Hospitals. Never had Ashton been a really big fan. In and out, that was the way good people went. They didn't lurk. Henceforth was it proclaimed that as soon as the questioning was done, he would be gone.

Didn't seem like a tough situation. Some guy got injured. Hadn't put up a fight when people took him to the hospital. And he was injured, so it was unlikely he'd turn violent. But you never knew.

They'd found someone's purse on him. And he was a mutant. So MRC had been called. The police were just being cautious. Had called the situation murky. And that's why he was going to question the guy.

Okay. Was this the guy's room? Ashton glanced at the number, then dropped his eyes to the scrap of paper with the digits written on them. Glanced back up again. Confirmed.

He cracked the door, then swung his head on in to see what he could see.

He was wearing a jacket, leather. Not police blues. General detective stuff, with a badge pinned to his hip around the belt line. But it probably wouldn't be visible with his lower half hidden behind the door. He was just a concerned face at the moment. A concerned face and a single sentence.

"Anybody in?"

Alex was sitting in a chair within a hospital recovery room, quietly cursing himself for wanting to help out where he didn't belong, or was even wanted. Several hours ago he had been simply minding his own business when he witnessed a criminal steal someone's purse and then tried to run off... and Alex just had to give chase and attempt to stop him. He had managed to catch up and got the purse away from the criminal, but the crook had decked Alex and then jumped into a nearby car and started to drive it towards him in an attempt to turn Alex into road kill.

Restless, Alex stood up and started to pace around the recovery room, feeling rather stupid as he silently cursed himself again in a language that was unknown to anyone outside his family. When the car had came at him, Alex had used his mutation to escape injury, but what he had done was something he had never tried before... he had used his malachite dagger as a grappling hook. It had grabbed onto a light pole, then when he made the malachite shrink, it had pulled him along the ground and out of harm's way. Sadly though, the underside of his left upper arm, armpit, and left side of his torso had been badly scrapped up as a result of dragging himself across the pavement and up along the curb. His T-shirt had been ripped to shreds too. How his leather jacket survived with only light damage was rather inconceivable.

With a sigh, Alex glanced down at his left arm with a grim look in his eyes. He didn't require any stitching, but he did need medical attention to stop the bleeding and to clean out the wound. And now if he let his left harm hang loosely against his side then he basically had a wound rubbing against another wound... so despite his left arm and torso being bandaged up, it hurt like hell. Sure, he was allowed to wear his pants and shoes, but he wasn't allowed to wear his jacket at the moment, so the bandaged left side was visible, as was the custom tattoo on his right shoulder.

However, that wasn't the worst of it. When he had been brought to the hospital, the staff there had trouble believing his story about trying to stop a criminal, and were even more suspicious about the malachite dagger he was carrying. The MRC were suspicious about it too, so they had taken it away and were holding it somewhere within the hospital... or at least that's what Alex's was hoping. Where ever the dagger was, it was outside his 30 foot sensing range, so he couldn't hear the lovely chime that it always made for him. Having been listening to that chime for at least five months and then it was suddenly gone, the silence was almost maddening, which was the reason why Alex was so restless.

For now though, he was stuck in this room, and they didn't tell him why he was stuck there or what he was waiting for. All he knew was that he wanted to get out, find his malachite dagger Defiance, and get back to the motel with a large tub of ice cream, preferably Reese's flavored.

The sound of the door opening and someone asking if anyone was in made Alex jump lightly, then wince when a fresh spike of pain rush through his left arm and side. Biting his lower lip in pain, Alex turned around and saw a man with a concerned look on his face poking his head in the door. With a nod, Alex used his good right arm to motion the man in. "It's open. Come on in. What can I do for you?"

Someone was in. Well. He'd known that. Nurse had told him. So all he needed was permission to come in. Kid gave him that. Came in, Ashton did.

First thing he noticed was how banged up the kid was. He sympathized. He'd fallen off bikes before and skinned knees, amongst other things. He knew the guy's pain. Not by this many leaps and bounds, though. He hoped none of that would get in the way of straight answers.

Why the kid had had such a bigger shiny dagger like that, he wanted to know. Also, what the hell it was made out of would be good to know, too. The fact he hadn't hurt anyone trying to prevent them from taking it was a point in his favor, at least.

"My name is Detective Drake. I'm with MRC. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's alright." Ashton said. He brought up his badge and ID for a second, then lowered them back down to his side and clipped them away.

After Alex had granted permission to the man outside to come into Alex's hospital room, he couldn't help but notice that the man had a concerned look on his face, and Alex easily guessed why... after all, he was really bandaged up. However this man was the first person to actually act concerned about Alex's injury, but then again it was kinda common for doctors and nurses to have calluses when it came to their patients... other wise they would all be crying over a splinter.

Once the man introduced himself as Detective Drake and said that he wanted to ask Alex a few questions, he gave a small nod and pointed at the chair that was next to the bed. "Sure. Take a seat if you want to." Alex stated in response before sitting down on the bed and wincing again. "I'm Alexander Davis by the way. You know, you're the fourth person to want to ask me questions." Alex stated as he glanced around for an ice pack, but didn't see one. With a sigh, he turned back to Drake. "Lets see, I've talked to people about health insurance, the purse I had when I was picked up, the dagger I really need to get back, a criminal history that doesn't exist, and if I'm allergic to anything. Is what you want to know in one of those categories or is this about something that no one else has asked about yet?" Alex asked calmly. He wasn't trying to be rude at all, he was just annoyed with the whole situation that it was starting to ware down his nerves.

Ashton arched an eyebrow.

"One of those, yeah."

Him being a detective and all, it was sort of obvious which topics he'd go towards. But all the same, he gave the guy the benefit of being asked them, rather than assuming he'd know which.

"Were you mugging that lady when you got beat up? And what's the deal with the big knife?" Certainly wasn't small enough to be street-legal.

When Ashton responded to Alex's question by saying it was one of the topics that he had mentioned, Alex wasn't surprised in the least. He had actually expected that to be the response to be honest. So, when Ashton asked if he had been mugging the woman, Alex shook his head. "No sir, I wasn't mugging her. Another person had been, and without thinking I had rushed in to stop it. I managed to get the purse away from the real thief... but I didn't get a hold of him before he jumped into a car and tried to run me over..." Alex stated, then pointed at his bandaged side and arm. "This injury was a result of me using my mutation to get out of the way. Getting dragged across concrete is rather painful. Take my advice and don't try it..." Alex stated with a slight shrug.

At the mention of the large knife, Alex slowly nodded and sighed. "That is no ordinary knife, I'm sure you can tell that since it was carved out of a solid piece of gemstone called malachite. The name of that dagger is Defiance, and it's a family heirloom that my family put me in charge of watching over. Now, I don't have a permanent home here in New York City... only a small motel room, and I wasn't going to leave it there, so the only safe place for it is in my position. It's one of the most important heirlooms that my family has, so I really need it back. If you want, I can give you proof that it does in fact belong to my family and me." Alex stated.

This kid sounded like an X-man...

Sheesh. It was too stupid to have been made up. He'd double-check his sources, of course, but man. His gut told him, it had the ring of truth. Speaking of knives.

Dagger named Defiance. Ashton just about rolled his eyes. He didn't. But it was damn close.

"It's too big to be street-legal. You can't keep something that big concealed on you. Against the law." He looked at the kid seriously. "Might want to keep it some place safe like that motel room when you're out and about. Would have for someone to have to arrest you." He wasn't going to. Not today. Just a warning. A bit of common sense for him. Kid was beat up enough due to his own stupidity. No need to salt any wounds.

All of a sudden, there was a loud noise in the hall outside, not too far away. It sounded like someone was shouting 'salt.'

Ashton turned his head and arched an eyebrow. "What the hell?"

Trays clattered. A female voice screamed.

Alex leaned on his right arm as he listened to Ashton tell Alex that the Defiance was to large to be considered street legal, and he could be arrested for having it on him. When the policeman said that it had to be left in the motel room, Alex frowned to show his dislike of the idea, but he slowly nodded. "Very well... I will keep it inside the hotel room for now, at least until I get an apartment or a house that is." Alex stated, then looked off into the distance in thought. "I doubt I'll ever find a safe that I'll be satisfied with though..." Alex mumbled as he thought out loud, then his eyebrows went up when he realized a bit of a problem.

"Hm... there was one thing I neglected to tell you about that knife, and I think it might be required for you to know. What I told you was the secondary reason why I carry it. The primary reason is..." Alex stated, but he was interrupted by the sound of someone shouting what sounded like salt, followed by Ashton turning his head and trying to figure out what the sound had been. "What on Earth?" Alex stated after he heard a scream, and then his eyes widened when he saw that the door into his recovery room started to glow red.

"Look out!" Alex yelped as he grabbed Ashton and pulled him behind the bed and took cover there himself. The instant after they were both in cover, there was a loud bang, and pieces of the door went flying into the room, and imbedded themselves into the wall that was across from the door. If Alex hadn't grabbed Ashton, the cop would've been hit by the shrapnel. "Knock Knock! Anyone home? No? Darn. Oh well..." said a rather squeaky voice, followed by the sound of someone walking... or more like skipping away. It was only then that Alex let go of Ashton and peered up over the bed. An elderly man dressed in a patient's gown and holding a paint brush in one hand was prancing away from the remains of the door, which was now nothing more then a hole that was five feet wide.

A nurse limped up to the hole, and looked inside of the room with her pain visible on her face. "Are... are you alright?" she tried to say, but was having trouble because she was bleeding rather badly from her left leg.

Any day where a guy as banged up as this one saved Ashton's butt was a bad one. Ashton cursed. Usually, it was supposed to be him on top!

He heard everything happening from the ground. The explosion, the debris, voices.

He tore himself free of the injured guy's grips. He moved towards the nurse.

The woman was injured. Whoever it was, they'd hurt a nurse. A pretty one, too. They were on his list. Ashton grabbed a pillow up off the bed, tore off the case, and gave it to her. "Apply pressure." He said. "And you..." He didn't turn back to the guy who'd tackled him. Didn't look. Kept talking. "Stay here. Take care of her. Get her anything she needs. She's a nurse. She should know what that is."

He stepped away, and braced himself against the wall by the remains of the doorway. His hand dropped to his side for something. A walkie talkie. He brought it up to his face and spoke into it, calling for backup. Then, he drew his side arm and cautiously wound the corner.

"Whoever blew up that doorway. You're under arrest."

He kept the gun ready at his side.

Alex willingly let go of Ashton when the cop got up and headed towards the nurse. As the malachite manipulator got up using his good arm for support, his left arm and side were sore from jumping quickly like that. His injury was going to slow him down, that's for sure. However, this was the worst time possible to be nursing a wound. Ashton had just given him an order and Alex was going to follow it. "Be careful." Alex responded to the police officer as he headed towards the nurse as she pressed pillow case against her leg, but was being careful of a large fragment of glass that was in her hip.

"Sit... sit me down." the nurse said as Alex placed his good arm around the nurse's shoulder to support her. He slowly led her to the bed and gently sat her down, then quickly pushed the 'request nurse' button on the hospital bed. The nurse, whose name tag read Susana, pointed at a cabinet that had a pad lock on it. "Morphine bottle... and needle. My keys are right..." Susana started to say as she reached into her pocket, but panics when she can't find them. She then looks into the hallway to see the mutant with the paintbrush twirling her keys in his hands as he pranced down the hallway, using his paintbrush to decorate the wall on his right side with flowers... and strangely enough, when each painting was done, the painting seemed to turn into an actual flower that was growing out of the wall! For the moment, the mutant wasn't even aware of Ashton, even after the police officer said that the painting mutant was under arrest. "No..."

Alex quickly looked around the room and saw that on the floor were a few splinters of metal. He quickly picked up two of them with one hand, slid them both into the lock, and managed to pick the lock with one hand. Without stopping to admire his work, Alex flung open the cabinet doors and pulled out a capped needle and a bottle of morphine, and brought them back to the nurse. "Before you ask, I was a locksmith for at least three years. How much?" Alex stated as he sat down on the bed. The nurse replied by taking the bottle and needle, measured out the morphine, and injected herself with a very tiny amount. "That should help. Leave the glass in my leg. It's acting as a plug so my blood doesn't start pouring out." She stated and winced, then looked over at the mutant with a paint brush, whom had turned around and finally noticed Ashton.

"Oh! Hi there! You here to see my artwork? Okay! Here's a masterpiece! I call it 'hot time in the hallway!' Enjoy!" the mutant stated before painting one fireball in the center of the hallway with a bright red paint. The mutant then jumped back as the drawing erupted with flames that made it impossible for Ashton to follow the mutant or get a clear line of fire on him. It was so bright that Alex had to shield his eyes from the glare. "Ashton! There's a fire extinguisher two doors down to the left! I saw it when I was brought to this room!" Alex stated, then turned back to the nurse. "Who is this guy and how is he doing this??"

The nurse whimpered before answering. "My... my father. His mutation brings anything he paints into reality. He's mentally insane and thinks that the more people die from his paintings, the more beautiful it is. He's using my blood to fuel his paint brush." Susana said as the morphine started to kick in. Alex cursed under his breath and looked down the hall at the flames. He was in the middle of a disaster... all because he had tried to stop a robbery.