The tiger sailed to the side and Tarin nodded with approval at the way the spirits were reacting. Shin was by Lee and she’d drained another guard. They were kind of laying in a nice neat little pile and Tarin frowned, there was way too much battle going on to simply leave the two unconscious men on the ground. Taking his eyes from the tiger for a moment, Tarin pulled power from the two who had pushed the big cat and funneled it into the spirit who had complained about the lack of action. It was still irritated at having to play delivery boy, but it moved on Tarin’s command, picking up the two men and flying off to deposit them on a rooftop across the street. Up there they’d be fine and wake up from their Lee induced nap no worse for the wear.

Things were quickly deteriorating into chaos, but Tarin noted with satisfaction that people were getting into the building. That meant that things were going right. There was a girl with pink…things…and Tarin watched with slightly horror as another one rushed at Shin with pipes. The girl was yelling like a madwoman, but Shin managed to disarm her with what seemed like little trouble. Tarin moved forward a few steps to try and help, but stopped at the sound of the shout.

At the sound, Tarin turned to see yet another guard sailing through the air at the same time Luke called out. “Shit…” Tarin muttered there wasn’t time to do everything. Bracing himself for the impact, Tarin pulled back the two spirits from the roof and channeled all their energy into the two spirits helping Luke. They listened, barreling into the Rottweiler and the lion, Rottweiler and lion? Tarin barely had time to wonder where they’d come from when the new guard slammed into him, sending the medium sprawling into the concrete.

Skin scraped, and slightly winded, Tarin shoved the man off him and pushed somewhat slowly to his feet. The giant was…drinking from a flask…at least he wasn’t throwing any more guards. “Lee!” he yelled, “See if you can distract that guy enough that he stops throwing people.” Slowly he turned, just in time to see Luke unleash some sort of hell…from his face. Tarin stopped and stared for a moment and watched as the other man yelled. “Shit…” Tarin repeated, already starting to move forward even as his scraped and bruised body protested, “Shit…shit…shit…” he hadn’t moved far from Luke at the start of the battle, but it was far enough that the medium had to cover a little ground before he could physically help. The spirits were tangling with the animals now, and Tarin felt the arrival of the two who’d been fighting the head thrower on the roof. Into the animal fray they went too and Tarin found himself at the side of the security expert.

The tiger had done more damage than Tarin had realized, and he blanched slightly at the physical state of the man in front of him. “Luke…dude, we need to move…” he said, moving around to the man’s uninjured side and grabbing hold of his arm. “Can you move at all or do I need to call one of the spirits to help?” After all, they’d dealt with the panther, the Rottweiler, and the lion, but the cats were still coming. Several dirty puns involving alternate names for large numbers of cats came to mind, but Tarin had a feeling it wasn’t the time.

Jaxon sighed. Having nothing to do for the day, she had settled for a walk in the park then stopped for a sandwich and some juice. It seemed that the Sanctuary was abandoned for the day; she hadn’t been able to find anyone to spend time with. What she was going to do the rest of the day she didn’t know.

After finishing her lunch time snack, she strolled down the street, thinking about what she should do the rest of the day. But any plans she might have made were lost when she walked past a window full of televisions. Caught mid sip, she stared at the different news stations plaster across the screens.

When she recognized several people on the screen, despite the bad camera work and scattered movements, the bottle fell from her hand, orange juice splashing over the concrete as she pushed through the small crowd. Her mouth dropped open and she stared. She caught a street on one of the screens and Jaxon turned sharply, shoving through people, and as soon as she was clear, she ran.

Bolting down the street, she wrapped her hand around the rail, spinning herself down into the subway stairs.

----------------------------

Taking the stairs two at a time, her knees straining as she shot out of the subway, Jax looked around quickly, orienting herself. Then she ran up the street, scanning cross streets as she went. She knew when she found the right one.

The sights and sounds of the battle were overwhelming to the point that they were muted, as if farther away than they really were. People she recognized fought each other, strangers thrown into the mix adding a new element of confusion. Forcing her way through the civilians watching, one tried to stop her. “You don’t want to do that miss. The muties are out in force.”

Glaring at him, pushing his hand off her arm, she scowled. “Then get out of this mutie’s way…” The man jerked back as if burned, staring at her with horror. Jax ignored him, slipping around the corner onto the street… into the edge of the battle.

Things that could only be mutant powers wizzed around the street; animals, objects, and pure powers hit people. Jaxon ducked, running deeper into the mess of the street, staying close to the wall. She found a niche between two buildings and she slid into it, her back to the corner as she watched the fight unfold.

With each sound and sight the pressure in her head built. But Jax forced the power back, refusing to bring her demons into this until she knew what was going on, then she would help. But when everyone got back to the sanctuary, she was going to flip out.

His punch made only minimal contact, a graze, and before he could acquire a good footing the lion was wheeling around for a strike. The attack was fast and as it stood the Ranger wasn't, his power augmenting his torso would reduce his speed and the attack would be upon him before it could enhance his speed. This meant only one possible way to avoid a serious injury was available.

He fell backwards his hands protecting the back of his head, upon landing he flung his legs up and over his head, as his body moved more into a handstand like position he planted his hands on the ground and shoved, hard. He went up into the air about three feet high and straightened himself up before landing on his feet. He narrowly escaped the claw and knew he would have to be much more careful to avoid being close for long to that thing.

At that point he noticed his fedora was sitting on the ground where he had done his handstand like maneuver. He pulled his pistol out with his right hand and knelt to pick up his hat and place it on his head, the gun trained on his opponent. He hoped Hyde had escaped being clawed when suddenly a thought came into his head, My allies aren't what they appear to be.

He stood as carnage raged around him, could it be that those I have trusted were not who they claimed. Is Hyde a soviet spy here to watch me, he helped me twice but how can I be sure that he wasn't there to learn about me so Ivan could exact a flawless revenge. It fits to perfectly he must be working with Ivan, and he will pay for it.

"You two water mutants, Switch with Ranger and I. Take out that big @#$ creature using your powers. We'll keep these others off of you." The statement brought him from his thoughts, this would give him an opportunity to act on his revelation. He looked to see where Hyde had called to him from, behind Aura.

He looked back at the lion thing and fired, one, two, three of his tranq darts and then made a dash at Aura firing a fourth dart at her as a distraction. His aim was not attack her but to quickly move behind Hyde and disable him, but he had to make it look like he wasn't on to Hyde's true Ruskii identity.

He rushed at Aura, his power moving to his legs and when he neared her he leaped into the air as his power was boosting his ability to jump and he landed behind Hyde, his gun raised and aiming right at Hyde, his knife held in his left hand which was now next to his right hand as he had his wrists making contact with the left rm on bottom to support the right. His fedora fell from the sky, as it came off in mid jump, and sailed down beside him.

Arielle rolled her eyes at Aura's statement and seriously, Preacher Lady? Ari was a far cry from being all holy and goodness, but I guess if you're just a heartless little twit who slays others just for fun, perhaps Ari's morals were viewed as saintly. The water elemental watched as her old foe decided to take a swing at Coldsteel 2.0, but was saved when he mimicked her own water form. She was so not cool with that.

"For crying out loud. No power is sacred anymore with this guy around...surviving deathblows because I'm made of water and awesome is my thing..." the brazilian sighed and watched as Mimic responded to Aura with an attack of his own using an ice blade. She was sort of hoping for another one on one rematch with Aura herself...this time, no little children to use as a shield either.

"You two water mutants, Switch with Ranger and I. Take out that big @#$ creature using your powers. We'll keep these others off of you."

"I'm the water mutant. He's just copying me, get your facts straight, sweetie." she replied and turned her sights on the lion creature Flynn had instructed her and copycat to attack. He seemed to be purely a physical attacker. If that was the case, then it should be a piece of cake taking him down and started sprinting towards the creature. "So I guess I should say something cheezy like, 'I'm about to send you packing back to the litter box or something, but I think I'll just skin the heroic corny lines and bash your face in!" she yelled , her limbs and humanoid appearance melting away into a stream of water while she launched herself towards the beast's face, increasing her pressure as she did so. She hoped he had quick reflexes or super human durability, because she was about to hit with enough force to put a dent in a steel wall.

Flynn suddenly made himself visible within Meld's line of sight. So, he had been the invisible one shooting darts from out of thin air after all. Despite their history together, she would not hesitate to take him out should that prove to be necessary and, indeed, it seemed that it would be. She saw Predator attempt to take a bite out of him, a shame that he appeared to have not done any damage and Flynn popped back out of sight only to reappear shortly thereafter in a new location near Aura.

"You two water mutants, Switch with Ranger and I. Take out that big @#$ creature using your powers. We'll keep these others off of you."

Meld wasn't exactly sure what he had planned but she was sure that it couldn't be good for her side and was even more sure that she wasn't about to let him go through with his plan. "Hey Flynn," she yelled out, hoping to distract him, "remember me?" She charged him, moving from her place of relative safety against the wall and attempted to kick him in the head just as he blinked out of sight again. If her kick hit solidly it would likely knock him completely out. It was never fun to get hit by a carefully aimed heavy piece of fast moving metal.

Unexpectedly Meld became aware that Ranger had jumped behind where she had last seen Flynn, his weapon pointed at the invisible mutant. She spent only a moment to wonder at why he was apparently helping her against her target, but the thought fled her mind almost as soon as it had entered. It wasn't important. What was important was eliminating the threat that was Flynn and she could deal with Ranger afterwords. She nodded her head in his direction. Either he would return the gesture, a momentary truce while they took on a mutual threat, or he wouldn't and she would have two threats to deal with. Either way she would come out victorious and she looked forward to a proper fight with her foe from the bank heist again.

<Ranger approved for your enjoyment>

Hyde watched Ranger flip over behind him. Excellent! If he was unable to knock Aura out with his roundhouse, then Ranger could pop a few tranq darts into her. If for some reason her aura deflected the darts and she turned, Flynn would make sure he dropped down after the kick landed so he could trip her up if she moved toward Ranger. Then that would only leave...

Meld sent the kick in toward where Flynn's torso had been. If he had still been standing straight, The metal limb would have broken the same ribs he had cracked when Meld had helped him foil that robbery. As it was, her leg smacked the inner thigh of the leg Hyde had in motion toward Aura. The force threw his leg back. Being in a pivoting position, The metal on flesh hit didn't break his leg bone, although the bruise would easily cover crotch to knee, as long as he lived thru the fight.

Flynn's scream of agony went out soundlessly...for the first half second. As soon as his concentration was interrupted and he turned visible, everyone around him heard the pain filled yell. Ranger however, he looked back from following his fedora landing on the ground while moving into his stance and saw something that furthered his thought Flynn had been working against him. A foot speeding past the top of his left arm and right toward his head.

The high decibel pain scream that was assailing his ears wouldn't allow Ranger to act quick enough to save himself the hit. Hyde's foot came in and connected with his shoulder, hard. He accidentally fired off a shot that whizzed past Hyde's ear as he was lifted off the ground a few inches and propelled backward. His other hand let go of the knife as he flew back and then fell, landing on his rump. The knife tumbled end over end in the air for what seemed like a long while, although it was less than two seconds. It landed right between Ranger's open legs, nearly taking the mutant's chance for ever having children out of his hands.

Although Ranger was seeing stars, he at least was going to be OK momentarily. Flynn wasn't seeing stars. He was seeing white hot shards of agony behind his shut eye lids. He had possibly sprained his ankle on his pal's shoulder, and he felt like his leg was broken from the metal on leg contact. He went down into a ball. He had a little sense left in him though. He was unable to return himself invisible but he tried to roll around a bit to make himself a bad target for a follow up. His training taking over thru his pain filled haze.

(post Done with permission from Kasumi also mimic mentioned i could shatter his hammer)

"Age does not matter, what matters copy boy, is Loyalty, your simply a fool that does not belong on a battlefield” Aura said simply to her opponents words. Aura had Lost track of Meld, it was hard to keep track of anyone out here, no one was in uniforms and have her allies she had never seen before. Still all of chaos, all of the Mutants using their powers, it was one of the most beautiful things Aura had ever seen. Aura wondered whose idea of a defense this was anyway, and that’s when Aura noticed the bone wall growing behind them and smiled, she understood now, They were the distraction, well if that was to be the case, then Distract Aura would. It was chaos all over, a virtual war zone, Aura's turf as far as she was concerned, she wanted to say something to Ari, when she meant no power being save from the copy man. Aura thought the guy could be useful and if he lived, she would ask him to fight her, with her own Aura. The training would be immensely beneficial to her and him as well she hoped. But right Now Kasumi, Aura's friend came up, though Aura had expected her not to be quite on her side, actual opposition still was more then Aura had figured. Aura's attention shifted as Kasumi began to speak to her, her words however fell on less then caring ears.

"Good, Bad it's all the same, Two things matter above all else, Loyalty to those you serve and following one's orders, Mine are to not let you pass. Did you really think such feeble, pointless words would get through to anyone? I Have no love for Haywire, but my Orders stand, i will defend it with my life" Aura said, her eyes burned fierce as she looked at Kasumi, almost like a hawk looking at a mouse. Aura's eyes scanned the area quickly, the situation was changing so quickly, Mutants were entering the fray who seemed to have no side at all. It mattered not however, Aura had been trained for this and though she felt bad for what her next move had to be, Aura barely Hesitated and Ran at Kasumi, in a burst of Speed.

Aura's blade missed, Kasumi by a hair, as her Sai, turned it Aside, Aura spun around behind her and it was Then she saw the Other Mutant, the one she had lost track of, she would have to remind herself to train on not losing targets later. Forming a fist sized drill, Aura punched Kasumi in the back, the spinning drill cut home, sending small scraps of fleash and blood spraying behind her. Although Aura could not feel what the Aura touched she knew how deep her drill went from the pressure, skin was easy, muscle and tendon were a bit tougher to cut through but nothing truly stepped the drill until she felt, something she knew well, the pressure of bone, almost at the same time, her Other hand Struck Kasumi in the side of her ribs, with just enough force to move her in the path, of the Mimics hammer, the sudden Movement forced her to move her other hand which tore through yet more of Kasumi's insides, Aura had so far Missed any Vital organs, and the blood upon her aura seemed unable to stick to it, dripping to the ground where it could. The ice Hammer was Slightly Off and Aura had to quickly form a blade with her free hand, and countered the ice, hammer spraying the area with small sharp shards of Ice all over Aura and Kasumi. "You Missed Copy Boy, care to try again?" She said, throwing Kasumi's aside without bothering to extract her drill first, she was pretty sure she was pretty close to her Kidney when the drill finally came out, and Aura let Kasumi fall to the ground, with ease and without tear for her friend. She had no desire to Kill Kausmi which she was fairly sure if she was not now, she soon would be, Aura was sure with As Much tearing as she had done and the gaping hole in her friends back. Still her orders were clear, none entered the building, unless she herself lay among the dead.

Kasumi narrows her eyes "Orders are not eveything in this world you have to rember Aura you have to follow your heart! All you are doing is breeding more hate in thios wolrd!" The bladed missed her by a hair soon her eyes rest on her firend as she lets out a sigh she has no idea what to do. Kasumi does not want to fight Aura she is her friend. Kasumi hates to see Aura like this. Kasumi spins around Aura but soon it was to late to block soon pain is in her body a drill is in her body. Kasumi closes her eyes in pain. She could not find her vouce she could not scram or say anything. Her eyes grow wide as she feels her blood rolling down her body.

She closes her eyes in pain as tears runs down her pale cheeks. She can feel her ribs crack form the drill soon ice chards fly around her soon Kasumi lands on the gound. The hole is in her back. She rests her hands on the gound that is under her as she trys to move yet blood soon poors around her. Sweat is on her brow as tears poor down her cheeks still. Why did Aura do this to her Kasumi was trying to stop this form happing she does not know what to do?

Kasumi can feel her body going numb form the shock that she is in. Soon Kasumi rests her hands on the she narrows her eyes the pain is gone in her body it is odd. Soon she gets to her feet as she narrows her eyes as she feels her heart pounding she does not feel anything the wounds as she soon runs at Aura but she does not get more the a few feet. Soon Kasumi drops to her knees due to the loss of blood as she rests her hands on the ground. Soon eveything around her is in spinning she trys to breath why is it so hard to breath? She does not know what is going on. She closes her eyes as she trys to get her mind to stop eveything form spinning around her.

A flash of pink light caught her eye, and Jaxon turned toward it out of familiarity. Aura. But what was going on? Jaxon watched in frozen shock as it seemed several people turned their attention on the other girl. Two meen seemed focused on her, for a moment another young woman with dark skin looked like she would go for her but instead turned into water and shot away… But then there was another girl who seemed to be helping Aura.

The relief was short lived as Jaxon watched Aura slam a pink weapon into a young redhead. Almost simultaneously Jaxon pushed herself back against the wall as if avoiding a blow herself. The shock of seeing Aura do that lowered her guard… the powers in her sprung forth and as if the creature were leaping straight out of her, it landed in a crouch in front of her.

A large wolf creature, easily the size of a grizzly bear, with horns in place of its ears and what seemed like fur made of flowing metal now stood in a defensive crouch in front of its mistress. Its fur, dark and seeming almost liquid in its movements, made a sound like rustling leaves, as if thousands of needles were clicking together. Almost like the movie Lady in the Water, when the grass stood up and became sharp… That was what the fur reminded Jaxon of. Though she had never summoned this beast before, she had dreamed of it, and for once there was no fear. Just a glorious release of pressure, her head clear and at peace rather than distracted and cramped.

Someone, with a hammer, attacked Aura and without conscious thought or command, before Jaxon could even shout a warning to her friend, the demon she had brought forth leapt into the fray with a baritone growl that rumbled over the ground. It landed, spinning into a position to defend Aura. A pink blade deflected the hammer, and the beast snorted, no longer needed there.

The girl Aura had stabbed got up, moving towards her threateningly. But the girl never made it to her target, falling short.

Something had snapped into place for Jaxon. Her powers were no longer a tangled web, strings of power and control knotted around each other to be pulled accidentally… instead they were laid out like the strings of a harp to be plucked at will. She could feel creatures, some she knew she could control, others she knew without a doubt that she couldn’t.

With nothing rushing Aura, at least as far as Jaxon could see, the creature stalked defensively back and forth. It knew its job. Defend its mistress first and the glowing girl second. With nothing endangering Jaxon, Aura was the bone it guarded. Ranger's sudden rush at the girl made the beast spin and snarl, snapping it's jaws at him. When the man changed direction, though not because of Jaxon's demon it seemed, the creature barked as if to say 'that's right, run away.' Strangely, Jaxon caught the same feeling of triumph at sending a foe running. Her demon dog howled it's own satisfaction.

This fight was getting intense. Almost every time Mimic blinked more people joined him this was getting extremely out of control. His hammer was easily shattered, something was wrong his ice powers seemed weakened for some reason. He didn´t pay that much attention to it as the battle in hand was more important.

‘’ The way you speak, it´s as if you can´t think for yourself. Yes, you have opinions but are they your own? Or do you take someone else´s opinion and forbid yourself from having one?’’ Mimic said to gain time as he noticed he was getting weaker. His body seemed to be freezing for some reason. He heard Flynn yelling at him to take care of the big ugly creature with the water girl. Mimic wasn´t sure if he could handle it but since he was immune to physical damage then it was for the best. ‘’You are a terrific fighter. Let´s hope you develop a mind to go with those skills someday, kid. I hope we meet again by then.’’

Saying this Mimic used the same jet that Ari turned herself into in order to approach predator fast enough. He reformed near Predator and faced him head on.

´´I guess you are my opponent now.’’ He said facing Predator. He formed yet another Ice Sword on his arm and prepared to charge. ‘’ You are still able to flee if you wish’’

Doubting the creature had any vocal skills Mimic simply charged at it. However just as he took the first step, he felt his left side going numb and it seemed to spread through his chest and to his other arm and leg.

‘’What´s happening? What the $&@= is this? ‘’ In a matter of minutes his body froze up completely and he was unable to move. He was still alive and his mind was active however his entire body had frozen solid trapping him in a involuntary Ice Form. Every molecule that had once been water was now solid Ice. This new form made them too thick for Mimic to be able to move as their bonds were too solid. There was nothing he could do but wait and hope he could somehow recover his form.

. “You, do what you can to help her. If she gets hurt…” Shin shook his head and gave Dom a half-eyed serious stare. “Don’t let her.”

Dominic nodded to Shin and darted off in search of the girl. Though along the way, he couldn't help but get distracted by the brawling and chaos around him. Not to mention the giant wall of bones that had just sprouted, blocking entrance into the building....from the first floor anyway. Okay, enough time gawking, where on earth did the froggy girl go? Dominic had his orders from Shin, he had to keep Kasumi from harm. Not a problem. Not a problem at all.

....ok, maybe there way a problem. A major problem when Dominic spotted the person he was protecting bleeding from a hole in her torso. Instinct kicked in, and so did his jumping spider ability as he leaped over to Kasumi's side and knelt down beside her. "Kasumi? oh god...." the blond said as he saw Kasumi's injury. It's one thing to see that kind of gore in a movie, but this was real life and he turned out to be more squeamish than he realized as he felt his stomach churning up some vomit for him to spew. He held it down, but his face was clearly in the expression of disgust. He started thinking about what to do next. Obviously get her out of the midst of battle to prevent further injury. Or was there anything he could do? Her injury looked fatal. Could she be saved? What to do, what to do, what to do. Usually in this kind of situation was when he'd call Sam to handle it from here but his brother wasn't around. So he did the next best thing....

"SHIN, KASUMI'S DYING!!!!"

....good idea indeed.

Things were getting more and more hectic as each second passed. Glancing up as the guard she was siphoning from passed into unconsciousness, Lee saw that Sam and his group had made it inside. Or at least she hoped that that was the case, since she didn't see them anywhere.

Luke wasn't doing too great, though. All those animals, it was Calley right? The kid had said he could shift into a tiger, but hadn't said anything about this, and they were doing a number on the man, but a couple of spirits seemed to be helping him out.

And then there was the mass of confusion where the majority of the fighting seemed to be happening, as well as the man who had been throwing the guards. To be honest, Lee had very little clue who was on what side in the mass melee, about the only thing she did know there was that the girl with the glowing pink weapons was trying to protect the building, and thus the virus.

The man who had been throwing people, however, Lee did know that he was on the opposing side. It didn't really make sense to jump into the middle of all that confusion, especially when she could just as easily end up fighting an ally than an enemy, when there was someone being left to his own devices over there.

Apparently, Tarin had a similar idea, since a moment later she heard his voice calling over to her. That worked, and Lee gave one nod as she rose to her feet again. She was already on her way over to that man when a shout raising above the turmoil. Though she didn't catch everything, Lee heard the words 'Shin' and 'dying'. Stopping, her eyes searching for where the shout had come from, Lee saw a young man crouching beside a girl, looking very sick as blood was quickly pooling.

That sight immediately changed Lee's course, and a mere couple moments later Lee was kneeling down beside the girl who appeared to have a hole in her. And was bleeding profusely.

Glancing up at the young man kneeling beside her, Lee saw the look of absolute disgust on his face and shook her head as she pressed her left hand to the girl's wound as she pulled her siphoning in as much as possible.

"Give me your shirt," Lee demanded of the guy who seemed to be sitting there in shock. It took longer than Lee would hope for, the guy seemed to be moving in slow motion, though Lee wasn't sure whether that was because he was, or if it just felt that way to her. The moment she had the fabric in her hand, she pressed it against the wound; it would make a much better make-shift bandage than her hand, at any rate.

"We need to get her out of the way so we can find a healer," Lee said. She knew from Slate's phone call that Sebastian was in the building, but the question would be whether he'd come back out before this girl bled to death. The only other option was trying to find Slate in this chaos.

Lee took a quick glance around, then looked back down at the girl. They had to keep pressure on the wound, or she would bleed to death. But she wasn't going to be able to carry her and do that. "Can you get her legs so we can move her?" Lee asked.

The sun glinted off the lens of a camera as the news helicopter wheeled around the perimeter of the King’s Pharmaceutical building. It flew high, and it flew wide for safety’s sake. Helicopters in this city had a bad reputation for taking hits during mutant brawl coverage, and this pilot was taking no chances. The man holding the camera, on the other hand, loved a good risk. He was rail-thin, middle-aged, with hair in dreadlocks like some reggae star. Toxic tobacco fumes drifted from the butt jutting from the corner of his mouth. A ball of stress mixed with excitement welled up in the back of the reporter’s throat.

The call had come in quick, from people in the surrounding neighborhood: Big explosions, faces on the wind, rooftops rattling, and a trail of ice across the center of the main road. All the evidence pointed to one thing; mutants were fighting. That was the scoop! He swung up his camera to one shoulder and dashed for the door. As the wind from the chopper blades sent his hair up in a dance, he watched the devilish tango on the grounds below.

His camera jerked from the back of a massive dog-lion as it swung its paw down at a man, ran over the frail-looking form of the girl slashing in pink, up the side of an arm glinting silver steel. In a splashing whirl, the aura cut through water. Another water elemental pooled nearby. On the sidelines, guards in riot gear had started to arrange in ranks. They raised their plastic shields. A commander motioned with his hand. A brown-haired man flew into the crowd, and shields clattered to the rock.

The same rock churned and groaned as bleached armor crept from the ground, clawing up the wall’s base to form a brutal shield of bone. The camera fell on the sharpness of one spike, then leapfrogged over to … a body flying at the camera!!

“BREAK!!!” The pilot jerked the throttle, swerving the helicopter to avoid the form of a guard. "I'm taking this helicopter back to the studio, man. It's getting too hectic for me...” The pilot sighed. As they flew away, the cameraman focused in on the looming shape of a dark giant amid the blood and flames. The camera flickered, then cut.

~*~

Back at the fight, Shin stood in silence, waiting for the masked her to move. He clenched his teeth. How he’d thrown her, had the speed, the knowledge to do it all in a moment, he didn’t know, but whatever he’d done looked like it had hurt her. Maybe his force had grown overnight? He’d have to ease back on his attacks if that were the case. He tightened his hand into a fist and took a step towards her cautiously.

“You aren’t moving, are you hurt?” He turned the glance at the brown-haired man he'd called over, then nodded towards the wall. "Take that--"

Down.

Suddenly, she struck out at him as if all the rage and fear within her had found hold on his leg! He reeled slightly from the skittering schizophrenic, arms staggered for balance.

“Y-you!!” She tried to throw him. He tripped over an arm and went down on his ass. Teeth closed in on his tongue as he hit cement with a painful crunch. Rrrg! She was up again and running her hands over her body inexplicably. He rolled and got gingerly to his feet, then turned to face her with one hand raised, in concentration on a trio of dangerous dangling red shards. “You little…” he huffed. “Back down, the hell’d I do to—”

"SHIN, KASUMI'S DYING!!!!"

His concentration slackened as the words flooded in to freeze the base of his spine. For a moment he was open, unguarded. His shards vanished. He stood there dumbly.

Perfect target for a little crazy girl to punch in the face.

(( ;D ))

"Stupid little clown, why aren't you laughing?" she cackled after checking her body. No broken bones, surprisingly enough, she was completely safe! She could move! Flail her arms! Run around on her feet! Invincible! The clown had just gotten back up from his awkward fall, he needed to be put in his place. "Clowns are supposed to laugh! No children are happy because of you!" she spat, mixing up her words in a flurry. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as his hair grew poofier and his teeth sharpened.

Standing there in his clown suit, that disgusting pattern of green and purple checkers, he was a retarded Barney the Dinosaur. Not like Barney could bring any happiness to children, it just droned out the noises of her mother with another client or her father yelling at her. Thanks a lot, Barney the Clown. Then something hit the clown, someone shouted out that some Kamisumi, or Nagasaki, or Sushi object was dying. Well, that meant it was a person, or someone disguised as a person.

Before the crazy woman could process what was going on with this man and how he was concerned for this Tempora, or whatever name it was. This meant weakness, he froze, he was open. Although he was staring off in the distance, he turned his head to her and spoke out, his eyes glazed over:

"Hit me with your best shot
I'm just a clown, out to frighten children, I need to be taught a lesson. Tie me up like a balloon animal, scalp my puffy hair off, rip off my nose and cut off my big feet. Only you can save the mutant race, Ahorta, do it,"

With that, Ahorta ran forward, her fists balled up and her teeth biting her lower lip. Aiming straight for his face, she moved to punch him hard enough for her acid to seep out and eat through his red nose. Why did he have to have a red nose? Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer was too nice to be mocked by this clown. With all of her force and might, she threw the punch, making weird noises as if she were a child at a circus that was afraid the man was going to get his head bitten off by that lion mouth he had himself trapped in. Stupid man. Stupid lion. Stupid clown.

KATHUNK

Her punch sizzled. No, literally. Sizzled. As in, burned the side of his face completely off. He fell back after a brutal second, clutching his cheek. It was like someone had dunked him in an acid bath, or thrown chunks of dry into his face. He crashed to the ground like someone’d hit in with a baseball bat. She’d laid him out flat on his arse.

"OW!" Shin cursed. He staggered to his feet. Demonic fire seemed to burst up around him as he stepped forward and jerked her mask from her face. "That hurt, dammit! And just why are you wearing this!? Leave me alone!! I never did anything to you, except well, the throwing thing, but you attacked ME first!! And…” He was breathing hard now. This was too much. Not just righteous anger at her for slugging him when his guard was dropped, not just worry compounded with grief as he remembered the crap Dom had just said.

He hoped Dom was mistaken. Really, truly hoped it was a lie.

No. This was childish fury, and for Ahorta, that was right on her level.

“Annoying little mask girl, quit being so rude. I’m here trying to save the world, you’re talking about clowns, seriously? That’s just a bit…” His hand pressed down on the side of his face. So it was a bit better off than he’d thought it was. A portion of childish fury evaporated. He glanced over at Kasumi, away from the girl who’d collapsed to the floor. A sigh escaped his lips and he started walking.

Just up and abandoned Ahorta. Because seriously? Enough with that. Kasumi was hurt. He wasn’t feeling like a fight now. As he brushed past Fission, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the girl on the ground.

“If she tries anything, you know, like chasing me? Trip her. I’m not in the mood.” And then he broke into a run towards Lee and Dom.

“How is she?” Shin asked, standing over the pair. His face was cemented in a look of stern seriousness. “Is there a healer around here? Where’s the nearest hospital?”