his upper body lit up in brightly coloured flames.  


"Hah!  Take that!" One of his friends charged with his pipe in the air and she quickly realized that any celebration was deeply premature.

The remaining conscious thugs decided they wouldn't back down to a police officer that just took one of their buddies to the roadkill cafe. One of them charged the woman. Rianne moved for that one. She was still moving with her enhanced speed and closed the distance the thug could strike the woman with his pipe.

Rianne jumped then planted a foot into the thugs thigh to get height and her angle correct. She spun her hips and caught one leg on either side of the thugs neck. She continued rotating as her momentum carried her and the thug round a half turn before crashing into the ground, her thighs still around the thugs neck cutting off blood flow to his brain. Flying scissor choke.

On the ground she gave one last squeeze and pounded the thug's skull until he let go of the pipe and went limp. Then Rianne climbed up and turned to face the woman and the last thug.

"On the ground before I put you on the ground!" She barked at the last thug, an expletive there to describe the ground.

Whoever this woman was, she was very efficient at what she did.  The second thug barely had a moment to react before he too was lying on the ground in a heap. Whoever these thugs were and whatever assumptions of supremacy they might have had, this woman had just very handedly divested them of those fond illusions.  They would be hurting for a very long time to come.  

As for the third thug, he was burning away in glorious greens and purples.  Perhaps one might have assumed, being on fire as he was, that there would have been a lot of screaming as his flesh burned to a char.  Instead of screaming, however, the was only a look of confusion and neither flesh nor clothing appeared to be unduly affected.

"On the ground before I put you on the ground!"

A very unsteady step was taken as the man tried to follow the woman's command.  A second step proved too much for the poor soul, however, as he proceeded to collapse in a crumpled heap followed by all the contents of his stomach being emptied half on the street and half upon his own body and clothing.  

There!  That would teach them all!  "That was brilliant!  Amazing, even!"  Adrenaline was still coursing through her body even in the face of the defeat of her would-be assailants.

The third thug, who Rianne now realized was covered in purple and green fire. She moved to remove her jacket to put the fire out but stopped when she realized the thug wasn't actually burning. That was interesting.

The interesting didn't last long. The thug went down and vomited. On everything.

Rianne pulled her phone out, a new crack across the screen. She sighed at the crack and hit the speed dial for her sergeant. The woman she'd helped was talking to her, "That was brilliant! Amazing, even!" She took the chance to look at the woman now. Her eyes, bright green and cat like. It was a bias-motivated crime against a mutant.

"Are you alright, did any of them hurt you?" She approached the woman looking for signs that she'd been hurt. The phone picked up, her sergeant answered. Rianne quickly gave her location and to send a couple squad cars over. "Do you know why they attacked you?"

It was at this time Rianne spared a quick glance at herself. She had ripped holes through both knees of her jeans with her tackle. They had been expensive.

Amrbosia waited patiently while the cop made her calls to report the incident.  She almost felt bad fro the three young men, except that they had supreme dicks that pretty much deserved every bit of discomfort that had come upon them.  It was almost tempting to breathe fire on the other two, just to add insult to injury but karma had a funny way of coming back to a person and it didn't appreciate petty acts of revenge.

"Are you alright, did any of them hurt you? Do you know why they attacked you?"



Ambrosia nodded that she was all right and boy did she ever know why they attacked her. "I'm a mutant. That's why they attacked me." She sighed dramatically. It was such a sad world they lived in that such things continued to matter so deeply to some people. "I work at The Silver Chalice not far from here. From there, I help mutants find resources to help them. You know, food, shelter, that sort of thing. I don't fight anyone, honest, but I guess that just doesn't matter to some people." She was working to change that. One step at a time, she was working to change that. But why did it have to be so hard and why did people have to be so mean?


"Thank you so much for the save.  My power is purely defensive in nature and not so great against multiple people"  Probably she could have eventually gotten away on her own but likely not without a few very painful bruies or possibly a concussion for her efforts.  At least there were still some good people in the world!

Rianne let the woman answer, her attention divided only enough to remain aware of the state of all three thugs. She didn’t have handcuffs or even zip-ties to restrain them. If they attempted to get up Rianne would maintain the peace through superior firepower. With police response time what it was in this city she should expect five to ten minutes for this area. Since Rianne made the call and she was the shit magnet who only called in assistance on the worst or the worst there should be someone as fast as humanly possible.

The woman informed her she was a mutant, this was already evident but Rianne wasn’t going to be rude and stop her to point this out. She believed that was why she was attacked, which was likely why she was attacked but not why she specifically was targeted. Her admitting that she doesn’t fight anyone and that her power is purely defensive told Rianne why the woman was attacked..

”I’m willing to bet they wanted to stomp on a mutant to feel strong and important, but not one that could do much to fight back. Absolute scum.” Rianne said pouring disgust into her last statement. Returning to her normal tone she added ”I’m Rianne Hunter by the way. I’m glad I was here to help.”

This was the first time Ambrosia had ever been involved in something that required real cops to assist.  It was a little nerve wracking having official reports and handcuffs and all the rest, even if she was the victim in the whole scenario rather than the perpetrator and, as such, wasn't actually in any real trouble.  Of course, being a visible mutant, this wasn't the first time she'd been in a physical alternation but this was the most serious and the first time she'd needed help getting bailed out.  Faerie fire worked beautifully for some non-lethal self defense and, when that failed, she could faerie dragons could fly faster and farther than any human could easily follow.  

"Sometimes I hate people."  Another long suffering sigh.  "I mean, not really all people, most people are great, mutant and human.  But those people that can't accept other people who are different and beat on them because they're enormous asses with small penises.  Or boobs.  Whatever.  They suck, is all I'm saying."

Actually, that felt pretty good to get out.  Maybe she should look into a shrink so she could vent more in the future?  It felt therapeutic.  "Anyway, I'm Ambrosia Greydon and I'm glad there are still good people like you in the world willing to help out when needed."

Rianne could now hear the sirens approaching, officers from ESU would be here soon to pick up the three thugs. ”Some people are just dicks. They get their rocks off by picking on people weaker than them. It’s part of why I became a cop. Someone has to be there who is bigger than the scum to teach them they can’t get what they want out of those they view as weak.”

The woman’s name was Ambrosia, the food of the gods. ”Nice to meet you Ambrosia. And I could say I’m just doing my job, but I got off work a little over an hour ago.” She smiled.

A police SUV pulled up and an officer jumped out. Rianne greeted the officer and gestured to the three thugs. The officer pulled out a few of restraints riot officers use that look like zip ties and went to work on the three.

The officer threw two of the thugs in his SUV and when a second SUV pulled up the third was thrown in the back of it. ”Do you need a supplement?” Rianne asked one of the officers. The officer replied yes, but that it could wait until she was back on duty the paperwork on the incident would take a while anyway.

Rianne went back over to Ambrosia, ”Would you like to get something to drink? Put all this behind you.”

Amrbosia could hear sirens approaching from the distance and, if nothing else, that meant this whole nightmare was close to its conclusion.  Thank the Earth Mother for that!  Maybe this whole experience was a sign that it was time she learned some proper self defense that went beyond blow some pretty and run/fly like hell out of there.

"I'm very sorry for interrupting your time off."  Really, it was those disgusting thugs who should be apologizing but that didn't seem likely just at the moment and not just because they were presently unconscious.  She smiled back.  Couldn't feel too guilty for something that really wasn't her fault.

Ambrosia stayed out of the way and watched as the officers pulled up and did their thing.  The assaults were placed in restraints and put into the back of the vehicle.  Served them right, it did!  Rianne conferred with her fellow officers and within a short period of time the entire unpleasant evening had drawn to its conclusion.  

”Would you like to get something to drink? Put all this behind you.”

"Would I ever!" Ambrosia nodded with enthusiasm.  "Did you have something in mind?  Are you sure my tagging along won't ruin your night more than its all ready been ruined, or anything?"

"You have nothing to apologize for, you didn't cause this. And that was without a doubt true. There were times where your own actions led to you being victimized, but those all involved you being a knucklehead and creating the situation, often this was because the victim was involved in criminality themselves. In this case Ambrosia was just going about life and was targeted.

Did Rianne have something in mind? "You tagging around won't ruin my night, as long as you are okay with margaritas. There is a little Mexican place a couple blocks away. They make this prickly pear margarita that is to die for! It is my own little taste of home." Rianne checked with the officers on the scene, they didn't need her or Amber anymore.

"I will need you to make a statement to put in the file on this, but we don't have to worry about that tonight." There were two schools of thought on witness statements. The first is to get the statement as soon as possible, before the witness can sleep on it. You get a less biased account, but you get an account with holes and where the witness is unsure of details. The second school of thought is to take a statement later. This way the victim can process through what happen and give a more complete account, but many gaps have been filed with incorrect information. They had to take witness statements, but witnesses are the least useful part in any police investigation due to inaccuracies in the statements even with truthful people.

Rianne went to lead Ambrosia to her favorite little hole in the wall margarita place.

Well that settled that.  It wasn't her fault and those thugs were dicks.  Sometimes the obvious was just that: obvious.  If only everything in life were that simple.  Disgusting and objectionable, but still simple.  On second thought, maybe complicated was sometimes better.  

"I have absolutely no objections to margaritas," Ambrosia answered with enthusiasm.  With all original intents to go directly from work to home for a quiet night alone before going to sleep, she wasn't exactly dressed for a night on the town but sometimes one just had to roll with the punches.  Besides, there was something about being an elf lady that some found enchanting all on its own and she wasn't above using her physical gifts for a free drink or two.  

"Whenever you need my statement, you let me know and I'll be there.  I hope they get duly punished and maybe even learn from their misguided actions."  Rehabilitation was much better than vengeance, of course, but it was right that they get a bit of just punishment as well otherwise you taught people they could do whatever they wanted without consequence.  That helped no one.

The margarita place wasn't quite the type that Ambrosia tended to frequent herself; she was more partial to club nights with thumping base and laser shows.  New experiences, however, were what life was all about and she followed the other woman inside.

Ambrosia had no objections to margaritas. Perfect! With her now tore up clothes, Rianne wasn't up for going anywhere like a club or her favorite bars, but kicking it with the working class folk in a hole in the wall was right up the speed of her newly conditioned attire.

"I can meet you wherever tomorrow while I'm on shift. It shouldn't take long. Their sentences will likely be pretty light, I stopped them while it was only attempted. Felony assault requires physical injury." Rianne smiled before continuing, "But I don't think they'll be so willing to jump a mutant in this neighborhood in the future after the pounding they just took. I'm actually a little worried about the first one I hit. He'll need an MRI. The second one might as well, but his would just be for a slipped disk."

They arrived at El Charrito and the sounds of Mexican music poured over them as they walked inside. The owner was second generation American, her parent's having been naturalized here thirty years back and passed the business to her after they retired last year.

Rianne sat down at the bar and in Spanish ordered a prickly pear margarita, frozen with no salt. She then said she would cover the woman with her before turning to Ambrosia and switching back to English asked, "Know what you want?" She then helpfully slid a drink menu to her drinking partner. Aside from the usual list of cervezas, there was an exhaustive list of margaritas. Prickly pear, strawberry, big red, margaritas with beers upturned in them, and so on.