Continued from this thread

The puppy dog pout was just about the most evil expression known to mankind. If there was even a shred of decency or humanity in your soul you couldn't resist them given enough time and skill. Unfortunately for Andrew he was highly susceptible to this particular form of persuasion. It was likely due to his good nature. However this particular puppy dog pout was used on him at an inopportune time from a person that he didn't know that well. That reduced it's effectiveness. Andrew succumbed in minutes as opposed to seconds if he'd been in a better mood and it was used by someone he knew.

About halfway down the hallway to the living room Andrew sighed and stopped in his tracks. He peeled the tattered shirt off and handed it over to Rhythm as Lydia had requested with her pout. At that moment Andrew decided that women would be the death of his sanity. Clearly they'd already had a significant effect if he was making promises and giving up his shirt to a girl he hadn't known for even a handful of hours yet.

Of course the short time that he had known her had been pretty hectic. Meeting Lydia again, the attack from the spiked mutant, getting injured, Rhythm appearing, Rhythm getting shot, the mutant getting subdued, and then finally getting back to the mansion for healing. Even getting healed up had been an adventure of sorts since Rhythm had been obstinate. Now they were headed up the hallway to living room to meet with an MRC cop for questioning. Andrew could only hope it was Jorge. He could count on Jorge not to be harsh enough to cause Andrew trouble. After all he was now stuck protecting Rhythm as per his promise. He wasn't happy about it at all but it had been quicker than the alternatives and frankly he just wanted this day to be done with.

Ashley wasn't too sure (she wasn't a good judge of people's facial expressions, merely their body language) but to her it looked like Andrew was angry. Not livid, but more frustrated or annoyed. As they began to walk to their destination she wondered if she had anything to do with it. She thought back and came up with nothing a few moments later...except maybe poking his chest. She knew people didn't generally like being poked in the chest and told herself she would apologize when this whole thing was over. After her shower and new shirt...

...right as one appeared in front of her. Andrew wasn't really looking at her (still angry) and she took the article of clothing without any protest. She was grateful, after all, and knew that under any other circumstances she would be blushing like crazy like she normally did. Why she wasn't now was a mystery, but she attributed it to almost dying and having the cute girl and Andrew save her after the metal mutant had knocked her out. She felt comfortable around them, to be honest, as neither one of them had yet to try and screw her in any way, shape or form. To someone who lived like Ashley did it was damn near a miracle they didn't seem to want anything in return either.

She slipped on Andrew's shirt and blinked a moment before she took the collar of her shirt and held it up to her nose, taking a sniff before letting it drop.

“Smells like...guy.” Ashley muttered a little louder then she intended. Well...there was that blush. The guy had given up his shirt to help her retain her modesty and here she was complaining about the smell? She huffed a moment as she fought the blush away, opting to look at the floor instead of her companions. “Hn. Not bad thing. Just...strong. Like...hm. Old Spice. I think.”

And she only knew that because when she stole bath products that was her preferred stick of deodorant. The woman's sticks just never appealed to her. She took the short again and smelled. Who knew guys that showered could smell so good?

It took a few minutes, but eventually Andrew came around and took off his shirt. He still had a sour-puss look on his face as he handed the battered article of clothing to Rhythm, but Lydia was pleased nonetheless. Partially because she was beginning to appreciate how nice he really was, and partially because the view wasn’t so bad. Ahem. Rhythm took the shirt and pulled it on, apparently taking a whiff of it as she did so.

>> “Smells like...guy. Hn. Not bad thing. Just...strong. Like...hm. Old Spice. I think.”

The teenager couldn’t help but crack a smile at this adorable comment. Old Spice, eh Andrew? She thought, raising an eyebrow. I guess hero-types have to smell good too. The redhead seemed a little embarrassed at her comment but Lyd gave her a reassuring look. She thought she might like having Rhythm around more often, especially if she was going to keep being cute like that.

But quickly Lydia’s smile disappeared as they finally arrived in the living room. Sitting on an arm chair situated right in front of a couch made for three (she wondered if they had really shifted around the furniture for the interview) was a middle-aged man, apparently the detective mentioned before. He didn’t look particularly gruff or mean, but appearances could be deceiving. Mutant Related Crimes… Were they for mutants, or against them? The skin-shifter sighed as the trio neared the detective, and she waited to be told what to do.

Detective Jorge Cervantes sighed as he sat against the arm of a chair, looking over a report for the incident that he was following up on. Apparently some mutant downtown had run amok, causing havoc left and right. Surprising MRC had not been able to respond quick enough. The regular police officers attempted to stop the mutant but it took a lot of work before they were finally able to bring him down. Jorge could not think of why he had not received that call. Normally he was one of the first on scenes like that but for some reason, this time, his phone never rang…

…why was he kept out of the loop on this one?

Jorge shook his head as he went over the report thoroughly. Three mutants joined into the fray, attempting to distract or take the man down to secure the safety of the patrons of a coffee shop. Because of them a lot of people were going to be able to go home tonight. Those were the three he was going to be speaking to right now. They seemed to be in the battle from the beginning so it would be good to have an eyewitness actually remember what happened.

With a sigh he shook his head as he drank from a cup of coffee that he had managed to make himself when he came in. Thankfully since he had been seeing Gemma more often, he was able to help himself to the kitchen facilities—and today he definitely needed the jolt of caffeine. Another sip and he sighed a bit contentedly.

Normally Jorge only visited the school when he had a date with Gemma or an appointment with DocProf, but one the rare occasion he came here for official business. This was one of those rare times. He hated mixing his work with this place, especially since it did so much good and the last thing its image needed was regular visits from the police. But it was his duty. Besides, it was better that he handle this part of the investigation rather than some close-minded fool like Officer Alderman.

Before long he heard the scuffling of shoes and Jorge looked up to the entrance of the living room. He did not have to wait long because soon after he heard the scuffling of feet, he looked up to see two familiar faces and one he did not recognize in the least.

First of all, there was Andrew, obviously the trouble maker here, standing with two other young ladies and missing a shirt (go figure). It had been a long time since Jorge had seen Andrew, the last was after the conclusion of his trial. Since then both had simply been too busy with their own things to contact one another. Of course though, he had to find himself in this mess…

He nodded to his boxing student.

"Andrew, nice to see you as always."

The second he recognized was the young lady wearing a shirt that was entirely too large for her, more than likely Andrew’s. She he recognized from months back. Though it had only been a quick meeting, she had aided in the capturing of criminals from a mugging. He never got to learn her name, but if there was one thing that the good detective was known for was remembering a face…

The last in this trio was a girl he did not recognize in the least. She was young and seemed to be giving him the once over with her eyes. Was she scared of him? Maybe she was just tired at their ordeal and she did not want to have to deal with any more police officers. Whatever the case, Jorge showed no visible expression back as the three walked into the room.

Another sip and Jorge stood from the arm of his chair and greeted the three of them with a nod.

“Hello." he said as he set his mug down. "You three seem to have an exciting story to tell,” he said as he motioned to the sofa so they could sit. “I’m Detective Cervantes of the MRC, I know you all must be tired, but I need statements. Most eyewitnesses are either too frazzled or came in too late to know what happened.” He waited until they were seated as he pulled a notepad and pen from his coat pocket. “So, if you three can tell me what happened, I’m sure we can all bury this day behind you all as soon as possible so you can all get some rest well deserved rest.”

It was Jorge. He'd nicked a cup of coffee from the kitchen next door and was waiting for them. Well hopefully this would go smoothly since it was Jorge doing the questioning. The man had his professional attitude on. All Andrew got, even considering his state of dress, was a nod and a 'nice to see you'. It had been a while since he'd seen the man. While Andrew waited for the girls to sit down and/or get comfortable he nodded back at Jorge.

"Likewise Jorge, though I wish this were an off duty meeting rather than on duty."

Andrew got himself situated in a chair. There was no point to staying standing longer than he had to. While he got to sitting down Jorge introduced himself and got down to business. Andrew sighed.

"Well, introductions first. The two lovely ladies are Lydia and Rhythm." Andrew motioned to each girl as appropriate, "I wouldn't exactly call it exciting. There are better words for that attack. Horrifying and horrible come to mind."

Andrew frowned.

"No idea what the creep was doing there other than causing trouble. Anyway, Lydia and I were having coffee in that cafe. It was fairly crowded. Then old Spikes comes strutting up the street wreaking mayhem. Tosses a car at a bus. Of course the people in the cafe gasp and scream. That gets his attention and the next car goes right through the glass storefront of the cafe. At least a few people got trapped under it."

Here Andrew stopped and looked at Jorge.

"Did they manage to save those folks? There wasn't much we could do since I'm not particularly strong and I'm not DocProf either."

He wasn't expecting a happy answer. With luck maybe a couple of those people had lived. However he wanted to know. Especially since he hadn't been able to do anything about it.

'Santa?' Ashley thought as she looked at the man sitting on the couch.

Ashley cocked her head slightly as she crossed her arms. Sure, it had been awhile but it wasn't everyday you saw a cop in a Santa outfit. Plus, the old guy had a pretty recognizable face. It was hard and gentle at the same time, something Ashley had never really seen before until she met DocProf not five minutes earlier. It was a face that saw much but still held out hope that things would get better. The thought took Ashley back to that first night she had ran into those interesting people in that alleyway, especially the singer and the pretty one who's name she never got...

The redhead listened to Santa Cop (she didn't get his name last time) go through his intro like it was something he did every day (he probably did) and took a seat on the armrest of the chair Andrew was sitting on. The old guy had a soothing voice, something Ashley was fairly certain made him a good cop for situations just like these. In fact, everything about him made Ashley wanna spill her guts. Was that his mutant power? If so, that was cheating!! Ashley knitted her eyebrows, trying to remember the last time they met to get any scrap of information. She got nothing, though.

She sat there as Andrew talked, explaining everything that happened and asking of the victims of the attack were okay. Ashley scowled for a moment. She didn't even think of those people. She felt slightly guilty, truth be told, but didn't really feel shame. Sure, she mainly went after the cute girl to see if she was alright, but her and her boyfriend (Andrew) turned out alright. An her? She got shot for her trouble but the people that were charged to 'Protect and Serve'. She knew now (even if Andrew didn't have to explain it and get a promise from him) that she wasn't going to get shot again because of this particular cop, but she was still a tad heated. What if DocProf wasn't there? What if there wasn't a healer like him on hand? Things could have turned out VERY differently.

Ashley, for some reason, took the neck of her (Andrew's) shirt and put it over her nose. The smell was comforting, really. Andrew was a nice guy, and the smell of 'Nice Guy' must have spread to his clothes. She knew the cop had questions for her, but she really didn't want to speak. She wasn't good at it and really didn't want to show hos socially inept she was because of her lack of proper education. So instead she pretended that she was off in her own little world and looked to the ground. Maybe Santa Cop wouldn't need her statement, or whatever he wanted.

Andrew was friends with the cop. Somehow that wasn’t surprising. It seemed Rhythm recognized the man as well, but she didn’t say anything. Lydia tried to keep her face neutral as the detective introduced himself and explained what he needed to do. He seemed nice enough, she supposed, but she stayed silent. Andrew sat down on a chair and introduced the two girls to Detective Cervantes, once again demonstrating his familiarity with him. He continued to give a general explanation of what happened back at the café, which was completely fine with the skin-shifter. In fact, she preferred that he do all the talking.

Rhythm took a seat as well, leaving Lyd to stand awkwardly by herself. Fidgeting with her hair, the teenager quickly sat down on the sofa next to the other chair. She took one of the fluffier looking pillows and hugged it, resting her chin on the top edge. She probably looked juvenile or silly, but she needed to feel some sort of comfort in her uncomfortable situation. The redhead seemed to be spacing out as she covered her nose with the collar of Andrew’s shirt. Lydia let slip a little smirk as she watched. Maybe she didn’t look so silly.

>> "Did they manage to save those folks? There wasn't much we could do since I'm not particularly strong and I'm not DocProf either."

She immediately looked up at the question, at the detective. She waited and watched for his answer, she really wanted to know as well. Horrific, bloody images threatened to flash through her memory, but she kept them away. She couldn’t break down in front of them.

>> "Well, introductions first. The two lovely ladies are Lydia and Rhythm…I wouldn't exactly call it exciting. There are better words for that attack. Horrifying and horrible come to mind."

Jorge proceeded to write down the names of the unknown young women and made sure to keep them memorized. Rhythm he remembered from a long while ago, but she had dropped out of his radar so he knew nothing about her since that incident where she saw him dressed as Santa. Andrew Jorge knew only too well, but the other girl, Lydia, he knew nothing about. Eyewitness reports have her at the scene, attempting to help out but other than that, she was a stranger. He hoped that she would be willing to talk to the police and cooperate right now.

The police force was in desperate need of it, especially with ole Spikes rampage and what his defense was cooking up. But, before he went into any of that, he needed to hear this trios side of the story.

>> "No idea what the creep was doing there other than causing trouble. Anyway, Lydia and I were having coffee in that cafe. It was fairly crowded. Then old Spikes comes strutting up the street wreaking mayhem. Tosses a car at a bus. Of course the people in the cafe gasp and scream. That gets his attention and the next car goes right through the glass storefront of the cafe. At least a few people got trapped under it."

Throughout Andrew’s explanation, and he seemed to be the only one talking right now, Jorge listened intently and took down as many notes as he could. It seemed fairly straightforward, random mutant goes nuts, these three get caught in the crossfire. They don’t know how it starts, but they help out whoever they can in the process. Maybe they are the next generation of masked, mutant powered vigilantes. Jorge would not have put it past them. It someone with a lot of guts, and few marbles, to stand up to a mutant like ole Spikes.

Still…it did leave them vulnerable.

As he wrote, the detective glanced to each of the two girls and noted their behaviors. Rhythm seemed to be hiding inside her shirt, reminding him of a turtle; while Lydia was hugging a pillow for comfort. It was obvious that neither one of them were comfortable talk to him and for a moment he felt bad for that. Cops tend to get a bad name in dealing with mutants so it makes it that much harder when one who genuinely wants to help gets stonewalled because of prejudices. He hoped they could all get past it…


>> "Did they manage to save those folks? There wasn't much we could do since I'm not particularly strong and I'm not DocProf either."

Jorge smiled and nodded as he looked away from his notepad. “Some people were badly hurt, but everyone is being treated right now. To be honest I can’t imagine the devastation had you not intervened when you did.” He sighed as he jotted and final note and looked up. “Okay, so I’m going to need statements from you two ladies as well. I need as much cooraborating statements as I can, because, unfortunately, Spikes has already lawyered up.” The detected said a little distastefully. “I know how these types of lawyers work. I would rather we have a cohesive eyewitness account in order to stop him if he tries something stupid. It may sound silly but it seems as if the Spike’s lawyer may try to put the blame on any mutants involved and claim he was simply defending himself.”

Neither of the girls said anything while he talked. Rhythm was quiet as she sat on the chair arm. Lydia was just as quiet though the quality of the silence was different. Rhythm seemed calm, if not entirely comfortable or at ease with the situation. Lydia on the other hand still looked a bit frightened. Andrew couldn't really blame her much. It had been a hard day and dealing with cops was never easy. Even when you did know them personally. Lydia was a stranger in a strange land and a strange situation. Andrew shot her a brief smile before turning a serious look back to Jorge as he talked.

As Jorge spoke Andrew went through what could be described as an emotional version of whiplash. He was relieved that the people had survived. Andrew hadn't liked leaving them under the car like that but the fact that they were at least alive helped. Then Jorge told them about Spikes. Specifically that he'd lawyered up already and was looking to throw blame at them! The longer Jorge spoke the more Andrew's fingers dug into the upholstery of the chair arm that Rhythm didn't inhabit.

"Let me get this straight. That...filth injures lord knows how many people, cops among them because I can't imagine your people got away from that fight without injuries; does major damage to the portion of the city he went nuts on; and nearly chokes the life out of Rhythm here and he's claiming self defense?!"

Andrew barely kept his voice below a yell. He was loud because he was mad. That was exacerbated by the promise he'd made to Rhythm. Andrew couldn't quite forgive the slime for hurting her thanks to that promise.

"Ask any of your people on the scene whether or not he was acting in self defense when he threw a car at a bus full of people. Ask the people in the cafe whether it was self defense when he trapped them beneath a car. Ask Rhythm here how much it hurt when he choked her."

Andrew was into a full blown rant now at the thought of that thing getting off with self defense. It wasn't Jorge's fault and he knew it. Still, he needed to make it abundantly clear that it wasn't self defense. He turned his back toward Jorge just enough so the man could see the new set of scars he'd obtained.

"Or how about me? I got that from him when I was trying to get one of the other customers in the cafe away from him. Lydia and I were evacuating the cafe so that he wouldn't have as many targets and he definitely didn't look scared or anything else I'd associate with self defense. The sleeze was smirking the whole time. He enjoyed what he was doing Jorge."

Andrew took a breath.

"Sorry Jorge, didn't mean to yell at you. You know anyone who could exile all lawyers to another dimension? Preferably a hell dimension. I'm beginning to hate them."

It wasn't that Ashley was bored with the conversation, but for some odd reason the thought of why Andrew's shirt smelled so good seemed to be dominating her thoughts and concentration. It really was a rather attractive smell, and Ashley smiled (her smile hidden by the shirt) as she breathed in and out. She did this a few times, listening to Santa's talk on something or other about the mutant she had fought earlier that day. She only caught every other word but, really, the whole thing didn't seem to be her problem, being as relaxed as she was...

...until Andrew began to yell, but not yell.

It was controlled, Ashley thought, as she watched the shirtless man go on about...well, something. Her surrogate father had told her more then one (like, a trillion) times not to sell herself short when it came to things like her intelligence but at the moment the whole conversation seemed over her head. Either that or she was too lazy to be bothered. She usually didn't attribute herself to being lazy, but for the past few minutes she had been breathing a smell of a shirt that was comforting her. So yeah, maybe this time.

When Andrew finished he looked mightily upset, and that bothered Ashley. She reached out and put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, narrowing her eyes at Santa.

“Santa...we helped.” she stated bluntly, not caring if she got the cops name right. He'd always be Santa to her anyways. “And..I'm shot.” Ashley stood up and lifted her (Andrew's) shirt. “Right here, in tummy. By cops. You people.” Ashley let the shirt fall. “We helped. We fought. He attacked, first. I wanted to protect...”

Ashley blinked as she stood there, pointing a finger at the cute girl before coughing, an embarrassed look on her face.

“The, ummm...cute girl.”

The people were okay? There were no casualties? That was such a relief! Everything her mind had cooked up was for a false alarm, no one was dead. Just injured, which could be fixed at the hospital or with someone like DocProf. Not to say the whole encounter hadn’t been frightening of course, some of the edge had just been taken off. She let out an audible sigh, but cut it off as the detective explained that she would need to speak as well. He explained that Spikey/Spikes had “lawyered up” and might try to claim he was acting out of self-defense. Lydia was no expert on legal matters, so she didn’t understand much of what the detective was saying, other than that her oral account was absolutely necessary to prevent the criminal from trying that argument. It seemed Andrew did understand Detective Cervantes, as he burst into a tirade.

A very angry, upset, frustrated tirade.

She wondered how he managed to keep himself from yelling with that much fury in his words. The amount of emotion surging from him was kind of scary, but Lyd tried not to shrink away from it. If anything, she agreed with a lot of what he was saying. The idea that that villainous mutant would try to place the blame on other mutants was absurd. How would it even work? It was so obviously his fault…all the damage, all the pain. How could he even think about trying to get away scot-free? Her blood began to boil as well, but she refrained from commenting or adding on until after Andrew was done.

The skin-shifter cringed a little when he showed off the scars on his back, acquired from Spikes, to further demonstrate his point. She hadn’t really noticed them before, even when he had peeled off his shirt, but her eyes couldn’t help but stare at them now. She had never gotten hurt like that before, never had her back slashed by a rampaging mutant and his sharp metal spikes. She wondered how the promise-keeper had kept going after that, how he had taken charge of the situation.

When he was finished, she opened her mouth to give her statements, but Rhythm began before she could, her hand on Andrew’s shoulder.

>> “Santa...we helped. And..I'm shot. Right here, in tummy. By cops. You people. We helped. We fought. He attacked, first. I wanted to protect...The, ummm...cute girl.”

Santa…? So she did know Detective Cervantes, albeit in a strange way. Lydia raised an eyebrow, confused. Both of them went up when the redhead finished her account. C-cute girl…? She charged in to protect me? The teenager was touched, really she was, and she looked up at Rhythm to give her a warm smile. At the same time, she felt kind of…guilty. It was her fault that the other girl had gotten hurt, even if she hadn’t known at the time. If only she had tried harder to stop Rhythm from rushing in at the coffee shop, maybe she could’ve prevented her from getting choked by Spikey or shot by the stray bullet.

She sighed again. She guessed it was her turn to speak, then. “I’m going to say what Andrew and Rhythm have already said but, so…um, so I was at the café and bumped into Andrew. We were just talking when that crazy sonofa***** flipped and started lifting up cars and chucking them everywhere,” she cleared her throat, “We tried to help people get out the back entrance when Spikes noticed and decided to ah, hurt Andrew. Rhythm came in and tried to fight the guy, she got in a few good hits actually, until he grabbed ahold of her. Then, uh, as she’s already said, she got hit with a bullet accidentally. We went to go help her when Spikes suddenly started de-shifting or something, I don’t know.” She finished, a little out of breath. Were they done yet?

Jorge was prepared for it…or…at least he thought he was. He was ready to face the ranting of an upset Andrew over the idea of possibly being sued by the criminally inclined mutant. He really did not expect it at this level. The boy had absolutely blown his top and seemed to have trouble reeling himself in. Jorge, though, did nothing to stem it. Instead, the man simply watched and waited for Andrew to gather himself, gain some composure. He knew the kid was not really mad at him, but he could understand where the anger was coming from. Just the idea that such a psycho could even plausibly think of such a defense made his head hurt.

The detective could only shake his head as he looked over the kid’s wounds and proceeded to jot down a quick note of that. He was going to need every scrap of evident he could if wanted to present the prosecutors with a solid argument.

>> "Sorry Jorge, didn't mean to yell at you. You know anyone who could exile all lawyers to another dimension? Preferably a hell dimension. I'm beginning to hate them."

A smirk marked his lips as he heard this. He had to admit that he had not heard a better idea in a very long time. It would certainly make the world a better place…

But as this thought crossed his mind, the redheaded girl by the name of Rhythm spoke up. She looked just as irritated by the news, but instead of exploding and ranting, her voice was hardened, cold, and cutting. Jorge once more began to take note.

>> “Santa...we helped…And..I'm shot…Right here, in tummy. By cops. You people…We helped. We fought. He attacked, first. I wanted to protect... The, ummm...cute girl.”

She was hurt, both emotionally and physically. Yes, the DocProf managed to heal her wounds, but that obviously did not make her feel better. He could definitely understand there that was coming from. She had jumped into the fray to help, and in the process gets shot (accidentally) by those who were sworn to help citizens in trouble. It was a demoralizing event to happen to anyone, he knew that all too well. Still there, he would make note of her discomfort with the police, as well as the fact that she had jumped in to help the other girl.

Jorge nodded appreciatively towards Rhythm.

“I apologize on behalf of the police for what you had to go through. There is simply no excuse for it,” Jorge said. “I do thank you for the assistance that you provided, though. It was very brave of you and you did manage to help a lot of people.”

But before he could offer to help with her situation, maybe if she wanted counseling or to get in touch with a city official…the last and most quiet of the trio spoke up.

Her voice was soft and for a second Jorge thought that maybe it was just the wind whispering…

>> “I’m going to say what Andrew and Rhythm have already said but, so…um, so I was at the café and bumped into Andrew. We were just talking when that crazy sonofa***** flipped and started lifting up cars and chucking them everywhere…We tried to help people get out the back entrance when Spikes noticed and decided to ah, hurt Andrew. Rhythm came in and tried to fight the guy, she got in a few good hits actually, until he grabbed ahold of her. Then, uh, as she’s already said, she got hit with a bullet accidentally. We went to go help her when Spikes suddenly started de-shifting or something, I don’t know.”

Her story clearly matched up with Andrew’s, as mused as he wrote down her statement as well. So far the prosecutor was going to be able to develop a solid case against Spikes if he tried anything stupid. Thankfully it seemed like all these kids were on the right page so he doubted the thug’s lawyer would be able to dig up against to defend that mutant with. At most he could blame the police…heh…good luck with that.

Jorge sighed as he jotted down the last note and set it back down on his thigh. He raised his head to look over the three and gave them a grateful smile for everything that they had done.

“Alright, I believe I have enough from the three of you.” he said. “You all look exhausted. Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll keep you informed if anything happens. It looks to me that Spikes doesn’t have a chance in hell of claiming self-defense so I wouldn’t worry about it.” His words were encouraging and he hoped that they would be after all that. “Thank you for your time.”