The park was relatively quiet today, a few runners here and there- mostly just people out enjoying the sun shine. Andrea was one of those people. She had been in the park for a little over an hour, having explored more of it than she had the last few times. She was still rather caught off guard by its sheer size, and all of the things it held within. Her walk through the park halted though, when she spotted a group of people busy setting up a small stage off to one side, by the water. It looked like a group of school children, or more accurately, a bus load of them. The Greek stood amongst a small gathering of onlookers, curious to see what they were setting up. A few of the children were busy setting up the stage with a hand painted foam castle, a few fake rocks, and a bit of plastic ivy here and there to make it seem all the more real. She saw a few girls wandering around with costumes in hand, one was wearing a pair of fairy wings, and blinked. Were they preforming a play?

The crowd she stood with shifted as people left, and others came, but Andrea remained rooted to the spot. She loved plays! She rarely ever got to see them on TV though, so watching one live would be a welcome treat. After thirty minutes of watching the setup process, she heard someone from behind the stage yell loudly, and shook herself of the stupor she had fallen into. A man came out from behind the wooden stage, a phone pressed to his ear, and a colorful green costume in his hand. "Answer the phone John, Answer your phone!" She watched as he walked in circles for a moment, before the phone was slapped shut angrily and the man tangled his hands in his own fading hair. The grunt he issues seemed full of seething rage, and kind of made Andrea want to hide behind the pair of men standing next to her. As if sensing her eyes, the man turned, and stared. He shook his head, rubbing his temples, and turned to walk off- then stopped suddenly. He was contemplating something.

After a few tense moments, he turned on his heel and headed straight in her direction- which left Andrea feeling none to happy. "Excuse me?" He started, "... Can I ask you something?" Blinking, Andrea nodded, and the man spoke...
Exactly twenty minutes later, Andrea found herself behind the stage, dressed in the costume he had been holding. She had to admit that it wasn't bad for a hand sewn Dragon costume. It was kind of cute, even. How she had been talked into wearing it, she didn't know. Probably somewhere between the man's hurried explanation of the original dragon not showing up, and a heartwarming begging session. Either way, she was due on stage. The man, Tim as he called himself, ushered her onstage, and she took a few nervous steps towards the kids she was to 'attack'. They held little wooden swords, and had paper plates covered in tin foil as shields.

"You don't have to do anything," He had assured her, '.. just raise your arms and say "rawr"" She blinked, shuffled towards the kids, and threw her arms in the air. It was hard with her hands covered, and her face shielded by thick black mesh- she could hardly breath, let along see. Hopefully people could still hear her... "Rawr." The children issued battle cries, and darted forward to bat at her with their blades as she slowly crumpled to the ground. Ever the defeated dragon.

Central Park, as it turned out, was a great place for a date. The past couple of weeks had been filled with training sessions in the Danger Room, lessons in fashion, and other things various and sundry, dates included.

Dates with Shin had turned out to be a whole lot like hanging out with Shin before. They ate, they watched TV or movies, they talked about all manner of interesting and sometimes random thing. Kealey was pretty sure that level of comfort was the best part...well maybe not the best, but one of the great parts anyway. Not a whole lot had changed…except for the better. No awkwardness, just…more. They’d hung out before, they hung out now. Today, they were in Central Park. The day had been warm, the sun had been shining, and it simply seemed like the thing to do.

Lunch had been discussed, but ruled against, so they walked down the shaded paths, people watching and looking for an ice cream vendor that Kealey had heard rumor of existing. Ice Cream was great, and on a sunny day like this one it would be perfect. She had dressed for the occasion in a simple pink sundress with matching flip-flops and white sunglasses. The summer weather approved of the decision.

There were a lot of people, but not too many as to make it completely uncomfortable for her to walk among them. The park was huge, and everyone was relatively spread out…except for the gathering down by the water.

It looked like a play, until Kealey saw a small mob of what appeared to be children with swords attack a figure in a green costume. It fell to the ground. Kealey frowned slightly, trying to hone in on the emotions of that figure and see if they were okay. She tried, but failed.

”Do you think everything is okay? Maybe we should check it out to be sure…” she asked, looking to Shin to see what he thought.

The ice cream vendor was an urban legend, more of a myth really. As they walked along the paths of Central Park, Kealey in her pink sundress and Shin in his brown board shorts, Hawaiian t-shirt, aviator sunglasses, and twine-stringed tri-force necklace, Shin searched every square inch of the grid, looking for the larger-than-life Excellent Joke ice cream salesman. He didn't find him.

They did, however, find a green dragon on the ground. Shin stared at the spectacle, and pulled a Kealey move he'd seemed to pick up over the last few weeks. He tilted his head.

Huh?

There was a person in a green dragon costume a very specific distance away from them... and they were being beaten by small children. Why, an act of such blatant animal cruelty had to be stopped! Except, in this case, where...

A small smile tugged at Shin's mouth. "I think it's fine, Kealey." He answered her, watching the scene through his shades. "It's a kid play. See the stage? Let's go watch. Maybe they'll have a heroic knight popping up next. Or another dragon!"

His interest was piqued. Shin took hold of Kealey's hand, and led her over to the patch of grass a small ways away from the stage. He found a good seat, plopped down, and watched. Fairy tales always made the best plays.

One of the children poked her just a little to hard in the ribs, but she didn't really mind. She could remember being that small, and rather clumsy. Just when the audience thought that the dragon was sure to be dead, she saw the director wave his hand, and she got to her feet. "Rawr!" She roared, and threw her arms in the air again. On cue, the kids with swords backed away and pretended to huddle at the other end of the stage, beside the castle. Andrea took two menacing steps toward them, and then a taller child in shining plastic armor hopped out from inside the castle, and pointed a metallic looking sword at her.

"Halt, Dragon! I will slay you!" She had been told that sword the was of course fake- a prop sword- and she was to let the boy stab her under the arm and then waddle off stage. Andrea took another step, and wiggled her bum to send her limp tail flying angrily. The small knight stepped forward, swung twice, then buried the sword under her armpit.

She managed a dramatic flail, and made groaning sounds exactly as Tim had told her too. The boy withdrew his shining blade!... and Andrea stumbled off stage to the back, while the knight pumped his sword in the air and declared himself the winner. Behind the set, she fumbled with the headpiece attached to her costume. It was supposed to be zipped all the way around, with the little zipper tag in the back... but she couldn't find it. Maybe it was the mitten like gloves she was wearing, or maybe it had gotten stuck inside the suit. Either way- she was stuck until the play was over. She plopped down into a chair, and let her covered chin rest in her palms.

As the children were wrapping up the second act, where the dragon is killed, and moving into the third. A quick succession of loud Pop Pop Pop's rang out from further down the waterside. People in the audience turned in their seats, wondering what the noises had been. No other sounds followed, and there was no visible source for them. Muttering questions amongst themselves, they turned back to the play to watch as a short princess in a purple gown was introduced to the scene and the knight vied for her attention...

((Chaos soon to come...))

Shin said that he thought everything was fine. Kealey nodded her head, he was mildly amused, and she was a little confused. Shin pointed out the stage and Kealey ’ohhh’d’ in understand just a little bit sheepishly. She was a bit prone to paranoia in crowds, though, so she didn’t dwell on it for too long. After all, if someone really had been hurting that poor creature, she’d have been ready to leap to its defense.

Shin suggested that maybe there’d be a knight and Kealey couldn’t help but laugh a little, ”Maybe if there is, you can get some ideas for the joints in your shard armor. I’m not sure traditional seams are going to work….”

Kealey moved with Shin as he grabbed her hand and he searched for the best place for them to sit. The blond had never seen a play in a park before and the children really did look like they were having a good time. Down she sank onto the ground next to Shin, leaning slightly against his side and already absorbed in what was happening on stage.

The dragon who had been on the stage suddenly leaped back to its feet and Kealey found herself giggling with the shared delight of the mob of children as they feigned terror and huddled on the far side of the stage.

The dragon really was quite good.

Out came a knight and Kealey grinned, the child, while seemingly older than the others was still young enough to be nearly bursting with confidence at his role. He waved his sword and declared his intentions towards the hapless reptile. As sorry as Kealey felt for the dragon, she clapped for the young Sir Knight.

The boy’s vorpal blade went snicker-snack, and while he was denied the pleasure of galumphing back with a head to proudly display, the dragon stumbled off stage.

The scene change ensued and Kealey turned her head to smile at Shin, ”This is lovely. Do they do things like this often in the park?” She didn’t know if Shin would know the answer, but it was still a question worth posing. A series of pops rang out in the park and Kealey was among the people who turned their heads to look for the source. Nothing stood out. Kealey focused her powers in that direction but didn’t find anything incredibly out of the ordinary when there were large crowds around.

”Huh.” Kealey stated, ”That was odd.”

The scene had changed now, and a young princess completely decked out in princess gear was flouncing around stage and trying to pretend like she wanted to ignore the young Knight as he tried desperately to impress her. Kealey awww’d and went back to watching, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of unease that was stuck in the back of her mind.

>>”Maybe if there is, you can get some ideas for the joints in your shard armor. I’m not sure traditional seams are going to work….”

"Good idea," he smiled at her. "Maybe I should study some more Kamen Rider, too..." He liked that thought. Had he shown her those series yet? He really should, if he hadn't yet.

Shin grinned as they found their seats on the grass. There was so much she needed to see, and so much he had to show her. They'd have to start with this play. He settled in and got comfortable. Kealey got comfortable, too. It wasn't terrible. Shin relaxed, dragging his eyes from the girl leaning lightly against his shoulder, up to the stage.

He watched.

The costumes weren't anything to write home about, but that was A-okay. While he was fairly certain Kealey and him could make a better dragon, the simple home-spun charm of the green monster had won him over. The play was cute. There was an angry dragon and a flock of kids. The dragon 'roared'... seemingly inneffectively, yet the children skedaddled to safety. The children huddled, quaking in their boots. As the dragon took two terrifying, tremble and tremor-inducing tromps towards the castle, the hero appeared. Shin clenched his fist triumphantly. It was about time he showed up!

It was another homespun costume. It wasn't any GARO, but then, why would they have GARO in the park? The ground literally cracked every time he drew his blade, defeating enemies in a single powerful slash. This kid knight didn't have that sort of power. He had the confidence, though. Two swings, and a jab. The sword pierced pit, the dragon perished.

Victory was sweet. As the scene shifted, Kealey turned towards him, smiling.

>> ”This is lovely. Do they do things like this often in the park?”

"No idea," He replied with a slight laugh. "We'll have to check and find out. The knight was pretty good. No GARO, but give him a few years. He'll have 'Golden Knight' down pat. A real 'fencer of gold'..."

Something popped, and he trailed off, mid-thought. Shin looked around. That was strange. Kealey said exactly what was on his mind. "It's probably nothing..." Shin replied, head still turned towards where he'd heard the sound, ears straining. Even if he said it was nothing... he hadn't won any acting awards, hiding his worry.

Shin tried to put his mind off it for the moment. The play was still on. He put arm around around Kealey's shoulder, giving her a little hug. "Don't worry about it." He smiled.

The sharp noises got to Andrea last. The protective stage dimmed it, and her felt helmet deluded it even more. She thought perhaps it was the chair under her squeaking, and shifted to get a better look.
The play went on, knight dipping to one knee to propose to the fair princess, and the audience Awwww'd softly. The resulting moment of silence afterward was broken by a shrill scream. A group of people approached the stage, women and men covering their heads as they ran. The play came to a screeching halt, and Tim jumped onstage to ushered the children out of the way.

Andrea stood from her seat, wondering what had happened, and rounded the corner to see the audience jump to her feet. Her eyes rose as people scattered, and she spotted a group of men rushing towards the stage- with another group chasing after. One paused, lifting his arm, and she heard a louder version of the pop pop pop as he fired a gun. The man he had aimed at was hit, and fell.
She felt fear well up in her chest, overtaking her lungs, and she froze to the spot as people rushed past her. Children were hiding behind the stage... men with weapons were heading her way... She needed to do something.

Taking a page from Saphirus's book, she turned and picked up a metal curtain rod that had been left out of the set, then turned back and places herself at the side of the set. Let the scary, armed men come. Hopefully some of them would be terrified of reptiles...
The men in the front of the group were forced to stop when they hit the edge of the water, and turned around to raise weapons and ready themselves for a fight. The tension between the rival gangs had been boiling for some time until just a few minutes ago, when a new member had raised a gun and taken a shot at their rivals, and the pot had boiled over. It had only taken ten minutes for every available member within the area to arm himself(or herself) and join in on the fighting.

Watching through the netting in her costume, she shuffled back a little. The boy with the gun struggled with it. It was jammed. And the man he had shot had gotten to his feet again and was making his way out of the fight, towards the stage. He stumbled and fell before reaching it, and Andrea stood for a moment, staring, before she trotted out to see if he was alright. He was injured and bleeding when she got to him, and nearly begging for help. She hesitated for a moment, before helping the much taller man to his feet, and back to the shelter of the stage without a word.

The night reminded Shin of someone or something named GARO and Kealey smiled, shaking her head in slight confusion. If she didn’t know about it now, she was sure she would later, as soon as Shin had a chance to properly explain. There had been a whole world out there Kealey was missing, and Shin seemed enthusiastic about it all. As a result, Kealey was becoming quite well-versed in the world of anime. She didn’t mind, some of the stories were so good.

The popping had distracted her from all of that, though, and Kealey still frowned in the direction the sounds had come from. Something was nagging at her under the surface, but she couldn’t pick it out from the jumble of emotions the crowd was already emanating.

Shin said it was probably nothing and the Empath nodded, letting her head drop onto his shoulder when he gave her a one-armed hug. The problem was, he was worried. Worried and confused. Kealey resisted the urge to squirm a little, and tried to keep her eyes forward and on the play. Shin didn’t worry needlessly, and the nagging feeling from before was slowly working its way down to settle in the pit of Kealey‘s stomach.

The little Knight dropped to one knee, ready propose to the Princess. The crowd awwwww’d appropriately, and Kealey blinked, hand going to her stomach as the combined feelings started to kick each other around. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? So…

”Shin….” she said, ”I’m scared….” That was what the nagging feeling had been. Fear. It had been a whisper at first, just enough to pull her attention in that direction. It was stronger now, very strong, and Kealey turned just in time to hear the second burst of gunfire go off and watch a man fall to the ground.

As much progress as Kealey had made with her powers, panicked crowds still gave her a bit of trouble. While others were scrambling to their feet and getting as far away from the approaching groups as possible, Kealey stayed exactly where she was, rooted by fear.

So many people were scared, the crowd as they ran, the children as they huddled behind the stage, the man who had been shot, the boy who had shot him. They were angry, too though, furious in fact and Kealey’s own emotions added to the fire.

The groups reached the edge of the lake, and Kealey continued to stare as they faced off, ready to fight. Where had they gotten so many guns? The blond was shaking, terrified as she watched the scene unfold, and completely unaware of anything else happening around or to her.

What were they going to do?

He tried to focus on the play again, but he couldn't. Strange popping sounds were strange. They didn't just happen. Something had to cause them. He hoped whatever it was stayed away from them, hoped it really was nothing, and hoped...

>>"Shin... I'm scared."

Hoped Kealey hadn't said that.

It wasn't just his worry getting to her. If Kealey was scared, there was a darn good reason. As the scream sang out, and the children on-stage were ushered off, he learned what it was. People. Being stupid.

Why were people always being stupid!? A flash of anger went through him, followed by action. Shin moved to kneel in front of Kealey, placing his hands on her shoulders. He looked her in the eye.

"Try and stay calm," He ordered. He knew her powers were overreacting now. It was obvious from the look on her face. She was panicking, wasn't she?! He had to do something to keep her out of danger, jerk her back to the moment, stop her panic.

Shin leaned forward and kissed her...

A hasty action. He was panicking, too. That didn't mean he was worthless now. No. He was focusing that panic into action. He took a step back from the situation, and broke the kiss. His eyes were serious. He was determined, both to keep everyone safe, and to keep the peace. He knew what he had to do.

"We can do this, Kealey. I'm giving you my phone. Call the police. Tell them, there's gunfire in central park. Tell them where we are." He let go of her shoulders, pressed the cellphone into her palm, and stood. He looked down at her, small smile on his face. "I'll keep you safe."

The triangles appeared around her, lucid diamond in color. He focused on snapping them together to form a three-dimensional rectangle around her, let it over a few inches off the ground to give her air, and locked the shape into place. It took 10 seconds. He lowered his hands, and turned his back to her. "I'll handle the fighting. You call the cops. Keep strong."

He stepped forward, towards the gunfire. He wasn't scared anymore. He'd trained for this. He wouldn't let innocent people get hurt.

"Everybody, drop your weapons. Put your hands in the air. I'm Tetsuya Shinbo, honorary officer with the NYPD. I'm with the X-men." He held up his badge as numbers flew through his head, drumming up shapes.

A 3' x 3' shard shield hovered in front of him.

His triangular pupils swung to all the faces of the gunners. He didn't want to have to fight them. "Drop your weapons," He repeated.

A shot glanced off the shard shield, and ricocheted into a tree.

That wasn't dropping their weapons...

Seven men on six, and neither side wanted to move first. They could hear people still screaming in the distance, and knew that time was precious. But the gangs had fought before, they knew each others tactics. The group of six were fond of breaking arms, and leaving scars... while the group of seven were known for big mouths and not leaving much of a mess. Those mouths were the whole reason the fight had started... The men threw insults over at the small group, jeered and taunted in an attempt to get them to back down. It wasn't working however, it was only riling them up.

Then shin stepped up to the plate, and the seven big mouths turned their attention and insults his way- giving the smaller group the change to attack. They rushed forward, two splitting off to try and take down the self proclaimed cop. They wanted to make names for themselves in the gang and killing officers seemed like a good tactic. The four behind them mixed in with the seven, and chaos ensued...

Back by the stage, Andrea had dragged the injured man to safety and was trying to get a good view of his wound when he grabbed her shoulder and whipped her around to face the man who had shot him. He was closer, not in any real hurry, but his gun was still useless. He tucked it into the back of his pants, and rolled up his sleeves. The guy was in pretty good shape for a street thug... Andrea was nervous. He stopped in front of the stage and rested his hands on his hips, glaring down at the poorly designed dragon before him. "Move, before I snap you in half..." Andrea winced... Her heart was beating wildly, and she felt kind of faint....

...But then she heard a small, weak sound behind her. A child's whimper, and she turned. A small girl, one of the sword wielding children that had been on stage, was peeking out from behind a crate piled with fabric. Andrea felt an odd emotion well up in her throat, making it harder to breath, and she turned back to the thug. Her jaw was set, improvised weapon held out in front of her... she planted her feet as best she could, and held her position in front of the man and the child. They would not get hurt... she couldn't allow it. If she had learned anything, it was that. The man frowned down at the obstacle, and cracked his knuckled threateningly...

Rooted to the spot. Too scared to move. Kealey couldn’t have described the feeling if she’d tried because at the same time she was so terrified, so panicked, she was probably more frustrated than she could remember being in recent history. It was so angering to be so helpless. At least, the blond supposed, she knew what her own feelings were underneath everything she was getting from the crowd. That seemed to be getting easier, even if the other emotions were still constantly there. Practice made perfect, but it didn’t help the situation here.

Shin moved into her line of sight and Kealey stared back at him as he put his hands on her shoulders, trying so hard to just focus on him like they’d practiced. The proximity helped, Shin told her to stay calm and he was concerned, and determined, and a little frightened, and then he was kissing her….

Well. That made it easier to concentrate on him.

For a moment, Kealey forgot everything else. She was blinking when he pulled away, trying to get her head sorted out when he pressed a cell phone into her hand and told her to call the police. The blond nodded her head as the other emotions started creeping back in and looked down at the phone, quickly dialing the Police.

The shards started to appear and Kealey just stared as they formed around her in a solid little box. There was only one question on the blonde’s mind, though. Why was Shin on the other side? Oh right, X-Man, honorary NYPD, this was what he did. Kealey was worried for him, though, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing.

The dispatcher answered and Kealey quickly rattled off the details Shin had instructed her to give, then ended the call despite the woman’s suggestion that she stay on the line. Shin was walking towards the gun fight, with his badge out, instructing them to put down their guns.

It was the first time Kealey had seen Shin act in any sort of official capacity, and she was impressed…until a bullet ricocheted off the shield he’d made himself. Someone had shot at him? That hadn’t just happened…but it had. Not okay. Not okay at all. If he hadn’t had that shield…before she’d been scared and confused. Now she was scared and angry. Two very different things.

Up Kealey went to her knees, settling back on her heels and staring at the group by the lake. Two broke off towards Shin and Kealey stared at them through the solid wall of shards. She could feel them now, all of them, all their emotions sealed into little pockets of individuality, the anger, the adrenaline. She used it, bringing their feelings into sharp focus, each and every one of them.

Then. In the blink of an eye, they were gone. It wasn’t something Kealey usually liked to do, but she knew what kind of effect it had on people. The two thugs running at Shin slowed, then stopped, simply standing in the grass with their arms at their sides.

The others, who were further away, slowed as well, guns lowering as they lost all motivation to use them. It was a lot, and it was hard work holding all of that down when it had been so violently strong a moment ago. Their adrenaline had helped, now without it, Kealey didn’t know how long she could hold on.

”Hurry!” she yelled, wincing slightly at the echo of the sound and wondering if it would carry at all. What she wanted Shin to hurry with, she had no clue…but it needed to be something.

Shin's jaw tightened as the bullet bounced off the shield. They were shooting at him, now? That wasn't nice! Someone would have to put them in TIME OUT!

As two men rushed at him, Shin held up his arms, focusing on generating more shards. A second 3'x3' shield appeared, seconds later, and swung in front of him just in time to block a punch. The hand hit hardness, and was quickly pulled away with a guttural curse. Its owner nursed the booboo, glaring at him.

And then... the glaring stopped. The two stared at him dumbly. No emotions.

Okay! Shin turned to aim a thumbs up at Kealey, then tore the shards forwards to form a rectangular cage around the two men. It closed in around them, same as the one around Kealey had, keeping them safe, and more importantly, locked in place.

The guy took a step forward, and Andrea cranked her weapon back like a baseball bat. With as much strength as she could muster, she sent the metal bar careening at him- and watched as it neatly and easily bent around the guys upper arm. He didn't even flinch, but she did. His attention was fully on her now though, and considering the ugly scowl on his face he must have been pretty angry. Andrea stepped back a little, dropping her broken weapon, then turned and ran as fast as she could away from the stage. The thug dropped a few threatening promises on the injured man, telling him that he would return after he dealt with the little hero, and went charging after her.

With the faint sounds of sirens in the background, heading towards the park, any self respecting criminal would have been booking it into the shadows. The gang members stood though, unmoving. They knew they should run, obviously, but couldn't seem to actually do it. They just sort of stood there, staring at each other and the guy who was rapidly creating a cage around the two closest to him.

"Should we run...?" Asked one man, scratching the side of his head slowly. Another blinked, and looked at him.

"I don't know... I don't really feel like it..." The others within earshot nodded and agreed the same. One of them brought his hand to his chin and tilted his head in thought.

"Come to think of it, I don't really feel anything... what about you guys?" The others agreed once more. None of them would have guess that it was the innocent looking woman behind the mutant created shield that had ended their fight before it had even really begun. Spectators had started to gather around the perimeter, a safe distance away. More than a few of them had camera phones held at shoulder height.

Meanwhile, Andrea was slowly being gained upon by the much faster brute behind her. He reached out, snagged the back of her costume, and yanked her from her feet before she could even utter a gurgle of protest. Before she knew it, she was sent flying off into the grass, further away from the water. She landed soundly on her side with enough force to knock the wind from her, and managed to stagger to her feet in time to catch a solid blow from a fist she could have sworn wasn't there a second ago, right to the temple. Her vision spiraled to black for a moment, and she felt herself automatically getting to her hands and knees. It hurt. A LOT. But that was no excuse to lay about while someone trampled you. With her ears ringing loudly, she heard the guy demand something along the lines of get up, and shook her felt clad head. The sirens in the distance were louder now, even she could hear them through her felt hood.

A foot collided with her solidly in the side, just under her ribs, and she flopped over onto her back. Another swift hit, much lighter than the last one caught her on the bridge of her nose- and she felt a crunch. For a moment, she thought her nose had been broken, until her glasses slipped off at either side and disappeared into her suit. Andrea put a hand up to ward away any further hits, and saw him reaching back again. Fear took control of her chest and for a moment everything slowed down... she didn't know what to do, but there were strange urges bubbling up under her ribs. The man wanted to hurt her. He wanted to hurt other people too. She curled into herself, ripping off the green covers over her gloves- then the gloves themselves. When his fist came down on her again, she took the hit to her ribs and uncurled herself. A green hand flashed out and planted itself on the right side of his face. The man who had once been hovering over her reeled back instantly and clutched at the new patch of hardened skin he sported. Andrea took that moment to get to her feet and shove him back, planting to more small hand prints on his shirt. He landed on his back, and the Greek stood before him. She was shaking, terrified and.... something else. A different kind of emotion she couldn't put her finger on...

((Will finish the rest of her inner battle next post, didn't want it to get too long. Saph will jump in and Save her after that.))

Shin wasn’t scared. Kealey was even more impressed, he was focused, he knew what he was doing, and even as her powers started to work on the thugs approaching him he deflected a punch with a secondary shield. ”Nice….” she breathed.

There were lots of bad guys, and even though she was bolstered by Shin’s praise for her work it was hard to hold on to the emotions she’d removed. They’d been very strong before, and they still wanted to be there, no matter how much she fought.

Shin boxed the two who had headed towards him and Kealey’s eyes narrowed on them and their own little bundles of emotions, releasing her hold on them and focusing on the ones who were still free. That made things a little easier…still incredibly difficult…but easier.

The rest of the miscreants had stopped fighting and were speaking with each other in calm, logical voices about whether or not they should run. In a different situation it might have been funny.

Sirens wailed and Kealey winced slightly, the NYPD was going to get sick of talking to Shin and her. At least they were coming to help though, she was really starting to get tired.

”I think you can let me out now!” she called, still so focused on the emotions of the thugs that she missed the activity occurring by the stage.

A loud pop stirred the super hero from his daydream. He had been resting after a good stretch of patrolling the city, but today had been rather uneventful... He looked about for a moment, considering going to check it out... He was in spandex, after all, but it was also close to the four of july... teenaged punks were probably just setting off fireworks.

He sighed as he unslid his crowbar from the holster he'd put on his hip, the product of an arts and crafts class he'd attended. The older mutant then began slowly strolling toward the pops he'd heard; figuring he would go check it out, and probably end up giving some punk a lecture on how the park was a no firework zone. A feeling of alertness slowly crept up on him as he saw people running his way.... What the?

Some random young man stopped and looked at him. "Hey! You're that super hero dude, right?" "Eh... yeah..." "Someone got shot back there! there is a huge fight going on!" Saph felt good for a second, finally being recognized by someone, even though they didn't know his name... the report of someone getting shot snapped him from it, though. he nodded firmly. "Thank you, Citizen. Fear not, the Masochist is on the way!"

He then started hobbling over toward the ruckus. It wasn't long before he was hiding behind a tree, peeking upon a rather odd scene... A bunch of punks standing around, and what looked to be Shin with some girl... Clearly they had this handled... He heard a sound, and slowly turned looking over to see that he wasn't the only one hiding... Some punk with a nose rind and a mohawk, shivering in his boots... Saph rolled his eyes, and snuck on up.

The man heard him coming a bit early, considering Saph wasn't exactly a stealth whiz, but it was too late by then, The hero rushed forward, pinning the kid to the tree, and staring intensely at him... He was just some kid... probably caught up in the wrong group... Most fledgling criminals were like that... If he took out their authority... At most this kid deserved a slap on the wrist and a new direction in life.

There was one thing that stood in the way of that, usually, though... An authority figure... a leader. "Hey punk... where's your boss?" The kid didn't say anything... he just slowly reached a shaky hand to point. Bingo. he knew that none of the ones he saw standing around were boss material. "You're gonna go home and rethink your life. Focus on school. If i see you causing trouble again, I'll break you." The young man nodded slowly, and Saph let him go, letting him sink down to the ground.

And then he was hobbling again.