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Luke felt like he was in a race with a ticking clock and the dangling woman was the prize. Either he would arrive in time or the woman would fall to her death. Picking up the pace Luke once again found himself wishing that he had Sara's ability for speed. SHE would have already been up these stairs and grabbing the woman long ago but Luke was just a mortal man. Sure he had sonar to see with but he didn't actually have any special physical attributes to help him in a situation like this.

"I'm coming! Just keep holding on! I'm almost there!" Luke yelled from one floor below as he turned the corner and raced up the next flight of stairs on the fire escape. There.... there was the window that would be his entry point but there wasn't time to waste with kicking or punching it in. Still half a flight away, Luke's sonic blast shot out again, shattering glass and tearing away security bars to leave him a clear hole to dive through.

"You guys alright?" Sam called from back down on the ground level.

There was no time to pause to call down in response if Luke actually wanted to make it in time to reach Fade and the Rainwoman so for the moment he stayed silent. Diving through the window he tucked into a roll and came back up to his feet, still running. With his sonar he navigated the corridors until finally he skidded to a stop at the window that Fade had been working toward. It was somewhat unnerving to see part of the woman's feet sticking out on this side of the wall while he knew everything else was on the other side. Doing his best to ignore it, Luke threw open the window and leaned outside so that Fade could see him.

"I'm right here Fade... can you reach far enough for me to grab her?"

(OOC: Feel free to have Luke grab the girl or do whatever you feel is best for the situation. I trust you to make a good decision. ;-))

While slow, Luke was making steady progress toward his target when the rain suddenly changed to hail. Thankfully they were still small but for someone that didn't control ice they were still painful.

"Forgot how strong you make some of these guys!" Luke heard Sam call out through the sound of the hail and wind. Grinning slightly under his mask Luke didn't bother to shout a reply of his own. Wasn't it interesting that Sam had been the one worried about Luke being rusty but now he was the one commenting on how difficult the opponents were.

Suddenly Luke felt more than saw yet another bolt of lighting fly past his position. Leaping to his feet he suddenly charged out from cover but even as he took the first few steps he knew he had made the wrong decision. The first bolt had been a feint to draw him out and the electric-mancer held another charge in his right hand. Before Luke could do anything the energy was flying his direction, sizzling hail and atmosphere as it came at him. Reacting completely on instinct Luke released a sonic blast of his own while dropping into a crouch. The pressure of sound pushing molecule against molecule created a solid wall that the bolt slammed into, dispersing in a flash of light and sparks that was reminiscent of fireworks.

Climbing back to his feet Luke once again charged forward but then without warning his pace slowed as he noticed a strange feeling all around him. His hair was starting to stand on end and the air felt charged.

"Gotcha." The man said with cold satisfaction as the clouds above them released a bolt of cloud-to-ground lightening. This time it was all Luke could do to dive to the side and void the blast. Right where he had been standing the pavement was now liquefied from the amount of heat and power that had been applied to it.

"Maybe I went a little overboard this time!" Luke yelled up to Sam as he tried to slow his heart rate down to a more manageable level from his shelter behind the last parked car he would be able to hide behind. "Now... how do I get closer?" Luke pondered as the lightening flashed overhead, the very heavens seems to cry their outrage at his narrow escape.

"Multiple drinks... check." Luke confirmed before noticing Sam tapping his face. Was there something there he should notice? Focusing his sonar on just the ice-man, Luke suddenly found the eye patch and immediately a stream of questions flooded his mind. What had happened? Could he have stopped it if he'd just been there? Firmly pushing them aside, Luke turned his focus back on the situation at hand as well as the young woman that would be helping. Catching up and drinks were later... training was now.

"Oh, I think the invisibility works better than you realize." Luke commented with a slight smile, "And if you have the ability to phase through solid objects then you should be able to disappear from my sonar easy enough. You'll just have to work on staying in a phase state for extended periods of time."

Thankfully Fade was on his side because Luke really didn't want to think about the idea of an enemy that could hide from him completely. Sure he wasn't the most powerful member of the X-Men, far from it actually, but his strength came from being able to track opponents in situations when not many others could. It gave him a place on the team as a good counter-intelligence operative but as much as he tried to put himself in front line combat that really wasn't where he fit. Sure, he could battle criminals but fighting other mutants? That was a little much for someone with his particular abilities.

Turning back toward the approaching enemy, Luke extended his sonar to its maximum range so he could monitor what was going on. "Rusty?" He said with mock indignation, "I'll just have to demonstrate how rusty I am!"

Rain-woman was hanging back, apparently just trying to keep the situation nice and slippery. Wind-man was actually hovering in the air, apparently using his abilities to give himself flight as he approached the battle while Mr. Lightening was already charging up his hands for the first attacks.

"Stay out of the puddles if at all possible since they'll only make the electricity worse." Luke said as he began to move toward the edge of the building that they were standing on, "Sam, you should be able to reach the airborne enemy while I keep the shocker busy. Fade, maybe you can slip around to the rain lady and shut her down before she makes the conditions to unbearable."

Not bothering to wait for a response Luke took a running leap off of the building, somersaulting through the air before catching onto a flagpole that jutted out from the neighboring building. As he swung around the pole and released himself toward a nearby fire escape he couldn't help but smile. THIS was where he belonged. Fighting along side his friends in the city he called home.

Finally landing on the street, Luke took cover behind a parked car as the very first of what promised to be many lightening balls flew past. Moving out of cover, Luke moved along a zigzag route, darting from hiding spot to hiding spot. It took time but steadily he was moving closer to the lightening mutant. The battle was about to get heated.

Luke had seen the Abyss clones in battle but he'd never talked to them or even learned that they were brothers with very different personalities. No, Kealey and Shin knew far more about them than Luke ever wanted to know. What really mattered was that for the most part they were willing to sit in the background until it was time for a major battle and then they joined in with all of their brothers in arms. "And if I never face them in battle again, it will be to soon."

For a moment Luke was frozen and completely flabbergasted as Kealey grabbed on excitedly to a point he had never considered. Suit? Didn't everyone already know he had a suit? Except of course, he'd been thinking about giving it up but really... was now a time to be considering that? For a brief moment Luke was hoping the subject would shift on to Alexandra but with Shin's statement to the negative he knew that it was a lost cause. A new suit, costume, or uniform was in the works and apparently nothing could hold back the tides of progress.

"I'm curious to hear what you're thinking." Luke said slowly, turning his sunglass covered gaze on the blond woman, "I've worn something in the past but maybe it is time for a change."

He didn't really want to admit it but a part of him really was curious. Would he still have a mask over his face? Would there be some sort of visor or just plain sunglasses? Would it be leather? Cloth? God help her if she was thinking spandex! There were some lines that a man just didn't cross.

Who would have ever thought that Sara would be the one trying to talk sense into Luke. Most people, had they been willing to bet, probably would have put money down that Luke would be trying to talk sense into Sara, not the other way around.

"I give up." Luke replied with a slight chuckle as he threw up his hands in mock exasperation, "You're right... I'm being totally irrational but for some reason fears are rarely rational. I know that dogs are less dangerous than most people I can ever deal with and I know that even if a dog did attack me I could probably take it down with a sonic blast. But even though my conscious mind knows those facts, my subconscious mind refuses to accept them."

Pausing, Luke listened as Sara gave her last thoughts on humans and he found himself wondering what in the world he could say to that. He wanted to tell her that was an exaggeration and she was really only talking about a small percentage of people but unfortunately then he would have been telling a lie. He knew just as well as she did that most people tried to manipulate those around them. Some were far better at it than others but everyone tried their skills at manipulation from time to time. Even he, Luke Jacobs, had been guilty of it on more than one occasion.

"That's why it's important to find real friends that you can spend time with." Luke found his voice by focusing on the things that he really believed in. Friendship, trust, and truth were what kept people going and if you couldn't find those things then you were completely alone. "Friends are there for you. There's no pretense and there's no manipulation just someone that'll listen to you when you need to talk and stand by you when you need someone to lean on. That's all you can really ask for in life, isn't it."

Ah Sara... the little sister Luke had never had and never even really known that he wanted. There was actually something reassuring about the banter and teasing that flew back and forth with so much ease. Sara was one of the people that Luke continued true family. There were others here at the mansion at well and they made up the mutant family that accepted him as he was. They weren't like Uncle Oliver, wanting him to hide what he was, but instead they embraced him and took him in with ability and disability alike.

"People are predictable, whether they realize it or not." Luke replied as he paused on the stairs and leaned up against the railing, "People will almost always treat you cordially when they first meet you while they size you up. Then, once they get a feel for you they'll either be your friend or they'll try to manipulate you in getting what it is they want. It's only after multiple dealings that true anger or disgust will begin to show. Most people don't like confrontations and so they'll smile and try to ignore things that offend them. Animals don't and dogs this size have the option of expressing their displeasure violently."

His voice almost had a clinical feel to it as he recited off the information, but that was probably a good way for him to approach this situation. By stepping away and looking at it logically instead of emotionally he was able to distance himself from the nervousness and even fear that tried to gnaw at his mind.

"If a dog likes a person, then its loyalty is unwavering. It will never turn its back on the person it loves. But if a dog doesn't like a person, its hatred is just as unwavering. That first opinion is the one that stays in their mind and it is almost impossible to change it."