It had been a long night. Kimberly had been training in martial arts. In order to defend herself without using her power. It would defeat the point if she used her power and revealed who she was despite her new face. Her power was well known and once she used it the police if no one else would know right away who she was. After all Mutant powers were distinct and hers had been on the news on dozens of occasions. Taking impacts on her actual skin was another thing she would have to get used to she knew. Aura a real functioning member of society? she half thought meld would strangle her if she ever found out

She moved down the alleyway an hour later, looking around as she did to make sure no one saw her reach for the door knob. Sure she was alone, she turned the knob. She heard the tires screech and the gun go off, instinct and training made her raise her aura as she turned. Her aura was still be becoming solid However as she felt a burning sensation in her stomach, as the Ap round tore through her stomach and struck the back of her aura which took some of the impact but kept the bullet from exiting. Her aura collapsed around her as her mind swam and clouded her thoughts. She moved deeper into the alley, her right hand over the wound as blood came out from beneath.

She made it less then a block thrue the alleyway when she stumbled, her right hand reaching out to keep her upright, but only succeeded in lowering herself to the floor, a red line of blood down the doorway. She swore in mangled japanese. She fumbled for her phone in her purse. She chastised herself for not being quicker to bring her defenses up and she was not at all sure why focus was hard or what the burning sensation was. Under her hand, she formed a small aura to staunch the wound and keep her power use hidden. She had to relax, calm down and focus. She had to resist the urge to sleep as well, the syndicate could help. Aura knew nothing of medical, she had never needed to. Aura simply counted on her power to protect her, but unknown to her it may have done much more harm then good.

As far as witnesses went, he was a lousy one.

Danny heard what could have been gunshots, at a time he couldn’t have told you, in a place that hadn’t been a bad neighborhood or a good neighborhood, on the corners of don’t remember and who cares. He had not seen the car or it’s people. In New York, you might hear things that sound like gun shots all the time. He had not called the police. Surely, someone would call them for him. Maybe even a woman named Shirley.

What he had seen, as he cut through an alley (because he was smart, cutting through alleys in New York), was a woman staggering. And a notable wound. It was notable, because of the blood and because she was clutching it and lowering herself against a doorway and the wall.

His mind went tunnel focused, like how first responders may or may not want to be. He saw the injury, he knew generally how one might help a stabbing victim or something. He saw it from the ass end of the alley, though. Needed to get closer before he could tell the whole story. So, he did.

Danny stopped about six feet from the woman and got her attention.

“Hello, Miss? Miss, are you alright? Did you hear those gun shots? Are you stabbed? Is there anything I can do? I have, stuff.”

He may have come off harried and nervous. He was harried and nervous. Stuff consisted of a backpack full of school crap and medical supplies. Mainly a lot of first aid, that currently doubled as a fox shaped keychain in his bag. He felt like Winnie the Pooh when he said “Oh bother...”

Kimberly heard the man a bit before she saw him and had decided to wait to see if he was a threat. It was a very real possibility he had been sent to finish the job, she thought. She recalled then that she lacked her mask and with it Aura's face which brought up the question if someone knew. Still just in case she called to her aura around her free hand but kept the aura under the glove so it stayed hidden. The Syndicate had brought the idea up to her to use gloves a few sizes bigger for the very purpose of hiding her power.

"Oh yes, im wonderful, just seeing how much blood in my body" she said snapping, Of all the people to offer help, she had to get a clown or an idiot. Still he could be useful. "Sorry, i heard and felt the shot's. Do as you wish" she said dismissing the aura she had used to limit the bleeding so she could remove her hand and show him the wound. She had considered taking the bullet out herself, but she knew that would cause a lot of internal damage.

"Bullet is still inside i think or it exploded internally. No exit wound, should not have hit anything vital, i think" she told him assuming such as she felt no blood dripping down her back, though she considered shock might be setting in as well, as the pain seemed to go down a bit. Kimberly did not anatomy pretty well. She had been forced to study it to know where each vital organ was so she could best aim for them in combat.

fate would decide from here weather she was saved or moved on, she knew she needed to aim fir the first but part of her yearned for the God of souls embrace. She reached up with her hand grabbing the doorknob and starting forcing herself up, but the action made her bleeding worse.

“You’ve been shot,” he said dumbly. And then, for good measure he added with more emphasis, “You’ve been shot!”

Now that he’d had a chance to see the wound, he felt a little faint. Danny wasn’t generally nervous around blood, but hey! There’s a first time for everything. Like helping a person with a gunshot wound. And yes, he HAD heard the sarcasm in the comment about seeing how much blood she had. He had chosen to ignore it. Because rising to bait when someone was clearly in pain was just... dumb. Of course she’d feel like snapping. It had probably come off as a dumb question.

Come to think of it, repeating ‘you’ve been shot’ was probably idiotic as well. But as noted previously, this was his first real rodeo.

She had said to do as he wished, so Danny day his backpack down and pulled out a tiny red fox kit keychain. He focused on it, and plopped it down on the concrete. And it changed, into a large medical kit.

He opened the kit up, and looked at all the bandages and things inside. Then, he looked at her when she started talking about the bullet. And it’s current location.

The girl tried to force herself up. He moved to help her settle back down.

“No, no. Stay seated. We’ll get you up in a bit. For the ambulance. I’m going to call an ambulance once I’ve extracted the bullet. I’m only in my first couple of years of Med school and if there’s internal damage, I’m not sure what I can do about it. And that’s a lot of blood loss, so we’ll need an IV. But— for now. Just sit and focus on staying conscious.”

He pulled out his phone, just for flashlight functionality. Tried to shine a light on the wound to see if he could locate the bullet. As he worked, he muttered to himself. Thinking out loud.

“Didn’t go through. Maybe not a straight shot. Ricochet? Not sure about internal damage, but— hold on. There’s the little effer. Lemme just.”

It was HIGHLY unsanitary, to just reach in and poke it. So he pulled some clean gloves out of his med kit first. Then, barring any objections from her, he poked a digit gently into the lady’s wound. And did some shady back alley surgery.

In a real hospital, there would probably be forceps and things to hold back skin and stuff to get a good visual. To pluck the bullet out with tongs or tweezers or whatever. He hadn’t studied bullet extractions much yet. But he had the basic ideas from shows like ER.

Be afraid, lady. Be very afraid.

He also had his power. And by some stroke of luck, it seemed the bullet had been blocked somehow. It had not impacted as hard on bone, or gone through muscle or organ. It had not gotten very deep at all. He could actually see it, holding his phone and poking his index finger in. Gingerly. Oh man.

He had to set his phone down, and grab something to duality. What was— ah okay. He picked up the first thing that he saw on the alley floor. It turned out to be an old candy bar wrapper. Then he touched the bullet. It probably hurt while he was rooting around in there. He hoped she wasn’t too inconvenienced by it all.

“And now that’s gone.” He said casually.

The bullet had vanished the moment he had used his power. He had touched the wrapper and combined its essence with that of the bullet. The wrapper stayed where it was and now had the weight of a bullet. He could change them back and forth at will.

Danny pocketed the candy wrapper, and stripped off the bloody glove. Tossed it in the trash. Then, he pulled the roll of bandages out of the kit.

“Next, guess I wrap to apply pressure and keep the blood in. And we call an ambulance. You’re bullet-free, but you need extra blood. Unless your mutation is to have extra blood in which case I’m an idiot but I feel like you somehow blocked some of the bullets force and that saved your life.” For now.

She was about to snap again as patience wise she was pretty much out but her annoyance turned to wonder as she witnessed the tiny red fox key chain which then proceeded to expand. "Your a mutant? Oh thank the heavens she said softly the relief easy to detect in her voice. The man before her had no way to know, but she had gutted more then one doctor who was human. It was why Tempest at Haven had used only mutant doctors and visible ones at that when she was in a coma.

She let him guide her back to her seated spot, mostly because she had seen the kit but she had also instructed him to do as wished and he did seem to want to help her out "Thats an interesting power" as she looked over what he taken from and unload his kit. She was no fan of the ambulance idea, even though.

She made no objections as he poked his finger into the wound. It hurt a lot of course without anesthesia but she would have objected to it had it been offerd anyway. Aura held back her instinct to scream as he found the bullet, and she barely noticed its removal as he told her they were done before she felt the expected pulling out of the bullet. Auras medical knowledge ended where the major bones, organs and artery's were, she did not even know the name of them, just which to hit to do damage or avoid damage to a target. She had no idea hos unsanitary this all was, but she knew it was better then trying to take it out herself, which she would have done had this guy not shown up.

"Tell me my medical friend, do you do this sorta thing often? I could use a fellow mutant like you" she said with a smile. While she did not find herself in this position often it did happen and her reluctance even now to go to an actual hospital never helped that.

extra blood? "Nope, can't do that. Heard the shot and brought up my barrier, was not quite solid when the bullet passed, may have slowed it" she said not really sure. She had no feeling in her aura itself but could feel pressure or where it stopped and the impact. "can you get me to to 16th street and Lincoln instead. Not much fan of hospitals" she said feeling a little groggy. "Can you shrink people?" she asked curiously thinking his power was to make objects bigger or smaller.

“Yeah. I’m a mutant.” He confirmed, in what he thought a very soothing voice.

She seemed stressed. Reasonably so.

As he worked, he had answered her few questions and went with small talk. Casually. Who said he had no bedside manner?

>>”That’s an interesting power.”

“Thanks. It’s useful. For when I need stuff in stuff.”

He had examined the wound. Then she had asked him if he did this often. And an eyebrow had gone up.

“Not often. Helping strangers... maybe twice. This is the first one like this...” ‘Please don’t sue’, he thought to himself. ‘Or die.’


Dying would be bad. They needed to absolutely prevent that.

“I am in medical school though... still learning.” Danny said.

And speaking of preventing death. Time to call the ambulance. Except she wasn’t into that. No extra blood either. Did have barriers. Which was neat.

She seemed to be getting out of it which was bad. So he ignored her question for a moment and started wrapping a bandage around her middle.

“Hold this so it gets tight enough.” He said.

He finished up the medical stuff. Picked up his kit and reverted it to tiny form, gathered all his other stuff suuuuper quick. Then said “No. Cant shrink. Hold on.”

He got beneath her and gave her a steadying arm as they made their way out of the alley.

“No hospitals huh. Well... that place is a ways off. Cab it is. Oh CABBY!” Danny tried to call for a cab. The cab that had stopped nearby down the block, actually. The one currently being boarded by a girl with green skin and — he wasn’t sure at ALL what was going on with her hair. But it was there.

“Hey! Can we use the cab, lady? My friend here got SHOT.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have said that so loud but he was kind of dealing with a lot of things right now!

“Hey! Can we use the cab, lady? My friend here got SHOT.”

"Oh, well of course you--" Wait... what?!

She had been ready to hand the cab over to whoever had asked just out of the kindness of her heart and the fact that she didn't explicitly have anywhere she needed to be. The second half of the statement had been glossed over a bit at first, but slammed back to the forefront a moment later and she dropped her coffee cup in shock.

"S-shot!?" It took a moment longer than she was proud of to turn and visually see what was just confirmed verbally, but once it had she snapped into work mode in an instant and abandoned the cab all together.

"Quickly, get her inside this building over here!"

In fact, the Greek had just gotten done filing away papers after meeting with a few people about opening a small food cart down the street to feed hungry people Tuesdays and Thursdays, for free. She had been the last to leave and still had the keys from locking the place up. The meeting room with its plush couches and office furniture would be more than adequate for her to evaluate the wound and apply her own brand of healing- if necessary.

"I'm a nurse!" She fumbled the keys, real smooth, and hopped back up the stairs to unlock the door to the building as quickly as she could and held the door open for them.

"She was shot just now?" She couldn't recall hearing any gunfire... but then again she had been engrossed in filling out various forms on her laptop, so... there was that. She also didn't have her gear with her as she hadn't been expecting to run into a situation immediately outside of the room her appointment had been in. Slacks and a silky shirt would have to do instead of scrubs.

"Have you called an ambulance yet?"

She directed them to the room, unlocked it, and ushered them to one of the couches. Any stains could be scrubbed out later when the danger to someone's life wasn't a top priority.

Andrea had already noticed the placement of the bandaged on the woman's middle, as well as the blood already seeping through. She tried to spy if there was an exit wound on the other side while fluttering around, but couldn't yet see one.

"Please, sit or lay down as comfortably as you can so I can look you over." Luckily, she had gloves on seeing as she always needed gloves on, and had a clean spare set in her purse. "Where did you get these bandages?"

So he did not do this often. "I see, perhaps Mai sent you" she said not thinking clearly enough to consider he would have never heard of her pantheon of gods and goddesses. The concept of school did not bother her and the word had a lot of meaning. The tight bandages hurt of course, the sorta thing always did from the pressure, she had seen it enough in others. She held the bandage tight as his advice.

She rose with him and the dizziness hit immediately. She was glad he was willing to follow her wishes. Some may have just thought she was out of it which was not far from the truth. Still she was awhere enough to understand his help and keep her power off. "Tha... she stared to say before she saw the green lady and the hair. She knew this woman she was sure of it but her head was swimming and her only thought was a mall and ice cream on it.

She suggested an ambulance. She had no real idea how much time had passed at this point. "The moon was fresh in the sky over Moscow" she said in answer to how long it had been. In reality it had been Maybe an hour and she had not been in Moscow since they had all had the future dream.. But her sence of time was pretty off. "NO! I wont be caged....not again. she said in what she had meant was conviction but had really varied in tired tone. A visible shudder went through her body which may not have been the best thing. The woman was clearly a mutant and that eased her mind though it bothered her she could not place her.

She went to sit and wound have missed the couch if not for Danny. She kept sitting, she wanted to keep awake. "The screams...the terror...the dieing...Super" she said it sounding much cleared in her head then she really sounded. Auras memory had always been a place of chaos and encountering the other Aura had no helped that at all. She recalled the fight and words she had with her other self but her mind was unable to separate that from reality, still her mind latched onto it as if it were her own. In truth the Hospital would have had no real issues for her as she was. She had never had a formal check up and so had no medical records in the public database.

"The barrier, heard it was closing, i should head home" she said, mentally believing she was her alt world counterpart. Kimberly kept a hand on the couch her gloved hand gripping the cushion keeping her upright but tense. She tried to rise but weather someone kept her from doing so or her hand missed the couch to push herself up she was unsure. Her memory and mind swam as she let out a yelp of pain and gripped the bandage tighter. Her breath was a bit shallow and fast.

The bleeding lady said something about Mai...? Danny got the feeling she was starting to get a little off from the loss of blood. So he just said “Yeah, sure.” And helped her along.

Lady started to say something when she saw green lady. And Danny felt like maybe, there was something there. And that there was a sudden need to actually get names. But there was no time!! He delivered his little line.

Understandably, the green lady was caught off guard by his comment. Off guard enough, the coffee suffered for it. An unexpected casualty.

And then, the lady... took over. Directing them to a nearby building. Danny opened his mouth and just let his jaw hang for a second. Like, “Uhhh.” They had been wanting to take the cab. But— what?

Because of the unexpected direction things had started going, the young doctor wannabe did not immediately hop to it to follow her away. He stood. Stopped. Glancing between the cab and the person. What exactly—

Oh. Things came sliding into place. She was a NURSE. Okay cool cool. He said a quick apology to the cab driver, who was looking pretty ticked off by now.

“Eh. Just make us your mind goddamn kids.” The older cabbie grumbled.

Danny called back sooooooorry and hauled his person over towards green and her building.

Green asked a question. Aaaand the other woman said something that made very little sense to him, about moons and Moscow.

“Dunno about Moscow moons.” Danny cut in. “Happened a few minutes ago. Ricochet and her power stopped the worst. She got lucky. Already took out the bullet. “But she’s lost a lot of blood.”

Had he called an ambulance? Again, the woman interjected. All nervous like, talking about being caged. “No ambulance.” He doubled down on the woman’s point. Firmly. “Please.” A glance at the green lady. “No. Insurance.” It was a lousy bit of deception, but as far as he knew, it could have been the truth.

To the woman, he added as soothingly as he could. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.”

He followed Green to the room, supporting the other lady the entire time. To a couch. Danny helped her get situated, and it was good he had. She was definitely feeling the blood loss. Not steady, at all.

She didn’t lay down. Wanted to stay seated upright. Well okay. He could dig it, she had her reasons. With how she was gibbering, it was probably to stay conscious.

Danny had no idea what to make of what she was saying. Sounded bad though, what with the screams and the dying.

“Calm down,” he said. “Take it easy.”

To greenie, he said. “Backpack. Med kit.”

“Chill out.” He kept the lady from rising with a gentle hand. Would help the lady examining her if she didn’t have her patient flying off the couch.

“My name is Danny.” He said quietly. “This is... Mai.” He said the first name that came to mind. Just so happened to be the only name that had come out of her mouth.

“Sorry if I didn’t do so hot with the bandages and stuff. I’m only in my first couple years of med school. But I had to do something... the hippo oath.” He explained, as if that resolved everything.

Medkit in the backpack. Mecial field then, or just someone overly concerned with safety. She nodded swiftly as she dove on in to see what the severity of the wound was.

"I am Andrea." She skipped the pleasantries for the moment and ignored the woman's rambling, for the most part, working to gently peek the baggage away so she could see the wound. Danny, as he had introduced himself, explained that the bullet was already out, which was good, but it also meant that the bullet hadn't gone all the way through. Possible fragments left inside? She couldn't be sure without a scan. It was also impossible to see what could have possibly been hit and damaged unless she dug around in there... which was not an ideal procedure to perform in an office of all places.

It left her very few options, really.

"No ambulance if fine..." She trailed off, finally getting a look at the wound and probing at it gently. "Mai, don't worry I'm just looking at your wound, alright? Danny did a wonderful job patching you up. We'll have you right as rain in just a few moments... okay?"

She stood after a moment and headed for the desk in the room, shuffling around in one of the drawers until she found what she needed. A dull, but very pointy letter opener. She would have to use it in place of one of the sterile sharps she normally used.

"Danny, if you can I need you to do me a few favors..." Once she was back at their side she peeled one of her gloves off, "I will need you to try and hold her wound open just a little. Do you have any tweezers or forceps in that kit of yours? If not fingers will work." If she looked at all nervous, it was only because she didn't usually do this with an audience.

"I will also need you to absolutely keep this to yourself... Since hospitals are out of the question and I lack any basic equipment to even clean the injury, I am going to reply on an ability I have to heal the wound externally. Okay?"

She was already pressing the sharp point of the letter opener into the meat of her palm, over one of the larger arteries beneath the skin. She didn't wait for permission to draw blood because time was of the essence and she could ask for forgiveness later.

She did wait for him to have the wound open as best as he could if he chose to do so, while she allowed her own warm blood to pool in her cupped palm. One she had what she felt like was enough, she reached over to pour it slowly on the wound and used the discarded bandage from before to try and keep it from running everywhere and staining the woman's clothes more.

"Mai, you should start to feel some relief from the pain soon. It will take a while for you to replenish however much blood you lost so I will still recommend that you take it easy for a while." Regardless of how the wound was held open, it was important to make sure that her blood made it as far inside as possible. She didn't want to chance it healing on the surface and the woman continued to bleed on the inside where trauma still lingered.

It didn't take long for the skin to fully knit back together, and with it the pain should have vanished as well. Weakness and confusion could possibly still linger but at least the danger would have passed.

She twitched as the green woman checked her wound. Andrea the name seemed familiar as did the woman. "Wound?" she questioned vaguely. She was wounded she recalled, her head felt like such sludge. "The round man helped, we will celibtare both your deeds when we get back the camp" she said in response to the comforting voice not at all recalling his actual name. "I know you green lady" she said with confidence becoming more and more sure she did. She twitched a bit as the wound was touched but did try and stay still.

She was going to reply that she was not Mai but felt the wound being held open and the words only sounded in her head. She felt the drops drip into her wound and a strange sensation seemed to spread from them. She was not sure what she had expected, perhaps it to feel like other healers she had met, but the sensation was totally different. The pain felt washed away and felt her skin pull a bit as flesh nitted itself closed and the cavity the bullet had made simply vanished. It was a strange sensation that held her liquidity mind. The lack of pain was noticeable right away.

She was unsure how long it took, but the the sludge in her brain seemed to drain away slowly. She snapped back into reality with what felt like a hammer blow to get head. "Don't worry green friend, i will not speak of this" she said, as she straightened herself up, unaware of how much time might have passed between Andrea saying that and her response. Her emories swam as well and Aura tried to make sense of where and when she was.

She noticed the weakness in her right away. She realized she did not recall how she had made it here at all. "I am not Mai, I am....Rena? Kimberly? A simple blade?" all felt true and false to her mind. The memories were there but Aura had many false memories within her brain and sometimes it could new hard tell which were real. "I recall you Amazonian friend, from a future that never was" she said, it was obviously in her voice that she felt drained. "I recall the bullet, i did not react in time" she said looking at andrea again, still unable to place her.

Andrea took charge and Danny wasn’t ashamed to follow her lead. He watched the green woman examine the wound. She looked thoughtful.

Apparently his work had been acceptable. Good.

Andrea stepped away and went to get something. Came back a short time later with— oh man a knife. Didn’t look sanitary. He opened his mouth to say something, but— he moved to obey her orders. Because the woman’s life was on the line, and he could extend a little faith Andreas way. Obviously she wasn’t going to operate with a dirty letter opener. They’d sterilize it or something.

He moved as directed, gently holding the wound open. Well, gently as he could. Blood made things slippery. And he wasn’t really wearing gloves which he should have. Realized only as he was moving to hold. Ah well. Fuck it.

“Tweezers and forceps. Yeah. Wish I’d thought of that. Nope.” Little late. Anyways. He’d sort of gone all in with the hands when she’d said to before parsing the very sensible suggestion.

He was focused on holding the wound and didn’t really know if Andrea were asking him to keep a secret or Mai girl. So he just went “Uh huh. Yeah.” And left it up to date whether she got something from that.

Since he was focused one place, he only caught the woman cutting herself out of the corner of his eye.

“Holy shi—!” He cut himself short. Because she was now dripping the blood from her cut hand into the open wound. “That... cannot be very sanitary.” Danny muttered with a defeated sigh.

Mutants. They really threw caution to the wind the second they could do something neat, didn’t they? Yeah. Including him and his Fox kit.

He just let her do her thing and shut up about it. Hopefully it wouldn’t just kill the woman, or be radioactive spider blood or something. Like, the only way she saw to save the woman was some Bella Twilight Bull Spit where she converted her to something Special.

The healing itself was pretty cool when it worked. Danny watched the skin come back together and felt glad he hadn’t tried to stop Andrea or something.

Through it all, the other woman had seemed to have been out of it. Talking about celebrating and knowing Andrea.

He saw to cleaning up the bloodied bandages and ruined bits of cloth while she healed. Found a sink and deep cleaned his hands. Tried to wash blood off his clothes, if he had any. They came off looking like dark patches on his jeans that could have been anything. Mentally, he planned a story involving ketchup.

When she finally came to her senses after being healed... though what she said sure didn’t help any in the making sense department.

“Glad you’re feeling better lil Kim,” he said from across the room. Arms crossed over his chest. Danny felt a little cold, now that the adrenaline was wearing off and the curiosity was setting in. Just who was this Rena Kim girl?

“Pretty sure it was just a stray bullet from a drive by. Most likely not aimed at you.” He gave Rena a pointed look. Since that was the first name she’d given before she corrected herself, it was probably the one she most likely wanted them to forget. “Take it easy. Not sure why you’d expect to be able to dodge a speeding bullet, or... wait, you said barrier when I first got to you. So...” he trailed off.

He really hoped he hadn’t rescued a bad guy. Though he would have, either way. Something about oaths and hippos.

“Nice heals by the by.” He added.

The Greek had not a single clue as to who this woman was, nor what the context was of everything she seemed to be rambling. Round man? Camp? Huh??

She didn't comment on all of the 'green lady' descriptors, either, as she was used to it. It was either Green, or Snakes, or Medusa. They were all common and only mildly insulting. "It's Andrea, dear. You can call me Andy if you wish."

Danny did well all things considered. It wasn't exactly a conventional method of healing so she was very happy that he hadn't run off screaming or jumped at her to take the knife. (Which had happened before and required entirely too much explanation to resolve)

"All I can say is that I take very good care of myself and have regular checkups to make sure everything is kosher, but.. yes, I know how it looks."

Mai kept on with the Green moniker and she corrected her as gently as possible, like one might remind an old acquaintance. "It is Andrea."

Danny moved away to clean his hands, Andrea procured some napkins from the desk to temporarily clean the letter opener and she healed hand. Mai, who was apparently not Mai, continued to ramble in a way that was slightly concerning and kept Andrea in Nurse mode even though the wound had been taken care of. Was there a possibility of damage to the head as well? She sounded present, but... not much of what she was saying made sense. What did 'A simple blade' mean?

Rena-Mai dropped a few words that chilled the Greek in an instant, causing her to freeze over by the desk.

...Amazonian? Future that never was?

Thankfully, Danny hopped back in before she had to struggle to find something to say. "It certainly does come in handy sometimes." She responded back, eyeballing the woman on the couch with worry and a tinge of suspicion.

Her mind was filled with screaming, carnage and blood. Images of her own mutilated form being remade again and again much like Andrea had just done. her mind had been crafted, designed for a purpose. That was it she had to find her purpose, her meaning her fate.

Aura screamed and pink whisps of energy appeared and faded around her. Some folding in on themselfs and other gradually breaking away. "NO! Don't let them take me! I never meant to, i can't! MOTHER please! It's not true!" she said shaking her at the thundering memory that struck her, tears wells at her eyes but a moment later, her face grew harder. "No....they threw me away, abandoned for being a mutant" she said telling the same story that she recalled in a few ways.

She closed her eyes and demanded her mind focused, behaved. "Sorry....a long time ago, had mutant kid play with my memories, so it's a real mess up here" she said sounding tired but tapping on the side her head. The wrong thing to do as it seemed to echo in her mind despite the lack of actual sound. "Dodge the bullet nooo.... she then swore as reality slammed into place with the force of a truck.

"Not the first time I have been shot at my new friend...dan was it? Never good with names.... I was a custom forged solider, my mind and fighting ability honed from the age of twelve." she said, and as her mind focused, small pink whisps seemed to appear only to fade away mere seconds later, never solid. "I am Kimberly. Mai is a goddess of Life. Why Why WHY did you not let me die, I am so so very tired and yet fate won't let me stop. has fifteen years of combat not been enough? So i not deserves fates reprieve?" she said as her focus and mind began to finish her mentality. She dripped the couch and forced herself to stand

So much to unpack. So much to try and understand. Amazons, future, clean living ( that was Andreas secret by the way). Pink whisks were coming off the girl, and the ravings. She was shedding her sanity like a dog sheds water. Everyone, everyone, was utterly focused on her. As well they should be. Because whew, wow wow. Wow-wee Zow-wee! It was all a big much.

Mother and abandonment issues and mutant kids playing with memories, oh my.

Not Mai, he corrected himself. Kim. Lil Kim. With the pinkness aura of wack. whack. Wacko. This whole thing was making Danny feel wacko. Feel out of himself. Feel—

Everyone was focused on Wacko as she yakked. Yakko, and Wakko. Nobody truly focused on the dot.

Dot. Dot. Dot.


........

There. The other one. He felt it stirring, felt it coming, felt a—-choo.

Just a tiny sneeze. Happened in the middle of Wacko’s Spiel. And suddenly, there was another ‘maniac to go with the other two. A stout, balding stood man in the background, wearing a blue pinstriped suit.

Dot dot dot went his mind as the unassuming little round man came to, just as the girl was saying:

“—custom forged solider, my mind and fighting ability honed from the age of twelve."

Huh?

What was with the soldier girls pinkness, coming and going, coming and going.

Dot dot dot.

"I am Kimberly. Mai is a goddess of Life. Why Why WHY did you not let me die, I am so so very tired and yet fate won't let me stop. has fifteen years of combat not been enough? So i not deserves fates reprieve?"

Dot dot dot. Yeah. This was not as fun as the last time he’d woken up with one of Danny boys women. Was she dangerous?

He glanced towards the other woman in the room, to see how she felt about p!ink. Nah. She didn’t seem into the whole pink craze either.

Nonchalantly, Lucien cut into the conversation. “Can you do other colors, sweetheart, or is it just the one? I hear people like orange these days? It’s the new black, or... some shit.” He shrugged. “If you do green, you’ll both... match. What? What’s everyone looking at? Oh, right.”

He gestured to himself. “I am Zagan. Hi.”

And, he bowed.