”Apologies! But I can not let you continue your misdeeds!” Hercules said his booming voice demanding the attention of all nearby to stop and see where the sound and the light was coming from if the impact of the giant cratering into the street. There were a handful of them. Some armed, one had a gun while the others had crowbars and one with a chain. They were looting.

”’Tis a shame! With everything going on in the city at the moment you decide now is the time to join in the chaos?” it was true the city was in bad shape it was as if all the chaos this city had to offer was suddenly turned on all at once. Hecate would have enjoyed this. The prince of power did not. In fact it saddened him deeply whenever mortals turned to their worst instinct when they had an opportunity. They simply need to be shown the errors of their ways.

The alarm coming from the jewelry store behind the looters kept blaring as a few of the store clerks cowered behind the glass counters. ”Allow me to show you the errors of your ways!” he flexed and in doing so his already skin tight shirt erupted apart. His tattoos started to glow dimmer as he readied himself for a worthy battle.

As he prepared for battle the one with the chain muttered an incantation and multiplied. ”Oh ho! This might be intresting!” Hercules said with the overconfidence only the son of Zeus could muster.

So today was not going well. Booker had been at work with the New York Public Library, had a full day ahead of him processing a batch of new items had had come in when suddenly the alert system went off. He had planned to pull in some extra hours but as the alarms blared and told him that people were being encouraged to shelter in place or return home, Booker realized that a lot more was going on than needed to. He had to be careful, the Sanctum for the coven was here and he held the key. If he lost it or, in some way, it got taken from him, that could be problematic for the secrets held within.

Nope. It couldn’t stay on him. But maybe at home it would be better protected by Javi. He had an in with the X-Men. If anyone attempted to break into his boyfriend’s shop / home, they would be in for a world of hurt. Yes. It was the safest there. But…he had to get there first.

This was stupid. A vespa riding through the streets of New York while it was half crazed with villains. Really Booker B. Bookman had to be an absolute madman to even consider this course of action. And maybe he was. Booker had seen a lot of action these days, dating an X-Man (or at least the X-Men’s tailor) and being involved with the Sanctum. But Booker wasn’t one to shy away from any of it. Especially since he was an adapted and the majority of those dangers wrought by mutants were easily canceled out by his wide-reaching aura.

Sadly not all hazards could be avoided by his presence.

Something like a comet collided into the ground near him and Booker had to steer his golden vespa away from crashing into whatever it was. He managed to hit the curb at just the right angle to topple over to his side. However, upon doing do, he sat up and found that the street was full of crazy people! People with guns, crowbars, animated chains, and the most absolutely SWOL man he had ever seen!

Wait. He knew that man! He saw him when the Mystics had attacked the mansion. Wasn’t that the guy calling himself Hercules!?

Banter was given and chain guy and Hercules were getting ready to duke it out. But, as Booker watched, he spied a flash of blue light, the appearance of man, and the flash of blue light again. Between each flash was the sight of a gun being thrown and suddenly Booker knew what he was looking at – a mutant. The man in a motorcycle helmet and wearing a belt of small firearms was teleporting wherever he threw them! That seemed…unfair!

Pushing his vespa off his leg, Booker stood and watched as the gunman teleported a safe distance from Hercules and looked ready to aim a shot. Quickly throwing caution to the wind, the librarian dressed in a slacks, a pin-striped vest, long sleeved shirt, and a bright orange bowtie suddenly ran forward like a football tackler set loose. His glossy shoes glistened in the light as he bridged the distance between himself and the Gunman and suddenly shouted.

”Herc! Behind you!” Booker shouted and with practiced precision tackled the Gunman across the midsection and brought them both down onto the ground. Quick thinking caused Booker to pull the gun away from his opponent and send it hurtling across street. The Gunman attempted to teleport (Booker could tell from the posing and the following shocked expression) and Booker winked. ”Sorry. Adapted.” He grinned, and quickly shouted afterwards as a fist was driven into his head, sending him careening off to the side as the Gunman scrambled to pull another gun from his belt.