Alex stood on the side walk of West 58th street near Avenue of the Americas, smiling up at the sign that hung from the small shop that he was standing in front of. It was a pottery shop that had belonged to a elderly man named Eric that Alex had met with several times, considering the idea of buying the Eric's shop because he wanted to retire, and Alex needed a source of income if he was going to be living in the Big Apple from now on. Alex had demonstrated his sculpting talents to the elder and Eric had been impressed to the point that he offered to sell the shop to Alex at half his asking price since Alex was going to use the shop for the same thing that Eric had used it for. However, the whole mess of Alex heading back to Kansas for a month or two and thrown a wrench into their plans, and it was only now with Alex coming back that Eric was finally able to get the shop off of his hands.

With a satisfied sigh, Alex's smile broadened as he read what was on the sign out loud to himself. "Davis Pottery Shop." "Aye. It has a nice ring to it sonny. They just finished putting the sign up this morning. Darn youngsters just couldn't get the blasted thing straight. I hope you put my old shop to good use. Here, I think you'll need these." stated Eric, whom was standing next to Alex, and handed the malachite manipulator the keys to the shop and a grand opening sign to hang in the front window. Alex took them both and shook Eric's hand. "Anything I should keep in mind?" Alex asked, wondering if Eric had forgotten to tell him anything. "Yes actually. I took on a unique order for a customer that wanted a pot that was the color of blood all over. He's in his mid-30's, has black hair with a bald spot above his right ear, and likes to wear over-sized leather jackets with chains. He already paid for the pot, and I told him that you're trustworthy. Just give him the pot when he comes ant that should be the end of it." Eric stated, then with a nod, he hobbled off.

Alex watched the elderly man walk off, then walked over to the front door of his new shop, unlocked the entrance, and stepped inside. There was a piece of paper on the front door that read To whom it may concern, the owner of Eric's pottery shop has retired and sold his business to Alexander Davis, and the shop has been renamed to Davis Pottery Shop. Mr. Davis is just as skilled as Eric, and has the potential to get even better. Alex chose to leave the sign and placed the grand opening sign in the door before walking over to the front desk and took a seat behind it, and glazed at some of the clay pots and sculptures that he had created the day before with Eric in perpetration of opening his shop. There were several bowls, plates, vases, pots, mugs, and even pitchers that anyone would love. There were also several sculptures of animals and scenery around the place, all glazed so they were colored to look just like the real thing. Alex's favorite sculpture was of a shiatsu standing on its hind legs with an enormous bone in its mouth with a pink bow on its back. It was utterly adorable. The texture was so perfect and the glaze was so flawless that one would think that the sculpture was made of dog fur... until they touched it in which case they would realize it really is made of clay.

With a confidant nod, Alex awaited his first customer.

Penelope was feeling bad. She quietly walked next to her sister Lilith as they made their way down the sidewalk, heading for a destination that the young girl didn’t know. She was not sure of their destination, but she did know why they were headed here. A new pottery store had opened and, since Jezebel had a tendency to break things in Lilth’s apartment whenever she was out to play, she managed to shatter on of her sister’s favorite pots. Penelope felt bad and promised to pay for it (though it would take a while since she didn’t have a job), but Lilith had told her it was okay.

Now…they were on the trek to get a replacement pot. Penelope hoped that this place would have whatever Lilith was looking for. She hated to think that something her sister loved was destroyed because she couldn’t stop Jezebel’s twisted idea of play time.

She frowned as she held the strap of her backpack, decked out in her favorite pair of overalls and a bright pink top that had a glittery koi fish on the front. Her small gaze looked up as she stared at the surrounding buildings; they were so tall and wide that for a second she thought she was going to get dizzy. Still she was not fully used to the huge expanse that embodied New York City. Not that Washington D.C. was any smaller, but this place…it just reached so high.

But she took a breath as she caught sight of Lilith slowing down. They both paused in front of a store, to which Penelope looked up and read the sign…

“Davis Pottery Shop?” she asked herself.

Lilith smiled, a little sadly, but patted Penelope on the shoulder. “Come on. You find a corner to draw while I look around, okay?”

Penelope silently nodded as she followed her sister into the pottery store. She gazed about at all the pretty (and breakable) things and instantly took a breath; she needed to make sure that she was extra calm here since the last thing she wanted was for Jezebel to look for an excuse to come out and break more stuff. Shuffling a little behind her sister, Penelope gaze around until she found a little alcove that she could squeeze into. She tugged at Lilith’s hand and, when she got approval from her, dashed over, sat down, and began to color while Lilith attended to her business.

Maybe she would draw her a pretty sun as an apology…

While the store had only been open for an hour or two, it seemed only like a few minutes for Alex when two people entered his shop, a young woman who looked like she was in her mid-20's, and she had a small girl with her that looked to be about 10 years old, and the two looked to be related. Alex took a guess in thinking that the small child was either the woman's sister or niece since they looked so much alike, but there was no chance that the little girl was the woman's daughter since the girl was too old to be the woman's daughter... at least that was what Alex hoped since the woman would've had to be 15 when she gave birth for that girl to be her daughter.

"Hello there miss. Welcome to my shop. Feel free to look around as much as you like." Alex stated before walking out from behind the counter and watched as the little girl ran off to a small corner in his shop and started to draw on some paper when she sat down on the floor. This made Alex frown a little bit because the floor had a small coating of clay dust. It was impossible for anyone to keep clay off of the floor in a pottery shop since the forming of clay sculptures always resulted in clay dust getting thrown into the air, and it would go everywhere. Now, Alex knew that the former owner did his best to keep the store clean, but the dust always came into the front of the store from the back because he didn't have a door in between the front and back halves of the shop, a problem that Alex planned on rectifying once he earned enough cash to buy a door. With that in mind, Alex reached behind the counter and pulled out a stool that was fairly clean, and set it in front of the counter. "Little one, there's no need to get your drawings dirty on the floor. Feel free to sit here if you wish and draw on the counter if you want to keep the dirt away from you art." Alex stated kindly before he turned to the woman. He wasn't really worried about the child breaking any pots while at the counter, he didn't keep any there in case he needed to jump over the counter quickly to handle a rude customer.

With that aside, Alex addressed the woman, Lilith, saying "Is there anything in particular that you are looking for ma'am? I can create a custom piece for you if you don't see what you want on the shelves." Alex stated calmly. He was a little outside his element since he had never owned a store before. A locksmithing business was one thing, but this was something else. As a locksmith, he kept everyone away from his merchandise since people might steal it, while a potter would proudly display it. He would get use to it over time.

Penelope was settling into her corner where she could color in peace. She still felt so bad for Lilith because of what Mrs. Tickle did. That was not fair of her to break her sister’s favorite vase all because she was being harassed after her night out of playing. Thankfully she was tired enough where she simply knocked out to sleep after breaking the pot. Penelope always feared the day that Jezebel would do worse to Lilith. Thankfully, that day had yet to come…

>> "Hello there miss. Welcome to my shop. Feel free to look around as much as you like."

The young girl looked up and tilted her head at the man. He had a nice smile and definitely seemed friendly enough. She beamed at him from her spot but since he was not looking at her at the moment, she just turned her attention back to her sheet of paper on the ground. She was rather looking forward to just spending her time drawing while her sister looked for a replacement pot. Maybe if she was quick enough, she would be able to finish before her sister ever made a decision as to what exactly she wanted.

But, just as she was about to start, she paused when the man finally seemed to address her…

>> "Little one, there's no need to get your drawings dirty on the floor. Feel free to sit here if you wish and draw on the counter if you want to keep the dirt away from you art."

She smiled, wide. She had to admit that the floor was rather dusty but that would have been fine if she had to remain here. Instead she scrambled onto her feet and moved over to the stool and counter that she was offered.

“Thank you very much, mister!” She grinned as she scooted onto the stool and plopped the paper down onto the counter. Quietly she continued to draw her pretty sun and some birds. A nice, peaceful scene so that it would look so pretty of Lilith.

>> "Is there anything in particular that you are looking for ma'am? I can create a custom piece for you if you don't see what you want on the shelves."

Penelope glanced up as the man addressed her sister again. Silently she watched them as the man attempted to converse with her. Lilith was a quiet woman but she could definitely be fun when she wanted to. Penelope had to remark that she didn’t see many boys come to Lilith’s apartment. She wondered if maybe she just thought boys were icky or something, but she never thought to ask her. A shrug of her shoulders and she returned to working on her drawing…which was coming out better than she had hoped.

Lilith, on the other hand, had smiled thankfully to the man and walked over to the counter. Her smile was genuine, sweet, but hid a tiredness that spoke of hard times. Taking care of Penelope was obviously a hard job, considering her mutation, but Lilith never wavered. Instead she just sighed as she nodded to the man.

“Actually, yes, we had a bit of an…accident and one of my pots was broken,” she said diplomatically. It is about this big,” she said as she gestured with her hands about 12 inches apart, “white and brown. It, um, belonged to my grandmother. I was wondering if you could make something like that?”

Penelope smiled a little sadly as she looked up from her drawing. “I’m sorry Lily. Jezebel didn—“

Lilith only hushed Penelope with a look, but not a mean one. Just more of a “not in front of strangers” look. Both then turned back to the man and awaited his decision on whether or not a replacement job could be done…

Seeing the small girl's reaction to his offer of being able to draw up on the counter away from the dusty floor made Alex smile warmly and gave him a fuzzy feeling inside. He always loved seeing children happy, and was more then willing to make a fool of himself if it meant he could make them laugh... though doing that here and now was a bad idea since he was trying to make his first sale. "You're welcome little one, and please call me Mr. Davis." Alex stated politely before turning back to Lilith.

As he listened to Lilith's request of what she wanted and that she had lost her first pot because of an accident, Alex nodded thinking of how he was going to make the pot. It was actually going to be easy to make it. It was when the little girl chipped in saying that Jezebel wouldn't something, but a look from Lilith cut the child off. Alex assumed that Jezebel was a friend of the child and she broke it while the two of them were playing a game. Accidents happen, and there was no stopping them. "Hm... white and brown and being about a foot tall is relatively easy. How wide do you want it, and what shape?" Alex asked as he walked behind the counter and pulled on a string, which opened up a curtain to show off several different types of pots, jugs, bowls, and cups that he could make. Alex motioned at the pot shapes. Some where hour glass shaped, others were wide at the bottom and narrowed at the top while others were narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, some where completely straight, and some were so wide that the looked like big circles. "Any of these shapes fit the bill, or would you like a different shape? Would you like a handle two?" Alex asked politely as he grabbed some of his own paper and a pencil and started to draw out a diagram of the pot, making out the size and shape for it.

As he did this, Penelope's drawings caught Alex's eyes and he glanced over at them. From his point of view, the drawing was actually quite good. Then a thought came to him, and he smiled. "Your drawing is quite good. If you two want, I could put her drawing onto a plate so she can admire her work as she eats her breakfast." Alex mentioned calmly, though it was right after he said it that he was wondering if he was starting to sound like a salesman instead of a potter, trying to get people to buy more products then they need.

>> "You're welcome little one, and please call me Mr. Davis."

Penelope beamed but she didn’t respond after that. Instead she turned back to her drawing which was supposed to be her apology to her sister. She couldn’t believe that Mrs. Tickle got so angry! All Lilith said was that she wanted to make sure that Penelope was not kept out late like Jezebel liked to do and Penelope’s alter-ego had thrown a fit. She ranted about promising not to hurt Lilith but decided to take it out on the apartment instead.

Thankfully, most of what Mrs. Tickle had destroyed was easily replaceable: stands, a small table, a couple of dishes; but once she had turned her attentions on the pot, Penelope was able to focus and wrangle in the red-skinned woman. Now, though, like always, she was left with the aftermath of Mrs. Tickle’s fun.

But this place, it seemed nice enough! The man was nice and it looked as if he may be able to help her sister replace the pot that had been destroyed! She was thankful for that much. She would have hated it if they needed to hunt around for some other place that would also give them the same answer. But the man had perked up on hearing her sister’s description of the vase and that was all Penelope needed to feel that spark of hope in her heart.

>> "Hm... white and brown and being about a foot tall is relatively easy. How wide do you want it, and what shape? Any of these shapes fit the bill, or would you like a different shape? Would you like a handle two?"

“Oh, just simple,” Lilith said with a bit of relief in her voice. She smiled, thankful that this man would actually be able to make what she wanted from scratch. “The hourglass shaped pot there,” she said as she indicated the one she wanted, “that seems closest to the original.”

Penelope, meanwhile, had actually finished coloring her drawing and sighed a bit happily now that it was done. It was fairly quick but it should be the perfect thing to make the situation better, at least. it was going to be tough, especially since she knew how much Lilith loved that pot. But, some gesture was better than none, right?

Just as she completed the finishing touches, though, she looked up as the man returned and smiled at her. She could only respond with a smile of her own.

>> "Your drawing is quite good. If you two want, I could put her drawing onto a plate so she can admire her work as she eats her breakfast."

Penelope perked up, the smile across her face became so bright it could have lit up a room. For half a second she almost began to bounce around in her seat but, no, she was a growing girl! She couldn’t do that. She turned to Lilith to see her reaction.

Lilith cracked a smile as she looked at the drawing and then back to Penelope. With an understanding between that she accepted her younger sister’s apology, Lilith nodded. “That sounds like it would be fine. I would love that.”

“Yay!” Penelope shouted! But she instantly caught herself, regained her composure, and smiled appreciatively to Mr. Davis. “I mean, thank you very much!”

While all of this stuff was going on inside the shop, a man that was standing on the opposite side of the street was gazing at the shop, a very annoyed look on his face as he took out his cell phone and held it up to his ear, which had a bald spot right above it. "Hey, it's me. I thought you said picking up this shipment of M-drug was going to be a cake walk from that old fart, but the store has changed hands. Is that shipment still in there?... So basically all I have to do is go in there, ask for a red vase, get out, and break the vase to get all of the M-drug pills out of it? Sounds easy enough, and everyone would think that the owner of the shop was the one who supplied me with the drugs since the pills are inside the lining of a pot instead of a bag. However, from now on I want to get my shipments straight from you. You're my supplier after all, I'm paying you for this stuff... don't get me that 'well how about I just fine a new dealer' trash! I'm the best dealer around, and you're the best supplier! The two of us are suppose to work together!... yeah, alright, fine. But enough of going on these wild goose chases for your stuff! From now on, the more rings I have to jump through to get the next shipment, the less I'm paying you for it. Peace out!" the man in the leather jacket with chains and hung up his cell phone before he started to cross the street.

While that conversation was going on outside, Alex was smiling and nodding as Lilith was telling Alex which shape to make the pot, and he was writing all of these figures down. He was taking his time in writing it all down so he wouldn't miss anything. It was when Lilith agreed to Alex suggestion of putting Penelope's drawing on a plate that his smile broadened, and seeing Penelope's reaction made him smile even more, though he was a little surprised that the child was trying to keep herself calm, as if she understood that being too hyper could result in property damage. With another nod, Alex stated "You're welcome." to Penelope before turning back to his paper as he calculated how much clay and time he would need. After a moment, he put the pen down. "Okay, all of this is easily doable, but it will take me time to make the pot and glaze a plate, and even longer to fire them and then let them cool. It could take as much as 12 hours. Is this alright for you two?" Alex asked, waiting on giving them the full price until they were sure they were willing to wait that long to get their new pottery, but at least they didn't have to stay all of those 12 hours here.

As Alex waited for Lilith's answer, the door opened again, and the man with a bald spot over his right ear and a leather jacket covered with chains. The malachite manipulator glanced up and realized that this was the man that he was expecting to pick up the red pot that was in the back. "I'll be with you in a moment sir." Alex stated as he turned back to Lilith, then his brow furrowed when he realized that he recognized the man, and he slowly turned back to the man that was headed for the counter. "My business won't be put on hold. I ordered a red pot and I... want... it..." The man started to demand when he reached the counter and he had shoved himself right between Penelope and Lilith, but his voice trailed off when he got a good look at Alex's face. "Wait... you!" the man exclaimed loudly as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small hand gun. "You're that guy that nearly got me busted by the cops for murder!" the man shouted in a rage filled shout, and Alex's shoulders slumped. "Oh dear..."

>> "You're welcome…Okay, all of this is easily doable, but it will take me time to make the pot and glaze a plate, and even longer to fire them and then let them cool. It could take as much as 12 hours. Is this alright for you two?"

Lilith smiled and nodded that it was fine. Penelope was actually close to bouncing up and down on her seat as she waited for the nice man to collect her drawing. She just couldn’t believe that it was going to be put onto the ceramic pot! AND Lilith even liked the idea! Maybe she really did forgive her and Jezebel for what they had done to her favorite pot. It was a sad thing but at least it seemed that it was finally water under the bridge.

Penelope sighed, happily, as she watched both the man and Lilith do business. Tilting her head she gazed up at all the pots and items that the man had for sale here. To make something like this just seemed so awesome. She tried similar things when she played with her play-doh but it never lasted (nor was it big enough!). Still, though, she was drawn to the arts and crafts.

Sitting patiently, she let her eyes drift around the room until the sudden movement of the door drew her attention. In walked a man, a bald, burly looking man that actually made her just a little scared. She hoped that it was just her imagination so she tried to turn back to Lilith. They were going to leave, right? They couldn’t stay here the whole twelve hours…

>> "I'll be with you in a moment sir."

>> "My business won't be put on hold. I ordered a red pot and I... want... it...Wait... you! You're that guy that nearly got me busted by the cops for murder!"

Penelope jumped as the man got belligerent and angry with Mr. Davies. There was no need for that, especially since Mr. Davies was being absolutely nice to the man. But just as Penelope figured him for being nothing more than a rude customer, she suddenly saw the gun produced. Her heart rate jumped up as she clung to the counter.

Guns scared her a lot.

Guns reminded her of the last time she saw her parents alive.

Guns made her think of…Jezebel…

>> “Oh dear..."

“Oh no,” she squeaked. She could already feel the fire beginning to start up deep in her stomach. It was stoked and began to churn…Jezebel was waking up… “Lily…?”

Lilith, as soon as she had seen the man produce the gun, had made her way back over to Penelope and hugged her tight. It was as she was doing this that she felt the heat rising on the young girl’s skin. Instantly a panicked look appeared on her face as she turned her full attention on Penelope and cupped her face with her hands.

“Baby, calm down! Please, not here! Not now baby! Be calm!” she muttered and whispered as soothingly as she could. But it was obviously her voice was tinged with panic.

Penelope, tears in her eyes, tried to not but her skin just kept getting hotter. This…was definitely not good…

As Lilith moved over towards Penelope in order to protect her sister, Alex was staring down the barrel of a gun... and the feeling that was moving up his spine as a result wasn't that pleasant as he raised his hands into the hold up position. Alex was more then aware that the man that was aiming the weapon at him wasn't afraid to shoot him since the last time they met, the guy fired on the malachite manipulator for asking the dealer if he could ask him a couple of questions. However, as Alex's gazed shifted from the gun to the gun wielding M-drug dealer, Alex couldn't sworn that there was a hint of fear in the man's eyes, and was starting to wonder why the guy didn't shoot him yet.

"This is a set up, isn't it?! Last time I tried to pick up a shipment from my supplier, you and that blond headed friend of yours stop me! It was luck alone that the police didn't look in the alley I was knocked out in. Now I come to pick up a shipment from the same supplier, and here you are again to stop me!" the dealer raged at Alex, and the barrel of the gun wavered a little bit. Alex slowly shook his head but kept his eyes locked on the dealer's eyes. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not working for a drug supplier at all. I bought this place to start my business. You're the one jumping the gun... pun not intended." Alex stated calmly.

The dealer cringed at the thought that Alex could've just cracked a joke enough though his live was in the dealer's hands at the moment. "Shut up! Tell me where that shipment is or I'll blow their heads off!" The dealer roared, indicating Penelope and Lilith. Alex's eyes narrowed in anger when he heard this, then flicked his thumb at the doorway that was behind the counter. "It's back there in the red pot you came here for." Alex replied coldly.

It was after Alex said this that he wanted to kick himself. What the heck am I doing? I've more tricks up my sleeves then I can count, why aren't I using them? Alex thought, and his cyan eyes started to glow a bright green. As the dealer's eyes went wide, a rod of malachite ripped through the sleeve of Alex's long sleeve shirt and rapidly grew towards the gun. When the rod reached the weapon, the rod encased the gun in a crystal of malachite, with a piece of malachite lodged behind the trigger so the dealer could fire the weapon. The dealer tried to pull the trigger, but he couldn't do it because the malachite was almost twice the strength of concrete, so he weapon hand might as well been encased in solid iron. "What the?!" the dealer exclaimed in fear, but he didn't get to say anything else, for a second rod of malachite grew out from the other sleeve and nailed the criminal in the forehead, hard.

The dealer crumpled to the floor with his weapon hand being suspended in mid-air thanks to the fact that Alex was still holding onto the weapon via a malachite rod with a crystal head. The crystal retracted away from the dealer's hand as if it was melting until all that was trapped withing the crystal was the gun, and the dealer's arm fell to the ground, Alex placed the gun on the counter, recalled all of the malachite, and placed a clay pot upside down onto the gun so if the dealer woke up, he wouldn't see the weapon at first and lunge for it. Alex was sure the dealer was still alive since he didn't hit him that hard.

With his eyes still glowing green, he turned to face Lilith and Penelope. "Are you two alright?" Alex asked in his kind and calm tone.

Penelope was panicking. The gunman was yelling; and he was threatening! He nodded to both herself and Lilith and swore that he would harm them if he didn’t get whatever it was that he wanted. Penelope didn’t understand, mainly because she was scared of what was happening to her. Lilith was trying to calm her down but Penelope was already too far gone. With every passing second she was shaking, trembling, and the fire in her belly was spreading throughout her entire frame.

Jezebel was waking up and there was little, if anything, that Penelope could do to stop her. Mr. Tickle was back at home, her sister was utterly failing at keeping her calm, and the man was still yelling, causing her heart to jump up into her throat. Already she could feel the dots of perspiration on her brow.

Lilith’s eyes went wide and instantly she began to looked very panicked and worried, shaking her head and trying to get Penelope to calm down. But her fear was only adding fuel to the fire. Shakily Penelope reached up and wiped her forehead. When she retracted her hand, all she saw was beads of red all over her palm.

“No…nonono…”

THWHACK!![/b]

Penelope jumped and turned around just in time to see the threatening man crumple to the ground, in the air, a long green staff of some kind of rock that she couldn’t identify. The young girl had no idea where it had come from but the weapon was apparently effective in knocking the man down. The shop owner turned to them…

>> "Are you two alright?"

Lilith’s attention was focused on Penelope, though. The young girl stood there, in shock, as she looked down at the fallen man who had threatened them a second ago. She was so scared but that was slowly being replaced by anger. Who could do that? Who would threaten a little girl and her sister when they were just shopping for clay pots? WHAT KIND OF ****ING MONSTER WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!

HUMANS!!!

Suddenly the calm brown colored eyes were replaced with molten yellow. All over her skin was dotted with red until it looked like she was sweating blood. But this liquid did not drop to the ground, but instead collected and covered her skin, her clothes, and her entire body. Quickly it molded itself, piling on top, shaping into the humanoid form that was massive and muscular. Penelope was lost within it. Instead, all that remained, was a tall, powerful looking woman with long, raven black hair and red streaks. She growled and hissed as she fully formed and flexed her obviously strong muscles.

With that, Penelope ceased to exist, and Jezebel Tickle was in her place.

“Oh god…” Lilith muttered as she began to back away. “Jezebel…don’t…”

“Shut up!”[/b] the amazon roared. Leaning down she grabbed the unconscious man fiercely by his throat. Already he began to flail as she began to crush his windpipe with her massive fists. “It’s my turn…”

After Alex asked of Penelope and Lilith were alright, he noticed that something wasn't right. Sure, they were both scared, and why wouldn't they be? A nut case had just threatened their lives and he meant it... though the danger had passed now. Were they afraid of him then? His mutation was clear as day to them now, and most humans were afraid of mutants. He was just going to have to tell them that there wasn't any reason to fear him. As he was about to speak though, he noticed that Lilith was completely focused on Penelope and wasn't looking in the direction of the danger. Most people would so they could see when an attack was going to come and avoid it. Penelope on the other hand was looking at her hands, and Alex thought he saw tiny red dots on he hands, and cocked his left eyebrow, causing the green glow in the eye on the same side to brighten slightly. "Are you to alright?" Alex asked calmly, wondering if he could help them calm down.

Seconds later though, Alex found out why they were still so afraid. Penelope's eyes suddenly started to glow a molten yellow, and this red ooze started to come out of the pores of her skin and started to coat her body. The little girl was a mutant, and unlike any he had ever heard of. "Whoa!" Alex exclaimed when the transformation was done, amazed at the child's power. However when he noticed Lilith's reaction and that shes called the child Jezebel, he realized that this was a very bad thing. Remembering that the child said that Jezebel didn't something, Alex realized that this red being that stood before him now wasn't the child at all, and had a completely different personality.

Jezebel's next action confirmed this when she told Lilith to shut up, stated that it was heard turn, and started to crush the man's wind pipe. As much as Alex wanted this guy dead for killing one man and nearly killing himself and these two people as well, he was more then aware that the guy had to live and face justice. With his mind made up, Alex stepped forwards and grabbed Jezebel's forearms with his bare hands, and was surprised that her skin was so hot that it hurt, but the heat quickly faded when he encased her forearms and hands with his malachite. "Stop this. He is already subdued." Alex stated sternly as he looked into her molten yellow eyes with his own glowing green eyes as his malachite started to bend around her fingers in an attempt to get her to let go of the man. The malachite was almost twice as strong as cement so it wasn't going to be easy to break it. Then again, the malachite couldn't apply any more force then Alex himself could apply with his bare hands, so chances were Jezebel would be able to withstand Alex's attempt to make her let go, but the malachite manipulator didn't know this.

"I'm not sure if you're that young child that was laughing a moment ago or someone else entirely, but killing this man isn't the answer. I have more then enough evidence to get this guy life in prison with the murder I witness before hand, and the attempted murder here. I have this situation under control, so stop." Alex stated sternly, his glowing green eyes unwavering and never leaving Jezebel's eyes. Normally he would be blushing because of her being an amazon, but his mind was in full battle mode so at the moment he didn't even notice her features.

>> "Are you to alright?...Whoa!"

Jezebel wasn’t listening to the man that was talking. Who was he to interfere? This pathetic human in her hands not only threatened Penelope’s life, but her own life by proxy. She may not have always liked Penelope’s views on the world, but for the mean time, she needed her to exist. She needed to keep her around, at least until Jezebel could figure a way to live on without have to live within the young child. That meant that she needed to protect her host at all costs.

Especially from pathetic little humans. She began to squeeze tighter, sending the man flailing in her bare hands. Already she could see the red mars on his skin from the heat her hands were giving off but Jezebel didn’t ease up. She would grip that man’s throat until he popped like a grape. That would show him…

But then she felt the presence of the man next to her, the shop owner. She turned her head, sharply, and growled as he gripped her arm. She would have shoved him away but had to pause when she noticed the green, rocky substance beginning to encase her arms. Eyebrow raised in confusion, she soon realized that he was a mutant, and probably the reason that her attacker was unconscious in the first place.

>> "Stop this. He is already subdued."

Her eye twitched. Another sympathizer? Another mutant who felt that humans deserved a chance to live? It was an utter disgrace. Though she trusted mutants above all else, she absolutely hated it when they attempted to protect humans…

>> "I'm not sure if you're that young child that was laughing a moment ago or someone else entirely, but killing this man isn't the answer. I have more then enough evidence to get this guy life in prison with the murder I witness before hand, and the attempted murder here. I have this situation under control, so stop."

She growled.

Angrily she was forced to release the man (sending him into a crumpled heap on the ground) but she turned her wild, glowing eyes upon this human-sympathizer.

“You would protect this…ant…to given justice by humans?!”[/b] she snarled as she turned sharply and slammed her rock covered hands into the nearby wall. She struck it with such force that the substance covering her arms broke and crumbled. Sharply Jezebel turned her gaze back to the man. ”He threatened me! He deserves to die for threatening a high lifeform!! Don’t stand in my way!!”[/b] She screamed and raised her fist to strike the shopkeep with everything that she had…

When Alex saw Jezebel's eyes twitch in response to him saying that the criminal shouldn't be killed, he realized just how different this... thing... was from that little girl that was overjoyed to hear that he could place her drawing onto a plate for her. This red monster was a killing machine. He was a little relieved to see that she dropped the man, but the moment those molten eyes gazed at him, Alex realized that he was in over his head. This was confirmed when she turned sharply to smash her malachite covered hands into the wall... and since Alex had been holding onto her arms with his malachite covered hands, he got thrown into the wall and hit it with a bang. "OW!" Alex exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head as his ability to sense malachite told him the exact location of every single shard of malachite that was now laying on the floor. He still had most of it wrapped around his forearms, but the chunks that broke off shrank down to their normal size, so they were hard to see. There was also a big hole in the wall where Jezebel had slammed her arms into the wall.

When Jezebel screamed that the criminal deserved to die for threatening a higher life-form such as herself, Alex quickly dived to the right and somersaulted passed Jezebel when she threw a punch at him... which ended up destroying the clay statue that had been just behind Alex before he dodged her attack. As the malachite manipulator got up, several dozen wire thin rods shot out in all directions from Alex's malachite covered forearms, each one of them grabbing onto a stray piece of broken malachite, and pulling it back onto his forearms all at the same time. Since he was able to sense the malachite, he didn't even need to look where he was aiming. With every single chunk back in place, his malachite bracers started to glow green as his fusion ability mended the bracers so they were whole again. He was going to need every single piece of malachite at his disposal for this next move. "I said that was enough."

Knowing full well that he could be signing his death certificate, Alex side-stepped around the red amazon so he was behind her, and with his malachite coated hands, and slammed both of his hands into her back with all of his might, and started to coat her entire body with the malachite. She broke the malachite before hand because she was still able to move, so he was hoping that if he stopped her from moving altogether, she wouldn't be able to escape. The malachite extended quickly, and he could make it grow till it was 18 times its normal size, so he had a lot of malachite to work with. Soon the malachite coating had extended to Jezebel's elbows and knees, but he left her hands, feet, and head clear.

Hoping that it would hold her for a short period of time, Alex started to think of how he could get her to let this criminal live just long enough for the police to grab him, and started to wonder if he could use that mutant pride of her to his advantage. Alex's darker side was going to come out for this, but in some cases that is what it took. "Before you try to break free, I think I should tell you that this guy is an M-drug dealer. In case you don't know, M-drug temporarily gives normal humans the power of mutants, basically fake mutants. An abomination if you ask me. Human law enforcement and mutants alike are trying to stop this flow of M-drug, but nothing seems to work. However, this is the second time I've dealt with this guy trying to get his hands on his next shipment to sell on the streets, and just like last time he was looking for a clay pot that has his shipment of M-drug in it. This means that he is using the same supplier both times, so he has to know a way to contact this supplier." Alex stated, then took a short breath as he kept his guard up, completely ignoring Lilith as he did. "If he dies, that supplier will just find another person willing to sell their m-drug, and more fake mutants will be popping up all over the place. The information of that supplier's possible location is in this guy's head, so unless you can get that info out of him while he is currently black out, then we have no choice but to hand him over to the police, who can get that info out of him and make use of it in order to catch that supplier, and the flow of M-drug will decrease dramatically. Understand?" Alex stated calmly, while mentally praying that Jezebel would understand and would let this criminal live.

Alex then pulled one hand away from Jezebel's back and aimed it at the criminal. "If this wasn't the case, trust me when I say that this guy would've made it to hell in pieces. I don't let anyone harm my customers." Alex stated as a three foot long sword extended towards the criminal and stopped roughly a foot away from him, then dozens of razor sharp spikes grew around the edge of the sword and started to spin around the edge of the blade like it was a chainsaw. Alex had created a chainsaw sword to show Jezebel what he would've done to this guy if this guy had not been the drug dealer Alex knew he was.

>> "I said that was enough."

The red amazon was simply in no mood to deal with this little man any more. First she and her sister were threatened with death and now this man, this mutant, was trying to step in the way of her right to make the criminal suffer for it! That was something that Jezebel simply could not abide by! She trusted mutants, she really did, but she was not going to allow herself to be talked about of this. If she had to plow through this man in order to do so, she would!

She lashed out! Her punch was hard and fast and would have decimated absolutely anything that came in its path. Had the man been standing in her way, she would have easily knocked his head clean off of his shoulders. But all she struck was air.

The little man seemed to be quicker and speedier than she had anticipated. The only solution was that, as soon as she caught him, she would rip out his kneecaps. That ought to slow him down a bit.

But before she could continue with her plan, suddenly the spritely little creature had made his way behind her and seized her back. She grinned. She would easily dislocate his arms from his shoulde—

“What the f---!!”[/b] She shouted and squirmed as more of that green rock she saw earlier began to grow all around her. It soon encased most of her torso and Jezebel began to growl, bare her teeth, and made ready to thrash about. She would make this little mutant suffer for embarrassing her like this…

>> "Before you try to break free, I think I should tell you that this guy is an M-drug dealer. In case you don't know, M-drug temporarily gives normal humans the power of mutants, basically fake mutants. An abomination if you ask me. Human law enforcement and mutants alike are trying to stop this flow of M-drug, but nothing seems to work. However, this is the second time I've dealt with this guy trying to get his hands on his next shipment to sell on the streets, and just like last time he was looking for a clay pot that has his shipment of M-drug in it. This means that he is using the same supplier both times, so he has to know a way to contact this supplier… If he dies, that supplier will just find another person willing to sell their m-drug, and more fake mutants will be popping up all over the place. The information of that supplier's possible location is in this guy's head, so unless you can get that info out of him while he is currently black out, then we have no choice but to hand him over to the police, who can get that info out of him and make use of it in order to catch that supplier, and the flow of M-drug will decrease dramatically. Understand?"

Surprisingly she found herself listening to the entire story. She was pissed off at the idea of it; to imagine that this pathetic little ant was actually involved in artificially giving his fellow maggots powers, it was just mind boggling! What rights did humans have to copy them? They had no rights! They were relics, evolutionary jokes that needed to be wiped out! And here they were, challenge nature itself so that they could stick around longer? It was insane!

The thought of it angered her blood so much that she could barely control herself to keep from throwing herself down upon the man and tearing out his throat with her bare teeth!

But she had to pause. The mutant…he was making sense. It was folly, obviously, to trust this man to human authorities (they were all idiots), but the if it would help them lead to more of these drug peddlers, to stop the flow of this sick joke, well, why not? She twitched at the idea and soon found herself eyeing the mutant who was attempting to reason with her.

>> "If this wasn't the case, trust me when I say that this guy would've made it to hell in pieces. I don't let anyone harm my customers."

She cracked her neck to the side, still snarling at the idea of letting this man go. But, the mutant made sense. As much as she didn’t want to admit it.

Spittle at the corner of her mouth, she growled as she glanced back to the mutant. “Fine,”[/b] she said as she spit a froth glob on the floor. Quickly she began to thrash. “NOW LET ME OUTTA THIS ****ING **** BEFORE I ****ING RIP YOUR HEAD OFF MO**********!!!!!”[/b]

After Alex had finished explaining the real reason why he wanted to keep that criminal alive, he wasn't sure how Jezebel was going to take it... which was half of the reason why he had created a chainsaw sword with one hand, basically showing her what he was capable of. However as he kept his eyes on her face when she looked back on him, he could've sworn that her face expression was changing a bit. Maybe what he said really did get to her after all. As he waited for a response, he risked a glance over at Lilith to see if she was hurt, then turned his gaze back to Jezebel, whom seemed to be in thought, though still clearly pissed off for being encased within a malachite version of a straight jacket.

Finally, Jezebel agreed, and Alex couldn't hold back a sigh of relief. Good, now he didn't have to hide a corpse in the basement of the shop, which he was currently using as his bedroom and food pantry until he had enough money to rent an apartment somewhere. However, it didn't take long for Jezebel to begin cursing up a storm, demanding to be let go or she would rip his head off. "Alright! Sheesh! Take it easy!" Alex stated as the chainsaw sword shank back into the bracer on his right arm, while the malachite straight jacket that Jezebel was encased in withdrew as well, freeing the red vixen. "I've heard foul mouthed kids before, but you take the cake." Alex mused as he started to glance around the shop as he rubbed his chin in thought. "It would be a bad idea for me to call the cops while you two are still here. Personally I don't want you two involved, so I think it might be best if you left. I'll make sure that Mr. drug dealer here doesn't tell the police about you two." Alex stated calmly as the green glow in his eyes finally faded to reveal his cyan eyes. He glanced over at Lilith again, and sighed. "I'm sorry about this mess. We can talk prices later. Right now you should get outta here." Alex stated as he handed her a card that had his name and phone number on it.

Turning back to Jezebel, Alex gave her a stern look before shaking his head. "For what it's worth, sorry about pissing you off. So the other shop keepers on the other side of the street don't stare, you're going to have to turn back into your hu.... I mean smaller form. Seeing you walking the streets will completely overturn my efforts at keeping the police off of you two." Alex stated before he started to glance around the shop again. "Now lets see... I need to make this look like a brawl happened. I guess I'd better break some of the pots where that hole in the wall is located." Alex stated before he started to head over to a display shelf, aiming to break a pot or two, along with a statue. It was gonna hurt his profits, but it was a needed lose in order to keep his two customers out of trouble.