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Ty listened as she spoke, now glad he let her tell him herself what was eating her. He hated finding things like that out via his mutation. When lightning struck, Ty jumped as well, but he caught the woman and pulled her close, just holding her tight in an effort to comfort her.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured softly, rubbing her back. "**** happens, and I'd love to change the past as much as anybody." He sighed softly. "All I can say is be strong, and if you ever need anything, I'm never far."

His mind was racing, and he wasn't sure he was helping this any. He just held her, as if being in his arms suddenly made her safe. But it didn't. He knew it didn't. But he just wanted to be there for her, like he'd failed to be there for anybody else.

Ty sat down next to her, putting his arm around her as he could hear signs of a storm brewing, but his focus was on the woman next to him. He didn't know what else to do, so he just held her there. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah...I have. I still do, now that I think about it," he said simply. "But I haven't lost anyone like that. None except Tses...The one I mentioned earlier..." he sighed deeply, his mind trying to figure out which way to go.

"Then, there's Chloe. My little sister. Until a couple years or so ago, I didn't even know I had a sister. But after meeting her...I felt...protective. Like I'd do anything to keep her safe, and I still would. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her. In that sense, I think I know how you feel."

He could have known how she felt, but he'd already made a personal vow not to use his power on this woman without consent or probable cause. And neither one of those had come along yet.

Ty let out another sigh, sipping on his drink. "Well, she was...volatile, to say the least, but I loved her with every fiber of my being, he began, a smile on his face but tears welling up un his eyes.

"Neither one of us were what you'd call innocent. Trouble seemed to follow us. But I had a nasty habit of running when the stakes were high. A year ago, I took the wrong job--and let's leave it at that, for all our sakes. I felt that I and everyone I was close to was in danger, so...I left. I'd thought it was to protect her, but now...I don't even know anymore. So...here I am."

He sat back in his chair, regaining his composure and sighing again. He finished his drink, then opted to cut himself off after that. To an extent, it helped to open up just a little. But he'd never open up completely. To anyone. Some things were best kept locked up.

"Having someone puts their life in danger...."

Those words echoed and swarmed around in his head like a nest of hornets. It gripped his very soul to the core.

"And that," he said with a slight shake to his voice, "is why I'm here today...you can't protect everyone all the time. I guess just...find someone you trust can protect themselves..."

That was when it clicked for him. He couldn't change the past, but he could affect the future. He knocked back his rum, savoring the flavor and the feeling it brought him.

"Wolves don't hang around with chickens. The powerful surround themselves with powerful allies. That's how the pack lives on." He spoke his revelation out loud, a smile coming to his face. That was the secret.

Okay, so now it was just the two of them, and Ty felt his southern charm had worn thin. So here he was, grasping at straws and still trying to keep up the facade that he had everything under control, though by now it was probably obvious that it wasn't. He didn't mind her clinging to him--it was a start--but now that it was over and they were separate beings again. But now, she seemed even more on edge.

Well, maybe this was a start. Hearing her request, he stuck his head out the door, waving for one of the VIP room's servers. After chatting with him for a minute, there was a moment of waiting. When Ty came back, he had another rum and cola(This time he may or may not have had them hold the cola,) and a drink for her. He held it out to her, taking a sip from his own. "Here ya go," he offered with a small smile.

"Not gunna lie. Bruno kinda scares me, but he's a teddy bear, unless you mess up the bar or start a fight or somethin' like that. But hey, here, you can control the lights, music...everything. So if this isn't your style, you can adjust it here."

Maybe he was trying too hard to win her over, so by now, he relaxed again, reverting to what had gotten her to offer him a ride in the first place. He relaxed considerably, and he was just...himself. Even if those two things were the hardest two things to do as of late.

"So," he said as he slid into a seat closest to her, "What's your idea of a good time? I'm a simpler being who likes to sit around, drinking and listening to loud rock music, but....well that's not for everyone." He chuckled softly, interested in her answer.

Ty sat up in a cold sweat, shaking and shivering as the shadows of his apartment seemed to merge and close in on him. He'd had nightmares before, but what he'd had over the past year or so were far worse than mere bad dreams. Every night, he was forced to see the same thing over and over again.

Once he'd calmed down enough, he forced himself out of bed and grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge, turning on the light. He caught view of himself in the mirror; in nothing but a pair of forest green boxer-briefs. His body was more defined and muscular now, but still each and every tattoo that covered his body was in view. Each tattoo represented another person; a different part of Ty's life. And each one, a portion of his life that he'd betrayed. Sitting on the couch, he turned up his beer, wishing he could turn back time and make things different.


It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out job. Faust Pharmaceuticals. Get what you need and get out. Getting in, that was the easy part. At least for someone like Ty, it was, anyway. But once he got in...it went to hell.

As he sat there, staring at nothing, he was trapped in his own thoughts. Everything he'd seen, from the testing, to hearing every scream. Even in retrospect, it was too much. The things that happened to mutants in that place...he was unable to tell anyone, much less use his power to show them.

It was so horrible, so graphic, that if he absolutely had to explain himself, he'd say he was caught before he got all the way in. Say he was threatened. But...that was far from the truth.

And then, he saw her face in person; the one he'd seen in his flashbacks. It was enough to make him want to just disappear. Because he knew he could very well be one of those dissected, researched, tested...or worse...those he loved.

So...he escaped. He ran out of the building as fast as he could, and he just...kept going. Hopped the nearest bus to anywhere. But no matter how far he went, his memories haunted him the entirety of the trip.