Gears strolled across the happy-go-lucky atmosphere that was Central Park on a sunny day. He was taking the time that the Kabal hadn't noticed him (an odd sentiment, but one that amused him greatly) to enjoy the sun and the community that was his favourite city. Kids were playing, young lovers were kissing and old biddies were tutting at the world and having a damn good time doing it!

He wasn't holding back for the summer vibes either, the twin speakers located just under his chest plate thumped out a bass line as hip hop became available for all. Gears bopped along without a care in the world, sitting leisurely on the dry grass. He was a raver at heart, a big bad hip hopper who loved a solid beat and a sexy voice to accompany it. In his eyes everybody won, the kids could dance to it, the lovers would ignore it and the old biddies would have something else to tut about. This took Gears back to some happier times, a reverie he wasn't expecting to be shaken out of soon...

Aura walked across central park, she never enjoyed it at this hour, to many people, and worse to many who would recognize her from the latest news feeds. SHe was becoming a bit to popular with the police then she would like. The flower shop incident really had not helped keep her under the radar, not had the massacre at the church though the cops had arrived late to that one thankfully. It had been fun, even after they fought the silver eyes man.

Then a mutant captured her attention by simply being himself. The girl knew right away the man was a mutant from his skin color and the fact his chest see,ed to be playing strange music. Then again most music was strange to Aura. Aura on the other hand was likely attracting more looks from the sailor Jupiter uniform she was wearing then who she was. SHe walked directly up to Gears, looking up at him curiously. she then made her Aura surround her body, in a bright see through pink glow. "My name is aura, your mutation is wonderful" she said trying to make honest small talk.

It was a sunny day, chasing the clouds away. Too bad the air wasn't sweet, and the music was loud. Why was the music so loud in the peaceful quiet of central park, Lenna wondered. She snapped the book she was reading shut, and rose from the park bench to look around for the source. Call her an old biddie, call her bad names, Lenna, but Lenna had not come to the park looking for music with mass appeal. She'd come looking for a sunny park bench to read a good book in.

She had found that very place, and at the same time, she'd found something she hadn't been looking for. A flash of annoyance hit her, and a headache hinted like storm clouds on the horizon. Lenna took a calming breath, and steadied herself. She had to find her focus, and chill. Getting furious over something like that really wasn't cool. Lenna counted backwards, from 10 to 1, and relaxed.

Okay. Better.

Her eyes trailed over the grounds of the park, looking calmly for the source. Now she was curious. What could have brought her blood to a boil so easily...?

She found it. She also found Aura next to it. But what was It? It certainly didn't look human. Lenna shrugged off the thought. If she was playing a supporter of the pro-mutant cause for the people she worked with, the least she could do was fake a fair opinion of whatever chromed compatriot Aura was talking to up ahead. Lenna put on an even smile, and approached the two, keeping a fair distance of six feet from the mysterious machine.

"Hey, Aura. Who is your friend?" Lenna asked. She held up the book in front of her, eyes skimming the pages of the book distractedly as she talked. The book's cover read 'Dresden' Somethingorother. Her hand blocked the rest of the title. Lenna glanced up for a second to make one addition to her questionnaire. "And what are you wearing?"

Gosh, she was such a critic.

Gears opened his eyes, brought back to reality from the rythmic bass and comforting vocals. His music cut down, slightly, as he saw a brightly-outlined-in-pink woman standing near him commenting on his mutation.
"Hah, well thank you ma'am: you're mutation is very pretty yourself if you don't mind me saying so. The name's Gears."
Gears had worked out that people definitely seemed more friendly these days, he'd had his meeting with Meld the other day and now this. Maybe it was the cosmopolitan atmosphere of NYC, maybe people were more comfortable around mutants and thus mutants were more comfortable full stop, he wasn't sure but honestly if he'd been approached last time he was here he'd have been on his guard without question.

He swivelled slightly as another person joined in the conversation, Gears got a completely different vibe from this lady. This new meeting set Gears on his guard straight away. First off, she knew this 'Aura' and her given tone wasn't exactly warm. It wasn't cold or angry but it was neutral at best, a tone he never used in good confrontations himself. Second problem, she was keeping her distance a good six or seven feet away: this implied that there was a damn good reason for the stand off-ish approach. Not to mention the woman was pretending to be casual and had just seemed to criticise this 'Aura's' sense of fashion. Gears really hoped the sh*t wasn't about to hit the fan.
He stood up, flexing after being still for so long, and tried to break the tension that was bound to invade his afternoon.
"Hey there, come to join the summer fun lady?"

"Well hello gears and thank you" she said with a smile, the music did not bother her. Music tended to filter through the back of her brain. "And no i don't mind you saying so, i enjoy meeting new mutants" she said with a smile. It was true one of her favorite pass times was meeting and learning of others mutations,s he found each one very interesting and also it had other uses, knowing others mutations could help if you had to fight the person ever.

"Hey Lenna" she said happy with the distance the other woman kept, her Mutation was a disturbing one and she had to wonder just what it would do to gears. Her own Mutation had felt like it was far away when she tried to use it, but she had never seen the affect on anyone else. "I am wearing clothing" Aura said completely confused as to why lenna asked not understanding her attire was strange int he least.

"Can i ask what you can do? I love learning about others mutations she said with a smile, as if to be fair Aura raised her own hand in front of her and called her Aura to cover just her wrist and quickly formed a sword, an ice cream scoop and a quickly rotating buzz saw before letting it melt back into her aura and letting her Aura fade away as not to attract to much attention.

>>"Hey there, come to join the summer fun lady?"

Lenna glanced up from her reading. "Maybe." She laughed lightly, still dead serious. "I was actually going to ask you to turn your music down. Kind of hard to read on a peaceful afternoon in Central Park when Central Park isn't peaceful... but," She slid a bookmark from her pocket into place in the book, and snapped it shut. The book-hand lowered to her side. "I think I'll stick around for a bit. You're certainly more interesting than some books... that's a compliment, by the way." Lenna smiled. "My name's Lenna." If Aura's comment hadn't made that clear, her's made it obvious.

She glanced towards Aura. And clothing... "It's nice." She said. If a bit strange...

Aura asked what the other mutant could do, and Lenna looked to him expectantly. She was curious as well. A mutant as shiny and unique as him had to have one interesting power.

"Do tell."

ooc - i assume lenna is far enough away not to dampen my mutation right... also lenna, if you're kabal you may have heard of me in passing as up until my disappearance i was the head mechanic. kabal were wondering where i disappeared to.

ic - Gears grinned,
"Well sometimes a little music can brighten up someone's day can't it lady." Gears smiled back happily at Lenna.
"As for you, pretty in pink," Gear returned his thick Detroit accent back in her direction, "That's pretty neat as an ability..."

He looked between them and saw their expectant faces, sometimes it was worth doing a little demonstration.
"Aw sh*t you're gonna love this!"
Gears swivelled his legs and pulled himself up in to a crouch. Rolling away from the two of them slowly he began to transform. His matter replicated like clockwork, parts growing, swirling and whirring as his mechanical make up whizzed and reslotted in to place. The wheels bounced in to place on the grass as his torso plunged forward and folded outwards to create the chassis. Lights and ventilation grilles popped out from within and the internal systems placed themselves in their new and appropriate locations. His now car form bounced softly before the doors and hood slammed shut, finishing the transformation. Settled in his Audi R8 form, the window wound down electronically and from the radio anyone nearby would hear
"Woo, baby, that's how we roll today!"
Gears hoped it had looked cool, if he was going to be happy today he could at least look cool...

"I don't mind the music, it's a bit louder then the old hymns im use to though" she admitted much more interested in the new mutants ability then anything he could have been doing weather playing music or robbing the local seven eleven. Aura also had never been that big of a book reader, she had pretty much grown up without books. "Why thank you, my new friend" she said with a smile and a quick glance around to check on how much attention they were drawing.

She watched the metal mutant transform into a car. In fact had she not seen him do it, she could have well mistaken him for an actual car, though the model of it was lost on her. "very nice, i can see where that might be useful if you had to make a quick get away" she said believing that he could be useful getting a way from the police, though she ahd no idea, if we would even rob people.

Aura walked around him, taking in the details of his form. "a wonderful mutation in any case" she said with a smile, admiring the mutant's new form. "Do you require gas?" she asked suddenly curious on this idea, that would be good to know, if he was ever an Allie or enemy. SHe mentally figured the answer would be no, after all even if he did that did seem like a big weakness.

((OOC: I'm not sure Lenna would know about the Kabal's head mechanic. She's kind of new, and hasn't met many Order members. If you need anyone to share the detail of a metal man in the park with Slate, though, let me know. Lenna can bring you back into Kabal ranks. She can't do it right here, though. She's under cover. ))

The mechanical man morphed majestically and magically into an automobile. Lenna blinked.

Well, that you don't see every day.

She looked to Aura at the gas question. That was another good thing to think about. She didn't know anything about this car-robot-man's physiology. It'd be a good idea to learn more about him things.


Lenna clapped her hands together. "Pretty cool! As for the music, do you take requests?" The man was a car. He probably had a radio somewhere in there, to tune into the best stations. They could do a lot better than some of the stuff he'd been playing. Lenna donned a smile. "A little Red Hot Chili Peppers goes a long way."

Gears allowed them to gawp for a while and then began to transform back in to his humanoid form, it took less time as he wasn't putting on a show and to drown out some of the noise he noisily searched for a station playing the chilli's while doing so. His parts coming to a rest, he stood before them and allowed the chilli's low tempo summer sounds to wash out in the back ground as he talked,
"I aim to please, lady!" Slade grinned over to Lenna as he reached for his glove compartment located just above his right hip and flicked the catch open. Pulling out a small flask he shook it at Aura for a brief moment before popping the lid and taking a swig,
"What d'ya think this is, eh?" Gears chuckled, savouring the thick taste before continuing, "So, your pretty pink light does a few cool things, yeah. What brings the pair of you to the good ol' NYC?"

"I see" she said making a mental note of the interesting fact. These were the things that made meeting mutants interesting. They had different strengths and weaknesses from each other and could do so many diffrent things. She had never seen a mutant turn into a car before. SHe almost ignored the change in music much to occupied with their new mutant friend, taking note of the change in that he seemed to be a fully functional car.

"I Live here these days at Sanctuary" she said "before this i lived up in Canada in the woods" she said honestly though she really had no idea which part of Canada other then it was north. "How about yourself? what Brings you to this wondrous city?" she said not really sure if that would be how she would describe the city if asked again, actually she would have found it more wonderful with no mutants at all.

"Oh, excellent," Lenna replied. He'd found her station, and he'd transformed back into a bit machine man. That really was a fascinating trick. She idly wondered if his car form would work, even in her aura. She hoped so. Hopes only went so far, though.

Lenna glanced to Aura as she answered the vehicle-man's question, and chimed in with her own answer. "Nothing much. Just work. What about you?" She hadn't seen the big thing around. Then again, she hadn't been around New York much. Had he heard of the Sanctuary? How long had he been around?

ooc - Lenna, as a member of the Kabal you would at least be aware of 'Olney Industries' as a puppet business that protected the Kabal's secrecy when hunter was in charge. I made up the name because I haven't had the opportunity to use it in a conversation yet but if you read back when hunter was in charge, all kabal members were told to give an alternative business name when questioned about who they worked for.

ic - Gears cocked his head,
"Sanctuary, huh, seems like more and more of you every time I come back." He knew damn well that with her mutation she was probably Order, not that it particularly phased him. It wasn't like he was in danger from the Order's mental agenda. He turned to Lenna who was still keeping her distance, was there a reason for that beyond a history with Aura?
"You know, my return might be for work or it could jus' be for sh*ts and giggles. I don't even know if Olney Industries will take me back..."
Gears paused, it was still natural for him to use the old pseudonym. The puppet business that covered the true identity of his old employer, the Kabal, had been used by most of the engineering department within the Kabal. The business was still alive and well, Gears had checked the other day, which meant he could still legitimately use the name and not arouse suspicion when speaking to non-Kabal folk.
"But anyways, you shy or something gal? I'm not gonna bite or run you over or nothin'!" He grinned daftly at Lenna, he wanted to impress upon her that he was in fact a friendly car."

"I see, well their is a chance right? If not their is always a place for you at sanctuary." she said not really getting that industry meant he was not living thare. "I came back myself after Humans murdered everyone i knew or cared about, i only lived do to a rather unfortunate accident, our bunk house fell on me after the fiurst few morter shells landed" she explained, her voice remaining calm other then at the mention of the word human, it was very clear she did not like humans at all. "I thank the day they botted those animals out of sanctuary" she said with a smile.

She knew why lenna was staying away and she actually rather appreciated the gesture, she hated not being able to use her powers as well as she knew she could. She still wa sunsure how she could fight Lenna of it came to that and was grateful in the idea that her power would not render her completely useless. The car man was another story, she wonderd if her weapons could even penetrate his body. Hopefully she would never need to know.

>>"You know, my return might be for work or it could jus' be for sh*ts and giggles. I don't even know if Olney Industries will take me back..."

He paused. Strange place for a pause. Lenna swung her attention to Aura as the woman invited him to the sanctuary. Lenna nodded. "If you ever need help..." He knew where to turn...

The focus returned to her. Lenna arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Sorry," She stated. "It isn't anything about you. It's my power. How it works... is it weakens mutant powers around me within a certain range. Bad luck. I can't turn it off." She shook her head. "I don't want to see how it affects a mutant like you. I keep my distance out of courtesy."