>> "I'll manage. He got my back, not my legs."

Lydia flinched when she saw Andrew flinch as he sat up. His back was really bloody, and the sight of it almost made her dizzy. She stood up and tried to help her companion do the same, but she was unsure of where or if she should touch him lest she cause him more pain. When he was ready, the duo started heading back to the counter, but a girl popped out from behind it. She seemed to be around the same age as Dia. No offense, but she didn’t exactly look like she had the physical prowess to be charging at a mutant who was quite a size larger than her, had some variant of super-strength, and three spiked tails too many.

But charge she did, headphones clamped on her head and a smile (A smile? Did this chick have a death wish?) on her face, and the girl leaped up to an impressive height and slammed her elbow into Spikey’s ugly mug. “Damn,” the skin-shifter couldn’t help commenting as she paused for a moment to watch the effects of the hit. The monster mutant looked disoriented for a second, though he had not moved more than a step or two, but instantly realized what had happened and struck out in anger at the pint-sized female who had managed to make him pause. He struck out again and again, but the smiling girl easily evaded his blows and retaliated with some of her own. It was obvious at that point that she also was indeed a mutant, a mutant capable of giving Spikey a run for his money.

Now that was a real hero, someone who actually had the power to do something against a potent threat. Not some wimpy guy who didn’t have something like super-strength to back him up. Lyd hoped Andrew learned something from this girl. Not everyone could play the hero—

But her inner tirade was interrupted by a painful, contradicting crash. The seven-foot-tall mutant had kicked the girl into the windshield of the car he had thrown, and she lay still there for a moment. Oh no… The skin-shifter winced as she watched blood flow down the heroine’s mouth. She wondered if she should go help move her too, but the other girl quickly rolled off the car into a standing, ready position. Spikey was once again occupied by the police, but he was more occupied with his elbow, which was bending at an excruciating-looking angle. His cry of pain was like music to her ears. Again, she was impressed by the heroic girl.

But Lydia’s attention was soon redirected again to Andrew and his bloody woes, and she looked for something to soak up the blood, maybe even something that could be used as a bandage. “Can you move your arm?” She asked, uncertain if the wounds were only restricted to his back and left shoulder and not the rest of his arm. She looked in some of the cabinets at the bottom of the counter and procured a few small towels that were probably used to wipe off the tables and any spills. They looked clean enough, with a few spots on them that Lyd was pretty sure were just old coffee stains that couldn’t be washed out anymore. She stuck them out to Andrew, waiting for him to judge their usefulness.

She was surprised at herself, at how calm she was. Not too long ago she had been close to devolving into a hysterical mess, but now she had a demeanor that almost matched her companion’s. Of course she could still feel the edges of the fright and the panic, but they seemed to have been shoved into some box in the corner of her mind while she had been helping the others escape. She’d worry about opening it later.

While he and the girl were making their way back to the counter someone else made an appearance on the scene. Injured as he was there wasn't much he could do but he was going to shout and try and get her to back off. At least until she leaped into the air and pummeled the mutant in the face. The arrival of someone that was actually capable on the scene left him somewhat divided. On the bright side there was a much better chance that this guy would now get taken down. However it also meant that he was now utterly superfluous. He watched the new girl go toe to toe with the spiked man for a moment or two and then turned his attentions back to getting behind cover like the bystander that he unfortunately was.

His companion also seemed suitably impressed by the newcomer. Andrew stood behind the counter in a somewhat awkward silence. At least it was awkward to him. After all he was watching himself get saved by a perfectly random stranger. At least Jorge was a cop and therefore meant to be on the scene when that blasted Mittens had dangled him out a window. There was nothing else to it. He'd just have to get stronger. Andrew frowned. He'd never reach mutant levels but it wouldn't be for lack of effort on his part. His companion asked after his arm while he was thinking.

"Yeah. It's just the back and shoulder that got hit."

Andrew took the towels that she had located. One he stuck under a stream of hot water from the sink before using it to clean up the wounds and the blood as best he could. The others would be used to mop up the blood as it came. Field medicine wasn't exactly his forte. He knew nothing about it after all. With the wound sorted for now Andrew leaned against the counter and watched the struggle outside with a resigned look on his face.

Ashley only took a moment to look at the two other people in the cafe before looking back out to the monster outside. The pain she felt surged through her body but again, as usual, the music she was listening to flowed through her like a drug. She could almost feel the adrenaline pumping and that, combined with her tunes, drove away the pain. She looked down to her button up shirt she was wearing and tore it off, revealing only a wife beater with her sports bra on underneath. She felt constricted and wanted fee mobility and hell...it wasn't like the shirt was going to save her from anything this mutant would do anyways.

Cries of 'Hold your fire!!' rang out again as she rushed back out towards the mutant, jumping again to kick the monster in the chest with stunning force. All she got was gritted teeth and a growl as her opponent swiped at her with his good hand, missing her barley as she jumped back, rushing forward after the miss to capitalize. This time she aimed a kick towards the kneecap, looking to break the monster down, bring him down to her level.

The kick brought a satisfying 'crunch!!' to her ears, followed by a roar of pain as the mutant fell to a knee. Ashley spun with a left backhand to the monster's face, sending him to the side for a moment, enough for Ashley to bring a foot up and blast him on the side of the face again, sending him further crashing to he ground. She smiled a bit until she heard the ringing shots of gunfire open up again. The beast she was fighting bellowed as a few shots hit him right in the sweet spot and Ashley tried to run away again...

...until she felt something grab her leg none too gently.

She tripped and fell, though she didn't have enough time to ponder her current situation as she felt herself be dragged back, the broken concrete under her scraping her stomach something fierce. The only thing she had time to catch was the fact that the bullets had stopped raining upon them among the screams of 'HOLD YOUR GOD DAMN FIRE!!'. The grip around her leg tightened until it felt like something was going to snap before Ashley felt it let go for a moment. That singular moment was all she needed as she turned on her back and prepared to kip up.

By then it was too late.

The freak of nature slammed his hand down, capturing Ashley around the neck (though his hand was so massive he actually only used a few fingers to wrap them around the redhead) and lifted her high into the air. Ashley struggled against his grip, knowing she could break it if only she was just a tad stronger. But the music only brought a certain amount of strength, and with the metal mutant as angry and adrenaline filled as he was, the situation did NOT look good.

Apparently the police didn't think so either.

Bullets began to rain again, and the only thing Ashley knew was that the burning sensation in her stomach was NOT because of the monster.

Not this time.

From behind the safety of the counter, Lydia was watching as Andrew attended to his injuries. She stayed where she was, he seemed to know what he was doing, or at least knew more than she did. The look on his face made her feel guilty for insulting him in her thoughts earlier. He was just trying to help, and his heart was in the right place. But then again, part of expression could be because of some male macho factor. He had basically had his ass kicked by Spikey and was being saved by a random girl who had appeared out of nowhere. His ego had to hurt a little.

“****ing idiots! What the hell are you doing?! You just shot a civilian! I told you to HOLD YOUR FIRE DAMNIT!” The leading officer screamed at the others. “We…were trying to aim for his hand…” One of his subordinates responded meekly, the terror plain in his appearance. “Is her stomach his hand you idiot?!” His face was red from the constant yelling but the worried crease on his forehead was clearly visible. He had no idea how to deal with this threat. Yes, he had faced out-of-control mutants plenty of times over the course of fifteen years on the job, but rarely ones this powerful with no help from the X-Men or MRC. But he had to put on a brave face for the civilians and his own men. If they saw his fear, they’d become even more terrified and hysterical.

Bullets were mostly useless on this menace, unless one happened to make its way past the spikes and his swatting arms and into his flesh. The redheaded mutant girl who had appeared had started off useful, she managed to damage both Spikey’s elbow and knee. She seemed to have a chance at stopping him, until he snaked a hand over her neck. Well, two fingers, really. How were they going to get him to drop her? She struggled against his grip but couldn’t seem to be able to escape it. And now she had a shell in her stomach, so she definitely wasn’t going to be able to get away on her own. Brainless, cowardly, stupid damn idiots, the officer thought as he tried to formulate a plausible plan to attack the menacing mutant and save the girl, Damn muties and their destructive powers. He swore again.

Lyd glanced at Andrew, gauging his reaction at everything that had just happened. He wasn’t going to charge in to try and rescue the trapped girl was he? No, he couldn’t be that stupid…

His resignation lasted only as long as the girl's upper hand in the fight. She had been doing well enough. She'd managed to disable an arm at the elbow and a leg at the knee. However things went downhill quickly after that. She ended up held by the throat by the spike mutant. As if that wasn't enough trouble one of the police rounds buried itself in her stomach. Andrew winced. He had unfortunate experience with both those sorts of pain. She'd need help.

He doubted that his aid would be effective at all but he could not stand there and watch her choke to death at this maniac's hands. Andrew rounded the counter and headed for the front of the store. He didn't bother to address his companion. She obviously cared enough to help out but her words and actions had expressed clearly enough that what she thought of his attempts to keep people out of danger. As he crossed the floor he spotted a twisted piece of metal that had once served to hold one of the windows in place. Andrew scooped it up.

He set foot on the sidewalk outside via the gaping hole the car had left. Andrew knew darn well that he probably wasn't going to be much help. Repositioning his grip on the makeshift club Andrew charged into the fray. He aimed his attack at the mutant's wrist, hoping to get him to let go of the girl. Hopefully it would work. Andrew and the police obviously had no hope of dealing with this guy on their own. It was pretty much a battle to keep casualties down until someone more fit to deal with this sort of thing arrived.

It was typical for someone, anyone really, to ask themselves how they got into a certain situation, especially of the situation was as sticky as this one. Maybe it was for money or a delusional sense of self importance. Maybe some people jumped into dangerous situations because they genuinely cared for the well being of other people and wanted nothing more then to help because...well, they wanted to.

Ashley? Well, she did it because of a cute girl.

She dug her fingers into the hand (fingers, really) that were currently choking the life out of her and pulled with all her strength. At this point, however, it wasn't all that much. Even her music wasn't helping, and that more then anything (including the bullet that was lodged somewhere inside of her) was making her panic. The music stayed with her, made her special. It couldn’t just go away. She felt herself going dizzy, the blood coming out of her mouth through her teeth as she gasped for breath.

It was then that she noticed the guy that was in the cafe with the cute girl come out and Babe Ruth the monster's wrist with all his might. Ashley prayed that maybe the guy had some kind of power that would help him but...well, it didn't look like it. By the bellow, however, it sounded like the guy had actually done something. The grip on Ashley's neck loosened a bit, then more and more as the monster began to...shrink? Ashley watched for a mere moment before she was dropped on her ass (bruised, no doubt). She clutched her stomach and slowly stood up, watching the beast thrash around as he held his head, obviously in some kinda pain.

The redhead turned to the guy who had run out of the cafe and gave a small grunt, though it mostly appeared as a bloody gurgle. “Thanks.” she turned back to the cafe to see the woman inside, then looked back to the guy. “Cute girlfriend.”

And that's when Ashley felt herself collapse backwards, blackness encompassing her vision as she fell unconscious.

Lydia stood open mouthed as Andrew struck at Spikey’s wrist and…actually hurt him? Did he have some secret strength mutation he wasn’t telling her about? The monstrous mutant gave a holler of pain as he dropped the redheaded girl and began…shrinking? It seemed that was what was happening, he was slowly reducing in size, spikes began to recede into his body, as were his tails times three. He clutched and clawed at his head as though it were the real source of pain, and gave more bellows of anguish.

Then the heroic, super-strong mutant girl collapsed. The skin-shifter ran from the counter to her side, and moved her hand off of her stomach to better examine it. There was a pool of blood soaking through the girl’s shirt, and it wasn’t stopping. Dia began to feel the familiar pangs of panic as her eyes darted around the room, trying to find something to help stop the bleeding. There was nothing but broken glass, stray bullets, and debris around. She supposed her jacket could do the job. The teenager tore off her outer garment and tried to copy what Andrew had done for himself before. She pressed the coat against the wound but tried not push too hard in case she caused more pain.

“H-hey you need to stay awake. H-hello? Come on,” She said, her voice shaking. What if this stranger died? She had been trying to save them...no, she couldn’t die. Lydia wouldn’t let her, not this way.

Spikey was crumpled on the ground, writhing in pain. His spikes were completely gone, and his tails were quickly following them. He was also dramatically losing height. The frightening, intimidating, seven-foot giant was now becoming a small, weak, five-foot-two shmuck whimpering in pain. Lyd rose from the redhead’s side and marched over to the formerly spiked man before the cops did. “You pathetic little ****. Did you feel big and strong? Did you?! Do you realize what you’ve done?!” Her eyes were hard, her words heated. She grabbed the man by his shoulders and made him stand up and look at the death and destruction around him. She wanted to laugh at how contradictory the situation had become, how silly this little man seemed now. Instead she winded up her right fist and sent it flying into his face. “At least I’m picking on someone my own size.”

Andrew watched the man reduce in size until he was returned to his short and pathetic normal state. He didn't seem to be out of energy or anything. Was there someone like Gemma around? That sudden painful loss of such a powerful mutation seemed really weird. However Andrew didn't feel one iota of sympathy for the sad little man and so paid him no more mind. His attention went to the girl that had arguably saved everyone's bacon. She was still bleeding from the bullet wound as she gurgled a thanks for his efforts and muttered something about a cute girlfriend.

The girl collapsed then and hit the pavement before he could catch her. His companion dashed to her side and did her best to tend to her. She told the other girl that she needed to stay awake. Andrew stood there in silence and watched her do what little she could. At least until she noticed the man responsible for the whole thing. His companion surprised him then. She stood with a rage on her face that Andrew was glad wasn't directed at him. The verbal assault she delivered was impressive enough. Then she punched the guy. Andrew suppressed a laugh at that. The same girl who had been advising him not to get into the fight hauled off and hit the former bruiser. Not only that but she managed a decent one-liner to the guy afterward.

Andrew walked over to where the red-head lay on the ground and picked her up. His face contorted and he grunted in pain but managed to get the girl off of the ground. She needed medical attention. It looked like another visit to DocProf was in order. Andrew swore he saw the man too often. With the girl in his arms Andrew walked over to his companion.

"Come on. We should get out of here. The cops have enough to do as is and she needs help."

Considering the shape that the group was in Andrew figured the cops could just track them down later for their statements about the incident. Maybe one of the police on scene could give them a ride to the Mansion.

Continues here!