Azar was standing on a mattress on the floor with space-themed sheets comforter, doing elaborate handstands, flips, and other mediocre types of mild gymnastics that she definitely hadn't ever seen before. "Yeah, that's uh... sure something."

Juniper was seated on a purple beanbag in the middle of the room, which she had been forced to do by the increasing dizziness and a very pleasant buzzing in her head that had popped up out of nowhere. She'd been worried that he's slipped something in her drink somehow, but what she was feeling current didn't feel anything like the effects of Rohypnol.

She also briefly wondered about whether there was a gas leak or something but was finding it increasingly harder to care.

When the door swung open and elke was standing there with the darkness of the hallway like a shroud around her, Juniper also found that hard to care about at first. Azar seemed to care, though, as he fell out of his cross-legged naked handstand and immediately looked confused. Who wouldn't when a tall woman interrupted the seductive ritual you always did before getting your shag on?

"Hey, look, if you want a piece you're gonna have to wai-"

Aaaaand, then he spotted Xavier lurking behind Elke and the confusing attempt at awkward flirting shifted immediately into anger. The Oxygen levels in the room dropped immediately. He'd been slowly lowering them to simulate hypoxia, which he had discovered often made his chosen partner for the night have a much nicer time... unbeknownst to them.

"Oh heeeeey, Xavier. What are you doing here? Want a lava lamp?" Juniper struggled for a breath for a moment, breathing deep and swaying for a moment.

"Who the @#$% are you two?"

A lighter appeared in Azar's hand and he flicked it on. The flame was small and flickered constantly.

"No, Juniper wouldn't do anything to hurt me, or anyone who didn't try to hurt her... I'm sure of that." What was she doing here? Well, maybe he was one those people she was loud with at night.

They moved deeper into the building. It was strange how the back room of such a grimy, rough and tumble place just... looked like any other business back room. It was relatively clean, plainly decorated, and there was a rat scurrying down the hallway with a slice of pizza on its back.

Wait, what? He looked again. The rat was gone. His imagination was going crazy today, wasn't it? Anyway, the approached the bar back, where things started to get a little less standard again. Where these... living quarters?

He heard the guy's voice. His eyes widened. Oh no. "Maybe we should-"

She approached the door the voice was coming from, and he hesitantly followed. More talking. Oh, gross. Wait, did Juniper sound bored? How could you be bored during the hanky panky? In his experience that didn't seem physically possible. Elke reached for the door, and she started counting down. "What? wait, I'm not read-" The door opened.

They would see Elke looking at them, but Xavier would be turned to the side covering his eyes. They began talking, and Xavier peeked. Oh. Juniper was clothed. Oh, Azar was not! He clearly had some gaps in his knowledge of intimacy, because he had no clue what was going on here.

Oh, right, they were here for a reason. The man pulled out a lighter, and Xavier was already moving further, flinging himself through the air with his power to head right at the man and his best. "Stop what you are doing!" He was aiming to tackle the guy into the wall and wrestle the lighter from him so he couldn't use his flame manipulating powers!

Well. That certainly wasn't normal.

Elke stepped in while tucking another ball bearing in the leather pouch of her slingshot, and moved off to the side toward where Juniper was on the floor.

Xavier didn't waste any time in leaping into action at the first sign of danger. Elke chose to try and knock over Juniper with a foot to pin her. Surprisingly it worked. She seemed.... out of it. Drugs? Alcohol? She was too placid and in a way, Elke wasn't familiar with it. Usually, people on various things were a lot more sporadic and temperamental

Azar dodged to the side, still naked, with a twist of his body. Off the bed and mid-air, the small flame in his hand suddenly exploded outward and he was able to direct it toward X with a swipe of his free hand.

"Not a chance! Get the hell out of here or I'll incinerate the both of you!"

The moment his flame sprouted, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Unbeknownst to everyone but Azar, he was not a fire mutant. Nope. Instead, he was able to dramatically raise or lower the levels of Oxygen around him at will. Most people couldn't detect the change until it was too late.

Azar struggled to hop back into some boxers, awkwardly, while continuing to fuel the small fire in his hand and keep the blast directed at the tall hero.

As he stumbled around he trampled all over Juniper's discarded bag of apples, destroying some and kicking a few others at X as well.

The Oxygen in the room was slowly amping up, a threat of what he could do if pushed, and the flame he was seemingly controlling kept growing bigger.

Until that is, a medium-sized ball bearing smashed the lighter in his hand. Little plastic pieces flew everywhere, as well as fuel.

Elke glanced back down at the girl beneath her foot, who only now seemed to be coming back to a normal headspace.

The feeling of being dazed and short of breath gradually lifted and in its place all that was left was confusion. Why.... was she on her back, with Xavier's crazy girlfriend's foot on her chest?

Also, why were Elke and Xavier here in the first place?

... Why was Adonis trying to tackle naked Azar, and why was there fire???

"....uh..."

The Native did some sort of fancy aiming thing with- was that a slingshot?- and the lighter was suddenly gone. Much cursing could be heard and an apple flew harmlessly overhead.

.. Okay, this was getting out of hand. She'd just bought those!

She phased herself, letting Elke's footfall into her chest, and then rolled away to safety.

"..Do I even wanna know what's going on right now?"

Why had none of this come off as weird a moment later?

Xavier was too busy diving at the arsonist to tell Elke not to step on his best friend. The scrawnier fellow was surprisingly flexible, though, as he tried to grab him, he twisted out of the way. Admittedly, there may have been just a little bit of hesitation reaching out to grab a naked person.

There was a strange sensation of... Almost... elation? Thrill? The air he was breathing was suddenly saturated with oxygen. He didn't really notice, however, as there was a small flame leaping toward him. With all of the confidence in the world, he lifted up a forearm to bounce the flames away, hissing in surprise as they bit into him anyway. YOUCH! These weren't normal flames. It came again, hotter and heavier, and he stepped back, going into his full body repulsion mode. His clothing started flapping in an unseen breeze, and his hair stood straight up as he repelled everything, including oxygen away from himself.

It worked! Okay, so... what was going on? His mind scrambled as the man continued sending flame his way, confused as it scattered and dissipated before direct impact.

The lighter was suddenly smashed. Elke was a lifesaver! Xavier took the moment of surprise as an opportunity to step forward and send an uppercut at his jaw. He would follow up with his power to send him straight up into the ceiling, reaching up to touch him where he impacted to keep repelling him into the ceiling. "Hang out a bit."

"Okay, Juniper, what are you doing here?! This man's dangerous!"

His arm was pulsing with pain... that first burn really smarted. He wondered how bad it was.

Elke jolted a bit when Juniper vanished out from under her but recovered easily. She still wasn't sure how exactly she was gonna deal with that problem, considering she had a heck of a time even trying to get a hold of her before. SLipper little-

Azar seemed to be taken care of, or at least for the moment. He didn't seem happy up there flailing around angrily but seemed nicely put in place. "Good one Xavier!" Did Elke notice that he got burned? Yes. Did it matter right now? No. He was alive and able to move. Priorities.

"I don't think she minds so much if he's dangerous, ya dingus." Elke left her post by Juniper in order to head over to Xavier's side.

How were they going to do this, then?

"Jeffery Hudson, otherwise know as 'Azar' on the street. You sure to have some fancy-ass stories you like to throw around. Where were you two months ago, the evening of the 11th?"

He cussed some more, thought about it for a second, and then tried and failed to swing at her. He was up too high.

"Like hell if I know. Babe! Babe, I saw your fancy little trick help me out here?!" He was looking over the top of Xavier's head in Juniper's direction.

Elke loaded another, smaller (more painful) ball bearing into her slingshot and pegged him in the stomach before Xavier could stop her. His yelp of pain was satisfactory.

"I asked you a question, maggot.

She bristled. "What am I doing here?! What are you doing here? You don't drink! Neither does she!"

She was back on her feet finally and more confused than ever. Especially when Azar reached out to her for help with... whatever this was.

"Uh, sorry? Why exactly would I help you?" He proceeded to rage for a straight moment while they all presumably ignored him.

"...Wait..." The puzzle was slowly being pieced together through a small but growing headache. "..Is this one of your guys' hero things? Is that it? You're after him?" She blinked and scratched at her short hair.

"-are so dead, you hear me! @$%$#@! You owe me-"

Juniper bent and picked up one of the green apples she had bought, frowning at the poor half smashed thing. "Aw... I was gonna try making a pie, too."

-DEAD. D.E.A- OW!" Elke had gotten another shot in.

"I don't know where I was, okay?! Are you two cops? Why the hell are they sending punk-ass kids out after-"

"So... like, all that weird bragging you were doing about fires and stuff wasn't just stories, was it? You're like, actually a psychopath?"

He struggled even more. "I never said anything like that you lying little-" She stopped listening as she bent to pick up another apple.

In the meantime, Azar worked on steadily draining all of the oxygen from the room around them. One way or another he was determined to get out, maybe murder them all and flee.

Juniper felt the loopy, weird haze starting to settle back in and rubbed at her forehead. "Ugh... what is wrong with my brain right now?"

His neat ceiling stunt got him praise from his girlfriend. He lifted his burn arm to scratch the back of his head bashfully. "Thanks!" A wince was drawn as he moved the forarm a bit too far. He raise an eyebrow at Elkes retort before looking to Juniper, and back up at Azar.

She started interrogating him. Wow, she sounded pretty professional! The man asked Juniper for help. Xavier just shook his head. He had a feeling that wasn't about to happen. Azar was hit with a slingshot ball. Oh, this was torture. Maybe not so professional.

"Look, just... tell her, man. She could really hurt you with those things."

It was pretty affirming when Juniper replied how he thought she would. He just... didn't seem like the type of person she'd care about?

An argument ensued, and he found himself looking back and forth between everyone as it did. Odd... was... the room getting a little blurry as he looked around. "Elke... Something's not..." His balance faltered for just a second, and he fell to one knee, losing his grip on Azar and sending him plummeting from the ceiling. "W-what's..."

"Oh good, you're useful for once." The Native shot Juniper a very sarcastic thumbs up.

"Yeah, man, I'd just tell me. The small I go with these things the more likely it is your gonna end up with some inside you. Not how you thought your night was gonna go, huh?"

They argued back and forth a bit and she shot him in the leg a few times out of spite, but... it wasn't working. Usually, by now she'd be breaking fingers and toes, but nooooo, Mr. Goodietwoshoes over there wouldn't stand for it. At least they have a witness in Blondie, though she wasn't very credible.

But... uh...

Huh. Breathing suddenly felt a lot less productive. She sucked in a deep breath and concern bloomed when it made her dizzy. Gas? Secondary mutation? Elke rubbed at her eyes with a thumb and finger and took a heavy step back around the same time it seemed to be affecting X as well.

Reacting quickly to Xavier falling was near impossible. Azar fell as well, hit the floor on his side, and let out a groan of pain, but didn't seem affected like they were. He was already getting himself up as they were all struggling more.

"Abort! We gotta get-"

Azar tackled her mid-sentence, sending them both to the floor. She got in a lucky shot at his jaw, but things felt like they were moving too slowly and her head was starting to swim-

"Nobody @#$%ing move of I cut this @#$%&'s head off!"

He'd found the knife she had sheathed at her waist and had gotten it up to her throat already.

... @#$%!

Elke's eyes sought out Xavier, unsure of how he would react or... what she was gonna do really while feeling like she was going to pass out.

The tattooed Mutant kicked over one of his lava lamps, stomping on it as he went past to break the bulb and expose the hot wires inside to the fuel spattered carpet in his room. All he needed was a little flame... just a baby one even!

The dude had some pretty horrible things to say, didn't he? Then again they always seemed to be like that. Juniper tuned it out to focus on figuring out what was wrong with her brain, and also to shoot a glare at the backhanded compliment shot her way.

"Oh good, you're useful for once." She didn't care if it was childish to snottily parrot words right back Elke.

With the majority of her body incorporeal, she noticed that the bad feelings were gradually going away as Elke harassed Azar behind her. She didn't really feel the need to dp anything because, like... this handled this stuff all the time, right? Adonis seemed fully capable of handling himself, and Elke punched like a brick wall.

She heard the thud of X's knee hitting the ground a moment before Azar hit the ground, and all thoughts that they had it handled flew right out the window the moment she saw the condition Xavier was in.

"Adonis!"

She started heading for him, and really, she would have been fine just ignoring Elke and her sudden tussle with boxerbriefs over there, but...

Damnit, he had a knife now.

Without putting too much thought into it she changed course and went barreling toward the two while Azar was partially distracted with trying to set fire to things.

She lept, phased through elke's chest to get a grip on Azar, and at the same time snatched the knife right out of his hand before it could dig into Elke's neck.

The Native stumbled to the side, suddenly free, as Azar and Juniper ended up in a heap on the floor, just as the carpet finally caught fire.

A small flame grew, accelerated by the lighter fluid in the fibers, and Azar switched tactics to suddenly pumping oxygen back into the depleted room.

The fire greedily ate it up and there was a small explosion of flame that rocketed around the room in all directions.

He didn't notice that they were being mean to each other. He was having trouble breathing. No, he was breathing fine, right? It just... it felt like it wasn't doing anything. Something was wrong.

Just like that, the man was free. Damnit. Through sheer force of will, he was able to pull himself to a mostly crouched position. He was attacking Elke. The knife came out. His chest clenched and his teeth followed suit. He didn't even need to see the movement out of the corner of his eyes to know what was going on.

Even in the haze, he found himself grinning. It didn't matter what Elke, or her truly hard to like mother said. His best friend was a good person. No... She was a hero at heart. Just like him.

Willing himself forward with numb limbs he following right behind the phaser, using her shadow as a blind spot, knowing just by sheer gut what she was going to do. As soon as the man fell with Juniper, Xavier was there, brunt of all of his weight on his meaty fist as he rained down a fist into the man's face hard enough to produce a 'thok!' It was harder than he usually hit, but he was light headed, and the dude had just threatened to cut his girlfriend's head off.

Stumbling a few more steps, he found himself thrown onto Elke when the room suddenly exploded. He tried to use his power to protect them both. Rolling off with a series of coughs, he tried to pull himself to a standing position... It was easier now that breathing was working again. Still, the room was smoke. Where was everyone. Juniper? The fire was spreading, and they couldn't stick around. He tried to reach over to Elke to see how she was doing.

Things happened in quick succession. Elke hated feeling like this; unable to follow. It was why she didn't drink or eat things that messed with her perception.

She was fumbling for a plan to get out of the knife at her throat. She had no reason to believe he was bluffing, so she was sure she couldn't just brute force her way out.

A blur of movement had her thinking Xavier was back on his feet and coming at them, but... no. Too small. Blondie?

The most bizarre non-feeling of having someone reach right through you was... ick. Just ick. She didn't blame her dad for not liking it either. But, the knife was gone and she was able to hurl herself to safety even as shorty tackled Azaar to the ground and got the knife away from him.

She was not able to roll away from the bast, but thanks to Xavier, she didn't have to.

It was a short, hot bast of fire that ended quickly and set many things on fire. Mostly the carpet.

"Collect the target and get out!" Regardless of if it had gone south, they still needed him for now. If at least to hogtie and drop off at the police department. She first thought wasn't of Juniper and her safety, but mostly because she just kinda expected her to handle herself at this point.

Elke got busy by heading to the door to yank it back open so they could leave.

"Don't do that!"

Juniper was fine. A few chunks of hair were a little singed and her clothes hadn't escaped unharmed... and there might be a burn here or there on the few parts she chose to sacrifice to keep the vitals parts safe... but she was okay.

"Don't introduce any outside oxygen in here. It can rile the fire up more!" She knew from many, many experiences.

Azar was out like a rock, so she left him and gripped onto the carpet underneath. It took a fair bit of concentration to phase the whole large square, so she didn't know if the angry girl responded or not. With a yank, she pulled the carpet up and started folding it over itself to try and smother the majority of the fire. The wax from the broken lamp had caught and wasn't helping matters, and the bed sheets were catching as well.

Not to mention it wouldn't be too long before the-

EEEEEP EEEEEP EEEEEP... EEEEEEP EEEEEP EEEEEEP

There went the alarms! There certainly didn't seem to be a sprinkler system in the back, or at least in that room, so escape was still needed.

This... was going to suck.

Juniper headed back to the unconscious semi-naked dude, hefted his phased form up, and then ran for Elke. It didn't occur for her to ask for permission before phasing her as well and hefting her up with the other hand.

"What the-"

"No time!"

All that left was Xavier, but, she was out of hands. "HAND ON BACK NOW"

She was also apparently out of words. Either he was going to do as she asked, or she was going to try and shoulder check her shoulder into him so that she could fuse the two of them together and then make a mad dash outside.

Regardless, she ended up running straight out of her shoes, socks, and sweater as she dragged all three of them to safety as fast as possible back through the front. They passed a very angry twin brother in the hallway, who abandoned the fire in order to chase them outside into the street to try and get his brother back.

A short while later ended up with them outside, surrounded by a mod of angry, drunk, possibly criminal patrons, the Brother who had somehow materialized a crowbar out of nowhere, and Juniper was pooped.

She dropped Elke, un-fused Xavier, and kept a grip on Azar because apparently he was hot sh*t that everyone was after.

....And then the mob converged on them.

Okay. Okay, Elke was fine. I mean, she was practically made of metal and go #$%& yourself, of course she was fine. Still, as he coughed from irritated lungs, the room started to clarify in his head. A bigger body made lack of oxygen take effect faster, and recovery was a little slower as well. Still, he was clear enough of mind to reach out and make contact with Juniper when she demanded it.

In a whoosh of color and movement, they were outside again. Whew... Fresh air never felt so good! He grinned, and turned toward Elke. "See? Good." He offered no context, figuring she would get what he was saying, as he reached out to stretch his arm, rotating his shoulder as a crowd approached, not wanting their friend with the strange mutation to be absconded with.

"I'll give you all one chance to turn around." They didn't. That was fine by him. Within a second, He was among the crowd, smiling widely as he sent people flying in every which direction, making space for Elke to join as well.

This was their bread and butter! Dynasty warriors with low level thugs? Yes please! He saw someone nearing Juniper on the other side, and judo threw someone who was going for a running punch at him at her attacker. Ducking a baseball bat, he came up with a brutal uppercut, turning to fight the next person as the one he hit dropped like a potato sack. Any onlooker would be able to tell he was having fun.

"I AM NOT A FAN OF THIS." She just needed to make sure someone knew that.

They were outside faster than she could comprehend and the oxygen-rich, smokeless air had never been so good. She breathed slowly so that she wouldn't just pass out from a sudden influx of oxygen, and rested her hands on her knees as soon as she was set down.

Xavier threw a comment her way and she shot a dirty look back and stuck her tongue out at him. So what if the brat had a few karma points now? That made her less a hero and more a criminal with a conscience. "Whatever."

Of course, the whole damn bar had to come out with them. Elke breathed in deep, shook her arms out, and got ready. "Let em come."

They did.

The mob converged on them quickly and split. Elke was smart enough to know they were playing a violent game of keep away, so she hovered around Juniper (begrudgingly) since she still had their prize. "Don't get caught, Blondie."

Elke dove in with eager fists and feet. Punching, kicking, sweeping... Elbows flew and at least two noses and one sternum cracked. Xavier looked like he was having the time of his life, and so did she. Just between the two of them, they were quickly mowing through the crowd.