The call went out to any x-man in the area. There was an aggressive mutant causing trouble downtown and the police needed backup.

They didn’t say what kind of mutant. The didn’t say who it was. All they said was you’d be able to see them from a mile away. You would be able to tell.

August saw them. He paused in his walk, and stopped to look. Up, up, up.

Slurp.

That was some good iced vanilla mocha.

Behind him, someone shouted: “JESUS CHRIST, it’s giants bane!!!”

He stared at the mutant. They stared down at him.

“You are so totally not Giant’s Bane.” He muttered.

For one thing, the coloring was off. Which is to say, giants bane never wore a yellow and black jumpsuit over his entire body. He never had discus-shaped shoulder guards. And he certainly never wore a mask like nacho libre. Whoever he was, the person who’d shouted had been wrong.

“Welp.” August turned and started walking away. After about ten steps, he heard a big boom. He glanced over his shoulder, dead certain what he would see.

Yep. There macho nacho was, following him. Like a puppy. He pointed at the mocha, like a child that wanted something he could not have.

“No. My iced mocha,” August said petulantly. Then he turned and started aggressively power walking away.

Boom boom boom. Guy was loud and had a big stride, but he was not fast.

Why had the police been called about him, anyways? Oh right. Probably because he’d been stealing everyone’s food.

”What?” he didn’t have time for this why was it every time he had plans with either Cora or Eve someone decided to break the law? Better question why was it always him who happened to be the closest to the situation. ”Taking the kid to a movie.” his response was curt and he grumbled as someone argued with him. ”She’s a kid that doesn’t like movies and... Fine! I’ll go. I’ll make it quick.” he yelled above the buildings in frustration as he over another crowded intersection.

After a quick phone call to Eve he turned and headed in the opposite direction from her place of community service (work) and headed to the newest development. A giant man eating all the... snacks... a loud curse echoed above the skyline as he saw his target chasing after someone only stopping to grab a hotdog cart and shaking it’s contents loose. “My hot dogs!” the vendor cried.

Sam didn’t have time for this so he did what anyone would do from this height. A flying (falling) two footed kick to the guys giant nose. The guy staggered backwards dropping the now empty food cart into an alley next to them. Sam pushed off and flipped and landed a few seconds later in a superhero pose. Mainly to intimidate. Ice now coated his lower body.

Glad the guy didn’t have an Australian accent he shouted, ”Hope you paid for those hotdogs!” Sam shouted scolding the giant. “He didn’t!” shouted the vendor. ”You better have the money to pay for those hot dogs!” Sam corrected himself then shooed away the vendor who threw his vendor hat on the ground in frustration.

The icemancer didn’t know the situation or care for it much really. He was supposed to be a hero and the giant guy already got a complaint. Sam responded with a kick to the face. That was fair right?

He was getting chased he was getting chased he was getting— wait. No he wasn’t.

It had stopped. It was picking up... a hot dog cart.

August turned and watched with a bit of minor interest as the giant in the blinding outfit shook the cart, and... then got kicked in the head. The giant dropped the cart, and August decided the mutant had made things worse.

“That dent won’t buff out...” he muttered to himself.

The cart was pretty dinged up. His eyes rose to look at the kicker, and.

“Oh god.” He sighed, pressing a hand against his forehead. Was it really—?

He had successfully avoided seeing That guy in This city for years and years. Ever since he had found out That Person was obsessed with them. Yet, for every thing, there is a season. A time to weep, and a time to accept a broken streak. Or something... he thought that was how the Bible verse went. He wouldn’t know. He was not real big into bible humping.

Sluuuuurp. He watched to see how the giant would respond.

The giant stared at the crashed hot dog cart, eyed cold steel, then pointed from one to the other. As if to say, “You. Fix what you did.” Then, he noticed August standing there, flaunting his iced mocha. He stomped his foot, and pointed at the man.

August arched an eyebrow.

“Not a chance.”

“Grrr!”

So far, the giant with the shoulder pads had not gotten violent... Up until that point. He turned and drew back his hand to try and swat cold steel.

Oy vey. Well, he wasn’t about to let that slide. Surreptitiously, August did a quick gesticulation with his hand. Just a little finger waggling, at waist level, sort of out of sight of everyone. Sort of.

“Stop.” He said, in a commanding tone. The giant stopped, mid-strike. In an exhausted tone, august added. “Be nice...”

The giant got the sudden urge to be nice.

Sluuuurp. He sucked on his straw, and waited to see what happened next. He felt like an asshole. Stepping out of his way to help someone, anyone, Cold Steel, out. But it wasn’t as if he’d just let the ice guy get slugged. That would have been exactly what a Certain Someone would have wanted. And we cannot have that.

He did have the sudden urge to aggressively power walk away again, though. Now that the giant was playing nice. He embraced it, and started to leave.

The vendor yelled at the giant for stealing all of his wares while Sam got into a fighting stance and exhaled steam coming from his mouth as he did. If that wasn’t the first clue of his powers creating a wave of cold the next sign was well... the cold. It wasn’t enough to freeze anything other than Sam for the moment but Sam wanted to make sure the Giant didn’t have an accomplice. Sam at the moment had no back up and it would be stupid not to be aware of any potential threat within the vicinity.

The giant mimed something and Sam shook his head and pointed at the giant then to the cart. He wasn’t going to be blamed for the cart. He didn’t elevate or drop it. The vendor probably had some kind of insurance right. The icemancer hands went from re directing the blame to a fighting stance. Another wave of cold was sent out to let everyone know Sam was serious. He was going to be late for picking his kid up.

The ground shook and he pointed behind him. Sam didn’t turn to look his thermal sense was enough to tell him that someone was towards the end of his range of vision. The person behind him spoke and only then did Sam turn his head so his good eye could assess the speaker. The guy looked familiar. Sam couldn’t pinpoint why he looked familiar just that he made his stomach churn a bit. He’d address that later. He turned back to the giant. Who was lifting his massive hand in a strike. More cold pooled from Sam.

>>>“Stop”

Sam didn’t, it was the giant answering the command from the guy behind him. He stopped and Sam raised a eyebrow. Was the guy working for the man behind him? The seemed to know each other or at least that was what Sam was figuring at this point. That’s the problem being called into situations without any information. He was constantly playing catchup.

>>>”Be nice”

The giant leaned over and picked up the hotdog cart and set it upright giving it a slight pat as if he was helping a small animal or child upright itself.... ”Kayyyy.” the wave of cold receded back into Sam as he watched then looked back to the guy issuing the commands, the one that made him uneasy. ”You know this guy?” he asked thumbing towards the giant.

“No,” August said dully. “Never seen them before in my life. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Ice Man.”

He glanced at the giant one more time, and waved his right hand dramatically... while he wiggled the fingers of his left hand surreptitiously at waist level to cast his spell.

“Help them however they need, as long as they ask nicely~ and have a wonderful day!”

Then, he embraced the notion that had been plaguing him all day, and started power walking away. Not running, but not walking at a leisurely pace. Just a little too fast.

He did not want the attention of Cold Steel. But here he was, leaving lasting impressions. Great, just great.

Hopefully, the man wouldn’t follow. Oh god, was he going to follow? He could move so much faster than him, and really, he didn’t want to start the whole relationship off with a spell to make Sam obey.