The group they were approaching, that they would have to pass in order to continue to the shop, had ended up being much closer to them on the sidewalk than Lee had thought they would. Or hoped that they would.

Then she heard someone speak. And…they were probably talking to her and Tarin. But Lee didn't acknowledge the speaker. She just kept moving, her eyes trying to watch everywhere.

More crashing sounds, and as Lee looked back she saw an e bike crashing into a car near the further group. Great, strength mutations on both sides.

As Lee's eyes were turning back to the path ahead, she saw a pair of eyes on her and Tarin. A pair of eyes only about 15 feet away, on the edge of the group closest to them.

A pair of eyes belonging to a mutant who appeared to be made of metal. "Faster," Lee urged Tarin as she quickened her pace, eyes forward as she focused on her siphoning even more.

And before they had gone five feet, she felt someone in the direction of the group not getting further away as she moved. "Faster," Lee said a little more urgently. At least they were almost at the corner. Reach the corner and they would be on the street the shop was on.

Turn the corner, and hopefully there would be no one threatening there. Which would hopefully mean there would only be metal man to deal with.

40 feet to the corner.

They were closer to the group now, within about 15-20 ft when Lee said that they needed to move faster. For the first time that day, Tarin was legitimately afraid and matched Lee’s pace as she sped up to try and make space between them and the people.

Tarin didn’t know what she had seen, but if Lee was worried enough about the situation that she thought that they needed to speed up, he didn’t need to be asked twice.

Faster still? Tarin increased his pace again as the approached the corner that would take them to the street where the shop was. It seemed almost quiet up ahead, but Tarin didn’t trust it and as he and Lee increased their speed he could hear heavy footfalls
behind them. They were picking up speed too.

They were getting so close to the shop, they just needed to get to the corner and then they could weigh the safety of the street…but they were close.

Tarin couldn’t hear anyone else following them, but he was sure that one was bad enough with how big he sounded.

”Do we run for it? Can you sprint in those?”he said softly, nodding down at Lee’s shoes then chancing a glance behind them. Yeah, if possible, they needed to move.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet.

They were getting close to the corner. Was the man behind them still the same distance or was he getting closer? Lee really wasn't sure. She was splitting her attention between keeping track of him and trying to sense if there were people around the corner.

But Lee was realizing that, while normally on the streets of New York her siphoning sure seemed to stretch more than far enough to tell if people were around, right now it didn't seem to be as much help as she wanted. She couldn't feel far enough.

At least she didn't think there was anyone around the corner.

"Do we run for it? Can you sprint in those?”

Lee had run after Kevin in heels when he was young, but that was a very different kind of running than what Tarin was asking about. Very different from what she probably needed to do.

"Once we're around the corner," Lee said instead of answering Tarin's question about her shoes as she reached for the crowbar Tarin was still carrying. "Get into the shop and head to the back. I'll be right behind you."

The distance to the corner was closing quickly and they were going to have a very quick decision to make. The problem was that they weren’t going to be able to make that decision until they got to the corner and were able to see what was waiting for them there.

Lee didn’t answer his question about her footwear and Tarin frowned more deeply than he had already been frowning as Lee reached for the crowbar he was holding. Tarin let her take it, but he hesitated.

She’d be right behind him?

They were too close to the corner and there was too much going on for them to argue about it. Tarin knew he’d locked up the shop before he’d left to meet Lee for lunch. He’d have to get the door unlocked for them to get inside.

But she was going to be right behind him? If she was going to be right behind him, why did she need the crowbar? Again, Tarin acknowledged that Lee had far more experience here than he did. He trusted her judgment and ability. Tarin also knew that from what Lee had told him, she had a tendency to take on big things.

”Don’t you dare do anything crazy. I’ll get the door open, but we go in together.” That was the best he could do, surely Lee would understand, right?

Slipping his hand into his pocket and getting ahold of the key knew opened the shop as opposed to the one that opened the apartment, they hit the corner and turned.

There were definitely people there, and some of them were causing trouble, but it was nothing like the chaos they were turning away from. At least not yet.

Seeing that as an opening, Tarin took off. He wasn’t a sprinter, but all those runs in the park were good for something. Thank God he’d had no illusions of grandeur and worn casual clothes today. The front window of the shop was still intact and Tarin came to a quick stop in front of the door and went to work on getting it unlocked.

But where was Lee?

Tarin hesitated, but handed over the crowbar. Lee didn't need to look at Tarin to know that he wasn't very happy about the idea of her having the crowbar. Or her comment that she would be right behind him.

Lee definitely did not need to hear what Tarin said to know that he didn't like the idea of her not being right with him as they went for the shop.

But what did he think was going to happen? They both take off running for the shop and have to stop and wait while he unlocks the door, but metal man just lets them and doesn't catch up to them as they're standing there?

Maybe metal man wouldn't be able to run fast enough to catch up. But Lee was not going to risk it on a maybe. Tarin needed the time to get the door unlocked before metal man caught up or the chances were good that neither of them were going to get into the shop.

"Nothing that doesn't need to be done," Lee replied. Because Lee was sure that what she thought she was going to have to do before they got into the shop, Tarin would consider crazy. But that's why she took the crowbar.

They rounded the corner, and as Lee was expecting, there were no people directly around the corner. There were people on the street, though the number was quite a bit lower than what they had just passed.

And thankfully, without arguing or trying to further convince her not to do something, Tarin started running toward the shop.

Lee started following him, managing to run in her heels but at a slower pace than Tarin. While her eyes were scanning the street ahead and beside her, Lee's entire focus on her siphoning was on the metal man. She was a little way down the sidewalk when she felt him starting to get closer.

And closer. And closer.

Tarin was in front of the shop down, standing in front of the door. But didn't have the door open yet. Metal man was coming up behind her rather close now.

Stopping her run, Lee turned to face him with the crowbar held low in both hands.

Metal man had a bit of a smirk on his face as he came to a stop in front of Lee. His hand came up, out toward her. Lee didn't think it was a punch, his fist wasn't closed. She didn't wait to see what it was he was planning. Lee swung the crowbar up and toward metal man, hitting him around mid torso.

And he went flying across the street.

Only for him to knock someone with a bat in hand over as he crashed to the ground. Hopefully this was giving Tarin enough time to get into the shop.

Tarin was doing his best, but it was easier said than done to get a key into a lock quickly when you’d just been sprinting and had adrenaline to deal with. Finally though, he got the key in the lock and turned it.

The door was unlocked now, but Lee wasn’t right behind him. No. She was still a fair clip away and she had stopped to face the man who had been behind them. The man who appeared to be made out of metal?

Tarin had just started moving back towards her, unsure how he was going to help, but knowing he was going to try when a few things happened at once.

The metal man looked like he was going to try to throw a punch or something and Lee stepped forward and swung at him with the crowbar and the man flew across the street. In the air. As the metal man took his trip, Tarin retraced his footsteps to the door, opened it, and went inside.

Lee had a relatively clear path to the shop now, and she had told him that’s where she wanted him to go. Was the shop safe though? Was the chaos outside just going to make its way down the street? The window in the front was large and just as breakable as anything else glass in the area.

With nothing to do but wait until Lee got there, Tarin just waited, planning to head to the back of the shop as soon as she got there and they could lock the door.

Metal man had landed hard across the street and didn't look to be moving very fast. That was good, very good. The person that he had knocked over in his landing wasn't moving very quickly either. That Lee wasn't so sure whether it was good or not. Lee just told herself that anyone not adding to the chaos and mayhem on the streets wouldn't have been just standing there; they would have been running or already hiding.

The person that was standing beside the two figures sprawled on the ground was moving much more easily. And as he looked around to see what had just caused the flying man, Lee saw his eyes fall on her.

Time to go. Lee turned and ran, not seeing Tarin any more. Lee could only hope that meant that he was already in the shop, hopefully already moving into the back.

Crowbar still in her right hand just in case, Lee was almost at the door to the shop when she felt someone approaching her very quickly from behind.

She was so close. In front of the windows. Almost to the door. But the person was practically right behind her now. Turning, Lee was getting ready to swing with the crowbar again, single handed this time, when she felt it being pulled out of her hand instead. So instead she swung out with her left, connecting solidly enough that the man stumbled and fell back.

Not even waiting, Lee turned again, pulling the door to the shop open and rushing inside. "In back! Now!" Lee cried out.

Thankfully, when she made it inside, Tarin did move to the back of the shop without comment or argument. Unfortunately, as Lee was making her way there behind him, she felt the man rushing up behind her again.

There was nothing else for it, Lee needed to get enough space between them that she had time to get into the back of the shop without him being right behind her. Lee could only hope that she wouldn't hurt herself too badly in the process because a trip to the mansion did not sound feasible any time soon.

Lee turned to face the man once more, only waiting another half second until he was within her reach, before she swung out hard with her right fist.

And just like Tony had, this man flew backward when she punched him. Unlike Tony, however, this man flew even further at least 30 feet, through the window. Only stopping when he hit a car on the side of the road.

Before he had even slumped to the ground, Lee was turning, rushing into the back of the shop where Tarin was. And hitting the camouflaged button she had never needed to use in a real situation before that day.

The gears and motors were definitely a lot creakier sounding than Lee remembered, but still the panic door slammed shut behind her.

It didn’t take Lee very long to get into the shop, but when she flew in through the door she told Tarin to get to the back and at the tone in her voice he didn’t need to be told twice. As soon as he was through the little doorway and far enough into the back room that Lee could get inside he turned.

Someone had followed Lee inside…

There wasn’t space for him to do anything to help, so Tarin just stood by dumbly as Lee turned. A moment before she stuck out with her fist, Tarin realized what she was going to do and winced as it connected with the idiot who had decided to follow her into the shop.

The man left his feet much as Tony had, but either Tony ws much heavier or Lee had much more energy this time than when she had hit Tony because this man flew away with enough force to send him through the front window of the shop.

Well, Tarin supposed, he didn’t need to worry about that anymore…but the man didn’t stop. He didn’t stop flying until he hit a car on the side of the street.

Tarin didn’t get to see whether or not that man got up or was moving, but whatever the end result…he’d earned it. Lee flew into the back of the shop and Tarin was just about to ask her what they were going to do next when she reached out and hit a button that he hadn’t even known was there.

Instantaneously gears crunched and ground and a door started to lower, effectively closing off the back of the shop from the front.

For a moment, Tarin just stood there and gaped at what had just happened before he was moving to Lee and reaching out for her hand. ”How bad is it?” he asked.

”And how did I live here for almost six years and never know that this was here?”

Tarin simply stood still for a moment. Lee could only guess in mostly shock over what they had been through since they had left the restaurant. It was far from a normal situation, and Tarin had put so much effort into staying out of anything that could even be considered a 'situation' that all of this had to be a shock to him.

Unfortunately, Lee had been in much worse situations.

But then Tarin was moving closer and reaching for her hand carefully. Asking her how bad it was. Lee let him take it, let him look it over. But it felt fine.

Lee tried flexing her hand, and it still really felt alright.

"It feels alright, actually," Lee said after a moment. "But that might be the adrenaline."

"And I'm guessing you didn't notice it while living here for 6 years because panic doors aren't supposed to be obvious? I've never had to actually use it before, but I'm glad I had it installed."

They were inside, they were behind a very sturdy looking metal door, no they were…as safe as they could be?

Lee let him take her hand and Tarin held it up, turning her hand this way and that, looking at her knuckles and trying to see if he saw any marks, bruises, or god for it any deformities that looked like broken bones.

Nothing.

Lee flexed her hand then and said that she thought it was alright and Tarin frowned a bit in thought before releasing Lee’s hand. They’d just have to keep an eye on it and wait and see.

As for the panic door in the middle of his living space, Lee said that the point of the thing was to not be particularly noticeable and Tarin nodded as he crossed his arms and looked at the thing. Yes. That made sense. But still. There had been a panic door in the shop this whole time.

”You really do have the best ideas…” Tarin said, not really sure what else to say about the whole thing. It wasn’t like he was mad or anything, having the door here had saved their bacon.

The adrenaline was really starting to wear off now and Tarin glanced around the living space and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

”You were really great out there…” he said.

Tarin took her hand and looked it over much more carefully than she had. And though he frowned when she said that she thought it felt alright, he didn't say anything. He let go of her hand and didn't go get an ice pack for her.

It was a little strange, though. Lee couldn't be 100% sure, but she thought that she might have hit this person harder than she had hit Tony. He definitely went further. She had broken her hand on Tony's face, though, after making sure she had her fist exactly right before the punch. Yet this time, she hadn't had the luxury of ensuring that.

But her hand was still feeling alright.

Then Tarin was commenting that she did have the best ideas, and Lee smiled at him slightly. "I really don't like relying on backup plans," Lee commented. "But, hopefully this one won't ever need to be used again. I can show you where the button is on the other side at some point. Just in case."

Because that was exactly what the panic door was put in for: as a backup plan for multiple different situations.

When Tarin said that she'd been great, Lee's smile grew a bit more. "Yeah? You're not upset that I did something crazy?"

Lee hated relying on backup plans? She just liked having them in place just in case she needed them 6 or 7 years down the road…and there was another button in the front? It wasn’t like Tarin had gone searching the walls, but jeez. He felt pretty silly having noticed nothing.

”Well, we’re lucky that you had this one, because all of that out there didn’t seem like it was going to calm down any time soon.”

Tarin didn’t want to know why they’d had the door installed, whether it was to keep things out or keep things in. It didn’t matter right now. All that did matter was that they were here, the danger was on the other side, and neither of them appeared to be hurt.

Lee was even smiling now and he couldn’t help but grin back, ”I thought you listened really well. I didn’t see anything crazy at all. Just you being an absolute badass in a skirt and heels.” Tarin’s words were sincere, Lee had been well within her abilities with every single thing she’d done today. ”I could hardly look away to run…” he said, voice light and teasing even if it kind of was the truth.

It was lucky that she had had the panic door installed. And that she had remembered about it 15 years later. Because other than closing and opening the door a few times to make sure they knew what to do if it was needed, the panic door had never actually been used.

"I wonder what got this all started," Lee mused. "It seems too big to be something that started randomly in front of the restaurant."

Had some of the things that she had done on the way to the shop been risky? Yes, yes they were. But they had been less risky than not doing them. If she hadn't hung back slightly, metal man would have caught up with them before they got into the shop, Lee was sure. And if she hadn't planned on facing him, Lee wouldn't have had the crowbar in hand to hit him with. The vibration of hitting him with the crowbar had hurt as it was, Lee didn't want to imagine what punching him would have felt like.

Huh. The way she'd punched the guy in the shop, she had broken her hand when she did the same with Tony. And while she had used the crowbar on metal man, Lee had hit him hard with it and the metal on metal had reverberated up her arms into her shoulders. Enough that it had hurt at the time, but she had still been able to punch speed guy.

And her arms and hand all felt fine now.

Huh. That was probably something to think about. Later.

"Just you being an absolute badass in a skirt and heels. I could hardly look away to run…”

Despite everything that had just happened, Lee couldn't help the slight blush that covered her cheeks. "You could hardly look away?"

Lee mused over what had caused all the chaos outside and Tarin shook his head, trying to figure out if anything had been in the news the last few days that would lead to this. Not in the news….but.

”Do you think this has anything to do with that Mystic that Michael was here about?” Tarin said, frowning at the thought.

If this was related to that then it was bigger than it already felt.

Lee seemed skeptical that he hadn’t been able to look away from her when they’d (she’d) been fighting their way to the shop and she was blushing so very becomingly, but Tarin just smiled and chuckled before getting a bit more serious,

”If I’m being honest, I was pretty much terrified the whole way here. You really really were great though.” he said.

Tarin asked if Lee thought this had to do with that mystic. The ancient mystic who seemed to have an almost anti-spirit shield. The ancient mystic who had 'lobotomized' a spirit who had managed to get closer to her.

The ancient Egyptian mystic who was trying to bring her king back.

"Part of me really hopes it doesn't," Lee said after a few moments. "If she thinks that she can somehow bring back an ancient king, she must already be very powerful. But for someone not from here and now to manage to get this kind of mayhem going…"

Lee sighed and shook her head. "On the other hand, if it isn't related to that, we could have two major issues going on in the city."

Neither of those options sounded good to Lee. Though as she thought about it a bit more, Lee realized that the first option might actually be better. At least they knew something about it, and they knew someone who hopefully knew even more by now.

Then Lee had another thought that just about sent her into a panic, unlike anything else so far that day. "How widespread do you think this is?" Lee asked Tarin as she reached into the pocket in her skirt to pull out her phone.

Without waiting for Tarin's answer, Lee was already tapping away on her phone.