Guns and Roses (Open to all)

[Doctor Pieter Cross]

"Try to help a guy and get reprimanded. Come on, really?" Doctor Mid-Nite said to himself. He needed to find Mr. Terrific, hopefully he would be able to find a less rude area of New York. He took out the frustration on someone trying coming near him. That particular mutant would wake up in about a week. "If I may, how did this whole thing start?" He said quietly to one of the few people who did know what was going on, being the mutant police officer.

As he waited for anything that would clue him in to the reasons behind forming a mob and fighting anyone, he looked around. The lion looked close to sneezing in what was left of the blackout gas, and Stargirl was doing quite well on her own from above. Mid-Nite hoped that this mutant police officer was not capable of being provoked to use lethal force in the line of duty. That was well and fine with normal cops but when someone had power like that, there needed to be someone more than Internal Affairs to keep him in check.

[bishop]

"Normal day in District X, I'm afraid." Bishop said, as the mob slowly started to dissipate. There were still some fighters, but the fighting had gone down from fifty or so mutants to just a handful. It was nothing the heroes couldn't handle. Holding his chest, Bishop gasped, stumbling back a little as the pain wracked his body.

"This is called Mutant Town for a reason. Mostly mutants live here, and mutants who've been scorned by humanity, at that. The few humans that live here are always in danger of being attacked, and that was what happened. It started out just me, and her, protecting the humans, but then it got into a riot. So, like I said, typical day."

[Jake]

Jake listened as the police officer explained how this whole thing started. Jake took swipes at few mutants who were still dumb enough to stick around and fight. Suddenly one of the mutants had some mutation that allowed him to cut through things easily. The lion roared as the pain seared through his front leg.

Jake tried to put pressure on it, which was now useless and limp. He turned on his good leg and swung a giant paw hitting the mutant in the face, knocking him down. The lion then proceeded to beat the man with his paws. Every once in a while he would draw blood. That would remind Jake to retract his claws.

Jake backed up a little more, giving up ground for a few of the mutants that were still around. <So how do you normally get out of this?> Jake said, speaking for the first time since the fight. He directed this question to them all but he was hoping the cop would answer or at least have an exit plan.

[Doctor Pieter Cross]

Pieter sighed, rather, Doctor Mid-Nite sighed. He looked around himself, things were done. He felt pretty useless now that the JSA was history. He had been their go-to guy along with Mr. Terrific for scientific and medical problems. Now they were spread out across the country. Powergirl was dead. Things looked none too bright. They should have stuck to the original plan, to keep looking after America at home, and not joined that army of superheroes, The Untouchables. These were dark days indeed. Mid-Nite noticed the wound on the lion. He thought he should speak.

"Hey, lion, guy. Does your body heal when you turn back into a human? I mean, I'm assuming you're not some super-intelligent lion and that by some means you become the lion. But do you retain wounds? I mean, the cut looks kind of deep and I've got everything necessary to deal with it, but, I would prefer not to use up supplies if I don't need to. God help me, I've become frugal and wise." Mid-Nite sighed, a mutant tried to get up off the ground, he raised a hand and attempted to grab Mid-Nite's ankle, he raised his foot and smashed the man's hand with his heel, then knocked him out in the same manner.

"It's a shame really, we've got so many heroes coming home now, and they don't know what to do with themselves while the country is literally eating itself. Mutants, meta-humans, aliens; who cares? We need somebody to do something. I mean, I try but I'm a blind physician from Portsmouth for God's sake." Mid-Nite knocked out another mutant writhing around on the ground. "I'm just useless." he mumbled under his breath.

[Stargirl]

Stargirl peered around from her vantage point in the sky. She was pleased to report that most of the riot had died down and most of the attackers had either moved on or been taken out, save a few stragglers which she easily blasted with her staff. Just another exciting day in the life of Courtney, she thought with a sigh as she landed back down on the debris covered pavement.

She passed Bishop and looked at him in concern as he stumbled backwards. "You gonna be okay?", she questioned just before overhearing Mid-Nites comments. It was true, things were a wreck and teams were dead. The only real effective team left was the Teen Titans, and that was because most of them hadn't gone to war. The X-Men, Avengers and Birds of Prey existed, but only barely. Courtney approached her former Justice Society team mate and sighed with a much forced smirk. "But you're the best blind physician from Portsmouth I have ever met", she said slyly. She looked back up in the sky and bit her lip. "Blue Beetle is forming a new Justice League..", she offered on the off handed chance that her news might spark his interest.

[bishop]

"I hate to say it, but you are dealing with mutants. We don't get our gifts from super-powered spider bites, or cosmic radiation. It's in our DNA, and that is something most humans don't understand. As we all know, what humans don't understand, they fear. What they fear, they want to destroy. Until humans can start accepting the fact that mutants are not freaks, that peace you're talking about is a long way coming." Bishop wasn't being pessimistic; rather, a realist. He'd seen what the hatred of humanity did to the mutants in the future. The M over his right eye was living proof of that.

"That said, don't ever say you are useless. It takes one brave man to change the world. Look at Charles Xavier. Just because you do not have the gift of sight, do not think for a minute that you are useless. There are more powerful weapons out there than the might of a fist. Somebody very wise once taught me that, though most of the time, it doesn't seem to stick." Bishop looked to the human/lion, shaking his head as he 'heard' the boy's voice in his head. He was just a kid, from the sound of his voice.

"How do I get out of this? Normally, with a lot of back-up from the X-Men, though you guys did a really good job. I thank you for your help, though I dread filing the paperwork when I get back to the office."

[Jake]

Seeing as most of the mob had run off or was currently unconscious Jake thought it would be a good idea if he took care of his wounds. He heard what the doctor was asking him about his wounds so Jake said, <My wounds disappear when I return to my natural form.> He turned around facing the little group and began to demorph. It still wasn't pretty, and probably never would no matter how many times he did it.

Jakes fur began to shorten, his mane shrunk, his tail shriveled up and disappeared. The lion's bones began grinding and reshaping to his human skeleton, all the while Jakes intestines were rearranging themselves back to normal. Jakes arms shortened and his muscles did as well until they were human arms and legs again. He stood up on his human legs completely back to normal with nothing more to show for the wound except for some dried blood covering his entire arm. The air was a little cold for Jake considering that he was wearing his morphing outfit consisting of bike shorts and a tight t-shirt.

"Well it's good to see that we were enough to stop the riot." Jake was 18 but everyone always told him that he looked a lot younger than he really was. "Some how I think it will be a long time before humans realize that we are here to stay and that they need us more than they will ever admit." He said after they had finished talking. As an after thought he said, "I'm Jake by the way. Sorry I don't really have a very good alias picked out yet. I'm not from around here so who are y'all."

[Doctor Pieter Cross]

"Heh, new Justice League you say?" Mid-Nite thought for a moment. There was precious little he could do operating on his own, small scale stuff. If he was in a team again, he could do a lot more, this could be a great help. Not only would he be able to mend the wounds of some really superb heroes, but he would have resources to rely on, they probably had some state-of-the-art equipment hidden away somewhere. "Well I'm definitely interested, Blue Beetle you say though? Well, as likely to lead as anybody these days I guess. Thanks for telling me about it, kid." Mid-Nite threw up his hands defensively before he would get reprimanded.

"I know, I know, don't call you kid. But I remember the good ole days. When you had braces, I suppose thing's will never be the same as they were, but we can still do our best, right?" Mid-Nite turned to the lion-guy who had turned out to be the lion-boy. "Why, I'm Doctor Mid-Nite, best in-the-dark surgeon you can find." Mid-Nite whistled, and Charlie, his owl, came flapping down and landed on his shoulder. Mid-Nite pulled a small flash-drive from the camera on the owl's collar. He tossed it to Bishop. "Here, got the whole riot on there, in case Internal Affairs makes a fuss." He reached inside a pouch on his belt, and handed a card to Stargirl. "My card, phone number and the like, for when you need it. Thanks, Court. It was fun playing with someone from the old gang." He then turned to Bishop again.

"Now, you sir. I detect several hairline fractures in your ribs. Should get to a hospital, get those checked out. You're tough, I'll give you that, but you're no Atom-Smasher." Mid-Nite smiled. "I should be going now I guess. Call me when this new League has their first meeting, I'll be there." He smilled, waved, turned, and left. As he walked away he pulled back the cowl on his head and ran a hand through his hair. Well, he thought, That was a hell of a thing.

[Stargirl]

Courtney smiled as she looked on while Mid-Nite spoke. She had a lot of respect for the man and had enjoyed her time with him in the JSA. She was pleased too discover that he was indeed interested in the Leagues reformation. In fact, it bolstered Courtney into deciding that she would join as well.

But then he continued to speak. He reminded her of the braces and her days as the Star Spangled Kid and she blushed madly. But he was right in a way. Those were good times. She plucked the card from his hands and tucked it away. "So long as you don't make me sit at the kids table!", she said with a smile as he started off.

[bishop]

Reaching up, Bishop caught the small flash-drive, nodding his thanks to Doc Mid-Nite. Pocketing it, he turned, and saw that the humans he was supposed to be protecting were long gone. Nodding, Bishop knew they had run home in fear, and Bishop couldn't blame them. Having a huge fight happen just because you were walking home wasn't exactly something you wanted to stick around and watch.

"Well, Jake, I have to ask. What are you? Mutant, meta-human? I don't think I've ever seen a power like yours before. Sure, we have shape-shifters, but they can't heal instantly while turning back into humans."

[Jake]

Jake watched Mid-Nite toss a chip with a recording of the fight and then walk off and away from the streets. He also looked around and saw that it was then just him, Stargirl, and Bishop.

The animorph had never met either of them before. During the war Jake had been just old enough to get into the Untouchables rank. Jake wasn't on the front lines or anything but he did see quite a bit more battle than someone his age should ever see. It had effected him more so at night he'll wake up in a cold sweat with nightmares. Jake listened to Bishop's question.

"Well, Jake, I have to ask. What are you? Mutant, meta-human? I don't think I've ever seen a power like yours before. Sure, we have shape-shifters, but they can't heal instantly while turning back into humans."

Jake turned to face Bishop, "Well, since I'm not quite sure what a meta-human is I guess I'm a mutant. The only reason I heal whenever I return to human form is because I'm able to copy an animals DNA. That means that any injuries I sustain in morph aren't carried on when I return to human. Also I could return to my lion morph right now and I wouldn't be injured at all because the injury isn't in the animals DNA." Jake said to him.

He didn't know how much of that made any sense to either of the two other mutants but that was pretty much the easiest and best way to describe it.