"We should get going then, but take it easy big guy. I know you got stronger but your not bullet-proof. I can take bullets if I don't dodge them that is, but high calibur rounds will mess up my day." Shinta was worried about Akira and then looked at Gavin seriously. "After we drag her back, she seriously needs to see a therapist of some kind. Akire must know somebody, if not we'll have to find a damned good one."

"And.." She looked at Gavin worried look. "I wouldn't worry about the witch, she's not Completely bad as much as I don't care for her. Besides, if she starts rubbing against you again I'll clobber her ok? Relax."

Meiko giggled at their banter, thinking how hilarious it was that they could joke while practically in the midst of a quite possible battlefield. As Akira spoke to her, she heard not a word. The world slowed down for a moment as she registered what was happening. A grenade?! She shot her arms out in front of her, willed a barrier with every fiber of her being, felt the power build up.....and she let it loose. Water spouted from a nearby sewer hole and surrounded them in its murky substance. It smelled like death, but had its effect. It absorbed the grenade, watery fingers weaving inside to disable it.

Meiko dropped to her knees and hugged her torso. The useless grenade fell to the ground with a thud in front of her kneecaps. She breathed heavily, tears rolling down her cheeks. She'd been so close to death....so close....

((am back, sorry for the lack of heads-up, was out of town))

Already Akira had to dodge a richocheting bullet as she approached the area. She put up a fist, signalling Zee to stop and stay quiet. "Man, girl's too used to being in charge," Zyrna whispered to Meiko, giggling. Akira shot her a poisonous look. "Geez, sor-ree!" Zyrna floated back a few feet behind her as Akira scoped out the area.
"Police, around six squad cars. Plenty injured; there are around two different gangs I can see down there, and they seem to be using contraband weapons."
"How'd you know?"
"I listen to the news, Zee. Don't you have that television set for something?"
"Yeah, I watch my porno--"
"--Sorry I asked. Now with my current state I can't even use my powers at this distance, so we have to be all sneaky-like. Any ideas? No 'ffense, Zee, but your magic's noisy. Meiko, how about you? Think you can come up with something with those water powers of yours?" Before she could wait for a reply, however, a rocket-propelled grenade had gone out of control and zoomed towards them. Before either witch or metal-bender could react, the shell exploded right where they are.

**

"I like the way you think," Gavin said, laughing as he fixed his sword belt. Though he still needed a lot of training, he could always sense that rush of energy beneath his muscles, ready to burst when the situation demands it. He was suddenly painfully aware that they were alone together in the room, but the sound of an explosion intruded into his thoughts. "What the hell was that?" He rushed to the window, scanning the nearby buildings and streets till he could see a fire somewhere off in the distance. He heard firetrucks and more police sirens heading in that same direction. Without thinking he leapt outside. "There's a slim chance she might be there too," he mused out loud, and then he remembered that the last time he saw Akira was with Zyrna, talking in low voices before her disappearance. Gavin bit his lip. And there's a slim chance that witch is there too.

Meiko took Zyma's hand and pulled herself up. "Well, I haven't seen any fights here...the closest to a fight I've ever seen is sparring in my Tae-Kwon-Do class. But that doesn't count. I guess this'll be the first. And I'll probably be part of it," she laughed and followed them out the door.
She zipped up her hoodie, glad she wore one for once, and crossed her arms as a cold wind hit her.

"That's a crazy idea." Shinta said without missing a beat..

"Let's do it then." She said moments after with a grin. "If we can't talk sense into that crazy girl we'll have to drag her. I swear if this keeps up I'm going to pay for therapy lessons, this is really getting out of hand."

"Hmm. That is an interesting theory," Akira said, contemplating on her words. Zyrna sighed and snapped her fingers.
"Well, the more the merrier. I suppose we have more than enough room." The extra mattress in her closet unfolded and arranged itself. Akira looked at Meiko and said, "Unfortunately no. I thought that was what I was doing. I realized I was only turning things into metal. If I worked on it, I could exploit the power to its full potential. Right now, though, I can only turn things into silver. Very solid objects--wood especially--transform slowly; softer objects change almost instantly, with water being the fastest to 'freeze' into metal. There was a time I was panicking because my food started turning silver, but at the very least I was able to control that, and very little else."
"And who do you have to thank for some of it?"
"Yeah, yeah, thank you Zyrna," Akira muttered in her most unconvincingly sweet voice. "You know what? You're right. The spell you were able to weave was able to help me concentrate on that." She closed her eyes, lips pressed together. "I almost killed someone with this power, some time back. I'm lucky I don't turn the very air I breathe into metal."
"Okay, okay, enough depressing stuff," Zyrna said, getting up and clapping her hands together. "We're all very hungry and--hmm. You didn't tell me Gavin was here."
"Gavin? You mean, Shinta's not the only one here?"
"Dearie, you don't seriously think you'll stay hidden for this long, right? And pretty soon, even Rola--"
"No." AKira shook her head, heading towards the window. In a smaller, almost inaudible voice, she murmured, "I can't face him yet." Zyrna shook her head.
"Why don't we all head out to dinner and bash a few gangster heads along the way? It will make you feel better," she added in a sing-song voice. She already had her golf club--fondly named Tiger Woods--at the ready; where typical, conventional holywood witches carried brooms, Zyrna traveled on a golf club.
"Fine. I hear sirens. I keep hearing them several blocks down. Let's go." Without another word, Akira jumped out the window, landing on the balcony down below.
"Come along, honey, it won't bite," Zyrna teased, offering a hand to Meiko as she steadied herself on the broom. You ever seen a gang fight here? It's bloody--well, bloody."

Meiko smiled shyly, "Nice to meet you too, Zyma."
She quietly listened to Akira's explanation, a bit confused. She nodded at the parts she uderstood, not wanting Akira to stop. She'd rather get it now and ask questions later.

"Okay. I think I understand for the most part. It'd be really great if I could stay here, if that's fine with you, Zyma." She threw a small inquisitive glance at her. It was her house, after all.

"So, about your powers. Back by the alley, you could move metal objects. And you can also freeze water, etc. Can you manipulate all of the elements, or is that all? And since I have this power of manipulation, does that mean I come from the same dimension as you? Maybe my memory was erased. Or my parents were from there and decided to run away too." She sighed lightly. "So many possibilities..."

[Sorry that took me so long >> School work.]

Gavin grinned as she kissed him, entertaining the far-fetched possibility of kissing her back. "Would it be too much to ask if there's more where that came from?" he said, teasing her back. "And yeah, I use my brain sometimes. Big achievement right there. Hey, in fairness to me, I train by myself in my free time." He was glad she started eating; chivalry was hard on his stomach, and he joined her soon afterwards. "Well, y'know, ever since I trotted around with you and the rest of our merry little misfit group, it put things in perspective for me. The Geminis, we're a very bitter lot, and many of them still entertain ideas for a coup or to overthrow Akire or something. 'Specially now when she had just returned from a trip she doesn't want to talk about--wait a minute, that was around the same time Akira started acting up--ahh, I don't wan to think about that now. Anyway, I went back to the Geminis to try and talk them over, convince them Akire isn't some lunatic on the throne out for their blood. Not really going well right now, but the last meeting I went to the shouting and name-calling lasted a minute shorter than the previous one, so yay progress." Gavin laughed before chowing down; the meeting still left a bad taste in his mouth and it tired him out, reasoning with his estranged family and comrades. "And it helps when you're brandishing a nice, sharp sword and reminding them I can do a lot more than swing it around now--not that I'm gonna use it that way, of course." He paused, leaning back on his chair and staring at the ceiling. "Maybe, just maybe, if we could get Akira and Rolan alone together, they'd talk things over. And maybe I can sing the happy-happy joy-joy song and things will be all better, but that's the best I can think of. Sooo..." he looked back at Shinta, grinning and feeling a little crazy (Shinta's kiss still weighing a bit on his mind), "how does kidnapping Akira sound to you?"

"Maybe you do have moments of wisdom from time to time." Shinta's voice was teasing, meaning she didn't mean anything by it. But she did something surprising and leaned closer and kissed Gavin on the cheek for a moment. "Thanks for the advice." She backed away after that, becoming a bit more shy but she surprisingly laughed lightly at Gavin's last action, but not at him.

"Sly, Gavin, real sly." Shinta took a seat, not feeling all that picky at the moment. If it was food, it was food. "So what exactly were you visiting your clan for?"

Gavin was a bit surprised that Shinta hugged him, and he wished he wasn't feeling red in the face. He hugged her tight for a few second before she pulled away. "It's fine, it's fine, just rant away," he said, chuckling. "You had to go listen to me and my sorry rants back when I was a little sarcastic s.o.b. Then again, I'm still a sarcastic s.o.b." He paused, pondering on her words before saying, "You know what? I don't think she's very happy with it." He understood what it felt like to be confused, to feel like whatever decision you made was wrong, and that you had no choice but to choose between several evils. "I don't know about you, but I'd want to run an intervention." He fixed his sword belt and sat down, thinking. "Ever since this weird Akuma-time-mess happened she's been sinking deeper. I mean, I know she's been having a tough time, but maybe there's more to it, a part of this whole dark mess she couldn't control. And oh, before I forget," he opened the satchel he brought with him. "Uhh, I was feeling hungry after my visit to the Gemini clan, and since I was on the way here, well I brought a lot extra." He put the food down on the table, then pretended to be resting so he didn't look like he was waiting for her to eat. Crap, Gavin, you're such a cornball, he thought, grimacing to himself.

"That's no excuse. None at all." Shinta said, clearly agitated but not at Gavin but more at Akira. "If I lost something that important I would want help from my friends, not push them away. And even if I didn't want them around because of that, I would at least say to your friends face. That's what bugs me the most, she couldn't even come to us and say she needed alone time. Brushing off like we're nothing."

Shinta calmed down, and surprisingly, gave Gavin a hug before pulling away. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want here me rant but she's really frusterating me right now. As for Rolan...not to good. He took it really hard. I guess I could tell him, but if Akira acts like a child and brushes him off I don't know how he'll take it. At this rate Akira is going to do or say something horribly stupid and this time she won't be able to take it back. I just hope she's happy with her choice."

Zyrna plopped down adjacent Meiko, crossing her legs. "Zyrna at your service, luv," she said, grinning as she fixed her short, platinum-blonde hair. "You're a pretty one, dearie, but it's just so frustrating that Akira seems to be such a magnet for the weird ones."
"You're one to talk, floozy," Akira said, pacing the room back and forth. She tried not to look out the window and at Shinta's hotel, though she did stay alert for any other potential threat. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Meiko. Ignore Zee's attitude, she's a teddy bear, that one."
'You shut your mouth, Miss Doom and Gloom." Akira glared at her, before taking a chair and sitting down opposite Meiko.
"So I guess I also have a lot of explaining to do." She paused. "What I do here, I mean here in this world, or your world, or whatever, okay, to make things clear it's kinda obvious from the way I speak that I belong to anothr dimension. Okay, got that over with. If you watch the news now and then you'll hear about a vigilante running lose around the city. That would be me."
"End of explanation, " Zyrna mused out-loud.
"Quiet, you. But aside from that, I'm really trying to hit two birds with one stone. You see," Akira reached over and placed a glass of water in front of her. She then removed her gloves and dipped a fingertip in the water. Instantly it seemed to freeze, but when she tipped the glass over a solid silver cylinder slid out and dropped down to the floor. "This is my problem. Well, one of my problems."
"Or one of the problems you so effectively try to aggravate," Zyrna quipped. Akira ignored her.
"And since I very much believe in practice makes perfect, I figured I might as well put this predicament to good use. And here I am, playing 'hero' while trying to figure out how the hell not to become a modern-day Midas." Akira paused, as if trying to reconsider what she was about to say, then faced Meiko and said, "Here's the deal. I could try and protect you, and we could train together, find help. I'm not forcing you, but since we're in the same predicament, you might want to help me clean up this city. Practice.