"Nah, it's not like she's angry or nuthin, I get what she's sayin, like, I go off and, you know, workin, so like it's gotta happen or no roof, right, but like, I go off, and she's left with the baby alone, so I get back after work, and you know, I'm tired, and she's grumpy, and I'm all like, you know, I kinda wanna sleep, and she's all like, me too, watch the baby, and- Dano?" It'd been six hours already, and not a damn sign of life. As far as stake outs went, this one was looking to be a bit of a goose chase.

On top of that, Saphirus, otherwise know as The Masochist, had about as much sleep as any parent of a 4 month old baby ever had. At times like this, when it was getting late, and all you were doing was sitting in a car watching a building, you had to struggle to stay focused and... awake. Talking kept Saph awake; it was the tactic he always fell back to. Apparently, it also put his co-staker officer Dano Brosley right to sleep, because when Saph turned to look at him for a second he was out like a light.

Eh, Let him sleep. They only had a couple hours left here before they figured the lead was bunk anyway. He turned his attention back to the bowling alley once more. Loui's Lanes, an entertainment staple in down town Now York for 30 years now... Little did anyone know, ol' Lou was a goddan speciesist. On the downlow he ran an anti-Mutant group that fancied themselves a militia. That wasn't necessarily illegal, though, first amendment and all, but there's been an anonymous tip that they were trying to get ahold of some serious weaponry. They were planning something. That being the case, now was the time to jump in and get them on smaller charges before anything big happened.

So, there were several stake outs on Lou's businesses, looking for suspicious activity related to said weapon's deal. Saphirus chuckled a bit to himself as he watched. Just a few years ago he would have been storming this place as the judge and taking a close look for himself. No more, though. Do it legal, no one dies. They go to jail, you go home to the family.

He pulled out his nocs again, and took a closer look as a truck pulled up to the building... Hmm... A bread company? He looked over to Dano, and then decided against waking him. It was probably just bread, right? This was the low priority location anyway, the warehouses were more suspect. Might as well take a closer look, right? He was in plain clothes for this, after all.

Saphirus opened the door to the car and stepped out, stretching a little bit, and taking a stroll down the street toward the bowling alley... A little strafing run wouldn't hurt.

New York City has more people than any city should and they’re all squeezed in like sardines. This concentration of people means there are not only more crazies but that they are close enough together to form clubs. Those clubs bring in more militant crazies. Before long you have a radicalized militia gathering munitions and preparing to wage a small war on mutants.

The militia had caught Haven’s attention long ago but they had not acted with force. Attempts were made to reason with Loui, deradicalize his group. All attempts had failed. Making matters worse, intel suggested that Loui and his little militia had found a way to bring military grade firepower into the city. Everything from a select-fire rifles to a few recoilless rifles. In the arms race against mutants at AT4 or M3 Carl Gustav were good ways to level the playing field.

The order had come down, Ranger would intervene before the situation became explosive.

Since the operation was happening in downtown New York City Ranger wanted the smallest assault team possible to accomplish the objectives. Eliminate the threat of the militia, contain the destruction to the business, and do not expose Haven’s involvement. To that end Ranger only brought Charles Montgomery, codename Lumberjack, with him.

The man was massive, built like an ox. A former operator like Ranger, he was a bit of an oddity. Rarely did large men make it through selection. Before his time in Delta, Lumberjack was an Airborne Ranger so direct action was his bread and butter. Not to mention the fact he could produce long blades from his forearms made him ideal when moving in quietly.

”Truck approaching.” Ranger whispered over the radio.

”I see it.” Lumberjack said in reply.

”Move to breach.” Ranger said. His goal was to move in while the militia was distracted by their bread truck. Moving quietly enough should allow them to cover more ground and eliminate targets before the bowling alley becomes a den of chaos.

Under the cover of the night the pair approached the side of the building. After Ranger stuck a small device on an exterior junction box they moved to separate doors. Ranger quietly checked his door. Locked. He reached into a pocket on his vest and drew out a pick set. The lock was nothing fancy and Ranger had it unlocked in half a minute.

”Ready?”

”Ready.”

”I have control-Stand by. Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Execute. Execute. Execute.”

On the first execute both men opened their doors and entered the building. Ranger brought a suppressed HK UMP to bear as Lumberjack’s blades slid out of his arms.

The door Ranger entered opened into a hallway off the main bowling alley. Ranger moved silently down the hall until he came to a shut door. With his left hand he reached out and opened the door.

Bingo.

The room had a few rifles laying out on a table along with a Carl Gustav.

”Threat confirmed.” Ranger said over the radio. To Lumberjack it was the command changing the rules of engagement. Instead of defending themselves or hiding from the militia they were now on the hunt.

“Aye, whos in heres?”

Ranger wheeled to face the door as a short man stepped up to the doorway.

The action on Ranger’s rifle cycled as a short burst of lead was sent into the man at the door. The suppressor masking much of the report of the rifle while the subsonic rounds meant there was no crack. The casings ejected from the rifle were of a brass and polymer blend that did not have the distinct tinny sound when they bounced. The man dropped. The loudest sound produced was him dropping the pistol he was drawing from his waistband and it slamming to the floor.

One could pinpoint the exact moment when Saphirus's gut feeling went from 'Everything's okay' to 'Uh Oh.' That was about the time that, while he was crossing the street kitty corner to the bowling alley, he happened to catch two shapes approaching from the side. He wouldn't have spotted them if he hadn't specifically been keeping a close eye on the perimeter. That was because they were good. He would have missed them if he'd blinked. He suspected they were point men for the operation, then. Maybe their dealer was making contact. That worried him. Who were these guys? They didn't have any info on the dealers. Sure, Loui's men had some former vets among them, some with solid military and contracting backgrounds, but they weren't the kind of guys Saph found himself in over his head against.

The seasoned X-Man looked back to the UC vehicle, his partner passed out, oblivious to the world. He set his jaw, and then looked back to the bowling alley, tucking his hands into his coat pockets, and cutting across the street toward the front door.

The chime of a small bell announced his presence as he walked in, and headed quickly toward a small counter about 20 paces away. behind it a rather rotund man started to stand and hold up a hand to halt him. He was already out of the breath from the effort of climbing to his feet as he spoke. "Sorry pal, Lanes are closed." Saph didn't miss a beat, replying. "Oh yeah, I know, buddy, but you see, I left my coat at lane eh..." He leaned to look... Furthest lane out. "Lane 20."

The man looked back where he was looking, and then shook his head. "You'll have to come back tomorrow." The incognito X-Man shook his own head. "Yeah, can't do that. It's got my keys in it... I ain't goin nowhere without that coat. But hey, you let me hop on over there I'll get it and head ou-" The hand came up again as the big guy interupted. "No, I'll get it for you... Wait here... Goddamit." The man turned and wobbled off, muttering under his breath. Saph watched him go for a moment, and then ducked around the corner, taking a close look around.

He could tell from here that there were two outlets from this room. One to the kitchen area, right near him. It was busy in there... He could see movement. The other was further back toward lane 20, the back offices. It didn't look like there was a link between the two areas, so one would have to enter the lanes to get to the kitchen. Those guys looked to be headed toward the offices, but he wasn't going to get past the big guy without causing a commotion... Kitchen it was.

He stepped over to the wall next to the kitchen door and listened quietly.

"We gettin the second shipment in now, Lou?" A nervous sounding voice rang out into the lanes.

"Jesus, could you settle down, Sal? I can hear your heart pitterpatterin like a @#$kin go go dancer from here." The chorus of chuckles would reveal a pretty full kitchen. The was the telltale sound of a shutter door opening, and people murmuring. Jesus, how many people were here? 15 or so in the kitchen, it sounded like... There was some grunting and the thud of a crate on the ground, followed by some cursing. The voice he assumed was Louie spoke up again.

"@#$^in hell.. Ain't Joey and his guys supposed to be helpin us here? Call him... Lazy son of a- "

***

The man Ranger dispatched fell to the floor, and there didn't seem to be much of a reaction from out in the hallway... They were still unnoticed. A moment later, however, a small radio on his belt loop perked up.
"Joey, get your !@# over to the loading dock... These boxes are heavy... Reed and them are at the range, get them up here too. Step on it."

The hallway behind the dead man ran both ways, exiting to the left and the right. To the left there was a T intersection, an the right was a dead end with a door to the left of it. The left looked to head closer to the lanes, and the right... The door looked heavy, and the soft pangs of gunfire through a sound proof room would be familiar to those who shot at indoor ranges. It would be quite an investment for someone to set up an indoor range in a place like this and not open it to the public, though. Strange.

A call came out from the radio attached to the downed man’s belt. Ranger clicked it off. There was nothing to be done about Joey not responding. Ranger just needed to move quickly, pick off as many as he could before the building turned into a hornet’s nest.

Ranger left the room and turned what sounded like an indoor range. It had a heavy door, Ranger tentatively tried to open it. Locked from the inside. Ranger pulled one of the lengths of his sling so his rifle hung tight across his chest. He would need both hands for this.

A flashbang produced and clipped where he would have quick access on the outside of his vest, Ranger grabbed the door with both hands and pulled. It took a moment, but as his muscle mass increased a load clang came from the door breaking free. Ranger immediately pulled the flashbang from his vest, yanked the pin, and tossed it into the room before closing the door again.

Inside the room, at the sound of the door breaking open, several men turned to look. They received a brilliant flash directly into their eyes for their curiosity. They never saw the door swing open again and Ranger storming in, his rifle brought back to bear.

Ranger unleashed a storm of bullets in the room. Each target received no less than three rounds. There was no counting, Ranger’s finger worked on pure muscle memory. A few of the men in the room started firing but unable to see or hear properly meant they were firing at the floor, the wall, and everything except Ranger.

As Ranger approached the last man in the room his rifle ran dry. Ranger let it fall back against his chest and with one hand grabbed hold of the man’s collar, twisted it for tension, and lifted him into the air before driving him down into the floor. The man might have a few broken ribs and a concussion, but he would live.

Ranger spun back toward the door. He hadn’t had the time to close it behind him. WHile his shots were suppressed, the panic fire from the men in the room was not. Hopefully they would just assume the door had been opened while life fire was in process.

Ranger reloaded and stormed out of the room, rifle at a high ready.

Not one of the men in the range were prepared for what was about to happen to them. They were practicing steel plate, and they'd just cleared the range and gotten into shooting when a loud creaking could be heard from the reinforced door.

It was loud enough to hear through ear protection, so they all turned to watch, five of them. Five of them got eyes and eyes full of fire as the flashbang went off with a LOUD bang that shook the room.

***

"...@#$% was that?" Saph froze in place, as the whole room on the other side of the door stirred as a spatter of muted gunshots could be heard trailing off.

He reflected the sentiment. What the hell was that? Some sort of explosion followed by gunshots, sure, but why? He stepped back from the door as the big man hustled back, looking behind him. "Look, I didn't find your damn coat, but you gotta leav-" With a poke of a finger the man dropped like a very large sack of potatoes. Saph turned and looked toward the door.

The sound of slides being pulled back in the other room told him he needed to be not here, quick. He wasn't leaving, though. Something was going down here. He needed to know what. The X-Man dipped into the bathroom as 10 armed men walked out into the main alley.

***

The last man fell pretty quickly, but they all, indeed, panic fired in every which direction as they fell. Blinded, it was ineffectual, heck, some of them may have accidentally shot each other before getting close to their assailant. They were all dead save for the piledrived unfortunate, but anyone could tell this wasn't to be mistaken for a door left open.

The unmistakable air of tension experienced warriors felt before a battle filled the air.

Ranger would likely hear the first man coming in to investigate before he saw him. It was the ever unlucky 'you go first' peon, his shotgun shaky, but leveled and ready to fire as he moved into the hallway.

***

Saphirus was in a bit of a pickle. The men outside the bathroom were crowding a bit. A peek through the door told him that some had semiautomatic rifles, and a few had pistols, and... was that a @#$%ing anti-Tank weapon? This wasn't all of them, either. He knew he'd heard more in the other room.

The X-Man ducked back inside, and reached for his communicator, cursing when he realized there was no signal in here. Damnit, he shouldn't have gone off on his own. Now he was in here with no support, and something was going down. A turf war or something?

A few room down, a nervous man rounded the corner where a certain Lumberjack was, and pulled the trigger of his shotgun.

Momentum. Once the enemy is engaged you used violence of action and momentum to carry you through the enemy line. Ranger knew if he hesitated, the enemy would be able to use their numbers advantage to pin him down. Ranger had to move forward and hit them like a bowling ball through pins.

Out of the room and down the hall. Ranger moved at a steady pace, his feet quietly moving across the floor, his rifle held at a low ready. The pitter-patter of hurried footsteps alerted Ranger to the man who was about to round the corner into the hallway Ranger occupied.

Ranger brought up the rifle and the moment he saw a foot he pushed the trigger. The shotgun wielding man’s momentum carried him directly into Ranger’s line of fire.

The rifle cycled over and over as Ranger advanced on the man. The shotgun shotgun fired, the buckshot firing slightly off target. With a short barrel and a cylinder choke the shot was able to start spreading some over the short distance between the men. Ranger took three pellets in the side, his mutation activating to keep his skin from opening under the force of the .33 caliber balls impacting it.

The pain from the impact had Ranger lean to his right carrying his sights off target as the man collapsed.

With his support hand, Ranger checked his side. No blood. The shot would likely leave a bruise but nothing worse than that and a tear in his vest. His hand back on the rifle he flipped it over to full auto and sliced the pie as he moved around the corner. The .45 caliber UMP introducing anyone in the hall to Hell.

---

Lumberjack had made good time clearing forward from his entrance into the building. From what he could hear, Ranger had been stirring up more shit than him. That was typical. The man was a shit magnet and always found himself in the heart of any cluster.

When he had made his way over toward where Ranger was, Lumberjack stopped at a corner. Someone was coming. He retracted the blade of his left arm and waited. When the shotgun poked around the corner the man carrying it was given a fatal lesson in why you shouldn’t clear a building with a long gun if you don’t know how.

With his left hand, Lumberjack grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and directed it up and away. The weapon fired, drawing a rain of debris from the drop ceiling. The shotgun directed away, Lumberjack drove his right arm forward and ran the man through with his its blade.

The man tried to speak but blood poured from his mouth.

”Hush now.” Lumberjack whispered to him in his final moments.


Lumberjack twisted his arm and pulled the blade out as the man whose heart had been skewered released the shotgun and fell backwards.

The sounds of guns going off had changed the plan. Lumberjack checked the shotgun. An old beater Remington 870 pump action 12 gage. An extended tube had been added giving it a few more shells. Lumberjack press checked the shotgun and saw a shell in the action. That done he rolled it up on his shoulder so the barrel didn’t telegraph his movement and went around the corner. The shotgun rolling back down sit against his shoulder once he was in the next hall.

His silent watching was interrupted by the feeling of his expanded senses getting a tickle at the edge of them corresponding to the sounds of... shotgun blasts?

He pulled away from the door as the alley's occupants started moving around frantically, a stirred hornets nest of activity that told him he might need to find another way out. One thing was clear. This was not business as usual here. They were both getting a gun shipment, and getting attacked. This was confirmed when he walked closer to the wall of the bathroom, between the stall and the urinal, and felt movement on the other side.

Down one hall, a hail of bullets tearing through drywall and three poor saps sent to investigate Ranger's action, and closer to him, someone getting impaled and firing off a shotgun blast into the ceiling. Jesus, it was just two of them. They were dropping these guys like flies! They were good. Good enough that they would kill everyone here if he allowed it. Hell, at another time he might have been here fighting alongside them. Now, though... These men needed to be prosecuted in a court of law, evidence of their action needed to be collected, and they needed to find out who their suppliers were.

None of that could happen if everyone was dead.

He paused for a moment. They were separate from each other, but were only one hallway away from being united. He needed to act now. A quick few taps on the wall helped him find where there wasn't a stud in the wall. The superhero then started cranking on his right leg with his crowbar, stepping back from the wall, and gauging distance and area.

The giant of a man was moving down the hall. Right in line, and... WHOOSH! CRRRRASH!

The Masochist tore through the wall, flinging himself forward with a burst of stored energy to collide bodily with the giant of a man and throw them both spiraling through a door into a storage room behind him. Saphirus rolled to his feet as the dust settled, placing his right side forward in his defensive stance as the Lumberjack cursed and fired off his shotgun from his newly prone position. Saphirus let it hit him, absorbing the force from the small caliber, relatively low velocity pellets like they were a love tap with a flexed elbow, He would have to pick the pellets that stuck out of the skin as well, but he ignored the slight sting.

The Lumberjack was getting up. The Masochist allowed him to.

___

By the time Ranger dropped the men in the hallway, he would be one hallway away from the offshoot that Saphirus had just knocked the Lumberjack into. If he hurried, he might even see the event happen, but that would be followed by an absolute @#$%storm of bullets ripping through drywall as the men in the bowling alley, who had taken defensive positions after hearing the shotgun blasts, were ordered to fire down the hall, any allies still alive be damned.

A couple men would be visible through the exit to the hall; One crouching behind a bowling bench and firing a pistol down the hall, and another standing out plainly and unloading a .223 Bushmaster for cover fire.

A voice could be heard ringing out over the fire, yelling. "I don't care, We'll fix it all later, just KILL EM! Sal, get the rest of the guys here ASAP!" A Radio clinked through the floor as a tall, slightly overweight man racked a drum barreled M1A1 Thompson and unloaded the fully automatic through the walls like an uncoordinated madman.

Lumberjack moved down the hall, shotgun at the ready. He was ready to rain down hate and fire on anyone who entered the hallway. He was not ready for someone to come through the wall at him. Lumberjack had only enough time to register that someone was coming through the wall before he was being driven off his feet and through the door beside him into a storage room. Unprepared as he was, he did not recover from it and end up back on his feet. Instead he was splayed out on the floor. He barked a curse and fired the shotgun.

There was a flash of fire. The target… Was still standing.

”Contact with opposing Mike. Shotgun ineffective.” Lumberjack said over his radio as he stood up. The man who had come through the wall waited for him. Odd.

Shotguns were ineffective against the man, but the presence of the shotgun meant it could be used against him. Lumberjack slid out one of his arm blades and sliced clean through shotgun’s action. He discarded the decommissioned weapon and a blade slid out of his other arm. He slid the blades against one another and took a fighting stance.

”Sorry pal. I got a job to do here.” Lumberjack said before he launched himself at his adversary. Blades whirling with practiced precision. He aimed for lethal cuts. The neck and large arteries.

---

As Ranger moved he heard Lumberjack call out over the radio. The criminals had a mutant on hand, and it sounded like one with physical resistance. Ranger changed his game plan to assist Lumberjack. While the man was a capable operator, working together they could more easily handle the threat and return to the mission.

The only obstacle was the guns the criminals bore. Conveniently for Ranger, he’d just been shot. His power would provide him protection from all the weapons he’d seen the criminals with so far. After a moment Ranger could see men at the end of a hallway. Guns at the ready. One of them yelled for the men to just kill ‘them’. Ranger and Lumberjack.

Bullets came from everywhere.

From ahead, through walls. Everywhere. Ranger kept moving. He returned fire as he moved. Bullets impacted his side, his head, his chest, his legs. Everywhere. His power kept him going. The bullets spalled against his skin. His clothes and gear took a worse beating. He had to continually assess the threat. His power would only protect him from so much. If the men brought out something powerful enough it would punch through his enhanced skin.

Ranger’s UMP fired in anger at the men. The .45 caliber bullets bringing pain to the men. The gun ran dry and Ranger drew a tomahawk from his vest and with a practiced arm, threw it. The weapon away, Ranger round a corner and could see the whole in the wall the mutant had gone through to engage Lumberjack. He pulled two flashbangs from his vest and hurled them toward two sources of fire. He wanted to buy the few seconds he would need. A quick reload and Ranger moved to the door of the supply room. ”Night night.” Ranger took aim and fired at the dark haired man who had engaged Lumberjack.

Saphirus' eyes narrowed as the man communicated over his radio. Ex military, or a buff... no, definitely military. These guys were serious. He felt the gunfight down the hall, and made a major note, bullets were bouncing off that guy like they were nothing. Mutants, like him.

Mutants, attacking an Anti-Mutant militia. That made sense, but who sent them? The hulking man's words drew him from his thoughts as he produced two blades seemingly from his own person. Interesting. The Masochist eyed his Crowbar, and reached down for a handle his peripherals caught at his feet. It looked wooden. Some sort of hammer? When he lifted it in his other hand, he realized it was an old wooden handled plunger.

A bit of a surprised grin appeared on his face. Well, it would work for what he needed it for. He slid the plunger into his right hand, the crowbar into his left. "Say what you want, bud, but I need these guys alive, and you are going to jail. Last chance to give up."

The man ran his blades against each other and engaged. That answered that.

Saph pivoted to the side and short jumped back to maintain range as the man launched himself in. A quick set of observations told him this man was going for kill shots, which in turn told him he was aiming to close range, arteries were hard to hit from range when your opponent had weapons in the way of your own. That gave him a solid plan.

The crowbar and the plunger switched hands.

___

Ranger's responding fire was productive. The hallways were clear of enemy combatants, the last one being felled by a tomahawk to the forehead.

Bullets persisted through the walls, turning them into swish cheese, but they bounced harmlessly off of the dangerous mutant's skin. Calls of "Did we get them?!" echoed through the hallway, but sounds of a struggle in the back room told them the job wasn't done. Just then, two flashbangs rolled into the room.

BA-BAMF! The dual explosions were followed by deafened screams as those closest to the blasts rolled on the ground clutching their ears.

Cursing could be heard, and an old man's voice yelled out. "#@$^ it! We'll remodel! Francis! Take it down!" There was a bit of questioning, but the gruff voice yelled out. "JUST @#$^ING DO IT!"

___

By the time Ranger entered the room the Masochist and Lumberjack were in the thick of it. Saphirus felt the force of the flashbang explosions, and the form of the man charging toward the room. He had to act now. The next time the lumberjack closed distance, instead of maintaining range the X-Man stepped in and at an angle toward the man's attack, allowing the left blade to make contact with the right side of his neck, a typical mortal blow, while blocking the other blade with the crook of his crowbar.

He let that microsecond of implied victory act as his opening. As the weapon failed to cut past more than a layer of his skin, he struck, driving the plunger into the chest of the giant man while at the same time reaching out with his extended absorbtion to soak up the energy from the .45 ACP rounds Ranger flung his way upon entering the room. The led stopped and hung in the air for a moment before falling.

"Goodnight." He stated plainly, sending all of his currently gathered energy into the lumberjack through the plunged plunger.

WHOOMPH! The amplified energy sent the giant man over the crates in the room, and into the wall behind them, leaving his legs sticking out of it. Saphirus turned to face the Ranger.

"Give up now and you can have your picture taken with all of your teet-" BRAAAAKOWWW- The wall suddenly exploded, sending Saphirus rolling to the side.

As the dust settled, a loud call could be heard. "WOOOOO! Thank you carl! Reload, Francis, Bet you they're freaks. Be ready to fire again." A radio clicked. "Get everyone else in here! We finish here, and we hit Haven NOW."

Saphirus climbed to his feet as quickly as he could, assessing the damage. The wall took most of the blast... small cuts on his left side, but nothing too bad. Fighting fit. He used his senses to keep track of his fellow mutant opponent. This was bad. He could not take a hit from that weapon. He'd gathered a lot of force from the shockwave of that blast. He had to change positions, because being stuck between this guy and that weapon meant death. Idea.


"I'll deal with you later, buddy." He coughed, and waved to the man in the room with him, before launching himself through the settling smoke cloud and the new, giant hole in the wall, flying past a man with a pistol, and landing on a waxed lane. He slid across with the remaining force, landing in the pin gatherer and climbing through it for cover.



He had to find a way to take out that goddam rocket launcher! I the mean time, though, fire was suddenly divided between his side of the lanes, and toward the hole in the wall where Ranger was.

The initial salvo fired, Ranger didn’t have complete confidence in it as Lumberjack had reported shotguns ineffective. The difference was Ranger had let the gun walk up letting the bullets hunt vertically for a weakness. The copper electroplated lead hollow points failed. They stopped mid air before dropping to the ground.

“Goodnight.” The man said before utilizing a… Plunger… To neutralize Lumberjack. A plunger. Ranger would have commended him making use of his surroundings were he not engaged in combat with the man.

Lumberjack wound up unconscious with his legs poking back out of the wall the man had sent him into. The man faced Ranger, plunger in one hand and a crowbar in the other.

Low velocity projectiles were proving ineffective. Ranger hit the quick detach on his rifle and let it fall to the floor. He slid into a fighting stance. If bullets couldn’t do the job, perhaps a blood choke could put the man down.

“Give up now and you can have your picture taken with all of your teet-” The man didn’t finish his sentence because the wall suddenly exploded.

The concussion of the blast threw Ranger from his feet. He slammed into the wall and dropped to the ground. After a moment he staggered to his feet. His ears rang and his vision swam. He took a moment to shake off the shock of the blast. He heard yelling in the distance. He caught two things clearly.

“Reload.” and “we hit Haven NOW.”

Ranger checked over himself. He had been rattled by the blast but that was fading and he had a few scratches from debris, but that was the extent of the damage. His kit had limited his exposure. His power hadn’t switched to protect him from the blast. That meant something had tried to pierce him.

Brushing some remaining dust and debris from himself, Ranger looked beyond where the wall was now missing. They were using a recoilless rifle on the building itself. Ranger had no idea if he could survive something like that and he didn’t want to find out. It seemed the dark haired man didn’t want to find out either.

“I’ll deal with you later, buddy.” And with that the man launched himself at the thugs.

The man also wasn’t affiliated with the thugs. That was interesting.

Ranger had a more pressing concern. The man could get himself shot at and divert fire to himself. Ranger moved to Lumberjack and checked for a pulse. He was still alive. There was blood coming from the back of his head but nothing seemed broken. Ranger knew he would need to extract him soon to be safe.

But the mission comes first.

Wheeling to the hole in the wall Ranger moved. He ran toward it and jumped through. There were men with guns and a recoilless rifle ahead. He had time before another rocket could be fired which meant he had only guns to contend with for the moment. He drew a SIG P226 from his hip holster. As he moved through a cloud of drywall dust he punched the pistol out with his right arm and unleashed a double tap of 357 SIG on the nearest armed thug. With his left arm he drew his combat knife from his belt and flung it at another thug moving to support the man firing rockets.

Ranger moved with ever increasing speed as he moved forward. A thug was turning to engage Ranger with a rifle. He wasn’t fast enough. Had Ranger been a human he would have had more than enough time. In this instance the 20 foot rule was on his side. Unlucky for the man, Ranger was traveling over 60 miles an hour and was able to shove the rifle aside the moment it started barking out rounds. Ranger collided with the man with his full weight and used the man’s body as a board to carry him forward as bullets whizzed by where he had just been.

He felt, rather than saw the other mutant combatant come out after him. Bullets were smacking into the wall around him, but the cover of the lane machines made it difficult for them to pin down where he was. He kept climbing over and around the equipment the reset the pins, keeping track of the room with his sixth sense as he went.

All the while, his crowbar impacted his side heavily. He felt the tingle of the force he had collected up to his wrist, but he needed more if he was going to fight this guy. It was bad, he could feel the man dropping guys left and right. The quick zip of the bullets from his gun felt like some sort of amped up 9mm.

The first guy's chest was pierced, and then his head rocked back with the confirmation, ending him, and the thrown knife dug into the shoulder of a man lifting a large round into the Carl gustav. He nearly dropped the round, and Francis cursed, placing the front of the weapon down to load it himself. That slowed that down.

Five more men entered the room from the kitchen, all racking 9mm SMGs.

Saphirus couldn't help but turn his head as the other mutant suddenly sped up to inhuman speeds.

Jesus F#$% he was bullet proof AND he could run as fast as a car?! He kept hitting himself. He would need a LOT of force for this one.

The man he ran into didn't stand a chance. A single round managed to fire off to the side as he flew back like he'd just been hit by a car. His fate was dubious at best after that collision.

The Masochist gritted his teeth. If he didn't do something now, there would be no one left. These guys were evil, but he'd sworn to himself that he wouldn't allow any more needless deaths on his watch. Dangerous as it was, he needed to save these @#Sholes.

He jumped from his spot, and started hobbling down the middle track of the nearest lane, absorbing side forward as he went. He was sit several times by small arms fire, but the net result was very minor damage traded for extra energy. As he went, he flung bowling pins at the assailants. With loud KONKing sounds, they dropped like flies, non-fatal incapacitations.

When he was within decent range, he launched himself forward, landing next to the man with the recoiless rifle just as he flipped the back cap into place, locked it, and raised it to aim at Ranger. "Ehhh, gonna say no to that." a crack was heard as he shattered the man's jaw with his crowbar, and the dangerous weapon clattered to the floor.

Not in a place were rest was possible, he jumped into action immediately after, landing before Ranger. "Can't have you killing everyone!" He tossed his plunger at the man's face, and then spun his right side out as the submachine guns unleashed on them, catching several rounds with a wince. As he did so he tested the waters, swinging his crowbar at the gun in the mutant's hand to keep him from getting a bead on him.

The rifle armed mad dealt with, Ranger transitioned to the next target. Pistol armed man. Ranger rolled off the man he had turned into roadkill and came up running. His target turned to fire. Ranger could see the fear in his eyes. Ranger’s SiG barked three times and then Ranger turned to face the man with the Carl Gustav.

And say the dark haired man breaking the jaw of the man with the Carl Gustav. WIth a crowbar.

The largest threat, aside from the dark haired man himself, neutralized. Ranger quickly scanned for the next priority. Anyone with a large caliber. Nothing that looked too deadly to Ranger. His mind switched to finding the most efficient way to neutralize all the targets in the bowling alley. He elected to start with the closest, then work his way outward in a counter-clockwise spiral.

Well, Ranger would have had the dark haired man not jumped in front of Ranger. "Can't have you killing everyone!" He even punctuated the statement by throwing a plunger at Ranger.

Ranger sidestepped the plunger, ”If y’ hadn’t noticed… They’re shootin’ at us!” Ranger could feel impacts from the rounds against his body. There was no way he would not be covered in bruises after that night. Ranger brought up his SiG, holding it close to his body, to fire at the man.

The man swung his crowbar at him. It came sailing right at Ranger’s hand holding his pistol. Ranger drew the gun back as he pressed the trigger. The bullet buried itself into the floor and the pistol was struck and knocked free from Ranger’s hand. A better outcome than the crowbar possibly breaking Ranger’s hand… Or making him vulnerable to bullets.

This left Ranger weaponless facing a man with a crowbar. Only one option. Close the distance.

Ranger reached out and took hold of the first thing he could find. A bowling ball rack. He grabbed hold of the top and swung it around toward the man. Letting go to send it sailing at his face. Ranger came in just behind it. Crowbars were less effective against people when you have no room to swing. A few quick steps and a jump and Ranger himself in motion to catch the man in a Flying Triangle Choke.

Saphirus grinned a bit as the man mentioned they were being shot at by the men he was trying to save. "And they are goin' to prison for that. Just like you." The grin stuck even as eyes winced a bit with each shot. They stung, but he would be fine as long as he kept his right side toward them. That left his vulnerable side toward the insanely dangerous gentleman in front of him. Disarming him was top priority, hence that first swing.

Success! The man was disarmed. As the weapon clattered to the floor Saphirus gave a victorious 'heh' just as the man grabbed a bowling ball rack and swung it toward him. Instinctively the crowbar moved to counter the incoming object, and got tangled up as he twisted it out of the way. The hulk of a man came in right after it, though, and Saphirus found himself on the victim side of a well practiced display of BJJ. The moment of shock at the somewhat obscure move gave way to a wide grin as the man clenched his left arm and wrapped his legs around the X-Man's neck.

"Ohhh, Bad move."

For his assailant, it would be a very strange sensation. Where one of the sides of his neck reacted normally, the other side would absorb the energy of the grip... It would feel almost like trying to clench something in a lucid dream. No matter how hard he squeezed it would feel like he wasn't even applying force to it. With intense strain the large X-Man resisted falling forward or arching all the way downward for a moment.

Essentially in a half clinched choke, Saphirus felt the SMG's reloading, and spun the grappler toward them, allowing him to catch the hail of bullets coming their way. As he struggled to hold up the man's weight any longer, and the less effective, but still blood choking leg grip, he managed to hold out through the men unloading, and then put all of the force he'd stored up into launching him at the row of SMG-men.

Damn. He'd meant to save up enough to knock the guy out, but this would have to do for now. The intense strain of lifting a whole grown ass man with leverage mad Saphirus fall on his back end. Meanwhile, Lou was getting up slowly, a large red bump on his head from where he'd half-blocked a bowling pin Saph'd thrown his way. He was lifting the Carl Gustav. @#$%, he'd paid too much attention to the mutant. Gritting his teeth he quickly threw up a finger, pointing just as the man pulled the trigger. The world seemed to slow as the Masochist experienced intense tunnel vision as he felt the incredibly fast projectile with his sixth sense and in a split second grabbed it from the air, redirecting it just inches to the side with its own force.

The projectile flew past him, and hit the wall next to the front entrance of the bowling alley with a LOUD BRAKKAKAKAOOWWW! As the world returned to focus, he sat there, gasping for breath... Holy crap... That had worked. It actually worked. @#$%, was he reloading the damn thing again? Saph reached to his side, and grasped a SiG P226, the nearest thing, almost lazily flinging it at the man. It konked him right on his red spot, and he wobbled, and dropped.

Crap, the other guy! Saph turned to see what the mutant was up to.

The man was some kind of idealist. Not only were bullets flying, rockets were flying and the man was worried about sending the hostiles to prison. He wanted to go backwards on the use-of-force continuum. And he wanted Ranger to go to prison as well. ”Not on the agenda, friend.”

The choke landed perfectly. Only, it felt as if he was applying pressure against a neck only on one side. The other… It was as if he was applying no force at all. Ranger was told it was a bad move, even as he squeezed harder. There had to be a point where he could exert enough force to overcome whatever the man had going for him.

Able to hold himself up while Ranger dangled from his neck, the man turned Ranger to intercept a stream of bullets from a group of SMGs. It hurt. A lot. The bullets couldn’t penetrate Ranger’s skin, but they were still imparting kinetic energy on the Ranger. Bone and muscle under the skin taking the brunt of the damage. His gear diffusing the energy is all that kept his ribs from cracking from the volume of impacts.

When the sideways rain of lead ended, Ranger was prepared to change tactics. While hanging by the man’s neck he could pummel sensitive areas. Instead, Ranger found himself ripped free of the man and launched through the air at the SMG wielding thugs.

Ranger hit them like a bowling ball hitting pins.He’d had only moments to tuck in to protect his himself before impact. The SMG wielding men were knocked to the ground. Ranger managed to roll when he struck ground. Ranger’s vision swam a moment as he scrambled to get back on his feet. He stumbled forward shaking off the dizzy when there was an explosion

Ranger swore. The longer he was tied up the idealist the more destruction would be wrought. Ranger approached one of the SMG wielders. The man was just standing up. Ranger struck the man in the neck with a brachial stuff. As the man’s eyes rolled back in his head, Ranger grabbed his SMG and a fresh magazine. Ranger deftly reloaded the weapon as he turned to see the other men all quickly reloading their rifles. Ranger flying into them had interrupted their previous attempt.

Ranger was faster.

Years of working with firearms. Thousands of hours with millions of rounds across many weapon systems left him more prepared than them. Ranger slapped the action of the rifle and it closed into battery. Ranger fired. He tracked from one man to the next. If the man with the Carl Gustov wasn’t stopped, innocent people could get hurt. The last of the men was smart. As the rifle Ranger used spun toward him, he dropped his SMG. Ranger saw this at the last second and instead of giving the man a terminal case of lead poisoning, sent two rounds to skim across the meat of the man’s shoulder. Nonfatal, would make using his SMG painful to impossible, and require him to seek a hospital instead of fight if he ever wanted to hold weight with that shoulder again.

A quick reload and Ranger was scanning for more targets. As long as bullets were flying he couldn’t fight the other man at his peak. Skin stopping bullets means bones couldn’t handle the stress of his power at full tilt.

The other guy was a busy boy. He'd recovered from the throw just like Saph thought he would, and was mostly through knocking out the three men with the SMG's when Saph was done with who he assumed was Lou.

He knew he had to act fast if he wanted to get the jump on this guy, but he'd spent all of his stored kinetic force throughout this fight. There wasn't enough time to make more right now. His eyes darted around for a solution, and found it.

By the time Ranger was raring to scan for more enemies, he would only find the plain clothed X-Man... aiming a Carl Gustav at him. "Move one @#$^in inch and I ruin your day real good, got it?" Police sirens were already slowly growing louder in the distance. Good, the gunshots must have gotten his partners attention... That, or the wall exploding.

"Bet you thought you were doin something great here... You made the wrong choice, pal, and you're goin to prison for a long time, just like these #@$holes." He didn't know what he was doing with this thing, but he wasn't about to admit it. He'd just locked the back into place and aimed it. The other guy had loaded it, he was pretty sure, so... Ideally the beast of a man before him would surrender and call it good.

Didn't seem likely, but ideals never were.