Dr. Black was as good as his earlier chatter. Not only did he compliment her work as Hamlet hit the stage with a bullet in his cranium but he was going to create a fuss in order to allow her to escape. A strange man no doubt but Mina was grateful to him as he plummeted into the orchestra. More mutant than man really. She busied herself with putting the gun back into it's hiding place. The cops would find it later when they combed the box for clues but it would have nothing of her on it. She took a moment to admire the doctor's work in the floor below before leaving the box. He was facing off against the man who had been carrying a red lollipop earlier in the evening. Over the din of panicking citizenry Mina vaguely heard "under arrest!" Whoever he was, he was a cop.

Cosmina backed into the shadows at the rear of the booth and prepared to act the part of the panicked bystander. One deep breath and she plunged out into the chaos of the halls. The screams were softer out, though that wouldn't last as people flooded the halls in search of an exit. Mina ran for the lobby and assumed a frightened expression. Upon running into someone she forced herself to freeze like a deer in headlights. The man, for it had been a man, was trying to evacuate people.

"Are you alright miss?"

Mina's voice held a frightened quaver when she spoke.

"I-I sat with him! That Thing! Oh god he could have killed me!"

It was a performance just short of tears but it managed to gain the man's sympathy. His arm slid around her shoulder.

"It's alright. You made it this far and it is still in the theater. The cops are on their way and they'll arrest it and you'll be safe."

All Mina could think was that it was far too easy.

Dr. Black answered the officer with a bout of maniacal laughter both horribly cliché and terribly amusing. Well, amusing to the doctor himself at least. He really didn't know what anyone else might think of it. The theatrics of his grand entrance had been similarly comic from the good doctor's perspective, but the audience at large seemed to have taken him rather more seriously.

"I'm afraid my various appendages are going to remain down here with us, if you don't mind. Even if you do mind, come to think of it." Reginald took a few careful steps to his side, putting him between the officer and the crowd which now choked the theater's halls even more than when they had been entering. At this rate, there was no telling how long they would be stuck in those little archways. "Between the two of us, I think this will be far more entertaining than throttling a few innocent civilians anyway."

The good doctor twisted the tentacles of his right arm together, pulling the claws at their ends into a parody of his human hand. He clasped his new limb around the handle of the cane strapped to his belt, and drew the rapier from his side.

"You don't know me, of course, but I'm always curious. Why exactly do you feel the need to apprehend me? To protect the little helpless humans around us? Perhaps to satisfy you own sense of justice? Or is it just your occupation? I find that last answer quite dull, to be honest, but sadly it's the most likely one. Real morality of any kind is so rare, don't you think? You must have more opportunity to observe humanity's imperfection than most, after all."

Hopefully that would pique the officer's interest, or at least irritate him enough to respond. A duel of wits was difficult to conduct if one's opponent did not engage. Just in case, Dr. Black raised his blade to en garde in preparation for another kind of duel.

The screams that tore through the air gathered into a thick cloud around the detective’s head. People were scrambling, trying to separate themselves from the scene of death that was on stage and the terrible monster that now barred their way. To anyone else, they would have gotten swept up in the panic, but the good detective instead kept his eyes focused intently on the creature in front of him. Years of training had conditioned him to keep his focus and, most importantly of all, a level head.

>> "I'm afraid my various appendages are going to remain down here with us, if you don't mind. Even if you do mind, come to think of it…Between the two of us, I think this will be far more entertaining than throttling a few innocent civilians anyway."

Fists clenched, he could have kicked himself for not bringing his gun with him, he knew better. But then again, how many tentacled creatures attacked theaters?

Heh, this was New York. He definitely should have known better. But thankfully, the water-bender could feel the many sources of water around him, scattered throughout his influence’s radius. Subtly he began to move them closer to one another to get a more viable source of water to pull from.

>> "You don't know me, of course, but I'm always curious. Why exactly do you feel the need to apprehend me? To protect the little helpless humans around us? Perhaps to satisfy you own sense of justice? Or is it just your occupation? I find that last answer quite dull, to be honest, but sadly it's the most likely one. Real morality of any kind is so rare, don't you think? You must have more opportunity to observe humanity's imperfection than most, after all."

The mutant pulled a rapier from the cane tucked into its belt. Jorge had to wonder at how melodramatic that felt. All the creature needed now was a handlebar mustache to twirl between his fingers.

Jorge shifted his foot back as he strengthened his position to either hold his ground to leap out of the way if necessary. He really did not like the looks of this guy, or anything he had to say. If experience here in New York taught him anything it was never underestimate an opponent.

He remained unfazed by the man’s speech and instead continued to pool water together, hidden in the shadows and around the seats.

“Take your pick of answer,” the detective smirked. He really wasn't the type to monologue. “All are pretty much accurate.” he shrugged as he kept his eyes on him. “That why you killed Hamlet? To prove a twisted point?”

"Not so much to prove a point as to observe the consequences. I could have anticipated a terrible panic, of course, people running about going who knows where as long as its not here, et cetera. Fortunately, though, something vaguely interesting happened. Someone refused to put up with this nonsense, and here we are." Strictly speaking, Dr. Black had not killed anyone, but it was more amusing to continue playing along for the time being. "Sadly, for you at least, I am not quite finished yet."

Stepping still closer to the fleeing crowd, who in their hurry to leave had stopped paying attention to the good doctor himself in favor of preventing each other from leaving as completely as possible, Reginald threw out his left arm's tendrils behind his back. Almost all of his spare mass had to be put into those ever lengthening tentacles before they closed around a very small neck. When his appendages snapped back to his side, dragging the neck with them, he found that its owner was no more than a girl, a brunette who could not have been older than thirteen. In truth, Reginald found himself wonder why she was even here.

A rather gaunt elderly man answered him by turning and crying out "Melissa!" That, presumably, would be his captive's name.

Melissa was no less helpful in identifying her older associate. "Just go, granddad! I'll find you at our bench in Grand Central."

How touching. After all, such sentimentality was more likely to work in Dr. Black's favor than against it. Just to make the point, he raised the edge of his sword to the girl's throat. "Well, officer, I believe your choices should be quite clear to you, since I am as eager to escape this lovely event unscathed as you are. I look forward to your decision."

Meanwhile, Melissa glared up at him with undisguised disgust. The child's silent audacity, foolish though it was, pleased him. Dr. Black pulled his captive closer, and whispered a few words that he hoped the officer would not hear. "I doubt you'll believe me, but you're perfectly safe. In all honesty, I would be more worried about what the man across from me will do."

>> "Not so much to prove a point as to observe the consequences. I could have anticipated a terrible panic, of course, people running about going who knows where as long as its not here, et cetera. Fortunately, though, something vaguely interesting happened. Someone refused to put up with this nonsense, and here we are…Sadly, for you at least, I am not quite finished yet."
Jorge watched, focused entirely on the man in front of him. He could hear the rambling of the crowds around him and all he wanted to do was to get everyone out of here safely. Citizens, bystanders, whatever you call them, in these situations they were little more than possible hostages.

And to prove that point, the detective caught the suddenly movement. He stepped forward as he watched one of the man’s arms extend out to impossible lengths, a swirling mass of tendrils and tentacles. Screams issued forth, the name “Melissa” rang out, and suddenly a third piece in this little chess game was added. The detective watched helpless as a young teenager, no more than thirteen or fourteen, suddenly found herself at the mercy of the killer in front of him.

Jorge stepped forward and that was when the blade was pressed to the throat of the younger girl. Immediately he stopped as he glared at the man, keeping his control over the water that was nearby.

>> "Well, officer, I believe your choices should be quite clear to you, since I am as eager to escape this lovely event unscathed as you are. I look forward to your decision."

Eyes narrowed, he locked eyes with the victim in the man’s grasp and watched as he leaned down to whisper something that inaudible to her. He gulped he watched on. He hated standoffs like this since more times than he could count, the criminal never kept their word. If there was one thing that the detective did not want was for an innocent bystander to get hurt.

Coward. That was all the creature was to him. But he had to judge the situation as carefully as he could. If he attacked, he was sure that the girl would pay the price. If he didn’t, there was a chance the creature would let her go but there was an equal chance he could never see her again.

Glaring, he slowly relaxed his position and no longer looked as if he were going to go on the attack. Instead he merely watched as if willing the man to make his move to exit.

The eyebrows residing on Reginald's face rose of their own volition. This little twitch was hardly intentional, merely a product either of the good doctor's disbelief or his curiosity. Reginald himself was unsure which emotion he was actually feeling. "Not what I expected, officer."

Tentacles uncoiled from the girl's neck and the blade fell from her throat, returned to its scabbard with an audible hiss of metal. Still she looked up at Dr. Black with contempt, evidently not trusting his merciful gesture. Very wise. Her concern, however, was unnecessary. "Much obliged, Melissa. You may be on your way. It seems you had nothing to worry about after all." Quite shortly she was gone, dashing off into the crowd without another glance at him.

"Well then, officer, I believe this is goodnight. Although, I can't help wondering if policemen believe in that sort of honor." Dr. Black retracted his remaining tentacles, gripping the lapels of his tailcoat with freshly human hands. He then strode past the officer, headed for the stage. There was bound to be a backstage entrance somewhere, nearly all theaters had them. As he passed, Dr. Black left the other man with a parting comment. "Now, I think, we find out who you really are."

>> "Not what I expected, officer."

The detective said nothing and merely watched as the creature released the young girl and sent her scurrying off back to her family. To Jorge that was really all that mattered. So long as the innocent was safe then it didn’t matter what happened next.

The creature, though, seemed perplexed by Jorge’s actions. Why? Did he really just not expect Jorge to hold up his word about wanting to keep people safe? Or did he think he was simply a fool for trusting in the word of a cold-blooded killer? After all, how many times has criminals promised that no one would get hurt in return for their safe escape only to harm or kill their hostage? It was a gambit that Jorge played and, in his eyes, had won. The girl was safe now. But how many lives would be threatened now that the beast was given permission to simply leave?

The detective eyed him closely, his posture strong and resilient but not making a single move to attack him. Instead Jorge just grounded himself and clenched his teeth as the man waddled on by…


>> "Well then, officer, I believe this is goodnight. Although, I can't help wondering if policemen believe in that sort of honor…Now, I think, we find out who you really are."

Jorge bared his teeth in return but, again, he didn’t raise a fist to strike him. Instead he let him simply walk by. It was only when he felt the presence of the monster disappear that Jorge pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Quickly he dialed the precinct…Mutant Related Crimes division…

“Yes, this is Detective Cervantes. There has been a incident…” he began to explain…