Meld turned the corner into another dark alley. She was in one of the worst areas of the city, drug use and homelessness were in plain view for anyone to see. It was around 2 am and she wasn't entirely sure what brought her into this part of the city, except that perhaps she had a subconscious desire to find trouble. Well, perhaps not all that subconscious since she realized that was probably a part of it. There was, however, a certain attraction to seeing the lowest depths that humanity had sunk too. Here it was plain to see their ugliness and hopelessness. They were nothing too her, a blight upon human kind.

Meld considered the fate of these poor wretches. They were the ones society had given up on and wished forgotten. They were the ones who had given up on themselves. How, she wondered, could such a thing happen? How could things get so bad that one couldn't even be bothered to try and save oneself? Instead there was only the endless escape into drugs and madness. It was but one of many reasons why humans, as a whole had failed. It was one of countless reasons why mutants were the next step in evolution, why they must inherit the earth. The time of humans had passed. The time of mutants was upon the world. The world just didn't quite realize it yet and it was up to her and those like her to make it so.

Meld walked up to one of the humans, so drugged out of his mind that he didn't even realize she was there. She picked him up with her metal hand the the collar staring into his eyes. His head lolled to the side, barely conscious. His kind disgusted her. The fact that he could live like this disgusted her. Everything about him disgusted her. Meld had a sudden urge to thrust her clawed hand into his chest and tear out his heart. It was obvious he had no interest in living anyway nor did he deserve life. For a moment the urge was almost overwhelming but she managed to curb herself, throwing his barely conscious body to the ground and spitting on it. It wasn't as if she worried about cops, not in this area. One death would not be noticed, not for these poor wretches. But she had made a promise and she inteded to keep that promise.

Predator was cruising the underbelly of New York, reminding himself of the depravity of the human species, and generally reminiescing about events in the past on the way to a target he had identified. There were two, intricately interconnected things in Predator's past that had shaped who he was on that day. One: him being a mutant. And Two: his torture at the camps. The first had led to the second, and the second had shown him the true face of the human race: depravity. It was normally hidden just below the surface, like a foul cancer eating up the world from the inside, but in the darkest, dankest depths it emerged unhidden.

Thinking such thoughts filled Predator with rage, and he grabbed the nearest human, his increased strength allowing him to pick the man up easily. He then began pummiling the man, his small, but sharp, claws shredding into his abdomen and chest. Predator continued, even after the man had stopped wriggling and shrieking and was most assuredly dead, finally dropping him as a small pile of blood and gore. He turned, and saw a glint of metal at the other end of the alley. Someone with a metal hand. A clawed, metal hand.

His curiosity peaked, and his body still riding on the slight edge of ecstasy he gained from the sweet death of the human, Predator began to walk towards the person. As he drew closer, it became clear that the person was a woman. He was making some noise, and would undoubtedly be sillougheted from the streetlights behind the woman. Even so, the blood dripping from his left hand would be obvious.

Meld kicked the the near comatose human with one of her metal feet, resulting in a satisfying thud. She grinned to herself. It wasn't quite what she crave this night, wasn't quite what she needed to release the tension she had been feeling, but it was enough to take the edge off of it at least. Hopefully Isabel, or even Garrett, would give her something to do soon, something to truly benefit The Order and the mutant cause, otherwise she was fairly certain she would go crazy. Her promise wasn't only not to kill, something kept easily enough as she had never been one for mass rampages unlike some, but essentially to stay out of trouble. That was a little more difficult to obey. Her entire life up until recently had been devoted to either creating more and better flesh melds or working for men, and occasionally women, committing acts that would definitely be defined as "trouble". Now that she was prevented from doing the second and because she was prevented from doing the second doing the first wasn't nearly as possible either, she was bored. Plain and simple.

Meld was distracted from her thoughts by a sound at the other end of the alley. She looked up and couldn't help but hope that, perhaps, whatever had caused the noise was something or someone that might just consider itself a threat and attack her, thereby forcing her to defend herself. The higher ups at The Order could hardly fault her for defending herself, could they? Her keen flesh melded eye pierced the darkness allowing her to easily see that the individual who had caused the noise was young man and that there was blood dripping down his left hand. Looking closer she noticed the bronze claws. Interesting. Evidently she had stumbled upon another mutant, one who apparently was not bound by the same sort of promise she currently was.

Taking a risk Meld decided to begin approaching the stranger and called out, "Hello." He obviously had little care about injuring and possibly even killing others, the blood on his hand made that obvious enough, but she had no idea if he was dangerous to her. One never knew with mutants what their powers or motivations were. Meld was feeling a little reckless this night, however, and decided that the chance was worth it. Either he would be a threat and they would fight until on of them died or fled or they wouldn't. She hoped it would be the latter, all ready curious about the stranger, but in truth it could go either way.

{OOC: sorry, lame post.}

The woman approached Predator, and as she got closer the depth of her mutation became apparent, for it was certain in Predator's mind that she was indeed a mutant. Her hand was a meticulously crafted metal claw, and her feet ended in metal talons. That was a very interesting mutation indeed. As she got closer, however, Predator couldn't help but tense up, his hard cords of muscle bunching up in case she attempted any aggresive moves. Then she surprised him by speaking.

"Hello."

Predator slowly nodded in response, leaving the conversation open to her.

Meld carefully observed the stranger's body posture and actions. He seemed tense but she supposed that was not surprising considering the blood dripping from his hand. She supposed the most people would not be so casual about the presence of that amount of blood, some might even attempt to bring him into the cops. She, however, felt no such urge to do so. The cops were worse than useless anyway, when it came to mutants, and she simply didn't care all that much unless she found out that the stranger had attacked a fellow mutant, in which case she would rather deal with him herself.

Meld was careful not to make any threatening moves. There was no use causing trouble unless it proved to be necessary. It was always better to make friends rather than enemies, especially if they happened to be capable mutant friends. "Your victim wasn't a mutant was he?" Direct as always. She knew his answer would determine her next actions.

"Your victim wasn't a mutant was he?"

Well, that was one kudos point for the mutant in Predator's mind. Bluntness was one of his qualities, and he appreciated it in others. Cut down on the annoying chatter quite a bit, he found.

"Of course not. The humans are doing a nice enough job trying to off us that I don't particularly feel like helping them out. Cheeky blighters. What brings you to this shady alley? Would I be wrong in assuming similar thoughts fill your head?"

Meld laughed out loud. She couldn't help it but she thought that she was really going to like this individual. He may not have quite the restraint that she herself had, but his heart was certainly in the right place. Had she know him better she might have put her hand on his shoulder, but at present time the gesture intimated far too much familiarity and she still wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't a potential threat.

"Humans are indeed doing quite a job of trying to off us." She growled, not being able to help it. Thinking about such things always caused her to react badly. "Your assumption would not be wrong but unfortunately I've promised a...friend that I would stay out of trouble so I don't have quite the same freedom as you seem to at the moment." And how disappointing that was. "So, are the claws your only mutation or is there more to your power?"

The mutant laughed, then said, "Humans are indeed doing quite a job of trying to off us." The mutant growled slightly, as obviously the thoughts of humans offing mutants riled her up. "Your assumption would not be wrong but unfortunately I've promised a...friend that I would stay out of trouble so I don't have quite the same freedom as you seem to at the moment. So, are the claws your only mutation or is there more to your power?"

"Jeez, that's one heck of a promise. One I probably wouldn't have been able to keep. Trouble has a way of finding me, even during those rare times I don't want it to." In response to her question about his mutation, Predator said, "Straight to the point, right? Well, aside from being both stronger and faster than the sorry meatbags, I have a little sumtin-sumtin up my sleeve for when I get a particularly strong urge for carnage. It isn't all that easy to explain, so maybe later you'll get a showing, eh?"

Predator raised his head and looked at the few stars that made it past the light pollution of New York. Not only were humans inferior to mutants, but they were destroying the wonderful habitat they had around them with machines and technology. If mutants were dominant, then transportation could be achieved without cars or planes. Predator had met a mutant in the camps who could teleport, and another who could jump really far or high. Humans were messing it all up, and mutants were mother nature's solution to the problem.

"Jeez, that's one heck of a promise. One I probably wouldn't have been able to keep. Trouble has a way of finding me, even during those rare times I don't want it to."

Meld grimaced at the statement. "Unfortunately your not the only one that trouble tends to find. Try being a visible mutant in a world that fears and hates us. At least your claws are easy to hide. Try hiding one of these." She lifted her metal foot in demonstration. Not that she had any interest in hiding what she was anyway. She was proud of being a mutant, as she had every right to be, and if any human had a problem with it that was their problem to deal with not hers.

Meld couldn't help that her curiosity was piqued at the idea of this individual having a little something extra up his sleeve. "I think I look forward to seeing what you can do." She extended her metal hand for shaking. "I'm Meld. A pleasure to meet you. Most of the mutants I've met since coming to this city haven't been nearly as embracing of their heritage as you and its good to see that there are others out there like myself, who embrace what they are and know their rightful place in the world."

"Unfortunately you're not the only one that trouble tends to find. Try being a visible mutant in a world that fears and hates us. At least your claws are easy to hide. Try hiding one of these." The mutant raised one of her clawed feet, putting it back down onto the delapidated pavement with a slight metallic clank.

"Hide? Why would you want to hide the beauty of your DNA? It is the foul humans that should hide, as a rabbit does before the wolf." Predator spat on the ground in disgust, not catching the note of irony in the mutant's voice.

"I think I look forward to seeing what you can do." The mutant put out her metal hand, and Predator slapped his hand into it and shook firmly. She then said, "I'm Meld. A pleasure to meet you. Most of the mutants I've met since coming to this city haven't been nearly as embracing of their heritage as you and its good to see that there are others out there like myself, who embrace what they are and know their rightful place in the world."

To finish the round of introductions, Predator said, "Predator, the pleasure is all yours. It is rather dissapointing that the majority of our kind do not see the truth, but they will be brought around in time, I don't doubt. If they don't, however..." Predator left the end of that sentance open, though his intent was clear.

"Hide? Why would you want to hide the beauty of your DNA? It is the foul humans that should hide, as a rabbit does before the wolf."

Meld grinned, liking the way this individual thought. "Its not that I would want to hide what I am. But sometimes I have to be logical about such things. Sometimes certain things are barred from you because you look a little different than everybody else. When people see mutant they get scared and sometimes that fear results in violence." Meld shrugged. "Its not right but that's how it is."

"It is rather disappointing that the majority of our kind do not see the truth, but they will be brought around in time, I don't doubt. If they don't, however..."

"Its a shame that it might come down to mutant against mutant violence," Meld agreed sadly. "But if that's what it takes to liberate our people than so be it. I cannot be held responsible for the actions of traitors." In truth she couldn't even understand how her fellow mutants could not fight for mutant rights as she did. Those who were too afraid or too weak were acceptable, but those who actively fought against the betterment of their kind? It was unacceptable.

"Its not that I would want to hide what I am. But sometimes I have to be logical about such things. Sometimes certain things are barred from you because you look a little different than everybody else. When people see mutant they get scared and sometimes that fear results in violence. Its not right but that's how it is."

Predator grinned at the thought of violence against humans, but the gleeful smile dissapeared at Meld's last sentance. He growled deep in his throat, a feral sound, and said "For now."

"Its a shame that it might come down to mutant against mutant violence, but if that's what it takes to liberate our people than so be it. I cannot be held responsible for the actions of traitors."

"Hear hear..." A small moment of silence followed, just long enough to form the appropriate dramatic pause into which Predator dropped his question. "So what kind of friend makes you promise to stay out of trouble?"

"So what kind of friend makes you promise to stay out of trouble?"

Meld thought about her reply carefully before answering. She had also promised not to mention anything about The Order so she obviously didn't want to say anything that she might come to regret later. She was fairly certain that doing so would not help her chances of rising in rank among those in The Order. However, it was also fairly obvious that Predator shared the mindset of herself and others within The Order and could, potentially, make a valuable addition. She decided to commit his name and face to memory in order to tell the higher ups about him when she returned, let them decide what, if anything, should be done.

"A friend that cares about me staying out of trouble," Meld answered with a slight laugh. It was true, after all, even if it wasn't the entire truth. "I'll have no opportunity to help my people if I'm thrown into prison or something." And unfortunately at present time that was still a danger. Eventually, perhaps, when her physical perfection had been reached prisons would no longer be able to hold her but that time wasn't quite yet.

"A friend that cares about me staying out of trouble, I'll have no opportunity to help my people if I'm thrown into prison or something." Meld laughed slightly as she answered Predator's question.

"Ah, yes," Predator muttered, half to himself, "I often forget that others do not share my particularly oriented set of skills." Then, so soft that Meld might or might not have heard it, he added, "Or my fears." Speaking at a normal voice again, Predator looked at Meld and said "If you promised to stay out of trouble, I wouldn't hang around me for too long. Before long, I'll get bored, you know."

"If you promised to stay out of trouble, I wouldn't hang around me for too long. Before long, I'll get bored, you know."

Meld laughed. She couldn't help it. Here she was trying her best to stay out of trouble and to curb her more destructive instincts so that she could stay out of trouble long enough so that she might be able to indulge her particular talents at a later date and towards a good purpose. Combine that with the type of people she had been spending much of her time with since coming to this city and it was funny.

"But what does it accomplish, chaos for the sake of chaos or death for the sake of death? Each have their place, I admit, but is it not better to indulge in such things at a time and place when they might do some good? Surely we are better than that." Meld thought for a moment before continuing. "I am hardly some sort of saint. For years I hired my services to any crime boss who needed a mutant with no qualms about the law or the welfare of my targets. But there was always a reason behind it. Then it was mostly money, now it is the betterment of our people. Not that I am opposed to disregarding the law for money either." She grinned, suddenly hoping that she might have the opportunity to get into some profitable trouble. Maybe she could just explain that it wasn't her fault? Wrong place at the wrong time? Ya, that might work...