18 was an important year. It was the year when a person went from childhood to adulthood. It was the year when one was finally allowed to vote, to have a say in one's country. It was the year when one was supposed to actually gain the respect of the adults around, because it was the year when one went from being an outsider to actually being included in that most prestigious of positions in life. It should have meant a lot, the year of turning 18. It should have meant celebration and reflecting upon everything that had been accomplished in life so far and all those things that had yet to be accomplished. Yet for Skydancer, it was none of those things.

One year ago Skydancer, then known as Devyn Harley, had been forced to flee from her home for the protection of her family, her family which was one member fewer after human supremasts had attacked them and tried to kill them all. Why had they attacked? She still asked herself that question every single night but, wish as she might, she all ready knew the answer. They had attacked because she and her sister were mutants but, even more accurate, because she couldn't hide the fact that she was a mutant. Her skin was clear and underneath lay dozens of purple tubes, disturbing, inhuman and inhumanly disturbing. They had attacked because of her and because of that she had fled only she had fled too late to save her older brother. He had died and it was her fault because she had been too cowardly to leave sooner.

And today it was Skydancer's birthday. Her birthday was hardly a day of celebration. She found herself, at that moment, huddled miserably in an alley that smelt more than a little strongly of human eurine. It was drizzling and, although she had managed to find a small overhang to shelter under, she still found herself drenched and shivering with the cold. She had eaten this morning, or was it yesterday morning? It was hard to tell; the days had begun to blend together. She could remember eating recently though, erupting from her claimed corner of the world to scare a couple of tourists who had wandered a little too far off the beaten path and stealing their food. Yesterday, now that she really thought about it she was fairly certain that was yesterday. No wonder she was so hungry.

Perhaps the only advantage Skydancer had discovered in being a mutant was the fact that no one bothered her because they were all too frightened of her to try. Well, that and it wasn't as if she really disliked her power, if only she still looked human it would be wonderful. After all, the only thing she had everwanted to be growing up was a gymnist and a mutant. The first was forever forbidden her, but the second had become a reality. Unfortunately her dream had turned to ashes in her mouth as she discovered the bitter reality of being a mutant. When you couldn't hide what you were, people hated and feared you. You were an outside and, pure and simple, she knew she would be an outsider forever more. What kind of life could she ever hope to live now? Maybe she would be trapped in these alleyways forever, forced to beg and steal in order to mete out the most basic sort of survival.

"Happy birthday Devyn Harley," Skydancer whispered to herself, bitterness strong in her voice. This was her life now and her life amounted to absolutely nothing.

Aura was on the hunt, her hunts had grown wickedly more cruel and graphic in the past weeks. Learning more of her past Aura had found herself even more prone to the violent outbursts she had tried to stop by learning who she was. Aura did not understand it herself, but something in her felt the need to lash out to fight the only way she knew how, with raw violence. Aura had no solution to emotional issues other then actual violence or combat.

Aura had just walked from such a scene of violence, what she had don't to the old man, would have a serial killer lose their lunch. Aura did however feel better and in the end it was what mattered she also took solace in that Solkat her pet skunk, or as far as Aura was concerned a striped cat followed her like a dog. She bent down to pet the skunk who chose that moment to chase after a mouse it saw. With a soft sigh Aura let her aura form a faint pink glow around her body.

Aura saw the gnag member a second before he saw her, in that time, Aura was already sprinting to him and he only had enough time to bring his arms up in defence, the hammer however Aura merely punched the man in the stomach, Aura enhanced as it was the man doubled over but maintained enough of himself to speak.

"Don't kill me demon girl, i know something you might like. Theirs a mutant a few blocks over who makes her home in an alley...." he said. Aura considered the information and much to the man's surprise she turned and exited the alleyway without a word. Keeping to the shadow's even in the darkening sky, Aura followed the instructions and emerged into a similar Alleyway. Just as Aura was considering an unholy act to the man for lieing, she indeed found a rather beautiful Mutant, Aura could only stare in awe for a moment as she gazed upon her body.

"Hello, there, my name is Aura, i heard you lived here from a mongrel i met" Aura said blushing slightly as she looked over the girl once more. Aura fought a second to compose herself wondering what was wrong with her. "Can i ask what is a beautiful mutant like you can do?" She said as Aura lost her focus her Aura became a semi solid look that somewhat mirrored the curves of her body.

bringing her hand up Aura, formed a fly swatter, then an ice cream cone, and finally a hammer to demonstrate her power, hoping to make this mutant feel more at ease with her.

It was so easy for Skydancer to giver herself utterly up to despair. Her life was nothing now; she had no hope and nothing at all to live for. Not so long ago and she had been brimming with hope and nievety with all the plans in the world. Little did she know thatit all amounted to nothing and less. It would be so easy just to give up and let herself waste away into nothingness, but then she always had been too stubborn for her own good and as much as she might want to simply slip away into oblivion, she knew she never would. At least, she never would of herown free will.

"Hello, there, my name is Aura, i heard you lived here from a mongrel i met"

Skydancer looked up at the words, startled out of her own thoughts. For a moment she wondered why any human would ever want to approach her. Hadn't the other homeless ones learned by now that she was dangerous? She hadn't hurt any of them seriously, but more one she had left with sizable bruises and cuts. Then she noticed the faint pink glow and realized that, astonishingly, the woman was like her; a mutant. Perhaps not such a surprise given she had come to the city for just the reason that it was a known mutant hotspot, yet it was the first mutant she had yet encountered.

. "Can i ask what is a beautiful mutant like you can do?"

"I appreciate you not to stare at my disfigurement," Skydancer stated bluntly. Once she wouldn't have spoken so harshly, but then once she never would have believed that such ugliness could exist within humans. It wasn't the outer shell that mattered, wasn't the outer shell that made a person ugly, but the inner hidden self. And there were many people with ugly and corrupt inner selves.

"I'm sorry, I spoke harshly." The display of the strange pink power made Dragonfly realize that, perhaps, this strange young woman wasn't there to gape at her mutation after all. She stood up, joints stiff and sore, and engaged in a display of her own. A purple tube burst from her skin, eliciting only a faint cringe from her. She brought the tube close to the woman, displaying its razor sharp pointed end. Spotting a nearby stick, she sent the tube towards it, wrapping it around the stick and snapping it by exerting pressure along it. The tube then returned to her skin, the skin healing over perfectly in a matter of seconds.

"Th-that's what I do." Dragonfly couldn't help the chatter of her teeth at the cold, damp weather.

Oh... Dear god...

The X-man known as the Masochist was no stranger to violence; he'd killed countless murderers and similar scum under the guise of the Judge, most recently the night before... But this.

This was wrong. When he killed people, it was an act of judgement; the quick, nearly painless carrying out of a sentence. Who ever had killed the person before him was different. From what he could tell, it had been an old man, though that was only from the small bits of grey hair, and the broken pair of glasses carelessly thrown off to the side. Who ever did this took joy in it. His fists clenched.

Who ever did this was a monster. He considered secreting away to put on his Judge armor so he could find and kill this freak without a second thought... But the trail would go cold. No. He would have to do this as the Masochist, which meant he would have to try and put the suspect in jail.

Just the thought of it made him sick. He quickly notified the cops, and examined the scene, barely taking notice of a small blood trail leading away from the scene on the crime... That was his best bet.

Through sheer luck he ran into a gang member nursing a bruised rib. A quick inquiry told him that a rather violent young woman had headed off to meet another mutant. It was shaky, but it was his only lead.

He climbed to the rooftops for a better vantage point. He had a feeling any confrontation was going to get bloody; the element of surprise would be useful.

"It's ok, it was rude of me to stare i just find others of our kind to be so interesting. Mutations are unique to each person. Aura replied seemingly unfazed by the harsh words. She had been staring after all, but Aura also knew people living in such places could be touchy sometimes as well. Aura wnated to rescue her from this horrible living arrangement and bring her to Sanctuary which in Aura's humble opinion was the best place for their kind.

"That was wonderful, you have great versatility with those...." Aura struggled to find the word. " Such an amazing power you have there. How anyone could let you live in such a place is beound me. I can show you a place called Sanctuary if you like, for people like us, a place where only mutants are aloud and we can display our powers without shame" Aura said her voice a bit louder as she spoke, Though her Aura was still quite solidly around her and her voice full of pride.

"I won't ask why your here in this place, but i can only guess a human had something to do with it. They abuse so many of our kind it's a common story" Aura said as she tended to relate mutant misfortune to Human causes. "Humans will never treat us as people" Aura said shaking her head and leaning against the wall opposite of sky dancer.

"Humans warped my memories and trained me for combat simply becuse they felt our people were a disposable resource" Aura said bitterly balling up her Aura fist and punching a large dent in a small metal trash can next to her.

If Skydancer had been in a healthier headspace, she might have noticed the blood around Aura. As it was, however, she was simply overwhelmed by the simple joy of not only finally meeting another mutant in person, but also another person who wasn't just going to run away from or fight her period. Friendly contant with other people were one of those things one simply took for granted until they were torn away.

"You're the first person I've met who thought my mutations were anything but frightening and disgusting," Skydancer stated bluntly. That wasn't entirely true, of course, her family hadn't minded, not really. At least they had been used to mutants, the gene running strongly in their family. But even they hadn't been entirely comfortable when her skin had begun to change and she didn't look human anymore. Maybe she wasn't a mutant at all, maybe things like her weren't even related to humans anymore. After all, her sister and aunt had never faced such disgust because they had at least looked human.

"That was wonderful, you have great versatility with those....Such an amazing power you have there. How anyone could let you live in such a place is beound me. I can show you a place called Sanctuary if you like, for people like us, a place where only mutants are aloud and we can display our powers without shame"

"I just call them tubes," Skydancer answered, stunned that anyone would consider them anything even resembling wonderful, so much so that she almost missed the offer of a place to stay. "Wait, place to stay? You mean, warm place with actual food? And n-not having to defend myself every other day?" It was clearly too much to hope for and she knew, somehow, therehad to be more to it. She wanted so badly to be able to trust the young woman before her, but how could she when everything else in her life had turned out so rotten in the end? "What's the catch?"

"Humans warped my memories and trained me for combat simply becuse they felt our people were a disposable resource"

The bitterness in the other woman's voice so perfectly mirrored Skydancer's own that she dropped her guard for a moment. "Humans killed my brother and would have killed the rest of my family to if my sister and I hadn't stopped them first." She clamped her mouth shut hard, the moment she realized what she had said. It was the first stime she had spoken out loud of the event that had destroyed her life, even if she had thought about it a million times since that fateful night. "So, here I am now."

It didn't take long to locate the mutant once he'd been pointed in the right direction. He stood atop the roof, his solid form resisting the elements with ease, though it plastered his hair to his skin. His eye mask(like Robin's from Batman) still stuck on faithfully, its water-proof seal clinging stubbornly to his skin. He came so a silent rest on the rooftop above the alley. He was sure he'd be spotted if he looked in for long, so he took advantage of the overhang and simply listened in on the echoes of their conversations; perhaps one of them would confess to killing the man without him having to get involved.

Instead... It seemed they were talking about mutations. One in particular, actually. One voice was confident and powerful, though it seemed to belong to a young girl... The other was weary and beaten down... He was honestly starting to think he might be in the wrong place. He was about to leave to begin his search once more, but the mention of a certain place caught his ear.

"...I can show you a place called Sanctuary if you like, for people like us, a place where only mutants are aloud and we can display our powers without shame" His eyes squinted a little as little alarmed went off in his head.

The Sanctuary was widely viewed as a haven for those with mutations like himself, and the girls in the alley; that said, one often heard whispers of horrifying acts taking place in the area around it. He knew for sure they were true; he'd read a few horrifying stories from the diary of a... of a very close friend. She went by the name of Andrea, and she'd witnessed the death of a policeman in broad daylight, killed brutally by a young woman named Aura...

Wait a minute... A brutal murder, a young woman from the sanctuary... No, he couldn't jump to conclusions. One thing he was sure of, though, the order was definitely not the place he would want to send a lost, hungry mutant. There were better options. He stood when he heard the more confident one start to talk about how human beings were evil... His heart hurt a little as the girl responded with her own bad experience.

"No!" He stepped from the roof, and allowed himself to drop into the alley, landing neatly, right foot first, of course, not far from the two mutants. "Don't listen to her."

He spoke in a firm, but passionate tone, standing tall, the X-man insignia proudly displayed for all to see.

"Human beings are not out to get mutants. They are just like us. Some are good..." His eyes wandered to Aura, and the dent she'd placed in the dumpster next to her. "And some are evil." It would be obvious he was a mutant, considering he'd just fallen a distance that would shatter bones. "This woman wants to take you to a horrible place... There are better options."

"Their is nothing scary or freighting about you, you are a mutant like me and many other's. Many of us can not hide our mutations. My Aura turns off but i prefer to leave it on, i feel nakid without it." Aura said honestly. She never liked not having access to her power. "Tubes huh? Well the Tubes are awesome, perhaps when we are in less of an open place we can see the better extent of our powers, i am quite interested in yours" She said a smile on her lips.

Aura was about to answer her when a man jumped from an impressive height leaving no dought he was like them, a mutant. Unfortunately he was also an x-fool. Which meant he wanted to serve this one baloney about getting a long with humans so they could hurt her. Aura certainly did not want that. "Sanctuary offers free room and board to all of our kind. As for catch, well some of us have rather extensive criminal records and we do are offered a place to stay among our own kind. she said honestly. Aura never hid her own list of what the humans would call crimes as well as the clown before her.

"Right because you come from a place so great you have to wear a mask? Do you have such littile confidence in your choices and what others will think of them you need to hide? I guess the mansion has fallen a bit since i was last there" Aura asked him looking to him with amusement in her tone and voice. "The masked wonder here, likely speaks of the X-mansion, a place that seeks to coexist with humans and hide from them like cowed animals. " She said again with a gesture to his mask.

Aura had no use for masks and never wore such things. Aura pushed her jet black locks behind her shoulder. "I however will not hide, nor will i allow humans to harm our kind. Either way what you do is your choice, My lovely friend, You could stay here, you could go to either location or both, or wait untill you have made up your mind. I do not seek to order you as our friend certainly is" Aura said referring to the fact this male automaticly assumed her area was horrible.

"Humans not out to get Mutants? you could at least be honest with her. Or did you miss the part is history where we were rounded up like animals given collors to shut our powers down and caged like animals. Or maybe the various anti-mutant group's are really supporters in desguise, yes right, that's probably why they attacked that hospital and attempted to kill the babies born with visible mutations. Tell me Oh hero, where were your people then? Other then Cafas who helped us rid the human menace and slay those who committed such atrocities and he did that on his own. But that is a single example. But your right Humans love us" Aura said sarcasm in her voice.

It was a surreal experience to have some actually speak posatively about Skydancer's powers, made even more so by the fact that the young woman appeared to be honest about it. She offereda tentative smile, suddenly willing to trust, at least a little bit. After all, it wasn't as if things could get much worse for her. Here she was, living on the streets as some homeless and hungry outcast, how much worse could this Sanctuary place really be?

"No!. Don't listen to her."

Skydancer had been about to voice her approval of following Aura to Sanctuary when a strange masked man jumped down from a rather stunning height, calling out his warning. She looked at him, stunned a moment. Not only had she just met what she was fairly certain was her second mutant of the night, but now he was warning her? Against what exactly? She was fairly certain it had more to do than a free place to sleep and eat.

"Human beings are not out to get mutants. They are just like us. Some are good...This woman wants to take you to a horrible place... There are better options."

"Well of course I know that some humans are good," Skydancer answered. She was irritated now, both because of the idiotic warning and because of the confusion he had granted her, and she let that confusion show in her voice. Who was he, anyway, to take away her hope, once again, that things might get better? It wasn't as if either she or Aura had suggested that all humans were bad, was it? Her parents were human and they had still loved her, even if they did treat her a little differently after her mutation manifested in such an unpleasant fashion.

"This woman wants to take you to a horrible place... There are better options."

"And what kind of horrible place is that? A place where I can eat and sleep in peace? Where I don't have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from or who is going to try and stab me while I'm not paying attention? Because this Sanctuary place is looking pretty damn appealing right now in comparison. If you have a better option, I'm all ears."

Skydancer couldn't even think what to make of the speech Aura made next. A part of her admired the young woman's fire and passion, but another was vaguely horrified. Who was she really? Who were either of these two? And what did either one of them care about her? Perhaps more importantly, what did they want with her?

"Look, I don't want anything to do with your war, or whatever this is. Some humans are bad and, I get it, some mutants probably are too. I don't care about any of that. What I care about is getting a roof over my head, regular meals and maybe, just maybe, not to be killed in the process. Is that really too much to ask?" Her voice broke and she was both shocked and horrified to find herself close to tears. Had things really gotten so bad that she was at risk of breaking down in front of two strangers that, for some reason, seemed to hate each other?

The rain was beginning to pick up. He refused to give in to the urge to shiver. The conversation was escalating quickly, and he didn't like the way it was heading. He knew he couldn't make this poor girl go to the mansion, but he didn't want to see her waste her life by following someone to that... horrible place. If half the things he'd read in Andrea's diary were true, and he accepted her word above any other, it was a violent place filled with people who would kill without remorse; people who would defile a body like the old man he'd found.


"Right because you come from a place so great you have to wear a mask? Do you have such littile confidence in your choices and what others will think of them you need to hide? I guess the mansion has fallen a bit since i was last there. The masked wonder here, likely speaks of the X-mansion, a place that seeks to coexist with humans and hide from them like cowed animals. I however will not hide, nor will i allow humans to harm our kind."

"I hide my face because I have devoted my life to saving lives. I fight criminals for a living. Any given day there are a countless number of humans and mutants who would love to see me, or anyone I love dead. I wear this." He lifted his hand to his mask. "To protect them."

"And what kind of horrible place is that? A place where I can eat and sleep in peace? Where I don't have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from or who is going to try and stab me while I'm not paying attention? Because this Sanctuary place is looking pretty damn appealing right now in comparison. If you have a better option, I'm all ears.

"Yes. There is a place. It's like the girl said. I came from the Xavier school for gifted youngsters... It's a place that will provide you with so much more than just a place to sleep and eat. It's a place you can call home. It exists so that mutants can learn to control their powers, and even pursue an education in peace. I know this because I was just like you. Homeless, lost, desperate... They took me in without question. The sanctuary is a place where just recently a police officer was brutally murdered in broad daylight for being human. Some monster named Aura killed him without thinking twice... she did this right in front of... a very close friend of mine."

Sirens could be heard off in the distance. They were most likely on their way to the body of the old man... What was left of him. The sanctuary peon spoke up once more:

"Humansnot out to get Mutants? you could at least be honest with her. Or did you miss the part is history where we were rounded up like animals given collors to shut our powers down and caged like animals. Or maybe the various anti-mutant group's are really supporters in desguise, yes right, that's probably why they attacked that hospital and attempted to kill the babies born with visible mutations. Tell me Oh hero, where were your people then? Other then Cafas who helped us rid the human menace and slay those who committed such atrocities and he did that on his own. But that is a single example. But your right Humans love us"
The news about Cafas struck him as a little bit of a surprize... Honestly, he'd read the news reports about the incident... Part of him was just a little bit proud of the young man for stopping the heinous crimes that were being committed... Still, he would have to talk to him.

"You don't understand... You're a child. I pity you... Yes, the feared us. Yes, some of them have done horrible things. But some of us have done just as bad to them. We will get nowhere if we don't try to work together, and we have been making progress... Unless you missed every member of the X-men being made an honorary NYPD officer... Which reminds me... I ran into an injurred man on the way here. He said you tried to kill him. Before that, I found a corpse. Would you happen to have something to do with this... What was your name, by the way?"

"It is two different points of view, my sister went the mansion for awhile. They are fools yes, but i harbor no ill will for them, for they are Mutants like us. The mansion or Sanctuary would provide you a place of safety and a home off of the streets, and that is what matters in the end" Aura said simply still leaning against the wall. Aura knew the girl might choose to go with the fool, and if she did that was her own accord.

"My parents discarded me when my powers arrived and the humans locked me in a cage for it, the same Police you now serve." Aura said looking at Saphirus. "But that's the cute part, they then used a mutant to erase my memories and craft my mind. They wanted a solider that would follow orders unquestioningly. TO prepare us they sent solders with automatic rifles and mortar rounds and in the end i got to watch 178 people die because they decided to scrub their hands of the project. " Aura said with a shrug. "The humans would have never forgiven me, as by the time i came to this city i had killed several hundred people, The x-leader frosty wanted to turn me in, but sanctuary accepted me without question. Aura said painfully aware that it was a very compressed version of what happened.

"My dear masked man, i pity you for being naive and i pity you more because you naivety is a bigger threat to those you care about and our kind then any criminal could be. Your word's prove you can protect no one as well as they betray your ignorance" Aura said simply. A smile came to her lip's, she might not get this girl to Sanctuary but she would be honest. "I am aware you have became the human lapdogs, and ill weep for you when they slay each one of you" Aura said with sincerity.

"I am Aura, and yes i killed the only anti-mutant animal and the gang member in the next alley i simply wounded as he proved useful. I will Not Lie, i have killed a great number of humans and i can never forgive them for what they have done to me or so many others of our kind. They did raise me however with the mind set to simply kill humans, we were forced to kill a human each day untill we stopped feeling remorse. those who did not obey, were killed. The interesting part my cowardly friend, is that despite my record, every x-men i have encountered have seen fit to let me go. The lady who Dissopears, the alchemist and frosty on a few occasions, and even that null who cancels others powers, if you do claim to be working with the police, what does that make them, as they have aloud me go each time, seems to me if you want to play hero, you may wish to start at your mansion." Aura replied her voice sounding calm as she spoke through it but her attitude to humans was obvious. She had chosen to leave out an important fact however.

"I apologize my new friend, i will go if you wish it, you should not need to see the masked wonder and i Argue about Ideals. You would be safe at either place I will not press you on the matter, but from those sirens in this part of town were likely looking at seven or eight minutes before i need to go off, otherwise i'll be forced to carve a path through the NYPD, which i don't think any of us wish to see. We could move the location of our talk as well" She said. She knew this general part of town well and knew with the police lapdog here he would warn them. "I will die before i let a human cage me ever again" Aura said her Anger was apparent in her voice as well as her Aura as it rippled as well making it look like water before it took it's more uniform look.

Skydancer looked back and forth between the other two mutants, convinced that she had somehow gotten herself involved in some kind of conflict that didn't involve her at all. In fact, she felt a little like the spoils of war and it wasn't a feeling she liked at all. Who was lying and who was telling the truth, or was it some sort of convoluted reality in between? Probably the latter, just to make her life more complicated and complicated was just about the last thing she needed. She had enough complicated as it was.

She didn't trust either of them, not anymore. One of them was a murderer, or so that masked man suggested, and the other didn't even have the guts to show his face. What kind of coward hid his face even when confronted with enemies? Oh, it was a nice picture he told about being worried about loved ones, but Skydancer didn't quite buy it. If you took on a cause, you dedicated yourself to it; what was the point in going in only half way? That spoke of a pretty bad sort of hypocrisy.

"I'd rather go to the place without all the killing," Skydancer stated, her voice more confident than she felt on the inside. That was one of the first things she had learned after becomming a mutant; the illusion of confidence and competence went a surprisingly long way. She glanced back at the other young woman. "Don't get me wrong, I don't know if I can trust either of you or either of these places. But I need food and shelter and somehwere not to feel like some outcast freak. Maybe that's what I'll always be, but I at least need to try. I think I still want to see this Sanctuary, when I'm more prepared tojudge it. I get to decide for myself where I stay in the end, right?" She looked between the two warring parties, even if the war was so far only with words.

Skydancer couldn't surprise another violent shudder from the cold as the sirens in the distance became more apparent. She turned towards the masked man, "I think if you're taking me to this place we should go now. I haven't killed anyone, I would never do that, but I've done some things that they probably wouldn't approve of." That and she was a mutant, the kind who couldn't hide in a crowd. For some, that fact alone was enough to condemn her.

Oh my, the crazy mass murderer had a traumatic life. He wouldn't have guessed. As she spoke about her many killings, he moved to place himself in between her and the new mutant... She didn't seem like the most stable person in the world; he was afraid the little psychopath would try to kill them, too. Still, she went on talking, spewing out her life story, her pathetic attempts to belittle him... The only thing that caught him off guard about what Aura had said was that so many of his fellow X-men'd had the chance to catch her... And they let her go... They let this monster out into the world time and time again...

And what hurt the most... was that he was going to do the very same right this second... He had to get this mutant straight to the mansion, and he didn't want to risk her getting caught in the crossfire should Aura and him fight right here... Not to mention the NYPD; they'd suffered enough casualties.

The girl spoke once more, and he gave a nod.
"Yeah, we should get out of here... Aura... I don't know why my fellow X-men let you go, and trust me, every bone in my body wants to kill you right here and now... But this isn't me allowing you to go on. I will find you, and I will stop you. You can count on that." He looked to the girl once more, and motioned to the other end of the alley, speaking too softly for Aura to hear clearly. "That way... I have a car parked a few blocks away." He threw one more glance Aura's way, and then headed off.

"As you wish my pretty friend. Aura said her voice sounded disappointed but she gave the girl a sanctuary card anyway, with instructions on how to find the place. She would not force the girl to go to Sanctuary, but she would learn in time, as would this masked wonder. Humans would show their true colors eventually and she could only hope he pretty one lived through it. Guided by the mansion it was unlikely.

Aura alughed at the masked man before her and shook her head. "If you don't understand why none of them caged me, then your a bigger threat to those you protect then i am. Do you ever stop and think of the people your actions put in danger hero? Do you have any idea how many people would wind up dead once my freinds came for me? Unlike you they understand the danger and how not make a bad situation worse" she said with a shrug. The idea he hadent figured that out amused her to no end.

"if you were brave enough to fight me, you would have found me sooner. It's not really all that hard" Aura said still laughing as she walked off calmly, dissopearing into the alleyways. Their would be no mass killing of police tonight and death would have to wait. She considered the masked hero again, she had lost a lot of respect for the mansion and the x-men if they were letting such people join. Aura had to wonder if they were that hurt for members.

In her past life, Skydancer was posative that she would have run screaming from Aura. Anyone with viewsas extreme as hers or had done half the things she had supposedly done did not qualify as a good person. That was the past, however, and Skydancer had a new and much more cynical view on life. The people who had killed her brother, maybe she should have done something worse than just wound a couple of them and scare them off, who could say? Certainly she was in no present state to make such a judgement, all she knew was that her brother was innocent and hadn't deserved to die.

Skydancer accepted the card Aura gave her before nodding at the masked man that she was ready to go. "I plan on seeing this Sanctuary place of yours for myself. Don't think my going to The Mansion is in any way picking a side in this war of yours." Because she still only had the vaguest idea what this war was all about and was pretty sure she wanted no part of it. Yet, she couldn't shakethe feeling that she might not have a choice in the matter and, eventually, picking a side was exactly what she would be forced to do.

Following the hero type to his vehicle, Skydancer took solace in the fact that her tubes would protect her if things went bad. Just because she loathed looking like a freak didn't mean she completely rejected what nature had given her. She didn't know the stranger's power, but whatever it was if he tried something she would be ready to defend herself. It saddened her more than she was willing to admit that she now lived in a world in which violence and self-defense were the first things that came to mind when a kind stranger saved her from the streets.