He was faintly aware of sickening crunching sounds, and when he heard a small voice inquire something, he knew it was time to face what was in the next room. The voice sounded sad, disbelieving, and confused, perhaps even a little scared. Children’s voices were not supposed to sound that way.

Half of his consciousness continued to focus on the cedar bark that was forming over his body and the vine growing out of his wrist. He knew that this growth was all accelerated because of the energy he had managed to borrow from the damaged trees and plants. He would probably pay heavily in interest for that loan later, but that wasn’t important right now. The only thing that mattered to him now was driving out the threat that had entered his home and was hurting innocent people.

Kai stepped into the shop front. One man, thrown into the wall by the unexpected explosion, had managed to survive the carnage and was now cowering behind the counter. He ignored him for the time being, thankful that at least one would walk away from this night. Even though he hadn’t like Joe and his gang all that much, there were still people.

His eyes blazed with pure fury as he surveyed the damage, finally coming to focus on the older girl with the pink air-weapon. There was little doubt that he was no longer in his right mind. The fury had taken over.

“Get. Out.” He demanded coldly.

Kai picked up a broken pot to show he meant business. If need be, he’d throw everything in the store at her until she left. He would persuade her to go, one way or another. Though, at this point, he wouldn’t mind making her pay. Just a little bit. His vine, now several feet long, uncurled from its customary place around his arm. Make no mistake, in this moment the normally peaceful plant man was dangerous.

The store owner was pissed and Aura could see why, his store was less the in tact, in fact it was likely he would have to rebuild almost from scratch. To make matters worse, she was fairly sure the cops would be here soon, they tended to follow explosions. Normally she would have loved to spar with him or even fight seriously, but she had matters to attend to first. Her sister and the bomb had to get out of here before the cops came, because this was about to get way worse, before it got better.

"All right Sis, get the little girl out of here, the cops will likely be here soon, and their not going to care whose fault this is, were mutants so automatically guilty, Bomb-girl take this and call Abyss, the numbers in their" she said tossing her cell to the bomb-girl, though she did not look back to see if either girl followed her command. She was unsure what the full extend of plant-boy's powers were and did not want to take her eyes off of him, though she formed a hammer on one of her hands and an axe upon the other.

"Now my friend, they were just humans who wanted to harm a mutant, i prevented that, i do apologize for the state of your shop here however, that was an accident. I will be glad to leave once my companions are safe" she said honestly, she took a defensive posture, fairly sure the pot the man picked up would not hurt her to much, but ho knew what else he could do. "Your mutation is beautiful....." she commented with a smile, the situation was bad and about to get worse, but their was still some fun to be had even as tired as she was. However, a thought crossed her mind darkly, she might well have to go in for the kill to prevent the cops from locking her back ina cage.

Amber tried to make her legs work in a fashion that would allow her to move. She had to get out of here, she had to get away from all the blood and violence and horror of everything around her. She knew it wasn't Aura's fault, knew here sister would never intentionally do something so horrible, not unless she was forced to it, but she still had to get out of there. She didn't know how she could ever erase the image of the broken bodies littering the rubble from her mind, but if she got out of there then at least that was a start. At least that was something. A distressed trilling chirp came out of her mouth, the only speech she was, apparently, capable of.

The humans must surely be just as bad as Aura had said they were. How else could she possibly explain the fact that her sister had been forced to this? Maybe not all humans were bad, but how could she possible tell the good ones from the bad ones? Her sister knew, her wise and skillful sister, she knew which ones were a threat, but how would Amber know? If she had been alone, she would have been killed, surely she would have. It was only because of her older sister valiantly defending her and Kaitlyn that she was still alive. She could never hope to repay her sister for this, never.

“Get. Out.”

Amber turned her far too long neck quickly in the direction of the new voice, almost losing her balance with the sudden movement, trilling plaintively at him. Whether in apology of a desperate plea for mercy and understanding, she wasn't sure. What she was sure of was that he was covered in bark which mean the was potentially dangerous, even more so than the humans. She was also sure that Aura wanted her to leave with Kaitlyn, to flee before the cops came, which seemed an inevitability at this point. She cocked her head to the side, meeting her sister's eyes to make sure she meant what she was saying, before nodding her dinosaur head. There wasn't a lot she could do at this point anyway given the fact that she was barely able to run in a straight line in her new and completely unfamiliar form. She could, however, run well enough to escape and hopefully with Kaitlyn on her back.

Amber wobbled over to the newly created door, curtasy of the little girl's explosion, and trilled in her direction, lowering her head for the girl to climb into her back. She gestured with her hand, thankful, at least, that her forelegs somewhat resembled her human arms and hands except without the opposible thumb. Hopefully the little girl would get the message and hop on top of her. And hopefully Aura would be able to take care of herself because if anything happened to her sister Amber would never be able to forgive herself.

>>"Get. Out."

So said a very, very, very scary-looking tree-man. Kaitlyn didn't need to be told twice. Already backing out of the store's new entryway, the distressed kid was just about to run away when she heard Aura's commands and saw the cellphone flying towards her. Kaitlyn fumbled with the phone, which broke as it hit the ground. Aura didn't seem to be paying attention.

Who was her sister, though? The one who Aura told to get her out of here? Was it Amber?

Amber was nowhere in sight, but the feathered dinosaur seemed to be gesturing towards the child, trying to tell her to jump on and ride. The dinosaur. Aura's sister is the dinosaur. What.

Since Kaitlyn had very little trust reserved for Aura at this point, she decided that it would be a safe bet to trust neither her nor her dinosaur "sister." She pocketed the broken cellphone and bolted down the street.

By this point, the road was almost entirely deserted. Everyone had either run as far away as possible or hid in one of the shops, hoping not to be hit by further gunshots or another bomb. Only one person, another mutant merchant, was brave enough to venture forth and investigate what had actually happened.

(continued for Kaitlyn and Amber here.)

The silly hammer-mutant seemed to think that they were friends. After everything that had happened, after storming in and attacking patrons of his store without provocation

>>"Now my friend, they were just humans who wanted to harm a mutant, i prevented that, i do apologize for the state of your shop here however, that was an accident. I will be glad to leave once my companions are safe. Your mutation is beautiful....."

She even had the nerve to smile at him, though he noticed that her body language didn’t match what was coming out of her mouth. Her stance was wary, her hammer threatening. He didn’t believe for a moment that she meant the compliment to him, nor that she planned on leaving peacefully.

Kai refused to reply verbally, instead lobbing the clay pot at her. He aimed near enough to her that when it shattered on the ground, some fragments hit her. Before the first one had even hit, he had the next pot in his hand. The second followed the first, and the third, the second. Each projectile made its way closer and closer to the woman standing there. He should have stopped and given her the chance to get away as she claimed to have wanted, but he was too angry.

This guy did not seem to want peace at all, in fact he seemed like he wanted to fight, though in Aura's opinion she had not even started all this and the plant guy here, was a little late to the dance. She hoped abyss would arrive soon, the cops fear of mutants would not keep them a way from the half flattened shop for very long and this situation did not seem like it was about to improve any time soon. Still unless she had to she would try and keep Kai alive, even if she did think he was being a danger to her and himself at the moment.

Then the guy began throwing Pot's at her and in the back of her mind she had to admit this was a new one. using the hammer much like a baseball bat, she swung, and shattered the first pot and many peices hit her aura and deflected off, she hit the next two pots much the same way. She began her way forward playing baseball with each ne wobject that came at her, though she knew she would be unable to keep this up for to much longer. In her other hand, she formed an Aura sword and charged at Kai, slashing at him as she got close aiming for his shoulder with her swing, after all she did not wnat to kill him.

He never thought that he would come to thank Hunter for beating him in all those staff lessons, but here was the moment of truth. The girl darted in with a sparkly weapon, slashing at him, coming in high. Kai darted out of the way and grabbed his staff, attacking back.

Hand-to-hand wasn’t his favorite way of fighting, especially when he considered this particular enemy. He staff might not be enough, but it would work for now. And with any luck the police would be there shortly, summoned by the phone call and the smoke. He whipped the staff forward in an easy and familiar pattern. Nothing fancy, but that was what Hunter had drilled into him over and over again. It didn’t have to be fancy to be effective.

He switched the staff to one hand and lashed out with the vine in his other, hoping to startle her enough to make her drop the weapon. Or drop the projection of it, since it seemed to be attached to her and her powers. Kai clenched his teeth. He was determined and focused, his calm starting to return a little bit now that he was going through the motions that he had repeated over and over again. It was like a kind of meditation. Except now, of course, he was fighting for his life and not for fun.

She felt the impact of the staff on her Aura push her a bit, he then tried to lash out with a vine, she counterd by forming a buzzz saw on her hand and trying to cut through the vine as she moved forward quickly. Fromw aht she could tell she could still win this fight despite her own tired state, but the fight against a mutant, the type she loved most was pumping fresh adrenniline into her body, if he wnated to eb aggressive she could play with him, despite the lack of any time she had.

Aura was smiling to her this was fun, serious possibly deadly fun, but fun none the less. From what she could tell she was faster then he was, but he did seem to have some skill with that staff. Kneeling down she picked up the semi sharpened rib bone she had used to stab the man. "Well if you want to fight, i will be more then happy to indulge you" she said, even as she made a slashing motion with the bone, which was mostly blunt other then the tip, she expected him to block it, she aimed it at his chest whare if it hit, she figured it would shallowly cut him, not able to pass his ribs.

She kept her saw back in case she had to trim the man' vine, or to follow up for a counter to his staff. She suddenly had another idea, though she was unsure she could do it normally, much less so in her current state but if she could, she could end this quickly, the question in her mind was, if it was worth risking the damge she could endure if it failed, she already knew it would hurt, but if she could get past that, then she could win this. "The human's start the trouble, and you wnat to fight me? I enjoy fighting other mutants but, your reasons are foolish at best" she said still smiling, trying to provoke him into a mistake.

His staff hit the swirling pink mess, but the vine missed as she moved to try to cut it. He didn’t let the momentum die, however, when she leaned down to pick something up, he whipped the staff into a downward strike over her bent form. That would be the first of many mistakes by this she-mutant.

He wasn’t sure what exactly it was, but she felt the need to keep talking to him. If he thought her innocent in anyway, he might have listened as she justified her ruthless killing and tried to pin the blame on the guys. Kai knew the truth. He had witnessed it bright and clear as day. He knew she was the guilty party, completely in the wrong. Joe and his boys may have been greedy and generally not on the up-and-up, but they didn’t deserve to meet their end that way- New York Chainsaw Massacre style. And now she was talking about how she enjoyed fighting other mutants? Despicable.

Again, her words and protestations of innocent didn’t match her actions as she tried to stab him with a human rib. Still refusing to waste breathe on a reply or meaningless banter, he blocked with one arm. The wood armor deflected the blow, leaving him completely unaffected. The natural thing to do was to attack again. Kai turned the block into a swipe with his staff, aiming again for her aura. The sawing was the one thing he had to be wary of. If he could break it (and he’d seen it waver earlier), he seriously doubted that she had great hand-to-hand fighting skills. Sure, she was fast, but he was practiced. And that was better.

The impact against her back had hurt, she felt her aura give a bit from it. Aura was rather grateful this guy did not have super human strength. Aura mentally cursed the explotion for taking out much of her energy, she was sure, this mutant would be littile issue if she was at full strength, after all she was keeping up with him now. As it was though she would ahve to put some more effort into this if she wnated to win at all. She ajusted the Aura on her back, to prevent Kai from getting a solid hit, though she still felt it against her Aura is was not as bad as it could have been.

He blocked her attack, and continued to swing, exactly what she had wanted him to do, turning and grabbing onto the staff she let it's momentum move her. As she did this she changed her other Hand to a drill, useing her grip on the staff as momentum, she pulled herself closer to him, and sent a punch striaght for his chest with the drill, though it was aimed low enough not to hit a vital organ. Years of combat practive gave her a good mind for the Battle feild.

"The silent type eh? That's all right, still i would not mind another dance when i was not drained" she said honestly. He was fun, though She felt he would likely win this if it continued to much longer, and even if he did not the cops would ensure it ended. She simply did not have the energy for a prolonged fight with Kai, she wished she had brought her sword as well, though his staff skill looked much better then her own with an actual sword.

Aura grabbed onto his staff and tried to pull a tricky move. He swept her aside and she came back with a whirling drill in her other hand, aiming to stab him in the torso. Again, she was faster than he gave her credit for, the hit landed. Fortunately for him, he’d fought enough with his brother and with Hunter to expect tricky moves. He darted back, lessening the impact of the drill. His bark armor did the rest of the work protecting him.

“Well, since we’re using powers…” he grumbled under his breath. It was time for his power to turn offensive.

Their setting was a tangled mess of toppled trees, vines, ferns, potted plants, and flowers in a chaotic mess. Some were broken, some wilting from the heat of the small fire in the next area. Kai was keenly aware that he needed to end this fight and get out of the burning building as soon as possible.

So let’s end it. The ferns behind them grew much more animated and starting whipping violently against Aura. He doubted that they would do much serious damage, but they would definitely be distracting. He darted away from his opponent, freeing his staff with a jerk. Then he attacked with both staff and whip aiming for separate parts of her- her face with his whip and her knee with his staff. He kept up the furious attacks, making sure that his aim matched his pace. He wanted to end this quickly.

Martha had worked in telecommunications ever since the fall after he eighteenth birthday. The financial aid package for her college had arrived in the mail and informed her that her assignment for student work was with the campus phone service. September seventh, she had made her first call to one Mr. Seymore Baxter. He had donated a considerable amount to the alumni fund last year, and would he please consider donating again to support his alma matter? What a nice voice she had, and of course he would donate again.

Martha had found her true calling.

In three and a half years (she had graduated a semester early) she had managed to set several records in the telecommunications department. No other employee had ever gotten such a high success rate with alumni donations (over 85 percent). No other employee had ever had over a hundred donation streak (112 to be exact). No other employee had ever actually managed to dial a random number in Alabama and managed to convince the redneck on the other end of the line, who had never been to college and didn't even know what an alma mater was, to make a small donation to the college ($5.00). Though, they didn't officially keep records on that last achievement, it had still earned her the status of a campus legend.

After college she worked for a short time as an intern answering phones for NPR. Then she worked a short a stint for an insurance company.

Finally, after months of filling out job applications and applying for jobs she landed her dream job.

“911, emergency. How can I help you?”

Her bright and cheerful voice was answered only by the sound of gunshots followed by an explosion before the phone cut out. The location from which the call had been made still flashed on her screen.

Martha picked up her phone again, “Dispatch, we need a response to an explosion at 8th Avenue and West 49th Street, south of Central Park. No other details yet, just heard an explosion.”

--

“Geez, every time there's an explosion they assume it's mutants. It could have been a gas leak,” Jocelyn smacked her hand against her handle bars. She was grumpy because people in this city didn't know how to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle. Were these idiots deaf and blind?

“There, finally,” she screeched past the final oblivious mini van mom who was trying to touch up her mascara in her rear view mirror. Jocelyn refrained from flicking her off. She was a cop and she was going to remain professional, dammit. She killed the sirens and the lights once there was no left between herself and her destination and a few moments later parked her bike. A moment later two squad cars arrived from the other direction and parked a safe distance away from the explosion site.

It wasn't difficult to discern where the explosion had taken place. Rubble and plant parts spilled forth from the blown out front of one of the stores. There was some sort of activity still happening inside. From across the street Jocelyn jogged into a place where she could actually see and smell what was happening.

A tree bark knight assisted by waving vines battled a glowing pink firefly of doom over shards of broken flower pots.

“****.”

She turned her jog into a full out run towards her colleagues that were approaching from the other direction. They needed to know exactly who they were up against.

Rena Whilver.

Also known under various aliases and nicknames such as the Pink Lantern and Aura, she was practically number one on the most wanted list and a known cop killer.

Her colleagues were perfectly happy to let her approach first and promised to provide her cover from across the street. Jocelyn nodded and began her approach from the side, keeping what remained of the building's wall between herself and the pink force field manipulator.

She could already tell this was going to be just peachy.

The Plant Man attack was good and solid, even awake she might have had trouble with both attacks upon her. She turned aside the staff, and slashed at the whip but the pounding of the vines on her back threw her off and then things got much worse. The police had arrived and no matter what they thought of the Plant man, she knew what they thought of her and an old saying about an enemy of an enemy passed her mind. Shaking her head she knew the fight was over, at leat to her, she would not be captured, in fact she would gladly die first and take as many with her as she could.

"Sorry, my freind, though the dance must be cut short, it was most enjoyable, next time however i'll have to come able to give you a real dance" she said with a smile. clearly she ahd been enjoying herself in the fight. How she was going to get away was another issue entirely. Then a smile came to her lips, the plan was bad, but it might work, without warning Aura turned and bolted right for the rageing fire and ran threw it. She felt her the heat against her skin, she could smell her own flesh burn from the heat and her Aura complaint against her method of self extradition.Aura ahd never seen where the cops were, only heard the sound's of a car. Panicked Aura simple chose the first alleyway she could to try and hide in.

He guarded against her next attack, his heightened nerves thrumming. He was prepared for any onslaught. And then she fled. The girl just turned and fled. Kai blinked after her for a moment, until his moment of shock was interrupted by the sounds of the people “outside” his shop.

He wheeled around, ready to face whatever new threat might be looming, threatening more than just his livelihood. Who dared come here? Who dared interrupt his battle and his chase? For now that the moment had passed, it would be futile to run after the deranged lady. Even bent on revenge and running on pure fury, he would never be able to find her if she'd had the slightest thought of hiding herself.

The flashing lights made him pause. They didn't seem so bright compared to the light cast by the enormous and growing flames. But there were confusing, throwing around strange colors and even more strange shadows. And there were people there, amid the flashing. But were they friends or more attackers? He decided not to make the first move, but seeing that they held guns, he kept his whips at the ready.

Jocelyn had her gun pointed towards the cop killer, had her finger on the target, all she needed was a clear shot and they could cross Rena's name off the most wanted list. Smoke swirled, vines whipped, and before she could take a shot her target turned and fled through a wall of flames that used to be the back wall of the little shop.

Josie stood and waved a hand signal to her comrades across the street to let them know where the pink murderer had gone. They'd radio for backup and hopefully have this block surrounded before their quarry could squeeze through.

The lady cop stepped around the corner to assess what was left of the rest of the shop and to see if she could follow.

Orange and yellow flames licked the walls at the back of the shop, effectively making it as impassable as any concrete wall would be. For sane people, that is. Jocelyn wasn't about to go leaping through a wall of fire to go up one on one with a serial killer whose mutation was a bit more offensive than her own.

Then there was the bark covered guy to deal with. Smoke clogging the air made it difficult to breath and even more difficult to smell anything, but as she got close, something about his woody aroma was very familiar.

“Farm boy?” It certainly smelled like the boy that had once been caught up in a break in investigation simply for trying to help. “Hey, let's get you out of this smoke.”