Aura watched, as the sun at last dipped below the tree line. It meant she would be harder to see. Police tended to frequent the park as many violent incidents had occurred there. Aura knew she had been responsible for more then a few of these, but night gave her enough time to get away if she needed to. With a sigh she realized quickly the park may not have been the best choice in which to go. She had thought it might relax her, instead it simply made her dwell on the ruins of her past which were not so easy to shake. She found herself wondering largely without aim through the park unknowingly heading into the central portion of the park. She stopped under a tree and looked up at the faint moon in the night sky and wondered about the cruel humor the universe seemed to have.

A scream in the distance shattered her day dream, or night dream and Aura looked around but saw no danger. So she headed off in the direction she had heard the scream come from, but their were no other sounds she could make out from the ones normally in the park. Still she kept in thew direction and about ten minutes later could see the outline of a half dozen people and one more who seemed to be tied to a tree, faint muffled sounds came from her telling Aura she was likely wearing a gag of some some sort or another. Aura could not tell if she were human or Mutant nor could she tell anything about the others either. Aura disliked this idea and decided that rushing in was likely a bad idea.

Instead She let her Aura cover her body and calmly approached the group making no effort at all to conceal herself. For Aura it was rare she needed to hide in any way, her aura normelly able to protect her from harm. She was confident she would be all right, and batted the memory of the weird mutant attacker on Sanctuary away. As she was spotted, she saw quite the commotion start up but she could not tell if they were humans or Mutants yet or if they could tell she was. Aura's formed blades on each of her wrists as she came close enough to spot, a woman tied to the tree had a set of ravaged looking wings.

Nate loved his girlfriend, but dating a cop meant dealing with a cop schedule, and cop schedules seemed to hate nights. This was a more noticeable problem now that he had to concern himself with waking up to teach classes. Some days, the time he was able to spend with Quin was limited to crawling in to bed together, and on occasion, he did not even get that.

This feeling left him fidgety at night; he was not a fan of spending all his nights without her in the apartment, doing nothing. On occasion he would call up one of his friends-- the good ones, not the old ones. He should have deleted the numbers of the riffraff he used to know, but it was a good way to not pick up the phone when they called, even if on occasion, he would glance at a name and consider it.

He sometimes went out to art shows or other events, but tonight was a night to enjoy the good weather. He was in the park in a hoodie enjoying the cool breeze as twilight fell. Girlfriend or not, sunset was a great time to be outside.

Well, for most people, but probably not for the woman whose scream pierced the evening. A curiosity and a call to duty carried his feet to the tragic scene.

When he came within sight of the situation, it was as bad as he anticipated: a group of men and a woman who was certainly worse for wear. That was about as much information as he needed. "Hey! Leave her alo-- huh?"

There was one more person coming; a young brunette. He was about to warn her to stay away, but there was something odd about her: probably the pink area around her body. Maybe she knew what she was doing. He would just have to be ready for whatever came next...

The sun was setting but not gone; if he kept his back to it, his shadow would cover a larger area than normal. If he waited too long... well, he would have to get closer to streetlights. For now, he moved the shadow between him and the men, hoping to be ready if they stepped closer. (Or, you know, snare then before they shot him.)

Aura looked across the field able to make out a man walking toward them.It was not really what she was hoping for, the idiots who had the mutant tied up were a simple matter. The newcomer however presented a number of issues, even more so if he was with those mansion people. They liked doing these things the hard way. Aura on the other hand liked it nice and easy, a dead opponent rarely attacked again, she thought to herself, musing about the man called Pheonix.

Aura was already annoyed and sos he decided to make herself very clear. "Look, I'm not in the mood, she is obviously a mutant....as for the rest of you. Im saving the bird girl, if you are mutants i'll simply beat some sence into you, if your human, then the situation is more serious" She said her tone turning to ice as she ended her speech, the entire time she walked straight for the hostage.

The men in the gang looked confused and worried, and Aura could tell by their reactions whoever this other guy was, he was not with them. One of the Guy's had decided to draw their gun and leveled the weapon at Aura, three quick Shot's later, and one bullet had missed her and other two, deflected off of her aura and buried them selfs into nearby trees. Another of the gang members brought a pistol down at graves, firing a two shots at him.

"I hope your not Squeamish" she called to the other person who had walked in on whatever this was. With no clear answer on if they were humans or mutant, Aura reshaped her Aura weapons into hammer's and as the man fired again at her, She struck his gun hand, pushing it away then brought the other hammer down hard on his stomach knocking the wind from him. Aura let the man live and hoped she would regret it.

>> "Look, I'm not in the mood, she is obviously a mutant....as for the rest of you. Im saving the bird girl, if you are mutants i'll simply beat some sence into you, if your human, then the situation is more serious"

Whoever this girl was, she was direct and to the point, and the point was very point, and aimed at the men in the group. They certainly seemed to deserve it to a point, but he worried their thresholds for appropriate punishment were different.

Unfortunately, Nate had no time to argue the death penalty with the young woman. The men were on her side of things, as seen by the guns that were pulled. Nate dove to the side, dragging his foot as not to break his shadow. The bullets missed; one wide, one rather close. He wanted to avoid any bullet wounds; Quin would accuse him of being a vigilante-- or worse, an X-Man.

>> "I hope your not Squeamish"

Yup. She was going to kill them. He looked up and saw her hammering at one of them. He wanted to stop her, but the first and most important goal was not getting shot. He sent his shadow after the failed marksman until it was under his feet. The shadow materialized quickly and upward. The jutting shadow launched the man into the air, where he fell several yards away on his feet. Well, until he crumpled up. That guy wasn't a problem anymore.

Nate got back to his feet and the wave of shadow got between him and the attackers, offering him a veil to hide and slide behind a tree. Unlike the girl, he was not bulletproof. "Are you just gonna leave them bloody stains on the ground?"

"I have been told no avoid making a public display. It was my Hope by letting morons live would avoid you mentioning this to anyone. Personally i would.....well you ever see fresh ground beef?' She asked Loudly, nimbelly slipping out of the way of a punch from her left, she made no move to counterstrike and spoke loudly not looking to where Nate had gone. Aura swung her hammer in an Arc at a second of the men, but he dropped and rolled out of her range, a second swipe only grazing his shoulder.

"Course if your human, saving this girl, becomes a whole lot easier, the dead don't harm Mutant's you see " She spoke calmly and as she made her way to the tree the girl was tied to, Raised her hand and the hammer seemed to flow like liquid to form back into the blade and cut the rope, aura's blade even cut a bit into the wood. The Winged girl fell to the ground, she seemed weak but alive. Aura knelt to check.

Thats when thing's got worse, Aura felt a blow from behind hit her hard and sending her rolling across the ground. When she stopped, she got her feet under her. The Man appeared to have arm's made of granite. She shook her head and made her way to her feet. The Humans seemed inspired by the man, which made Aura think he might be the leader. Aura considerd the power of the blow, it had hurt. Aura's next question was answered by the Gnag boss himself.

"This M drug, even's the scales, princess, and where did the other guy gp' He asked looking around, after one of the normal humans whispered to him.

>> "I have been told no avoid making a public display. It was my Hope by letting morons live would avoid you mentioning this to anyone. Personally i would.....well you ever see fresh ground beef?'

This girl had style-- a bloody, vicious style, but she undeniably had her own flavor. The men were scum, but he could not get on board with the cold blooded murder she was a fan of. Hopefully the presence of a witness, (and a mutant one at that,) would be enough to keep her from piling up a body count.

>> "Course if your human, saving this girl, becomes a whole lot easier, the dead don't harm Mutant's you see."

So it was a mutant supremacist thing. If Nate was a human, he would be another collection of bones and gooey bits on the grass. "Nope, very mutant, thank you." Nate was in a rare moment where he was being judged positively for a genetic characteristic he had no control over.

Nate looked out from the tree to assess the situation. The aggressive woman in pink found the bird-like mutant and with one swift motion, released her bindings. He barely registered the man approaching her until a stone arm came down on her,

>> "This M drug, even's the scales, princess, and where did the other guy go?"

Another M mutant? This time, of the less hairy variety. The young woman was a probable killer, but being bludgeoned by a stone arm could make her the killed soon if nothing was done. Nate hoped the pink aura absorbed some of the violent blow.

The gang was not privy to his hiding place, so he had the element of surprise if he was quick about it. The shadow of the tree he was behind was positioned perfectly: long and cast right toward the action. Nate connected his shadow with the trees, and suddenly, he had considerably more area to work with... until total sunset, which was fast approaching.

Nate summoned a large wall the length of the tree's shadow. The gang leader was thankfully caught off guard and found himself on the opposite side of the dark matter, away from the pink girl and the bird girl.

Nate walked briskly, making sure a foot was always touching the ground. He checked on the freed prisoner; she was alive, but she was not in great condition. He hoped briefly that the gang would cut their losses and run away, happy to leave the pink girl behind them, but the hope was disestablished when a strong thumping started to strike his wall. It would not hold up forever against an arm of stone.

He looked at his ally(?) and asked, "Are you alright?"

He finished asking the question when he looked up and noticed a gang member. Unlike the boss, who was content with striking the wall intimidatingly, this punk was clever enough to notice that the wall ended at the tree. This master strategy had two steps: (1) go around the shadow, which was done, and (2) shoot mutants. The second part was approaching quickly as he was lifting his gun in their direction.

Aura rubbed the back of her neck, while the Aura that covered it anyway. Aura looked up in time to See the wall spring up. She guessed it was the other Mutant's power or had to do with it anyway. She was grateful for it the unexpected blow had take a good chuck out of her Aura, though she hid it expertly as she had been taught to do with little thought to the process. Aura stood sweeping her black locks behind her head, she shook her head.

With a heavy sigh she finnaly spoke up to the man who walked up becide her as she saw the M mutant or rather heard him pounding on the wall. "Mutant....then we have to do this the hard way..." She said, this time she formed a long sword blade from her hand. Then she began to talk much louder to address their assembled freinds.

"I'll give you the cheap shot Human, you think your power gives you a weapon? I am a weapon.You will live this day, but if i ever catch you touching a mutant again, well.....I'll eat you." Aura said loud enough for everyone to hear but ina calm tone.

She then turned to her new friend, the smile still on her face. "I'm all right, though that hurt, You got a plan to stop this animal, i can't take two many more blows like that, and if i have to even with you here, i can and will ensure we live" Aura said stopping as she saw a man aim a gun at them, Aura moved quickly and spread her arm's out. Her Aura was becoming far more angled as she stood there, the bullets hit and deflected off from her, one going up into a nearby tree,a squirrel fell down a few moments later. "Don't worry i won't eat him either way, humans taste awful" she said laughing. "You want wonder boy here, or the hero over there" she said waving a hand dismissively at the shooter.

The girl was hard to read, most likely because she was apparently clinically insane. She threatened to eat the attackers, which sounded preposterous, but he heard rumors of extreme mutant supremacists doing just that, and if there was anyone he met who might go through with it, it could be the woman in pink.

He was asked about a plan, which was still in the works. He needed to come up with something, or she would go with what he assumed was plan B: stab until things stop moving.

The gunman raised his weapon and fired shots, but the pink woman was positioned in front of Nate. Her aura thankfully deflected the bullets away from them, which provided Nate with enough time to jut a column out of his wall to shove the assailant off his feet.

The sun was almost gone, so they could waste no time. He spoke fast. "I can deal with the gun guy then come back and help you here. If I take down my wall, can you hold of Mr. M until I come back?"

There was no real time to wait for her to affirm the plan, so he just continued his quick words. "Clobber them, beat them, knock them out, but I want no killing," he said sternly, hoping she would even bother listening. "I know someone in the MRC who can arrest these morons if we take them out."

He was itching to take off for the gunman, who was returning from disorientation and trying to get to his feet. "Plan good?"

((OOC: In your next post, you can make my character take down the wall or it could break so you can fight if you want.))

"I'll do what i can, but if big buy over there get's to playful....then i'll have to take him out" she said watching. She was not going to let a Human kill her without making sure he would not share the same fate. This guy liked things complicated though and so Aura would do her best to play a long with that. He was a mutant after all and one with a power she was very curious about, though she realized now was not the right time to ask.

She watched the Shadow wall fall and the man with cement hands stumbled forward as the object he meant to hit was no longer there. Aura rushed forward. Her sword began to shorten and widen and form into a hammer fluidly as she moved, but she was forced to dive to her left as the man slammed the ground with his other fist. Aura STruck his sidr which made the man bellow in pain but Aura doubted she made more thena a glancing blow.

"I won't be here for that, im pretty high on the MRC's wanted list" she said, ducking a second strike on her. The man was strong but slow. Aura was no fan of the MRC as they often captured mutants for simple things like hunting humans. On the other hand Aura was glad to have a Mutnat lead police unit out there, it provided her with some vague hope for their kind, but reconized it was no freind of hers.

>> "I'll do what i can, but if big buy over there get's to playful....then i'll have to take him out."

Boy, this girl would end up giving Nate a headache. He would have to deal with his problem quickly enough to intervene with her mission... or possibly stop the flow of blood. "Close enough," he muttered.

The wall came down and Nate was booking it to the man who was quickly getting his bearings and his aim. His shadow was no longer sustaining the wall, so he could run without keeping one foot on the ground at all times.

Two shots escaped the gun before Nate got there, one flying past his head, and the other (unfortunately) grazed his arm, leaving him cringing but standing-- and running and jumping.

Nate crossed his arms and tackled the man, knocking him backward. Nate fell to his knees, but his shadow was already crawling toward the enemy. Once the darkness was under the thug's feet, it rose as a giant hand, seemingly from the heart of the underworld. The fingers wrapped around the man's body before he could raise the gun again, pinning the arms to his sides.

With the man in custody, Nate noticed the nearest tree. The hand reared back and hurled the body at the trunk. The body promptly stopped moving, but it should not have been fatal.

Well... Nate ran over to the body, (kicking away the gun,) and checked for a pulse. There was faint thumping. He was fiiiiine.

Back to the point!

>> "I won't be here for that, im pretty high on the MRC's wanted list."

Of course she was. There was that moment of "Gasp! The person I'm helping is a wanted fugitive!" but he had to be honest; she was human hating, dangerously violent, and nonchalantly homicidal. He disapproved of murdering and murderers, but the key was leaving everyone alive. "If you don't kill him, I'll let you leave and THEN call them!" Nate ran in the direction of her altercation, not sure what he was rooting for exactly.

Aura felt the second strike of the man's fist land, though a glancing blow it was enough, to spin Aura around and land her on her back. Aura smiled, his fist had hurt, even if moat of the force had no hit her behind that fist. The Aura weapon's on her Arm's dissolved slipping back into the main of her Aura around her body. If she was going to do this and not kill the man, she had to be close enough to ensure her shot would only wound. She let Her Aura visibly thin as well trying to draw the monster in.

Obediently the man stalked closer to her, she could tell by the look in his eyes, he thought he won. As he brought down his fist, Aura moved and felt the fist strike next to where her head was. Her Leg came up with a Pink brick shape extending from her toe, which she rammed into the man's stomach hard. Aura was rewarded for her efforts as the man spewed whatever lunch he had onto her. Aura was very grateful for her aura at that point.

"Well that would save the some MRC life's" she said cheerfully as if they were sitting on a couch some ware. The Man was gripping his stomach and looking around as if to run. Aura formed what looked a lot like half a rolling pin from her fist, and rolled forward and struck the man directly in the knee. She heard the man cry out as he fell over. As Aura stood she merely glanced over at the man and flexed her back. "See alive, moaning, loud, annoying but alive to do this all over again" She said not really agreeing with the leave them alive approach.

Still Aura was suppose to be keeping a lower profile and she did have a witness, who either did not understand the danger he was inflicting on his own people or was one of the humans pets. Aura honestly believed as soon as these humans were released from the human cages they would do this all over again. She looked over, the man was not knocked out simply in a lot of pain. "That powers of yours looks wonderful" she said, but it was at that moment the Man grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down to the ground with him, he let go in time, in surprise Aura had tried to impale his hand. Aura's hand shook in rage, this was why she hated being nice. The Man was though shakily getting to his feet, favoring the leg Aura had not touched.

>> "Well that would save the some MRC life's."

That comment did not sit right with him, probably because he was dating one of the lives so uncaringly spared by his ally. She was clearly dangerous though, and as much as he was uncomfortable with letting her go, it would be stupid to risk getting hacked up as a vigilante trying to stop her.

He was getting close to helping, but he may not have been needed, as she seemingly took care of her opponent on the ground. It was not an easy sight to watch, but he was still alive, which was at that point a moral victory.

>> "See alive, moaning, loud, annoying but alive to do this all over again."

As much as Nate sought to be an example of compassion, even he would admit he struggled sympathizing with the vicious mutant-hater howling in pain. The guy was clearly scum, but scum belonged in a cage, not the ground. "Thank you. I know this isn't easy for you." You know; being a psycho and all.

>> "That powers of yours looks wonderful."

Nate was surprised the young woman got the last word off, because she was immediately taken down by the foe. He had worked so hard to keep her from killing him, and he would still pull a stupid stunt like this. She, of course, stabbed him, but he was getting to his feet.

The girl was obviously a violent psychotic, but that was not as worrisome as a rational man pushed to anger, and after putting his neck on the line, Nate fit that description.

His shadow rose from the ground and went straight for the man's head before he could get his footing. The shadow wrapped around his head and hit him with enough force to knock him back on his ass.

"Yeah, my shadow's pretty cool. Fun fact;" he was speaking to the girl but glaring intently at the man, "Air does not pass through it well."

The man could not hear him, trying to free himself, and with the heavy, mutate arms he had, he might, but Nate was hoping to leave him unconscious or woozy before that came. Despite the man's deafness, Nate yelled at him anyway. "Do you realize how hard it has been keeping this gal from killing you?! And YOU have to F*** THAT UP?!"

"That is interesting" Aura said her anger seemed to evaporate as she asked and stood up. She enjoyed learning about other's powers but it told her more on what this guy could do. She might well have to fight him one day. SHe had not really meant to hurt him, but Aura reacted poorly to surprises when she was in a dance. She was glad for her Aura as she despised being touched by human's. He was very Lucky, had Aura thought about it she likely could have taken the man's hand off. She looked down at the human the way a predator looked at pray.

"He's right human, It is because of this one, you live" Aura confirmed casually. Aura could understand her friend's annoyance, though the Humans actions did not surprise her. They were simply animals after all, fated to die, some to foolish to know when their life's were safe. She could see the lack of air made it so that if he did hear them he might recall any of it. It matted little, in the end Aura trusted the human to repeat his error and one day be killed for it.

Aura looked back at the Mutant victim, the wing's were gone and Aura wondered what was going on. "Our victim lost her wing's" She pointed out to the still knocked out woman whose bloody, ravaged wing's were gone as if they never existed. "I hope she is an Actual mutant after all that, i could of went home" She said with a groan of annoyence in her voice, clearly not pleased she might have just saved a human.

It was hard to get a read on the girl because crazy is a complicated language to be written in. She was nonchalant, even in her hate. The pink aura around her was also something worth understanding more closely. The aura was apparently very controllable, and based on what she did to the man's hand, probably also linked to her instincts as a natural defense mechanism. The pink matter could possibly be an ultimate sword and shield. Was this the caliber of criminal the Quin dealt with? His girlfriend almost died during the Elephant Man incident, but this girl was probably far more dangerous.

She reminded the man to credit Nate as his savior, which, if he had been able to hear, would probably have pissed him off more. No mutant-hating macho man was going to be happy with a mutant sparing his life. He could not help but grin. "Thanks for the credit sugar, but he can't here you."

Eventually, the lack of oxygen slowed the man's movements down until he was left apparently unconscious, his being held up by the shadow holding his head. Nate made sure to release the thug, who dropped to the ground but remained alive, which was most important.

The girl was already observing the victim, who indeed was left without a trace of wings. The pure lack of concern had Nate rolling his eyes. "Human or mutant, she was pretty clearly an innocent." He pulled out his phone, surveying the remains of their fight. "'Sides, I wouldn't wanna leave anyone with those assholes." He scrolled through his address book to the MRC Headquarters's phone number.

"My concern is for those of our kind, the rest are not my concern. When our people are safe, i will care for the animals as well. However i do not think i will see old age much less our peoples inheritance of the planet." Aura said knowing well her lifestyle would likely get her killed before to long. It was a shame to because their were few other things she would rather see happen. Either way she figured it would matter to this one.

"Still these humans were certainly no credit to their people. I suppose i can only hope they learn from this. She said though she did not even try to sound convinced. Even among humans these guys had been bad. She had easily killed people for lesser crimes.

Looking back to the former winged mutant Aura sighed wishing she could determine if the woman was a Mutant or not. It was always possible the wings formed only when she wanted them to, much like her Aura was only solid when she needed it to be. Their was no way for her to know however and so even if she had killed the others, it would have been impossible for her to kill this one. Aura preferred to stay away from killing those of her own kind unless their was no other choice.

"I will admit these humans are far worse then many i see. I hunt gang members often enough, their guns make them more of a fight though even then humans are not much in a fight. Mutants are more fun to fight but i try very hard to avoid mutant deaths" Aura said openly, as if the two might have been friends or not debating weather humans were grease stains or equals.

" i am curious as to your shadow's various uses. I do love seeing the various powers of our people" she said her voice growing lighter as she mentally made the shift in focus from combat to considering what the guy could do. She really did love seeing others powers but her curious had a second reason to, she might have to fight these other mutants in combat.