There were honestly days where she wished that she could just quit this job, say that she didn't want to be apart of the Hand anymore, tell then to f*ck off and leave her alone. But that wasn't something she had the ability to do, something she didn't have the priviledge of doing, no matter how much she wanted to. On the plus side, she got the chance to travel far more than most people did, she got the opportunity to meet a variety of people and she got paid a good bit for what she did. On the down side, her mentality was broken, shattered. She wasn't crazy, or at least that's what she liked to tell herself. But she suffered from a number of things and other people who met her when she wasn't quite herseld would definitely beg to differ on the crazy front.

She supposed, however, that today was a bit more special than usual. It wasn't a bad day. She had long since gotten the shattered pieces of her last episode picked back up and the depression that occasionally crippled her was well under control. She had taken her pills that morning and spent a good amount of time in the dingu apartment she kept in Central City getting ready for her job. It was an easy one, actually and the weapon of choice for it would already be waiting for her when she finally left the mostly empty apartment in dark pants and a red shirt. Her usual knife was tucked into her boots and a pistol was stuffed into the back of her pants, hidden by both her shirt and leather jacket. Chloe had always just loved the feel of the jacket, really. The way it fit her, the fresh scent of clean leather and cigar smoke almost always clinging to it. And, occasionally, his scent found it's way onto it, that it didn't usually last. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets and she focussed on keeping her thoughts calm and quiet. There weren't nearly as many emotions swirling around her as she walked through the city. It was dusk, the sun slowly going down, and she felt an odd calm wash over her as she glanced up at the sky. It was nicer here than it was in New York. Maybe she should move here for good. It was a thought she had had many a time but it wasn't one she would ever actually follow through. That much she knew. New York was too much of a home for her. She could never truly give it up.

There was a momentary want, an urge for a cigarette to make sure she remained calm but she pushed it to the side. She didn't need it. It was simply something she like the feel of, a habit, and a dirty one at that. She knew that, understood that, but it never stopped the urges for one. She promised herself after the job. Though it would have filled her walk to the location with a bit more than... this. She supposed she should just be lucky of the simplicity, the solitude, the peacefulness of it all. But, honestly, the more hectic nature of the Big Apple was rather peaceful to her, gave her mind something to focus on when she was keeping everyone else's emotions out of her head.

No matter, soon, she came upon the building she was meant to find her note at and the weapon. Pulling her hand out of her pockets, she readjusted her gloves before entering. It was an apartment building. Old, decaying, meant to go up for demolition soon but with some people still living in it, they needed to get them out first. Across the way was some form of a business building. From what she heard, they were hoping to buy the lot this old apartment complex was built on to make way for a parking garage. Personally, she didn't care.

She walked silently through the lobby and made straight for the stairs. Up eleven flights, turn, down the hall, stop three doors to the end and she would be at the room.

Chloe paused right outside of it, closing her eyes a moment to reach out with her empathy, see if there was anyone she needed to take care of first. Unfortunately for her, she could feel nervousness from about five people in the room. She tsked. 'Great, just what i need,' she thought. She could always simply leave instead of deal with them. But then she would be backing out of the job, if there even was a job, and she never backed down. So, instead, she took a deep breathe, pressed her back against the wall, and reached out to turn the knob and push open the door. The second she did, the sound of guns being fired tore through the air and she was lucky to have pulled her hand out of the way when she did. She reached into her pocket, her fingers wrapping around little round balls. She made sure to activate them while the men inside started to question what was going on. As one peeked out, she ducked down quickly and threw the balls inside, smoke soon billowing out of them. Then, just as quickly, she shifted and brought her leg up to sharply kick the man in the doorway in the jaw before reaching to grab his own gun. As he staggered a step, she stood straight and grabbed him, bringing the gun right up to where she had kicked him and shot him. The bullet tore through his jaw, exiting out the top of his skull. One down, four to go.

She honestly wished she could say she was surprised about something like this, but she wasn't. It wasn't the first time a job turned out to be a trap. And she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Ben Gerring

xxx

sorry that it's a lot of rambling but i hope it's open enough for someone to take up

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

Ben was just reflecting, moments before hearing the gunshot, on why he enjoyed working for the homeless so much.

Maybe it's because they can't afford guns..., he thought, managing a small smirk, before the others began to panic. The remaining tenants had been effectively abandoned by the city, granted little time to evacuate the soon-to-be-demolished building, and offered no other aid besides that which was volunteered by the intercity organization to which Ben belonged. So here he was, carrying an entire family's luggage in his arms, along with one giggling child on his shoulders, when the shot made his head prick up suddenly.

"Alright, kiddo... back to Mom, arright? I'm just gonna check to make sure the folks upstairs don't need help." He raised a reassuring hand to the little girl's mother standing a few feet behind him, who, until the noise, had been smiling at Ben's and the child's playful distraction from their exodus. 

"I'm sure it's no problem, ma'am. Something probably just fell."

He made his way back upstairs. Eleven flights. Then he turned down the hall, taking a guess at which direction.

Then he saw the grisly remainder of a man's head lying partially outside a doorway. He broke into a run, arriving at the door a moment later and looking in.

Chloe took just a second to check the magazine in the gun to see how many bullets she had. It seemed to only have a couple of shots left, two to be exact. Just great. She stepped carefully over the body of the asshole who thought to come out to check and stepped into the smoke that was filling the room. She knew it wouldn't last too terribly long. A few moments more and it would be gone. Something she partially loathed. But that didn't matter. She didn't need the smoke to kill them. It just helped to keep her from getting shot back.

She slipped right out of the smoke, sneaking up behind the open door of the bathroom, hiding behind it. She waited a moment for one of the men to check into the smoke, the cloud of sooty white slowly disappearing, making his shadow prominant in it. Perfect. She was patient, knowing she could just as easily shoot him right there but no, she wanted to make sure these few bullets went to good use. She needed to line up shots, get more than one in each. That was ideal, at least. He moved through the fading smoke to the door, catching sight of his fallen comrade. The other three came up to him to look before backing up. But she was already moving.

Chloe stood at the edge of what little was left of the smoke, gun levelled and not hesitating to take a shot. She wasn't as luck as she had hoped she could be, only hitting the one. She had to move quick to dive out of the way, rolling a bit as a bullet grazed her arm. But they weren't nearly as smart as they thought they were, in firing how they had earlier, they left themselves with little ammo left. While she still had her own personal gun. And she wasn't about to let them get to their back ups. Still mostly on the ground, she took down another one. The last two looked at her before lunging. She threw the empty gun at the one on the left, bringing a kick up to the next one, connecting into their stomach. She didn't know where their extra artillery was but she was happy they seemed to be stupid enough to think that they could take her in hand to hand combat. She faltered, however, as someone else entered the room. "How many of you assholes are there?" she grumbled, turning out of the way and reaching into her pockets with both hands to slip her shukos over them. Anything to get herself an advantage here. She also grabbed what few caltrops she had in her pocket and threw them out towards the man entering before twisting to hit one of them with an open palm in order to scratch their face with the sharp spikes.

Ben Gerring

xxx

i really hope this is okay, toots. she's got so many problems to work out at once, she'll get to ben properly next time, i promise!

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

Yeah, Ben preferred the homeless.

The caltrops hit his torso and his arms, which he had just time enough to spread over his eyes before the metal pieces reached them.

They stung like hell, as if that needed to be said.

But then it started, and he couldn't stop it. So he tried to reconcile. That was always the first thing to do. If he could come to terms with what he had to do, and why he had to do it, then the odds of him being in control when he came back were more to his liking.

If not, things were going to change too quickly for anyone's liking.

He let himself drop to the floor. He breathed as slowly as he could for the amount of pain that he was in. He thought compassionately.

It's not her fault. She just got caught up in something. This happens.

This time, it worked. But there was still the unfortunate fact of his imminent death. He was still bleeding out. And so he changed.

The muscles came slowly, sporadically, as they always did. He rose from the ground as they exploded outward from his body, growing in height at the same time. Finally, he stood before all the men and the woman in the room, barely fitting underneath the ceiling, slate grey. When he spoke, he sounded like an earthquake.

But he smiled.

"You shouldn't run with sharp objects."

The pain was already gone. Maybe now the violence would cease. It often did when he shifted so suddenly.

He could hope.

Chloe didn't waste a second as she ducked under the hit the man on the left tried to land, twisting her palm up to catch under the man's jaw, the spikes of the shuko cutting through it. He stumbled back and she kicked out towards the other guy, making him stumble backwards. Alright, now that she had a small bit of space for a moment, she glanced over at her third party member. She needed to make sure all three of her targets were in her sight at all times, really, if not, one of them could get an advantage on her and that wasn't something she was too happy about experiencing. She had to remain in control and, at best, keep at least one of them alive to get some answers as to why the trap. But if not, it was nothing off her back. The fact that target number three seemed to fall to his knees almost amused her. Had it been that easy? Really? Perhaps he was just smart. Fake his injury so she wouldn't kill him. Yeah, she would save him for last.

She felt one of the men come at her, and she was a bit too slow to dodge it. So rather, she leaned away from it slightly to soften the blow to her face. The pain didn't even register as she brought up an elbow to block the next attack and then used her other hand to grab his wrist, ready to dig the shuko's spikes into it when the men seemed to stop and a bellowing voice made the room seem to rumble.

She turned her eyes to the man... no, not a man. To the grey beast and an idea started to fill her thoughts. If she didn't have to be the one to kill them, the better. Letting go of the first man's wrist, she started to focus on the emotion of anger and pushed it out towards the two men that seemed frozen in fear at the sight of the behemoth. As it flowed from her and into them, she also pushed a direction of that anger towards the Hulk. Not to make him feel it, though. No, to give the two men something to be angry at. She smirked as it started to work, though a small headache was starting to form. She couldn't let herself focus on it, though. "I don't think it's the sharp objects you should be worrying about," she said simply as the other men went to try and attack the grey creature.

Ben Gerring

xxx

as usual, i hope this post is alright! ^^ lemme know if anything needs to be changed

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

Well, now, this was unusual. Ordinarily the change inspired people to run in the opposite direction, and not towards him with fury in their eyes. 

"Listen, fellas," he started, but it was too late. One was already at him, striking and stabbing. The other had even picked up one of the guns that had been scattered across the room and took two slow, steady shots at him. Both connected, both bouncing off of Ben's skin, but both stung like bees. Bumblebees, Ben thought. Not wasps. That would spell their end. He smiled grimly to himself. As long as he could keep himself steady, neutralize his attackers, and... hell, this seemed unlikely, but at least speak to the woman with the knives, he could still help the family downstairs move out before their state-funded hour was up.

"Alright, guys," he spoke through his shielding arms to the men who were assaulting him. "Sorry about this." He lifted the first man, the closer one, and hurled him one-handedly at the other with the gun. The force of his throw carried them both to the opposite wall, and the impact ceased their movement. With any luck, they'd wake up by the time the building came down. Call the police, Ben reminded himself. Let them know they're here, just in case.

Now the woman.

"Lady," he started, "That's enough. Alright? I get it. You're decked out, clearly had some sort 'a problem with these folks, but look at 'em." He gestured towards the men, at least two of whom were dead, the remainder crumpled against the far wall. "Whaddya say you and I get outta here before the cops get here. That's what you sorta people do anyway, right?" As he spoke to the intimidating woman, Ben was worrying about the kind family downstairs. They had probably cleared out by now after hearing the additional gunshots, but if not they would still need help moving their few belongings to the waiting van. 

Ben shook his head imperceptibly. 

Maybe I'll just deal with the trained killer first.

Chloe took a deep breathe and stepped back, giving the room another cursory look over. She had the chance to actually breathe, something she didn't often seem to get. Though she wasn't about to let her guard down. There were a couple of windows in here. She could always make an escape. But then she would lose out on getting the answer as to why the double cross. She didn't appreciate her clientes double crossing her. But that wouldn't be much of an issue, not really. Because if she didn't get her answers, she would just have to have a more personal meeting with her client. Oh, who was she kidding? She'd be having that 'meeting' either way.

Her focus was drawn immediately back to the hulking creature when she heard the two men get seemingly tossed to the side. They were out like a light. This thing, it was strong. And, by it's appearance, she was sure it had some form of relation to the hulk, though she doubted it was original. For one, the man who had enteted was far too young. And two? She was pretty sure the real hulk was green. Or something like that. She didn't really care that much, though. She took careful steps back and to the side, her eyes not leaving the man. She was trained to take on a lot of things. How to handle a Hulk wasn't exactly something she knew specifically how to do. But she knew she could think of something. She kept her hands open, not wanting to accidentallt curl the spikes into her fingers or palms. After all, the gloves she was wearing hadn't come too terribly cheap and she didn't care to have to replace them so soon.

As it spoke to her, she gave a curious look. She started to think that she should have had that cigarette before coming in here. She didn't need to look around to know just what kind of condition the five men were in. But she wasn't about to simply leave with a witness still here, assuming he was just a witness and not another of the men sent to make sure she didn't get out of this alive. "You're just as likely to turn me over to those very same cops. So, if you don't mind, i will have to politely decline. But feel free to get out of here on your own terms so i can deal with my own issues. Alternatively, I'm not beneath seeing how a guy your size falls."

Ben Gerring

xxx

shukos aren't really knives, per say xD but close enough

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

Why did she have to be difficult?

"Alright. Hey. If I were here to apprehend you, I wouldn't be using my indoor voice." Ben considered approaching the unconscious men to deliver them to a cab outside, but he decided against it after remembering the remaining denizens that might still be downstairs. And it would be unlikely that he would be able to calm himself enough to revert back to his human form. Which left him only the option of making sure that the folks downstairs were completely safe. Which would be hard on his conscience if he left all these murderers upstairs.


He took a deep breath and held it. Then he held one hand towards the window- not the door, because... well, because women like this didn't use doors- and spoke patiently.

"I want my friends to be okay downstairs. That's all."

Then he exhaled. He couldn't help it. He was worried about this girl. She looked like she might have been faced with more than she expected already, and God knew this city knew how to kick someone when they were down.

"I don't suppose I could walk you home. Give you a chance to kick my ass, if you're really dead-set on it. But I gotta get rid 'a your friends here. Worried they might hurt mine."

She genuinely didn't care much for the words that the creature spoke. No, what she cared more for was finding a weak point, something she could use to her advantage, something that she could manipulate in order to get the upper hand here. She hardly believed that a bullet would do the job. But perhaps... She knew that anger was a powerful weapon, and while it could be a terrible thing to inflict upon your enemies, as it was something that could somehow empower them, but it was also something that could blind them, make them messy. The real question was: was it worth the risk? If this thing was like the Hulks before it, it seemed like something that could go very sour very fast. But she needed a way out. She needed something she could use to control him and emotions were her playground. They always had been.

She gave a roll of her eyes, slowly concentrating on the emotion of anger again to push towards the other man, to try and make him go off. Keep him distracted and angry long enough, perhaps he'll go down with the building and she'll make her escape. No more witnesses to identify her face. It was sweet, though, his sentiment. He just wanted his friends safe. She didn't care that much. If they were still here, then that was their own fault, though she was a rational one. Or, well, at least partly. "If I was going to hurt your friends, they'd already be dealt with, creature," she said. She paused in her emotional pushing, though. It became very obvious very fast that he wasn't with the bastards sent to dispose of her.

Chloe glanced over at the bodies again, then back to the man. "Leave them, your friends will be long gone before they ever get up." She started pushing the emotion out again. If this plan failed, she was sure she could figure out something out. And if it worked too well, then she could just as easily calm him down again. "I am going to give you the option of leaving with your friends once. And only once. Because after that, I cannot promise you will be any state to see them again."

Ben Gerring

xxx

bleh, it's not too good, sorry...

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

Ben's smile faded quickly. He suddenly felt very angry.

He felt rage.

He heard only a part of what she said- blaming something on his friends- but then the voice dissolved into garble. He fell to the ground, hands splayed out in front of him. There was a sudden, inexplicable feeling of fury that he couldn't quite place... and it came from this woman.

No, he said to himself. No... you have no reason to be upset... it comes in waves, that's all... it'll pass...

Slowly, he shifted back into his human form. It was even less comfortable than usual, given that he was attempting to force the shift. It seemed to work, at least at first, and through heaving, shuddering breaths, he looked up and spoke to the girl.

"What are you doing to me?"

She responded with an offer to let Ben go with the families downstairs. Ben decided immediately to accept it. Shoving himself to his feet and stumbling to the door, he made for the staircase. But then the other voice came back.

Wait! it commanded. 

Just who the f*** is she, to threaten your friends?! Yours?! You could snap her in half before she realized her mistake! She'd kill that little girl who rode on your shoulders... she'd kill the girl's mother... and she wouldn't even blink.

No, Ben thought in response. It's just talk. She's just scared... she didn't hurt those people... just get out, Ben... remember your friends at home... they need you. They're waiting for you to come home.

It was too late.

Ben, still human for the moment, fell back to his knees in the doorway. Still panting, he curled his hands into fists and screamed loud enough to startle the family he had last helped move out of the building, even thought they were now in a taxi about a block away. The mother turned back towards the building after hearing the noise, the bellowing of a creature more beast than man, with a worried expression.

Ben, of course, didn't know this. He was still trying to cage it. He slammed his fist into the ground, first only once, but then so hard and so repeatedly that two of the knuckles on his left hand cracked. Then, after slamming both his fists a final time, the monster clawed its way out.

It was quicker than last time. His muscles exploded outward, unevenly, violently, gruesomely.

He was green. Ben had no time to think No a final time before he was pushed under.

Then the monster he had become roared and leaped towards the woman.

A Big Belly burger, strawberry shake and fries were one of Mallory's favorite things to indulge in when she had the spare cash. Today was one of those days. She was thoroughly enjoying her tasty burger, as was evidenced by the sky being full of sunshine in her immediate vicinity. She was halfway through her burger when a loud, inhuman roar practically shook her shake off the table. Everyone outside the Big Belly Burger went still. Mal put the burger down slowly and looked around outside, wondering what the Flash or KF were pissing off today.

Wrapping her burger up (you don't just leave good food behind!), she exited the building, putting on her goggles. If there was a way to make the Flash family have a bad day, then she was all over it. Looking around for the source of the disturbance, she saw people pouring out of an apartment complex and figured that must be the place with the party. Manipulating the wind currents at her disposal, she flew over to see what was all the hubbub about only to see in the windows something big, angry and green.

"You have got to be kidding me...a Hulk. Here. How am I supposed to compete with that..." Landing on the roof on the other side of the street, she watched, mostly, trying to figure out what was going on and should she interfere. Wasn't a lot of motivation for her to interfere, except that when she got a good look at the Hulk's face, he almost looked familiar. She didn't have a name, she'd just seen him at the homeless shelter a fair few times. She only went there when she was truly desperate for food or somewhere warm in the winter months. But it couldn't really be him. He was always calm and kind and patient. Then again, she knew very well what someone could need to control their emotions for.

Grumbling to herself about doing heroic shit, she shoved the rest of the burger in her mouth and flew across the street, landing on the fire escape. She wasn't crazy enough to actual go inside the building on the off chance he brought it down.

"Hey big guy! Do me a favor and take a chill pill." She blasted icy cold wind at him, hoping she could freeze him before he made the woman into a pancake. She had no idea what she'd done to piss him off, but there was a rule in the Twin Cities at least the rogues like to abide by; no killing. Mal liked to avoid that when she could. Hopefully she could avoid that today.

Late. That was how Owen's day was going. He was in town meeting with his contact: Mr. Locke. Locke was someone he'd worked with to complete the more exotic aspects of his training. The man was good for some intel and new toys occasionally. This time he'd given Owen both to work with. He had sent a text earlier agreeing to meet with Mallory and discuss her training needs, but his first meeting ran longer than expected.

As Owen neared the Big Belly Burger, he noticed that she was flying towards another building. He swung up to a rooftop and scanned building she was near. There was a Hulk inside. A real mean looking Hulk. Locke had filled Owen in about super powered drugs and people copying powers with them, but something about this one made Owen think he was the real deal. He tapped the magnification button on his helmet.

He recognized that person the monster turned back into. Before he turned green. The man from New York. Now, things were making sense to Owen. Ben wasn't worried about the Red Hood or the kid because he could have easily turned them into something resembling modern art. Well, at least Red Hood knew he wouldn't have to worry about hurting Ben. The other girl was a bit of a wildcard. She had one weapon on her and Hood could tell by her stance that she may have had a few more. Not to mention whatever other dirty tricks she had.

After a moment of consideration, Owen fired his grapnel and swung towards the building. He disconnected his own line, using Mallory's wind to giving a little extra boost. Red Hood crashed through one of the windows, hit the ground and came up with a roll. He took a cursory scan of the scene. The men were killed with weapons. Not enough damage from a creature like the Hulk. The woman was an assassin of some kind. From the League or the Hand, Owen guessed. "Here's Red Hood."

Audio and visual filters in his helmet activated as he tossed off three flashbang batarangs. Then for an encore, he fired a steel cable bola from his grapnel in an attempt to entwine the Hulk. He had a feeling it wouldn't work, but you never knew. Maybe it would buy Ben enough time to come to his senses and remember that he was a nice guy. One look at him told Owen that it was not going to be that simple.

Chloe watched with disinterest as he started to make his way out. The struggle for control going on inside of the man was one she understood just a bit. However, her occasional struggles ended in liquor, pills, and either an eventually nasty string of fights and murder from one side of her or an attempt at something she knew she could never have from another. This man's struggles ended in the painful rippling of muscle beneath skin that was drawn taut over his body. She knew that there wasn't a chance in hell he was getting out of here before his struggle was over, before the real monster deep down inside of him took over. Any normal person probably would have felt fear or nervousness at the sight as the man did start to turn green and grow out once more into the thing people knew as the Hulk, but she felt nothing but the usual calm and slight adrenaline that came with the job.

Treating the creature as if it were any other feral animal, she preemptively readied herself to roll if he leapt at her. She had to roll out to the side, a few of the small caltrops she had left slipping from her pocket. If it weren't for the shuko she had on her hands, she would have scooped them up. They weren't really all that important. Perhaps she would get lucky, perhaps he'd step on them and get the sharp pieces of metal stuck in his foot. Yeah, like that would actually help anything. She was going to do her own leap then, try and see if she couldn't jump just right off of the wall to land on his back. If it weren't for the sound of a female voice and an icy blast of wind getting in the way, she was confident that she could have managed it. However, one issue suddenly turned into two, and then three as a man came in through the shattered window.

The second the assassin noticed that he was throwing something not towards any of them but towards the ground, her hand came up to cover her eyes, just a few seconds too late. The blinding light was an irritant to her eyes but nothing she hadn't dealt with before. She slipped back a few paces. Red Hood, huh? She really didn't care. She weighed her options, there was the girl and there was the man. Neither were as much of a threat as the Hulk, and he was the only one that was a real witness. Judging from the glimpse she had gotten if the female, she was still young. Maybe seventeen or so, a child in a sense. She did what she had to when her job called for it, but she preferred to not be the reason children were put into danger. This Red Hood, however, was plenty old enough for her to not care if he got hurt in the process.

While she stayed back to get the stars out if her eyes, so to speak, she started shifting the direction of the anger, trying to push the beast towards Red Hood with it as best she could while trying to spread that anger from the Hulk to the other man in the room. Get them to fight, get one of the men that was still alive for questioning (though he was not a priority in the slightest), and let the building crash around them like it was planned to. If the younger girl knew what was good for her, she would get out of there before that happened. Chloe couldn't really care either way, however. All she could manage to care about is making this plan work. And if not, quickly changing it to benefit her.

Ben Gerring Owen Merlowe Mallory Mardon

words

short notes

LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY

There was nothing Ben could do.

The Hulk slammed his enormous fist into the wall closest to where the woman had been standing. Her temporary escape only made him angrier, and he didn't even feel the small pieces of metal which bounced off the surface of his skin. Then the man crashed through a window and the younger girl arrived just outside the room in a similar fashion, bringing with her a wave of cold energy. This the monster felt, and it made him angry.

After the blinding explosions caused by the objects the man had thrown, the Hulk let off a massive roar as he was temporarily blinded, swiping and striking blindly around him, stumbling forward and back. The he felt a cord wrap around him. Ben Gerring would have identified this as an attempt to restrain him, but the monster he had become simply flexed, and the steel cord tore immediately.

The beast had had enough. Bellowing again, he slammed both fists into the ground at once, causing a ripple to flow through the foundations of the building. Then he slammed into the ground again and again, and the building shook more violently. Finally, with a conclusive roar and a two-fisted slam against the floor, the fire escape exploded off the side of the building at the same time that each and every window exploded, and the Hulk disappeared through the hole he had created in the center of the room. On the way down, he continued striking downward, burrowing closer and closer towards the street level.

"Are you sure crazy?" she shouted at Owen as he crashed through the window. She had stayed out on the fire escape just in case, and there he went, just jumping in like a crazy person. Mal's eyes went wide before she threw her arms up over her face. But she still got disorientated by the flashbang as it went off. She stumbled back a bit, grabbing onto the fire escape as she shook off the spots in her vision. Once she could see again, she looked over at the other woman. She wasn't sure what she'd walked into here, but Mal was sure she was going to regret ever getting involved.

The building shook and she gripped the fire escape, the Hulk pounding angrily on the floor. Oh, yeah, she was definitely going to regret trying to do something good. She really should leave the hero business to the Flash, but she was here now, and she figured she could do something to keep Central City in mostly one piece. Of course that's when the fire escape decided to separate from the rest of the building and Mallory had the lovely sensation of falling through the air. She hated that sensation. It always reminded her of her failed attempts at flying with wind currents. She'd broken a few bones that way and that was always not fun.

But she was better now, and after she got over her initial panic, she blasted enough wind below her to knock everyone away and slow the decent of the fire escape she was riding. She also threw herself across the street with all the wind, landing behind a parked car with a groan. She lay there for a minute, trying to reign in her emotions. And her ability to breath. She let out a small, wheezy "ow" as she sat up and pulled out her wand, looking around. Thunderclouds formed overhead as she started to stand up, wondering if Owen was ok, and the other woman. She didn't even know what her deal was.

"Eastwood?! You in one piece?" She shouted as she stood up, readying the wand , feeling more control as she held it in her hand. She looked toward the building, spotting the big hulking man headed for street level. Thunder clapped loudly over head as she readied a shot. Maybe she could shock him back to normal.