It was another one of those days when it seemed like there wasn’t a single remotely quiet place in New York City. It was almost like the city was buzzing. It was the end of a retrograde though and even though it wasn’t supposed to work that way, Quin felt like sometimes things got even crazier before it all finally settled down.

Since she wasn’t getting a whole lot done at the NYU library, or the tea shop, or in Central Park, Quin decided to cash in on a favor she was owed from a chance encounter in the park. Maybe she’d be able to get some work done, maybe she’d just have a nice coffee and discover a new place.

Finding herself near 113th and 114th, Quin pulled out her phone and opened her contacts. “Will Coffee” was right where she had left him that day in the park and the redhead tapped out a quick text.

”Hey, it’s Quin from the park and I’m in the area. Any chance you’re around so I can cash in on that free coffee?”

she typed, studied it for a moment to try and decide if she could be more witty, less witty, if it was awkward or not and finally shrugged and sent it.

While she waited for a response, Quin studied the shop from the outside. It was fairly nondescript overall, but there was a sign declaring it to be “Curse and Congregation”. Remembering that Will had mentioned that the owner was potentially a little witchy, Quin found herself curious what the inside would show. There were some tables outside, but nobody was sitting at them which was definitely a good sign as far as being able to actually think inside was concerned. Some of the heat had broken and if they were packed, surely some of the patrons would have spilled outside.

Shifting her backpack a bit so it stopped digging into her shoulders, Quin waited for a response.

In contrast to the unassuming storefront, the inside of Curse and Congregation was an almost dizzying visual array. The walls were heavily stacked with sturdy looking wooden shelves, lined with every manner of boxed board game one could name, from household staples to esoteric and bizarre. Towards the front of the shop, things were a little neater, still-wrapped boxes for sale arranged together in arbitrary categories, (Nostalgic, Modern, Strategy, etc.), while at the back, game boxes in varying degrees of wear were heaped and stuffed into (mostly) alphabetical order. Smaller shelving units and displays were sprawled through the rest of the interior, offering up all other sorts of things for purchase, from card games and fantasy novels to plushies, game books and snacks.

Squeezed into every inch of space atop and around the shelves were small potted plants, statuettes, crystal balls, bundles of dried flowers and other decor that led to a vaguely 'witchy' vibe, though it was hard to say if it was anything truly witchy, or just leaned into the overall fantasy aesthetic so popular with the type who'd frequent the shop. The only surfaces that seemed free from the overwhelmed sprawl of 'stuff' seemed to be the tables for people to eat and play games at. There were tables for two and four scattered almost haphazardly through the remaining floorspace, as though mocking the idea of having any sort of order in the shop. Just simple square tables with heavy looking legs, secured to the floor. The chairs less secure, but sturdy looking enough, metal framed with functional vinyl covered cushions on the seat and back.

Will stood behind the heavy looking wooden countertop, a full length black apron with the company's name on it worn over a red t-shirt and distressed jeans. The sturdy looking counter appeared to be an old bartop more suited to a pub but covered instead with the tools of trade for a barista, with grinders and espresso machines and mugs stacked high, and decor stuffed in between every available inch not used by tools or merchandise. While not the only person in the cafe, the place was sparsely populated, with only four others taking up space at the moment. A pair playing a game involving building train routes, a single person enjoying a coffee and a book and the final person perusing the still wrapped games towards the entrance. That was fine by him. He could take an easy day.

It was the lackadaisical day that allowed him to check his phone so quickly as he felt it buzzing in his pocket. He almost dismissed the message from the unknown number out of hand, but Quin's name in the brief preview of the message in his notification assured him it wasn't just (yet another) spam text.

Right! Quin, the tall redhead from the park. Shoot! He'd meant to pester a couple of his more tea enthused co-workers about the teas here before she came by. Though on the other hand, he hadn't fully expected her to show up... And there'd been a weird day or two in between there and now...

>>> "Yeah actually. Pretty quiet in here too and I'm working the counter. No rush, plenty of tables unless the Uni comes crashing in with some event."

Will tapped out his reply, his eyes flickering between his the customers and his phone, the phone held low, below his waist and out of sight of anyone on the other side of the counter. Sending the message, he stuffed his phone back into his the pocket of his jeans as he went back to his very important job of looking busy.

It didn’t take long for Quin’s phone to vibrate in her hand and she looked down to see that Will had responded to her text. He was working and according to him, the shop wasn’t even that busy.

Perfect.

Quin wasn’t in running clothes today, the heat had broken a bit and she’d taken the opportunity to break out her jeans. They were high waisted with a flared leg and she had a brown t-shirt that she’d tucked into the waistband. Because she’d been walking, she’d worn white tennis shoes and her hair was down in waves that fell just past her shoulders. She’d have fit right in at any of the classes and would probably not look out of place in the coffee shop either. So across the street she went and pulled open the door.

Stopping just inside, Quin took a moment to look around. It was one of those places that just looked way bigger on the inside than it had on the outside. There was a ton of very sturdy wooden furniture around and Quin could feel a lot of plastic clustered along a wall that was filled with bookshelves. That must have been where they kept the games, she decided. Most games had plastic pieces, and boy there were a lot of games. The overall vibe of the place was very cozy, but not particularly Wiccan or even witchy. That was fine though, Quin didn’t need that.

Will hadn’t been lying when he’d said the place wasn’t busy and that there were plenty of tables available. It was also nice and cool and comparatively quiet to the bustle that had been everywhere else Quin had tried.

The redhead looked over at the bar and thought she recognized Will there, though his apron and jeans were also quite different from what he’d been wearing at the park. He also wasn’t gasping for air or looking like he was about to pass out.

Making her way up to the counter, Quin smiled brightly, ”A little bird told me that the coffee here is pretty good.” she said by way of greeting, ”I think they recommended a cold brew or shaken espresso?” she added.

”Hi Will.”

Will's ears perked as his preternatural hearing picked up the sound of someone entering the cafe. Ah, a familiar-ish face. And certainly a friendly one, though he hadn't expected Quin to be quite that close when she'd said she was in the area. Must have been no more than a stone's throw away. He was thankful at least this time around, his face was more than a few shades less red than her hair. 

At Quin's comments on the coffees that a 'little bird' had suggested, he couldn't help but crack a friendly grin, half-customer service friendliness and half-genuine. He hadn't even remembered what he'd suggested at the time, but those made sense. He was sure he'd just suggested the coldest drinks he could recall that he liked himself, with how blisteringly hot it'd been the day he'd met Quin. Will had a renewed appreciation for the air conditioned interior of the cafe as he recalled that sweltering evening. 

"Hey yourself." Will replied to Quin, stepping up to the counter to meet her, placing his hands atop the heavily lacquered surface, leaning against the sturdy piece of wood. "And sounds like a smart bird. They're definitely the choice on a summer day." Will quickly glanced over to the espresso machine and then down beneath the countertop, peering into a glass-front refrigerator, checking supplies at a glance to be sure he wasn't promising up anything they were out of. 

"Course, bit less of a sauna today than when I was suggestin' those." Will admitted with a smirk as he finished with his quick check of the stock behind the counter. "But, what brings you to my neck of the woods then?" He asked as he noticed the backpack slung over her back. With the way the straps pressed into her shoulders, it didn't look light. Books? Laptop? Or maybe she was just carrying bricks. He'd guess some combination of the first two, though, with their previous conversation. "New term already? Or just getting ready for it?" It seemed a reasonable guess, she had after all, mentioned looking for a new place to study the last time they'd spoke. 

Quin tilted her head slightly as Will agreed that the little birdie had been smart to suggest those drinks on a hot summer day but that it was less warm today than when they’d first met. Quin figured that coffee was pretty much coffee and they’d all end up pretty much the same in her estimation which was…fine.

”Well, I’m not picky, so if something better has come along since then, I’m happy to try.” she said with an easy shrug. Will absolutely had more coffee knowledge than she did and Quin was just happy to try something new.

What had brought her to his neck of the woods?

”I’ve been walking around a couple of hours trying to find somewhere to work.” Quin said candidly, ”Everywhere I’ve gone has been packed and the city seems…restless? I was actually just across the street when I texted because I’d tried three of my other usual spots and come up with nothing.”

”I don’t want to impose, but I was here and you had said I should stop by.”

Will had clearly noticed Quin’s backpack and she nodded with a slight cringe, ”Our breaks aren’t really breaks. More like a brief pause or a deep breath before diving right back in.” No rest for the wicked and there were plenty of jokes illustrated how lawyers were just that. It was a lot though and Quin would have killed for a bit more time off.

”But yeah, looks like the right call for today.” she said, glancing around. ”Where’s the best place to sit?” she asked, then narrowed her eyes slightly in thought, ”Didn’t you also mention a cover of some kind?”

As Quin said she wasn't terribly picky about her drinks, Will mentally flipped through half a dozen different choices in his mind, but ended up sticking to one of the ones mentioned before. A shaken espresso. Brown sugar shaken espresso to be exact. Sure, it might have come to mind that previous day because it was an ice-cold coffee concoction... but it -was- also one of his go-to drinks of choice. Will walked and talked and worked as Quin continued explaining about her day.

"Gotcha. Think I'll stick to what I said then." Will crouched briefly out of sight, his reason two-fold. First to dig a bottle of brown sugar simple syrup and a carton of whole milk out of the fridge beneath the counter, and second to stealthily dig a pair of soft foam earplugs out of his apron pocket and fit them into his ears. He'd taken them out earlier when things had gotten calm, saving himself the discomfort of the foam in his head, but the espresso machine made a few high pitched noises outside of normal human hearing when it really got going, what with the steam and pressure. Between that and that clattering of ice when he'd be shaking the drink, (Well, drinks, he wasn't about to -not- have one), he was out to save his ears as best he could. 

Ears protected, he placed the carton and plastic squeeze bottle of dark brown syrup onto the countertop before standing, moving to the back of the workspace to wash his hands before starting to make the drinks. Earwax coffee was not something that he planned on serving up at any time. All the while he made sure to keep his head turned towards Quin, trying to make it obvious in spite of his moving about that, yes, he was listening. 

Evidently, she'd had a very different morning than him. Everywhere she'd gone had been busy, or restless. Sure, he'd had his morning of rapid-fire drinks, but since then it'd been near placid here. Maybe oddly so? 

"Imposing? Well, as you can see, we are about full up..." Will snarked dryly as his hands moved with practiced ease, loading two espresso baskets with finely ground coffee and loading them into the machine, placing small mugs under each as the machine hummed and whirred to life. "But I'm sure we can squeeze you in somewhere." 

He did have to grimace in sympathy as she explained that her 'break' from school was little more than a breather. Will hoped at least she'd been able to catch up on the shows she'd fallen behind on. However, as Quin asked about the cover, one of Will's hands briefly stopped it's work on the drinks to wave dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it. The seating fee's just to cover wear and tear on the games. If you're just grabbing a seat, and there's room, then it's no bother." 

As the room filled with the scent of brewing espresso, Will lifted the carton of milk and gave it a little waggle. "Whole milk fine? We've got like, half a dozen veggie ones too. Oat? Soy? Almond... think cashew too..?" 

Quin nodded when Will said that he was going to go with what he’d originally suggested and then he was off to work. It was always interesting to see someone in their element and Will was very quickly and efficiently getting out all of the things that were necessary for making the coffee.

There were so many moving parts to making even the most straightforward coffee drinks. At least the ones that were drinkable. It was part of why Quin generally preferred tea, besides know how long to steep different types…there wasn’t much to it.

Quin noticed that Will had put some earplugs in at some point but figured it would be rude to say anything, plus coffee equipment was loud and not everyone handled loud noises very well.

It was good to hear she wasn’t being an imposition and Quin continued to watch with interest as the espresso machine was prepped and readied. It was interesting though, after what Will had described in the park Quin had expected to find more people here.

Will went on to explain that because it wasn’t that busy and because she was just going to chill at a table she didn’t need to pay the cover and Quin smiled gratefully.

Will asked about Quin’s milk preference and she shrugged a bit. She generally tried to keep things plant based, but when you were asking someone to make you a drink they recommended it was rude to request substitutions…besides, sometimes milk was just better.

”However you’d normally make it is fine she said. ”Youre really good at this, how long have you worked here?” Quin asked, slipping her backpack off her shoulders and lowering it to the floor so she could stand more comfortably.

However he would? Easy enough then. Will guessed that it meant Quin didn't have any particular allergies to worry about. At least none that'd be common in whipping your average coffee drink.

Will's hand reached, grabbed things, placed and shuffled as he spoke, replying to Quin's question about how long he'd worked here. "Two..." Will paused, frowning, his brow furrowing even as his attention was cast towards the noisy espresso machine as the two doubles of espresso were finishing. "No, 2024, so... near four years now? Jeez." The man's tone was somewhere between distracted and shocked as he tried to do the mental math. Yeah, it'd been the winter of 2020 he'd started here, hadn't it?

A cocktail shaker appeared, a scoop of ice. One of the small cups of espresso followed, along with an eyeballed measure of the syrup. "So it's been a bit, yeah." Will commented, deciding to put the idea of so much time having passed without him really noticing to the back of his head. Those were thoughts for when he couldn't sleep, to distract him from when he could taste the smog in the air. Conversation was made briefly impossible as the sound of ice and espresso impacting steel (or some kind of metal, anyway) rang out from the shaker as it was, well, shook, until frost formed on the outside of the metal. 

A glass was presented. More ice. A frothy, sweet and caffeinated liquid poured in. Milk followed, creating a layered effect. Will slide the glass over to his red-headed acquaintance, along with a paper straw plucked from a container beside the noisy espresso machine. "Cheers. Brown sugar shaken espresso. Cold, sweet, caffeinated. Everything y'need for summer study." Will quipped, just a bit too cheery, falling into the customer service routine automatically as his hands did one thing, his mind hung on the time he'd been here and he tried to keep up with Quin's conversation. 

His hands moved again as he opened the shaker, dumping in the other small cup of espresso, loaded with more ice, added syrup. Shake. Noise. Glass. 

Will reached beneath the counter to snag a straw from there and added the baby blue plastic straw to his own drink, giving the layered concoction a quick stir or two until the drink blended a little. "How long you been hitting the books for law?"

Almost four years. Quin wondered what that would be like, being settled into something well enough that you had stayed there multiple years. She knew that at one point she’d done something like that, but now it just seemed like she’d be in school forever. Quin didn’t remember her first time through college, but there’d been a degree in the boxes of stuff that had been brought over from her old apartment.

It didn’t take Will long to make the drink and Quin idly wondered how many different drinks he could make off the top of his head because as far as she could tell he hadn’t had to look any of it up. Being able to pull up the knowledge and pull it up quickly like that was an admittedly impressive skill.

The drink slid towards Quin and she snagged it from the bar, shaking her head a bit at the almost too cheery affectation Will’s tone had taken on. The drink was cold, in her hands and Quin took a sip. As far as coffee went, this was a good one. It felt kind of like a dessert drink, but had enough bite from the espresso that it wasn’t completely overpowering.

”It’s good.” she said with a pleased little smile. ”I think I might still prefer tea on the regular, but this might be nice for a change.”

Will had his own drink now and Quin assumed it was one of the perks of the job as he asked her how long she’d been studying law.

”Just starting my fourth semester. Almost halfway there.” she’d hit that point at midterms this semester. ”Feels like I’ve been doing it my whole life though…” The words were truer than they sounded.

Speaking of which, she had come here to study.

”Thanks for the drink.” Quin said, bending to grab the strap of her bag and haul it up onto her shoulder, ”If you’ve got a break or anything coming up, I’m sure I’ll be begging for a distraction in a while…”

That said, Quin made her way to one of the empty tables that wasn’t near any of the other patrons and set about getting her laptop and books out. Owing to the fact that there needed to be space to play games, the table was large and sturdy and more than up to the task of holding the notebooks, textbooks, and laptop that were mandatory study pieces. Maybe this was a worthy new study spot.

Pushing her hair behind her ear so it stayed off the paper, Quin pulled up the most recent reading assignment in her contract law class and sighed, digging in with only the occasional break to sip at her coffee…which really was quite good.

"Time's funny like that, eh?" Will commented back as Quin claimed that it had felt like she'd spent her whole life in school for law. "I could barely tell you how long I've been here, but it's also sorta hard to remember what I was doing before this." Will admitted as he continued his easy movements behind the counter. Coffee grinds dumped out, bottles and cartons back where they belonged, dishes put away to be washed up later. Will couldn't say he was jealous of Quin, per se, for the path she was on... Law was roughly the last thing he'd want to study, for a multitude of reasons, but it still tugged at a certain chord to see someone so ardently pursuing a goal while he'd simply... been. 

At least he'd been thinking about that sort of thing more than usual lately. What he was and wasn't doing. Seemed like runs in the park had started to have a side effect of giving him a lot to think about. 

"Yeah, I'll see if I can get someone to watch the counter inna bit." Will responded to Quin's suggestion, raising a hand in a wave as she found herself a seat and set up an intimidating array of books and other studying accoutrement. 

The barista sipped at his own drink after he'd finished tidying up from making the two beverages, bringing the glass back behind the counter to set out of sight before he once again tried to make it look like he wasn't doing a whole lot of nothing. He supposed he could try and straighten out the publicly available board games at the back more, but that was truly a Sisyphean task. 

There were no drinks to be made, not enough dishes yet to even pretend to worry about. The few customers were happily absorbed in what they were doing, his powers weren't driving him crazy today, and he even had a favorite beverage to sip on. In theory, Will should have ecstatic. It wasn't often you managed to get paid by the hour to stand around and drink coffee, and yet... Maybe it was the nagging feeling about the last four years having gone by in a blur, or maybe just something in the air -- that 'restless' feeling that Quin had mentioned, but Will just couldn't seem to slip back into that lackadaisical mood that the earlier morning had been.

Each class had a different name, but they pretty much all played out the exact same way. Look at this aspect of the law. Look at this specific scenario involving that aspect of the law. How is that aspect of the law applied to that scenario? What precedent is there? Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.

Quin was finally in a rhythm though and as she worked she crossed her leg over her other knee and bounced her foot, humming softly under her breath. Not having a reliable place to get out of the apartment to study had been a much bigger deal to Quin than she’d realized. Suddenly things started to feel just a little better. Maybe she wasn’t in the wrong place after all.

Suddenly it got really quiet. The kind of quiet that made you stop what you were doing and look up and around to make sure you weren’t missing something.

The hairs on the back of Quin’s neck started to rise all of a sudden and she looked up over the top of her laptop just in time to see something large flying at the front window of the coffee shop.

A moment later, glass shattered and the huge form rolled to a stop at the foot of one of the tables. More figures seemed to coalesce on the sidewalk and began to climb through the place where the pane of glass had previously been.

One of them appeared to have hammers in place of their hands, and the muscles to swing them, next to him came a man levitating a rock with him. Quin realized a moment later what wsa going to happen and threw herself under the table just as the rock came sailing at her with the speed of an MLB line drive and smashed to the wall behind her.

The second two appeared to be run of the mill average joes, but one of them had a baseball bat and the other had a wicked looking set of knives. They were the secondary concern right now and Quin climbed out from under the table as the rock guy worked on getting another rock in the air and concentrated on the enormous wall of plastic behind her. It had been humming to her since she’d walked in the door. There were tons of tiny and not so tiny pieces in those boxes and they were light enough that Quin thought she could probably hold it all.

”Sorry Will…” she said softly enough that he probably wouldn’t hear it over the erupting chaos and pulled with her powers.

Boxes flew off the walls as the plastic flew to Quin coalescing into a shield in front of her just in time to catch one of those unassuming throwing knives as it flew across the shop.

These guys definitely meant business and Quin crouched for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts as she started to make her way to that super sturdy looking bar for cover.

Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. That's what it was. It was too quiet. Okay, so with the earplugs in Will could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and movements of the few others in the place. He could hear one of the two from the pair playing games gloating as they won. He could heart the occasional turn of a page or tap of keys from Quin's direction as she hummed under her breath. But outside? Nothing.

The hell? They were right on Broadway. Will couldn't remember it ever being completely quiet out there. If not foot traffic, there was always, always, someone driving up or down the street. The traffic was one of the few background noises he'd actually gotten used to, with how omnipresent it was here, and in NYC in general. To suddenly -not- hear it...

While he might have caught onto the vibe a second or two before anyone else did, it became apparent he wasn't just hearing things. (Or rather, not hearing things). A chill up went up Will's spine as he caught Quin peering over the top of her laptop with a puzzled expression on her face.

There was a faint sound, outside, that he could just pick up. It reminded him of a baseball ball and bat colliding, but meatier? And then all the rest of the missing sound came back with a vengeance as the front of the store exploded into noise and glass. 

He was -very- glad for those earplugs right now. 

There was suddenly noise. Screaming. The three people that weren't Quin were loud. The one, two, three, four new people weren't loud. Will squinted to see through the dust and hoped he'd counted wrong. Or was still asleep. Two mutants. He thought, before correcting himself with. At least. 

One lifted things, the other had massive, hammer-like lumps at the end of his wrists. The air was too dusty and Will's brain too adrenaline spiked to tell what they were made of. He'd figure it out later, or wouldn't. He watched with detached disbelief as the hammer lumps swung into the rock with the now distinctly not faint, meaty bat-to-baseball sound. The rock blasted forward with a speed that made the air sizzle and embedded itself in the wall. That didn't belong there. That was going to be a pain to fix.

”Sorry Will…” The words reached his ears, even through the noise and the earplugs and the with the faintness they were said. It gave Will just enough time to glance over and see hundreds of boxes suddenly erupt like they were possessed, the myriad plastic pieces surging towards Quin. So too did the hundred or so multi-coloured plastic straws tucked behind the counter. And the two earplugs stuffed into his ears, the two bits of foam yanked out with a pop that caused the noise of the world to suddenly come surging back in full, shocking the man out of his shock.

He -had- been very glad for those earplugs. 

Out of the dissociative daze from everything happening all at once, Will took stock of the situation as quick as he could. Four bad people. One rock was in the air. Lots of plastic was in the air. A knife was in the plastic. Very little of any of this made sense, but his eyes and ears and skin picked it all up and told his it was happening and they told his brain that it could catch up later. Rock and Hammer were lining up to send another boulder bullet through the cafe and people were panicking and Quin was scrambling for the bar and he needed to run buy some time.

"EVERYONE GET THE **** OUT!" Will screamed, cursing as he did. He couldn't remember the last time he'd even yelled, let alone scream. It made the inside of his head ring. That was four people loud now. That seemed more appropriate somehow. 

Will grabbed the nearest thing at hand. A coffee mug. Well, if they wanted to play baseball... With a wild overhead pitch he hurled the makeshift projectile at the hammer-hand mutant, adding the the chaos in the air. Screaming first didn't lead to a great sneak attack, however, and the mug shattered to ceramic splinters as one of the massive 'hands' blocked the makeshift weapon. At least it distracted the guy a moment. Will scrambled as the man with the bat advanced, the barista snatching up another mug to use as a weapon again.

Things were happening very quickly now and Quin could see that the boulder guy and the hammer hand guy were lining up for another shot. There wasn’t much time and the only things that Quin had handy were her makeshift plastic shield and the knife that was stuck inside it.

Will shouted at everyone to get out and everyone but Quin listened, making their way through the back of the shop or out the front door, but the invaders were quick to harass anyone they could and as people went down Quin cursed. Coffee mugs were flying now and Quin had to admire Will’s gumption as he distracted the big guys.

Concentrating, she pulled the chunk of plastic containing the knife free of the shield and pushed it flat, then pulled it long, making it into something like an arrow or javelin before hurling it with both her arm and her powers at the guy with the baseball bat took a swing and connected with a woman who was trying to get out the door.

The knife struck true in the man’s shoulder and he staggered backwards as the woman crawled out the door. Good, Quin figured, if she could move she was okay.

At the same time, the second rock came flying in her direction and Quin only had time to shore up the hole in her shield before the rock slammed into it. Rock beat plastic this time and the shield flew back, shattering as it impacted the redhead at speed that had been reduced by the same amount of force that Quin could generate with a push.

It still hurt like hell and Quin found herself on the ground, scrambling backwards and trying again to get behind the bar as she pulled the plastic back towards herself.

People were moving, fast, most out the back, one out the front, past all the trouble. That was bad. The Bat raised their weapon and swung. That was also bad. But Will didn't hear anything break when the weapon hit the customer. Less bad. And then there was a spear made of what used to be dice and meeples and tipped with a borrowed knife that slammed into The Bat. That was good.

His brain caught up briefly to what his senses had told him 10 seconds ago. Quin was a mutant. Guess that made at least three mutants in the cafe. Four mutants. He corrected silently. Two vs two if they were lucky? Of course, smelling pizza from a few extra blocks away didn't exactly have the intimidation factor that Hammer did. And they still needed to deal with the other two. Though The Bat was hardly in peak condition now. 

Will saw the stone rocket across the room into Quin's shield, and there were noises of rock on plastic, plastic on person, person on floor and he felt panic and relief back to back as he saw her fall, and then scramble to keep moving. Will wasn't sure if she was okay per se, but she was moving. That was better than not.

Knives (or was it just Knife now?), followed quickly after the trajectory of the boulder bullet. Whether he was going after the pair that had run out the back or was looking to go after Quin, Will wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. The barista hurled his second mug across the cafe, The ceramic projectile slammed into the knife wielder's shoulder with a dull thump, the handle snapping on impact. Will had been aiming for the other's head, but while adrenaline did wonders for overriding his fear, it didn't exactly lead to calm heads or steady hands. 

It was enough. Knives pivoted, turning to the threat (annoyance?) instead of those running for the exit or scrambling for cover. The thug lunged at Will over the counter with the blade and with a grasping hand. Will fought back with bare hands, trying to disarm the other, grabbing at the wrist of the hand that held the knife. There was a messy flurry of hands, awkwardly grappling and struggling across the countertop, neither of the two seemed to be particularly trained fighters. Will certainly wasn't.

The back and forth ended with Will having Knives by the wrist with his right hand, pinning the knife wielding hand to the countertop. Will could feel a cut on his upper left arm from the struggle, but between the adrenaline numbing things and his own abilities heightening things, he couldn't tell how bad it was. Hurt though. Will's left hand blindly reached for another tool or weapon to use, as Knives' other hand had the barista by the hair and seemed ready to try and haul Will over the countertop by his scalp. Will's hand closed around something. Hard. Cold. 

Will swung the mostly-empty glass from his earlier espresso into the side of Knives' head. The heavy glass shattered into a spray of ice and sharp shards of glass and sticky, caffeinated tan liquid. Will wrenched his head free of the other man's grasp (leaving some hair behind), just in time to see the mutant pair lining up for another line drive.

Quin thought she was okay. Nothing seemed to be broken, but it was a little hard to catch her breath as she scooted backwards through the growing chaos on the floor of the coffee shop. Her hair was sticking to her face and her hands were slipping on various items that had fallen to the floor. In a word it was chaos and it brought back flashes of strobe lights in a bar, zombie clowns, and a hand fisted in her hair.

Panic was not useful right now though and Quin took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together as the man with the knives made his way towards her, she was going to need to fight. It was just like Lee had said before punching Quin in the face the other day, a real fight didn’t wait for you to be ready and this was as real a fight as Quin had ever been in.

Another coffee mug flew across the room and hit the miscreant and Quin looked up in time to see the same miscreant lunge across the coffee bar at Will. Quin didn’t have time to see what happened next, because the man with the baseball bat was advancing and the rock and hammer guys were preparing for another shot. It looked like almost everyone else had made it out of the shop by now, so there was at least that.

Quin didn’t want to lose her shield, but there wasn’t much for it. Climbing to her feet instead of heading for cover, the redhead concentrated, pulling the scraps and shattered bits of plastic together as best she could. In a manner of seconds she had made a wide flat disk that she sent sailing at the face of the guy with hammers for hands. Quin’s plan was similar to what it had been when she’d found herself in that hellscape of a bar. If she could get the plastic wrapped around hammer man’s face he wouldn’t be able to see to throw rocks at her. He also wouldn’t be able to breathe, but that was something to worry about later.

The guy with the bat had almost reached her by now and Quin got herself in a ready stance. The rock guy was still by the window and Quin didn’t know how well her trick had worked on the guy with hammers for hands, but the man with the bat was the primary concern for the moment.

There wasn’t much space to move in here, but it was going to have to do. The man with the bat rushed forward, welding the implement in an overhead swing that would have hurt terribly if it had connected.

It didn’t connect though, slipping under the man’s arm, the redhead got a grip on the man’s arm and shifted her hips and body so that his own momentum started to carry him downward instead of forward. The bat fell from his hands as he flipped and Quin followed the man to the ground pulling together the last bits of plastic from her shield to try and secure his hands behind his back.

There was more commotion outside, Quin stood again. Her trick with the hammer guy had worked.

”I don’t think we can stay here…” she said, weaving a bit where she stood from the exertion and adrenaline of the last few moments.