The past few days had been... odd, to say the very least.

Adrián wasn't used to really getting all that much attention at the High School where he taught Spanish, a class that, for the most part, wasn't particularly liked. Sure, Adrián was known to be a decent teacher with a goofy smile and a way to make some of the Spanish lessons actually fun but he had never been a teacher that people would stop in the halls to say hello to, not to mention actually want to talk to about things that had nothing at all to do with the class he taught. All of this had never phased him; he loved his job and he loved the subject he taught. In the end, the fact that at least a few students over the years managed to benefit from his teachings was all that mattered.

Ever since the bus incident three days ago however, he'd been the talk of the school – being on the eleven o'clock news did that to someone, apparently. It was odd how little students watched the News, yet how quickly gossip about him had been spreading around. As he'd been walking toward his classroom just this morning, he'd heard two girls whom he had never seen before talking about him shooting two armed Mutants who had been about to torture an innocent young woman for secret information on some medical technology of sorts.

Adrián shook his head; sure, the real story was somewhat intriguing looking back on it, but he still didn't like the fact that by the end of the week, he'd probably be some sort of heroic legend who had saved the world from complete domination.

Way to lay low and pretend you aren't a secret Mutant, Mr. Adrián Narváez.

It was a little before noon when Adrián left the school on his shiny motorcycle, a piece of machinery he was quite proud of, and one that definitely did not attract less attention than he was already getting. He didn't really realize that however, riding further into Manhattan as his stomach growled slightly, signaling that it wanted some food.

The door to the small cafe, smelling of coffee, sandwiches and soup, opened and the bell chimed the entrance of the Spanish man as he strode toward the counter, a slightly tired-looking smile on his face as he got in line to order. The cafe was full to the brim, with a dozen people sitting in different areas of the room, a little over half of the tables filled at this point. There were equally as many people in the two lines and only two women worked behind the counter.

The cafe wasn't usually so full, which was probably why the staff was lacking, but Adrián wasn't an impatient man, at least not most of the time. Sure, he only had an hour to eat and then get back to the school, which was a seven-minute motorcycle ride, but he wasn't too phased. If worse came to worse, he'd bring his food to school and eat it as his students spoke bad Spanish and complained about the upcoming exams. Shifting his weight to the other foot, Adrián sighed.

The bell chimed again. Another face was adding itself to the crowd of hungry people.

Alexandra looked impatiently at her watch, tapping her foot against the floor. Briefly, she scanned the people in front of her - they weren't many but the coffee shop's personnel moved awfully slow. She sighed, wondering why the hell she didn't order her lunch and coffee - by now, she'd be sitting behind her desk, doing some of the oh-so-many things she had to do to put her company in order. And her other business as well.

But no. Instead, she was waiting in line to order a stupid sandwich and a coffee. Yes, she needed a break, but grabbing lunch certainly wasn't such a relaxing activity as she thought. Blue eyes shifted to the woman behind the counter. She didn't look very well -yet, Alexandra couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for her. She muttered a few not so nice words under her breath. Even though she didn't spoke them loud enough to be heard, she chose her native language to express herself. Yeah. This was going to take longer than she expected. And she was wearing heels, too.

The ring of the bell felt like someone was scratching on her brain, a clear sign that she was losing her patience. No. Scratch that. She had lost her patience and now was safe to say she was in a foul mood. Sometimes it surprised her how quickly she lost her patience nowadays. Sky blue eyes - she was wearing her contacts today - shifted to the door, glancing for a short moment at the man who'd entered the coffee shop. He didn't retain her interest for long and she shifted her eyes back to the line - just as someone was picking up their order and left. She advanced, sighing again and diverting her gaze to the floor. Someone needed to do some cleaning.

The bell rang again. And Alexandra Kettler just wished she would rip it off.

Adrián wasn't usually an impatient man... right.

With everything that had been going on lately, he had reason enough to be getting slightly impatient, glancing at his watch in order to make sure he wasn't going to be late. Could time really be going so slowly? He waited for a while longer, the line finally moving up a few inches as a customer finally left to take a seat, leaving the space open for the next person to order. It was at around that particular moment that Adrián actually paid attention to the two women working behind the counter – one in her late thirties or early forties while the other seemed fresh out of High School – nineteen or twenty at the most.

It was the younger of the two that was working the slowest, seeming to be... not feeling too well. Her face was very pale and her dark green eyes looked... shadowed, as though she had taken some kind of drug. Seriously? High on the job? Now that was just great.

Adrián was committed to his job and rarely did take sick days, but then again he also rarely got sick. This woman was slowing up the entire cafe and making quite a few people restless: she could have taken a day off... or not gotten high before coming in. It would have been good for more than one person. Stupid American teenagers.

The young woman blinked a few times, looking as though she was suffering from a major hangover along with that drugged up state. She was having a very hard time to even process what some over-weight male with shaggy white-blond hair was asking for, her curly auburn hair falling in her face. Adrián bit down on his lip, rubbing the back of his neck. Why did he get the distinct feeling that his lunch hour wouldn't go according to plan? Wait, forget that question had been asked. He did not want to know the answer.

One more person down. There were only two other men and one dark-haired, blue-eyed woman in front of him. Adrián debated leaving. There was a nice Italian place a few blocks down; he could always get something from there... He'd be back at school a lot sooner that way.

He had just made his decision that yes, he was going to go, when the strange girl started shaking violently, making a cup of soup splatter to the ground. Before anybody could say or do anything it was as though an earthquake was going off in the cafe – the source? This young woman. The windows were cracking and the coffee mugs were clinking. People were screaming and Adrián was cursing in his native tongue. Hadn't he dealt with enough Mutant activity this week? Why did he have to be around when some girl manifested for the first time? Unless of course this wasn't her first time and she had just decided to destroy the cafe on purpose.

Adrián would bet on the former, though.

You could just leave. Said a tiny voice in her head. Her stomach was quick to disagree. She hadn't eaten since ... the quick lunch she'd had yesterday while typing away on her laptop. Sure, there were other places but getting in yet another line wasn't going to do anything good for her already bad mood. Sighing, she accepted her fate. And just as she did, another man had left the line. Alexandra mentally smiled. It was destiny.

Yes. Destiny. It liked to mock her.

The splatter of the soup against the ground was what alerted her. The continuous dull ring of the bell that continued to make her head hurt was what worried her. The seizure that the woman behind the counter was going trough was just an explanation. Wonderful.

This was going to be such a long day.

The earthquake became more violent, cups of coffee, glasses and plates collided with the floor. The windows were already starting to crack, Alexandra could guess that it wouldn't take long until they came crashing down. People panicked. People screamed. All Alexandra could think was that any hope for lunch was gone. It was then when the man in front of her decided to flee. Apparently, his best option was to push everyone around. To put it shortly.

High heels plus pushing plus earthquake equaled poor balance in Alexandra's case.

She found herself landing in the arms of the customer behind her. Her nostrils flared, in anger. Retard. She looked up to the possessor of the arms she'd landed in, to give a slight shrug before trying to get herself back on her feet. Blue eyes landed on the one who'd pushed her before, just as he was almost touching the door. The windows came crashing down, a quite large piece of glass etching itself in the man's ... Yeah. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Several woman screamed, if possible, even more louder than before and hurried toward the windows. Now that the glass panels were laying on the floor, the opening it provided became almost everyone's target. Some, more lucky were nearer and managed to hop over the remaining pieces of glass, finding the much wanted liberty.

For some, however... An alarm started to ring. Metal bars came crashing to the floor - Alexandra guessed it was the cafe's security system activated by the broken windows. For those who were unfortunate enough to be in the way of the descending cage, the search for freedom ended badly. Some perhaps would loose a hand. Some would loose a foot. For others, it was too late. They've already lost their lives.

Who would have expected that such a simple activity like grabbing lunch would turn so damn bloody? At least Alexandra was happy she didn't get a chance to eat breakfast. Frowning, she shifted her attention to the woman that represented the cause of such a disaster. The seizure was getting worse. As did the earthquake. Sky blue eyes looked up to the ceiling, were (for now) small pieces of it were starting to descend to the floor.

Why did she came for lunch here, again?

She looked at the woman once more, weighting the options she had. At least the damn bell didn't ring anymore.

It had all come as quite a surprise to Adrián, as if out of nowhere, the world was suddenly falling in on itself, leaving behind a scattered mess and screaming people. Coffee mugs were flying everywhere, glass shattering, a scalding hot liquid spreading around – whether it was coffee or soup... or something else altogether, not many really cared at this point. Not when a Mutant was currently unleashing her inner beast so that the world would suffer from it.

Why was Adrián always the one who had to be stuck dealing with all of this? First the bus incident, now a freakish Mutant who had to pick this day to manifest? He had freaking classes to teach fifty minutes from now... if anything, this time he wouldn't do the noble thing and step up as the hero the way he had a few days ago with those hijackers... he absolutely did not want another reason to be on the News tonight. Unlike a lot of people who constantly wanted glory and fame, the crowd knowing their name, Adrián was the type who would rather be a nobody, living calmly in his little apartment, drinking his morning coffee and teaching a boring class that would probably only serve use to half a dozen students in a year. Celebrity life may have been his mother's way of living, but it sure wasn't his. Not this way, at least.

Then his thoughts reverted back to the woman who was clearly having a seizure. Sure, she was causing this earthquake that was destroying the entire cafe, but he had forgotten in all of his inner complaining that she was an actual person who may not have meant any of this to happen.

That was what convinced him that he had to help. Stupid morality.

As everyone screamed, cried, and did whatever else people did when they usually get scared, Adrián merely stood there as he tried to come up with something productive to do. The dark-haired woman still in front of him seemed to be quite calm herself, her expression hidden from him as she was facing the counter. He hoped she wasn't about to pass out or anything... He'd be the one she'd fall onto. Well, or she could also be shoved in the Spanish man's arms, of course. It happened so quickly, Adrián almost didn't realize she'd fallen until he felt that bit of weight in his outstretched arms. He'd always had good reflexes.

She seemed pissed.

He couldn't blame her, though. In the way she was dressed and in the way she'd carried herself, she seemed like a woman of pride. He gave her a slight push to help her back on her feet, making nothing further of the situation. He felt as though if he would have asked her if she was okay, she would have been even more pissed – and at him, this time, rather than the man who had actually shoved her. Speaking of which... Adrián glanced at the windows as they came crashing down, a large shard of glass imbedding itself in the man that had made the pretty lady lose her balance. Chaos really ensured at that point. Not because of all the blood, but because it had made an opening for people to escape and a swarm of people (Had there really been that many people in the cafe?) were making their way toward it, some managing to escape with a few cuts from the remaining glass still on the frame.

Most of the others, including Adrián weren't as lucky. It was as though there was some kind of alarm in case something was to happen to the cafe, like a thief... or a Mutant manifesting. It wasn't exactly the best of things however, for it was adding a whole lot of noise to the already noisy restaurant and... bars were now keeping people from being able to escape.

The blood was evidently everywhere and the screams were getting louder and louder. Painful screams, screams of death... of horror. It was a complete massacre, and why? Because a woman was going haywire with her powers. Adrián sighed.

Why did he come for lunch here?

Adrián didn't have much time to ask himself that question however, for a middle-aged woman came running at him, tears in her eyes. “Help me sir, my son! He's not breathing!” Did he really give off that hero vibe, now? Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that, aside from the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman, he was the only one not freaking out.

“I'll see what I can do.” he said, his Spanish accent strong as he took a few steps in order to fallow the woman, avoiding a few running people as well as some of the debris that was the ceiling falling. This really, really wasn't what he'd had in mind as far as a quiet lunch was concerned.

Oh well, his students would probably end up having a free period or something. At least they'd have something to cheer about.

The woman behind the counter looked completely out of control. Alexandra glanced from her sweaty face to the hands that now were grasping the edge of the counter as if she was trying to remove a piece of it. Blue eyes traveled back, from the white knuckles, up to the woman’s eyes, now rolled in the back of her head. No. She didn’t look like she was going to gain control very soon.

A long sigh left Alexandra’s lips. Her body moved, now facing the metal bars. In front of her, a middle-aged woman was tugging at a younger man’s shirt. The man seemed to be unconscious, his right shoulder crashed by one of the metal bars. She assumed he was her son. Alexandra was fairly certain that moving him wasn’t going to help him but she bit her tongue to keep her mouth closed. No one could really reason with mothers when their kids were hurt.

Alexandra’s eyes shifted past the scene, to the metal bars. And immediately a headache started to build up. Why did anyone felt like it was necessary to paint the metal bars that only came down to either prevent thieves from coming inside or to lock them in was really beyond her understanding. And they were painted to fit the café’s color scheme, too. It was becoming a really, really bad headache.

There were thousands of paints out there. And she had absolutely no idea about the chemical formula of this particular one. She couldn’t manipulate the metal underneath for she had no idea what type of metal it was. Perhaps she should start to scratch the paint, get a glimpse. A short lived but powerful quake was enough to make her change her mind. She didn’t have the time. Yes. She was locked inside, just like everyone else.

A furious scream almost left her lips, but at the last moment, Alexandra changed it into a grunt. What now? She quickly looked around, analyzing the scene. There was blood, there were mutilated bodies, there was a woman who was losing control with every moment that passed and there were people screaming and tugging at the bars while stepping on bodies, whether they were dead or injured becoming just a little insignificant detail. Alexandra’s face shifted to disgust, immediately. Humans were just animals, and nothing more. They never lost the opportunity to prove that.

Alexandra knew that if she wanted to walk out of the damn café, then she needed to do something. But what? First of all, she kicked off her shoes. Balance was something she needed. Second, she pulled at the tight skirt hugging her body, ripping the cloth until the slit had reached her mid-thigh. Movement was yet another thing she needed.

There was only one way to put an end to the situation now. Maneuvering her feet around broken pieces of glass or porcelain, knives, forks and spoons, Alexandra reached the counter leaned over it until her hands reached the woman’s shoulder. Tightening her grip on her, Alexandra jerked the woman, with little hope that it would bring her back to her senses. “Snap out of it!” Because if she didn’t, Alexandra was ready to kill her if that was needed.

The woman's son was indeed quite hurt, bleeding quite heavily at the shoulder, having been crushed by the metal bars. He also had a shard of glass stuck in his left side, just enough to cause quite a bit of internal damage – at least, that was what Adrián deducted. He was quite sure none of the wounds were fatal... at least not yet. As Adrián pressed his fingers to the young man's throat, trying to find a pulse, he realized that it was almost non-existent and that if they weren't ready to do something soon, he would bleed out and die. Now, Adrián was no doctor, but he knew that bleeding out was not a good thing. Glancing about quickly in order to assess the situation around him, he knew for a fact that they wouldn't be getting out soon. He'd have to take action; which he did.

Taking off his leather coat, Adrián threw it on the floor beside of him before ripping a piece of his white button-down shirt, a large enough piece so that he could carefully tie it around the young man's wound. A few minutes later his work was as good as it would get, which really wasn't all that great. “Don't move him,” he said, his English masked slightly with that Spanish accent of his. “He's badly injured... I tried my best at stopping the blood... Don't move him.” He really wasn't good with these kinds of situations. Knowing that chances were slim of a man surviving, and having to break it to the mother? It wasn't a pleasant thing.

So he did what any man would probably do in his situation; he got to his feet and gave the woman a, hopefully, reassuring smile before sprinting away to help somewhere else, narrowly avoiding a piece of the crumbling ceiling as he did so.

He was beginning to wonder just how many people would have to die before they managed to get out of this cafe that had quickly turned into a ground-shattering hell – quite literally. It was then that it happened; probably the strongest quake yet, making many of the people scream, cry out, or both. Adrián himself found himself gritting his teeth together as he kept himself from moaning out in pain, for a light fixture had given in, a part managing to land onto his shoulder.

It wasn't anything he couldn't live with – quite unlike that young man who was hanging on by a thread, his shoulder crushed by the metal bars. Adrián bit down on his lip, so much so that he could taste blood in his mouth... he continued on his way, sprinting toward the counter where the cause of all this still stood, her eyes rolled into their sockets as she tried desperately to hold on... obviously she couldn't. His powers hadn't manifested nearly as chaotically as hers – he was actually quite grateful for that. The mere thought of having to live with the fact that he had hurt so many people, not to mention killed more than a dozen of them, would haunt him forever...

Right. He couldn't think of that right now. Focus. He had to end this, not only for his sake, but for the survivors' as well. How he was going to do that however, was beyond him. In just five minutes – it couldn't have been more than that – all of this had managed to happen. He couldn't let another five minutes go on...

It didn't take him very long to reach the counter once again, noticing the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman already hard at work as she tried to calm the manifesting Mutant.

Another large quake, one that Adrián swore probably affected the entire block, if not more.

He hopped over the counter, so that he was standing right beside the woman that was so out of control, grasping a hold of her hand – after all, her shoulders were already taken. The more people that tried to help her, Adrián assumed, the faster she'd maybe calm down. “Calmarse...” he muttered in his native tongue, feeling her spasms all the way into his veins as the ceiling continued to crumble. He glanced at the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman who was holding on to the manifesting Mutant's shoulders. “You're okay?” He couldn't help but be concerned. It was who he was.

Calmarse = Calm down

The attempt to calm the manifesting mutant down was a failure, but then again, Alexandra didn’t have any expectations from it either. Alexandra spared a glance to the man who at some point had jumped over the counter to join her efforts. She nodded his way, muttering an “I’m fine.” before looking back at the younger woman. She jerked her once more, frustrated at the fact that it didn’t do a thing to improve the woman’s control over her mutation. And, now, with the man there, it was practically impossible to … terminate her, without being seen.

“This isn’t working.” Alexandra announced, not speaking with anyone in particular. And she could understand why. With all the screaming and crying around, it was difficult for her too, to put her thoughts in order, let alone for this woman who seemed to deal with her mutation for the first time. One of Alexandra’s hands was retracted from the woman’s shoulder. Gritting her teeth, Alexandra did the next thing on the list. She slapped the woman, hard. Then, she quietly glanced at the ceiling. Her action either snapped the woman’s focus back into place or made things worse. And if it was the latter, Alexandra needed to be prepared for the outcome.

The squad car's lights wheeled round and round as it sped towards the scene of the crime in progress. Chaos, the radio call had said. Things MRC needed to handle, fix, make right. The details weren't all there yet. What Ashton knew was, a mutant was involved. Maybe more. And there was a lot of violence going down. That was all he'd needed to know before barreling out the door.

Once again, it's important to note that the squad car's roof lights wheeled, round and round. That usually meant other cars got out of the way. They were still wheeling. He was not yet at the scene of the crime.

A little uncouth profanity was muttered under the man's breath. 'Lousy New York Traffic' was the general translation. He hoped it cleared up soon. He should have taken another route... hands hit steering wheel, a gesture of annoyance and anxiety. Why wasn't everything moving quicker in the city that never stopped?!