Thoughts, city lights and a high-rise

[Mach V]

It was arguably one of the most beautiful sights in New York. Not the Lady Liberty, not Central Park, not the Empire State - no. This scenic vista was easily attainable and free to all of the inhabitants of the 'Big Apple'. If anyone was of a mind, they could simply wait until the sun set and throw back their curtains.

New York by night was a fantastic sight. It was a symbol of the power of mankind, the achievements of humanity and the grace of civilization.
At the same time, from the top of a high rise office building, it put everything into perspective. The lives of people going about their business, so small and insignificant, like tiny, bright lights so easily extinguished, but so wonderful and full of energy.

It was how we chose to use that energy, how we directed our efforts and what we strove for in life that defined us. Here Abe had begun his life as a somebody, even if he had been on entirely the wrong path.

He had been a super villain, having gone by the name 'Beetle'. . .

The heavily armoured hero sighed to himself. No sound or hint of this escaped the confines of his suit as he stood tall, strong and proud, overlooking the vast expanse of civilization, wondering what had become of the world, its people and their heroes.
Was the whole country, the planet even, now headed down the wrong path? He had seen terrible things during the war, been a part of them, and he had taken responsibility for them - so many had not.
He was an honest man. Abe had served his time and made right his past wrongs as best he could, but so many meta-humans flaunted responsibility and morality now, bending them to fir their own purpose, to twist the truth, to avoid the blame.

Their deeds would catch up to them eventually. All of them.

He stood there looking out over the city for several hours, idling his suits weapons and functions as he thought long and hard.

The inevitable conclusion of such arrogance, of such power being wielded by so few. . . it wasn't a good thought, and he hoped it would never come to that.

[Shadowcat]

During the rush hour of New York, Kitty Pryde found herself roughly bumping into other pedestrians and apologizing profusely. Of course, she could have always phased through the people in her way to the department store a few blocks down, but then people would see her and her powers. Her mutation. With a sigh, Kitty chose to break her way through the crowd of workers to the curb of the sidewalk. She would stand there until things cleared up.

Ever since the war, mutants have been a love or hate thing, though Shadowcat had to admit, she hadn't met a regular human yet who welcomed the mutant population with open arms. She pulled her hazel gaze upwards, grazing her sight to the top of the building in front of her. Her jaw dropped slightly in curiosity when she saw a small figure atop the office building.

The young woman was immediately pulled from her thoughts. Her 'I'm sorry!'s and 'My bad's ended immediately when she suddenly felt a hard grip upon her forearm, and a deep whisper, forcing her to go with the man. Kitty wasn't threatened at all, but she felt the best way to handle this was to do it the human way. Ask for help.

"Hey, let go of me, jerk!" Kitty called out very loudly to get the others' attention. No one turned. With a sigh, she attempted to yank her arm out of his hand. "Seriously, let go. You don't know what I'm capable of."

[Mach V]

The idling acoustic sensors had been programmed to analyze all audible vocal communication, searching voice patterns for stress, fear, anger and certain key words and phrases that flagged a person in distress, or making threats.
Often these would be couples arguing, a lovers tiff, a minor dispute - maybe over who flagged the cab first, or just cutthroat businessmen yelling over the phone.

However, occasionally it worked.

"Hey, let go of me, jerk!"

"Seriously, let go. You don't know what I'm capable of."

The suits automatics located and identified the source, providing a magnified view of the scene in a small window on his HUD.
It seemed as if a young woman was being accosted by an older, larger man. She was making quite a noise, but as one could expect on the streets of New York, she was being ignored.
Some of the more self important heroes felt that dealing with purse snatchers, public disturbance or assault - the minor crimes - was below them.
Abe wasn't deluding himself in that regard. To him breaking organized crime rings was no different. No matter how small the good deed seemed, he had taken to hero work, to the calming and reassuring satisfaction that was afforded with every good deed - large or small.

The armoured figure leaned forward, falling gracefully down the side of the building. As he plummeted head first towards the street, Abe watched his reflection in the glass windows of the building as he extended his suits wings and powered away.
From the street where the young woman was standing, the small black figure appeared to sprout wings, and grew suddenly larger as it approached at incredible speed.

Despite the great speed at which he was traveling, Abe managed to stop with rapid grace, mere feet above the young woman and her 'problem'
As space cleared on the sidewalk, Abe dropped down to the ground, his heavy boots thudding as the connected with the pavement.

"Excuse me miss," He extended one gauntleted hand, "Can I help you?" Abe spoke through the audio vox unit of the suit, making his voice seem far more computerized that it actually was.

The rough-looking fellow with a stiff grip on the young ladies wrist simply stood and stared in slack jawed amazement, like he'd never seen a flying, armoured suit before.

[Shadowcat]

After trying to pull her arm away from the man, she felt a small metal object on her left side, where the man stood. Gazing down, Kitty saw a gun lightly nuzzling into the side of her faded, orange sweater and she gulped. Phase, just do it, it doesn't matter, you're in danger! Echoed throughout her mind as she was caught in the moment. The young woman hadn't fought for so long that a road block stood right in the way of her quick reasoning. Her palms immediately began to sweat. "Please let go." She whispered to the man; her hazel eyes shimmered with a coat of slight fear.

Suddenly, the silhouette she had saw on the top of the building jumped off. Her eyes went wide, and at that, the man turned as well to see what the young woman could have been staring at. The X-Man planned on taking his gun away from there, up until the person atop the building zoomed down and landed in front of Shadowcat and the man. Kitty Pryde stared up at the presumed robot, and gulped slightly. It was certainly interesting to be on the other side of the 'hero saves victim' table.

"Excuse me miss, can I help you?"

"The guy's got a gun." She announced quietly to Mach V who lowered his hand. Kitty was contemplating about telling the savior about how she could easily get out of this situation, but hey, who's to know? Maybe this could be an acquaintance where she's not an X-Man, where she has no powers. Just regular Kitty Pryde. "Thank you!" She strained her whisper and turned back to the man. She stuck her tongue out at him and immediately took the other's hand, hoping that man in the armoured suit knew how to handle a situation with a sexual offender with a gun.

[Mach V]

The MACH V armour had already identified the man as a threat and targeted his weapon from several hundred yards down the street. In any confrontation where there was a threat of violence and a risk of somebody being seriously injured - even killed - Abe had to be especially careful. 'Reformed' super villains weren't usually given the benefit of the doubt, no matter how benevolent and even handed those handing out the judgments claimed to be.

The young woman took his hand. Abe saw this as the time to act, swiftly and decisively.

In one fluid and impossibly rapid motion he pulled the young woman towards him with the offered right hand, forcing her gently behind his armoured bulk to offer her protection should anything go wrong.

The armour calculated there was less than a 0.4% chance the gun would discharge.

Before the would be mugger's heart had even completed the same beat it had been on when Abe had taken the young woman's hand, the armoured super hero had raised his other arm and fired a laser blast at the barrel of the pistol - fusing it closed.

Barely a second had passed, and the criminal's expression of dumb awe was still shifting to one of surprise when Abe stepped forward and struck the man across the jaw, knocking him out cold.

MACH V retrieved the pistol from the unconscious man's on the floor, before turning to the young lady behind him.

"You okay?"

[Shadowcat]

Katherine Anne Pryde had never moved that fast in her life. She blinked for a few moments in silence, while she registered what exactly had occurred through the mere seconds. Everything was a blur, and she felt like her head was spinning. As if on reflex, Kitty smacked her hands on each side of the man's suit as if to keep her balance. She took in a few confused, yet deep breaths, staring straight at the helm of the robot. In the reflection, Katherine winced, seeing her hair looking like something died on her head. When MACH V let her down, she immediately stumbled. She peered to the man who had attacked her. On the floor, completely knocked out. Kitty grinned. She loved seeing people taking in their justice.

The hairtie that held up her shoulder-length hair was ejected to who knows where, leaving Kitty's hair in a jumbled mess upon her head. She self-consciously patted down the brown hair and smiled up at the man. After pulling down her orange sweater and taking in a few deep breaths, she grinned. "Wow, that was sufficiently amazing." Spoke she honestly, nodding her head a little too much due to her dizziness. She would have done a playback to see what exactly he had done, but her mind was a bit confused. Either way, this guy seemed to know what he was doing, and it impressed her to see that as well. Why hadn't she heard of him? "Maybe you should join--" The X-Men! She covered her mouth and took in a deep breath through her nose, regaining stability. Remember, Kitty isn't a mutant, she thought to herself. Regular ol' me. Curious to who exactly this man was, she decided it would be best to change the subject: "Who are you, anyway?"

ooc| Sorry it's so short, baarh.

[Laurie]

Laurie pressed herself against the wall of a Sephora at the corner of the road and closed her eyes, dueling the twin terrors of being alone in a crowd and not realizing if she had full control over her pheromones. She felt like she was in control, but she'd had those phantom moments of comfort before and they usually ended with someone suddenly turning around and snapping at her or unexpectedly asking her on a date. And since Sofia wasn't here to keep a little wind bubble around Laurie, she was having to hold everything inside of herself.

Her hand clutching the shopping bag from Sephora shook. She had gone out to the store to get some new cosmetics - she was out of lip gloss and she loved the little bubbles the gloss from Sephora came in. She'd gotten distracted at the perfume counter when the saleslady had either gotten a dose of her power or just figured she was a shy, quiet girl, and offered to test a couple of perfumes on her. Which meant Laurie was now wrapped in a small bubble of flowery scents. Quite pretty. But all the more attracting, which she didn't want!

She had to keep walking. New York at night was a dangerous place, especially at rush hour, especially for a seventeen year old girl who was as shy and insecure as Laurie Collins. She couldn't afford to keep standing here - not when the subway was just kitty-corner across the street. She pushed herself away from the wall and began to walk towards the crosswalk. She thought she heard someone crying out to be released from something, but her mind had focused on protection procedure - get to the subway. She wasn't paying attention to anything else.

A roar over her head made her duck and throw herself backwards against the wall. A loud clanging rang in her ears, and she put her hands up to protect them. She stayed against the wall, hands over her ears, eyes closed for another few seconds and then slowly opened her eyes. Movement out of the corner of her eye made her yelp and jump forward.

Instantly, she collided with someone who shoved her out of the way. She ran into another person and fell to the ground.

[Mach V]

"Who are you, anyway?"

She had mumbled a few other things alongside this question, but this was probably the more potent of all the things she could have asked him.
Occasionally Abe couldn't give an honest answer, simply because he wasn't entirely sure himself. When he could, he often just gave the facts.
Usually telling somebody you were an ex-supervillain and a murderer who had served his time didn't endear too many people towards you.

"My name's MACH V," He smiled slightly behind the suit's face plate, "but you can call me Abe."

She looked a little ruffled, and Abe was having trouble deciding whether or not her self conscious fidgeting with her hair was funny, cute or both.
Abe silently signaled the NYPD, transmitting a message to the call center with an image of the suspect and a quick run down of the situation.
The boys in blue would be arriving soon, and most of them didn't take to kindly to Abner Jenkins. A few of the older ones still seemed to think of him as the 'Beetle'.

"Anywhere I can help you get to?" Abe asked, letting the face plate of the suit slide back and fold away as he spoke.
It wasn't something he did often, but a little human contact was good every now and then. Usually having just saved somebody's life was a good ice-breaker. Most women in the city were more taken with the real meta-humans, but there were a few who still thought tin-men were impressive.

She had, after all, called him amazing. Abe smiled to himself, wondering what else she'd also said. Something about joining something or somebody. Maybe she meant join her for something. . . yeah. . . that was probably it.

[Shadowcat]

Standing still at the edge of the sidewalk with people passing, Katherine stared curiously at the hero while he pondered his thoughts to how he should respond. A smile grew on the young woman's face once he answered. "MACH V, eh? Sounds like..." She paused and knocked on the metal suit. "That." Maybe being the victim once in a while isn't so bad. No wonder those damsels in distress are always so happy. She thought to herself as her hazel gaze scanned the crowd of people. They all appeared as if they were going in the same direction. Kitty Pryde opened her mouth to begin conversation, but MACH V beat her with:

"Anywhere I can help you get to?"

Again, another smile crept along Kitty's mouth. Mackenzie had warned her about this many a time. Just answer, relax. Contemplating whether to take his offer, she placed a finger on her lip before answering. "Well--" Before Shadowcat could finish her thought, something caught her eye. Her hazel eyes widened when she noticed a beautiful blonde girl had been pushed by a few people, and she attempted to fight through, only to be smacked right into the wall. She looked terrified.

Concern veiled over Shadowcat's expression. "Maybe we should help her!!" Kitty called loudly, as if MACH V had been standing far away. Kitty roughly shoved some of the people out of the way to get to the poor young woman, but it still didn't get her throught. Screw this. She thought angrily as she began to phase through the people, and finally she approached the woman with a grimace.

"Sorry about that... I'm sure you know that most New Yorkers are complete jerks on the road." Kitty said while she held her hand down for the woman, which reminded her how MACH V did the same only a few minutes ago. Man, is kindness contagious or what?

[Laurie]

Laurie nearly jumped a mile when a young woman's hand suddenly appeared in her line of vision. She'd been about ready to scream just from sheer exasperation but the words at her ear and the hand in front of her face were enough. She grabbed it and got up to her feet, looking straight at...oh!

"Kitty," she said out loud. "I didn't see you." Her cheeks flushed red and she struggled to hold on to her power. The last thing she needed was for Kitty to become affected and try to save her or something. "I know, I got distracted in the store, I shouldn't have been out this late alone..."

She released Kitty's hand quickly and tried to fix up her hair, pressing her back to the wall. After a moment, she looked back. "Wait...what are you doing here? Are you all right? There was this big roar overhead and I ducked, I thought something was attacking us!"

She stopped babbling, a mixture of confusion and fear on her delicate features.

[Mach V]

Abe watched her as she darted away through the crowd of people jostling their way down the street. It wasn't at all unusual that so many people would still be out in the Big Apple by night.
What was unusual however, was the fact that the young woman had seemingly disappeared, becoming invisible to his suit's sensors before slipping straight through the people and objects between her and the girl she was moving towards.

It certainly seemed that there was more to this young woman than originally met the eye. She was a meta-human, apparently with the ability to phase through solid matter. . . Interesting. He'd have to learn more about her.

Abe followed her down the street, having no trouble moving through the crowd as people instinctively avoided the metallic, armoured man in their midst.

"You alright kid?" He asked the new member of their unusual little group.

"Who are you really?" He asked, casting a sideways glance at Kitty.

[Shadowcat]

Smiling as the woman took her hand and saw: "Laurie?" Kitty raised a brow and let out an awkward laugh. "That was weird. I didn't recognize you-- You know I hate it when I see people being pushed around." With a crooked grin and continued to help her friend up to her feet. As she spoke, Kitty nodded knowingly to Laurie's self-lecturing. "Well, what's going to happen will happen."

Suddenly, Laurie began to bombard Kitty with questions and sounds of concern, and Shadowcat held up her hands defensively before continuing. "Hey, settle down! I was here restocking the school fridge-- well, I tried, until this guy tried to take me as his sex slave--" Kitty paused as she wished she could swallow the words she had just spoken. "I was exaggerating. I mean, he tried to hurt me, and the roar you heard was MACH V, who saved me! He's seems cool, too." She pointed at the metal man that had walked up to the two of them. After an awkward pause, the young woman figured she may need to introduce herself, which she should have done in the first place. "Anyway, I'm Kitty." Said Shadowcat. She began to hold out her hand for a shake, until she realized the man's hands could possibly crush her small ones, so she brought it back down to her sides.

Who are you really?

Kitty raised a brow to MACH V. "I just told you who I was." She said tongue-in-cheek, trying to play off the fact that he was suspicious. After flashing a toothy grin, she figured she could play the charade for a little longer. The ongoing echoes of footsteps and lifeless chatter began to crescendo around the two girls, and Kitty felt someone smack into her back, forcing her to the wall with Laurie. "Lovely." She replied sarcastically and turned to Laurie to see if she was alright.

[Laurie]

Laurie's eyes widened as the huge man in armor came up and she nearly flattened herself into the wall to try to get away from him. Kitty introduced him as the man who had saved her from being a sex slave (Laurie shuddered horribly inside at the image of that), and then the man asked Kitty who she really was. Kitty had a glib reply, but Laurie was pretty sure she knew what the man was getting and she didn't think he'd take that for an answer.

That being said, she added quietly: "I'm Wallflower," in an effort to distract the man from Kitty. Giving her name would force him to pay attention to her for at least a little bit - time enough for Kitty to come up with a suitable defense. "Thank you for saving my friend."

Kitty got bumped hard into the wall then, and Laurie shivered. "Let's go...somewhere else. There's too many people here!"

[Mach V]

"Well,” Abe smiled slightly before closing his suit’s faceplate once more, “It’s good to meet you kid.” He told her genuinely, as his voice changed over the suit’s external output.

He wasn’t entirely sure who he was dealing with here, and why the young woman – ‘Kitty’ she had called herself – hadn’t simply freed herself from the thug’s clutches long before he arrived.
With the convenience of meeting two, apparently helpless young women, neither of which he believed to be ‘normal people’, in such a suspicious situation, Abe’s paranoia set in.
Was it a trap? A test of some kind? Did somebody want to get him out in the open, in public for some reason? Was he being watched by others? What were these two actually capable of?

Kitty’s previous, evasive answer hadn’t done much to ease his suspicions. Abe was becoming gradually more concerned that perhaps he shouldn’t be here anymore. He could always go home and. . . what? Watch TV and eat? Abe didn’t really know too many people, and those he did know he was either prevented from even being within a 500 meter radius of or there was some mutual dislike.

He could always look Cain up. The big guy was usually a good laugh, although Abe had needed to design an armoured suit that could be worn under his clothing, so that when Cain laughed and clapped him on the back he wouldn’t need his ribs replacing.

“You know ladies, unfortunately I think I’m gonna have to leave.” Abe wasn’t smiling behind his suit’s faceplate. “Previous engagement, you know. . .”