"Rise," the policemen commanded. "Slowly."

Jackie obeyed, standing up very slowly indeed. By now, the media had arrived on the scene, and cameras were rolling, long-distance microphones pointed in her direction. She was running out of words to express her displeasure. But one thing was certain - she wasn't going with them. She could die, she could run, but she wasn't going to give up her freedom, the one thing she had left.

"Hands on your head," barked one of the men. As the girl lifted her hands, slowly again, she closed her eyes and felt for the threads of air with her fingers, flicking knots of fluid around their guns. They reached for her elbows to lean her against a car and handcuff her, but she tugged, and their weapons flew out of their hands, to smash into buildings across the street. The dancer flung out her arms again and grabbed every strand that she could, pulling.

A gale-force wind ripped down the street, tossing people and cars about in utter confusion. She let herself drift away on the gust. It was a challenge to carefully control the air under her body, but she stayed afloat until she saw an empty alley. Landing clumsily, she staggered over to a wall and leaned against it; the exertion was taking its toll. She was truly on the run now - and every person in England would be on the lookout for her, once the six o'clock news aired. The cameras had been rolling, and a mutant who massecred almost a hundred Londoners would be in the papers for days to come.

She was so occupied in thinking about these implications that she didn't notice the first fat drop landing on her nose from the sky. Then the skies broke open, and she walked further into the alley, looking for a way out of the rain.

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Estelle nodded absently, noting his abrupt silence. Smart man. she thought to herself. They do teach them well. Trust for a mutant can not be easily given, for you never know when one of your own may betray you. "I heard that this place has become a sanctuary for many." she said instead. "I hope that it remains that way for years to come." she said more to herself as she averted her gaze. "We may have need of it." she muttered to herself, knowing that the day's events was likely to spark another conflict between humans and mutants.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Catrin spoke up suddenly, "How many mutants are there?" She asked, turning her hazel eyes to Brody. She wasn't sure if she liked being surrounded by people again, after so long of being solitary and fond of her own company. "I mean, if there's so many, how do they accomidate for them all and their powers?" Catrin added, after a moment of pausing, musing to herself.

_________________

"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche



"Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come."

Fwee!

Mari nodded and silently lowered the last box to the ground. Then, so no one should hear her she levitated herself over to the door and listened out of sight.

_________________

Made by Lembas

Takeshi turned around once again, growing slightly impatient and reliased that it was Marsia. With a raised eyebrow he asked rather plainly, "What?"

_________________
Avatar by lamiai

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted me to do."

_________________

I was cured all right.

Takeshi pondered the offer but shook his head, "Except if you're willing to go after Raye, Mai and Tai out in main London or give the new arrivals a tour of HYENA," he suggested with a faint smile.

_________________
Avatar by lamiai

Darius raised his eyebrow and hmhed as a sign of acceptance for them to stay all tough he did have his utmost suspicions. He snapped his fingers nervously and grabbed the drink that had been waiting on the table, he drank it with one swallow and placed the glass aside.

"Good stuff, now then..."

He said and leaned onto the bar table with his fingers tapping the dim surface.

"Shelter? I think not, usually people look for shelter in stores and other public places, not in side alley bars that aren`t even open yet....

So I´ll take a brave guess and say that you are here on something else than shelter."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"Ok, thanks," said Marsia. She hesitated for a minute before joining the "new arrivals".

_________________

I was cured all right.

Raye blinked in surprise at Darius' accusation but replied, "We thought this building was empty - I'm a film student from Birmingham and I needed to check that my equipment was still working because my bag isn't waterproof. I was afraid that if I went into a public area - someone might attempt to steal it," he explained as he pointed at his bag.
"I'll show you some of the equipment if you don't believe me," he bluffed.

_________________
Avatar by lamiai

Darius chuckled slightly and snapped his fingers again as his hand trembled slightly, but he tried to keep it under control while in the presence of strangers. He didn`t like this one bit, to him there were no coincidences, there were only reasons and there was a reason behind their arrival. The rain? Hardly.

"Well do show them, if you have them"

He said calling the bluff.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Raye gave Mai a nervous glance and opened the bag, rummaging through it, "Let me just fine the cam- oh, here we go," he grabbed hold of the handle of what he was about to pull out, dialling a 6-digit code to activate it.

What he was about to pull out was like a tranquilizer gun, only with a more subtle shape of a sort of phaser. This contained darts with a special formula that was created in the research lab back in HYENA - when injected into a mutant, it would overide the mutant DNA and temporarily deactivate their powers, along with paralysing them for a brief time. However, depending on the amount of dosage used, it could either have have no effect on a homo-sapien or could instantly kill them.

Raye swiftly pulled it out and aimed at Darius' neck - taking no time to hesitate as he immediately pressed the trigger, he had to just hope that Darius' reflexes weren't quick enough for him to phase through it... but Raye wasn't sure of the extent of Darius' powers. As soon as the dart of neon violet liquid was shot mid-air - the gun deactivated itself.

_________________
Avatar by lamiai

All tough Darius was what you might consider a paranoid sociopath, he wasn`t stupid and his reflexes had never been better. The dart did actually hit him in the neck, but at the very same instant Darius`s turned into his incorporeal form thus effectively avoiding the dosage. Darius grinned and stretched his neck before swinging himself over the table.

"Come now, that wasn`t nice was it. I give you a shelter and you reply by shooting suspicious darts at my neck? You HYENA do not seem to have any manners."

He knew them both now, he had already recognized them after a while they had entered. He had kept an eye on HYENA for a while and was quite aware that they were dangerous, but attacking another mutants without warning was a new thing to him. He thrusted his hand towards Raye with the intention of draining him.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Raye backed away quickly but had his back pressed against the wall, the door which seemed to be his only exit was unfortunately across the room. He faced Mai with a concerned expression and clearly mouthed RUN at her - then glanced back at Darius.
He placed his hands on the wall behind him and frost started to sprout from his fingers like spreading ivy, the room temperature starting to decrease rapidly.

Raye had no idea whether this would affect Darius in his incorporeal state but it was worth a try... he had been gambling with his life all the way through this night.

_________________
Avatar by lamiai

Darius gazed quietly at the ice that began to spread and shrugged as it didn`t have a real effect on him all tough he was slightly slowed by it somehow.

"And I thought you HYENA wanted to end things peacefully, but I guess such request is futile eh?"

Darius grinned slightly and shook his head as he charged forward towards Raye with his hand like a dagger, his fingers were all pressed against each others like he was going to nail his victim to the wall.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Mai gasped as Darius lunged for Raye and she sprung from her stool. She saw Raye back against the wall, mouthing run at her before he seemed to start turning the room in to a giant freezer. Mai had no intention of running, and as she defied the rising panic, she knew what she had to do.

Daruis didn't seem overly concerned about Mai, which gave her the advantage. She slipped out the tiny mirror again and concentrated hard - within seconds her reflection disappeared. But then she'd always been better at becoming invisible than becoming visible again. She didn't know if her plan would work, it was certainly questionable and she'd never done it before, but she was going to try.

Mai wasted no time, and darted towards Raye moments before Daruis did. She grabbed for his hand the moment she stood in front of him. It was cold to the touch, and she whispered to him to stop freezing everything - keeping contact seemed to be giving her frostbite. He did so and warmth flooded back in to his hand again; they were both now invisible and the contact also meant Mai could push him through the wall he was leant against, as she would if she was walking through it. She did so and they slipped effortlessly into the alley outside.

_________________

"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche



"Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come."

Fwee!