The world moved oddly around her. Roxie ground his teeth, trying to keep her head from bouncing right off with how much the fox was moving. But as much as she tried to steady herself, the fact that she was not on firm ground was beginning to show its wear on her. Her skin was barely durable enough to keep the fox’s teeth from puncturing but if she stayed like this much longer then she was definitely going to suffer for it. The only plus in this situation was that at least she wasn’t completely alone.

Looking up, she could see her new friend riding along with the fox as if he were a gnome. The whole sight would have struck her as funny if it weren’t for the fact that she was in the jaws of a massive beast. So instead she tried to get some kind of game plan together. She shouted if there was any sign of help or where they were going. A shake of his head and Roxie knew the answer even before he said anything.

>>"No sign of the cavalry yet...But it looks like... um. I think we're going to the giraffe building?"

”Dammit!” She started to pummel against the fox’s cheek. There was still some strength with each blow but all it earned her was an angry snarl in response. What was going on? Why was she being kidnapped rather than eaten (not that she was complaining about that particular part)? Something didn’t make sense. This seemed less and less like a standard mutant attack and more like...kidnapping?


>>"So... how strong are you, exactly?"

Roxie looked up. ”Depends,” she said, shoving her palms against the fox’s teeth. One was beginning to crack but incredibly slowly. ”I need to be closer to buildings to be more effective. Right now... barely anything.’ That was a quick and dirty explanation of her abilities and hopefully something he could utilize.

Looking up, Roxie watched the looming building of the giraffe enclosure and she struggled harder. The buildings weren’t that grandiose but she could feel some strength returning to her thanks to the infrastructure beneath the ground. She shoved more, the cracks widening in the fox’s tooth, but she soon stopped when they passed through the massive doors and she heard several things. First were the lamenting cries of other kidnappees, and second was the maniacal cackling up ahead.

She craned her neck. All she saw, on the top of a raised platform, was a single figure draped in a tiger-skin cloak. Roxie whispered firmly to her new comrade. ”Hey! Can you see anything? Who is that?”

>>”Depends. I need to be closer to buildings to be more effective. Right now... barely anything.’

Depends? She was super strong, and equally confident, and then, when asked, she went with depends?! Javier groaned into the fox fur. Leave it to him to meet the only other super strong person whose strength was unreliable.

"Your strength depends on buildings?..."

Well, at least they got some of those, now that they entered the zoo and the giraffe house.

>>”Hey! Can you see anything? Who is that?”

Javier stuck to the back of the fox's neck; for now, he was a voluntary tagalong, not a hostage. He wanted to go unnoticed. And unchallenged. Roxie's strength might have depended on buildings, but hell if he knew what his own depended on. Or when it decided to crap out again.

"Someone with a sh*tty sense of style" he muttered, against his better judgment, and peered over the fur.

"BOW TO THE BEASTMASTER!"

"... he's the Beastmaster."

>>"Your strength depends on buildings?..."

Roxie couldn’t respond to that. She could hear the animals as they all entered the building, the multitude of them bearing their own cringing, crying cargo. Much like the fox that had her, every animal she saw as she whipped her head around was massive, far bigger than they were supposed to be. Strangely, though, it seemed that they were all grown to the exact same size. Naturally a lion is bigger than a fox, but both were now around the same, massive size. Clearly the work of a mutant.

But, much like Javier pointed out, they were inside of a building now. Roxie clenched her fist, feeling her connection to the structure seeping into her muscles. Casually she tested, reaching out and pushing her hand against one of the fox’s teeth. She could feel the give. Not a lot since she was holding back but she could feel the tooth wriggle against the force of her touch. That was progress.

She couldn’t celebrate just yet. As she was testing this out, she heard a loud sound cut through the air. Someone was laughing. Craning her head, she tried to get a look at them but only managed to see a flare of a tiger’s cloak and nothing more. That was...interesting. So she whispered to Javier if he could see who it was.

>>"Someone with a sh*tty sense of style"

>>”Bow to the beastmaster!”

>>"... he's the Beastmaster."

Her eyes rolled. Hard. Of course it had to be some lunatic like this. She couldn’t enjoy a nice day in the park without some psychopath with delusions of grandeur. He must be the source of all this, the person who managed to make all this animals far bigger than they should be. And was he controlling them too? That was what it was beginning to sound like. And it was an answer she would receive sooner rather than later.

The Beastmaster, standing upon a platform usually reserved for observation and feeding, turned with a flourish. His cape of tiger skin flared out and upon him his outfit of various animal skins were visible. Leopard pants, a gorilla hair vest, and a mask made to look like that of a lion’s head, complete with a mane that flared out behind him. Truly this was a crime against fashion.

With a cackle on his lips he waved his hand over all the animals surveyed. “Bring them to me!” he shouted, pointing to the large dip in the center of the room. “So I can count all my prizes. Heheheh!”

Roxie started to shove, pushing against the fox’s tooth. It was cracking, almost ready to give, but soon she was airborne, hurled by the fox into the dip. People shouted and screamed, everyone haphazardly thrown into the room. Roxie landed with a thud, amongst many others and she grumbled. This sucked.

Animal print was a crime against fashion, at least the way this guy was doing it. Javier's mind was mostly occupied by survival at the moment, but even so, the guy could not be anything else but a supervillain, looking like that. While Roxie had been tossed onto the floor with the rest of the captives, Javier managed to avoid detection so far, clinging to the fox fur like a tick.

>>“Bring them to me! So I can count all my prizes. Heheheh!”

Prizes? What, was he collecting hostages? Javier ducked lower in the fur. Unfortunately, the persistent clinging was starting to garner the fox's attention, who, with his duty done, proceeded to sit down on its hind quarters, and scratch idly at his ear with a back paw. Javier scrambled out of the paw's way, which prompted more furious scratching. Crap.

"Look at all of you, nicely in one place!" boomed the Beastmaster in the meantime "Quite the display, isn't it? Much more interesting that those poor creatures in cages, if you ask me. Yes! I bet people would pay good money to see you all... again..."

Roxie winced once she landed. She wasn’t extremely hurt but she was still nursing some injuries when she was taken off the ground and was being hauled over to this enclosure. Now she was leaning heavily against her arm, looking up at the psychopath that was looming over the pit. Up above she could better see the individual calling himself the Beastmaster and Roxie was very much not impressed. He was dressed like a fashion nightmare and nothing more.

Groaning as she moved up to her feet, she held onto her side (definitely a bruised rib from earlier) and surveyed the rest of the crowd. They were just people. Just random people, all of which who had been captured in just as cruel a manner as herself. However, they didn’t have the gift of the mutation she did. Each of them was injured, bleeding, limping, some crying as they held onto broken limbs. The animals had not been gentle -- or that was how they were commanded to be.

Her gaze shot back to the fox she had come from but there was no sign of her comrade. He was probably still in hiding. She hoped that he didn’t run off and that he was going to help in some manner. Maybe she just needed to bide him some time. So, her attention snapped back to the self-made villain as he cackled obnoxiously.

>>"Look at all of you, nicely in one place! Quite the display, isn't it? Much more interesting that those poor creatures in cages, if you ask me. Yes! I bet people would pay good money to see you all... again..."

She rolled her eyes, again. That was more eyerolls in one day than should be allowed! But this guy was just so over-the-top and so completely out of his mind that it was difficult to keep a straight face. But, despite all that, she smiled. She smiled because with her feet firmly planted in the ground, and the sensation of the structure of the building around her, she could feel a pretty solid hold on her strength. That was the only reason she raised her gaze upward and pointed a stern finger at the Beastmaster.

”Hey! Cosplay reject!” she shouted. ”Have you been huffing paint fumes?” she growled. ”These are innocent people! Hurt people! And what? You’re going to ransom them? Talk about unoriginal!”

She wanted him mad and, judging by why she could see of his face underneath the mask, he was getting irritated. He held firmly to the edge of his tiger-skin cape and gave it a flourish.

“Oh if there’s one thing you don’t want to do, it’s piss off the kidnapper.” He snapped. “Because there’s no one, not even the ridiculous X-Men who can stop me--EEEEE!!!” Beastmaster squealed and dodged out of the way as a giant feed bowl was hurled at him.

Roxie stood there, unashamed of her actions. ”Blow it out your ass,” she shouted. The challenge had been thrown and she hoped the moron would answer.

The man was clearly insane, but also clearly a powerful mutant. In his darkest nightmares, Javier had occasionally wondered what he would do in a situation like this, even though the logical answer was easy: Hide and hope for the X-men to show up.
But not Roxie.

>>”Hey! Cosplay reject! Have you been huffing paint fumes? These are innocent people! Hurt people! And what? You’re going to ransom them? Talk about unoriginal!”

What was she doing? Did she have her powers back, now that they were inside a building? Javier tried to look, but the fox twisted and scratched more furiously, trying to get him with his paw.

>>“Oh if there’s one thing you don’t want to do, it’s piss off the kidnapper. Because there’s no one, not even the ridiculous X-Men who can stop me--EEEEE!!!”

>>”Blow it out your ass,”

Where were the X-men?

The fox twisted, and Javier clung to the fur, trying to inch away with the giant paw. Grabbing for a better hold, his fingers found something, a thread so thin it almost disappeared in the fur completely. A collar? But why would a zoo animal wear a collar, tied with a knot? Unless...

The logic was there, but Javier failed to follow it up before he acted. Just as the fox twisted again, he grabbed hold of the thread and snapped it. It was easy, someone with normal strength could have done it too. And the moment it was done, the fox went back to normal size.

The fall knocked the air out of Javier's lungs. He didn't land on the animal, but hit the floor instead, shoulder first, and stars erupted in his vision.

"Ow..."

Roxie had issued the challenge. She was over trying to take the subtle route. All she had wanted was a nice day out. A chance to walk out in the park and not have to worry about what her mutation would do to her. But no, she couldn’t have that could she? Instead of just enjoying her time in the park, she had to be picked up and stolen away by a giant fox at the behest of this psycho.

Roxie. Was. Done.

She glared daggers at the badly dressed mutant. Exactly what was his powers? Clearly he made the animals big...but did he also control them? Had to be. She didn’t see anyone else around to handle that aspect, so clearly was some mutant telepath / size alterater? Talk about unfair. How did that even work in the grand scheme of things? If anything she imagined mutants with powers that were more...related.

But whatever. She shook the thoughts away and continued to glare up at the towering man on his pedestal. All she wanted to do was knock it down but considering just how minimal the structure of the building was, she knew that she had to play things safe. If she went about causing destruction then she was going to vastly weaken her own abilities.

Despite her challenge, she needed to play things smart. But how?

Then there was a ruckus. Roxie snapped her attention back as the fox who had thrown her started to buck and spin, trying to bite something on its back. Her brow arched, and so did the Beastmaster’s, until several things happened: 1st, the fox turned hard. 2nd, she watched Javier go flying and land with a harsh thud. And 3rd, somehow, there the fox that had just carried her the whole way here disappeared in a poof and suddenly returned to the size of a normal fox.

”Oooookay?” she started. She then shouted to Javier. ”Whatever you did, do it again!”

>>"Ow..."

“NOOOO!!!”

Roxie looked up as the Beastmaster suddenly dove off the ledge, falling directly at her. Roxie pulled her fist back but before she could deliver a blow, she watched in surprise as two large skin flaps opened up in her foe’s under arms. He caught the air and floated like a flying squirrel over Roxie’s head and landed deftly behind her. She turned just in time to see the man’s back legs suddenly shift to that of a donkey’s as he threw his shifting legs (now the hindquarters of a donkey) into her stomach, sending her sprawling back.

Landing with a grunt, Roxie leaned up to see the man looming over her. She watched as his body moved and twisted, shaping and reshaping into various animal limbs and body parts, as if he were trying to decide which animal ability he wanted to encompass. Roxie, unamused, rolled her eyes as she moved to her feet.

”Oh come the **** on! That doesn’t even make sense!!!” she snapped. She then swiftly dodged to the side as a massive arm, shifting into a snake’s head, flew at her. Roxie dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the poisonous bite, and tensed her jaw. She really, really hoped that Javier was okay and doing...something.

>>”Whatever you did, do it again!”

Do what again? Break his shoulder? It sure felt like it was broken. Or dislocated, at least. Javier whimpered as he rolled over, trying to get to his feet to show a less pitiful sight once all the attention was turned to him. The fox scampered away. The Beastmaster yelled something, and then a new fight broke out. Roxie was in the middle of it. Javier shook his head, still seeing blotches of stars.

>>”Oh come the **** on! That doesn’t even make sense!!!”

Right. Shapeshifter? Roxie was strong, very strong, but Javier could not be sure she would be okay. Where the hell were the authorities? MRC, the X-men?... The giant animals stood around, shifting uneasily, forming a barrier between the people and the way out. Would they attack if told? There was no way to know. But the fox had gone back to normal after he took the thread off... and that was all Javier had to go on.

"I'm gonna regret this..." he muttered as he turned to the penguin next to him. It was large, and shiny, and upon closer inspection, also had a thin collar. It was a lot harder to get up to it with one arm hurt, but since Javi had done the jump earlier, he was fairly certain he could do it. He had to. He sure as hell was not gonna fight the big bad guy, so might as well do his part as a civilian. Just until the authorities got there...

The penguin went back to normal. So did a lemur. And a pig. And...

"Sh*t."

Forgot about the tiger.

Okay, so maybe now Roxie was beginning to realize that she bit off a bit more than she could chew. Not only was the Beastmaster actually a competent fighter, but his mutation, for as wild as it seemed, was proving to be more formidable than she would have liked. But she wasn’t going to allow herself to back down now. Whatever Javier had did, he had managed to shrink down one of those animals. If he could do the same with others, then that would least remove the animal component from this equation.

But now that meant she had to handle the crazed mutant on her own. The man, in his furry attire, lashed out at Roxie with everything he had. His arms lashed out, creating snake heads, crab pincers, tiger claws, at one point she felt a prehensile tail wrap around her ankle and tug her feet out from under her. She landed with a thud but rolled away just in time to dodge massive elephant foot (the Beastmaster’s) as he tried to squish her head.

“Gah!! Hold still!!” he shouted.

Roxie slipped onto her feet and started to circle around him again. Quietly she rolled her neck, her eyes laser focused on him. In the distance she could see animals suddenly poofing and reappearing as their smaller selves. She couldn’t see what Javier was doing, but thank god he was doing it. Rolling her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes at the mutant.

The Beastmaster cackled, his hands shifting between claws and bird talons. “You don’t want this, pretty bird,” he spat. “I’ll gut you and your friend for what you’ve done. Soon you will know the wrath of the animal kingdom! YOU WILL KNOW YOUR PLACE IN THE FOOD CHAIN! YOU WI---URRRRKKK!!!”

His voice was cut off. Launching herself forward, Roxie threw her fist into the man’s cheek, hearing a satisfying crack of the jawbone, then the rush of air as he flew from her fist and sent skidding acrossing the dirt covered ground. Roxie sighed, rolling her neck again as she tightened her fist. She barely felt any resistance. Beastmaster, meanwhile…

“Mah jaff…” he spat up blood and teeth in a gargled sound. He struggled to stand up, wavering and holding his face. “...ew...ew broff mah jaf!!”

Roxie threw her fist into her open hand, sending a small shockwave expanding out from her person. A devilish smirk pulled her lips. ”Oh sweetie…” she chided. ”I’m about to do so much worse.”

With that, Roxie ran after the mutant, to which Beastmaster immediately and without hesitation...began to run away. And around the pen the both of them ran, Beastmaster trying to flee, and Roxie giving chase, shouting obscenities for him to get back.

Not having been given any orders, most of the animals stood around, except fort he occasional stretching or scratching. Even when Javier climbed or pounced on them, awkwardly because of his injured arm, most of them did not put up a fight beyond trying to shake the annoying parasite off.
But... this one was still a tiger.

Behind him, Roxie was holding her own against her opponent. The Beastmaster was less talkative now, which was good, but also the fight was not ending anytime soon. And all Javi could do was make sure that by the time the Beastmaster thought of calling in the cavalry, the cavalry would be... normal sized.

But. Again.
Tiger.

It was sitting down, like a cat, licking a paw. Javier sized up the situation, and could not help but notice fangs, and assume claws were inside the paws as well. Just how tame zoo tigers were, exactly?... Glancing behind his back, he saw the Beastmaster take off, pursued by Roxie.

"Heffp me! STOff HEee! Heffp me!"

Muffled by broken jaw or not, the order seemed to affect the animals that were still large. Including the tiger, that stood, crouching down ready to pounce, following Roxie with its bright green eyes.

"*****"

Javier's uninjured shoulder collided with the tiger's side just as it was about to pounce. The collision carried considerable force and momentum, and managed to throw the feline off course, sending both of them tumbling to the wall of the building.

"STOFF EM BOFF!"

I just tackled a tiger

Now the tiger was both aware, pissed, and had an order to complete. Javier lunged at it before it could lunge at him, grabbing at the collar, forgetting about he shoulder injury in the rush of adrenaline.

Scratch that I'm fighting a tiger

Where the hell are the X-men...

Roxie gave chase. She knew that she had the Beastmaster on the ropes and she was looking to drive home that final nail in the coffin. But her enemy was proving to be a bit of a coward and fled from her advances. She was ready to throw his head through the wall but the slippery bastard simply wasn’t letting her catch up. It seemed that however ridiculous his powers were, they were aiding him in trying to get away with the crime.

But not for long. With a roll of her shoulders, Roxie felt a burst of speed and energy fill her lips. She pumped her calves hard as she bolted after the flee man, ignoring whatever words he tried to mumble through his ruined mouth.

Roxie didn’t immediately catch onto anything he was saying. Out of the corner of her eye though, she saw that many of the animals had shrunk. Most were just meandering. But there was one, massive creature that seemed to focus in on her. But before she could turn her head to look, the creature was suddenly gone, pushed off to the side. What the hell?

Still chasing, she turned to see Javier squaring off against the massive tiger. It seemed that whatever he was doing to shrink the animals either didn’t work or he didn’t get to the tiger yet. Great. She was thankful for his help, but clearly he was injured and inexperienced and she needed to help him.

Pushing herself faster, Roxie growled as she suddenly launched herself at the Beastmaster. Had she not been so determined...she would have missed. However, this time, she threw herself at him and caught him by that stupid, furry cape. Holding on tight, she immediately brought the man down with a thud.

He scrambled and screamed but Roxie ignored him as she tightened her grip and gave the man a wink. ”Time to ground you, jackass…” she snarled. With that, she began to swing.

It was like a cheesy scene in a movie. Roxie held on tight to the cape and began to spin. She lifted the Beastmaster up, turning him around and around, his screams filling the air. Then, aiming as well as she could, she launched him directly at the massive tiger like a hammer throw. As the Beastmaster sailed true for his target, Roxie turned and shouted to Javier.

”Outta the way, Javier!”

There was no way in actual, sane reality that Javier Martín Moreno would fight a tiger, even regular size. He had definitely never imagined himself tackling a giant specimen. His strength tended to cut out the worst possible moments, so it was very, very dangerous to pick a fight he might not be able to finish.
And yet, when it came to a bunch of people being in danger and the only other good guy (girl) with powers tacking the evil mutant mastermind, Javier found that he did not have much of a choice but to tackle a tiger.

It hurt.
And the tiger was definitely not happy.

Claws scraped at Javier as they both rolled on the ground, and the tiger, being feline, managed to find its footing first.
Well then.

>>”Outta the way, Javier!”

Javier could not really duck any lower than he already way, being thrown off by the tiger and lying on the ground. From his low vantage point he watched the Beastmaster soar overhead, collide with the tiger, and then there was some confusion, and a popping sound as mutant powers cut out and the tiger went back to normal size.
Javier sighed, aching all over, and closed his eyes, just for a moment, hoping no more surprises would suddenly crop up nearby.

Well then.

Roxie was barely even thinking any more. All that mattered to her was to end this fight. The giant animals, the terrified people, the ridiculously dressed man, it all just needed to stop. And the only way that she was going to achieve that was if she went all out. That was why, when she lunged forward, she snagged his cape and held on tight. She ignored the choking sounds as she reeled the Beastmaster backwards like a fish on a hook, and then started to spin.

It must have made a comical sight. She turned hard, spinning on her heels as she swung the choking mutant by his cape around and around and around. She had always heard critics say that capes made no sense. They were only a liability to people trying to save the world. Oh how right they were. In this instance, Roxie knew exactly what so many of them said when they shouted ‘No Capes!’.

With another pivot of her hips, Roxie shouted at the top of her lungs for Javier to duck as she pulled her arms forward, swinging the lumbering Beastmaster forward and directly towards the massive tiger that was getting ready to make a final swipe at her newfound friend.

Roxie fell to her knee as exhaustion started to set in. Even though she was in a building, it wasn’t the best of structures. It was minimalist at best and that often led to her powers being slightly dampened. Now that she was taking a moment to rest, she could feel the tired seeping into her bones. She was strong, she was powerful, but she wasn’t as full strength and her body was reminding her of that.

Still, even though her eyes were tired, she watched as the villain flew through the open air, screeching the entire way. His arms flapped, shifting into that of bird wings but they were unable to form quickly enough. Just as the right feathers grew in, there was a harsh snap as he collided with the tiger. Yowls and screams issued forth as they slammed into one another. The dust settled, followed by a poof, and the tiger lay on its side, while Beastmaster lay on his.

Neither were moving, but both were breathing. Good. It was then she noticed Javier rolling onto his back, looking just as tired. A grin on her lips, Roxie straightened up and jogged over to him. As she skid to a stop she knelt down, hovering over his face.

Lightly she tapped his cheeks to keep him from nodding off. ”Come on, Handsome. Can’t sleep on the job yet.”

Everything hurt. Probably not nearly as much as the Beastmaster was hurting, let alone the poor tiger, but still, Javier was starting to feel the effects as he lay on his back and his powers decided to cut out again. His head hurt, from being pulled head first into a wall; his shoulder was probably dislocated; and the last fight with the tiger had left him with a neat row of claw marks along his hip. He was probably not in any life-threatening danger, but damn he was exhausted.

Someone was patting his cheeks, so he opened his eyes to see Roxie above. Javier blinked slowly. Can't sleep yet?...

"What now?" he muttered, trying to work himself into a sitting position "Is there another one?..."

Roxie was impressed. That was usually something that was a bit difficult for her. Not that she was conceited or anything, but there had been enough instances where she had to witness people trying to impress her simply to try and get her to share a bed with them. It was disgusting and actually put her off the entire concept of being impressed by others. Clearly that was not what Javier was after, but he had been impressive, nonetheless. His bravery, his strength, she was glad that if she had to be stuck with anyone in this incident, that it was him.

But despite enjoying the man work, she needed him to get back onto his feet. Kneeling over him, she grinned as she casually patted his cheeks to wake him up. Given how strong he was, she doubted that he was suffering some kind of brain trauma, but just in case it was better he keep his eyes open and remain alert than anything else.

>>"What now? Is there another one?..."

So she waited and then grinned a wide grin when his eyes fluttered open. He grumbled about why did he need to be awake and inquired if there were any more threats about. Roxie shot her head up, twisting and ensuring that there was actually no one else. So she shook her head and turned her gaze back to him.

”No. Just a few victims who can’t move and some animals milling about.”

She eyed the fallen tiger, still unconscious, and several of the other, more dangerous animals. They seemed too tired to be a threat and were either sleeping or nosing things curiously. Thankfully the most dangerous thing was the tiger and it wasn’t getting up any time soon. Even the mutant, Beastmaster, was still taking a nice siesta.

With her attention back on Javier, she grinned. ”But I can’t let you sleep. Pretty sure your noggin is okay,” she mused. ”But I definitely don’t need you napping if you have a concussion. I can’t tell, after all, I’m not a doctor, nor do I have X-Ray vision.” Turning, she plopped onto her butt next to him, determined to keep him awake should he drift. With a nudge, she sighed. ”Thanks for the assist, Javier. Don’t think I would have been able to do anything without your help.”