It was a normal day for young Ruby Lupin, she was at the local comics and game shop, browsing through her normal selection of super hero comics. The young kit was fascinated with them and really wished she could be as virtuous and as powerful as they were. That way, she would be able to help her sister with anything she needed and be able to kick some bad guy butt along the way.

The little one was feeling awfully parched and since Corey, the store manager was too cheap to sell some sort of refreshments, she would have to go outside in order to get some lovely soda from the Pepsi machine. The youngest of the Lupin's unfortunately often had bad luck with these sorts of machines and once given her dollar, the machine decided not to give her a soda. The fox girl growled in frustration before she realized what she was doing, a small blush creeping across her face . At that moment Ruby was thankful for her beanie hat hiding her ears so the humans passing by wouldn't notice them being flat to her head in irritation. Her tail was hidden too so no one would gaze and notice she was in fact a mutant.

With a sigh of frustration, Ruby focussed her electricity ability, feeling sparks coming from on of her tiny hands. The Little one pressed her finger against the button again and after a strange crackling sound, A large clunk was heard and a soda came from the machine. Ruby smiled happily as she removed the soda from the machine. Her hypothesis was that there must have been a short in the soda's system, not registering the button pressing she was doing.

Oh well, no need to think of that now, She got her soda, she unscrewed the bottle and took a tiny sip, just before she recapped it and began to make her way back into the comic shop. Ruby was sure no one had seen the small sparks from her hands, she hadn't seen anyone looking at her, o that must have meant they were all to busy to notice. This was New York after all.

Tony was bored out of mind. Being in New York city for just a few weeks was long enough for him to feel right at home, and also feel like there was nothign left to do. Maybe he would go rent a movie or grab some food on the way home for kicks. He sat on a crappy bench for several more minutes watching people give him odd looks before gathering enough will power to move.

With a grunt he hopped up and brushed the bird crap and dust of the seat of his pants. Walking down the block trying not to bump into people he lazily swung his gaze onto a pepsi machine.

Ok cool, fate has spoken. I'll grab a drink from there instead of a bar for a change. Cheaper at least.

Nearing the machine he reached into his pocket but of course, all he had was a fifty. Passerbys ran passed him and gave disaproving looks as he cursed the gods and fate itself for being so cruel. After he ran out of appropriate curses, he saw a young girl trying to get a soda but her dollar got stuck.

Oh, dodged the bullet i guess, its broken. Maybe it's a sign theres a good lookin girl waitin for me at the bar with her phone number and a shot with my name on it. ehehe

Smiling and thinking evil thoughts he decided to walk past the soda machine for better prey. Somthing caught his eye however as he passed the girl. Her hands .....glowed? It looked a little like sparks. He slowly came to a halt a ways passed the machine and kept looking back. Sure enough he did see sparks, and lo and behold she pressed the button again and with a strange noise a soda popped out. Tony's eyes grew wider. Pepsi machines did not normally make someones hand spark and give free drinks. Something fishy was going on. Something potentially awesome and delicious was going on.

He slowly walked up to the girl and bent down a little to tak to her, trying his best not to look like a pedo but, regretably, he hadnt shaved in a few days and people were paranoid in the city so odds are he would be stabbed or something. Hopefully he wouldn't be shot.

" uh, excuse me little girl? How did you do that?"
he asked as politly as he could, but getting nervous and akward as he usually did he added,
" I swear im not creepy."

There was a stranger talking to Ruby Lupin, the most protected fox girl in the city. Ruby's older sisters had both been trained to murder people in a various number of ways, her eldest sister was also a little bit psychotic when it came to the whole protecting thing. Then again, Emerald oftentimes took to ripping off someones arm and jamming it up in a place where the sun didn't shine so maybe she was a little bit overkill on the whole protecting thing too. It was mainly because of Ruby's innocence when talking to people and though this man did make Ruby nervous, he didn't seem that bad. Problem was he saw what she did and if this guy hated mutants, the little fox girl would deffinatly be in trouble

"I..umm, It's sort of a thing...I can do...It's like a magic trick! It's really awesome, it's like what that Criss Angel guy does, but with sparks! Isn't that really..umm..Mindfreakish?" Ruby lied, nervously, hating herself for lying to the man. But she couldn't expose herself any more than she already had. The little fox girl laughed, patting the big man on the arm. "I dont think you are creepy, you just look sort of like a guy that needs to shave."

Tony stood up straight at the girls words and smiled slightly.

Magic trick...right. It's the same sort of lame lie i'd come up with when i was that age. he thought to himself.

"It's okay, you don't have ter lie to me. It's practically the norm in this city to be different yeah? Look at this.

He turned his head and exhaled a small puff of smoke. To a passerby it would look like he just took a hit from a gnarly cigar or something. Only the faint smell of gasoline hung in the air for a few seconds then it was gone. He highly doubted anyone noticed, the hsutle and bustle of the streets took alot of concetration to get through or you would end up as roadkill.

"I can do things to ya'know. It's normal! No biggie."
He only showed the girl to make her less nervous, he knew he would have felt nervous to if a stranger came to him at that age and asked him about his mutation, even in a town like this where it's basically commonplace. But anyways back to buisness. Soda was serious.

" Hey, could you show me that trick again?"
he was thirsty, time to hurry things up already before he decided the bar was a better idea. Lord knew Tony could use at least one night off from wondering where he would wake up the next morning....or who he would wake up next to. He shivered from the thought, he has had one to many of those nightmares.

Little Ruby had a feeling that he wouldn't believe her when she said it was a magic trick. Part of her was half expecting him to call her a freak and run away, most likely drawing unwanted attention to her. However, when he showed her his power of nasty smelling smoke emission Ruby's eyes widened a little. Not only that but her nose wrinkled in disgust, for she hated the smell of gasoline. It was a good thing Emerald wasnt there, her nose was far more sensitive than her younger siblings.

"Have you ever tried to see if you could light stuff on fire with that? It sort smells like gasoline." Ruby told him, relaxing a little. At least, the little one felt like she could trust him more now. Ruby had yet to meet a mutant in New York she wasnt able to trust.

As for the soda trick Ruby nodded a little, figuring it was the least she could do for him, since he did not show of his abilities in public like she knew some mutants did. While she didn't mind this, it was bad when they randomly started hurting people with their abilities because they thought the world owed them something. Ruby walked over to the machine and repeated the process, placing a dollar in the machine so she wouldn't feel like she was ripping the company off. Or at least thats what Shin told her when she told him sometimes she got free soda. It was possible that she would be swayed otherwise. Once again the button didn't work and once again an electrical spark emitted from Ruby's fingertips as she pressed the button again, jolting the machine to start working once again.

When the soda tumbled out, the young fox girl retrieved it and scurried back over to the smoke blowing man. She handed him the Pepsi with a small smile on her lips.

"My name is Ruby and you sir owe me one dollar." Ruby grinned mischievously at the tall man. Her ears twitched beneath the hat as she stared up at him, trying to listen what he had to say.

Light it on fire cause it smells like gas? Maybe if i didn't want my face anymore.

He chuckled at the girl, " Well, iv'e never thought of that." he said, hoping it would do.

Tony watched her scurry to the machine to do the 'trick' again and rasied a eyebrow. She purposly put in another dollar to get it stuck before she used her power. Literally recreating the 'trick' the exact same way as she did it the first time, being ripped off and all. He didn't get a good look at it but her hand most definatly sparked.

She must have something like....machine manipulation. OF course! Machine manipulation, fancy and useful thats for sure. dang.
>>" You owe me one dollar!"

oookkkkkaayyyyy he thought as she came back to him saying he owed her a dollar. Crud he didn't have a dollar. But to not give this cute kid her dollar back....stupid machine now he felt bad.

thinking fast he laughed and said, " a dollar? But you knew the machine would steal it." He kneeled down as he towered over the child and his back hurt from bending
" The machine stole your money! Twice! Don't you think you deserve two more sodas as compensation? It's only fair i mean they stole your money, like a criminal would. that isn't right."

He absentmindedly took the soda from the girl and starting drinking it.

This made young Ruby think for a moment, she did feel kind of ripped off from the machine taking both her dollars. Technically, she didn't have to put the second one in, but she did because if she didn't it would have looked suspicious. Then again was it not suspicious that these machines were conveniently stealing her dollars?

Maybe, just maybe this was some sort of conspiracy against mutant kids everywhere to take all of their money. Of course! It Makes sense now...well sort of but it would explain why the guy in front of me managed to get the same soda and I didn't Ruby Thought confidently

"Well they are a corporate company that really doesn't need any more money. My Big sister Emerald calls them words I shouldn't say in public." Ruby explained, a small blush appearing on those small cheeks of hers. Her older sister's language was colorful to say the least. "So I guess if I got more sodas I would be "Sticking it to the Man" Is that what you are saying, Mr.....I never did get your name. Care to give it, Sir?" Curious green eyes looked up at him in a pleading sort of way. If she was going to have a partner in this Sticking it to the man business she might as well know his name.