The man went down with a cry of pain as she kicked his knee. The third guy, unharmed as of now, started for her with a string of curses. Sveta spun around, ducking out of his way and reaching in through the slit in her dress to pull the switchblade from its holster on her thigh. The man was obviously stunned by the sight of a woman reaching under her skirts, because he hesitated for a moment.

>>”Baseball bat!”

Something clattered to the ground after a loud thunk. There was more angry yelling. Akshay had evidently joined the fray, which made Sveta curse. Not that she hated having backup, but she also did not want Akshay to get caught in the crossfire.

Which would have been literal crossfire, had the gun not fallen to the ground.

Sveta lunged. The man who'd attacked her swung his fists at her in rapid succession, and managed to catch her on the cheek, making her ears ring. Sveta stumbled back against the brick wall, and finally managed to shake her shoes off. The sudden drop in height saved her from being punched again; crouching she punched up, hitting he guy hard in the groin, then ducked under his arm.

>>“Damn freaks!!”

Akshay was down, with the leader of the three men on top of him, cursing up a storm. Sveta ran up, stabbing the blade into the back of his shoulder; it was not a serious injury but it must have hurt like hell. He roared, reeling back, and Sveta grabbed a hold of Akshay by the shoulder.

"Do more of dat."

Akshay was struggling with the thug that landed on top of him. The man was filled with bloodlust, wanting nothing more than to spill Akshay’s all over the pavement. While he knew that the prejudices against mutant’s ran deep, the fact that this man was experiencing such hate towards him was...startling. He didn’t know him. He had no reason to hate him so much. But he did, and it was because he was a mutant. It was a scary realization.

That fight to survive continued to flare inside of his chest. Looking up at the growling, frothing mouth of the man above him, Akshay tried to think of something. Anything. Any word that he could use to help him to fend the man off. But, try as he might, he couldn’t. His mind drew a blank -- that is until the thug arched in pain and threw himself backwards.

Akshay sucked in a few, deep breaths of relief before his eyes focused on the face of the angel who hovered above him. Svetlana. She clapped him on the shoulder, her words somewhat confusing in his current state. What did she want him to do more of? Lie there helpless as someone attempts to throttle him? Or try to help out more?

He moved onto his feet with a groan, looking past her to the men who were still struggling on the ground. The leader, the one with the fresh knife growing out of his back, was on his knees, hand reaching for the knife in his shoulder as he attempted to stand. Akshay glanced back to Sveta, giving her a slight smile.

”I’ll be honest,” he smirked. ”When I imagined a whole ‘rescue a damsel in distress’ moment, this isn’t exactly the role I had in mind for myself.”

Akshay got back on his feet, rattled but seemingly unhurt. He must not have noticed the boost, because l of his following words came out as tangible subtitles. Even in the middle of a brawl, that was fascinating to watch. A comic book nerd like him should have made good use of the poetic possibilities.

>>”I’ll be honest. When I imagined a whole ‘rescue a damsel in distress’ moment, this isn’t exactly the role I had in mind for myself.”

"Oh that is just too good" Sveta grinned, gabbing DAMSEL and DISTRESS out of the air. They felt solid enough to make a satisfying cracking sound as she used them to whack one of the thugs on the head, knocking him out for the time being.

Okay so at one Akshay wanted to fancy himself a hero. He tried hopping along rooftops, wearing a costume, and other such dangerous things in order to get himself into the game. To be like the heroes he had seen in comic books or like the real-life X-Men who lived in his very city. If they could do it, why couldn’t he? He was a mutant with a lifetime experience of reading comic books. Couldn’t be that hard.

Sadly things didn’t work out as well as he wanted. After a small stint as The Wordsmith, Akshay hung up the costume and vowed to leave it to the professionals. He was just a comic artist with delusions of grandeur.

But apparently that was not Sveta. After he had commented about this not being the night he had planned for, she suddenly reached for and pulled something from the air above him. He jumped, ducking away, but saw her pull away to words in the air. Shit. He had lost control of his powers? But...how?!

Just as she smashed the words into the last thug that was attempting to pick himself up, it clicked. He remembered now. Her powers. Being near her boosted abilities or something, right? That’s why he felt a tad nervous.

Watching the thug slump over, Akshay put his hands on his hips, catching his breath. After a moment he cleared his throat to get Sveta’s attention and smiled at her. ”Champagne...Formal wear...Good appetizers...Fist fists...” he beamed. ”You really know how to throw a charity event.”

Two thugs knocked out, and the leader with a knife in his shoulder blade, the fight was practically over. Sveta had to admit, she took special enjoyment in beating people with words. Literally. She grinned at Akshay as she walked over to the wall and picked up her heels.

>> ”Champagne...Formal wear...Good appetizers...Fist fists... You really know how to throw a charity event.”

"Practice" she noted with a chuckle.

The words kept tumbling out of his mouth; her powers' effect had not quite worn off yet. Sveta stepped around them as she walked over to the boss guy, slumped over, and lifted his chin with the heel of the shoe she was holding in her hand.

"Message clear?" she looked at him, eyes narrowed "Leave the clinic alone. In fact, leave the whole neighborhood alone. Do not. Try to f*** with us. You'll lose."

After he made some understanding noises, she let him slink away and turned back to Akshay.

"I'm sorry about that. Appreciate the help. Do you want some champagne?"

Akshay didn’t know exactly what he had gotten himself into but he had to admit, the way that Sveta handled the situation was certainly intriguing. This was certainly no damsel in distress and the truth of that made him feel just a little stupid for trying to step in earlier to save her. It clearly wasn’t his place to do so. Just a tad of the typical male ego to make him feel ridiculous.

Standing aside, he caught his breath and she went over to one of the nearest men who was still conscious. The man was clearing in pain, a switchblade stuck in his shoulder that he tried in vain to remove. Akshay actually winced when Sveta delivered her stinging ultimatum before knocking him back down on the ground with a disgusted nudge.

These guys were going to be sore in the morning. He only hoped that they would remember what she did and leave them alone. Not really for her safety but more that he actually worried what she would do to them if they dared to come back.

Afterwards, when she so casually approached and invited him for champagne, he had to struggle to hide his smirk. But, eventually the smile went through as he joined Sveta at her side, trying to dodge around the words that had fallen onto the ground. God he hoped that part wouldn’t last long as he wanted this meeting with such an interesting woman to last as long as possible.

”Y-Yes, please,” he said with a nod, stepping over the legs of one of the unconscious goons. ”Jeez, Sveta,” he said with a sigh. As the proper noun began to form he snagged it out of the air and tossed it aside. ”What was that all about? Do you fight in the Super Brawl Tournament on the side or something? That was mind blowing!”

Sveta braced herself against the wall by the door, slipping her heels back on. Walking back into the even with no shoes on would have raised some questions. She ran hands through her hair, trying to fix it, and wondered if she punch she'd gotten had left a bruise.

>>”Y-Yes, please. Jeez, Sveta. What was that all about? Do you fight in the Super Brawl Tournament on the side or something? That was mind blowing!”

Her name appeared in the air and Akshay swatted it away. Sveta smirked. Her powers from touching him were gonna wear off soon. They might as well wait until that happened.

"Um... mixed martial arts?" she ventured. Vigilantism was not really the first thing she wanted to advertise, even though she knew Akshay, comic book nerd he was, would be cool with it. "Some people think they own this city. I just have no patience for them."

Yup. Totally not a vigilante.

This was not where he had expected the night to go. When he came to this party, he just wanted to donate some money, maybe get a name of the organization to send to his more charitable colleagues in California, and be done with it. He didn’t expect the night to turn into a battle royale with bigot thugs seeking to push out a friendly mutant group. Talk about a twist.

However, all that being said, the most surprising part of the evening was watching Svetlana, a woman he had met ages ago, really throw herself out there and kick butt. She had moves the likes of which he only saw in heroines from action movies! It was so awesome to see it actually happening in front of him, in real time, and it not be some kind of martial arts exhibition.

He had to ask. Did she compete competitively?

Turns out that she didn’t -- at least from what she said. As it turns out, she just trained in mixed martial arts and really, really didn’t like it when people were ***holes. He chuckled at that response, holding the door open for her so that she could head back into the building after she managed to get her shoe on.

”Remind me to never get on your bad side,” he grinned broadly. ”I see that the bigotry in New York hasn’t changed any. Not that California is any better,” he snorted. ”At least you know how to handle them. I’m always too worried I’m going to get sued for pain and suffering.”

Sveta wished she had a mirror. She managed to get through the fight without major injuries, but that didn't mean she looked exactly the way she had walked out. With a sigh she unded her hair as they walked back in through the back door. It would have to do, for now.

>>”Remind me to never get on your bad side. I see that the bigotry in New York hasn’t changed any. Not that California is any better. At least you know how to handle them. I’m always too worried I’m going to get sued for pain and suffering.”

"Well, your words can actually break some bones" Sveta pointed out with a grin, running her hands through her hair "But if you want to actually make a difference some less violent way... I can give you my card. Come talk to me about Haven." she picked up her hand bag (she'd left it by the back door) and dug around for a card in it. "Also, you might want to go in before me. If we show up at the same time with me looking like dis... you're gonna have some media attention."

"Hollywood rising star spotted with mutant charity leader, having a private moment." Or worse.

Akshay stopped as Sveta attempted to slip her shoe back onto her foot. Though he didn’t care for his powers, she seemed to recognize some of the more violent aspects they possessed. He wasn’t all about hurting people with them, however, it was just a necessity when the time came. But he could see her point. There could certainly be some more dangerous aspects of his abilities that he failed to recognize most of the time.

Now he couldn’t spare the brain power to think of that. There was still other matters to attend to, namely returning to the party and providing money for a worthwhile organization. He just hoped that they would be interrupted by any more closed minded morons.

Adjusting the lapels of his jacket, Akshay made to open the door for Sveta but stopped when she suggested that he should be the first to enter. He paused, looked down at himself, and her, and cracked a smile.

”Yeah, I guess you have a point there. No need to be salacious.” He waved away the word “point” before it could finish forming.

Adjusting his tie, patting off some more grime, and running his fingers through his hair, he took a calm breath, sighed, and opened the door. But before he stepped through, he stopped just long enough to look at Sveta and gave her a crooked, cheesy smile.

”Though, hey, even if that did happen, I don’t kiss and tell.” With a another smirk he slipped back in through the door and headed out into the party. It was time to blend back into the masses and go unseen.