It had been a rather sunny day in the park when the sky abruptly clouded over and the air hung heavily. The changes were so quick from breezy summer day to humid cloudiness that many people walking did indeed stop and examine the sky. They would have been the first to notice the piercing glare in the sky. When a few people had stopped to look at the sky the people passing seeing so many look up had to stop and look as well. The people looking up couldn’t be sure of what they were seeing- it was bright and breaking through the clouds.

Suddenly there was a loud deafening crack like the sound of a sonic boom and before the people could even register what was happening the piercing glare in the sky broke through the clouds not unlike a rainstorm and cast a column of light that touched down in the center of the park. When the light touched down the ground beneath it gave way creating a small crater and the loose pieces of rock surrounding its’ rim began to float in the non-gravity created within the pillar. As the people started to catch up with the lightning quick movement the car alarms all over the city began to go off from the impact and a small tremor started rippling through the city. It wasn’t strong enough to be an earthquake or hurt anyone but the tremor knocked many to their knees and convinced others it was probably better to stay there.

There was a dark shape cradling itself in the pillar of light. At first there appeared to be noise coming from it- a whimpering of sorts- but it was hard to hear with the air so heavy. Ears would block and hurt from the strain. The shape hit the center of the pillar on the ground with a sickening thud and when everyone watching began to regain their senses there was nothing left from the whole ordeal but a little girl in the center of the crater.

She had rusty hair pulled back and charred skin and clothing. She was covered in cuts and bruises and held a beaded purse in her hands. The watch on her wrist glimmered a moment but appeared to have cracked during her fall. The star earrings she wore on her lobes seem to twinkle in a strange way. She couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 and no one approached as she lay unconscious.

A small murmur- perhaps a muffled cry- escaped her lips.

Slade inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet air of central park. Having been working in the vehicle bay he was so glad to be breathing semi clean air. He stretched slowly, his cogs and pistons squealing softly as his metallic form stretched to its most extended capacity. Being made of organic metal he always felt out of place in such a green area of New York.

Hearing an unnatural rumble Slade instinctively looked to the sky. It seemed that out of nowhere a darkness was assembling upon New York. Slade could do nothing but stare in wonderment as the clouds descended upon what had just before been a sunny summers day. His sensors picked up a massive flux close to his position and the ground shook beneath him sharply. This occured simultaneously with a piercing shaft of light. Slade saw the humans around him fall to the floor, and even his metallic form was pushed to its knees. Time seemed to stop.

He felt ringing in his ears as he staggered to his feet, not too far away from him lay a giant crater where the beam of light had landed. The air seemed heavy and straining his systems he attempted to barrel forward towards it.

As more time passed it became easier to move and his movement increased, a faint sound seemed to be emitting from the impact area and as Slade mounted the perimeter of the crater he saw a figure cradled in the centre. Slade didn't know what to do. Questions swam rapidly though his brain but he knew he had to ignore them if he was to get to the bottom of todays NY phenomenom. Crouching down so to seem less imposing to the small figure inside the crater he called out,
"Hey! Are you ok?!"

Central Park was always something like therapy for Tarin, kind of like the Empire State Building. When he thought about it, that was probably the reason he loved New York so much, the reason he'd stayed there so long when the other places he'd lived over the past 15 years had failed to hold his interest.

It was warm and green today and as Tarin walked through the park it was almost easy to forget what had happened over the past month and a half...almost. He'd been right when he'd told Lee that first night in the apartment that the enormity of what he'd done hadn't struck him yet and when it had, brutal was an extreme understatement of the effect.

It was quiet in the park and Tarin absolutely refused to think about the fact that this was where he'd chosen his victims when the spirit had occupied his body and mind. The sunny day was too glorious to dwell on things like that...and there was the lake. The lake where Tarin had very first encountered a fiery woman in a skirt too short and boots too tall to be anything but trouble. Veering his trajectory to take him towards the lake, Tarin was just about to sit down when the sky suddenly clouded over.

The other people in the park were looking towards the sky and Tarin did the same. Weird light was coming down from the clouds now, a la Independence Day or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Suddenly a huge crack split the air and Tarin found his nearly seated form firmly seated on the ground.

Small bits of earth and rock rained down on the area as something made contact with the ground and Tarin's jaw dropped as he watched a rather large crater open up in the ground. Only just realizing that he'd clamped his hands over his ears, Tarin rose a bit unsteadily to his feet and made his way towards the hole.

As he approached Tarin saw something that made him shake his head and do a double-take. There was a metal guy...a metal guy also approaching the hole in the ground. Tarin would deal with thinking about that later, for now he was dead curious what was in the hole.

As he approached, Tarin's steps got more and more cautious and when he reached the edge he peeked over just in time to hear the other guy yell, "Hey! Are you ok?!"

It was a kid...there was a kid in the hole. Sensing that he wasn't in immediate danger, Tarin skidded his way down next to the metal guy and the little girl who did not seem to be conscious.

"Is she okay?" Tarin asked, discomfort with the situation and concern for the kid evident in his voice, "Is she breathing? Do you think we can move her?"

Coraline lay unconcious for a little while longer as people started to flee the park and two men approached her. Slowly her eyes began to open and she murmered moving her head. Everything hurt and her body felt so heavy. As things came into focus she realized she was laying in a rather large hole and that two men were looking down at her. One would think she'd be shocked to see a metal man before her- but her quickly failing memory told her she'd seen one before and not to be alarmed. That was about all her memory told her. She struggled to remember what had just happened and how she got here. "Where am I? What happened?" she looked up at the two looking down at her and let out a shriek. There was a very strong air splitting poofing sound and Coraline was no longer in the hole- just an after image of her stained within the eyes of any onlookers that would fade in a moment. Now her voice came from behind the men. She was crouched there all bruised and dirty still gripping her little purse with her eyes dripping wet and and a look of shock all over her face. "Oh no!" she cried. "I went too far back... too far back!"

She began to sob and shake finding it hard to breathe. "Where's my mummy and my daddy?!" she cried and cried trying to look around through her tears and see where she was or when she was! "I didn't mean to go this far... I didn't mean to go this far!"

ooc: Hey Tarin- maybe if you see spirits around her you'll be able to derive that she's a time traveller? it's up to you... but this is about the extent of her memory

ooc - hey sorry its taken me so long to reply have been at a party all yesterday n have just got back from work. sorry again.

ic - Slade turned sharply as a young man slid down next to him. He seemed panicked, and Slade couldn't blame him at all. The guy pointed out that the figure was in fact a child, Slade's mind was completely overwhelmed by the split second events that had occurred. He barely had time to respond to the other man's questions about what to do with the apparent child when it seemed to stir. It looked at them briefly.

Then Slade's eyes frazzled. His sockets burned and for yet another moment he couldn't see. He swore, shaking his head violently and tried desperately to reassert his vision. His joints squealed and ground in protest at the repeated shocks to his retinas. As his eyesight slowly returned the 'child' had gone. Before he could even look around for where it had gone a splitting cry resounded from behind them.
"Oh no! I went too far back... too far back!"
Slade flinched at the pitch of the shriek and swung around. There was the figure that had previously inhabited the crater. This kid was beginning to freak him out. It must be a mutant...

"Hey kid seriously are you ok?! Stop with the teleporting!"
The small figure then began to cry, sobbing something about its parents. Slade sighed, he must've upset it or something.
"Ah sh*t." Slade exhaled to himself, turning back to the other guy he asked,
"You any idea how we're gonna calm this kid down or stop him doin' his teleport and blind everybody thing?"
Slade really hoped this man was good with kids.

ooc - your turn tarin...

OOC - I realize that...you're not the only one with a busy social...and business life.

One second the kid was there, unconscious then she was awake, asking where she was. The next second, she was gone, nothing but something out of the pictures Tarin had seen of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombs dropped. The sound that accompanied this flash was even louder than the last and Tarin's hands once more came up to shield his ear drums from the noise as his eyes blinked repeatedly to try and clear the image apparently burned into his corneas.

It didn't take long for another sound to filter through the ringing and his hands. The kid was definitely awake now, awake and sobbing, screaming, crying, all those things that kids did that usually terrified Tarin. Probably terrified any single man of a certain age who had no experience with kids.

Tarin turned slowly, obviously having trouble processing things as fast as robocop. The kid went too far back? To far back from where or what or when? She wanted her parents? Of course she did, the kid couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 years old after all.

Letting his shaky hands drop to his sides, Tarin turned and followed the metal guy's gaze to the little girl in hysterics. Turned in time for the metal guy to prove he knew even less about kids than Tarin did.

Tarin looked helpless to say the least, but looked at the little girl. "Um well...first of all, I think he is a she" he said, then moved forward. Holding his hands up in front of him in what he hoped was going to show that he was no danger Tarin approached the girl slowly, "Hey kiddo..." he said softly, "You want to calm down for a second..." he was closer now, hoping the kid couldn't do anything else that was more dangerous. "We want to help you find your mom and dad...but you have to calm down first...deep breaths and ponies and all that jazz...come on...give it a try."

ooc: no worries guys, I was way too and busy

ic:

Coraline shook like crazy and wrapped her arms around her legs. She looked up at the two men- well she thought the metal one was a man- and whimpered. "I am so a SHE" she wailed. She held her little purse to her chest and listened as one man (Tarin) spoke to her about calming down. She nodded her head and sniffled. He was right. If she didn't calm down she might port again. She was lucky a second ago only going as far as a few feet but she could end up in the past or present again.

"Are you mutants?" she asked. Obviously the metal guy was- or some sort of droid- but it couldn't have been obvious that the other was. "Or humans?" she questioned. Something about her eyes seemed familiar. Was it the colour? That hair too. "If you're all mutants maybe I went into the future. Or maybe this is old New York" she recognised the landscape at least. This was for sure central park. "This is where my parents are from- do you know them?"

ooc - my apologies tarin causing offence was not my intention.

ic - Slade cocked his head as the young man pointed out, quite rightly, that it was a girl. Slade didn't find it a surprise that he had been wrong, when he said he was bad with kids he meant it! The kid seemed to agree that she was indeed a girl, Slade shrugged thinking "tomato tomato"; to use the old same thing same difference saying...

"My bad, lil' lady..." Slade murmured softly as the man began walking towards the child, his arms outstretched in what Slade assumed was an attempt at a non-intimidating gesture. If he were that kid he'd be freaked no matter what anybody did. Then again the guy was doing a much better job than Slade had, the child seemed to be calming down and even began directing questions at Slade and this seemingly reassuring man.

This kid was asking them if they were mutants, as for the other guy Slade didn't know, but it was pretty freakin' obvious what Slade was. Slade laughed as the kid rambled about being in the future or something... maybe the girl could teleport through time as well as space?
"Well I'm a mutant, I don't know about this geezer though. If you're really not in the know it's the year 2008..."
Now that the kid seemed to be calming down they needed to work out where to leave this child. Slade certainly wasn't adopting it, although would the kabal..?

The girl was calming down now and Tarin breathed a sigh of relief, at least there wasn't going to be any more booming or flashing...at least for the time being.

Then the little girl was asking the question of all questions, right out of the blue in the middle of central park. Even if they weren't collaring and dragging off mutants anymore it was still kind of hard to deal with. The girl was still a little panicked though, and Tarin couldn't do anything but help. Then the metal guy started to talk.

"Geezer?" he said, casting a slow look over his shoulder, "I guess that's one of the drawbacks of having skin" he muttered under his breath.

"I am..." Tarin said, moving even closer to the kid and kneeling down beside her, a puzzled look crossing his features as the little girl spoke some more and the metal guy dropped the bomb that they were in the year 2008. "Are you saying you came here from another time kiddo? Is that what you can do? Can you time travel?" Wow...that was sure something.

Coraline hobbled back and forth on her heels listening to the men speak to her. She chewed nervously on a piece of her long tangled hair. Her big eyes looked up at the man who asked her if she was a time traveller and her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks.

"I'm not sposed to talk to strangers." she said sounding a little younger than her appearance "I only did 'coz I was scared." she looked guilty. "but if you tell me who you are and I tell you who I am then we wont be strangers anymore OK? And then I can tell you I'm a mutant."

She stuck out her free hand while still clutching her little purse to her chest with the other. "I'm Coraline. I think I came here from the future but I can't remember what year. When I teleport it makes me forget things. I only time port when I'm in a lot of danger- so I'm scared that my mum and dad and baby sibblings are in danger too. They can't port like me. I can't go home on my own. I don't know how-" she started to hic up in a sobbing sort of way now "I dont kn-know h-how I g-got home before. I can never rememebr these th-things." it was obvious she was trying to be 'grown up' and brave- but she was also alone and scared and very young.

The other guy, Slade still hadn't heard his name, didn't appear to appreciate being referred to as a geezer. Slade definitely got the impression that he didn't like Slade. The man leaned in and seemed to be asking questions about time travel... Looked like he'd twigged after all.

The little girl was asking them their names. For someone who was in severe distress she was an inquisitive little one... She mentioned her family and upon this seemed to be breaking down again, Slade could definitely hear hiccoughs. Slade bet that hiccoughs didn't end well!

"My name is... well it's Slade." Under the circumstances he may have told the little girl his real name but he didn't feel that the other man needed to hear it just yet. "Your name, uh... Coraline? It's nice." Slade was trying, and probably failing to reassure the girl. The last thing he wanted was more scorching of his retinas!

"I"m Tarin...." he said, nodding to the little girl as she rationalized her giving them information about who she was and where she'd come from. Apparently this type of thing had happened before, "We aren't strangers anymore, you can talk to me."

The metal guy was doing a little better, and he managed to go get out a couple of sentences without insulting him. The girl didn't seem so panicked now and that made it a little easier for Tarin to take some of the edge off.

The little girl was a mutant and Tarin nodded to the revealed secret that she was indeed a mutant. He'd figured that the second she started teleporting all over the place, but he let her talk.

The metal guy's name was Slade and Tarin filed that away for later. It was always helpful to have that kind of information. It wasn't every day you saw a metal guy...and honestly Tarin couldn't help but wonder how the guy had made it through registration without getting tossed into the camps.

THe little girl was starting to break down again and Tarin held his hands out, "It's okay honey..." He said, voice smooth as silk, "You've told us plenty...we'll make sure that we remember and we'll get you to people who can help you figure it all out. Right now you just need to make sure you don't panic because if you teleport again you might end up somewhere that there aren't people like us. You're not hurt at all from the fall are you?" Tarin asked, trying to keep the kid occupied, "And Slade is right...Coraline is a beautiful name."

Coraline listened to Slade and Tarin and felt better. A lot better. She couldn't remember much from where she came but she knew she liked being with mutants. They made her feel safe and at home. They understood. She nodded to them and when she asked if she was hurt she looked down at her knees "They're a little scraped." she admitted brushing them off and wincing as they caused her pain. "But I'm OK." she said bravely. "I feel bad for the park. I made a big hole."

Speaking of the park- She looked around to see that confused faces were now looking back. A few humans had gathered. She was lucky she was now no longer in the hole- it wouldn't be evident that she caused it. Still they all looked suspiciously at the men looking at the female child. Coraline made sense of this rather quickly. Experience had told her what to do. She suddenly leapt into Tarin's arms. "Oh uncle Tarin! Uncle Slade! Take me home please. That big blast hurt me I'm scared." she sounded pretty convincing - of course Coraline thought she was a great actress- but she hoped Tarin and Slade understood.

As this "Tarin" calmed the girl down again Slade glanced about quickly. The homosapiens seemed to have recovered and were looking from the massive crater to him. A massive hole and a huge metal mutant, two plus two Slade thought... He knew what happened when the humans got scared, they called the police. Police definitely weren't good news.
"Ah this isn't good, uh guys we might need to wrap this up."

As he said this Coraline leapt into Tarin's arms. Did she just refer to them as uncles? Slade looked around again at the crowds beginning to form... then it clicked. This girl had a plan it seemed.
"Uh, poor you... niece? Let's take you home." Slade strode over to the pair and pulled them up. He leaned in closer, "So where the hell is home?"