Rally at City Hall

[Typhoid]

Ty didn't often make it a point to go into Manhattan at all: it was crowded, more so then the areas near the university, and she detested crowds. But there was a mutant rights rally, being held at Manhattan City Hall, three blocks down from Ground Zero. The university had been buzzing with news about it, just because it was one of the few times mutants had been granted the rights to hold a rally in the middle of the Manhattan Civic Center. It was important, and so she found a lightweight jacket to go over her equally lightweight but still fully covering jeans and cotton shirt, and went to the rally. It was hot and crowded, and by the end of it she was exhausted from yelling in response to the speakers, and tired of having to find spots to avoid touching people. It had still been worth it, she decided.

Since Bridge had been elected, more and more mutant rights had been eaten away at. Registration was just a knife's edge away, and some of the speakers were politicians who sympathized with the mutant cause and wanted to make sure registration never happened. Typhoid wasn't political in that she didn't support any particular party; she supported laws for and people who were for mutant rights, regardless of party. The realistic part of her wondered what good a rally would do, but at least it was happening, and as a mutant, she was there.

The rally began in early evening to avoid afternoon heat, and ended when it grew dark. Ty struck back out towards Broadway, looking for something cool to drink and a subway station, in that order.

[Odin]

::If there was a mutant-rights-related gathering in the tri-state area, one could be sure to find Odin there. He was drawn to such gatherings like a moth to a flame. He'd discussed the rally with Golem and Morph, and had eventually agreed to go in both a professional and personal capacity, taking his camera and a tape recorder. It was unbearably hot, and so he kept to the trees.::

[Typhoid]

Ty ducked into one of the numerous shops that could be found that sold soda out of a cooler, and came out again with a bottle of water; not her usual fare, but it was hot, and she didn't need to be constantly thirsty.

She heard a slight commotion ahead, in an alley that branched off the main street. She would have been inclined to avoid it in general, but the subway station was just ahead, and she didn't feel like going out of her way just to avoid something that most likely wouldn't threaten her anyways. She forged ahead, sipping her water.

[Odin]

::Odin continued to take pictures of the many mutants around, stopping occasionally to get names and voice clips. He could make this into a fairly good article with a bit of polishing. And there was little he enjoyed more than being paid for what he would have done anyway.::

[Typhoid]

The commotion in the alleyway spilled out onto the street, as two kids barrelled out, followed closely by two young men that looked close to Typhoid's age. The young men were shouting, throwing things. The kids couldn't have been more then 10, and were cornered on the sidewalk, between oncoming people and their tormentors. One of them had visible horns and scales. Ty stopped short, fist clenched, water forgotten.

[Odin]

::Odin's eyesight wasn't what anyone might call naturally "exceptional," but the zoom feature on the camera allowed him to catch sight of the beginnings of trouble in a nearby alley. He didn't need to get involved; in fact, every time he got involved he found himself in more trouble than it was worth. But as a fellow mutant, well, he couldn't very well let anyone get hurt, and that prompted him to go off in the direction of the alley.::

[Typhoid]

Under what Ty would call 'normal circumstances,' on any other day of her life, she might have simply turned a body part or two to ash until the tormentors left, at the very least. Now there were two problems with that, and for the first time she mentally scowled at Xavier for teaching her something about the bigger picture. First, it was just after a rally supporting mutant rights. The news would love to get hold of a story involving two 'defenseless' humans and a high powered mutant. Second, they were in the middle of a crowd. And Ty's powers were at times anything but controllable. And of course, missing body parts was problematic. Not that she'd regret the action all that much.

The two kids were backed up against a wall, hemmed in. She took a risk, set her powers to the brick of one of the buildings that surrounded them, making it shake and shed dust with little effort. "You know," she said almost conversationally, walking closer, trying to get in between the children and the men, "I hated bullies as a child."

[Odin]

::Odin felt Typhoid's powers as he moved closer and realized what this situation could turn into. He'd debated calling the police, but if there was going to be property damage, that would only lead to her getting arrested and more trouble for all of them. So instead he continued to come closer and didn't reach for his cellular phone. Instead, he reached the alley and from behind Typhoid, as he arrived, took out his camera; he had no intention of actually taking pictures, but it could be beneficial to have the press present. He added,:: "I think that assaulting minors is a felony in this state, but we'll let the cops sort that out."

[Typhoid]

Typhoid had known Odin was close, in the way she had of identifying heartbeats, but until this second, she had wanted to give him space. She knew a lot of people by heartbeat, it didn't mean she sought them out of a crowd constantly. But at least he was backup. She turned her head in his direction and nodded both in greeting and acknowledgment of the support.

"Damn kid looks like the devil," one of the men said, pointing at the child with scales and a tail. "Don't belong here anyways." He obviously wasn't connecting the building shaking with Typhoid, assuming it was one of the kids backed up against it. And aside from her tattoo, neither she or Odin looked different from regular humans.

[Odin]

::Odin reached into his pocket and pulled out his tape recorder, which was still running. He wasn't smiling; in fact, his expression was serious, as though he sympathized, which he did. With the children, not with this man. He, too, had been bullied as a child.:: "There's the problem; you just admitted to knowing that they're kids on tape. The cops won't look too kindly on that. So how about you leave before they show up?"

[Typhoid]

"F*ck you and your tape, man," the other guy said. In the midst of the distraction, the kids had been sidling away from the wall, and then suddenly they both broke into a run, away into the crowd. The two men shouted and grabbed at them, about to chase them, until Typhoid planted herself in the way. "I suggest you leave," she said, very close to losing her temper with the two idiots, close enough that her eyes changed to black, and her power bled though her tight control to shimmer around her. If it hadn't been kids, she might have had more patience. This she had no patience for.

That, of course, was when the cop arrived, drawn by the obvious bright green glow coming from her. Dammit.

[Odin]

::Odin had been bluffing about the police, and yet he heard their arrival and sighed inwardly. This was why he'd avoided calling them. He held up his tape again and waggled it, as well as his camera, to make it clear there was a record. And as the police officer drew nearer, the two men also bolted, leaving Odin alone with Typhoid.::

[Typhoid]

"Oh, hell," Ty muttered both to herself and to Odin, as the men bolted. She powered down with effort. It was too easy and tempting to take the upper hand with what the Professor referred to as 'baseline humans.'

"Sorry," she said to Odin while the cop was still far enough away not to hear. "Apparently I haven't gotten the hang of subtlety."

[Odin]

"Don't worry about it," ::Odin told her. It could take a while, and he wasn't in the business of telling other people what to do when they weren't making his life was more difficult. This was where it came in handy, looking the way he did and having a press pass.:: "I'll get rid of him."

[Typhoid]

Her eyebrows rose in surprise but she said little because the officer was now within earshot. "There some sort of trouble here?" he asked, in the way that said he already thought there was.