Cole coughed loudly as he collapsed forward into an alleyway, barely catching himself against a wall. His arm, still covered in the strange purple substance smashed slightly into the wall by accident, leaving some cracks around where he hit. He pulled away from the wall, smacking his back against the other end of the alleyway by accident and letting out a small cry of pain. He continued to cough and wheeze a bit, spitting out some of the substance which quickly crumbled away as it hit the ground. ”What...W-What happened…” Cole thought to himself silently, staring at his arms. They both were almost completely covered by the strange purple substance. It didn’t cover his fingers, or go past his shoulders, but any of the stuff on him was enough reason to worry.

Cole’s mind reflected on what had just happened, piecing together the whirl of events that had just transpired. He was in his apartment, no that’s not it. That place was his apartment. He had just received the eviction notice, and began to panic. No money, no home, no one to turn to. Just reflecting back on that moment was enough for the substance on his arms to shake and grow a bit over his finger tips. That substance. Cole couldn’t begin to understand what it was. It was warm, and sort of felt like solid water, jello? It wasn’t moist or anything though. It had just started forming over him out of nowhere, growing over his entire body. Cole tried to scream for help as it encased his head, but any noise he had was quickly muffled by the strange substance.

Cole couldn’t control his actions at that point, he wasn’t even sure he tried to by then. Covered in the substance, he began tearing apart everything he could. Books, his bed, his old laptop. Nothing was safe, and when he ran out of things to break, Cole smashed through the wall out onto the streets. Cole tried his hardest to scream, to get anything out. But all that seemed to come out was muffled noise, a noise he realized now came out more like the roar of a beast than anyone trying to receive help. He didn’t quite know if that was also caused by the substance, but it would make sense. “Make sense? No, no that’s not it. None of this makes sense. It’s a nightmare, a nightmare! What is this stuff! What am...Am I? Nonono, no there’s gotta be another explanation. I can’t be…” He stared down at his arms, the substance sliding slightly off his fingers as he thought of it doing so. He had some form of control over it...And it almost seemed to come out from his body. Cole couldn’t deny it, this had to mean one thing. He was a mutant.

After smashing out of his apartment, Cole had gone on a rampage. He wasn’t sure how long exactly it lasted, only that it was short and vicious. More than a few cards had been smashed or torn apart, and anyone who got in his way was swiftly tossed aside. Cole was sure he hadn’t killed anyone, but at the time he didn’t quite care if he did or not. Even if that was the case, there had to have been a decent list of injured people. After enough time though, Cole managed to force himself away. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he should run. More and more of the stuff began to crumble away, as he gained back control of himself. His inhuman dash had petered out into a weak stumble due to this, which led him into the alleyway. He was certain no cops had managed to keep up, at least not long enough to see him without the substance covering his face and body.

And so, now Cole was here. For the most part, his clothes were okay beyond a few tears from the substance violently wrapping over him earlier. Cole was pale, a bit more then usual. Whatever that was, it had tired him out. He had no idea what he could do after it though. He was somehow in a worse position than before, and couldn’t even leave the alleyway with his arms covered in that stuff. He started shaking them around, trying to control the stuff to go under his sleeves. Although it began to do so, the substance moved very slowly. Of course, NOW it takes it's time. It would be a while before the substance was fully hidden under his jacket. Cole sighed, trying to slide back against the wall to wait but accidentally falling to the ground fully with a loud thud, letting out a small “Ow…”

There he was again, flying over the city. Ashton has seen him do that several times recently. The people on the street had told him, “that! That right there is an x-man.”

“Really?” He’d thought. The Asian guy on the white triangle platform in the blindingly white tuxedo, with the stunningly white smile? The one who flew... on the triangle... in order to patrol the city and fight crime? Was that supposed to be a deterrent? Yes, he felt soooo safe.

Apparently, his older self had felt the same about the X-men. From his journal, he knew. Did not like. Freaking vigilantes.

How was he any different than them, with his desire to find the person that had deaged him... and punish them? He had no idea. But he had no powers, so far. And he was not a vigilante. He wore no costume. And so far, he had made no real progress. More and more he thought he might just outsource this to a real private detective.

What had the man been searching for, anyways? Now his curiosity was piqued. Had he been following reports from police? Was there a criminal in the area? He had once been a cop, so was he maybe slightly, just a little bit... responsible to help with this?

Eh. He wasn’t a cop anymore. But still...

Hey. Who was that guy, stumbling into an alley? He looked like he was covered in something. Looked hurt. Maybe he had been attacked by... whatever it was the X-man guy had been looking for? Maybe that other vigilante he had heard about, Cheshire? Maybe he would find the baddie before Shard did? Though didn’t he usually operate out of Hell’s Kitchen? Or had that just been a year ago? He only had rumors to go on.

Whatever. Ashton shrugged and strolled into the alley after the guy, in his red Coca Cola shirt and blue jeans and black leather jacket.

“Ow...” He heard, from deeper within the alley.

”Hello? Anyone there? Are you okay? You’re not hurt right? I can call an ambulance.” Ashton called. A slight Irish accent flavored his words.

Cautiously, he stepped further into the alley. Into view of the person slumped against the wall.

“Huh?” Cole looked towards the noise in the distance, quickly swinging his arms back behind him. Of all the people who could have walked by he had to get one willing to investigate a weirdo in an alleyway. At first, Cole couldn’t help but fear the police had tracked him down, but whoever this person was seemed more concerned with if he was okay.

As they walked into view, Cole quickly tried to shuffle up off the ground, keeping his arms against the wall and his back. He hoped it would look like a natural pose, but it came off very awkward looking.


Cole quickly spoke up “N-No, no I’m fine. Every uh, everything is fine! I just was, I just tripped.” Cole couldn’t help but kick himself mentally at his poor reaction. This was such an obvious lie it hurt. “I uh...Sorry, getting over something. Been a bit scrambled because of it.” He quickly added in an attempt to save himself, although he was unsure how well that excuse would work.

Cole wanted badly to get out of this situation and place, but didn’t want to risk anyone who had seen him earlier spotting the stuff on his arms. He could tell it wasn’t nearly finished moving under his sleeves. “I uh...I’m just catching my breath back here for a bit.” As he said this, Cole couldn’t help but fall back a bit more onto the ground with a small groan. He still felt pretty tired. Best guess he could make, if he really was a mutant using that stuff must have worn him out. That’s probably why he stopped attacking and started running.

Why was... the guy... hiding his arms? We’re they hurt? Was he hiding something? Had he... stolen... something?

No, the pose was not natural. It was... unnatural. And made Ashton paranoid. Had he always been this quick to be paranoid, or was it merely a side effect of having been shrunk from a 40-something cop into a baby college student? Knowing someone had done this. Potentially someone in his own precinct.

He felt bad for the police who were missing him. He definitely had not called in. We’re they sending out missing persons reports? Or did they just... fire him. And forget?

He gave the guy a minute to shape up and stop being strange.

>> “N-No, no I’m fine. Every uh, everything is fine! I just was, I just tripped.” The guy stumbled out words.

His eyebrow went up, up, up. Yeah no, he had not alleviated any concerns. In fact, he had added some.

Tripped? Over what?

Getting over something?


”Uh...” Ashton trailed.

If he had tripped, he had sort of FAILED to get over something. Had he not?

The guy seemed sort of uncomfortable, and Ashton got the real gut feeling that he was lying. He was not sure why.

The guy slumped back a bit onto the ground, and Ashton stepped forward, trying to glance behind him.

”No, really. You alright? You aren’t... hiding something? Why do you have your arms behind your back? That’s kind of weird. And I know weird.” He grimaced.

”Believe me,” he huffed our a tired breath. Both mentally, and physically. ”You would not want to be living my life right now.” No one would want to trade places with him. Although maybe, for certain parts? Like with Juniper?

Point was, being Ashton ain’t easy.