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This was not where he had expected the night to go. When he came to this party, he just wanted to donate some money, maybe get a name of the organization to send to his more charitable colleagues in California, and be done with it. He didn’t expect the night to turn into a battle royale with bigot thugs seeking to push out a friendly mutant group. Talk about a twist.

However, all that being said, the most surprising part of the evening was watching Svetlana, a woman he had met ages ago, really throw herself out there and kick butt. She had moves the likes of which he only saw in heroines from action movies! It was so awesome to see it actually happening in front of him, in real time, and it not be some kind of martial arts exhibition.

He had to ask. Did she compete competitively?

Turns out that she didn’t -- at least from what she said. As it turns out, she just trained in mixed martial arts and really, really didn’t like it when people were ***holes. He chuckled at that response, holding the door open for her so that she could head back into the building after she managed to get her shoe on.

”Remind me to never get on your bad side,” he grinned broadly. ”I see that the bigotry in New York hasn’t changed any. Not that California is any better,” he snorted. ”At least you know how to handle them. I’m always too worried I’m going to get sued for pain and suffering.”

Okay so at one Akshay wanted to fancy himself a hero. He tried hopping along rooftops, wearing a costume, and other such dangerous things in order to get himself into the game. To be like the heroes he had seen in comic books or like the real-life X-Men who lived in his very city. If they could do it, why couldn’t he? He was a mutant with a lifetime experience of reading comic books. Couldn’t be that hard.

Sadly things didn’t work out as well as he wanted. After a small stint as The Wordsmith, Akshay hung up the costume and vowed to leave it to the professionals. He was just a comic artist with delusions of grandeur.

But apparently that was not Sveta. After he had commented about this not being the night he had planned for, she suddenly reached for and pulled something from the air above him. He jumped, ducking away, but saw her pull away to words in the air. Shit. He had lost control of his powers? But...how?!

Just as she smashed the words into the last thug that was attempting to pick himself up, it clicked. He remembered now. Her powers. Being near her boosted abilities or something, right? That’s why he felt a tad nervous.

Watching the thug slump over, Akshay put his hands on his hips, catching his breath. After a moment he cleared his throat to get Sveta’s attention and smiled at her. ”Champagne...Formal wear...Good appetizers...Fist fists...” he beamed. ”You really know how to throw a charity event.”

Akshay shook his head as the first thug that he had tried to warn sneered at his comment. The moron was quickly met with a firm punch to the nose, breaking in the cartilage and causing a spurt of blood. Akshay, and the rest of the thugs, were all taken aback by the sudden move. Akshay was especially affected -- ugh, that was so much blood.

A wave of anger seemed to course through the men. As one recoiled from the punch, another took a leap at her. The wordsmith didn’t even had to time to shout out a warning for her as she quickly clocked the thug, side-stepped, and threw her heel hard into the back of his knee. The sounds and whimper that flew from his throat were enough to even make Akshay feel sorry for him.

That’s when he looked back to Sveta. Wow. A smile pulled at his lips as he watched her operate, thoroughly impressed with the way that she handled herself.

Another thug, despite seeing his comrades taken down, went in for the attack. However, as he managed to pull Sveta’s attention, he turned to see the first man with the broken nose pull a gun from the inside of his coat. Startled, Akshay shouted: ”Baseball bat!”.

The word formed in thin air. Plucking it out with his bare hands, he immediately swung it the gunman, smashing him across the shoulder, causing him to drop the gun with a clatter. The word burst into shards of psionic energy before disappearing into thin air. Akshay grew wide-eyed as the thug turned, holding his shoulder, and then barreled into him.

”AHH!” Akshay attempted to run a few steps back but was tackled across the waist and thrown to the ground.

“Damn freaks!!” the man yelled and made ready to pummel Akshay into the ground like a railroad spike.

So Akshay had seen this movie before. He remembered being in a movie theater, chuckling and shaking his head at the poor character that was invited to a back alley by a bunch of goons and then proceeded to have his ass handed to him. He was lucky that they left him alive, but at the same time, the state that they left him in wasn’t the most ideal either. If Akshay were watching himself from the outside, he definitely would be chuckling at the poor man’s upcoming fate.

Standing in the midst of three men, he could honestly see this going one of two ways. And since there was no synthesized porn music playing in the air around them, he had a feeling that the worst of the two outcomes was right on his doorstep. His gaze shifted between the three men who surrounded him as he tried to think of the right thing to say.

That’s when the exact wrong thing came out. Ugh, he wanted to slap his own self for that. As a matter of fact, he partially considered a plan where he just acted completely out of his mind in hopes that they would run off, thinking he was insane. But before he could even attempt it, he could see that dangerous glare in their eyes. There was no escape now.

They were bigots, as it turned out. People who didn’t want mutants to receive any services and more than willing to ensure he paid a really, really bad price for even attempting to make that a reality. Yeah, the heck with Sveta. He really should have just stayed in his penthouse and watched a movie -- or at least called a hooker like most of his peers in his line of work.

”Hey, guys, come on,” he said with a sigh and a shake of his head. ”We should be helping one another, not--”

There was the sound of interruption. All heads turned to see another figure that joined them...Svetlana. Akshay breathed a small sigh of relief and looked to see if she had brought cops or guards with her. Instead she was standing by herself. Seeing that, he immediately felt scared for his friend. Was she going to be the new focus of their attention, for obvious reasons?

He could see their leering gazes and Akshay tried to step up. He didn’t want her to get hurt or put into some other horrible position. So he spoke up.

”Ugh, gentlemen, don’t mind her. You wanted to threaten...I mean...talk to me. So let’s talk privately.” He cleared this throat as he turned back to Sveta. ”I got this. Please go back inside…”

Akshay knew that he was digging himself deeper into whatever this was. The longer he interacted with these guys, the more uncomfortable he felt. It was clear that they weren’t the most talkative types and there really was something that was just suspicious about them. They really didn’t seem like the types of people to come to a charity event and they weren’t participating in anything. They were just...looking around. So weird. He could see why Svetlana was a little suspicious.

His eyes drifted across the room, trying to find where she had gone off to. Could he signal her? Maybe wave her down or perform morse code with his eyebrows in some attempt to signal her that something was up? Sadly, before he could locate her, the initial man he had begun speaking to drew him back with a question.

Did he run this? Hrm. He had to be careful here. His initial thought was to respond with honesty. But the reality was he wasn’t entirely sure who the head honcho was. He didn’t have a lot of time to speak to Sveta but he assumed it was her. Still, he didn’t want her to get on the radar of these guys. No, maybe he could delve a bit deeper into their motives and flag security on his own. They had to be everywhere here, right?

He cleared his throat and nodded. ”Oh, yes. Akshay,” he said, holding his hand out to them. ”Akshay Malik. Happy to meet you. Recent move from California. Thought I would put together a little party to raise some funds for a worthy cause. The medical center can use whatever help you all are willing to give, whether money or just volunteer time, of course.”

He knew how to act the part. The problem was he wondered where exactly Sveta had gone off to...

Haven. Hrm, he would have to remember that name to pass along to his more charitable friends back in California. They were always looking for good places to donate money. And not just because it looked good on a tax form! That was a miracle in and of itself! Either way, Haven would surely get some nice donations once he was done here tonight. It really seemed like Sveta had gotten herself lined up with an amazing organization. He truly hoped they continued to do the good they set out to do.

But as he mentally locked away that name, his attention was turned to the newcomers. In reality he didn’t give them all that hard of a look but once Sveta pointed out that they looked out of place, he squinted a little. Interesting. They didn’t seem all that interested in being here. That wasn’t strange in and of itself, after all, he had been dragged to events that he found boring too. But so many of them? And all coming in at the same time?

Admittedly, that was a little strange.

Akshay was about to let the matter go when Sveta turned to him and asked a favor. Would he mind talking to them? He was somewhat confused by the request. After all, if there was really some cause for concern, shouldn’t security get involved? Maybe she didn’t want things to escalate or cause an embarrassment. Easier to just stroll up as a stranger and strike up a conversation.

He shrugged his shoulders. ”Ugh, yeah, sure,” he said. ”I’ll be right back.”

He smiled, adjusted his suit a little, and subtly made his way over to one of the people that had walked in. Up close they did seem like they were acting the smallest bit suspicious but he didn’t point anything outright. Instead he hovered a little close until he caught one of their eyes, smiled and held up his strike.

”Hello!” he greeted cheerily. ”Having a good time?”

Shit. Why did that sound like a pick-up line?

Akshay chuckled and shook his head. ”Naw, seems my need to sneak into places is done. Now I can just walk in and I’ll be asked nicely to leave,” he grinned wide.

It really was a change from the person he used to be. The constant struggle to get premiere tickets or to get on the list for clubs or conventions. The desperate struggle to find a fanbase. Never knowing how his latest comic was doing and if it was reaching anyone. There was a lot of things that have changed now, essentially being that he didn’t have to worry about any of that. There was always someone who knew someone who could get him tickets and his fanbase loved his work and was growing every day. It honestly seemed that most of his struggles were over.

But when she asked that ever important question -- how was he liking fame? Instinctively he snorted at that, shaking his head. But the second he did he caught himself, looked up, and gave her a wide, shy smile, and tried to wave off his reaction.

”Sorry, I don’t mean that,” he sighed. ”It’s alright I guess. I think I’m still in transition, you know? From not having anything to having, well…” he pointed at the comic print he had been looking at. ”Being able to buy that at the drop of a hat.”

He sounded like he was complaining, didn’t he? Ugh, how annoying. He had no right to complain! He was doing so well! There was no point in dwelling on this so he put on a good, genuine smile and turned back to Svetlana.

”Sorry, you don’t want to hear about my first world problems,” he smirked. ”How’re you? It’s been a long time.”