First Assignment (Lance)

[Weaver]

It was a particular thing to be followed. Iris had enjoyed her fair share of Nancy Drew books and late night episodes of Murder She Wrote. But nothing in a book or television could compare to being followed in real life. The dark, damp street, the shot out street lamps, steam coming up from the vents, the lack of noise except for the click of her high heels. Though what was unerving was the fact that she could hear every thought of these men. They weren't particularly bright so their thoughts flowed over her, nasty, cruel thoughts that made her hair stand on in. But there was another mind following them, a much more guarded one that she couldn't merely read on the surface.

She was more responsible and sensable to be caught in a bad part of town after dark wearing high heels. She had given herself plenty of time to walk to the small playhouse, to watch the show called Romeo and Mutiet, a spin on the old play Romeo and Juliet with mutant themes. The entire cast and crew had been mutants, the perfect story for her first article in the magazine.

The play had been wonderful, bringing her to tears. She had stayed in her seat, taking notes on the play after everyone had left. The director had actually come up to her to see what she had been doing. Then he had been delighted and insisted she go back stage and meet everyone, do interviews, and speak to almost everyone in the cast. She had pages of notes, enough for a magazine, more then enough for an article. Maybe Morph would let her article a page more.

What was more interesting was though in a bad part of town the play had a good turn out, mostly mutants from what Iris had seen. The hope of the cast and crew was for someone to take and interest and move the play to a better location. Iris had made a mental note to speak to Morph about sponsorship.

When she had left the playhouse it was already dark, and a long way to the train station. A little naive, and a little too confident in herself and her powers she had set off towards the train station. Though the three men who had seen her walking, hadn't seen a mutant, a dangerous one at that. No they had seen a petite, pretty blonde, with long pale legs wearing tall high heels and a black dress with a tutu style skirt. Not only that she seemed to have money by how she looked, the perfect target. Probably some rich girl who got lost.

She started walking a little faster as one of the thugs bumped onto a trash can.

[Avalanche]

(( set before "Useless" on Lance's timeline ))

For Lance, it was one of those nights when he preferred to stay out of the apartment he shared with a couple of junkies because he couldn't afford anything better and still be able to eat and hang in the City.

He had no idea that there was a theater nearby, he had just figured out there was some sort of mutant venue that you needed money to get into, so he would just pass it by on his way home from work, not paying much attention, except when the patrons would come out, then he'd glance at the crowd. More often than not, he was just tired at this time of day, though rarely in low spirits.

Today was his day off, so he was just walking around, doing nothing, listening to some music in his phone, merely trying to postpone the moment when he would have to return to the apartment.

He noticed a few men walking some distance ahead from him, looking like they could be a bunch of local punks or something. He had his ways of dealing with those people - after all, he was no boyscout himself - but still preferred to tone down his phone music a bit, so as not to provoke anybody.

[Weaver]

Two blocks away from the train station, the crowded subway where she could melt into a crowd and be protected by so many people. She walked a little faster, turning a corner, and stopping as she was faced with a completely dark street. Most of the windows that were occupied were covered in curtains and bars. "nuts," Iris whispered, a rare curse word issuing from her lips as she turned around as the three men caught up with her. They grinned at her, pleased that they had cornered their prey. She could run into the dark street and be caught, or stand there and be caught.

Iris clutched her bag in front of her, her knees shaking a little. She wished that she hadn't worn such a short dress. She was never very good a fighting, even when she was homeless. Morris, he protected her for the most part, teaching her the basics of defense. Pitying her for being so young and beautiful, yet obviously insane.

"Here let me take that," the biggest thug said, Iris was sure he was a mutant, but probably not intelligent enough to know his strength was called by the mutant gene. His hefty hand reached out to grab her craft bag. Iris' tiny hand curled into a fist and with all of her strength punched the thung in the chin. It didn't seem to even register with him, instead he grinned and popped her in the side of the head.

Iris was thrown off of her feet, tossed to the ground from the smack to her face. Her ears rang, her whole skull pounded with pain, blood dribbled off of her split lip. She let out a yelp of pain as she was picked up by her hair. Her feet dangled off of the ground as the punks laughed at her, the smallest one picking up her bag.

"What the hell, it's just filled with junk!?" the smallest thug said dumping out the contents of her bag, which was mostly thread.

Iris struggled against the grip in her hair, her hands clutching the biggest thug's arm, her fingers digging into the cloth of his sleeve. Her eyes began to glow as she concentrated on the fibers, making them tighten around his neck. The biggest thug began to cough, slowly his grip loosening on her hair. Dimly, her mind was aware of the fourth man coming closer, this was really bad.

[Avalanche]

Lance was somewhat aware of the men ahead of him turning to some side street, though he wasn't paying much attention, just wishing to pass them by and be on his way. However, as he reached the same spot, he realized something was going on. It was like a poorly lit corner of a block or something, not that he had paid attention to the exact topography of the place, but there seemed to be some struggle going on.

Just my luck, running into a brawl, Lance thought sourly as he quickened his pace. Something caught his eyes just then, there, in the dim light - he thought he spotted something that did not fit an image of a punk fighting his drunk buddies (or whatever it first looked like it was).

He slowed down and finally stopped to take a short look, music still playing in a low tone from his phone. The view was kinda blocked from where he was standing but he was now certain there was a woman involved, her blonde hair a brighter spot in the night shadow.

Calculating and building strategies had never been his strong side; acting before thinking it through, as he did most of the time, he called out, "Hey, is everything all right in there?"

[Weaver]

The biggest thug because to cough, his face turning red, his eyes buldging out, and spittle forming at the sides of his mouth. In his struggle to breath he let go of Iris' hair and dug at the collar of his shirt. Iris tumbled to the ground, her knees scrapped against the pavement as she rolled out of the way as the biggest thug collapsed to his knees. Her whole body shook as she let go of her control on his shirt. He began to breath instantly, she had been afraid of killing him, but now he was standing up looking as angry as ever.

Just then, the fourth guy showed up, who appeared not to be associated with the thugs at all. Iris' nose had begun to bleed as she rubbed her head to relieve the pain prickling against her skull. She looked up from the ground at the new guy, noting that he had a rough look about him, but not as violent or threatening as the thugs.

She blinked a few times, did he really ask that, this must be a really rough part of town if he had to ask. The thugs didn't even bother answering, taking this guy as a threat and charging him. "No," Iris cried out stumbling to her feet as the smallest thug went to punch the new guy Iris came from behind him, her arms wrapping around his throat and knocking him off balance as the two of them struggled. Now the new guy would have to contend with the two other thugs, but now it more even of a fight.

[Avalanche]

At the woman's response Lance knew now that he should interfere. Having a perhaps too much of confidence in his mutant powers, he didn't really bother weighing his chances. After all, wasn't it that he'd always escaped from such things without much consequence?

"Hey, mind your own business," one of the thugs told him, sounding obviously irritated that they were being disrupted.

"Why don't you leave the lady alone, ok?" Lance said, taking a few steps towards the small crowd.

"What, forgot the last time someone like me beat you up, punk?" the other thug sneered. "I'll do it with music this time," he added, hinting at quiet music still playing from Lance's phone, as he headed towards Lance.

"Right," Lance said, not looking for a humorous comeback, he just extended his arms downwards, connecting with the energy in the ground that fed his mutant powers. The ground started to tremble around them slightly.

[Weaver]

Iris' grip on the smallest thug slipped as the ground began shaking. As she fell to the ground, she lost all sense of direction hitting the back of her head hard. Stars danced in front of her eyes as the ground trembled, she tried to push herself up, only for the vertigo to confuse her. Curling up in a ball, she waited for her mind to settle a little, yet the shaking gorund wasn't helping at all.

She must have blacked out for a moment, when she opened her eyes the thugs were gone.

[Avalanche]

Only much later did it occur to Lance that probably the thugs got scared away at the mere thought of dealing with a mutant (or even two?) - at the time he didn't quite realize what was sooo scary about the little shaking of ground his powers had caused. He had thought it would only be a distraction and would probably buy the girl some time to run off. But things turned out a bit differently.

He walked over to her, not knowing what happened. Was she also afraid of the weak earthquake or did the attackers knock her out? He crouched down next to her with genuine concern. "Hey, miss, are you okay?"

To add awkwardness to the whole situation, his phone was still going off with some rock music in a low tone.

[Weaver]

Iris' blinked a few times as the fourth guy's voice seemed to clear her head a little. Above them a street lamp flickered. The shadows on the man's face as the light flickered made his features seem dark and ghastly, or she might have just hit her head harder then she thought. She heard the rock song, did he have a theme song of sorts like the heroes on television..no that was a cellphone.

"Yeah, well enough considering," Iris said getting to her feet slowly she took a breath to keep the spinning at bay before inspecting herself. Skinned knees, hands, and elbows. Her face ached and when she reached up she felt caked blood. Looking down at her dress, no blood, no dirt, not even a tear, the fabric had held up well. Of course, she had expected that, nothing had been ruined while she had used her powers on it.

"I can't possibly go on the train like this, nor even set foot on the mansion grounds like this," Iris murmured running a hand through her hair, the tangles smoothing out and the dirt and blood falling to the ground. And to make matters worst there was a thundercrack above them before a storm was dumped on the two strangers.

"Perhaps I might be lucky enough that you have a place nearby I could lick my wounds and get cleaned up?" Iris questioned as her skin and shoes were getting soaked, but her clothes and hair stayed dry. "I don't mean to impose, but I'm in an awkward position to even ask."

[Avalanche]

Well, that is forward, Lance found himself thinking. He stood up as well when she did, and so he could see her better now when they were standing face to face. She looked the textbook example of someone he'd want to rescue and take home. Nice legs included. She also had quite some bruises and scratches on her, and so he realized she had a point when asking him for some assistance in this matter.

There was only this iddy-biddy problem that he had no proper home to take her to. The rainfall that started didn't help, either.

"It's funny you should ask," Lance said. "There might be a little problem with that... Listen-" - he looked up at the sky as if this would give him any indication of whether the rain was going to stop any time soon, only to have his face rained on. "Let's get going, maybe there's a cafe or something on the way, while I make a call."

[Weaver]

"I saw one near a theatre I was at. You'll have to walk in front of me when we go through the door, least so no one thinks that you're my other half and you're abusing me," Iris said taking out a hankerchief letting the rain soak it and trying the wipe off her face. She got a majority of the blood from what she could feel on her face, but she had to scrub the gravel from her hands and knees. She let out a sigh, inspecting her dress again. "I like this dress, I am glad it wasn't damaged," she murmured to herself turning to look at the back of it, nodding at the water resistance. "That was to be expected though."

"Oh goodness," Iris said finally noticing her things on the ground. Rushing over she picked up her bag, undamaged or wet and began shoving the different types of cloth and thread back into the bag. She had been lucky she had made a notebook cover for her notebooks and for the most part her notes were unharmed, just a little damp. "Thank you God," she quietly prayed at her luck and put the notebook in the bag.

"You're getting soaked, we should get going," Iris said looking a little unsure, biting her lip. Was this guy a mutant? She felt bad on letting him get wet. She rached forward touching his arm where the sleeve of his shirt started. Her eyes glowed purple for a second before her powers were charged into the cloth of his clothing. Instantly the cloth rejected the water it was saturated with, and warmed the man a little. She looked a little uncomfortable at this display of power but she motioned to the man to follow her toward the little diner she had seen.

[Avalanche]

At this point, as he himself was getting wet, Lance took notice of the fact that the girl's hair and clothes remained dry. Was she a mutant? However, before he could ask this, she provided the answer by drying off his clothes.

Handy, he thought.

"Yeah, just hang on," he muttered as he walked after her, dialing a number.

They had still been getting wasted and trashing up half the apartment when he had left them to it and went for a walk. If the odds had turned in his favor by now, as he was hoping, they'd be either passed out or have left. If not-

"Hey, you two fucks are still there?" he inquired in a low voice as one of his roommates answered the phone. "Uh-huh. Well, good. Whatever, I'm not interested in any of this nuts." He hung up. So they had left. Awesome. Getting soaked in the rain did little good to his mood, but since now he didn't have to return to the apartment and face his roommates, even rain was splendid.

"Hey miss," he called after the girl. "I've got the place where to go, it's not far." With that, he turned to go in the direction of his apartment.

[Weaver]

Iris was walking in front of the fellow, she lifted an eyebrow at the curse and then the tone whioch he was taking with someone on the phone. She sighed, was it because she was a mutant, or just bad luck that a normally good girl was being put into these situtations. God or some sort of fates must have had a field day with these situtations thrust upon her.

"Unpleasant roommates," she murmured turning around as the man called out to her. She did a slight jog to catch up to him. "Iris, miss sounds too formal," she said to him walking beside him, "Or like I'm older, or royalty," she realized she wasn't making any sense. She should be on her guard, this could be a potential bad situtation, like something off of a Lifetime movie. She didn't feel any malice from him, not like the other thugs, but in a world of mutants a handsome face was sometimes the most dangerous.

[Avalanche]

"Yeah, roommates," Lance nodded. "I'm Lance." He stuck his phone into a pocket. "Well, how can I know? You do look like someone who could be a royalty, you know."

[Weaver]

Iris lifted her eyebrows and gave Lance a prude, pursed look. Was he being coy, honest, or hitting on her. Men seemed to get the Superman complex once they saved a woman it appeared. "I hardly think the Canadian people take kindly to any type of royalty. I think they had an uprising about it. You know how these countries in North America are, going to war and such against the monarchies."

She then looked a little sheepish, "I'm a little bit of a history nut, sorry."