As Will grappled for the knife with Knives (that was really not going to cut it for a nickname if he lost -this- knife as well), Will marveled at the ability of adrenaline to mask the sensation of pain. He knew he was cut, missing a chunk of hair, and he could feel the bits of glass in his hand from his most recent attack, but none of it came to his brain saying 'hurt'. It was just more sensory information, he acknowledged it and moved on. 

The barista saw a blur of movement as something that looked like an angry Frisbee careened towards Hammer. Will's enhanced ears could hear a grunt of surprise, then anger, then panic as Hammer's head was enrobed in a sheet of what was once dice and meeples. Rocky seemed to have a hard time deciding what to do, stuck between continuing the assault or helping his mutant partner in crime. 

Will couldn't afford them any more attention. Knives was swinging at him with his now free hand and wildly struggling to get his knife hand free. Will's only advantages were his enhanced senses, allowing him to feel the flex of muscle under his hand whenever Knives moved or swung, tiny movements that gave Will tiny factions of seconds more than the average person to react, to know where to apply pressure or push or duck -just- soon enough. Even so, it was still a stalemate, and Quin and Will were outnumbered.

As he heard the air whoosh with the movement of the bat as it The Bat brought it up to swing, Will cringed, expecting the worst... only to feel the ground shake as Quin expertly flipped him over her shoulder, disarmed him and bound his wrists together in a second flat.  

”I don’t think we can stay here…”  No kidding. 

Quin's words were enough though to let him know that the noise outside was close enough that the average person could hear it. Which meant they were out of time. They had to get moving. Now. 

Will reached out with his powers, something he had tried to bury, hadn't actively used for years. They responded like an eager puppy, and he could feel Knives' whole sensory system laid out in front of him. Like a work of art, a tapestry made up of hundreds, thousands of delicate strands, impossibly intricate. Pluck one here and blue becomes a little more dull. Push on this and sharpen the taste of sour. Obscenely complex and interwoven and oh-so fragile.

Will did the equivalent of reaching in with both hands and yanking.

The man pushed out with as much power as he could, utterly blasting the thugs 5 senses with an overwhelm blast of sensory information, utterly inundating Knives with the sensory equivalent of a sledgehammer to the skull. The thug went stiff and then slack, dropping to the ground like someone had turned his legs off. It must have looked bizarre to anyone else, like Knives was a marionette who'd had their strings cut without warning. 

Will reeled, his senses adjusting to the sudden ebb in energy, one hand clutching the bartop and the other snatching up the dropped knife. He didn't particularly -want- to have the weapon, but he much less wanted any of their new friends to have it. Three down? Only Rocky left, but... Focusing through the pounding in his ears, he could hear a -lot- of trouble out the front. 

Will took half a second to look around the place. Only one left. Quin seemed capable. He'd be able to hear any trouble ahead if he took off on his own, find his way home, somewhere safe... It wasn't his problem. But... Something he'd been told recently stuck stubbornly in his head. 

"Sometimes doing nothing is the only thing you can do... And then there are other times when you do have a choice." He was never going running in that park again. 

"Back door. Then hook right." Will answered Quin. "If I say move, we move that way, alright?" Will cast a glance over his shoulder at the mutant pair. Hammer was scraping clumsily at the plastic about his head and Rocky seemed to have made a decision on what to do, swapping the boulder for a cluster of sharp shards of rock from their earlier attacks and ceramic from the mug. As Rocky aimed, preparing to fire it towards them like a shotgun blast, Will didn't wait for Quin's response. In spite of the rubber in his legs he grabbed the taller mutant's wrist and started sprinting across the mess of cardboard and rubble strewn across the cafe floor for the back door, fear and adrenaline propelling him faster than he thought he'd even run before. 

Quin was spent, at least for the moment. Her chest was heaving and her heart was racing as she stood there in the middle of the coffee shop. She’d acted completely on instinct and over-extended herself. She could hardly feel the synthetics around her as she looked around to see Will still struggling with the guy with the knives.

Will was bleeding and the fight was a stalemate and Quin had just started to take a step forward to try and help when the guy with the knives stiffened and then fell to the ground. Nothing in the fight had changed, Will had been doing the exact same thing he’d been doing before…

Was he….? Were they both….?

Quin could dully hear feet scrabbling against the ground and looked over to where she’d wrapped the plastic around hammer hand’s face. He was on the ground now and clawing at his face and Quin couldn’t make herself feel bad for him. The rock guy though, something had changed about him. He didn’t have a large rock now. No, instead he had a bunch of Little Rock’s floating in front of him and realization dawned on Quin as a feral grin spread across the rock man’s face.

Could she make it behind the bar? Will spoke and Quin looked up, nodding as he spoke, but Will was already moving. He grabbed her wrist and Quin forced her legs into motion, sprinting across the shop with energy she didn’t know she had at the same time as the rock man threw his arms forward.

The rock pieces and shards of ceramic flew forward and Quin cried out as a couple of the small pieces bit into her arm and legs and one grazed her cheek as she turned and looked away. She should still move though and out the back door she followed will, the heavy metal slamming shut behind them as the emerged into the alleyway Quin following Will wherever he thought was safe.

Cardboard and dust and rubble slid under his feet and Will only stay standing through luck and stubbornness, as he ran with Quin in a dead sprint for the back door as he hoped against the impossible that they could outrun whatever Rocky had planned. 

They couldn't. And he felt the bits of the mug and the rocks and god knows what else batter his back and puncture his shirt and skin and he wished he'd thrown the apron behind him to absorb some of it but his legs kept moving and then they were outside.

They were outside?

There was noise. More noise than he was used to, but it was also quieter than he was used to. He reached to pull out his earplugs, but they were already out? Right. He'd surged. Knives. And he had a knife in one hand. A Quin in the other. His left arm felt sticky and wet and he could tell there were things in his left palm and his back and his skin on his back. But it didn't hurt, not yet. That was good. Or very bad. He was banking on good.

Three people were making noise behind the heavy metal door, still inside the cafe. Bat. Rocky. Hammer. He must have done a number on Knives. Fists? It didn't really matter now. There was noise to the left, he knew that. Broadway, not safe. Yelling. Smashing. Not traffic. 

Will dragged them both to the right, down the alley, heading towards the opening leaving to 114th street, his feet moving before his brain could protest. Trusted his senses. Noise. Noise. Noise. But he was used to noise, he could find the path that worked. Sounds bounced between buildings, echoed, there were screams of fear and screams of triumph and screams of...

Focus.

Switching directions suddenly, Will muttered a "Nope!" as he yanked Quin by the arm, turning a sharp 90 degrees to instead run further into the area behind the buildings between 113th and 114th street. Only a second later, debris and shrapnel blasted down the path he'd started leading them down, as something turned a car into a deadly barrage. "113th. Safe. Most noise. Coming that way." The man explained in as little breath as he could as he pointed in the direction of where they'd been headed and slightly to the side. Roughly the direction of the University, if one was geologically savvy. 

Was it safe that way...? Will closed his eyes as he ran, relying on his ears and Quin to keep him from running headlong into anything. No. It wasn't safe. But it was safer. And it was the only path he could find out of here that didn't sound even worse that the cafe had been. 

They were outside, and then they were off and running. Quin was glad that she spent a fair amount of time on the paths through Central Park because the way Will was pulling her along if she hadn’t been in decent shape there was no way Quin would have been able to keep up.

As it was, the adrenaline was pumping through her veins like electricity and the redhead desperately wished that she’d managed to pull her hair up before thing had gotten wild because it was sticking all over her face and the way she was sure some of it was stuck to blood was making her want to throw up.

Will pulled her down a street here and a street there and once he even stopped them and switched directions a moment before a car slammed into the space where they'd have been if they’d kept going. Yep. Definitely a mutant.

The most noise was coming from where they’d just been, towards the University. Will was pulling her away again, and they were running in the opposite direction.

”Where…” Quin managed to gasp, she ran and worked out a fair amount between jogs and her work at the dojo, but they’d been full on sprinting for quite a while now and it was starting to take its toll along with the amount of energy she’d expelled in the coffee bar and the collection of small injuries she’d sustained as they fought.

It didn’t matter, she’d keep going as long as she had to or as long as she could.

Will shook his head at Quin's question. He didn't know. Running on panic and caffeine and instinct. Away. Away was what he wanted to say. Anywhere that wasn't here with the noise and the screaming and the things he prayed she couldn't hear and he wished he couldn't. What the heck was going on? There was... a lot. A lot happening. 

Away wasn't -exactly- a choice though. That wasn't a decision. That was just 'not here' which, well... Wasn't an option. They were here. "Street. Then river."  It was quiet that way, quieter, at least. The panic in his gut made him want to go anywhere -but- there. It was open, exposed. The prey animal response in his gut told him to find a building and hide. But everything was already more muffled and soft around the edges than he was used to, it'd be a relief normally, but it was terrifying now. Buildings threw echoes, and walls didn't seem to provide enough protection from what they'd already run into. 

In the open, he'd see anyone before they saw them, he hoped. There were... parks? Baseball courts? Something out that way. Maybe enough to get some cover... But no one would be able to sneak up. And there wasn't a reason for them to be chased, to be targeted, was there? Will knew he wasn't anyone to be targeted at least. Was Quin? Who was she? 

Will could feel the other mutant's pulse through the grip he had on her wrist. He was probably holding too tight. Panic. Adrenaline. Will wasn't sure if her pulse was beating that fast from exhaustion or from panic, but either way... His own reserves weren't much better, one leg wasn't moving quite right, either twisted his ankle on the debris running out or wounded worse than he through from Rocky. His energy too, was fading faster than he'd expected, either hurt more than he'd realized or the effects of blasting Knives was taking more out of him than he'd counted on.

They broke through to the sidewalk of 112th, the echoing sounds of the alley left behind but the noises from the intersection at Broadway coming in all the clearer. Whatever had happened at the cafe seemed to be just the fringe of something huge and terrible and was spreading fast, like a match to kerosene. At least for now though, it seemed limited to the city proper. Get to the edge. Get their bearings. Time to think. Recovery. Find help?

For now though. Run. 

They just…kept…going…

Will was pulling Quin along, his grip on her wrist tight enough that she could focus on that instead of the pain in her chest or her legs as they ran through the city. What the hell was going on? The city had felt like it was buzzing earlier, but there hadn’t been a single whisper of this.

Despite the fact that they were still running like bats out of hell, the adrenaline of the fight was starting to wear off and everything hurt. Will had fought too. He was hurt just like Quin was, how was he still moving this quickly? What exactly was it he could do? Was it something about his powers that made him able to run indefinitely? It hadn’t seemed like he could run forever the day they’d met in the park, but Quin had never asked how long Will had been running that day.

Out of the tangle of buildings they broke. They were at 112th now, but Will wasn’t going to slow down. Gulping air for a moment, Quin clenched her jaw and kept her feet moving. Surely Will had somewhere in mind. Surely there was somewhere they could stop and rest for a little bit. Even just for a couple of minutes. The redhead didn’t ask again though, she didn’t have the breath and it didn’t really matter.

Quin stumbled for a moment, but got her feet under her a moment later. She could keep going. She could absolutely keep going.

Will could feel Quin lagging, something in the back of his mind noting the tug on his arm, the increasing frequency he had to tug her along, and some small part of him wondered why she wasn't keeping up. She had longer legs. Longer stride. As they broke out of the alley they cut right sharply, and he didn't look behind him, not back to the intersection at Broadway where there was noise and light and--

Will felt Quin stumble, almost go down, caught herself, kept moving.

Ow. He felt the gash from Knives open further from trying to catch her, keep her up.

Ow? He was starting to be able to feel the hurt from the damage that had been done. That wasn't good. Will was beginning to realize that he couldn't run on caffeine and fear and adrenaline forever -- if only because he was starting to run out of the latter. All the bits of glass and rock and ceramic he'd been aware of, started to actively ache, throbbing with every step across the pavement. The river looked a lot further away all of a sudden. Even alone, he'd be completely spent getting there at this pace, in this shape, and assuming he made it all the way there, he'd be so out of breath he'd be an easy target... 

Cover then. They were pushing past the intersection of Riverside and 112th. Lots of open ahead, but no buildings. Far off basketball courts, tennis courts. Further off trees. Close though?

Monument. Dead ahead. Statue on a big block of stone and some low stone walls around it. Not ideal by any means, but it'd have to do. Sitting, the walls should cover them, unlikely that anyone from the streets would be able to see them, if they anyone was looking for stragglers. Open enough that he'd be able to see or hear anyone trying to sneak up, if they were spotted. Close enough he figured they could make it. It'd have to do.

Will pointed, rather than spoke. Pointed with the knife. Right. Still holding onto that. His fingers felt like they were locked around the thing, and as much as he wanted to throw the thing aside, it was a tool that could save them. He'd have rather had the bat.

Just a bit more. Away from the screams and the smoke and the things he refused to turn around to see. 

There, ahead, Will was pointing with the knife and Quin didn’t even say anything because her vision was starting to blur around the edges. She was going to stop running soon whether she wanted to or not.

There was a monument of some kind up ahead and it was surrounded by a wall low enough to get over and high enough to obscure at least a first glance.

They weren’t far, but it was still further than Quin would have preferred and by the time they finally made it, she barely managed to pull herself over the wall before she was collapsing on the ground.

It was impossible not to gasp for air as she laid there for a few moments, completely unaware of what Will was doing.

When she could finally think again beyond the desperate need for air and rest, Quin slowly pushed up to sitting.

”What the **** is going on?” she said colorfully.

Will followed Quin over the wall, standing bent double as Quin collapsed entirely, and it took him a long few seconds before he had the wits to let go of the redhead's wrist. Will straightened up, his back against the stone plinth that the statue of some person was perched atop, as the mutant tried to convince his knees to bend so that he could sit.

His shaking legs eventually behaved and he eased himself down, his free hand pressed against the pillar to guide his descent as he tried to keep himself from dropping to the ground bodily. Will didn't seem to be quite as pushed to the end of endurance as Quin, but he was still sucking in air almost as raggedly as the first day they'd run into one another. 

The last of the adrenaline from the fight and the flight drained out of him the moment he touched the ground, as though the stone beneath them was sucking it away like a sponge. Everything hurt all of a sudden. His brain started catching up to his senses, putting pieces together, even as the city seemed to roar into chaos behind them, just a small stone wall and a city block between them and pandemonium. He didn't know how Quin had managed to move the way she did after getting hit with that rock. He'd only been cut and... With a clatter, he finally let his fingers unlock from around the knife, letting it clatter to the ground.

His brain was trying to paint the picture of what was happening behind him by sound alone, trying to go over the fight in the cafe with excruciating detail as he realized how quickly things might have gone much worse. The shrapnel that had been a perfectly functional car until it filled the alley, if they'd been just a second slower, if he hadn't been able to hear the whistle of the air...

His head swam, overwhelmed. He reached into the pocket of his apron for his earplugs. Nothing. Right. Needed to listen close anyway. For the best. Just don't listen to the worst parts. Tune it out.

The air was full of screams and the sounds of things breaking. He could only taste dust. He could smell blood on him and smoke on the wind. There were rocks -in- his skin. Will needed one thing, just one thing to be less of an issue, and so start picking at his injured palm to try to pull out the slivers of glass. At first carefully, but then obsessively, but his hands wouldn't stop shaking and his fingers couldn't grab them and he started to claw at it, just starting to dig into his palm with his fingernails when Quin spoke up. 

”What the **** is going on?”

Will's head snapped over, and he tried to parse the question, pulled out of his panic, wide eyed with bewilderment and the raw edge of fear they'd been running off of since... well they started running. What -was- going on? He could usually give a pretty good answer. This though? This was like the world had just completely gone mad. 

Will just shook his head as he let his hands drop to his sides, "Not a clue... But it is a -lot- of whatever it is. Like the city lost it's mind."

Quin’s chest was absolutely on fire as leaned back against the wall, across from Will and tried to sort through exactly what had just happened.

She’d been studying. Things had been going well. So well. Quin figured she’d even made a friend. Why did things like this always seem to happen when everything was going well? Every time there was a turn for the better. Maybe she just wasn’t meant to ever find a place.

Shaking off the thoughts, Quin tried to take inventory of her injuries. Her ribs hurt beyond the burning of her lungs as she tried to catch her breath and she wondered if she’d bruised something when she’d taken that rock to the chest in the shop. It certainly would have explained why running had gotten so hard so quickly.

Here and there all up and down her left side there were stinging points of pain, and blood spotted and streaked her jeans, which were torn and slashed in several places. None of her joints hurt though, and it looked like the bleeding had stopped for the most part. Now that she had a chance to check she did have a fairly sizable scratch or gash along her cheek, it wasn’t still bleeding, so she could only hope it wasn’t bad.

Pulling her hair free of the dried blood, Quin swept it back into a low ponytail with the scrunchie she generally kept on her wrist. Than goodness she hadn’t lost it. Getting the hair out of her face helped somehow and Quin let her head fall back against the stone wall as she took a deep breath.

There it was, that unsettling calm that seemed to creep into her very being every time something like this happened. Now that the adrenaline had worn off and the initial panic was waning there was just…nothing.

Will looked quite a bit worse for wear and after she spoke, his head snapped over to her. He definitely was not feeling as calm as she was. Will spoke and Quin nodded slowly. It really was a lot.

”You’re bleeding…” she said, gesturing at his left arm where a fairly sizable wound peeked out from under the edge of his shirt sleeve. If she remembered right from all the chaos, the guy with the knives had gotten Will while they’d struggled.

Quin moved, stiffly and slowly to sit next to Will instead of across and reached out tentatively, ”Can I look?” Quin was no doctor, but she knew a bit of first aid from her trainings as a senatorial intern. It was wild that part of that training included how to stop bleeding from traumatic injuries, but that was a thought for another day. ”Your first time getting caught up in something like this?” she asked grimly as she waited for his response.

"Yeah. Yeah, and... yeah." Will answered all of Quin's questions in turn with the same acknowledgement. Yes, he was bleeding. Yes she could look. Yes it was the first time he'd ever gotten caught in something like that.

As far as bleeding? Will knew they both had lots of little nicks and scratches from Rocky's parting gift, but Quin no doubt meant the spot on his upper arm that was screaming at him now that he was out of adrenaline. The sleeve of Will's red t-shirt was glued to his left arm with blood. The cut hiding beneath the fabric reminded him of the scar on his shin, where he'd gotten kicked with a skate when he was a lot younger. That had needed more than a few stitches and he'd cried for a good 10 minutes when it'd happened. The cut on his arm felt smaller, but not better -- he hoped his powers were just making it feel worse that it really was. 

Could she look? Why not? They'd been helping each other out, or rather... It felt to him like Quin had been saving him time and again. Concern from the first time at the park. She'd distracted and taken a hit from Rocky and Hammer. Took down Hammer. Took down Bat. He'd managed to take care of Knives and beat feet, dragging Quin with him, but that was just picking the best direction and running until their legs gave out. Definitely owed her another thanks -- though it was going to be tricky figuring out what to offer without the cafe to hand out tasty drinks.

And getting caught in something like that? "I'm usually pretty good at avoiding trouble, but..." Will explained as Quin tentatively reached for his arm and he gave her a nod of approval to cement his earlier agreement. "I don't think there's many places that -aren't- trouble right now. Least not back that way." Both things were true. Will was excellent at keeping himself out of trouble. When things like fights or other kinds of trouble happened he was already at the edge of things, or gone completely. There were always tells, always a swell of noise or movement or shift in the crowd or way people did things that spoke of impending violence. At least when it was organic. This was different. This was sudden and everywhere all at once. From calm to violent in a heartbeat. 

Will grabbed his left hand in his right as Quin's hand got closer, the man trying to still or at least subdue the shaking in his hands and limbs. Deep breaths. Focus. Eyes open, ears open. Noise and smoke and chaos... but none of it headed their way, at least not -directly-. Where could they go? Was there anyone to call? There was no way any emergency services were going to be able to help, they'd have their hands way, -way- too full. Home was... too far, and in who-knows what kind of state. The cafe wasn't an option...

Will forced himself to speak, to distract himself from the spiral of thoughts that were just making things worse. "Not your first time with this sorta thing, then? Law school's rougher than I thought." He joked weakly, he didn't have enough in him to put humor into his words, but managed at least a flimsy smirk.

Will gave his consent and Quin reached out to gently push up his shirt sleeve. On one hand it was a little lucky that Will was still bleeding because that meant the fabric wasn’t stuck to the wound. On the other hand, the fact that the would had been bleeding that long meant that it probably needed some kind of medical intervention.

How would they go about doing that? Will was absolutely right when he said that there weren’t many places that weren’t trouble right now.

The cut wasn’t bad but it didn’t look particularly good either. Maybe now that they weren’t running and their hearts weren’t beating so hard the bleeding would slow down. Quin had left all of her stuff in the coffee shop and she wasn’t really wearing anything that could be used as a bandage.

Will though…”Hey, take that apron off…we can use it to bind this up until we can find someone who get you stitches. If we could get to my place I’m pretty sure there’s an infirmary of some kind there, but it’s halfway across Manhattan...” And there was no way they were going to get more than 50 blocks across Manhattan on foot right now.

Will spoke again and Quin shook her head slowly as she tried to figure out exactly what she wanted to say, dropping her hands into her lap.

”Law school hasn’t been bad.” she said finally, with a small, slightly bitter smile, ”But no, this isn’t my first time with something like this. It’s kind of a long story.” A long, weird, somewhat unbelievable story to anyone who had lived even the smallest semblance of a normal life. The silence stretched then for a few moments as Quin waited for the apron.

”Thanks for not leaving me.” Quin said softly after a few moments of silence, looking down at her hands. ”I was pretty spent…”

Will sucked in air through his teeth in a hiss as Quin lifted the sleeve of his shirt. That really did hurt. She didn't look too worried about what she saw there so... probably not life threatening. She wasn't exactly smiling and cracking jokes though -- light duty for lefty for the time being then.

Quin was pretty sure there was an infirmary at her place? Will's mind worked over that sentence once, twice and then stopped worrying over it, beyond the fact that they could probably get some help if they got to wherever she lived. A school or something maybe? Had Quin said she lived on campus? 

At her suggestion, Will fumbled with the ties from the black apron, wincing as he instinctively moved both arms to reach for the knot. Ow. More carefully, he used his one good arm to work the knot free and tug the apron off over his head, holding it out to her, the fabric wadded up in one hand, trying to avoid letting it touch the ground. "Good thinkin'. Wish I woulda grabbed the first aid kit from the cafe, but..." There hadn't been time, nor had he the presence of mind to even think about it until now.

As he held the apron out for Quin to take, he listened to what she said. It didn't sound like it was a story that came easy, and, she seemed reluctant to tell it at all. Long story, and it didn't sound like it was a fun one, from Quin's expression. Almost seemed like she had been struck worse from that question than the rock that had battered her in the cafe. 

Then, she thanked him. Will was stunned, part confused, part guilty. A part of him nearly hadn't stuck with her. It pained him to admit, but a month ago, he probably wouldn't have stuck with her. Easier to do nothing and claim it was impossible, or not your problem. Easier to leave it to someone else. What was it called, the by-stander effect? Or maybe learned helplessness. Learned callousness, perhaps. Luckily, a stern talking to had recently shaken him up, made him think, at least a little, and so when push came to shove this time, he made a choice rather than giving up.

It was bizarre to realized how a couple chance encounters had gotten him to this exact point. Without that talking to... he probably wouldn't have had the guts to take down Knives the way he did. And if he hadn't run into Quin... Jeez. If Quin hadn't been in the shop, he probably wouldn't be here at all. The people in the shop either. Quin had been enough of a threat and a deterrent that the people inside had gotten out... whether or not they -remained- safe was beyond them, but... Yeah, he definitely owed Quin more than a coffee or two.

"I just... I just ran." Will clumsily tried to dismiss her thanks, conversational politeness and gnawing guilt making him feel too awkward to accept her words outright. "Should be thanking you. You saved our tails, takin' out half of 'em." Will paused before continuing. It was a sore subject for him, being a mutant, but it wasn't for everyone. Even so, he wanted to approach the next bit politely, carefully. "Neat trick you've got." He said, alluding to the use of her powers in the cafe. It didn't seem exactly like she'd been trying to -hide- what she could do, but it had also been life-or-death. That tended to change the stakes. 

Quin frowned a bit as Will shifted to get the apron untied and over his head. If it hurt him that much to even use his arm they were definitely going to need to find some help. Taking the bundled up fabric carefully Quin draped it over her bent knees so it didn’t touch the ground and ripped a strip away from the bottom.

Will spoke and Quin had to smile just a little bit and shake her head at the way he tried to deflect her thanks. Sure he’d ran. There hadn’t been much else to do at that point, but before he’d ran he’d told the other people to get out of the shop and taken a knife to the arm for distracting the guy with knives who had been heading her way.

Had she taken out half of them?

Quin had to shake her head though, at the end there when the rock guy and summoned up those projectiles she hadn’t known what to do. She’d a been a sitting duck if Will hadn’t moved. ”I froze…I always freeze and it’s never quite enough.” Was that something innate about her? The inability to finish the fight so that nobody else got hurt. Something similar had happened the night with the clowns. Had it happened that other night too?

”Neat trick you’ve got.” Will said, and Quin looked at him a bit quizzically before realizing what he meant.

”Oh, my powers?” she said, then shrugged. ”They do tend to come in handy sometimes, but they’re not good for much.”


”What about you with the knife guy and knowing about the car?” Quin asked, readying the strip of cloth in he hands, ”This is going to hurt….”

Well weren't they a pair? It was clear neither of the two of them were feeling particularly proud about the way things had gone -- no doubt adrenaline and fatigue and pain fueling a lot of the negativity. And, well, it was always a whole lot easier to look back on what happened and say what you should have done, what you could have done. Hindsight is 20/20 after all. (Well, maybe more like 20/2 in Will's case.). "Think you're bein' awful hard on yourself. You made sure everyone got outta there, fought hard... just ran outta options." 

Quin spoke about her powers, in his mind severely downplaying what she'd done. She talked about like they were a novelty, an amusement. Not something that had just saved a half a dozen people, if they were including themselves in the equation. Possibly more, if the skirmish at the cafe put Hammer and company completely off of any further trouble today. Slowed them down if nothing else. Will wanted to say something, started to, but the words wouldn't come. It wasn't as though he had a particularly healthy relationship with his own abilities, made it hard to protest her dismissal of her accomplishment. 

At Quin's question that poked at asking about Will's own powers. As she asked about knowing about the car that had come barreling down the alley or what he'd done to Knives, Will tensed. He'd known the question was coming, invited it really, by commenting on Quin's. Even so, it was still a thing he was scared of admitting. But... not saying anything wasn't going to change the fact she knew -- and he'd toyed with the idea of telling her anyway. She'd shown him concern when they'd first met, didn't -really- know him so wouldn't be able to out him in any way if things turned out bad, and now it turned out she was a mutant herself?

"Senses. Can mess with peoples', like our friend in the cafe. And mine are pretty sharp." Will explained as simply as he could. He couldn't make eye contact as he spoke about what he could do, instead he eyed the strip of cloth as Quin readied herself to bind or bandage the gash in Will's arm. "Which means this is gonna suck." Will tried to make it a joke, forcing a laugh and a grin through gritted teeth as he prepared for the cloth to wrapped around his upper arm, closing his eyes in an attempt to distance himself from the experience.